One Good Samaritan. A man, in his sixties, had put his leg out to trip Brianna. He tipped his fedora at Amanda and Trent. “Happy to be of help.”
“Thank you,” she told him with a smile.
Amanda and Trent hauled Brianna to her feet, both taking an arm and lifting. Brianna tried to shrug them off. She succeeded with the arm Amanda had been holding. The woman was strong and doped on adrenaline, but it was more than that. Something that Amanda saw on Brianna’s forearm had her grip loosening. A tattoo—Roo.
“We need to talk to you,” Amanda said firmly. “You have a choice. Here or down at Central Station.”
Brianna flicked a finger toward the hotel. “My room.”
Amanda nodded, and the three of them went back to room 815.
“You didn’t need to run,” Trent hissed. He was still winded, and Amanda figured it wasn’t because he had bad cardiovascular health, but rather pain. She had a suspicion he’d twisted his ankle during the pursuit. He was behind her, but she’d heard him grunt in pain and had glanced over a shoulder.
“If you were me, you’d run too.”
“You’re afraid of cops,” Trent volleyed back.
“I’m not afraid of anything. But cops can’t be trusted.”
Amanda imagined her dislike for cops was linked to her winding up in foster care. “You were Claire’s best friend, Roo.” She added that latter bit and looked at Trent as she did. “I saw the tattoo on your arm.”
Brianna twisted her bicep, showing off the ink. “What do you mean Iwasher best friend? Did something happen to her?”
“Might be best if you took a seat,” Amanda told her.
Brianna sat on the edge of the bed.
Amanda continued. “Claire was murdered last Friday.”
Brianna gasped and started shaking furiously. “I told her. I told her to just leave it all alone. There’s no good that comes from digging around in the past.”
Amanda’s stomach fluttered. “Tell us everything you know.”
“I don’t know everything, that’s the thing. Just enough. I know she got herself caught up in something bad. Illegal,” she added under her breath.
“A robbery ring that targeted wealthy collectors of artwork, jewels, sculptures…?” Amanda put it out there as if Claire’s pastime was of little consequence. She wanted to encourage Brianna to continue talking.
“That’s right, though I’m not sure if you could call it aring. I don’t think there were many people involved.”
“It was connected to the gallery where Claire worked in Washington?” Trent said.
“Yes and no. I mean I don’t think the place is corrupt, just some people who worked there were. Not sure if that’s still the case.” Brianna rubbed her cheek with her shoulder. “It was the worst place for Claire, but she couldn’t get away from them.”
“Who isthem,and how did they force her hand?” Amanda was trying to understand, putting herself in the mind of a sixteen-year-old who had just lost her mother and father. She’d be looking for a place to belong, a surrogate family. Was that all it took, and that desire kept her tethered to those people and that lifestyle even when she became an adult?
“I don’t know names. Claire didn’t want me involved. She wanted me far away from all of it.”
“Did they control her somehow, hold something over her head?”Michelle. Logan.What if these people had threatened their welfare? Amanda could imagine that would compel Claire’s cooperation. It would seem she’d viewed Logan’s accident as an attempt on his life.
“They groomed her. They gave her nice things, handed over wads of cash. I’m telling you I just had a bad feeling about the entire thing. So did Claire, but there were times she tried to convince me they weren’t so bad. I wasn’t sure it was me she was trying to convince or herself.”
“Did you and Claire stay in touch?” Amanda was following a gut feeling. In what turned out to be Claire’s last week alive, she hadn’t gone to her sister or Logan, but saw Brianna.
“Yeah, I’d get letters in the mail, no return address. She’d use postal outlets in the towns she passed through. I never knew where she was staying. And I knew better than to ask.”
“You never told any of this to Logan Hunter, Claire’s husband.” Trent’s face was a resting scowl. “He came to you looking for Claire.”
“It hurt me to keep quiet, but Claire made me promise. She said for Logan’s safety, he could never find her or uncover her past.”
