Already Gone (19 page)

Diane turns off the main road and takes side streets through town. She seems to know the way, but I’m completely lost.

I ask her where we’re going.

“To a house in the canyon. I want to get off the street until we can figure out our next move.”

I look at my watch.

“How long would it take to get to Flagstaff?”

“Not long. Why?”

I tell her about Gabby’s friend with the plane. “He agreed to fly me into Nogales tonight. He can take us both, but we have to be there by midnight.”

“Mexico? What are we going to do in Mexico?”

“Stay out of prison, for one thing. And if we’re lucky, not get shot by your old boss.”

Diane shakes her head. “Hold on, let’s think about this for a minute.”

“I have money, and Gabby said he’d wire more. We can figure out the rest once we’re down there.”

“How much do you have?”

“About eight hundred.”

“That’s not enough.”

“It has to be. We can’t stay here.”

“Eight hundred dollars isn’t going to do us any good.”

“Then what do you want to do?” I can hear the impatient edge in my voice, and I make an effort to stay calm. “What’s your plan?”

Diane taps her fingers on the steering wheel. “We keep going to the house in the canyon. My bags are there, we grab them, then go pick up Lisa. She can drive us up to Flagstaff and—”

“There’s no time for that. Leave the bags, we’ll buy what we need in Nogales.”

“With eight hundred dollars? I don’t think so.”

I start to argue, but she stops me, says, “I have money. Not a lot, but enough to get us wherever we want to go, and we won’t have to be in debt to Gabby.”

I start to tell her it’s too late, that I’m already in debt to Gabby, but I change my mind and don’t say a word.

Diane looks at me. “All I have to do is run in, grab the bag. Five minutes, tops.”

“If we’re not there by midnight—”

“We’ll be there,” she says. “I’ll be quick, I promise.”

I’m not convinced, but the way she smiles at me is enough to make me give in.

The road into the canyon is dark, and Diane slows through the sharp turns. Once we get to the bottom, she looks over at me and says, “It’s just up here a ways.”

I look out the window, but all I see is darkness.

“Butch Cassidy hid out here,” Diane says. “A lot of those old outlaws came here to hide from the law.”

I mumble a reply.

Diane frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like this, any of it.”

“I told you, I’ll just be a minute.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“How long did you work with my father?”

“Not long. He delivered paintings to a few clients from time to time.”

“Stolen paintings?”

Diane hesitates. “Not always.”

“Why would he turn on you this time?”

“He didn’t turn on me. It was a bad plan from the start, and no one expected him to die.”

“What was the plan?”

“Wentworth wanted there to be a chain,” she says. “He wanted each of us to be responsible for the person under us. No one knew who else was involved.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Wentworth brought me in. He gave me the shipping information, where the truck was headed, when it would arrive. It was my job to hire someone to stop the truck and steal the cargo.”

“My father.”

“It was his job to put together a crew to hijack the truck. Wentworth didn’t know who I hired, and I didn’t know who your father hired. This way if one of us was caught, there would be no way to connect it back to the company unless everyone talked.”

“But if someone did, it would be like dominoes.”

“Like I said, it was a bad plan. All we could do was hire people we trusted. This was how Wentworth wanted it, and he was in charge.”

“And you trusted my father?”

“He never gave me a reason not to,” she says. “He’d never let me down before. Even after he was arrested, he didn’t talk to the police. He didn’t talk to anyone at all.”

“So, when you went to see him in prison, it was to find out where they took the diamonds?”

“His crew stored them somewhere, and he was the only one who knew where.” She shakes her head. “I panicked. Wentworth was pressuring me, and I knew we were running out of time. It was a stupid mistake.”

“That’s when you came to me. You thought I’d know?”

Diane’s quiet for a moment, then says, “At first, yes, but that changed after we met.” She reaches over and touches the back of my hand. “When I said you gave me the courage to start over, I wasn’t lying.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the rest?”

“I couldn’t.”

“You could’ve told me anything.”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me, and I didn’t want to risk losing you. You were so set on not asking questions, leaving the past in the past.”

She’s right, and for a moment I can’t think of anything to say. All I can do is wonder how things might’ve been different.

“I’m asking now.”

“And I’m answering.”

We’re both quiet.

“If his crew has the diamonds, what’s to stop them from keeping them for themselves now that he’s gone?”

“They don’t know what they have,” Diane says. “I told your father they were stealing a shipment of rare statues for a private collector. He didn’t know the truth, so his crew wouldn’t have known either.”

“Don’t you think he checked?”

“If they did, all they found were crates filled with small statues, just like I told them. They’re worthless, of course. The diamonds are packed inside.”

“Inside the statues?”

“That’s how they were brought into the country.”

I lean back in the seat. “So, there are a bunch of statues sitting in a storage locker somewhere, and no one has any idea that they’re worth—”

“Millions.”

I look at her. “Millions?”

“Which is why we have to leave. Briggs has no intention of letting me go, especially if he doesn’t get the diamonds back.”

I don’t say anything right away. I keep thinking about my father’s crew sitting on millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds and not having any idea.

Diane asks what I’m thinking.

“How many are there?”

“Sixty,” she says. “Ten crates, six in each.”

“What do they look like?”

