Jailbird (28 page)

“Not while he’s staring us down.”

“I don’t like this.”

“Me neither.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over us. A
creepy grin spread across Daniel’s face—and then he gave us the
bird.

“Oh, well that’s classy,” I snapped.

“He’s a real winner all around,” Conrad
growled. “I’d love to just snap his scrawny little neck right now
and be done with this whole mess.”

“That would be helpful.”

“I didn’t say I would. I just said I wanted
to.”

“Fair enough.”

“Alright, he’s going back inside now.”

“Thank God. Can we please go back to the
hotel now? I really have to use the restroom.”

“Didn’t you just go?”

“You try having a kid use your bladder as a
trampoline and let me know how that works out for you.”

Conrad just shook his head and fired up the
truck. The ride back to the hotel was as quiet as surveillance had
been. Rachel was waiting expectantly for us when we walked through
the door, and that lifted both of our moods a little.

“I think I’ve figured it out. I think it
really is as simple as buying a politician.”

“That’s good news, right?” I was still too
befuddled from seeing Daniel Winslow to think straight.

“That’s great news. I’m heading to
Springfield first thing in the morning to try to get an interview
before we run the story. The guys in New York have followed a money
trail that ties Nathan Smith to the Saudis. These emails tie it all
up in a neat little bow for us.”

“Julie, too, or just Nathan?”

“There’s no way she didn’t know about this,”
Rachel assured me.

“Thank God,” I wondered if I should call
Charlie or wait to see how it all played out. Conrad was already on
the phone with Manny, telling him the story and asking if he could
come babysit me.

I figured Manny would just tell Charlie, so I
called him. Hearing his voice gave whole new meaning to the phrase
bittersweet.

“I miss you already,” he answered the phone.
I filled him in on how quickly Rachel had run with the files on
Nathan Smith and about seeing Daniel Winslow and about Manny coming
to Louisiana. “Good. Maybe this whole mess will wrap up soon so I
can focus on Daniel Winslow—and I really want to see if I can prove
Marty Ross took a bribe to lose your case. Well, I really want to
beat him to a bloody pulp, but I’ll make do with having his license
revoked and maybe some jail time.”

“That’s comforting.”

“Just being honest.”

“Hey, I miss you, too. And tell Cara I said I
miss her, too. Oh, and not to let the music teacher get to her.
Sounds like he needs a girlfriend or something.”

“I might leave off that last part, but I’ll
tell her the rest.”

“Give me a call when you get home. I want to
know you made it okay.”

He promised to call and we exchanged “love
yous” and then I was left staring at the phone. Conrad was right. I
was a pathetic, lovesick puppy.

Rachel ordered pizza to celebrate what she
was certain would be another feather in her career-cap. She and
Conrad had a beer with their dinner. I had an orange juice and
stared longingly at the beer. Funny the things you don’t care about
until you can’t have them.

That night I dreamt of walls and fences
again. Dark places followed me. And those soulless eyes, they were
everywhere. I tried to get to Elena—I could see him choking her,
hurting her. I clawed at the darkness and yelled at it. I screamed
in fury at my inability to stop him from hurting her. And then the
darkness was clawing me, shaking me, yelling at me. I punched the
darkness with all of my might.

“Sonofa… Kali!” Conrad’s voice cut through
the fog in my brain. I jolted up in bed, cracking my skull against
his. We both let out a curse at that one.

Rachel clapped her hand over her mouth—either
in horror or to stifle a giggle.

“You were dreaming, Kali.”

“Neena.”

“Whoever you are—you were dreaming.
Loudly.”

“Sorry,” I frowned, rubbing my head.

“You punched me.”

“I did?”

“Hard.”

“Wow, you gave him a shiner,” that time
Rachel did giggle, but the look she got from Conrad silenced her. I
couldn’t fault her, though. It was a pretty fierce look.

“Sorry. Do you want me to get you some ice?”
I didn’t wait for an answer, but stumbled out of bed to wrap some
ice from the bucket in a clean washcloth.

“Thank you,” he tried to take the ice from
me.

“I really am sorry,” I smacked his hand away
and gingerly placed the ice on his eye.

