Page 76 of Obsession

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“I’m sorry,” Stacy said. “I don’t know what kind of car Matthew drives. Why? Is there a problem?”

Hansen shook his head. “No problem. There are a few cars parked near one of the trucks, and I need to get them moved. I thought one might be his. I would have asked him, but I heard he left.”

“He went to dinner with Billy. I mean, Mr. Barnett. I could call him, if you’d like.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. If it turns out one of the vehicles is his, we can call him then.”

Hansen had seen Stacy hanging out with Matthew earlier and had hoped she would have been able to point him in the right direction. So much for the easy route.

He checked with the security guards watching the lot where the cast and crew had parked, but Matthew hadn’t left his car there.

Prior to the recent arrival of reinforcements from Strategic Services, security forStorm’s Eyehad concentrated only on the immediate area where the crew was filming. Now there were enough officers to expand the coverage to the streets surrounding the location.

Hansen made his way around the perimeter, checking with each security team member he encountered.

“You mean Miss Lange’s friend? The one who’s visiting the set?” said the third guard he’d come to asked.

“That’s the guy.”

“Sure. He parked down there, about a block and a half.” The guard pointed down the street. “Black sedan. A Honda, I think. It has tinted windows.”

“Which side of the street?”

“On the right.”

Hansen jogged down the sidewalk until he spotted a black Honda Accord, with every window but the front windshield tinted.

Being reluctant to break into a car didn’t mean Hansen didn’t know how to do it. A majority of security assignments were big events with hundreds, if not thousands, of people. There were always a few in the crowd who lost their keys or locked them in their vehicles. Hansen andmany of his colleagues at the company were trained in the art of opening a car.

After making sure there was no one in the vicinity, Hansen pulled on a pair of gloves and disengaged the lock on the front passenger-side door of the Honda.

After sliding into the seat, he opened the glove compartment. The storage space was surprisingly neat. It contained an inch-thick blue plastic sheath, a tire gauge, a tin of mints, and a black case that looked a bit like a long cigarette holder. Inside the sheath, he found the owner manual, the car’s registration, and an insurance card. The name listed on the last two was Matthew Wagner.

It was the case that proved most interesting, however. Inside were a pair of empty syringes and two glass medicine bottles. Both bottles held clear liquid, one bottle fuller than the other.

He took a picture of the case and its contents, then returned everything to the compartment.

A quick scan around the cabin revealed an interior as neat as the glove compartment. The seats, the floor, and the dash were all bare. There wasn’t even a discarded scrap of paper or wayward coin to be found.

He checked under the passenger seat, but the space was also clean and empty. He reached across and unlocked the driver’s door, then moved around the car and climbed in on that side.

Nothing under the driver’s seat, either.

Though the car was at least four years old, it was as if it had been driven off a dealer’s lot that morning. Even Hansen, who prided himself on how well he took care of his own vehicles, had never been able to keep a car in such pristine shape.

He released the trunk and walked to the back of the car. The only thing in the entire space was a hard-sided, rectangular case.

He picked it up and opened the lid. Inside was a pair of expensive binoculars.

Hansen’s brow furrowed. While it wasn’t out of the question for someone to have a pair in their car, it seemed odd that they would be the only item in an otherwise empty trunk.

To be thorough, he lifted the bottom of the trunk to check the area beneath. A spare tire and a jack and nothing else. Everything as it should be.

As he lowered the cover again, it caught on something just before it could settle into place. He raised it a few inches and saw that there was something jammed between the left sidewall and the cover.

He leaned in. The obstruction appeared to be round and about an inch and a half in diameter.

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