Necessary Decisions, A Gino Cataldi Mystery (38 page)

“That’s a big area, Lonny. Might take me a while to check it.”

Lonny gripped his steering wheel and squeezed. He wanted to break something. Still, he maintained his composure. “I know I’m asking a lot, but this is soooo important.” There was silence for a moment, and then Lonny thought of something else. “It would have been in the morning. Say between ten and noon.”

More silence, then. “Hang on a minute.”

Fred put him on hold for what seemed like half an hour. When Lonny checked his watch, it had only been about eight minutes.

“Got two pours that could fit. One came in at about ninety yards, the other at one hundred twelve.”

“You got addresses?”

Fred gave Lonny the addresses. One was maybe a mile and a half away. The other more like three. Either one could have been it. Lonny had been in the back of a van with the windows covered and a mask on. Getting within three miles was miracle enough.

“Thanks, Fred. I owe you, man. I mean
really
owe you.”

“Just get some work, Lonny. Be nice to hear your voice more often. And good luck.”

“I need it.”

Three more concrete companies delivered a lot to this area. He got hold of all of them, and after a lot of arm-twisting, got one more address. He wrote it down then studied the three addresses on his piece of paper. All he had to do was check them out and see if the kidnappers were there.

What the hell am I going to do if I find them? I’m no damn Rambo. I’m a bricklayer.

Chapter 56

Not Everything Is Roses

A
s soon as Scott drove off, Driver removed the mask, pulled into the left lane of the parkway, drove a few miles, then headed south on the feeder.

Number Two sat in the back with Three. “Keep watching for tails,” she said.

“No one saw us,” Three said.

Two pushed the curtain aside at the rear window. “It’s possible.”

Number Three suddenly laughed, real loud. “Would you look at all of this cash? Seven million.”

“A lot of money,” Two said. “It turned out to be a good job.”

“It would be a lot more money if we didn’t have to split it with so many people.”

Two turned to glare at him and found herself staring at his gun. She kept her cool and spoke calmly, with a soft voice. “What are you doing, Three? This isn’t in the script.”

He laughed, the kind that’s not really a laugh. “I really hate to do this, but Driver and I decided that splitting it two ways was a lot more profitable.”

Two didn’t seem fazed. “You have nowhere to clean it. No contacts.”

“I’ll find a way.”

“What about Boss? He’s been good to us.”

“Fuck boss. And fuck Dispatcher, and Number Four…” Three took hold of the gun with both hands, pointing it at her face. “And fuck you, Number Two.”

Two shrugged. “Maybe a three-way split isn’t so bad.”

“Now you want to partner up with me, is that it?”

“I could do worse.”

Three laughed again. “You got that right. None of them know who we are. Have they ever seen your face? Not mine.”

Two said nothing.

“Well?”

“I’m thinking on it.”

“Think fast, Two. It’s not far from here.”

“What do you really think of Boss? Wasn’t it smart how Boss planned all of this? How would we have ever gotten out of so many jams without Boss? But you still want to betray the one person who helped you get here?”

“If it means an extra two million for each of us. For two million dollars, I’d do anything.” Three stared, the gun still focused on Number Two. “Well?”

“I’ll go along with it, Three, but before we split the money, let’s play a guessing game. Let’s see who can come the closest to guessing the real person behind each other’s mask.”

He laughed. “Winner gets to fuck the other person.”

She laughed with him. “All right, I’ll agree, but
only
—and this is important—only if the winner wants to.”

“I go first,” he said.

“We have to establish criteria.”

“Like what?”

Number Two thought. “I don’t know. Age, weight, nationality, type of house we live in…” She cocked her head in thought. “Let’s see…real names…”

“Okay, enough bullshit.”

“If you think I’m risking going to bed with you on a few lucky guesses, you’re crazy. If you win, that’s one thing.”

“All right, what else?”

She thought for a moment. Shook her head. “I guess we have enough. Go ahead, you start.”

“You are so easy, Two. You gave away too much. By asking the type of house, I already know you live in a house, not an apartment.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. Good start, Three.”

He smiled. “Let’s see. You’re five feet six. Weigh about…120.”

Two raised her eyebrows.

“Lot of muscle on you. I figure I’m close with that.” He stared close to her face. “I’d say you are thirty-five, and you’re Irish…wait. Didn’t commit to that yet.” He thought some more. “All right. Irish. You live in a ranch house.”

“And the name?” she asked.

“Name? Let me think. I peg you as a…Carla.”

She raised her eyebrows again.

“How’d I do?” Three asked.

“Not bad. You’ve got me a little concerned with how transparent I’ve become.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“You hit the age, height, and weight right on. Well, close enough. You missed the age by two years, and I weigh 122.”

“And?”

“I do, in fact, live in a ranch house, but I’m of German descent, not Irish.”

“Only one wrong so far. What about the name?”

“I’ll tell you that after I finish.”

“Fair enough. Your turn.”

She looked at the corners of his eyes, at his neck, and thought some. “I’d say you are thirty-nine. Height—five eleven, weight 185.” She watched as his expression went from victory to concern. “Your nationality is likely Bulgarian on your father’s side, Belarus on your mother’s. And you live in a rat-hole apartment off 59 South.” Number Three lost all expression. “Oh, and your name is Dwayne Povich.”

