Sacrifice (31 page)

“
She is part of my plan for you. It was terribly easy. I met her at the gallery where she worked, filled her with a few drinks, and brought her here.” He shrugged as he looked back down at Jenny Ryan’s body. “She could pass for you. Yes, a few days in a watery grave and I will have a corpse thought to be the missing Nicole Beauvoir.”

I felt my gut tighten. “Missing? What are you going to do, Simon?”

He turned from me and lowered the revolver to his side. “I came to New Orleans because I knew David was here. When he ran away from me a few weeks ago, I realized his desire for you would bring him back to this city. All I had to do was keep an eye on you and, sooner or later, he would appear. I had Gerard follow you to George Elliot’s place and I instructed him to bring David to me. But then David killed Gerard. So I had to figure out another way to get my dear boy back. Enter Ms. Ryan.” He smiled down at the lifeless woman. “I didn’t realize until I saw her at Greg’s party how much she looked like you. I thought it a pity I could not substitute her for you. And then that is precisely what I decided to do.” He walked over and sat back down in his chair. “When I was at that benefit the other night, waiting for you to arrive, I met the most interesting man. He worked for the Coroner’s Office in New Orleans. He told me how the backlog of bodies left over from Katrina, along with the high number of murders still plaguing the city, was making it impossible for their office to keep up. My clandestine meeting with that informative fellow, combined with the extraordinary resemblance between you and Ms. Ryan, gave me an idea.” He paused and smiled at me. “When we go to Gregory’s tonight I will finally put an end to our tiresome squabbling. I will kill Gregory and make it look as if you two had a lover’s quarrel. After Jenny Ryan’s body is found in the Mississippi River, with your identification and the murder weapon, everyone will assume that you killed Gregory and then walked over to the river and committed suicide.”

“
My family will never believe that. They will know Jenny Ryan is not me.”

“
Perhaps, but with the high suicide rate in this city, combined with your recent trip to a psychologist, the police may not be so easily convinced. And even if they do pursue further testing on the body, it could take months. Between the limited funds for DNA analysis and the loss of dental records from dentists’ offices throughout the city, it could be quite a while before anyone realizes the body is not yours. And by then you will be long gone.

“
What are you going to do with me?”

Simon tossed his head playfully to the side. “You will assume Ms. Ryan’s identity for our trip back to New York. Your famous face would have made creating a new identity for you rather difficult. Thanks to Ms. Ryan, I can easily get you out of New Orleans and no one will ever be the wiser.”

“
Why are you doing all of this, Simon?”

“
To get my boy back, of course. He will come to me when he finds out I have you safely under lock and key. He will have no choice but to return to New York with us. He will be do whatever I desire in order to keep you alive.”

“
Don’t you think you have already done enough to David? Why can’t you just leave him alone?”

“
Because he is mine! I made him. I educated him. Everything that he is, I created. He is my masterpiece and I will not just give him up to some silly girl. I did everything for him a father would do. Then you took him away from me. And I had to get David back. Without him my organization has suffered. I cannot have my name sullied because of an infantile obsession.” His little brown eyes were smoldering with hatred “You took my two best operatives right out from under my nose. People started talking about you like you were some kind of enchantress.” His face calmed a little. “I have spent many a night thinking about how I would execute my retribution. First, I will take your beauty, and then that stubborn will of yours, and when I have finally tired of you, I will take your life,” he calmly stated.

“
No matter what you do to me, David will never come back to you. He hates you. He has always hated you, Simon. You didn’t educate or create him. You only lied to him and manipulated him to improve your bottom line.” I shook my head and grinned. “David was right about you. You’re nothing more than a pimp.”

“
Watch your mouth, girl!” Simon warned in a menacing tone. He grasped the gun firmly in his hand. “Before I am done with you, I promise you will be begging for me to kill you.”

