The Kill (20 page)

Chapter 12

He walked for hours, staying under street lamps as often as he could. The accident happened just before the exit for Keele Street, which he walked up and then went north on Keele until around five in the morning. He fell asleep for two hours behind a building on Ashwarren Road.

Once up, he continued along Keele until he saw a drive-thru Tim Horton’s.

The line inside was short, but the place was hopping as cars lined up over twenty deep at this early hour.

He got his large double-double and went looking for a pay phone. He found one, pulled out his wallet and used his Visa for the charges.

Sure, they can check my records to see where I am, but I’m pretty sure it’s not instant and by the time they figure out what pay phone and race over here, I’ll be long gone.

He sipped his coffee while he dialed his father’s home phone number. After three rings, he was about to hang up, when someone answered.

“Hello?”

FBI.

“Hello?” the man said again. “Can I help you?”

Darwin hung up. They were probably tapping the line, waiting to see if there was a list of demands.

Oh, Dad. I’m sorry you got mixed up in this. I’m so sorry.

He leaned against the pay phone’s Plexiglass shelter and wondered who he could call for help. His friend Bill would already be gone to work, and he couldn’t remember that number by heart. He knew Bill would extend a hand, but did he really want to involve someone else he cared about?

Finally, he decided to call Rosina’s parents’ number to see if the FBI would answer that one too.

He dialed and drank more coffee while he waited.

The phone was answered after three rings.

“Hello?”

Rosina’s mother? No fucking way. Impossible.

“Isabella?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Isabella Capote? Is that you?”

“Who’s calling please?”

“Darwin.”

“You. What have you got my daughter mixed up in? FBI agents came by. They wanted to set up stuff in my house. I told them to get out. This was between you and someone else. Ohhh, Darwin, I’m so frustrated right now. Where is Rosina?”

It was so good to hear her voice, such a relief, that he wasn’t formulating a proper response.

The FBI said they had kidnapped you. What the fuck?

“It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“What? Darwin, are you on drugs?”

“I was told you were kidnapped—”

“Kidnapped? How absurd.”

“Tell me about it.”

His thoughts were coming together. They were lying to him. Everyone was lying to him. The FBI had set him up, and Greg was involved at some level. Greg had called the hotel room and told him that Rosina’s parents had been taken. The men in the car at the Park ’N Fly had told him that four agents were dead and two were missing and that they needed his help to bring Greg down, yet it was Greg who called him in the hotel. No one told Rosina that her parents were kidnap victims except Darwin. In that moment, he realized he was their fall guy.
 

“Darwin, are you still there?”

“Yeah, sorry. I need your help.”

“My help?”

“Something big is happening and you’re the only one I can turn to. I need to see you. Can we meet?”

“What’s this all about? Is it Rosina?”

“I will tell you everything. But you can’t say anything to anyone about where you’re going. Come alone and I will explain it all.”

“Um, okay. Where do you want to meet?”

“How about the food court at Square One Shopping Center? I’ll be sitting in front of the Tim Horton’s.”

“Oh, Darwin. I hate Tim Horton’s.”

“Well, you don’t have to order anything,” he said, completely offended.

“Meet me at the Starbucks in Chapters across the street from the Square One. Do you know where that is?”

“Yes,” Darwin said. “When?”

“In an hour?”

“Good. But come alone. I need to talk to you and only you. Isabella, I’m sorry, but if I see FBI or any of your friends, I’ll have to leave because what I need to tell you is secret, okay?”

“My husband is out at the shop and I’m alone at the house. Why would I bring anyone? I’ll just see you there in an hour.”

“Bye,” Darwin said and hung up.

He walked away from the pay phone and looked for a cab.

Why would they lie to him? What were they up to? Was Greg on their side or working for Fuccini?

Rosina would be so glad to find out her parents were alive.

Was that some sort of plan? Why did they have Darwin tell her about her parents?

He swung back to the pay phone. After inserting his card, he dialed information.

“Quality Suites Airport, please.”

When the front desk answered, Darwin asked to speak to Rosina Kostas and told the desk clerk their room number on the fifth floor. After three rings, it was picked up.

At first he heard nothing.

“Hello?” Darwin said.

“Darwin?”

“Yeah, who’s this? Put Rosina on.”

“Where are you?”

“Fuck you. Put Rosina on.”

“Not until you come in.”

“What’s your name? Who are you?”

“Not important. Where are you?”

“Not important, eh? How can I trust you? After what happened on the highway, eh? How can I trust you? Now, put my fucking wife on the phone.”

There was a moment of silence. Darwin figured the guy was thinking about it.

“Rosina’s not here.”

“Yeah, right. Stop fucking around and put her on, or I’m hanging up.”

“I’m serious. She’s not here. She was moved to a safe house.”

“A safe house? Where?”

“You know I can’t tell you that or it wouldn’t be safe now, would it?”

“I’m her husband, asshole. You can tell me where she is. In fact, you can tell me where she is right the fuck now, or I will assume you dickheads are the enemy because taking a woman away from her husband and not telling the husband where she is really is kidnapping now, isn’t it?”

