Fifth Victim (3 page)

It paid off. The lines of strain flattened out of her forehead and the quick grin was back, making her seem very much still a teenager. A pretty girl who lit the place up when she smiled. I guessed she hadn’t yet learnt to adjust the intensity. If she was this unguarded around boys, I thought privately, I would certainly have my work cut out fending off the hordes. Whether they had ransom on their minds, though, was quite another matter.

‘So, I guess Mother’s told you about the kidnappings,’ she said. ‘I mean, everybody’s behaving like nothing’s going on, but you have to know, don’t you? Otherwise, how can you try to stop them?’

‘There doesn’t seem to be much
to
know at the moment.’ I paused, wondering if she was tougher than she looked, and decided she’d be better with the truth now rather than later, however unpalatable. ‘But to be honest, because none of the victims have gone to the police or the FBI, there isn’t much can be done to stop these people.’

‘Oh … you mean they could just go on and on doing it for ever, and
never
be caught?’ She seemed astounded by the idea. I supposed that unless you’ve been personally touched by violent crime, your views are formed by the cosy propaganda of the TV cop shows, where the good guys always triumph before the closing credits.

I shrugged. I’d already disconcerted her enough, by the looks of it, without adding that the decision to keep things under wraps meant the perpetrators were indeed likely to go on making comparatively easy money until it couldn’t be covered up any longer.

Until somebody died.

As an illegal earner it was less risky than robbing a bank, but just as profitable. More than half a billion dollars a year disappeared into kidnappers’ pockets around the world, and the annual number of victims was rising rapidly. The relatively few kidnapping cases in the States was down to the high detection rate, a moot point in this case.
Rich parents who would do anything to avoid bad publicity – I bet they can’t believe their luck
, I thought.
What reason do they have to stop now
?

Still frowning, Dina put the saddle down onto a shaped wooden rack and laid the bridle across it. She swept off the hat, loosing her hair at the same time, and ruffling it distractedly back into a style mine never seemed to achieve after being flattened under a bike helmet. This despite the best efforts of my hairdresser, who’d talked me into a chin-level bob that had proved surprisingly durable otherwise.

‘So … what will you need for me to do?’ she asked at last, trying for her previous nonchalance. ‘I mean, I assume you don’t want me to hide in the basement or anything silly like that. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be much point in having you around, would there?’

I shook my head. ‘We’ll go into details later, but the basic rules are just don’t go anywhere without an escort – namely, me – and vary your routine. If you drive yourself to work, don’t always take the same route. That kind of thing.’

She laughed. ‘No worries there – I’m taking a year out. Mother tells people I’m “considering my options”, which sounds so much better than “bumming around with horses”, don’t you think?’

The white horse, piqued by no longer being the centre of attention, had shuffled forwards until his broad chest was hard up against the chain across the stable doorway. He stretched his neck towards us, ears flicking like radar, and grubbed at Dina’s sleeve with his lips. She reached out absently to scratch his nose.

‘Do you ride him on the beach at this time every day?’ I asked.

‘Usually – before it gets too hot. But they wouldn’t try for me then, surely?’ Her voice was shocked. ‘What about Cerdo?’

I shrugged again. Kidnappers had been known to shoot bodyguards, boy- or girlfriends, employees, dogs and innocent bystanders, in their quest to secure a valuable hostage. A horse would present few problems. Besides, all they had to do was turn him loose on the sands. It wasn’t as if he’d be able to pick them out of a line-up afterwards.

‘Best not to go out alone, then, just in case.’

Her smile was less confident than it had been. ‘That’s only a problem if you don’t ride.’

I thought of all those years spent Pony Clubbing back at home in rural Cheshire. ‘I’m a little rusty, but I’m sure it’ll come back to me.’

The door at the far end of the barn opened and Caroline Willner walked in with Parker Armstrong beside her. His eyes flicked straight to mine. I gave him a fractional nod, saw his surprise and relief only because I knew him well enough to discern it.

‘Ah,
there
you are, darling,’ Caroline Willner said. ‘You have not forgotten we have the senator and his wife coming to lunch, I hope?’

‘Of course not, Mother,’ Dina said in a slightly drawling voice she hadn’t used with me, but she made no moves to go and change, which I assume was the motive for the reminder.