I curled my fists. I felt my heart pounding. I was enraged, and at the same time terrified, but I knew I could never let Simon see my fear. “You’ll never see me beg, Simon. You’re a bad Broadway actor who tried to better himself by stealing the achievements of others. You give yourself such airs. You think you’re better than everyone else. But you’re nothing more than a common thug in a tailored suit.”

He got up from his chair and came toward me. “I am better than all the rest, Nicci, because in the end, I always will win.” He laughed as he stood before me. “You are quite a little fireball. It is a shame you cannot join my organization. What a specialist you would have made.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Now we will make this short and to the point. I will have you on speaker so do not try and do anything devious. Tell David I have you and only he is to meet us tonight at Gregory’s.” He pressed a few buttons on his phone and then held it out in front of me.

I stared at the black cell phone, wanting to avoid Simon’s rat-like eyes.

Simon placed the muzzle of his revolver against my temple.

“
Do as I say, Nicci,” Simon whispered. “Otherwise there will be consequences.”

Chapter
Twenty-One

With my hands tied in front of me, and covered by Jenny Ryan’s gray jacket, Simon and I slowly walked around from the front entrance of the gallery to the rear door that led to Greg Caston’s residence. Simon leaned on his cane with his right hand as we moved down the walkway. He kept the revolver in his left hand hidden behind Jenny Ryan’s oversized black purse that he had strategically placed over my shoulder.

“
Play this casual and easy, Nicci. Don’t do anything to attract suspicion or I will shoot you,” he warned and shoved the tip of his gun into my side.

The entire building seemed quiet. There were lights shining from Greg’s penthouse above the gallery floors. As we made the turn to head up to the rear entrance to Greg’s apartment, Cleveland stepped out in front of us.

My body froze as I saw the large security guard hovering before me.

Cleveland smiled at me. “Good evenin’. Ms. Beauvoir. Mr. Caston is expectin’ you.”

The security guard’s brown eyes inspected Simon. “Hello, Cleveland,” I said as I turned to Simon. “This is Mr. August. I told Mr. Caston that he would be joining us this evening. And there is another gentleman expected to join us shortly. A Mr. Al…” Simon jabbed me with the gun. “Excuse me, a Mr. Goldvarg. Could you please show him up, Cleveland?”

Cleveland nodded. “Of course, Ms. Beauvoir.” Cleveland gave Simon a thorough going over with his eyes. “Mr. August.” He paused and then a smile crept slowly across his face. He stepped aside and opened the heavy glass door for us. “Then ya’ll have a nice night,” Cleveland offered.

We walked through the entrance and headed down the short corridor to the elevator doors.

“
Very good, my dear,” Simon whispered. “You handled that well. You even recovered nicely from your little error.”

I tried to control the trembling in my voice as I spoke. “Having a gun jammed into my ribs helps.”

At the silver elevator doors, Simon pressed the call light. “Just keep playing along, Nicci, and when we get upstairs don’t do anything foolish. I have the gun, and I can use it on David just as easily as I can use it on you.”

“
But then you wouldn’t have David.” I replied.

The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside.

“
But I would have you, Nicci. With David, or without, I will still make you pay for what you have cost me.”

Simon pressed the “P” button on the console and I felt my body shiver with fear as the car started to ascend. As we rode up in the elevator, I pondered the possibilities waiting for me. I tried to think of some way I could warn Greg when we entered his apartment. But with the end of Simon’s gun so close to my side, I feared any unexpected movement would be enough to make the man pull the trigger. I decided, once we arrived at Greg residence, I had no choice but to do as Simon instructed and wait for David to arrive.

When the elevator doors opened, I stared wildly into the darkness of the apartment.

“
There you are. I was…” Greg’s voice went still. “Nicci, what the hell is going on?” He moved out in front of the elevator doors. “Why is Simon here?” he shouted.

