The Blue Nowhere

from the phone in the lab before he’dcalled Goodwill. Then Bishop had gotten the address of that location—the house in front of them—and they’d staked out the approaches.
    If Bishop’s handling of the escape had been software, the hacker within Gillette would’ve called it one moby kludge.
    He said, “I should’ve cracked the switch at Pac Bell and changed the local-call records. I would’ve done that if I’d had time.”
    Shock at the arrest was diminishing, replaced by despair—as he looked at the outline of his electronic creation in Bishop’s raincoat pocket. How close he’d come to the goal that had obsessed him for months. He looked at the house he’d been headed for. The lights glowed warmly.
    Shelton said, “You’re Shawn, aren’t you?”
    “No, I’m not. I don’t know who Shawn is.”
    “But you were Valleyman, right?”
    “Yes. And I was in the Knights of Access.”
    “You know Holloway?”
    “I did know him, yes.”
    “Jesus Christ,” the bulky detective continued, “of course you’re Shawn. All you assholes have a dozen different IDs. You’re him and you’re on your way to meet Phate right now.” He grabbed the hacker by the collar of his cheap Goodwill jacket.
    This time Bishop intervened and touched Shelton’s shoulder. The big cop released the hacker but continued in his low, threatening voice, nodding at the house up the street. “Phate’s going by the identity of Donald Papandolos. He’s the one you called—and you called him a couple of times today from CCU. To tip him off about us. We saw the fucking phone records.”
    Gillette was shaking his head. “No. I—”
    Shelton continued, “We’ve got tactical troopers surrounding the place. And you’re going to help us get him out.”
    “I have no idea where Phate is. But I’ll guarantee you he’s not in there.”
    “Who is, then?” Bishop asked.
    “My wife. That’s her father’s house.”

CHAPTER 00010101 / TWENTY-ONE
    “E lana’s the one I called,” Gillette explained.
    He turned to Shelton. “And you were right. I did go online when I first got to CCU. I lied about it. I hacked into DMV to see if she was still living at her father’s. Then I called her tonight to see if she was home.”
    “You’re divorced, I thought,” Bishop said.
    “I am divorced.” He hesitated. “I still think of her as my wife.”
    “Elana,” Bishop said. “Last name Gillette?”
    “No. She went back to her maiden name. Papandolos.”
    Bishop said to Shelton, “Run the name.”
    The cop made the call and listened, then nodded. “It’s her. This’s her address. House owned by Donald and Irene Papandolos. No warrants.”
    Bishop pulled on a headset mike. He said into his mouthpiece, “Alonso? It’s Bishop. We’re pretty sure it’s negative on the doer and there’re only innocents inside the house. Check it out and tell me what you see. . . .” A pause of a few minutes. Then he listened into the headphones. He looked up at Gillette. “There’s a woman in her sixties, gray hair.”
    “Elana’s mother. Irene.”
    “A man in his twenties.”
    “Curly black hair?”
    Bishop repeated the question, listened to the response then nodded.
    “That’s her brother, Christian.”
    “And a blonde in her mid-thirties. She’s reading to two little boys.”
    “Elana has dark hair. That’s probably Camilla, her sister. She usedto be a redhead but she’d change her hair color every few months. The kids’re hers. She’s got four of them.”
    Bishop said into the microphone, “Okay, it’s sounding legit. Tell everybody to stand down. I’m releasing the scene.” The detective asked Gillette, “What’s this all about? You were going to check the computer from St. Francis and instead you escaped.”
    “I did check the machine. There was nothing that’d help us find him. As soon as I booted up, the demon sensed something—probably that we’d disconnected the modem—and killed itself. If I’d found anything helpful I would’ve left you a note.”
    “Left us a note?” Shelton snapped. “You make it sound like you’re running to the goddamn 7-Eleven for cigarettes. You fucking escaped from custody.”
    “I didn’t escape.” He pointed at the anklet. “Check out the tracking system. It’s set to go back on in an hour. I was going to call you from her house and have somebody come get me and take me back to CCU. I just needed some time to see Ellie.”
    Bishop eyed the hacker closely then asked,