One Grave Less

by Beverly Connor

  “What did you say to my daughter?” she asked.

  “Nothing bad, I assure you. All these people heard it and weren’t alarmed. I simply told her she was a very pretty little girl.”

  The man had a British accent when he spoke English. He sounded Portuguese when he called after Rosetta. Good with languages, Maria thought.

  “What was with the whistling?” asked Maria.

  “A bad habit,” he said. “I know it annoys people, but you know how habits are.”

  “Who are you and what do you want with me?” she said.

  “Senhor Michaels,” said one of the hotel clerks. He was the one that was on duty when Maria had first seen Straw Fedora. He had two cups in his hand. “I brought you and the senhora coffee.”

  “Thank you, but none for me,” said Maria. Michaels, she thought. She didn’t recollect running across the name. Senhor Michaels did not look pleased. He hadn’t intended to give her his real name, she realized. Given away by the clerk.

  “My name is Cameron Michaels. I’m with Interpol,” he said, handing her his card.

  Maria arched an eyebrow. “Interpol’s United Nations representative. What on earth do you want with an archaeology student?”

  “I’m looking for this woman.” He laid the flyer on the table.

  Maria would have liked to snatch it up and throw it at him. But she turned it around and studied it. Frowning, to make it look believable—she hoped.

  “You know her?” he said.

  “No one I recognize. This is a drawing. Is it one of those police artist sketches?”

  “It was done by someone she ran across in the jungle and tried to kill,” he said.

  “Really? Why do you think I would know such a person?”

  He gestured to the flyer. “It could be you,” he said.

  She looked up at him sharply. “You think so? Really? I assure you I haven’t tried to kill anyone.”

  She handed it back to him.

  “Read it,” he said. “You will find it interesting.”

  “You will have to read it to me. I fear my only foreign language is German, which hasn’t been very useful here. I do know a couple of words in Spanish.”

  He read it to her. It sounded more sinister coming from him than when Rosetta read it.

  “Ah, you think because my daughter sometimes goes by the name Rosetta, I am this person and I kidnapped her.”

  “You were lost in the jungle with a little girl you call your daughter and whose name is Rosetta. Diane Fallon, Linda Hall, or whatever her name is, was traveling through the same jungle with a little girl named Rosetta whom she called her daughter.”

  “My name is Maria West. And that ‘same jungle,’ as you call it, is huge. They don’t call it the Amazon for nothing.”

  “You could have changed your name.”

  “Why didn’t I change my daughter’s name?”

  “You may have felt that she couldn’t remember a new name.”

  “Rose of Sharon has a good memory.”

  “Is that her name?”

  “Yes.”

  “So the Rosetta that you call her is a coincidence, you are saying?”

  “When she was born, she was all red and wrinkled, like babies are. My dad thought she looked like a little rose. He called her Rosetta. My mother calls her Rose and one of her aunts calls her Sharon. I call her Rosetta because I think it is pretty. Her father calls her Rosasharon—all one word. She answers to all of them.”

  “She is from here,” he said with such authority that she wondered if he expected her to cave in and confess.

  “What in the world makes you say that?”

  “Look at her. She looks like some of the tribes around here.”

  “So would her father if he came here. He is an American Indian. A Cherokee.”

  For the first time, Michaels looked taken aback. He hadn’t seen that coming.

  “Do you have a photograph of him?”

  “I did. It was lost along with my other important papers. I have to go to Rio to replace them.”

  “You have an answer for everything.”

  “Because there is a straightforward answer for all the questions you’ve asked me. You aren’t one of those people who thinks that someone with the right answers is suspicious and a liar, are you? Because I have no tolerance for that kind of illogic. It’s a pet peeve of mine and a conversation ender.”

  “No, of course not.” He smiled for the first time. “You will have to forgive me if I lapse into interrogation techniques. I’ll try to do better, Mrs. West. You put down in the register that you came from Río de Sangue. This woman”—he tapped the flyer—“was spotted near there.”