“Darwin, tell us about your connection to the Gambino family. Tell us everything and we’ll put you both in the program somewhere in the states. Help us out here and we can help you.”

“The program? Gambino family? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“The witness protection program. We can keep you safe. Protect you and your wife. You can live a long life together. Safe. What do you say? Come on in.”

“Are you mad? Have all of you gone mad? I don’t even know the name Gambino? And talking about safety, I sure was safe last night in a car with a Federal Bureau man. Sure, I was real safe. You guys have a knack with keeping folks safe.”

“That was an accident. We can fix this. Just tell us about your connection—”

“Fuck you!” Darwin screamed into the phone and slammed it down.

He hustled away from the pay phone before he tried to tear it off its mount. He had to get to the Chapters in Mississauga.

“Fucking credit card.”

He’d left it in the phone slot. He ran back, grabbed it and then used the phone to call a cab.

Ten minutes later he was in the backseat of a cab, heading to Mississauga to meet with Rosina’s mother.

On the way there, he had the driver stop and wait at an Army surplus store. He needed a weapon. One that wasn’t sharp or had pointy edges. One that wouldn’t be lethal, but one that would still be effective enough to repel attackers.

He found exactly what he needed and ran back to the waiting cab.

Chapter 13

Rosina woke with a splitting headache. She rolled off the bed and got up slowly. The bed had been comfortable, the pillow amazing, but it was the first night since she got married in Rome that she’d slept alone.

That’s enough to give any woman a headache
, she thought.

She spied the bathroom door. The house was gorgeous. She remembered not being able to appreciate it as she entered through the front door earlier that morning, Alfred holding her up, as exhaustion had finally won her over.

He’d explained how the house was on a normal city street, surrounded by normal neighbors. She remembered asking him to define normal. He’d ignored her and went on to explain how there were hidden cameras everywhere. There was even one hidden in the clock on the wall.

“Where?” she had asked.

“At the bottom of every number, there’s a little black dot. On the six, that dot is a camera. We’re surrounded by them outside too. In the back, the house is on environmentally protected land. It’s a ravine. If the worst happens, and we’re under attack, we leave through the back and there’s always a car parked for us in a driveway two streets over. We have everything covered.”

“Are we going to be attacked?” Rosina asked. Then she held her hand up. “Wait. Don’t answer that. You said you have everything covered. Did you guys have my husband covered?”

Alfred hadn’t answered her. His phone had rung and he moved away to answer it. She had wandered through the house and fell asleep in the room on the top floor that had an en suite.

Inside the bathroom, she couldn’t find any Advil.

She used the toilet and went downstairs to find Alfred.

He sat in a lounge chair, staring out the front window. He got up when he heard her coming.

“Ahh, you’re up. How did you sleep?”

“Not good. I need Advil and coffee.”

“On it,” he said, and slipped past her.

“Some of my colleagues are coming by soon. They have news and they want to talk to you about stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” she mumbled, afraid to raise her voice for fear of the throbbing in her head.

“What’s that?” Alfred asked.

She waved him off.

A minute later, the coffee machine in the kitchen sputtered along. He brought her three Advils, and after taking all three, she told Alfred she’d have a shower, and then be down for coffee.

Fifteen minutes after that, she came down the stairs, headache almost gone, ready for a couple cups of coffee when she heard voices. Three men stood in a semi-circle around Alfred.

“Rosina, these are the men I was telling you about. Get a coffee and come join us.”

She tried to determine if they were the kind of men who come to tell you personally that your spouse had been killed.

She took her time preparing her coffee, dreading to hear the news if it was bad.

Finally, she dragged herself to the living room and took a seat, looking for any sign that this would be bad. One man sported a stupid bushy mustache. The other didn’t know how to tie his necktie. It hung too low with the knot askew. The third man seemed nervous, his leg bouncing up and down.

She decided she didn’t want to know their names. She would call them, Tie, Leg, and Stache.

“Rosina, the information we are about …”

Rosina held her hand up for him to stop. “First, is Darwin dead? That’s all I want to know. We can talk for hours if you want, but first, tell me about my husband.”

Stache looked at Leg and Tie in turn. Then he looked back at her. “No, Darwin is not dead. We have confirmation he’s alive. He talked to one of our agents about an hour ago.”

“Ohhh, what a relief,” she said as she set her coffee down on the table by her knee. She bent at the waist and leaned over, holding her stomach.

No one spoke, giving her a moment to digest the news.

When she sat up, she collected herself, adjusted her blouse and took a sip of her coffee. Everyone in the room remained quiet, respecting the moment she needed.

“How did you receive confirmation?” Rosina asked.

“He called your hotel room at the Quality Suites,” Leg answered.

She raised an eyebrow. “My room at the hotel? Why would he do that? He knew I wouldn’t be there. We were supposed to be transported in separate vehicles to this safe house.” She eyed them all and then asked. “What’s
really
going on?”

“Well, Mrs. Kostas, that’s what we’re here to talk to you about.”

She set here coffee down. “Go ahead,” she said. “I’m listening.”

“Rosina, have you—”

“Mrs. Kostas, please. That’s my name now.”

The men all looked at each other. Tie pulled a folder out of a briefcase beside him and turned to her.