His hands shaking, he moved the gun even closer to her, his finger on the trigger. “You whore.”

Number Two made a
tsking
sound as if chiding someone. “One more thing, Three. Your gun is empty. I did that this morning.”

Three looked at his gun, then at her. He pulled the trigger. Nothing. Before he could do anything else, Two had her gun aimed at his face, the silencer already attached.

“How did you get my information? No one is supposed to have that.”

“After the Marshall incident, I decided you were dangerous. I needed to know all there was about you. So I called Dispatcher.”

Three looked dumbfounded. “How do you have Dispatcher’s number? I thought only Boss did.”

Number Two laughed. “You’re getting smarter all the time, Dwayne.”

Three’s brow wrinkled, and his eyes narrowed. Two leaned forward, gripping the gun with both hands, then whispered, “I forgot one part of the game. My name.
I
am Boss. Not that lame-duck asshole you’ve been taking orders from.”

Number Three must have thought of all the times Boss had looked to her before acting on a question or committing to a direction. He might have thought of the time in the motel when she had said Boss wants to do this, or when she had ordered Four to evacuate. There was a lot more he might have thought about, but he didn’t have time. She had already pulled the trigger and the bullet was racing toward his head.

Number Two opened the door to the front compartment then poked the gun through the curtain, aimed at the back of Driver’s head. “I don’t know where you stand on this, Driver, but I’d suggest you abandon any alliance you had with Three. He’s dead, and you’re no match for me.”

Driver nodded. “Where to?”

“The warehouse.”

Two emptied Three’s pockets, setting his wallet and his cash to the side. She looked at the watch he had in his pants. Unique. She started to put it in the bag with his other things when she noticed an inscription on the back. She got close to the light to read it. A tear formed in her eye. Then another. She wrapped the watch in a cloth they used for wiping down prints then carefully tucked the watch into her pocket.

Chapter 57

Logic

D
elgado called and said Scott was on the shuttle bus heading to the hotel. “Did you check with the techs?”

“They still have the bags and GPS in his shoe. Nothing’s changed.”

I allowed myself a slight sigh. I had been worried something would happen in the airport garage. Now everything depended on the hotel. “Are you going to the hotel, Ribs?”

“Wherever you need me. Sameena is on the shuttle with him. We’ve got Tip and six other guys at the hotel, and I’m sending everyone from the airport there.”

I thought it out for a minute. “I’d rather have you go back to Scott’s house. I’ve got Connors in charge now.”

“Connors? Where are you?”

“Lonny left again.”

“And you’re tailing him?”

“I have to see what he’s up to.”

“And you’re by yourself?”

“Don’t worry—”

“Bullshit. Where are you? I’ll catch up.”

“Hang on. I got a call coming in, and Lonny’s moving. Tell you what—I’ll call back. It’s Charlie.”

“You better, Gino. Goddamnit.”

I followed Lonny out of the parking lot. He took a right on 2920, heading west. I clicked over to Charlie. “Yeah, Charlie?”

“Any news?”

“Nothing yet. You got anything for me?”

“Some of this you may already know. I took everything Julie had and combined it with what you told me to get. There are still a few things I’m waiting on.”

“Give me what you got.”

Charlie filled me in on everything they had found. When we hung up, I called Delgado back. “Ribs, I need to put your brain to work. “I’m going all the way back to the games on this stuff. Since we’re pretty certain they’re all connected, we need to look at it that way. Charlie ran the addresses through the system to see what came up. Two of the poker games had been investigated for gambling in the past year or so, but the cases were dismissed.”

“Why?”

“Lack of evidence.”

“That could mean almost anything,” Delgado said. “Or it could mean that Mayor Rusty Johnson pulled some strings. Remember, he had friends at those games.”

“Yeah, we’ll go over that later. As far as the home invasions, the Memorial house and the Marshall house both made claims in the past few years.”

“Didn’t Julie say they weren’t the same insurers, though?”

“Right, but Charlie dug deeper and found something interesting. The insurance companies weren’t the same, but they used the same investigator.”

“So Charlie does do something besides eat.”

“I know, for all the shit we give him, he’s good.” I made a mental note to tell him that more often.

“Who was the investigator?”

“A company called Lone Star Recovery. He’s checking them out.”

“What about Winthrop? Anything come up on his finances?”

“Julie told Charlie that he’s squeaky clean, but she hasn’t had time to dig deep enough. On the surface, he looks good.”

“And there’s still the windfall he’ll get from his company.”

“I know. That’s the killer. There’s no logic in him being involved.”

“Where are you, Gino? I’m coming up.”

“Like hell. I need you at the house. And when you get there, press the techs. These kidnappers are getting information somewhere.”

“I’ll get on it.”

“Ribs, tell them to think about where a bug might be that would pick up
some
information, but not all of it. Something that could explain them not knowing about Jada.”

“Got it.”

After Ribs hung up, I called Tip. “What’s up, Texas?”

“If I were any better, I’d be you.”

“You set up?”

“I got David out front working valet parking, Shelby’s walking the lobby, looking like a hooker. I’m waiting for somebody to bust her, and then I’ll offer her a trade to drop the charges.”

“Keep going, Tip.”

“Sameena just texted. She said they’d be here in a couple of minutes.”