“No worries. I question the need for Manny
coming down now, though. You have one heckuva swing.”

“I’ve had some practice,” I admitted wryly.
As much as Mary and I had tried to keep to ourselves, there were
some times you just didn’t get out of the way fast enough. Or you
had to fight to prove you would so you didn’t become a target.

“Go back to sleep,” he patted my hand then
took the ice from me. “I really can handle this.”

I tossed and turned until dawn—Elena haunted
my dreams. But at least I didn’t hit anyone else over the course of
the night. That was a plus.

Rachel headed out early the next morning. I
felt a little like the sun left with her. She had an exuberance
that was catching. When she smiled at me, she had a way of making
me feel like the two of us were in on our own little joke. I had
the distinct impression she was able to make a million viewers feel
exactly the same way if she wanted to.

“You aren’t a player, are you?” I turned to
Conrad suddenly after we were alone.

“What? No,” he shook his head and snorted at
that one.

“Don’t look at me like that. I always assumed
you were too busy raising Gabrielle to date. Now it occurs to me
that you could have very easily been dating a lot of women and just
not settling down… I like Rachel. Please tell me she’s not just a
fling.”

“She is a fling.”

“You said you weren’t a player.”

“I’m not, but even the team mascot
occasionally gets to go out on the field.”

“She’s not a fling.”

“She is.”

“Not.”

“Is.”

“Not.”

“Is… oh come on, this is ridiculous.”

“Fine,” I shrugged and went to take a
shower.

“Fine,” he called to the closed door. I
scowled at the shower, mad that he seemed so determine to let a
good thing slip right through his hands and somewhat consoled by
the fact that he had a whopping shiner this morning.

Still, as frustrated as I was with the big
galoot, I was really lonely when he left to go back to work. I
thought about driving by Daniel Winslow’s house but had promised
Rachel I wouldn’t. If I’d promised Conrad, I probably would have
broken it. But I had to be on my best behavior to make up for his
thick-headedness where she was concerned, so I really had to keep
my promise to her.

When I’d spent forty days in the woods, I’d
been content alone because I was moving forward. Into the unknown,
yes, but moving forward nonetheless. This was excruciating because
I was just sitting here, spinning my wheels in meaningless circles.
By the time Manny knocked at the door, I was very ready for human
interaction.

In retrospect, I really should have looked
out the peephole before I opened the door.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Kali Langston. You’re looking well.”

I tried to shut the door but he was faster.
He shoved it with a force that made me stumble backwards. My heart
hammered wildly in my throat as I scrambled to right myself while
the monster stepped out of my nightmares and into my room.

“Your brother really should have expected me
to recognize that truck of his. Well, I did have the boys run his
plates to be sure.”

I stared at him in horror for a split second
before gathering my wits and putting a stone face on.

“Don’t worry, we let him through. He’ll live
to deal another hand of blackjack. You, however, have a much more
finite amount of time.”

I lifted my chin another notch. I was not
going to cower before this man.

“You’re awfully quiet, dear girl. Don’t you
have anything to say for yourself this time? No? I liked the idea
of killing you right here in this room so that ape brother of yours
would find you. But, my attorney tells me that would be risky. He
says it’s better if there’s no body. So, I need you to come with
me.”

I tried to weigh my options—stay and try to
draw some attention to myself or go along quietly. But he didn’t
give me much time to write down a pro/con list, and there was a
good chance he’d take me to where Elena was. Maybe I could somehow
get us both away from this lunatic.

I allowed myself to be led along. If I didn’t
poke the bear with a stick, he might not hurt the baby. I just
needed time—time for Manny to show up and realize I was gone.

The entire ride to the Winslow mansion, I
fought the panic that was clawing its way to the surface. Oddly
enough, I took some comfort in Winslow’s roid-freak of a driver,
because at least it was another human being in the car.

I have to say, of all of the reactions I
envisioned Elena having when she saw me, her spitting on me wasn’t
one of them. I guess under the given circumstances, I thought she’d
be at least a little comforted by the presence of another woman or
a familiar face.

