Jay Giles (29 page)
“No, we haven’t talked about it.”
“Why don’t you find out what he’s planning. That way we’ll know what to do about the honeymoon. Why don’t you give him a call now?”
Fish stared at me, as if deciding whether making that call was a good idea. He got up slowly, went into the study, closed the door behind him.
The pizza man arrived, Tory buzzed him up. I met him at the elevator, paid him, carried the two large pizzas back to the kitchen.
Fish was in the kitchen waiting on food.
“What’d he say?” I asked.
Fish took one of the boxes, opened the lid, pulled out a slice. He took a big bite, talked with his mouth full. “As soon as we’re married, he’s taking his money. He don’t care about the honeymoon. He said if I want to take one with her, that’s fine with him.” He opened the refrigerator with his free hand, got out a beer.
“That’s not going to work,” Tory said. “She’s going to be expecting a honeymoon. By the end of the week, she’ll be obsessing about it.”
I put a slice of pizza on a plate, got out a napkin. “I agree. We’re going to have to do something. Quickly.”
Fish swallowed a mouthful of pizza. “A cruise. She keeps talking about a cruise. There’s got to be a cruise we can take that leaves Saturday.”
“Let me look into it,” I said reassuringly. “I’ve got a couple of clients who are travel agents. They might be able to find you something.”
“She’d like to cruise the Greek Isles,” Fish said pointedly
Tory almost choked on a bite of pizza. “Wouldn’t we all? Let Matt see what he can get. You’re awfully late to be leaving on Saturday.”
I didn’t learn much else. Fish and Janet were going to a movie Sunday afternoon. Tory was following up with Bill Perez and his people.
I went back to my place, worked the phone. The first call was to Richard Seagle at A-One travel. He wasn’t in. Next, I tried Sandi Halblien-French, who owned Pier ‘n Plane Travel. She was.
“What happened to my GE stock?” she wanted to know when she came on the line. “It’s down eight points.”
“Keep repeating: volatility is your friend,” I counseled her. “The market is going through a period of ups and downs, might go sideways like this for the rest of the year.”
“Just buy me the ones that always go up. Is that too much to ask?”
“Hey, for you, no problem. I’ll throw in the winning lottery ticket, too.”
She laughed. “I’m going to hold you to that, wise guy. In the meantime, what can I do for you?”
“I need to book a cruise for two leaving next Saturday.”
I heard fingers tapping computer keys. “Who’s the lucky woman?”
“This isn’t for me. It’s for a client.”
“Must be a pretty good client,” she said absentmindedly. “You know, Matt, I’m not seeing much here. Can I call you back on this?”
“I’m at home.” I gave her my home number, my cell phone number.
“I’ll call you this afternoon.”
I rang off. Paced around the condo. Felt cooped up. Decided to go for a walk on the beach. I put on a swimsuit, grabbed a towel, and headed out. I walked for an hour, letting the waves wash over my feet. I found three shark’s teeth, two tiny ones, one almost an inch in size.
When I got home, I dropped them in a glass bowl, almost half full with the little black teeth, went in the kitchen for a glass of ice water. The phone message light was flashing. Sandi probably. I hit the button. The Darth Vader voice said: You. Have. Two. Messages. First. Message. Saturday. Two. P.M. “Hello Matt. It’s Sandi. I think I’ve found a couple of things that might work. Give me a call. I’m here until five.”
I punched in her number. “Sandi,” I said when she came on, “It’s Matt.”
“Good. I’ve found two cruises for you. Both leaving Saturday out of Miami. The first is a Holland American ship and goes to San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Croix. Six days, five nights. The second is a Princess Lines cruise that goes to St. Thomas, Aruba, and Cozumel. Five days, four nights.”
She ran off the prices. Neither was to the Greek Isles; both were expensive. Since there was a good chance this cruise would go unused, I opted for the less expensive of the two.
“I’ll book it. Whose name shall I use?”
“The lucky couple are Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ford. And Sandi? Can you put some literature on this cruise in the mail to me?”
“I sure will. A bill, too.”
I hung up, feeling good that it hadn’t been more painful. I hit the play button for the second stored message. Second. Message. Saturday. Two. Twenty. P.M. “Matt, this is Dan. Have you seen Rosemary? She went to Publix this morning and hasn’t come back. I’m worried about her. Call me if you know anything. Thanks. ‘Bye.”
I felt sick. If Rosemary still wasn’t home, most likely D’Onifrio had grabbed her.
I called Dan. He picked up before the first ring finished.
“Dan, it’s Matt. I just found your message. Is Rosemary home yet?”
“No. She went to the grocery at ten. Hasn’t come back.” If he was trying not to sound frantic, he wasn’t succeeding.
“Why the grocery? Why didn’t she stay home?”
“She said she wanted to get a few things so there’d be food in the house while she was gone.”