  An error to use that village, Maria thought. Hell.

  “That was my last port of call, so to speak, before I got here. I was originally in Río Branco. It was several miles from there that I was attacked and lost my things. I made my way with my daughter to Río de Sangue and finally here.”

  “You saw no one like this woman?” said Michaels.

  Maria studied the picture again. “No.”

  “It seems I must look elsewhere,” he said.

  He wasn’t convinced, Maria thought. He was going to be a problem for them. She was going to have to come up with a way to get from here to Tabatinga without him.

  “I need to go upstairs to Rosetta,” she said, not shying away from the name. “We’ve both had an ordeal. I hope you don’t intend to make it worse with false allegations.”

  “Of course not,” he said. “I am just looking for justice for all the men she has killed.”

  “All the men she has killed? Is she some kind of black widow?” Maria said.

  He shrugged.

  “Good evening, Mr. Michaels, or should I call you Agent Michaels?”

  “Mr. will do fine. I’m sorry to have troubled you. You see why I had to make sure.”

  “How did you light upon me, out of all the people here? Why do you think she is in Benjamin Constant?”

  He shrugged. “Anonymous tip.”

  Maria rolled her eyes.

  “This is a port city that leads to many other places. She was headed in this direction according to witnesses. I put up these Wanted posters and someone responded. They didn’t give their name.”

  Maria shook her head. “Of all the crazy situations,” she muttered and took her leave of him.

  She walked to the stairs and didn’t start bounding up them until she got to the second landing. She rushed to their room and knocked on the door.

  “Rosetta, honey, it’s Mommy. Open the door.”

  She waited.

  Chapter 53

  It was the same paramedics Diane had seen earlier. That was a relief. After the Mayan Room attack it would be a while before she trusted paramedics to be who they said they were. The two of them, equipment in hand, stood looking around at everyone. Their gaze stopped on Diane.

  “You doing okay, ma’am?”

  “Fine,” she said. “As you can see, we have a situation here. Mr. William Dugal here will instruct you on how to proceed.”

  They looked a little confused. Diane didn’t blame them.

  “They just need to let me frisk him,” mumbled Gracey.

  He was smarting from having his gun taken and having Pendleton get shot with it. He was the policeman in charge and he’d lost control of the situation and didn’t know how to get it back. Diane hoped it wouldn’t make Gracey do something stupid.

  “Look, we are the police here,” Gracey said. “Who is this Dugal?”

  “Someone who apparently knows how to fight the ninja guy,” said Chanell. “It’s going to take a while if I have to go over your head, and it won’t look good for any of us.”

  “I need you to load a syringe with a strong sedative,” said Liam.

  “What?” said the one of the paramedics. “Who are we giving it to?”

  “The guy on his knees with his hands on his head,” said Liam.

  “We can’t
just give sedatives without a doctor’s instruction. He doesn’t look like he needs one,” said the other paramedic.

  “You need him to have one,” said Liam.

  “Mister, we can’t just do that,” the paramedic said.

  “You know who Hannibal Lecter is?” Liam said.

  “Yes,” said the first paramedic cautiously. They both looked wide-eyed at kidnapper guy. “He’s like that?”

  “He wouldn’t do it for fun, but he can rip your face off with his teeth,” said Liam.

  Diane didn’t know whether Liam was exaggerating, but she was glad she didn’t try to bite the guy.

  “Look,” said Liam, “right now the main thing he wants to do is get away. And it may look to you like he doesn’t have a chance with all the guns pointed at him. We, on the other hand, would like to take him alive and he knows this. Are you following?” The paramedics nodded.

  “This is just stupid,” said Gracey.

  Liam ignored Gracey and went on as if he hadn’t heard him. “His chances of getting away are very good. He’s well armed. He’s lost only a gun and one knife. He has a host of other weapons on him.”

