Forget to Remember

of books and papers everywhere, not in any meaningful order. Some had obviously been in the same spot for years, having taken up permanent residence. Carol wondered how Ivan could find anything.
    He did have a computer in working order, a requirement for a detective in the digital age. The first thing they did was to call Paul on a speakerphone and fill him in. He wasn’t surprised to hear they were together and was happy they’d spotted Michael.
    “Good work. We’re going to nail that bastard. He killed two people, and he tried to kill Carol. It’s too bad we can’t just have him arrested. Since his crimes are scattered, and we don’t have any direct evidence except for Carol and others being able to ID him at the Hillsborough motel, it’s going to take time. Faking his own death isn’t enough to hold him unless he’s using it for a fraudulent purpose. I’ll talk to the authorities here, but they’d have to get him extradited, and that might give him a chance to disappear again. Aarrggh.”
    Ivan said, “What if we can shortcut the process? What if we can lure him out of his house and get a recorded confession from him?”
    “I’m not sure I like the word ‘lure.’ Are you going to use Carol as bait?”
    Carol spoke up. “We’re going to do it in a way that’s not dangerous. Ivan will be here to protect me. He’s got a gun.”
    “I’m glad you two are hitting it off, but Ivan isn’t invincible. Michael has used a gun, too, upon occasion. He winged you once, Carol. The next time you may not be so lucky.”
    They discussed a plan, going over the pros and cons. Finally, Paul gave reluctant approval but said he was also going to the local district attorney’s office to attempt to get them to start the process of extraditing Michael to North Carolina for attempted murder.
    After they completed the call with Paul, Carol and Ivan talked about how they should proceed. Carol found Ivan to be very thorough. He had purchased two disposable cell phones with numbers that couldn’t be traced. He used one to call the home number he had for Katherine Simpson.
    As he expected, nobody answered the phone. The answering machine switched on, and Katherine’s voice asked the caller to leave a message, promising the call would be returned as soon as possible. There was a beep. Ivan winked at Carol and assumed an extreme southern accent.
    “This call is for Jake Zimmerman, the director of the Weatherford Foundation. You don’t know me, but we have a common problem. It’s the young lady known as Carol Golden. I have it on good authority that Ms. Golden is looking for you, and her intentions are not honorable. It would not pain me to see the problem of Ms. Golden, uh, taken care of, if you follow my meaning. I happen to know where she’s staying.”
    Ivan went on to give the name of a motel—not the one where Carol was actually staying. He gave a room number and said that through connections he had obtained a card key to her room. He would leave this in an envelope behind the bushes at the corner of the motel. He suggested Mr. Zimmerman use it to enter the motel through one of the back doors and go into her room before eight p.m. He could wait for Carol there.
    “Won’t he suspect a trap?” Carol was trying to figure out how she would react to that kind of phone call.
    “He might, but I think his desire to get rid of you will overcome any misgivings he may have. Remember, he’s not playing with a full deck, and he has the power to delude himself into thinking the world is the way he’d like it to be.”
    “Where did you learn that bullshit?”
    “I was a psych major in college.”
    ***
    “The fish has taken the bait.”
    Carol’s heartbeat ramped up another notch from the high plateau it had already achieved. Michael had found the hidden card key for the motel room. Ivan was watching his movements from his car parked outside the motel and passing them on to her.
    “He’s entering the motel.”
    The manager of this motel was a friend of Ivan. They’d taken two rooms. The one Michael was headed for was located just inside the back entrance on the first floor. Carol was safely ensconced in another one known only to the manager and Ivan.
    She pictured what Michael would find when he entered the room. She and Ivan had written a note, computer-printed it, and left it on the bed. It read like this:

    Mr. Zimmerman: I have just been informed that Carol Golden has taken another room at this motel, but I