Hotline to Murder

opened each of the drawers and quickly went through the contents: a sweater, a sweatshirt, some underwear, and socks.
    In the bottom drawer, underneath some T-shirts, he felt something with a different texture. Smooth and satiny. He pulled it out.
    “Shahla.”
    Shahla turned from where she was investigating some sheets and blankets that had been thrown into a corner. Tony held up a pair of barely-there panties. She raced over and grabbed the lingerie.
    “Those belong to Joy. I’m sure they do. They look like something Joy would wear.”
    Tears were streaming down her face. Tony felt something else. He pulled out a bra. Shahla took it and looked at the label.
    “It’s a 34B. I’m sure that’s right for Joy.”
    “We’ve got our man,” Tony said, grimly. “Now all we have to do is find him. Put them back in the drawer.”
    “Put them back?” Shahla looked perplexed.
    “I’m going to tip off the police. But we’ve got to leave the evidence here, where they can find it. If we take it to them it may be tainted, somehow.”
    Shahla reluctantly put the items back in the drawer, but on top of the T-shirts so that there would be no question about the police finding them. Tony returned to the other room. There was a telephone sitting on the counter between the living room and the kitchen. He picked up the receiver and listened. He heard a dial tone.
    “It works.” He punched in the number of the Bonita Beach Police. He gave his name to the desk officer, who recognized it in connection with the chase. He asked whether the kidnapper’s car had been spotted. Negative. He said he had more information on Joy’s murder and Tina’s kidnapping. He gave Nathan’s full name and address and said he had reason to believe that Nathan was the kidnapper. He said he thought the police would find evidence in Nathan’s apartment. He didn’t say that Nathan expected to ascend into heaven tonight. He figured that would require too long an explanation.
    “We’ll have to get a search warrant,” the officer said.
    “Nathan has moved out so I suspect all you need is the manager’s permission,” Tony said. He had a thought. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll get you the manager’s phone number.”
    He hung up and said to Shahla, “The manager is in the first apartment on the right as we came into the courtyard.” They went to the front door. “Wait. Let’s see if anybody is about.” They peeked through the drapes and saw no sign of life. They went out the door and shut it behind them.
    As they walked to the manager’s apartment, Shahla said, “If the manager is a woman you do the talking. If he’s a man, let me talk.”
    “Who died and left you boss?” Tony asked. When Shahla looked ready to retort, he raised his arms and said, “Just kidding. We’ll go with that.”
    They knocked on the manager’s door. A small, elderly woman opened it. She was bent over, which made her look even shorter than she was. Tony had the nod.
    “Good morning, ma’am,” he said. “My name is Tony and this is my sister, Sally. “We are friends of Nathan Watson.”
    The woman looked at them without speaking for a moment. Then she said, “Friends of Nathan? Then why did you break into his apartment?”
    “Break in?” Her drapes were open. She had seen them through the window. “Er…we were trying to find Nathan.”
    “Nathan is gone. He moved out two days ago. So I’m sure you didn’t get anything. But I’ve called the police, anyway, in case you caused some damage.”
    “ You called the police?” This was a reversal. Tony couldn’t think straight. “What police?”
    “LAPD, of course. They’ll be here shortly.”
    Shahla was tugging on Tony’s arm. “Let’s go.”
    “Do you know what Nathan is going to do?” he asked.
    The woman stared at him coldly, without speaking. Considering her small stature, she looked formidable.
    Shahla tugged harder. “Let’s go,” she said again.
    Tony went with her. They moved swiftly through the outside gate and along the street to his car. He looked back when they reached the car. She wasn’t watching them. He suspected she had stayed within the safety of her apartment. They got into the car.
    “Drive,” Shahla said. “If we get detained by the police, we’ll never find Nathan.”
    Tony drove. He wound through the largely residential streets for a mile or so and then, figuring they were safe, he parked again.
    “It’s a good thing they didn’t respond faster,” he