  “He’s shot,” said Gracey. “Like I said, he’s not Superman. He needs medical treatment.”

  “He can stand the pain until he gets to his buddies,” said Liam. “They will have advanced medic training. They can patch him up and get him to a friendly doctor or a private clinic. They are well funded. And dangerous. These are the guys who didn’t mind setting one of the museum guards on fire who was giving first aid to one of their buddies.”

  “You?” said Chanell. “You did that? You SOB.”

  “The point is,” said Liam, “he’ll let you get him to the ambulance where it’s the two of you and maybe a guard and he’ll make his escape. He won’t mind killing you to do it because the chance of him getting caught again is fairly small.”

  “I’ll get the syringe,” said the second paramedic.

  They loaded it with sedative and stood there holding it. Diane supposed they were wondering who was going to give it to the man. She was wondering the same thing. So was the kidnapper, judging from the smile on his face.

  “Like I said, here’s where it gets tricky,” said Liam. “Diane, I need you to come over and hold the gun. If he moves, shoot to kill immediately.”

  “Okay,” said Gracey, “enough is enough. This is police business.”

  “The faster we do this, the faster the paramedics can get to your partner,” said Liam.

  “This is police business.” Gracey jutted out his chin and put a hand on his black slicked-down wavy hair. “We can take care of it.”

  But he didn’t move to take care of it.

  “I need someone who won’t hesitate,” said Liam. “Don’t make this about you. You have police training, not soldier training. You don’t have the skills necessary for this kind of prisoner. You hesitated a fraction of a second. That’s why he got your gun. It’s not your fault. It’s the difference in training.”

  “The Fallon woman sure doesn’t have the training,” said Gracey. He looked at Diane with what she thought was a disgusted smirk.

  Liam smiled. All the while he spoke he never took his eyes off the prisoner. Nor did he now. “How do you know?” Liam said.

  “What?” said Gracey, looking from Liam to Diane.

  Diane didn’t know what the heck Liam was playing at, but she didn’t say anything.

  “See that blood all over his face and crusted in his eyes? Diane did that. She was fighting him when I got here.”

  They all stared at Diane in bewilderment, except Liam, and kidnapper guy—who laughed out loud.

  “You don’t see her with blood all over her face, do you?” Liam said. “I’m just saying, Diane is the one to do this.”

  Diane wondered why Liam thought that. It disturbed her.

  She walked over to him and without altering the gun’s aim, he replaced his hand with hers, transferring the gun to Diane. He took the syringe from the first paramedic, took a look at the bottle it came from. He walked around behind the man kneeling with his hands on his head.

  “You know she will shoot,” Liam said, “without—”

  Quicker than Diane saw, Liam grabbed him around the throat and pumped the needle in his muscular neck. When he finished, he tossed the syringe toward the paramedics. He held the man in a headlock.

  “As I was saying, she will shoot without hesitation. I think you know this. You can live to fight another day. We both know you can break out of the hospital because they aren’t going to be as serious as I am about this. People just won’t believe your skill level. Be nice and don’t fight the drug and you won’t get your head blown off by a woman.”

  Liam let him go. The kidnapper didn’t move. Liam came back over to Diane and took the gun.

  “Officer Pendleton needs attention,” he said to the paramedics.

  “Oh, sure,” they said, rushing over to attend to Pendleton.

  Gracey stared at Diane the whole time.

  Great, she thought. Now everyone’s going to think I’m some kind of supersoldier. She would be interested to know what Liam was thinking. He believed she would have killed a man without hesitation. Why did he think that of her? Was it true?

  “What is he doing here?” said Chanell.

  “He thinks I have a package from Simone Brooks, the woman who was injured here,” Diane said.

  “You mean those feathers and bones? That’s what he wanted?”

  “I don’t think so. He seemed to want a package that was sent to me. The hell of it is, I wasn’t sent a package. Or at least it hasn’t gotten here. All this mayhem was a waste of energy.”

