Due Process (9 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

              Finally, Amanda understood. It wasn’t about a ransom. It wasn’t a straight forward kidnapping. It was nothing to do with Tony’s clients. It was about revenge. 

              The café had become quiet and she realized they were the only two left. How long they had been there she had no idea, swept away as she was by memories of a past long forgotten.  A glance at her watch confirmed they had been there for nearly an hour.  Finally, her companion closed his mobile phone and looked at her.

              “Do you have a name?” she asked.

              “It’s better you don’t know anything about me,” he said, looking at his notebook where he had been writing throughout his lengthy conversation.

              “It’s the Jamaican, isn’t it?” she said matter of factly, and he nodded.

              “He was paroled three months ago,” he replied, consulting his notes. “We were tracking him, but lost him. We think he took a boat and probably went back to Jamaica. We had alerted the coastguard but to be honest he could have left from anywhere along the Gulf coast.”

              “So in that time he has somehow managed to find me in England and has now kidnapped Tony just to pay me back? It doesn’t make sense. How could he have found me, and why go to all that bother? 

              He checked his notes again, and then looked at her calmly. His fingers had stopped the persistent drumming at last.

              “This is no ordinary guy. His name is Samuel King and no doubt he feels he has been made to look a fool. He is determined to show his adversaries and his own men that he can find anyone – anywhere.  He is going to make an example of you.”

              Amanda shook her head.

              “It’s been ten years. Ten years. He must be holding one big grudge.”

              Her companion began gathering his things together as if ready to leave.

              “Well, if you’ll just come with me…”

              Amanda stood up and glared at him.

              “No way. I have to find my husband and if you can’t help me then I’ll do it myself. And if Samuel King found me, then he will probably be able to find my daughter, Jenny.  So I am going to get her, and then work out just where my husband might be.”

                            “Wait,” he said firmly, “there’s more I haven’t told you.”

              She paused, watching as he took a piece of paper from his notebook and handed it to her.  One glance at the paper and she gasped and sat down heavily.

              It was a letter addressed to her grandmother and bearing the Morgan and Pacey address.

             
Dear Lucy,

              This letter will probably come as a huge surprise to you, especially after ten years. I am Miranda’s husband, and we now live in England. Because of Miranda’s job she had to disappear quickly because threats were made against her.  She had no chance to tell you before she left and dare not make any contact with you in case it put you in danger.

              But it’s been long enough now, I think. I doubt anyone will remember her.  She is now known as Amanda and we have been married for ten years. We have a little girl called Jenny.  This year is our tenth wedding anniversary and I wanted to do something special for Amanda.  I wondered if it would be possible for you to come to England.  I will arrange for the flight tickets and of course you can stay with us.

              I am writing this from my office so that Amanda does not find out as I would like your visit to be a surprise.

              I hope you don’t mind my contacting you. It wasn’t difficult to find you as Amanda told me all about her life as Miranda Bell.

              I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours truly,

Tony Purcell

Amanda read the letter twice, her hands shaking.  The letter was typewritten and was clearly a copy.

“We found it on his computer,” her companion said by way of explanation. “It explains how they found you. They must have continued to monitor her mail box, even after all this time.  She never received the letter.”

“Is my grandmother safe?”

He nodded. “We’ve moved her for the moment.  The situation has been explained to her.”

Amanda stood quickly.

“This letter makes no difference. I’ve got to do something, I can’t just keep hiding.”

             He grabbed her arm to stop her leaving. She tried to shake him off but he held her in a solid grip. She was forced to meet his eyes.

              “ You will never be able to find him. There are no leads. No witnesses. The Police can do nothing. There is only one way.”

              She stopped trying to wrestle her arm from him and paused.

              “That is?”

              “You have to become a bargaining tool.  We will let it be known that you will be willing to give yourself up if they let your husband go.  That will take their focus off Jenny.  We will all work together.  You can wear a tracker in your watch like you used to.  We’ll be behind you every step of the way.”

              Amanda realized she had no choice. It was the only way to find her husband and keep the family safe.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sarah Greenwood knew it was time to move on.  Not only was Canada calling, but it seemed like the English police were getting too close for comfort.  It was a shame, Detective Constable Blake had seemed really nice, and in other circumstances, and maybe twenty years ago, things might have been different.

              Of course, Great Aunt Millie had not left her a fortune.  The fictitious probate solicitors were all a front for the cover story.  The pay off had been huge. Fifty Thousand Pounds. She still couldn’t believe it. Just a little information on Tony and his client Paul Justin, and she had hit the jackpot.