Diane holds her hands about two feet apart and says, “They’re about this big, white porcelain, shaped like birds. The diamonds are in velvet pouches, packed inside.”

“Birds?”

“Doves.”

For a second, I can’t find my voice.

Diane hesitates. “Why?”

I smile. “Because I think I know where they are.”

“Gabby has a statue.” I hold my hands apart. “A ceramic dove about this big. He said it was a gift from my father before he died. He even offered to let me keep it.”

She asks me to describe the statue, every detail. After I do, she says, “That has to be them.”

“Gabby did the job.” I shake my head. “Of course he did.”

Diane is staring at the road ahead, not listening.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Does he know what’s inside?”

“I don’t think so.”

She turns to me. “If we can get the diamonds from Gabby and give them back to Briggs, he might—”

“No, he won’t.”

“We have to try.”

“You said it wouldn’t matter.”

“But what if I’m wrong? What if there’s a chance?”

“It’s too late for that. We have to leave, tonight. It’s the only way.”

Diane doesn’t say anything else. She’s still thinking about it, but for now at least, the conversation is over.

A few minutes later, Diane slows, then turns onto a dark driveway that curves toward a small brick house. There are no lights on inside, and when she shuts off the engine, the darkness covers us like a weight.

“This is where you’ve been staying?”

“Yeah, give me five minutes.”

“It looks deserted,” I say.

“That’s the point.” She opens the door and the dome light shines down, sharp and white. “I’ll be right back.”

I reach for her arm and she looks at me.

“We’re going to be okay,” I say. “You know that?”

Diane nods. “I know.”

I let her go.

She gets out and closes the door. I watch her run across the lawn toward the house. Once she’s inside, I step out of the truck and take the cell phone from my pocket.

The phone rings several times before Gabby answers.

“Jake, where—”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the one who hijacked that truck with my father?”

Gabby hesitates. “Who told you I was?”

“Diane,” I say. “She was the one who hired him.”

“What?”

“You didn’t know?”

“He never told me,” Gabby says. “You know what he was like. He kept all that shit to himself.” He pauses. “So your wife, she’s not—”

“No,” I say. “She’s not.”

He makes a low noise, then nothing.

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“It never came up. That job was why I decided to retire. The entire thing was a bust. Your old man got picked up over a bunch of worthless statues.”

“Yeah, we need to talk about those.”

“Am I missing something?”

“You might be.”

Gabby waits, silent.

I look up at the house and see a light go on in one of the rooms.

“Jake, you there?”

I start talking, filling him in on everything that’s happened with Briggs and Diane. He listens, and he doesn’t say a word until I mention the statues.

“Inside them?”

“She said no one else knew except the guy who hired her, and he’s dead.”

“Do you believe her?”

“There’s one way to find out.”

I listen as Gabby shuffles around on the other end of the line. A moment later I hear something break.

After that, silence.

“What is it?”

There’s only the scrape of a cigarette lighter.

“Gabby?”

“I’ve got to go, kid. Make sure you’re on that plane tonight. Midnight, no later.”

“Was she telling the truth?”

“Yes she was.”

He starts to hang up, but then I remember the Pavel brothers, and stop him. “The two guys in your basement. I know who they are.”

Gabby waits.

I tell him the story Briggs told me about what happened to them in West Africa, and about what they did. “Now he thinks they’re coming after us.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“Nothing.”

Gabby breathes into the phone, says, “Okay. Get on that plane and call me from Nogales.”

“What are you going to do about them?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s under control.”

Then he’s gone.

I hang up and slide the phone into my pocket.

There’s an empty feeling in the center of my chest, and I can’t help but think I might’ve started a war.

I look at my watch, then up at the house and see Diane pass by one of the windows. She’s holding a phone to her ear, pacing back and forth.

It’s been longer than five minutes, and my patience is slipping away. I cross the lawn to the front door, then lean in close and listen. I don’t hear anything, so I turn the knob and walk inside.

The front room is empty and dark. There’s an orange light coming from the hallway, and I hear Diane’s voice in the distance. I look back at Lisa’s truck in the driveway, then close the front door and walk toward the light.

I come around the corner into a wood-paneled kitchen. There is an amber bubble lamp on the floor next to a crumple of blankets and a stack of worn paperback books. Diane is leaning against the counter. When she sees me she hangs up the phone and says, “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

She waves the phone in front of her. “My bags, the money, all of it. It’s gone.”

The kitchen is attached to a small dining room with a sliding glass door that looks out onto a wooden porch. Beyond that, darkness.

“Lisa?”

“No.” Diane shakes her head. “She couldn’t have. It was here this afternoon when I left, and we have her truck.”

“Who else knew you were staying here?”

“No one.” Diane seems to consider this for a moment, then shakes her head and says, “No, no one.”

“How much money did you have?”

“Twenty grand, plus. I know it wasn’t much, but it was a start, Jake. It was our start.”

Diane slams the phone on the counter then leans against it with her head in her hands.

I walk up and put my arms around her.

“We don’t need it. Gabby can lend us—”

“You don’t get it.” She worms out from under my arm. “Someone was here. They went through my things and took everything I had.”

“I told you, we’ll get—”

“They know I’m here, Jake.” Her voice is loud. “And if they know I’m here, then that means they’re watching the house.”