No One to Trust (26 page)

“Luis wasn’t supposed to kill Dominic Sanders. I was expecting you to show up at the hotel and I told Luis it was his job to take care of you. Those drug addicts never get anything right.”

She was so angry that she had to wait before replying. “You didn’t get it right either. Luis is dead, and I have no reason to talk to you again.”

“That was unfortunate. But you took out two of my men in exchange. I never expected you to have a marksman on call. He was extremely gifted. Galen?”

“No.”

“Then who was it?”

“Why do you want to know? Do you want to put out a contract on him?”

“Just curious. How is my son?”

“He’s not your son.”

“I have an idea he will be soon. What do they say about possession?”

“And I’m in possession.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, dammit.” She hung up and looked at Galen. “I think
Judd has already contacted him. He was feeling me out. Christ, Judd’s moving fast.”

“Then we’d better do the same.” He started down the steps. “Come on, let’s see if we can find that carnival before it closes down for the night.”

The carnival grounds smelled of cotton candy, popcorn, and the sweat of the crowd milling about the booths. The shrill sound of the calliope grated on Elena’s nerves as her gaze searched desperately.

“Where do we start?” Elena murmured. “The Ferris wheel. He mentioned the Ferris wheel.”

“As good a place as any.” Galen grabbed her elbow and was already pushing her through the throng. “You have his picture to show people?”

She nodded, her gaze anxiously searching the crowd. Where are you, Barry? Where are you, baby? She looked up at the giant wheel, trying to see if he was in one of the boats. She couldn’t see the one that had stopped on top.…

The wheel started again and the occupants of the top boat came into view.

Two teenage boys.

“Let’s go,” Galen said. “We’ll split up. You start at the
shooting booth and I’ll scout the opposite direction. We’ll meet at the front entrance.”

“Right.” She was already moving, searching, listening for Barry’s voice in the crowd. She passed a catch-the-fish booth, a tent advertising hoochie-coochie dancers, a spinning-cup ride. Where
was
he, dammit?

It took only fifteen minutes to make her way back to the ticket booth at the front entrance.

“Nothing?” Galen asked.

She shook her head dejectedly. “Maybe we were wrong about this being the carnival. Or it could be that—”

“Jesus.” Galen’s hand closed on her arm. “That’s Judd’s truck pulling out of the parking lot.” Galen was running toward their car. “He must have seen us. He’s peeling out.”

Elena looked over her shoulder as she jumped into the passenger seat. She caught a fleeting glimpse of a black truck with two occupants. One man, one little boy.

Barry!

Then the truck was gone, traveling at high speed down the road.

“Catch him.” Her hands clenched into fists. “We’ve got to catch him.”

“I know.” Galen’s wheels screeched as he backed out of the parking space. “Fasten your seat belt.”

By the time they reached the road, Judd was almost out of sight.

Galen’s foot jammed on the accelerator and the car jumped forward.

Faster.

Gas stations, convenience stores.

Faster.

She couldn’t see the black truck any longer.

One mile.

Two miles.

Where was that damn truck?

“Where is he?” she whispered.

“We lost him. He must have turned off somewhere.” He turned around. “We’ll go back and go down some side streets.”

They spent the next hour crisscrossing the main road.

No black truck.

No Barry.

Galen finally pulled over to the side of the road. “He got away from us.”

“I know that.” Her disappointment was so sharp it was almost physical. “We were so close.”

“We’ll get there again.” Galen moved the car back into the flow of traffic. “What now?”

She tried to think. “Motels. They had to be staying at a motel in the general area. Let’s find a phone book and go check them.”

“A slim chance.”

“So was the carnival.”

“Good point. I’ll pull over at the first convenience store and we’ll go through the phone book.”

They called thirteen room clerks at various motels before they struck pay dirt. Ten minutes later they were standing in front of the check-in desk.

“That’s Mr. Donovan,” the woman said. “Real pleasant gentleman, and his son was a charmer.”