              Did she feel guilty?  Not one bit of it. Who wouldn’t have swapped the mundane life of a legal secretary for the life she had now?

              She began to fold her clothes carefully. There were not many sweaters or slacks, she would have to buy more when she arrived at her new destination. The weather in Canada would be a little cooler than the Cayman Islands, she mused.

              She was concerned about Tony, though.  He had been lovely to work for, considerate and kind. But always so busy.  If he had responded to her email to talk then maybe things might have gone in a different direction. Perhaps he would have persuaded her to go to the police. But she doubted it.  She didn’t know they were going to kidnap him, though, or she might have had to reconsider her actions. In fact, now that she thought about it they had asked more questions about Tony’s wife, Amanda. They’d even asked about little Jenny.  She thought they just wanted information to get to that waster Paul Justin.  That was why she had responded to the news report and spoken to D.C.Blake.  She didn’t see any harm in telling them that much and it might help them find Tony. They were bound to let him go eventually. Just giving him a scare, no doubt. She had never set much store to the criminal clients that graced their offices.  Scum of the earth, she reckoned, and they deserved everything they got.  Paul Justin was no exception.

              Sarah went to the wardrobe and started taking her clothes off the hangers, slipping them over her arm and then replacing the empty hangers. She looked at her clothes lying on the bed and realized she didn’t have much to show for her years.  Well, that was going to change.  In Canada she would rent a little cottage, somewhere by a lake, and watch the seasons come and go.  If she fancied a little sunshine then she could drive down to Florida in the winter and become a snowbird.

              She began to hum to herself when there was a knock on the door.  Thinking it must be the maid, she walked over and opened the door.  A tall black man in a grey suit stood there.

              “Sarah Greenwood?”

              “Yes,” she said, smiling.  His hand slid into his pocket and she thought he must have something for her to sign. She watched mesmerized as he brought out a small pistol and shot her through the heart.

The man in the grey suit shut the door and stepped over Sarah’s body.  He hurried to the table where her laptop sat charging. Opening it he noticed with a smile there was no password protection. Just like her computer back at the legal office.  A few taps and he had her bank account.  He inserted a gadget into the drive which read her log in information, and he soon had access.  She had a little over Forty Thousand Pounds left in her English account.  He quickly transferred it to another account, the details of which were etched in his memory.  He and Samuel King were now a bit better off than they had been ten minutes previously.  He then checked on her Cayman account. It held just a few thousand Cayman dollars and he transferred that to his own account at Cayman National.

              Gotta love the Cayman Islands.

CHAPTER TWENTY

As the days passed Tony realized they weren’t going to interrogate him.  He was being held for some other purpose and it didn’t take long for him to come to the conclusion that Amanda’s past was behind it all.

              She had eventually confessed all to him, but not until they had been married for four years and Jenny had been born.  Amanda had blurted the story out on the night they had taken their little baby home for the first time.  Both of them felt emotional and happy at the same time. But Amanda had been overwhelmed with issues of protection for her daughter and fear for the future, and a giant overdose of hormones.

              It had taken Tony a long time to absorb everything she told him. He felt admiration as she told him about her training and accomplishments, jealous of her liaisons as she worked in vice, and anger when he learned of her incarceration in the hole underground.  It all seemed like something from a television movie, but it suddenly explained why she never spoke of her family or why she had never mentioned her past before.

              They hugged as she told him about her parents, their deaths, and how she had been brought up by her grandmother. How devastated she was to have to change her identity and move to another country and never be able to explain to her grandmother where she had gone or why.

              Tony had gradually accepted Amanda’s confession and over the years as Jenny grew they had managed to put it all behind them and enjoy the life they had together.  It had never occurred to him that everything could change.

              Now the two morons that were guarding him were becoming bored, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before they took out their boredom on him.
Come on, Tony,
he said to himself,
you’ve got a diploma in counseling, put it to good use.  Calm them down. Get them to trust you.

              They had taken to leaving his door unlocked for the last few days.  It didn’t mean he had more freedom, because there was always one of them in the adjoining room.  He always assumed the one not present was shopping, or making calls, or doing whatever they needed to do.  He went into the room and found Jake was alone.  He sat with a newspaper across his legs and a pen had fallen to the floor.  His eyes were closed, his lips slightly apart, and he was snoring. Tony froze.  His eyes scanned the room briefly.  The door to outside was closed and there was no key in the lock.  Jake had his shoes off and was barefoot. There were the remnants of a fire in the grate and it looked like the heat had lulled the big man to sleep.

