Jay Giles (30 page)
“I will start cutting her up, sending you pieces as reminders of how you have failed me. Perhaps a hand to start. An eye. The tongue, I am given to understand, is very painful.”
“There won’t be any problems. Things will go smoothly.”
“Thank you, Mr. Seattle. I thought you might see things my way.” He rang off.
“I’m sorry, man,” Fish said from the couch. “I didn’t know anything like this was going down.”
I needed air. I put the phone down, walked out on the deck, leaned over the railing. I felt sick.
From inside, I heard a door open, close. Voices talking. Steps. “Are you okay?” Tory asked, leaning next to me on the rail.
I was so low I didn’t know what to say even though my throat had relaxed a bit.
“You can’t blame yourself. There was no way you could know this was going to happen.”
But I should have. He’d even warned me that night at his house, the night he torched my offices.
“They’ll find her. Raines will get her back. You can’t give up now, Matt. You have to keep your head in the game. That’s her only chance.”
She didn’t have a chance. D’Onifrio wasn’t going to let her walk away, a witness to what he’d done.
“C’mon, you’ve got to snap out of it. Let’s get moving.” She pulled my arm. We went back into the condo. “What did Raines have to say?”
Fish was standing there watching us. Having her ask about Raines in front of him brought me back to attention. “Rosemary’s husband, you mean?”
For a split second, her face showed confusion. Her mouth opened as if to say something, closed quickly. “Yeah. Isn’t that his name?”
I nodded. “He just wants her back. He’s frightened. He doesn’t have any idea what’s behind this.”
Fish was still standing there. He looked uncomfortable. “Guys, if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. You know I’ll do it for you. I feel awful about this.”
I went over, patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks. What we need you to do is get married. Make sure Janet doesn’t do something goofy to delay things. I almost forgot. I booked you a cruise. You leave Saturday from
Miami
, visit
San Juan
,
St. Thomas
, St.Croix. Six days, five nights. Looks like a good time.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate you springing for that, especially with how the boss is treating you.”
“I appreciate you making that call to him.”
His jowls quivered in a frown. “I’ll tell him when I talk to him—this ain’t right.”
“Wouldn’t hurt to call Janet,” Tory suggested. “Tell her you’ve booked a cruise. Position this as a little excursion, the best of what’s available on short notice. Tell her you’d like to take a big trip with her first of the year. I’ll call you tomorrow, make sure everything’s going okay.” She looked over at me. “We need to talk to Rosemary’s husband.”
“Fish, if you hear anything—anything at all about Rosemary—will you call me?”
He nodded.
When we were going down in the elevator, Tory hit the door with her hand. “I can’t believe I mentioned Raines in front of him. I’m sorry.”
“An easy slip to make. We’ve gotten to thinking of Fish as a friend.”
She hit the door again. “Damn.”
It opened on the ground level revealing two little old people, each holding a bag of groceries. They scurried out of Tory’s way.
“What did Raines tell you?” she asked as we walked to our cars.
“Not much really. He said he’d look into it. Told me to call when I found out who was handling the police investigation. I’m going to call him now, fill him in on my conversation with D’Onifrio.”
“I’ll follow you.”
I drove to that same pay phone at CVS, called Raines, got the call back. “I don’t know anything yet,” he said in a gruff voice.
“I’m calling because I talked to D’Onifrio. He confirmed what you suspected. He’s holding her to get me.”
“Only way this makes any sense.”
“I tried to get him to let her go. He wouldn’t. I tried to set up an exchange at the wedding. He wouldn’t agree to that, either. But he’s going to be at the wedding. If something’s going to happen, it’ll be then.”
“When’s this wedding?”
“Friday. Two o’clock. City Hall. Room 410.”
“And you think he’ll have her there?”
“I don’t know, no. But I said I’d be there. If he lets her go, he can take me.”
“Matt, you can’t do that,” Tory said adamantly.
From the earpiece, I heard Raines say, “I agree. Let’s play it like you’re going to make the trade, but not plan on going through with it. I’ll have people there. We’ll get the woman away from them, get you out of there.”
I desperately wanted to believe he could pull that off.
“Can you get me a picture of this woman?”
“Yes.”
“A guy named Rusty is on his way to your place to sweep your phones. Give him the picture. Call me with any news.” He rang off.