“Did you hear him call the boy by name?” Galen asked.

She wrinkled her forehead. “Larry, I think.”

“Barry?”

She smiled. “That’s it.”

“What room is he in?”

“Forty-two. But he checked out earlier this evening.”

“Could I see the room and look around?”

She lost some of her friendliness. “Why?”

“I’m hoping to find some clue to where he’s going next. I need to find him.” He gestured at Elena. “They’re in the middle of a very nasty divorce and he’s taken their son.”

The woman glanced at Elena. “I’m sorry. I could see you were upset.”

“Yes, I am. Could we see the room? We’ll be only a few minutes.”

“I’ll have to go along and stay while you’re there.”

“Fine.” Galen turned toward the door. “Let’s do it.”

The motel room was really a suite with a living room, bedroom, and kitchenette. The maids had obviously not cleaned up. There were newspapers on the coffee table and soda glasses on the sink.

And on the nightstand a piece of paper with a tiger and flowers scrawled in orange crayon. She picked up the paper and agony shot through her.

I saw lions and tigers.…

“Take it easy,” Galen said beside her. “There’s an envelope
underneath it.” He picked it up and opened the envelope. “It has my name on it. It seems we were expected.” He scanned it and handed it to Elena. “No help.”

Galen
,

“We can’t do anything more here,” Galen said gently. “Let’s go back to the cottage. Ready, Elena?”

She nodded jerkily and thrust the note back at him. Then she carefully smoothed Barry’s picture and carried it to the door. “I’m ready. You’re right, there’s nothing more we can do.”

I saw lions and tigers, Mama
.

“Thirty million,” Judd said crisply. “Not a penny less.”

“You’re crazy,” Chavez said. “I won’t pay more than ten.”

“Yes, you will. Thirty million is a drop in the bucket to you. You can get that on a small shipment of coke to Miami.”

“Because I can get it is no sign I will.”

“What I’m selling you is priceless. You can’t get it anywhere else.”

“I won’t pay it.”

“Did you get the photograph I sent you?”

“Yes.”

“The next one I send you will show you a dead boy. Then no more dreams of a father-and-son business. No more child to mold.”

“You would kill a child?”

“Did you check my background? A kill is a kill. Do you want the boy or not?”

“Fifteen million.”

“I need more than that. As you probably found out, I’m very hot. It will take a lot of cash to cool me down. Thirty.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll give you twenty-four hours. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He hung up.

“Judd,” Barry called from the bathroom.

“Coming.” He stood in the doorway and looked at Barry in the tub. “Problem washing behind your ears?”

“No.” He floated the rubber crocodile on the water. “I was just lonesome. Are you ever lonesome, Judd?”

“No, I guess I like my own company too much.”

“I miss Mama and Dominic.”

“Aren’t you having a good time?”

He nodded. “But I worry about Mama.”

“Sometimes it’s best to get used to being without people. Then it doesn’t hurt so much.”

He shook his head emphatically. “Not Mama. When she had to go to the city to work, I never got used to it. Maybe we should—”

“Your mama wants you to have this adventure. She’ll be disappointed if she thinks you’re not happy.”

Barry frowned, troubled. “I guess so.”

“Then get out of that tub before you turn into a prune.” Judd grabbed a bath towel and held it for him. “You need to get to sleep. Tomorrow we’re going to a petting zoo. Would you like that?”

Barry’s face lit up. “Oh, yes. Will they have llamas? I saw a llama once.”

“I have no idea. I guess we’ll find out together.”

“And I can talk to Mama and tell her about it?”

He draped the towel around him. “Absolutely.”

“That’s good.” He ran out of the bathroom.

Well, there wasn’t much else good in this entire scenario, Judd thought wearily. The whole business was making him a little sick. Not that the nastiness of it would cause him to back down.

Thirty million dollars was good. Being free to live his own life was good. He could swallow the filth and do whatever was necessary.

