She’d come straight from Starkweather and the clip of her I.D. badge protruded from a breast pocket. The recorder was a tiny black Sony.
“Just a bit more,” she said, tapping her fingers on the steel table.
Her voice on the tape said, “Okay, Ardis. Maybe tomorrow.”
Thirty-three seconds. Footsteps.
“Tuh.”
“Tuh, Ardis? Two? Two what? ”
Twenty-eight seconds.
“Ardis? ”
“Tuhguh.”
“Togo?”
“Tuh guh choo choo bang bang.”
“Togo choo choo bang bang? Whatdoes that mean, Ardis? ”
Fifteen seconds.
“Choo choo bang bang, Ardis? Is that some sort of game? ”
Eighteen seconds.
“Ardis? What’s choo choo bang bang? ”
Thirty seconds, forty, fifty.
” What does it mean, Ardis? ”
Eighty-three seconds. Click.
She said, “At that point, he turned away from me, wouldn’t open his eyes. I waited awhile longer, but I knew it was all I was going to get out of him.”
” ‘Choo choo bang bang,’ ” said Milo.
She colored. “I know. It’s pretty stupid, isn’t it? I guess I shouldn’t have gotten so jazzed. But at least it’s something, right? He’s talking to me. Maybe he’ll keep talking.”
“Where’d you keep the recorder?” I said.
“In my pocket.” She pointed to the navy photographer’s vest she’d draped over her chair. “I tried yesterday, too, but nothing happened.”
” ‘Choo choo bang bang,’ ” said Milo. ” ‘Bad eyes in a box.'”
“I’ve been trying to figure out some connection,” said Heidi. Suddenly, she looked very tired. “Probably wasting your time. Sorry.”
“No, no,” said Milo. “I appreciate your help. I’d like to keep the tape.”
“Sure.” She popped it out of the machine, gave it to him, placed the recorder back in the vest pocket, collected her purse, and stood.
Milo held out a hand and they shook. “Thanks,” he said. “Really. Any information is helpful.”
She shrugged. “I guess…. Want me to keep taping?”
“I don’t want you to do anything that violates regulations.”
“Never heard of any regulation against taping.”
“It’s generally illegal to tape anyone without their knowledge, Heidi. Jail prisoners lose the presumption of privacy, but whether or not that applies to the men at Starkweather, I don’t know.”
“Okay,” she said. “So I won’t do it anymore.” Shrugging, she moved toward the door.
“Kind of strange, isn’t it? Protecting them. That’s another reason I don’t want to stick around.”
“What’s that?”
“Swig talks all the time about humane care, how they’re human beings, too. But I just can’t find much sympathy for them, and I’d rather work with people I care about. -At least they can’t leave. I guess that’s the main thing.”
“Speaking of which,” said Milo. “One of them did get out.”
Her knuckles whitened around the purse handle. “I never heard that. When?”
“Before you came on staff.”
“Who? What was his name?”
“Wendell Pelley.”
“No,” she said. “Never heard of him-why, is he some sort of suspect in Claire’s murder?”
“No,” said Milo. “Not yet. I’m just trying to cover all bases. Anything you could find out about Pelley would be useful. Like, did he and Peake associate with each other.”
“I can try… long as I stay at Starkweather.”
“Two more weeks.”
“Yes, but if there’s something you think I can… Are you saying this Pelley is what Peake’s little speeches are all about? Pelley’s been communicating with Peake?
Sending him messages, and Peake’s babbling them back at me?”
“I wish I knew enough to theorize, Heidi. Right now I’m simply looking into everything.”
“Okay… I’ll do what I can.” Sharp tug of the ponytail. Looking troubled, she opened the door. Milo and I walked her downstairs to the street. Her car was parked at the curb, half-lit by a streetlamp. Old, dented Chrysler minivan. A bumper sticker read, “Climbers Get High Naturally.”
Milo said, “What’s the highest mountain you ever tackled?”
“I’m more of a wall person than a mountain person. Sheer surfaces, the more vertical the better.” She smiled. “Promise you won’t tell? The best one wasn’t exactly legal.
Power station near the Nevada border. We did it at three A.M., then parachuted down.”
“Adrenaline high,” said Milo.
“Oh, yeah.” She laughed, got in the van, and drove away.
“Got your junior G-woman on the job,” I said. “I think she’s found a new source of adrenaline.”