“There was a ping from a tower in Saint Louis just three hours ago,” Lane explained for the benefit of both Maggie and Liz, “but there’s been nothing since.” She pointed to the screen as she spoke. “If I scroll through the tower hits, it shows the phone was in Omaha until earlier today. I can see the path it took as it made its way down Interstate 29, through the Kansas City metro where it went east along Interstate 70, finally stopping where it was a few hours ago.” She looked at the faces around her, finally stopping to look intently at her friend. “Maggie, the fact that there’s been nothing for the last four hours probably means the phone’s turned off, or the battery’s dead.” Lane turned to look at Ben, her face asking him for a solution she knew didn’t exist.
Ben reached for Lane’s hand, “I’ll call Tanner. He’s four hours closer to Saint Louis than we are. Can you give me a real street address? And a radius that he should work out from?” He looked at Maggie. “Tanner’s my investigator, like Blake is for Liz. He’s a former cop and he has contacts in other local, and state, law enforcement jurisdictions. I’m sure he knows people in Saint Louis. He can be there tonight and we can meet him tomorrow.”
Maggie managed a smile. This really might be over soon.
As they ate, Liz and Ben brought Blake up to speed. Blake nodded as they talked. He wanted to do a little more digging around the house where Jeff's car had died. Interstate 80 was a pipeline for drug trafficking and it wasn't unusual for old houses in rural areas to be used as meth labs. He'd get Liz and Ben alone and talk about it in private. He liked Maggie and didn't want to say anything that might put a gray cloud over the good news they'd just gotten.
Chapter 6
Meet me in St. Louis
Lane was awake, showered, packed, and ready to go by seven o’clock. Ben's door was still closed, so she turned on the local news and checked e-mail. Finally, at 7:30 she knocked gently on Ben's door. She heard a mumbling from inside. "Ben, are you up?" She said quietly. "It's 7:30."
Ben was a little groggy. Maybe sharing a suite with Lane wasn't the best idea he'd ever had. He'd gotten little sleep between the conversation with Tanner at midnight and listening to Lane as she slept. Lord, the woman didn't snore, she moaned. He'd closed his bedroom door, he'd put a pillow over his head and then he'd gotten up and paced. It wasn't loud moaning, just a quiet gentle "mmmm" sound every now and then, but it was enough to rouse him in more way than one. They had never been lovers, never dated; they were friends, just friends. But, Lord, she was gorgeous and that moaning had him lying awake imagining having her doing it in his arms as he showered her with kisses. Around 3:00, after he'd taken a cold shower he was finally able to fall asleep. Now apparently, it was 7:30 and she was well rested, wide-awake, just outside his door, and ready to go. Well, he was ready to go too but it had nothing to do with driving eight hours in a car.
"Shouldn't we get going soon?" She said through the door.
Sure, they should get going soon, just as soon as he figured out how he and his massive erection were going to walk past her to get into the bathroom. He groaned.
"Do you need coffee? I could go get you some if it would help."
"Yeah, a coffee, large, black, would be great. I'll hop in the shower and be ready by the time you get back."
How weird was that? She thought. She'd known Ben for three years and as she recalled he was usually in the gym at 6:00 am dressed and in the office well before 8:00. She was the one who was usually a late riser skipping the gym completely and going into the office closer to 9:00. Oh well, if coffee would get him up and moving, then she'd go to the continental breakfast in the lobby and get coffee.
She returned to the room with a large coffee in hand just as Ben walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist as he used another to dry his face and hair. His washboard abs were glistening with dampness, the hair on his chest was wet and curly. She'd seen him in a swimming suit and had no idea why the sight of him in that towel should take her breath away.
She put the coffee cup down. "Coffee's on the table." She said as she rushed into her room before he had a chance to look at her. She gathered up her suitcase, briefcase, and purse but didn't move from her room until she heard Ben's door close.
Ben dressed and carefully repacked his suitcase before joining her in the sitting area. A night of listening to her moan and now he was going to spend the next eight hours in a car with her less than a foot away with only the console separating them. He knew before he opened his door what she'd look like. She'd be wearing those form fitting Levi 501 button fly jeans a sleeveless blouse similar to the pink one she wore yesterday, maybe a light blue, maybe a bright red she'd have her hair in a ponytail again or maybe she'd French braided it today. She'd be wearing sandals and she'd be looking at him with those big blue eyes. He groaned as he zipped his suitcase.
"You okay in there?" He heard her say as he grabbed his suitcase and the backpack holding his laptop.
He opened the door. "Yeah, fine. Thanks for getting the coffee. Do you want to sit and have breakfast here or just hit Mickey D's on our way out of town?" He looked up to find her sitting on the sofa and, he sure wasn't prepared for the vision before him. Her red hair was lying around the lacey collar of a white linen blouse, her white bra barely visible underneath. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Lord have mercy.
"You know how I love my Diet Dr. Pepper, so Mickey D's is fine with me." She thought they were getting started a little late and a drive though breakfast would be faster. Besides, Ben didn't seem quite himself this morning, and she didn't want to mention the late start.
He reached out to take her suitcase and after putting his duffle on top of her rolling suitcase bent to pick up the now lukewarm coffee she'd gotten for him. "Mickey D's it is then, let's hit the road."
Ben started the Navigator and Lane gave him directions to the nearest McDonald's. He ordered another coffee for himself, a DDP for Lane and breakfast sandwiches for each of them. He passed the food and drinks to her as they were handed to him and was surprised to see that she was mixing his fresh coffee with his lukewarm coffee into a large travel mug he kept in the SUV. He wondered how any man could walk away from her. She was beautiful, intelligent, witty, kind, thoughtful, and sexy. He shook his head, thinking, Man you have got to snap out of this.
"What do you want first? Hash brown or sandwich?" She looked at him, and noticed that the collar of his pale blue polo shirt was bunched up from carrying his backpack over just one shoulder. She reached over and smoothed it. He really was an amazingly handsome man with his chiseled jaw, his dark hair, hazel eyes, firm muscles and that perfect smile. He only had one flaw, well maybe two. He was a babe magnet and he was twelve years younger than she was. Her first husband had been a babe magnet and she knew how that ended; even if she could get past that, nothing was going to change the fact that he was twelve years her junior.
"I'll have the sandwich. I know you really want my hash brown anyway."
She handed him the Egg McMuffin and smiled as she took a bite of the hash brown.
Except for the low mournful crooning of Frank Sinatra singing about the gal that got way they rode in silence. It was funny their taste in music was the same and it was from before either of their times. Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin with a little Michael Buble and Harry Connick Jr. mixed in. She smiled remembering the day that Jess had asked each of them if they could only listen to the music of three artists for the rest of their lives what would it be. Lane had quickly said Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, and she floundered trying to think of a woman when Ben said Peggy Lee. The selections had confused Jess. "I thought your favorite song was Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis." She'd said and Lane laughed, it was true that she loved Heartbreak Hotel, just not enough to pull Elvis into the top 3.