“Come on, time for bed.” Galen helped Elena out of the car. “Judd will call tomorrow and maybe we’ll get another clue as to where he is.”

“Yes.” She clutched Barry’s drawing as she started up the stairs. “He promised, didn’t he?”

“Yes.” He led her through the dark house to her bedroom. “And he’ll keep his promise.” He took the drawing from her clenched hand and set it on the nightstand. He started to unbutton her shirt.

“I can do it.”

“Sure.” He finished unbuttoning her shirt. “But you’ve had a knockout punch. Let me.”

She didn’t care. It didn’t matter.

He quickly undressed her and tucked her beneath the blanket. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get you a couple aspirin.” He gave her the aspirin and then slipped into bed beside her. “God, you’re cold.” He cuddled closer to her. “Try to go to sleep.”

She closed her eyes. “Lions and tigers … Barry has a book about a tiger named Sarina. It was a very playful tiger, and I wondered if the writer shouldn’t have given a hint about how dangerous they are. But I thought it was okay because you don’t run into tigers every day.”

“Very rarely.”

“But Barry has run into a tiger, and no matter how playful he seems, the danger is there. There’s no telling what Judd could do.”

“Nothing’s happened yet. I agree Judd is an enigma, but we have to hope for the best.”

“The best is for him to give me back my son. He’s not going to do that.”

“No.”

“I’m going to sleep now. It hurts to stay awake. It’s so lonely. Dominic is gone, Luis is gone, and now Barry.…”

“How many times do I have to tell you? You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again. Trust me.”

“I’m sorry. I’m whining. I’ll be better in the morning. Good night.”

“Don’t close me out. Let me come in. I’ll warm you.”

He was warming her, but not enough to melt the ice. “Good night,” she said again.

He gave an exasperated sigh and his arms tightened around her. “Okay, but I’m here for you. Know that.”

She nodded. In some remote part of her mind she knew that as truth and it brought her comfort. She had to get over this deadly malaise. It made it difficult for her to function. It was an enemy. “I’ll be better. I have to be better. I have to get Barry.…”

“You’ll be tough as nails after you get some sleep.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “I promise you.”

Chavez called at four in the morning.

“He wants to talk to you,” Galen said. “You’re not in any shape. Let me handle him.”

She shook her head and took the phone. “We have nothing to talk about, Chavez.”

“I disagree. We have a good deal to discuss. You didn’t tell me that you no longer have my son.”

“I do have Barry.”

“I’ve had talks with a man who says that he has custody and is willing to give him to me for a price.”

“He’s lying. You’d be a fool to deal with him.”

“I never act the fool. He sent me a picture of Barry and demanded thirty million dollars.”

She didn’t respond.

“That’s a lot of money. Naturally, I told him that I wouldn’t pay it. Do you know what he said? He told me the next picture he sent me would be of a dead boy.”

She inhaled sharply as pain knifed through her.

“Oh, that got you. I hoped it would. So, you see, it’s up to me whether the boy lives or dies. I’m really tempted to let Morgan kill him just to see you suffer.”

“Morgan won’t kill him.”

“Wishful thinking. He’s capable of anything. He’s killed countless times. I researched him thoroughly, and his background is very nasty indeed.”

“He won’t … do it.”

“Oh, he will, if I don’t pay the money. Should I do it? Is it worth it to me? You’ll have to wonder, won’t you?”

“You want my son. It will be worth it to you.”

“Your voice is shaking. I feel quite stimulated by this conversation. It’s almost as satisfactory as having you here with me. If I do decide to ransom my son, I’ll be in total control of his life or death. If I decide that you’ve spoiled any potential he might have, then I’ll get rid of him.”

“To hurt me.”

“Oh, yes, that’s my prime goal.”

“I don’t believe you. You’re bluffing. It would be stupid of you to kill him. That would be a defeat for you.”