As to questions, she still had plenty of those in her head if not the energy to direct them at anyone just at the moment—which would have been pointless in any case. Principal among them was to know just what was going on. For it was plain that everyone around her was overreacting—overreacting, that is, to the facts of the situation as far as Michelle was aware of it. Even if there were condemnatory evidence to be found in Garsten’s office, Corfe and Michelle hadn’t found it—and nobody, strangely, had gone to any great lengths to establish if they had, nor what they had been looking for. In any case it would have posed little threat as things had turned out, because, as Garsten would be fully aware, nothing obtained in such a way could have been used in any prosecution. Its only use would have been in furnishing proof to warn Eric, as had been the intention. So, with the law fully on their side, all that Garsten and his associates had needed to do was have Michelle arrested and file charges against her and Corfe for trespass, technical illegal entry, attempted theft of information, and a list of other things that could hardly be contested and would probably put an end to both Michelle’s and Corfe’s careers. Instead, they had already laid themselves open to charges of assault and abduction, perjured themselves to avoid involving the police, and were now evacuating in panic. The only conclusion to be drawn was that a lot more was going on than Michelle knew about. As much as she thought in the drive from Redmond, she had been unable to form any guesses as to what. Now she was too exhausted to think.
* * * G
Corfe called Eric from a roadside pull-off at the last intersection on 520 heading west before the east shore of Lake Washington. The whole story would obviously have to come out now, and it seemed to him that delaying it could only make things worse. He told Eric about the suspicions concerning Vanessa and his plan with Michelle and Kevin to seek evidence in Garsten’s office in order to avoid having to bring anything to Eric’s attention until they were sure. But they’d blown it, Michelle had been seized, and now Corfe didn’t even know where she was. Kevin ought to have been okay since he was back at Neurodyne and away from it all, but after Eric’s call Corfe had mobilized Ohira to get over there and check out the situation. Corfe had tried to get help from the police but managed to blow that too. Corfe was sorry to have to dump it on Eric like this. That was the way it was. He realized as he finished speaking that his motive had been a confession in need of absolution, as much as anything.
Eric was still sounding dazed when Corfe finished. Clearly he was struggling to absorb it all. “My God, I can’t . . . How sure are you? I . . . You’re right. There’s nothing more you can do about Kevin. Ohira will take care of it. . . . You need to try and find where Michelle is. Do you have any ideas?”
“No, but I’m trying to use the van’s couplers to link into the mecs that disappeared from Garsten’s office. If I can figure out where they are, my guess is that’s where she’ll be too.”
“Yes . . . yes, of course. Try that,” Eric agreed.
“I haven’t had any luck from where I am now, which is west of Bellevue, coming to the bridge. I don’t think she’s this side of the lake. So I’m going across to the city now to try from a more central location.”
“Maybe we can try talking to the police again, too, when I get back,” Eric said. “They might listen more to both of us—especially if you get something before then. I’ll probably be about another hour. I’ve tried calling the firm again, but there’s still no answer from Kevin.”
“I’ll call you back if there’s any news,” Corfe said.
“Okay, Doug.”
Corfe cut the call, started the van again, and pulled back onto 520, heading westward toward the Evergreen Point Bridge.