Hot Rocks (27 page)

He stared up at her, into the only face he loved more than his own. “What the hell was I going to do with all that money anyway?”

Laine drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she
sat parked on her own lane, studying the dark green Chevy.

“You know, precious, your mother used to get that look on her face when . . .” Jack trailed off when she turned her head, slowly, and stared at him. “That one, too.”

“You stole a car.”

“I consider it more of a lend/lease situation.”

“You boosted a car and drove it to my house?”

“What was I supposed to do? Hitchhike? Be reasonable, Lainie.”

“I’m sorry. I can see how unreasonable it is for me to object to my father committing grand theft auto in my own backyard. Shame on me.”

“Don’t get pissy about it,” he muttered.

“Unreasonable
and
pissy. Well, slap me silly. You’re going to take that car right back where you found it.”

“But—”

“No, no.” She lowered her head into her hands, squeezed her temples. “It’s too late for that. You’ll get caught, go to jail, and I’ll have to explain why my father thinks it’s perfectly okay to steal a car. We’ll leave it on the side of the road somewhere. Not here. Somewhere. God.”

Concerned by the tone of her voice, Henry stuck his head over the front seat to lap at her ear.

“All right. It’ll be all right. We’ll leave the car outside of town.” She sucked in a breath, straightened. “No harm, no foul.”

“If I don’t have the car, how the hell am I supposed to get to New Jersey? Let’s just consider, Lainie. I have to get to Atlantic City, to the locker, get the diamonds and bring them back to you. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s what I want.”

“I’m doing this for you, sweetheart, against my better judgment, because it’s what you want. What my baby girl wants comes first with me. But I can’t walk to Atlantic City and back, now can I?”

She knew that tone. Using it, Jack O’Hara could sell bottled swamp water out of a tent pitched beside a sparkling mountain stream. “There are planes, trains, there are goddamn buses.”

“Don’t swear at your father,” he said mildly. “And you don’t really expect me to ride a bus.”

“Of course not. Of course not. There I go being pissy and unreasonable again. You can take my car. Borrow,” she amended swiftly. “You can borrow my car for the day. I won’t need it anyway. I’ll be busy at work, beating my head against the wall to try to find my brain.”

“If that’s the way you want it, honey.”

She cast her eyes to heaven. “I still can’t believe you left millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds in a rental locker, then sent Willy here with several million more.”

“We had to move fast. Jesus, Laine, we’d just found out Crew killed Myers. We’d be next. Tucked my share away, took off. Bastard Crew was supposed to come after me. I all but drew him a damn map. Stash was safe. Willy gets another chunk of it here, then he’d double back for the rest while Crew’s a thousand miles away tracking me. That was going to be our traveling money, our cushion.”

To live on like kings, Jack thought, on that pretty beach.

“Never figured Crew would track you down. I’d never have brought that on you, baby. Crew was supposed to be off chasing me.”

“And if he’d caught up with you?”

Jack only smiled. “I wasn’t going to let him catch up. I still got the moves, Lainie.”

“Yeah, you still got the moves.”

“Just buying Willy time. He’d get to Mexico, liquidate the first quarter of the take. We’d meet up, take off, and with that much backing, we’d hide out in comfort until the heat was off.”

“Then slip back and pick up the rest from me.”

“Two, three years down the road maybe. We were working it out as we went.”

“You and Willy both had keys to the locker in AC?”

“Nobody on the planet I trusted like Willy. Except you, Lainie,” he added, patting her knee. “Cops got it now.” He pursed his lips in thought. “Take them a while to trace it, if they ever do.”

“Max has it now. I took it off Willy’s key ring. I gave it to him.”

“How’d you get . . . ?” The irritation in his tone faded to affection. “You stole it.”

“In a manner of speaking. But if you’re going to equate that with boosting a car, don’t even start. It’s entirely different.”

“Did it right under their noses, didn’t you?”

Her lips twitched. “Maybe.”

He gave her a little elbow nudge. “You still got the moves, too.”

“Apparently. But I don’t want them.”

“Don’t you want to know how we pulled it off?”