“Why didn’t you go with her?”
“Publix is only three miles from the house. I didn’t think I needed to. I’m scared, Matt. Is this part of that trouble?”
I didn’t want to frighten him more. “I’m not sure. Have you called the police?”
“Not yet. I keep hoping she’ll walk in the door.”
“Call them. Don’t wait. Tell them what’s going on, get them looking for her. That’s the best thing to do right now.”
“I will. Thanks, Matt.”
I hung up, feeling awful. I grabbed the keys to the loaner car, and went out to find a pay phone. The closest one was at a CVS Pharmacy, a short drive away.
I put thirty-five cents in the slot, punched a number I was getting to know all too well. “I need to talk to Raines. It’s an emergency,” I said to the woman who answered.
“He’ll call you right back,” she said.
I stood there guarding the phone for half an hour. When it finally rang, I jumped, grabbed the receiver. “This is Matt.”
“What’s the emergency?” Raines’ voice was tense.
“They’ve kidnapped my associate.”
“Tory?”
“No, a lady who works in my brokerage, Rosemary Shears. I just talked to her husband, Dan. Rosemary went to the grocery this morning, never came home. He’s got her. I know he does. What do we do?”
“You’re sure about this? She isn’t out shoe shopping or something?”
“No.”
A deep sigh ended in, “Shit. I’ll check, see who knows something about this. Has the husband gone to the police?”
“He was about to.”
“Find out who’s working the investigation, let me know. Give me a number where I can call you. Land lines. No cellular.”
I gave him my home and work numbers.
“
Seattle
, I have to tell you this. She could be dead already. If she’s not, it’s because they’re going to use her to get to you. Anything you hear, call me. Understand?” He hung up.
I got back in the loaner, used my cell phone to call Tory. Her answering machine picked up. I left a cryptic message, told her to call me. I pulled into the Watergate. Not recognizing the car, Ehrlichman stopped me.
“Oh, Mr. Seattle. New car, huh? Sorry to have stopped you.”
If only he was real protection. I rode the elevator up to the condo, went to the kitchen, got a glass of ice water. I drank deep gulps, tried to calm down. I was jazzed with adrenaline. The phone rang. It was Tory.
“Matt, what’s wrong?”
“D’Onifrio’s got Rosemary.”
“What?”
“He kidnapped her. I want you to get away before something happens to you. Pack a bag. Go somewhere for a couple of days.”
“What about you?”
“I have to stay. Raines thinks D’Onifrio may have taken Rosemary to trade for me.”
I heard a gasp at the other end of the line. “You can’t do that. They’ll kill you both.”
“I can’t not do it. I couldn’t live with myself if they killed Rosemary. I’m going to talk to D’Onifrio—”
“Matt, you can’t—”
“Through Fish. Fish can call him, deliver a message for me. I’m going over to his condo now.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“No, you need to leave, too,” I said, but she’d already hung up.
I slammed the phone down on the receiver, grabbed my keys, headed out again.
Fish was sprawled on the sofa when I charged into the room. Surprised, he jumped. In five quick strides, I was to the sofa. Snatched up the remote, clicked the TV off. “Listen to me,” I said sternly. “We’ve got problems. Your boss has kidnapped a lady I work with.”
Fish’s eyes got big, frightened.
I walked to the kitchen, grabbed the cordless phone, took it back to the living room, thrust it at him. He fumbled with it, didn’t want to take it.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to call him. Tell him to release her. If he does that, I’ll turn myself over to him at the wedding.”
Fish stared at me, his mouth hanging open.
“Call him,” I yelled.
Fish sat up, dialed. “I need to talk to the boss.” He listened, covered the receiver with his hand. “I don’t think he’s there.”
“Tell them to find him.”
He took his hand off the receiver. “This is important. You better find him.”
He looked up at me, his eyes wild. We waited. His head jerked. “Yeah, boss. Sorry to disturb you, but Seattle told me to call, said you grabbed one of his people.” He closed his eyes, clamped his jaw shut. “The thing of it is,” he said, opening his eyes. “He says he’ll turn himself over to you at the wedding if you release the woman.” He listened, looked up at me, shook his head.
I grabbed the phone away from him. “Let her go. She doesn’t have anything to do with this. I’ll drive over to your place right now, if you agree to release her.”
This brought amused laughter. “I don’t want you. Yet. You still have work to do for me. This woman is my insurance policy that you make sure this marriage happens. If it doesn’t, she will die. I haven’t decided about you yet. I may put you through a torturous ordeal. Or I may just let you die. How much pain you suffer depends on how you perform, Mr. Seattle.”
“Let Rosemary go,” I said again. “I’m going to do what you want.”
“I’m sure you will. I am not an unreasonable person. I will not hurt your friend before the wedding. But if things start to go wrong, do you know what I will do?”
My throat closed. I could only imagine. I couldn’t speak.