I hung the receiver in its cradle, turned to go.
Tory stood in front of me, arms folded in front of her, a concerned look on her face. “Tell me you’re not going to do that.”
“Raines said to play it like it’s going to happen but not to go through with it. He’ll have people there.”
Her face softened a little. “Good.”
I headed for the car, away from further confrontation. “Raines has somebody on his way to my place. I need to get back.”
“I’ll come, too,” she said to my surprise.
As I pulled up to the guardhouse, Ehrlichman stepped out. I stopped, leaned out the window, and explained I had a guest following in the car behind me. If I hadn’t, he’d have assumed Tory was an intruder and given her a full body-cavity search. Instead, all she’d get from him would be a goofy leer.
“Service guy came by for you, Mr. Seattle,” he said when I’d finished. “I rang your place. You weren’t there, so I couldn’t let him in. He said he’d come back at five.”
I looked at the car’s clock. Four-forty-five. “Sorry I missed him. Send him on when he comes back.”
“I sure will, Mr. Seattle.”
“Thanks.” I raised my window, drove on.
Actually, the delay helped me. I knew I had a picture of Rosemary. I’d used it in an announcement when she joined the brokerage. But what had I done with it?
I parked my car in the garage, waited at the front of the building for Tory. She arrived a minute later. Parked in the visitor’s area. We walked in, rode the elevator up to twelve. “Make yourself at home,” I said to Tory as I opened the condo’s front door. The answering machine was beeping, I went there first, hit the play button.
You. Have. Two. Messages. First. Message. Saturday. Three. Twenty. P.M. “Matt, it’s Dan. Rosemary still hasn’t come back. I’ve called the police. You haven’t heard from her, have you? Call me back.” He sounded desperate.
Second. Message. Saturday. Four. Ten. P.M. “Mr. Seattle, this is Lieutenant Brock Ellsworth of the Sarasota Police. Rosemary Shears, who I understand works for you, has been reported missing by her husband, Dan. Mr. Seattle, if you wouldn’t mind calling me at this number at your earliest opportunity, I’d appreciate talking to you. Thanks.”
I wrote down his name and number. Headed into the library. If Rosemary’s picture was here, it would be with the office stuff in my desk. Sure enough, in a file marked announcements, I found it. A five-by-seven glossy.
The downstairs buzzer sounded, I headed for the intercom.
“It’s Rusty,” a voice said, “you should be expecting me.”
“C’mon up.” I buzzed him in.
The doorbell rang moments later. “I’ll get it,” Tory said.
Rusty was a young guy with red hair and a goatee. He had on overalls that said Central Service, carried a large gray metal toolbox in each hand. “Raines told you I was coming, right?”
I nodded. “Said you were going to sweep the phones?”
“Yeah, want to show me where they are?”
I showed him the three phones. “One of D’Onifrio’s people was in this condo,” I said as I showed him the phone in the bedroom.
“Really? I better sweep the whole place.” He opened his tool kits, took out a bunch of gadgets. Tory and I watched him as he worked. Half an hour later, he packed his stuff back up. “You’re clean. You can call Raines from here now. I’ve put a scrambler on your phone. It activates when you call him at this number.” He handed me a card. I got Rosemary’s picture, gave it to him. He put it in his tool kit and departed.
“I’m going to call Dan back, then Raines,” I said to Tory. “Find out what he wants to do about the police.”
Dan must have been right next to the phone. “Hello,” he said in a frightened voice.
“Dan, it’s Matt. Any news?
“No. The police just left. They’ve been here all afternoon.”
“There was a message on my machine to call a Lieutenant Ellsworth.”
“He’s the one in charge.”
“What’d he say?”
“He told me not to panic. Said she could still turn up. He’s wrong. Something’s happened. I know it.”
“Let me call Ellsworth. See what he needs. What can I do for you? Want to go get some dinner together? Bring something by your place? What sounds good?”
“Thanks, Matt. I can’t eat, I’m too worried. Call Ellsworth. If you hear anything, let me know.”
“Poor guy. He has to be beside himself,” Tory said after I hung up.
“Rosemary and Dan are the nicest people in the entire world.”
“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. You’re a nice guy, too. Very few people look out for others the way you do.”
