Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 17

"You kept to yourself. Very quiet and dependable." Kane said, "Accordingto what you told me, Mrs. Camp, you spoke to Miss. Parker for about fiveminutes before she left the office the day of her accident."

"Yes."

"Do you remember what you talked about?"

"After all these weeks? Not really. I should imagine it was something todo with the paperwork she had stayed late to complete."

"I see. Do you always remain late yourself if some- one else is workingafter hours?"

"Usually but not always. I had paperwork of my own to take care of."

Kane glanced at Faith as she shifted slightly in the other visitor'schair then said to the supervisor, "Were ir, you both working on thesame project?"

"No, Mr. Macgregor. No one in my department is a.s.signed a specificproject the way you mean. We take care of work as it comes in, on arotation basis. As I recall, Miss. Parker was transcribing threedifferent field reports and collating inspection forms from at leasthalf a dozen construction sites. It was by no means an unusualworkload."

-Would you happen to know which construction sites those were, Mrs.Camp?"

"Not specifically." Her voice was' different.

"Could you find out for us?"

"I don't see how, Mr. Macgregor. There's no reason for our files to show which clerk handled the various pieces of paper."

Faith spoke up then. "Why was I late, Mrs. Camp?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You said I was dependable. So why did I have to stay late to complete

that paperwork?

Didn't I have time to get it done during regular hours?

The supervisor frowned at her. "You took a long lunch that day. Two

hours."

"Do you know why I did that?"

"You said you had a doctor's appointment."

There was the faintest emphasis on the second word.

Slightly dry, Faith said, "I guess I didn't have a note."

"No."

There didn't seem to be much more they could ask, so after thanking the

supervisor for her time, Kane and Faith left her tiny office.

"Good question," he said as they stood in the hall- way outside the

suite of offices that made up the Office of Building Inspections and Zoning. "It never occurred to me to wonder why you stayed late that day.

"The answer doesn't seem to help us much." She shrugged. "I didn't have

a doctor's appointment that day, at least not with Dr. Murphy, so Icould have been lying to Mrs. Camp about why I took the long lunch. Butwe don't have a clue what I might have been doing, or where I went, andafter so many weeks it's doubtful we'd find anyone who might have seenme and remembered, even if we knew who to ask."

"And you don't recognize this hallway?"

Faith looked around again. The Office of Building Inspections and Zoning

was on the fifth floor of the busy downtown office building, and up and down the hall on this floor and others were more city offices.

The hallway itself was generic, almost featureless and without charm,

and struck no chord of memory within Faith.

"This isn't the hallway I saw in that memory," she told Kane. "At least, not this floor."

"My guess is that they all look virtually alike, but we can check a

couple on the way down."

As Kane had predicted, the other floors they checked were all but identical, and by the time they reached the lobby, Faith was certain it was not this building she and Dinah had been in when she had found ...

whatever it was she had found.

A morning filled with questions, and precious few answers.

Faith said, "I think we should talk to Dinah's other lawyer, Mr. Sloan.

Especially since you didn't know about him before."

"I definitely want him to explain why he didn't come forward when Dinah

disappeared," Kane agreed grimly.

They got into the car, and for a moment he stared through the windshield without moving.

"Kane?"

A muscle tightened in his' jaw. "I don't-I can't feel her anymore."

The desolation in his voice went through Faith like a knife and left her

aching. For him, for Dinah. And for herself.

"She's gone further and further away from me with every day that's pa.s.sed. I think about it, and I realize I can't remember the sound of

her voice. I glimpse a blond woman on a street corner and my heart stops, yet I have to concentrate to remember her face."

"Kane-"

He turned his head and focused on her. 'I have to find her," he said.

"Before I lose her completely."

There was nothing she could say to that except, -We'll find her, Kane.

We will."

After a moment he nodded, accepting that rea.s.surance because, she

thought, anything else was simply unbearable.

"Yes," he said.

She kept her voice steady. "I have Mr. Sloan's card, so I know the

address of his office. Kane started the car, his actions automatic.

More coolly now, as though he regretted the impulsive, emotional

confidence, he said, "I'm willing to bet he won't tell us anything useful."

"Maybe, but it's a base we have to cover."

"Agreed. But I know lawyers. He won't talk."

As it turned out, Kane was only half right.

Edward Sloan was in his early fifties but looked ten years younger. He

was trim and athletic, dressed well without ostentation, and had thetrained, evenly modulated voice of an orator. And despite visiblyrestless clients in his outer office, he agreed to see Faith and Kaneimmediately.

"How can I help you?" he asked when they were seated before his sleek,modern desk. The question might have been directed to both of them, buthis eyes were on Faith.

So she was the one who replied. "Mr. Sloan, do you have any idea ifDinah Leighton was working on a particular story when she disappeared?"

"No. She never talked to me about her work." Kane said, "She used yourservices whenever she wanted her actions to remain very quiet."

"Is that a question, Mr. Macgregor?" Sloan smiled faintly. "Yes, I washer confidential attorney."

"Did she-does she use you only to arrange financial deals?"

"Almost exclusively. Miss. Leighton's family attorneys tended to viewher philanthropy with a great deal of unease, from what she told me. Ihad the virtue of complete personal disinterest in her and in what shechose to do with her money. She told me what she wanted done, I did it."

"Like the financial arrangements for me," Faith said.

"Exactly so, Miss. Parker."

"You never asked her why she did it?"

"As I said, my value to Miss. Leighton lay in my discretion and mydisinterest. It would not have been to my advantage to ask herquestions."

Kane tried another tack. "Okay, then tell us this.

Did you notice, in the course of performing your duties for Miss.Leighton, anything out of the ordinary? Anything that might give us someidea of what happened to her?"