Necessary Decisions, A Gino Cataldi Mystery (41 page)

“Listen, I—”

“Goodbye, Detective.” The line went dead.

“Son of a bitch!” I turned to Lonny. “We may have her. Goddamnit, we just might have her.”

“Where?”

“Hang on,” I said, then called Delgado. “Who do you have at the motel?”

“One of Lance’s guys. And I’m sure the crime scene guys are there by now.”

“Call Lance’s guy. Tell him to watch the rooms on either side of the two you have, but do
not
do anything. I’m ten minutes away.”

“What have you got?”

“An anonymous tip. It could be bullshit, but we need to check it out.”

“I’m heading your way.”

“Stay there, Ribs. I’ve got this.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. But get the rest of Lance’s crew back to the motel.”

Chapter 60

No Witnesses

N
umber Two hung up, a smile on her face. It was time to tie up loose ends.

“Is he really dead?” Driver’s voice came through the curtains as a muffled sound. Still, Two picked up on the nervousness. And the fear.

“Want to check?”

“No. I just…” Driver was silent a moment, then, “He told me Boss gave him the idea. He said Boss was the one doubting you.”

No surprise. Boss had been giving orders for a while now, relaying her orders, but still…put a person in charge, even if it’s fake, and they think they’re on top of the world. The problem with being on top of the world was that it was a long way to fall. Two slid the curtains back, checking the location. “Where are we?”

“About to exit the freeway. ETA seven minutes.”

Driver was playing the game, as if the alliance with Three had never been real, a figment of Two’s imagination. She fixed the money bags up the way she wanted them, putting the right amount in each one. The split was different now. Two had tried to build a nice business—professional, organized. But criminals couldn’t separate their greed and petty jealousies from business. Too bad. In the long run, it always cost them. Always. Two looked at her watch. One minute to go. She thought of the watch Three had in his pocket. Some things were worth dying for.

The terrain changed from a smooth, paved road to bumpy gravel. The speed slowed considerably. Driver had to navigate potholes. Two zipped up the bags, checked her gun, put her mask on, adjusted her gloves then closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Each breath she took filled her body with life. Each breath out cleansed her soul. A tingling sensation ran through her body, beginning in her arms and extending to her legs and feet.

The van came to a stop. The engine shut off. “Stay in the van, Driver.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“If you move, I’ll kill you.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Two smiled.
Someone
knew how to follow orders.

She exited through the side door, weighed down by the two bags. One hundred fifty pounds was a lot for most men to carry. The majority of women would never be able to handle it. For Two, it wasn’t a problem. Religious workouts assured her of that.

She entered the main area of the “house,” as they called it, a bag in each hand, gun in her back waistband. Her mask was intact, her gloves on. Boss stood in the middle of the room, probably alerted by the van pulling in. Number Five’s body lay to the side.

“Why is that still here?” Two asked.

“Haven’t had time.”

“Where did you plan on disposing it?”

“The national park. Up by Crockett. If we bury it shallow up there, the wild hogs and coyotes will get it. They won’t leave enough to worry about.”

Two nodded. She glanced at Boss then set the bags down, tapping them with her foot. “I love a plan that works.”

“That’s all of it?”

“See for yourself. And I have to say, money is pretty damn heavy.” They both laughed.

Boss knelt and unzipped the bags. “Would you look at this!”

Two stared at Boss. “Three isn’t with us anymore.” Her hands were in front of her, but they were loose, ready to move.

“What happened?”

“He was having trouble with his math,” Two said. “He felt that a split two ways would be better than what we had set up.”

“Two?” Boss wore a suspicious frown. “You and him?”

Two shook her head. “Him and Driver.”

Boss looked quickly toward the door. “Where is Driver?”

“In the van, but there’s no need to worry. Driver is convinced that it was an improper decision.”

“Speaking of improper decisions, Number Four is stuck in the motel. They’ve got cops all over the place.”

“No choice,” Two said.

Boss frowned. “I told him to kill the girl if it got to that.”

“You told him to kill her?”

“She saw his face,” Boss said.

“And you told him to kill her?”

Boss must have sensed her irritation. “Only if he had to.”

“That was a mistake.” She reached behind her, drew the gun, aimed and fired—one shot into the head of the man known as Boss.

Number Two took the IDs from Number Five and Boss, cleaned out their pockets, and got her cell. She dialed Number Four.

He answered in a whispered voice. “What?”

“Status.”

“Where’s Boss?”

“Dead. You’re talking to me.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Defiant even to the end. No sense in telling him he had been taking orders from me all along.
“I have the money. You
will
take orders from me.”

“If I get caught, I’ll tell them everything.”

“You know nothing.”

“I’ll…I’ll tell them…”

“Calm yourself. Listen to me, and you’ll be okay.” She waited while he got composed.

“What?” he said.

“You can escape this. But if not, your money will be waiting for you when you get out. Or I will give it to whoever you want if you keep quiet about everything.”

“You’d do that? Give me my share?”

“You earned it.”

“Okay, what do I do?”

“First, understand that things can still go wrong. No matter what happens, do
not
kill the girl. Do that, and you get the needle. Kidnapping, even with nobody hurt, is bad, but we’ve got money for lawyers.”