Not so. The whole situation earned a howl of
laughter from Winslow.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I couldn’t help
asking when we were relatively alone that evening. The guard
glanced over his shoulder, I wondered if he was curious, too.

“Charlie was supposed to make pretty blond
babies with me—not half-breed brats with you.”

“Wow, that’s incredibly sad,” I shook my head
and stopped trying. I leaned back on the couch and surveyed my
surroundings. Winslow must have seized the window of opportunity to
snag me before he was really ready, because so far I’d been left to
sit in a room with Little Miss Sunshine.

I wondered which was more dangerous—the
hate-filled rage that simmered and plotted and planned this kind of
thing, or the uncontrolled rage of passion that would be ignited
when Charlie found out where I was. A sad smile tugged my mouth.
This wasn’t a fairy tale; no white knight would ride in on a
valiant steed.

I needed to figure a way out of this myself.
And it needed to be a more level-headed solution than the one I’d
stumbled upon with his son.

A police cruiser pulled up outside and my
heart trilled with hope. I sat up a little straighter and looked
from Elena to the window and back again, wondering if she saw what
I did.

“Don’t bother,” she barely cut her eyes my
direction. “He’ll just stare guiltily at the ceiling the whole time
he’s here.”

Just as Elena predicted, the police chief
soon stood in the foyer, hat in hands and staring at the ceiling.
Daniel Winslow appeared and the two held a conversation I couldn’t
quite make out. The policeman left with a clap on the back. Winslow
looked at me and sneered. He must have known that my hopes had been
raised only to be dashed again.

Quiet descended and I went back to staring
around the room, looking for some weakness I could exploit. The
next car to pull up was a sleek black BMW. I was happy to realize
that my freedom purchased Marty Ross a nice car. I’d hate to think
I’d lost my life for anything less than a Beamer.

Through narrowed eyes, I watched my old
attorney saunter up the sidewalk. He was ushered in and paused by
the sitting room to smile at me.

“Ms. Langston. Good to see you—you really are
looking well these days. Although, I liked your hair better black.
But otherwise you look great.”

“I’m so glad you think so. I mean, your
opinion means so much… I lie awake at night wondering if you think
I’m pretty enough.”

“I was just making conversation; you don’t
have to be rude about it,” he arched a haughty eyebrow. Elena
snickered. I rolled my eyes.

The clock on the wall chimed. Dinner was
announced and Marty Ross left us.

“Well, this has been fun,” Elena rose to
follow him. I stayed put. Chances were pretty good I wasn’t invited
to the dinner table. The smell of fresh bread permeated the room.
And was that pot roast? My stomach rumbled. The baby kicked me in
protest. I sighed and closed my eyes, imagining being back in my
kitchen, sitting at the table eating a big bowl of Conrad’s gumbo…
with cornbread.

Something hit the couch beside me. My eyes
shot open. A piece of bread had appeared beside me—manna from
heaven. I looked around. The only person nearby was the guard, and
he was very intentionally looking away from me.

“Thank you,” I told the room. I ate as
quickly as I dared. I had a feeling if Winslow saw me eating, he
wouldn’t be happy. I also knew if I ate too fast, I’d get deadly
heartburn. Well, maybe not truly lethal, but it would feel that
way.

I was starting to feel like Winslow had
intentionally left me sitting in this front room as its own form of
torture. I could see freedom. I could smell freedom. I was right
here in the open so I could even occasionally get my hopes up that
someone might see me and care. So close but so far.

I wondered what evening would bring. Would I
sleep on this couch? Would I be taken to a room? Locked in a
dungeon? Worse?

Had Manny discovered me missing? Even so,
what would he do? He couldn’t exactly go to the police. Assuming
this town had a legitimate officer on the force, what would he do,
tell them he’d misplaced his friend, the convicted felon?

Round and round my thoughts raced. What if
Manny tried to come after me and was hurt? What if Charlie did?

I looked at the glass windows in front of me.
If I tucked and rolled, I just might be able to jump out it and get
a running head start. I had gone from toying with the idea to
seriously considering it when I heard Winslow and Elena in the next
room. Their voices started off in a hush so I couldn’t make out the
words, only the urgency in them. They were fighting about
something.