Day Four
July 24, 1952
Thursday Afternoon
Bristol’s little blond squeeze Jaden didn’t show up for the four o’clock meeting in the alley. Waverly paced and checked her watch every five seconds. Where was the woman? Was she just late or not coming at all? Ten after the hour came and went. At a quarter after, Waverly left.
On her way out, she encountered Jaden coming from the opposite direction.
They headed to the back of the building.
“Sorry I’m late,” Jaden said. “I zigzagged around. I wanted to be absolutely sure no one was following me.”
Her words were laced with stress.
“What’s wrong?”
“Bristol’s the killer,” she said. “There’s no question in my mind.”
“Did he confess it?”
“No,” Jaden said. “But when I started to bring up Cleveland, he said he’d never been there. It wasn’t so much what he said but the way he said it. The more I talked about it, the more agitated he got.”
“So he was hiding it.”
“More than hiding it, trying to deflect it,” Jaden said. “I might have pressed it too far. By the time I was done, I had the feeling that he knew that I knew something. He knew that I was probing him. When he looked at me it was like an alligator looking at a frog.”
“It’s time to run.”
“That’s what I’m doing,” Jaden said. “I’m doing it right now, as we speak. I’m never going back.”
Waverly exhaled.
“Good.”
“I’m going to take a cab to the airport and just fly somewhere.”
“Where?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know. Not San Francisco, that’s for sure.”
“That’s a good plan.”
They walked out of the alley, hugged goodbye at 16th Street and headed in opposite directions.
This was good.
If nothing else positive came of everything that had taken place, at least Jaden wouldn’t be the next statistic.
Suddenly someone tapped Waverly on the shoulder.
It was Jaden.
“You’re still going after him, aren’t you?”
Waverly nodded.
“Yes.”
“I should help.”
“No, you shouldn’t.”
“Yes, I should. Don’t get me wrong, I’m scared, but I owe you something for saving my life.”
Waverly retreated in thought.
“I need a way to trap him,” she said. “Do you have any bright ideas?”