"I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful," Truman said as he ushered Joey back into the main lobby of Neowerks.
"No, you've been a real help," Joey said, tapping his notebook against the palm of his hand. On the first page he had written "Walter Harvey and Sonny Rollins," the assumed names of Oliver and Charlie. So after talking to his employees, he was only able to identify one of the Photographs?
"Arthur Stoughton," Truman said.
—. But when I went back to tell Ducky's daughter, she and the two uncles who were with her thanked me for the time I had spent with them and disappeared. Her." He nervously scratched his tousled hair and added. I did it just because I thought they were Ducky's friends...
Joey knew that tone perfectly. He could see it in Truman's manic movements, even in the way he looked at the receptionist behind the shiny black desk.
"You have nothing to worry about, sir, she hasn't done anything wrong.
"No... no, of course." I'm just saying that…" Her voice trailed off. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Miss Lamont.
"Me too, but only if she calls me Joey."
Truman smiled tightly, shook his hand quickly, and scurried back toward his office.
As the door closed behind him, Joey glanced back at the receptionist, who didn't look up…even though that was his job.
Joey headed straight for the black desk.
-Can I ask you a question fast?
He took two photographs from her bag: one of Charlie and Oliver and the other of Gillian and Duckworth. He slid them onto the desk, then placed her father's ID next to the snapshots.
The receptionist placed the magazine on her lap and looked at the photographs, examining them carefully.
"They're not rapists, are they?" She—she finally asked her.
"No, they're not rapists," Joey said in an absolutely don't worry-. We just want to ask you a few questions.
"You know their hair is a different color, right?" the woman asked, still looking at the photos.
"We know," Joey said. We're trying to find out where they went when they left here.
"You mean after the library?"
"Right...after the library," Joey replied, nodding as if he knew she was going to ask him that question. Which reminds me... what was that library...?
When she heard the familiar beep as she swerved onto the Florida Turnpike, she flipped open her cell phone and saw the words "New Message" on the digital display. Thinking it was either Gallo or DeSanctis, she calmly dialed his voice mail.
"You have a new message," the computerized voice said. To hear the message from him...
She pressed the corresponding button and waited for the recorded message to activate.
-Where are you? Why don't you pick up the phone? asked a female voice. The man smiled when he heard the voice.
from Gillian. I just spoke with Gallo," she explained. She was happy to hear about Disney, but there is no doubt that she has begun to suspect something. That guy is not a jerk, he doesn't need to be too smart to know what's going on. No matter what you may have told him at first, he sees that the board is moving. In any case, I know you wanted to throw him and DeSanctis a bone, but from my point of view, it's two against one. So if you're really going to succeed in this operation, it's time you got your ass up here and gave me a hand. OK? OK?
When the message finished, he hit the delete key, closed the phone, and stepped on the accelerator. His intention was to stay away as long as possible, but as he always said at the bank, some things require a personal touch.
-What does he want? —Asked Gallo through his cell phone.
"Agent Gallo, this is Officer Jim Evans of the Florida Highway Patrol. We've just found a clue to that blue Volkswagen they're searching. Apparently it's registered to a Martin Duckworth...
"I told you it was registered to Duckworth."
At the other end of the line there was a brief pause.
"Do you want the information or not, sir?" Evans challenged.
This time it was Gallo who remained silent for a few seconds.
"Tell me what he's got," he finally said as he and DeSanctis flew down the freeway. He could hear Evans quietly gloating.
"We put the name on SunPass, just to take a look," he began.
Evans— Apparently, about forty minutes ago, a pass registered to Martin Duckworth was activated at the Cypress Creek tollbooth.
-In what direction?
"To the north," said the policeman. If you want, I can send a couple of cars to...
"Don't touch them!" rooster yelled. Has he understood? These are IC... confidential informants...
I know what an IC is.
"Then you also know that I want them to be left alone!"
"You can do as you please," Evans called back. just remember that it was you who contacted us.
Next to Gallo, DeSanctis shook his head.
"I still think you shouldn't have brought those people into this.
"It was worth it."
-Because? Just to confirm that she was heading north?
"No, to confirm that she wasn't heading south."
Nodding to himself, DeSanctis rubbed the back of his neck, where a thin white bandage covered the cut Gillian had made a few hours earlier.
"Do you really think that she is she cheating?
"It's definitely a possibility...
—And what about you know?
who?
"Don't even say it."
Rooster interrupted. She told me that she caught a plane first thing in the morning.
"And you believe him?"
"I don't believe anyone," Gallo said. Not after everything that's happened; I mean, why did he put her in the house and she didn't even tell us? What the hell does that mean?
"I have no idea... I just want to make sure we still have our pasta.
-Don't worry about that...
When this is all over and it's time to split the creature up, I guarantee we'll take a few extra arms and legs with us.
-This? Joey asked, pointing to the computer in the middle.
"No, to the left," the woman behind the information desk replied.
"Her left of hers or mine?"
The librarian hesitated for a moment.
"Yours," she said.
On the fifth floor of the Broward County Library, Joey walked down the row of computers to the one at the far end. The machine that—according to the record sheet—had recently been used by Mr. Sonny Rollins. Of the three chairs that were placed in front of the table, Joey knew which one it was as soon as he walked into the room, but that didn't mean he shouldn't double-check. Just to be sure.
"Exactly... that's it," the librarian confirmed from afar.
Joey pushed the other two chairs out of the way and settled in the one in the center. On the screen was the page for the Broward County Library: Broward Information Access, it said in black letters. Without wasting a second, she moved the cursor to the button marked "History," the computer equivalent of looking at an itemized long-distance phone bill from a distance. She quickly clicked the mouse and watched as an entire list downloaded right before her eyes. It contained all the websites the computer had visited in the last twenty days, including the last page it Oliver and Charlie had consulted. Starting at the top, she activated the most recent page.
Mickey and Pluto appeared on the screen. "Disney.com - Where the Magic Lives Online."
-What the hell is this? She — she thought to herself.
She activated the next page listed and found more of the same. "About Disney.com...Executive Biographies...Executive Biographies for Arthur Stoughton..."
Arthur Stoughton?
At that moment there was a high-pitched beep and Joey searched for his cell phone. All people occupying the fifth floor turned to her.
"Sorry..." she waved to the onlookers as she placed the tiny earpiece in her ear.
"Are you still in the library?" Noreen asked.
-What do you think? Joey whispered.
"Okay, get ready to start whooping, because I just talked to your mystery friend Fudge, who just talked to a woman named Gladys, who just happens to be friends with another woman who is fuming about the way her boss treated her at the Florida Highway Patrol.
"You better give me good news," Joey said.
"They're really good. Let me put it this way: For just five hundred bucks, Gladys's friend happily entered the word "Duckworth" into the computer system...
-AND...?
"And she quickly discovered that a SunPass registered to Martin Duckworth was last used northbound at a Florida turnpike tollbooth.
-North?
Directly in front of her, Joey.
He looked at the official website of Disney, Orlando's top tourist attraction. Heading north on the Florida Turnpike.
Jumping out of her chair, Joey ran toward the elevator.
-What are you doing now? Noreen asked, hearing a noise.
"Noreen…I'm going to Disney World.