“I’ve figured out most of it. Your inside man takes the blinds—the dog, the doll, et cetera—into his office. Innocuous things, who pays attention? They sit around in plain sight. The shipment or shipments come in, he replaces them—or some of them—with fakes. Tucks a quarter share of the score in each of the four blinds. And there they sit.”

“Myers sweated that part. He was greedy, but he didn’t have good nerves.”

“Hmm. Couldn’t wait long, or he’d crack. Besides, you wouldn’t trust him longer. A couple of days at most. He puts out the alarm on the fakes himself, helps cover his ass. Cops swoop in, investigation starts. Blinds go out under their nose.”

“We each took one. Fact is, I posed as one of the insurance suits, walked into Myers’s office while everybody’s swarming around, walked out with my share in my briefcase. It was beautiful.”

He shot her a grin. “Me and Willy had lunch a couple blocks away at T.G.I. Friday’s after the scoop, with fourteen million warming our pockets. I had the nachos. Not bad.”

She shifted in her seat so they were face-to-face. “I’m not going to say it wasn’t a great score. I’m not going to pretend I don’t understand the rush either. But I’m trusting you, Dad. I’m trusting you to keep your promise. I need this life. I need it even more than you need that rush. Please don’t mess it up for me.”

“I’m going to fix everything.” He leaned over, kissed her cheek. “Just you wait and see.”

She watched him saunter to the stolen car. One for every minute, she thought. “Don’t make me one of them, Dad,” she murmured.

 

 

 

She had Jack drop her off at the park with Henry, and
counted on it still being early enough that no one who knew her would be around to comment on the strange man driving off in her car.

She gave Henry a half hour to romp, roll and chase the town squirrels.

Then she took out her cell phone and called Max.

“Gannon.”

“Tavish.”

“Hi, baby. What’s up?”

“I . . . you’re at the airport?”

“Yeah. Just set down in New York.”

“I thought I should tell you, my father came by to see me this morning.”

“That so?”

She heard the chill in his tone, and winced. No point in mentioning her father’s morning mode of transportation. “We settled some things, Max, straightened some things out. He’s on his way to get his share of the diamonds. He’s going to give them to me so I can give them to you, and you . . . well, et cetera.”

“Where are they, Laine?”

“Before I get to that, I want you to know he understands he screwed up.”

“Oh, which screwup does he understand?”

“Max.” She bent to take the branch Henry dumped at her feet. She had to wing it like a javelin, but it had the dog racing off in delight. “They panicked. When they heard about Myers’s death, they just panicked. It was a bad plan, no question, but it was impulse. My father didn’t realize Crew knew about me, much less that he’d come here. He just thought Willy could get me the figurine, and I’d tuck it away for a few years while they . . .” She let it go as she realized how the rest would sound.

“While they fenced the remaining share of the stolen gems and lived off the fat.”

“More or less. But the point is he’s agreed to give them up. He’s getting them.”

“Where?”

“A locker in Atlantic City. Mail Boxes, Etc. He’s driving up now. It’ll take him most of the day for the round-trip, but—”

“Driving what?”

She cleared her throat. “I lent him my car. I had to. I know you don’t trust him, Max, but he’s my father. I’ve got to trust him.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it?”

“Your father’s your father, Laine. You did what you needed to do. But no, I don’t have to trust him, and I’m not going to reel in shock if we find out he’s living in a pretty casa in Barcelona.”

“He doesn’t trust you either. He thinks you’re on your way to Martinique.”

“Saint Bart’s, maybe. I like Saint Bart’s better.” There was a moment’s pause. “You’re really stuck right smack in the middle, aren’t you?”

“Just my luck to love both of you.” She heard the change in background noise and realized he’d walked outside the terminal. “Guess you’re going to catch a cab.”

“Yeah.”

“I’d better let you go. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Counting on that. I love you, Laine.”

“It’s nice to hear that. I love you, too. Bye.”

On his end, Max slipped the phone back into his pocket and checked his watch as he strode over to the cab stand. Depending on traffic, he could have the New York leg of the day knocked in a couple hours. By his calculation he could make the detour to Atlantic City without too much trouble.