“Okay.”

“The rest is easy. Stay calm. Make no noise. Same things I told you before.”

“All right. Thanks, Number Two.”

“Good luck. Now let me talk to the girl. Take her gag off.”

“What if she screams?”

“I told her before that I’d kill her parents if she did that. I am going to reinforce the order. Give her the phone.”

Jada took the phone. “Yes?” The tone was meek even for a whisper.

“Can he hear me?” Two asked in a low voice.

“No.”

“Good. Listen closely. While I’m talking, pretend you’re scared. I know you’re already scared. Act more scared.”

“Okay.”

“In ten minutes, ask to go to the bathroom. He will probably have you gagged. Once inside, quickly lock the door. He won’t break in for fear of making noise. With the door locked, make all the noise you can. Kick the walls, scream if you can get the gag off, slam the toilet seat up and down. Break something.”

“Okay.” Jada shivered. There was no need to act. “What about what you said…my dad…”

“Forget what I said before. Do as I say, and you’ll be home safe very soon. Now I want you to say the following. ‘I won’t. I swear. Just don’t hurt them.’”

“I won’t. I swear. Just don’t hurt them.”

“Good. Give the phone back to him.” Four took the phone, and Two went on. “She won’t give you trouble. Remember, stay calm.”

Two hung up, started back toward the van then stopped, thinking. She turned, exited through a side door, and crept around to the front of the building, peeking through a window at the van. Driver was not in the front of the van. A quick scan of the room showed Driver pressed against the wall beside the door—waiting to ambush her.

Two went back inside and crouched beside the door. She reached up and opened the door.

Driver made the move, but Two was not where Driver expected. She reached forward and yanked Driver’s feet out from under her. After disarming Driver, Two put the body in the van, cracked the side of Driver’s head and let the body tumble out onto a pile of metal pipes. She then went to a small room in the back of the warehouse and removed the body of a previous Number Four from a freezer sitting against the wall. She dragged the body to the main room and placed it next to Boss.

This should work just fine.

Chapter 61

The Pieces Don’t Fit

I
hadn’t gotten half a mile before the phone rang again. “Cataldi.”

“Gino, you were right!” It was the tech I had talked to earlier.

“You found the bug?”

“Sort of, but it wasn’t really a bug; it was the phone.”

“For God’s sake, that should have been the first place you looked.”

“But it wasn’t a bug. They had
spyware
on his cell phone.”

“Spyware? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Good, sophisticated stuff—it let them listen to anything, even if the phone was off.”

I panicked. “Where is it now?”

“I’m outside. It’s in the kitchen, and I let Delgado know about it.”

I was pissed now. These fuckers had been listening to us the whole time. “How did you not notice this shit earlier?”

“You need to understand, this stuff is almost impossible to detect. We had to get into the code to find it.”

He was getting way over my head now. “How did it get there? Who could have put it on?”

“Anybody who had access to the phone for a few minutes and who knew Winthrop’s password and personal information. It’s not difficult. And once it’s in there, the things they can do with it are amazing—keep track of him with GPS, see who he texts and what he says, listen to calls, listen to conversations near the phone.”

“Son of a bitch!”

“Yeah, it’s not pretty.”

“Put Delgado on.”

“I’ll have to get him to come outside.”

“Okay, hurry up.”

I looked over to see Lonny about to go crazy with worry. While I waited for Delgado, I filled Lonny in. “We got a tip that Jada is still at the motel in another room. We also found out that someone had Scott’s phone bugged.”

He looked more stunned than I was. Delgado got on the line. “Some shit, huh, Gino?”

“Who could have put it there?”

“I’ve been thinking on it. It could have been Alexa, but that doesn’t play out. No reason for it to be Scott. If he wanted to tell the kidnappers something, he could have just told them.”

“How about people he works with?”

“Tip said one guy didn’t seem right, a guy named Sanjay.”

“I remember. We need to go over this later. I need to give Tip a call.”

I hung up, but before I dialed Tip’s number, I realized the implications of the spyware. That phone had been lying on the kitchen table. No wonder the kidnappers told him to leave it at home.
They were listening to everything we said.
Then it really hit me. They knew every move we were going to make. That’s how they knew we were going to the motel. That’s how they knew
everything
. There was no way they’d be at the hotel now waiting on Scott and his money. I punched in Tip’s number.

“Tip, get in Scott’s room now! I’ll fill you in later.”

“What’s going on?” Lonny asked.

“Nothing good.”

There was no way the drop would pay off. I prayed that the woman wasn’t messing with me about the motel. It would be up to me to find Jada now. Me and Lonny.

Not five minutes passed before Tip called back. “We’re fucked!” he said.

“Tell me.”

“They got him one block from the goddamn house. They took the money, put a live phone on him, and headed out. We’ve been on a dead run for hours.”

I punched the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

“Yeah. Twice,” he said. “I got a description of the van from Scott and I put it out already.”

“It’s been hours…”

“I know. Fat chance.”

I tried gathering my thoughts, but my head was scrambled. “Tip, fill Delgado in. Then go see that guy from Scott’s company. Delgado will tell you all about it, but they had some kind of spyware on Winthrop’s phone.”