Sixty days and counting - Kim Stanley Robinson [90]
“I guess. She said she would get in touch with me. But that was four months ago.”
“Hmm.”
More running. Now they had been out long enough that Frank had begun to sweat.
Edgardo said, “I wonder. You said she said she is surveiling her ex. So I wonder if you can use that surveillance of hers, and tap into it to get a message to her.”
“Like…pin a message to his door, and hope she’ll see it and read it on camera before he gets home?”
“Well, something like that. You could show up at his doorstep, hold up a sign, then off you go. Your gal can stop her video, if she’s got one there, and read what you’ve said.”
“What if he’s got a camera on his place too?”
“Well, yes, but would he watch himself like that? I’m not sure too many people take things that far.”
“I guess not. Anyway it’s an idea. Even if he saw it too, he wouldn’t know any more than he did before. I’ll think about it.”
“Good. You might also go back up and check that place in Maine, especially if nothing else works. If she liked it as much as she said she did, maybe she’s gone back there, or stayed all along. Sometimes being close to where you were, but not too close, is the best place to hide.”
“Interesting,” Frank said. “I’d have to be sure not to lead him back to her though.”
“Yes.”
A few more strides. Frank shook his head, snorted unhappily. “It’s too complicated, this surveillance stuff. I hate it. I just want to be able to call her.”
“You need a dead drop system. They’re easy to set up, even within the current tech.”
“Yeah, but I need to find her first.”
“Yeah yeah. You need to change vans too, if that’s really how they followed you north. My friend still doesn’t believe that.”
“Yeah well they just found it again. I should get rid of it.”
“Wait till you need to get clear, then buy an old one for cash. Or just go without a car.”
“I need a car! I need a van, actually. God damn it.”
“Let’s just run. That’s all the going round and round we need right now.”
“Okay. Sorry. Thanks.”
“No problem. We will figure something out and prevail. The world and your love life deserve no less.”
“Shit.”
“Did you schedule a time for that nasal surgery yet?”
“No! Let’s just run!”
THE FEELING OF HELPLESSNESS and indecision grew in him until he couldn’t sleep at night. You had to decide to sleep a night through. In one of the long cold insomniac hours, listening unhappily to Rudra’s uneven snore, he realized he had to do something about finding Caroline, no matter how futile it might be, just to give himself some small release from the anxiety of the situation. So the next night, after Rudra fell asleep, he drove to Bethesda, and at three a.m. parked and got out, and walked quickly up the empty streets to the apartment building that Caroline and her ex had lived in before her disappearance.
All empty. Streetlight across the street from the building; a dim doorway light illuminating the steps of the building. If Caroline had the place under surveillance then she would presumably have some kind of motion sensor on her camera or her data. If she saw him in that doorway, she would know that he wanted her to contact him. He was afraid that there might also be a security camera of some kind on the building, perhaps monitored by Caroline’s ex. It would make sense, if you were in that line of work and thinking along those lines. Well, shit. She definitely was surveiling the building, her ex only possibly. It had to be tried.
He walked deliberately up to the steps of the place, looked at the address panel as if seeking a name. Shaking his head slightly, he looked out at the street and the buildings across the street, said “call me,” feeling awkward. Then off again into the night. Lots of people had to come to that door, and some would be lost, or just looking randomly at things. It was the best he could do. He couldn’t decide whether it was adequate or not. When he tried to figure out what to do he felt sick to his stomach.
He went to work the next day wondering if she would see him. Wondering where she was and what she was thinking. Wondering how she could