If Laine was going to be stuck in the middle, he was going to make damn sure she didn’t get squeezed.

 

 

 

Laine walked from the park to Market Street with Henry
doing his best to swivel his head a hundred and eighty degrees to chew off the hated leash.

“Rules are rules, Henry. Believe it or not, I all but had that tattooed on my butt up to a couple of weeks ago.” When his response to that was to collapse on his belly and whimper, she crouched until they were nose to snout. “Listen up, pal. There’s a leash law in this town. If you can’t handle that, and comport yourself with some dignity, there’ll be no more playing in the park.”

“Having a little trouble there?”

She jolted, cringed at the waves of guilt that washed hot over her as she looked up into Vince’s wide, friendly face. “He objects to the leash.”

“He’ll have to take that up with the town council. Come on, Henry, I got part of a cruller here with your name on it. I’ll walk with you,” he said to Laine. “Need to talk to you anyway.”

“Sure.”

“Getting an early start today.”

“Yes. I’ve had a lot of things piling up. Thanks,” she added when he took the leash and dragged Henry along.

“Been an interesting space of time recently.”

“I’m looking forward to it sliding back to dull.”

“Guess you probably are.”

He waited while she got out her keys, unlocked the front door of the shop. While she deactivated the alarm, he squatted down to unclip the leash and give the grateful Henry a rub.

“Heard you were in the station a couple days ago.”

“Yes.” To keep busy, she walked over to unlock the cash register. “I told you that I knew Willy, and I thought . . . I wanted to see about making arrangements.”

“Yeah, you did. You can do that. Make the arrangements. That’s been cleared.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“Funny thing. Somebody else came in, last night, interested in the same guy. Only thing, he said he knew him by the other name. Name that was on the card he gave you.”

“Really? I’m going to put Henry in the back.”

“I’ll do it. Come on, Henry.” Bribed with half a cruller, Henry scrambled into the back room. “This guy who came in, he said Willy—or Jasper—was a rare-book dealer.”

“It’s possible he was. Or that he was posing as one. I told you, Vince, I haven’t seen Willy since I was a kid. That’s the truth.”

“I believe that. Just a funny thing.” He walked over to lean on the counter. “Like it’s a funny thing there were five keys in his effects, and when I looked through them last night, there were only four.” He waited a beat. “Not going to suggest they were miscounted?”

“No. I’m not going to lie to you.”

“Appreciate that. The man who came in last night, he had your eyes.”

“It’s more accurate to say I have his. If you recognized him, why didn’t you arrest him?”

“That’s complicated, too. Best to say you don’t arrest a man because you see something in his eyes. I’m going to ask you for that key, Laine.”

“I don’t have it.”

“Damn it, Laine.” He straightened.

“I gave it to Max,” she said quickly. “I’m trying to do what’s right, what should be done—and not be responsible for putting my father in prison. Or getting him killed.”

“One of those things that should be done is keeping me informed. The diamond theft might be New York’s business, Laine, but one of the men suspected of stealing them died in my town. One or more of his buddies is in my town, or has been. That puts my citizenship at risk.”

“You’re right. I’m having a hard time keeping my balance on this very thin line. And I know you’re trying to help me. I found Willy’s share of the diamonds. I didn’t know they were here, Vince, I swear it.”

“If you didn’t know, how’d you find them?”

“They were in some stupid statue. Dog—pooch. I’ve been trying to piece it together and can only conclude that he stuck it on a shelf when he was here, or put it somewhere—in a cabinet or drawer—and either Jenny or Angie shelved it. Angie, most likely. Jenny would’ve asked me about it, and when I asked her, she didn’t remember seeing it before. I gave them to Max, and he’s in New York right now, turning them over. You can check. You can call Reliance and check.”

He said nothing for a moment. “We haven’t run that far out of bounds, have we, Laine, that I have to check?”

“I don’t want to lose your friendship, or Jenny’s.” She had to take a steadying breath. “I don’t want to lose my place in this town. I wouldn’t be insulted if you checked, Vince.”