“I think we should fol ow up quickly,” Camila said. “I think there’s a risk that Beth, the girl who gave us the address, wil have second thoughts. If she comes clean to her mother that she told us, Sophia might cal her brother and he might go into hiding.”
“I’ve looked up the house,” Hannah said quietly. “Online. It’s in the suburbs in a very exclusive area. Expensive.”
“It’s been eleven years,” Parekh said. “That’s a lot of time.
Enough time for Prosper to build a new life. If he’s done wel for himself, that could work for us or against us.” Parekh was sitting on the edge of his desk, hands lightly clasped in front of him. “If he’s married, with kids, then he’s less likely to leave town as soon as he sees us coming. On the other hand he’s real y not going to want a nice quiet life to be pul ed apart by a murder trial, which makes him less likely to be cooperative. It’s odd that the sister lied. But maybe they’re afraid of publicity. They don’t want the Prosper name associated with Dandridge.”
“I think he’s probably changed his name,” Hannah said.
“Oh?” Parekh’s eyes were on her, measuring and assessing.
Hannah shifted in her seat.
“Wel . You’ve been looking for Neil Prosper for a while,” she said.
“And Dandridge’s previous attorney searched for him at length.”
“I’m not sure we can take him at his word about that,” Parekh said. “There are a hel of a lot of gaps in his work.”
“Okay,” Hannah said. “But we know that Prosper essential y disappeared after the murders. There’s no record of him online, on social media. That might have made sense if he was stil a drug user or an addict, living at the edges of the system. But if he is living in an expensive house, with a family, going to work every day—Wel , I think it’s very hard for people to have absolutely no internet presence at al in those circumstances.”
“Did you check the property records for the address? Find out whose name it’s registered under?” Parekh asked.
“I tried,” Hannah said. “The property is registered to a corporation and I didn’t have any luck in tracing the ultimate owners.”
“You don’t think, if he changed his name, that Beth would have said something about that?” Camila said.
Hannah shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. She might not know. He could stil be Uncle Neil to her. Or I could have it al wrong. It’s only a theory.”
“Okay,” Parekh said. “Wel , I guess we’re going to find out one way or the other shortly.” He clapped his hands together. “Great work, girls.” He looked at his watch. “I have a lot to get through today, so I need to wrap this up. Are you up for another road trip? To check out this address?”
“I can’t,” said Camila, shaking her head. “I have a test this afternoon, and my mom has some stuff going on at work. She needs me to check in at home.”
“I can go,” Sean said.
“Hannah?” Parekh asked.
Hannah nodded. Her reaction to the request confused her. She was worried about the outcome of the trip—it was always possible that they would uncover something that could help Dandridge in court—but she also felt an unexpected little boost of happiness. She could go to North Carolina without worrying about Laura’s routine or thinking about anyone but herself. That felt good.
“Okay, wel , that might be better anyway. I think I’d like Sean along in case Prosper reacts badly.”
Hannah looked at Sean, and wondered exactly what Parekh expected him to do in the event that Prosper got aggressive.
“Sean, I’d like you to squeeze in a visit to Michael too, if you can.
Maybe on the way back from North Carolina. He’s getting antsy with the hearing coming up next week, and I’m needed here. Introduce yourself. Spend some time with him, al right? Boost his confidence a little. Bring Hannah with you if you like. It would be good for you to meet him too, Hannah.”
Before Hannah or Sean could respond, the door to Parekh’s office burst open and Jim Lehane and Marianne Stephenson came in in a flurry of anxiety and paperwork.
“Rob, the goddamn filings are messed up,” Lehane said. He tried to thrust some papers into Parekh’s hands. Parekh was slow to take them.
“What?” he said.
“The filings. The motions,” Lehane said. “In the Dandridge case, I mean. We filed the wrong motions and now the deadline has passed.”