There was a long uncomfortable pause during which time the only noise was the circular whirr of the ceiling fans inside the barn and the rush of surf from the beach. Even the white horse seemed to be waiting, still and expectant, to see who won this minor stand-off.

‘Well, I see you two have gotten acquainted,’ Caroline Willner said carefully at last, and I wondered why she didn’t want Dina to know what this meant to her. I glanced at the girl, caught her slightly mulish expression and realised it was all power plays between the two of them, had probably been that way for years.

‘Of course,’ Dina said, her tone airy as she pulled off her leather gloves. ‘Charlie was just telling me it would be dangerous to go out riding alone.’ A slight exaggeration, but close enough for me not to contradict her. ‘So, I guess she better start soon. I can’t leave Cerdo standing idle for more than a day or two. You know how wild he gets if he isn’t exercised.’

Caroline Willner’s only response to this veiled double-edged threat was an enquiring glance in Parker’s direction.

‘If you’ve come to a decision about needing close protection for your daughter,’ he said, non-committal and diplomatic, ‘then it would be prudent to have it in place as soon as is practicable.’

Caroline Willner didn’t quite sigh, but it was pretty close. Her gaze flickered over me with less warmth than she’d shown upstairs, as if I’d fed her daughter’s fantasy rather than squashed it, as she’d hoped. ‘Very well. I’ll leave the arrangements to you, Mr Armstrong.’

She had already begun to turn away, focused on her impending lunch party no doubt, when Dina’s voice brought her up short.

‘In that case, Mother, there’s every reason for me to go to the regatta party next weekend,’ she said, very clear, her triumph almost – but not quite – under control. ‘Don’t you think?’

Caroline Willner turned back, frowning, and I realised that Dina had lured her into check, playing a game I wasn’t aware of, by rules I didn’t understand. ‘I—’

Parker came to her rescue with a suitable line of escape. ‘We would have to assess the risks, of course,’ he said. ‘What kind of a party?’

‘Oh, it’s a friend’s birthday, but it’s also a kind of big celebration.’ Dina smiled, that bright open smile she’d given me at first sighting, down on the beach. ‘For the victims of the previous kidnappings. They’re all going to be there, so if Charlie really wants to find out what happened to them – so she can try to stop the same thing happening to me – well, what better place to start?’

CHAPTER FOUR

‘You OK?’

It took me a moment to focus on Parker’s voice. I swivelled in the passenger seat and realised we were driving through Queens, the chic elegance of Long Island far behind us in favour of cheap high-density housing. I’d never quite got over how much wiring seemed to be on view in American cities, the buildings festooned with it as though wearing their blood vessels on the outside of their bodies.

‘Yeah, I’m OK,’ I said, leaning back against the headrest. Ahead of us, a passenger jet was pulling out of LaGuardia and lumbering doggedly skywards. I could sympathise.

I was tired, I recognised. The kind of bone-deep utter weariness that long-term stress produces. But I kept on going through the motions, treading water, marking time.

Waiting.

We were in one of the Lincoln Navigators Parker favoured as general runabouts, heading back towards Manhattan where Armstrong-Meyer had its prestigious offices. I wondered briefly how long Parker would keep the ‘Meyer’ part of the name intact, without the man himself to back it up.

From behind the wheel, my boss flicked me a brief speaking glance. His eyes were hidden behind Ray-Bans, but I didn’t need to see them.

‘If you’re not sure about this job, tell me now and I’ll assign someone else.’ To his credit, there was nothing to react to in his matter-of-fact voice. Sympathy was the last thing I could cope with.

I lifted my head. ‘I thought you didn’t have anyone who fitted the bill.’ That was how he’d persuaded me to go out to the Willners’ in the first place. Not that
persuaded
was quite the right word, but neither was bullied. Cajoled – that was more like it.

Anything to take my mind off Sean Meyer.

‘I don’t,’ he agreed candidly. ‘Mrs Willner specifically requested a female close-protection officer, one who was young enough to get on with her daughter. Apparently Dina developed a crush on one of the house security guys last fall, and she doesn’t want a repeat performance.’