Greg was wearing a pale blue polo shirt and a pair of jeans. I was surprised to see a man who usually presented himself in such a formal manner dressed so casually. In that instant, the differences between Greg and Simon became glaringly obvious. Greg had learned to have a life beyond his work as a purveyor of secrets, whereas Simon had never been able to separate his life from his organization.

Simon lifted the gun out from behind the black purse on my shoulder and pointed it at Greg.

Greg’s black eyes widened with surprise as he took a step back. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, La Roy? You know better than to pull some stunt like this on me. I have connections. I know the same people you know and they will be furious that you went—”

“
Shut up, Gregory,” Simon snarled. “You stole all of those connections from me. All of those fancy friends you have were once my friends. Don’t think those nasty little rumors you have spread about me over the years have not gotten back to me. I know about all of the deceptions you have created in hopes of destroying me.”

Greg raised his eyes from the gun and stared at Simon. “I never had to tell lies about you,” Greg admitted with a slight grin. “Anyone who has ever worked with you, or for you, knows everything I said was the truth. You’ve got a lot of enemies Simon and not a single friend.”

“
You would be nothing without me, boy,” Simon challenged. “When we met, you were selling yourself to wealthy housewives because your brother had cut you off from the family trust fund.” Simon nodded to me. “Our Gregory here was working as a male prostitute when I first met him at a party. But I took him away from all of that. I educated him. I taught him about wine, music, clothes, food, and art.”

Greg took an angry step toward Simon. “I’m the one who taught you about art, you pompous ass. You think you own everyone. But you never owned me, Simon.”

“
You betrayed me!” Simon shouted as he raised his gun to Greg. “I gave you everything and you went behind my back and started your own network of spies. You hurt my reputation and my bottom line, Gregory.”

Greg smiled. “What really bothers you Simon is that I became your equal. No, I became better than you, and you can’t stand to see anyone beat you at your own game.”

“
You could have been so much more. You could have been my masterpiece, but instead you turned out to be my greatest disappointment, Gregory,” Simon aimed his gun at Greg and fired.

Greg was thrown back as the bullet tore through the center of his chest. He struggled for several seconds to keep his feet beneath him, but then he fell forward and his body hit the floor with a dull thud.

I made a move toward Greg, but Simon quickly lifted his cane, blocking my way. “Don’t even think about helping him,” he ordered. “I know your training as a nurse may be hard to overcome at times like this, Nicci, but try.”

The elevator suddenly hummed to life behind us. Simon heard it too and turned back to the silver elevator doors. He glanced nervously around the room and spied Greg still lying on the floor. Greg Caston was barely breathing and a trickle of blood had started flowing from the corner of his mouth.

“
Either our David has arrived, or that tree trunk of a security guard is coming up because he heard the gunshot.” Simon removed the gray jacket covering my bound wrists and tossed it to the floor. “Go and sit in the chair over there,” he ordered as he waved the gun at a pair of soft leather chairs next to Greg’s motionless body. “And don’t give me a reason to shoot you, Nicci,” he angrily warned.

I slowly made my way across the living room toward the leather chairs. As I walked cautiously around Greg’s lifeless form, I noted the pale color of his skin and the glassy look in his eyes. I immediately knew Greg Caston did not have long to live. I ached to offer him some assistance. But as I glanced back at Simon, I could see the man’s dark eyes watching my every move. I took my seat and felt the heavy black purse fall away from my shoulder and onto the chair. I stared anxiously at the elevator doors directly ahead of me. I had never been one who had believed in prayer prior to that moment in my life. But I suddenly found myself silently praying to the forces above for a little divine intervention.

At that moment the elevator doors opened and David appeared before me.

He stepped from the elevator and looked frantically about the room. “Nicci?” he called out to me.

“
What, no hello for me, my boy,” Simon declared as he walked up to David. “Goodness, Gerard really did beat the blazes out of you.” Simon inspected David’s bruised face. “No matter, when we get home I will make sure you get the best of care. Soon you will look like my old David again,” he assured him.