              Tony took a few tentative steps towards the door, keeping his eyes on the sleeping man.  He reached out his hand and turned the handle, but the door failed to open.  He peered at Jake to see if by some miracle the keys might be on his lap, but he couldn’t see any sign of them.  In all probability, he thought, Clive had gone shopping and taken the key with him as he left.

              He glanced at the window but could clearly see the bars and knew there was no escape that way.  If he tried to knock down the door Jake would wake up and probably give him a beating.

              There was nothing in the room that he could use. But then his eye moved to the fireplace and the pile of logs ready to burn.  He was not a man of violence but he recognized an opportunity when he saw it. He walked cautiously behind Jake and over to the fire and slowly picked up a piece of wood. He weighed it in his hand. It was fairly substantial and all he had to do was smash it across Jake’s head. He hesitated.  He knew that if he didn’t hit the man hard enough the first time he wouldn’t get a second chance.  Clive could come back at any moment and then he would lose the opportunity. 

              He gave no thought to what he might do or where he might go if he did get out, he just needed to do something to try and save his family. He lifted the log high into the air and brought it crashing down on to the back of Jake’s head.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Samuel had been in San Quentin for seven years. During that time he listened to conversations, learned about the other inmates, found out what he could about the guards, but always kept himself apart from the others. Until one day in March, just before Easter, he was told he had a visitor.

              He was somewhat surprised.  No-one had visited him since he had arrived.  California was a long way from Jamaica and his men knew they needed to keep a low profile. There had always been a contingency plan that his brother Julius would run the operation.  There was to be no contact.

              So Samuel was amazed and annoyed when he saw Julius waiting for him. But also a little bit pleased. Seven years was a long time.

              They nodded at each other and Samuel sat at the table and waited.  The visitors room was busy with several chairs and tables dotted symmetrically around the room.  Some inmates had several visitors and others had wives and girlfriends and were trying to sneak a quick kiss when the three guards standing around the perimeter weren’t looking.

              There was just one table left, with two chairs, and Julius sat waiting.  He was nearly as big as Samuel, but his hair was cropped short which made his head look small upon his huge shoulders.  He wore a bright summer shirt and cropped trousers, and well worn sandals. His Rayban sunglasses were tucked in to the top of his shirt.  His hands resting on the table flashed with gold jewellery.  Several of the people in the room glanced nervously in his direction.  When Samuel arrived they lowered their eyes immediately.

              “Brother, why ya here?” growled Samuel.

              Julius spread his hands on the table.

              “No need  get heated, mon,” said Julius, “Been seven years. They’al forgot ‘bout you by now.”  His Jamaican drawl was so comforting to hear that Samuel almost wanted to hug him.

              “Talk, then,” Samuel said, just wanting to hear his brother speak and close his eyes and imagine he was back on his island.

              “Woulda come sooner, mon, but the old U S of A wouldn’t let me in. You sorta messed the situation up for us all.”

              Samuel nodded.

              “Figured that’d be the case.”

              Julius leaned forward and dropped his voice.

              “How it been?”

              “Kept ma nose clean,” Samuel replied quietly, “had me no problem.”

              “You hear bout the judge?” asked Julius.

              “Right shame, that.”

              Julius smiled.

              “Made sure he knew why afore he accidentally fell in front o’ train. Got Eddie to do job, seein’s as I stuck home.”

              “Eddie did good,” Samuel said, leaning back in the chair and stretching out his legs. Julius did likewise. They were big men to sit at such a small table and they were cramped.  All three guards looked over as the two men moved, but relaxed immediately when they realized nothing was happening.

              Julius was quiet for a while and they studied each other.  A lot was said that didn’t need words.

              “I reckon you be out soon.” stated Julius.

Samuel said nothing.

              “You wanna sort the agent out, then, once you outta here.”

              Still Samuel did not reply.

              “Reckon they took your threat serious, she was gone after the trial.”

              Samuel leant forward, his eyes burning with the anger that had been festering inside him.

              “I want her ta pay. I want her ta suffer. She gonna hurt.”

              Julius nodded his agreement.

              “Right wiv you, brother. We got things rollin’. She ain’t safe.”

One of the guards was walking towards them. Both brothers raised their eyes and looked at him and he stopped.

              “Time’s up,” said the guard.

              Julius stood and the brothers shook hands.  No-one noticed that Julius had one less gold ring on his finger as he left. Samuel slipped it quickly into his pocket.  He was ready to start making contacts, for soon he would need information. And now he could pay.