I raised an eyebrow at that. The guy who’d answered the door to us this morning was obviously more than just an ordinary flunkey, and when Caroline Willner had suggested I go down to the beach to wait for her daughter’s return, I’d seen at least two other bulky members of staff who had the unmistakable carriage of ex-military men. No doubt they had their share of war stories, calculated to impress someone as impressionable as Dina. Had I ever been that young at twenty?

‘What about Gomez?’ I said. ‘She’s closer to the daughter’s age than I am. OK, she lacks a little experience, but her instincts are sound.’

‘I need her for Paraguay.’ He smiled faintly. ‘You could trade with her if you like, but I kinda assumed you’d want to stay close to New York for a while.’

I dredged up a smile of my own. ‘Yes … thank you.’

It didn’t matter that I knew I could be back from just about anywhere in the world in less than twenty-four hours. A lot could happen in a day. Or, nothing could happen at all. Not for one day, not for a hundred days. Three months, one week, four days of suspended animation.

Parker sighed. ‘It’s OK, Charlie,’ he said gently. ‘If I was in your position, I’d want to stay close, too. I just thought … you need to work. At least the farthest this kid is likely to travel is up and down the east coast, from one party to the next.’

I swallowed and stared sightlessly at the scenery flashing past beyond the tinted glass, feeling disconnected as a ghost from the lives outside. I’d stopped trying to tell myself that it could all be so much worse, because deep down I knew that wasn’t true anymore. Concentrating on a job – any job – had to be better than the wretched loneliness of my own thoughts. For a while this morning, out at the Willners’ place, I’d felt almost … normal.

And the prospect of a temporary change of scene, of living in, somewhere that wasn’t silent and filled with empty spaces, had definite appeal. At this point, I might even class it as essential.

I took a breath, made a conscious effort to divert my brain into more productive tracks. ‘What’s your take on this birthday bash Dina’s so set on?’

His hands relaxed very slightly on the wheel. ‘Could be she just wants to show off the pretty new toy her mommy bought for her.’

My lips twisted. ‘Ah, that would be me, then – this season’s must-have accessory.’

‘Yeah, something like that.’ He flicked me another glance as he changed lanes around a slow-moving bus. ‘Whatever her reasons, you can’t fault the logic of her argument.’

‘In favour of going, you mean?’

He nodded. ‘Without any official reports, we’re working blind. Anything you can learn about what happened to the other victims might make the difference to Dina being taken or not.’

I fell silent. Since I’d joined Parker’s outfit I’d worked family protection details numerous times. Usually in places like Mexico or Columbia, where prevention was always better than the alternative. There, it was a toss-up whether the hostage would be returned alive, even if the ransom
was
paid. And if it wasn’t, well, less than a quarter of hostages in Latin America survived rescue attempts, and only a tiny fraction of kidnappers were ever caught. If the ransom was large enough, a whole rake of people could be included in the pay-off, including local police officials.

But this was not some dusty South American backwater. The parents must have known the odds of detection and capture were far better here, that by keeping silent they had, in effect, given the kidnappers a licence to continue their deadly game. So, what were they so afraid of, that it was worth risking their children’s lives?

‘Is it coincidence, I wonder, that all three families paid up without going to the cops?’

‘Might be, but I kinda doubt it,’ Parker said. ‘Which means they were targeted very carefully. Somebody knew they had the available cash and the inclination to pay up clean and fast.’

‘An inside job, you mean?’ I murmured. ‘And if they all had the kind of general security Caroline Willner employs, you’d need pros to make the snatch in the first place. Disgruntled ex-employees perhaps?’

‘Maybe. I’ll check it out. Finding a common link between the victims is our best lead to tracking down a multiple kidnapper.’

I gave him a long level stare while he pretended to be absorbed in negotiating traffic. ‘Either I’m supposed to be protecting Dina or playing detective,’ I said mildly. ‘Which is it, Parker?’

‘The two objectives are not mutually exclusive.’ He allowed himself a fractional smile. ‘You may think you hide it well, but lack of exercise is sending you as stir-crazy as that horse of Dina’s.’

I paused a beat, then said, ‘Even if I do go with her to this regatta thing she mentioned, I’ve no authority to question these other kids. They may still be traumatised, not want to talk about what they’ve been through.’