  The man looked over at Diane. His face was expressionless. Diane didn’t know if that was the drug or his super-thug persona.

  “Really,” she said. “I haven’t a clue what it is you are looking for. If it is the feathers, bone, and monkey parts, they have been processed and the reports sent to the detective in charge. Is it a package? Is that what you were sent to find?”

  He said nothing, merely looked away.

  “You know,” she said, “you have this murder and mayhem down pretty good, but you are an awful detective.” Diane turned to Chanell. “We have someone in the museum working with this guy. We need to find out who it is.”

  “Here?” said Chanell. “We have one of these guys working for us?”

  “More likely, they paid someone to try and find the package,” said Diane. “I need to call Frank. This guy left men to watch the house if he didn’t return.”

  “I sent the police over to your home. Or at least Andie did. I suspected he had a hostage,” said Liam. “You were supposed to be at home with your family and you showed up here with this guy dressed for a mission. And it was pretty obvious you were under stress.”

  “I was hoping you noticed,” she said.

  “Hard to miss,” he said. “I got out of the car down the hill, called your security, and told them what was up. The hard part was finding you. I didn’t think you were in the crime lab, or you would have entered from the west wing. I had security stop the elevator and deactivate your access to the locks until we saw which door you were trying to enter.”

  That’s why the elevator was slow and she couldn’t unlock the lab the first time. Damn, Liam was thorough.

  The paramedics finished hooking Pendleton up to an IV and had stabilized his wound.

  “Can we carry them together?” they said.

  “Gracey can take me,” said Pendleton.

  “You need to go with the paramedics,” Liam said. “In case you start bleeding again. This guy will be fine once he’s out. I’m sure the paramedics will be glad to have the two of you with them.”

  “When will that happen?” said Chanell. “When is this guy going to keel over?”

  “Soon,” said Liam. “He’s pretending to be going out now, you notice. It will be real fairly soon.”

  “How do you know so much?” asked Pendl
eton. “Are you like him?”

  “I hope not,” said Liam. “But I’ve had special military training. He’s not superhuman. Humans can do some pretty amazing things when they are well trained in something they have a talent for. Look at Olympians. They aren’t superhuman, just very good athletes who have trained all their lives. I’m telling you this so you will respect what he can do and not decide that, since he is not Superman, you can take him. You can’t.”

  As Liam talked to Chanell and the others, Diane went to a phone and called Frank. It took several rings. She let out a sigh when he answered.

  “Are you all right?” she said.

  “We’re fine, are you? More police arrived and told us where you were and who you were with. They are out around the property looking for his friends now.”

  “I hope they are really careful,” said Diane. “This guy’s had some kind of elite military training.”

  Superlative man fell over.

  “Okay,” said Chanell, “is this real?”

  “Real enough. Can I borrow your restraints?” Liam said.

  “Are you all right?” said Frank.

  “Yes. Liam noticed what was happening. Frank . . . are you and Star really okay?”

  “Yes, baby, we’re fine. After we discovered you were missing, all the drama stopped. Star was a little panicked over your kidnapping. She’s okay now. She’s staying in the safe room with that Get-Home-Safe backpack David got her for acing her chemistry finals. The house is an armed camp at the moment. Gregory seems to be having a good time. Said if he knew it was going to be this entertaining, he would have brought Marguerite and the boys. David and Steven arrived just after our second wave of reinforcements. They are shocked, as you can imagine. I’m just relieved . . . I’m relieved Liam was there for you. I was afraid . . .”

  “I know. We are mopping up here. Maybe you should come stay at the museum. We have some guest rooms in the basement.”

  As Diane spoke to Frank, she watched as Liam took the plastic restraints from Chanell and secured the kidnapper’s hands behind him, then his legs together. Diane could see that her kidnapper still had enough left in him to resist. But Liam didn’t seem to be having too much trouble.