There was a long period of silence from the other end of the phone. Then Roni heard the man say, “Oh my God…” but distantly, as if the phone wasn’t up to his head anymore. After a minute his voice came back, “Sorry, I had to pull off the road and park. I’m so sorry…” his voice broke. When he spoke again it was with a rasp, “Sabine, I’m so sorry… So sorry. I have no idea what to say. Um… Are you okay?”
Sabine said, “Kind of. It was about six months ago that Adam drugged me, but I didn’t really understand what’d happened back then until I saw that girl last night. I’m kind of over what happened to me, but… I’m just as upset as you are about what’s wrong with Adam that he’d do something like that. And about what’s just happened to our family.”
“Okay,” her father said shakily, “as soon as we get it together, we’ll get back on the road. We should be at your dorm in about 30 more minutes and we’ll call you again, okay?”
“I’m staying with a friend at Nyquist dorm. Your GPS can find it.”
As soon as Sabine hung up, she turned to cling fiercely to Roni while Roni wondered what in the world she could do to help this poor girl. After a minute or so, Sabine let go and, head down, said, “Thank you so much… For all you’ve done. I felt so lonely last night and having you to lean on has just meant the world to me.”
Roni thought, I haven’t done anything I can even imagine might have been helpful! Helplessly she patted Sabine’s thin bony shoulder and tried hard to think of something useful she could do, but nothing came to mind.
Chapter 3
Will Jennings pulled his car up and parked it in the open space almost in front of his house. He felt pretty good about his day. He’d only been mayor for five months now, taking over when the previous mayor had been stripped of office for colluding with the Castanos. Much of the organization of the town’s government had been in disarray after the FBI had finished going through the Castanos’ records and subsequently purging the government of those employees who’d been incriminated for collaborating with the crime family.
Today they’d had the first real meeting of his almost fully repopulated staff and the newly restored City Council. They’d had some tough discussions about some of the issues facing a newly honest government in a city that’d been financially run down. Run down like you might expect to have happened when corrupt managers worked in trembling fear under the thumb of organized crime. Despite vigorous arguments, he and the Council reached compromises on a number of principles and prioritized major restoration projects in a way that Will thought augured well for the future of his city.
Will started to open his car door, but it was shoved back closed by a shadowy figure outside. A gruff voice said, “Unlock your passenger door.”
Though Will’s initial thought was to refuse, a tap on the glass of his window with what looked to be a huge pistol gave him horrified pause. He wondered whether it might be possible to simply drive away, but the engine was off and he was tightly parallel parked behind the car in front of him. I’d be dead before I even got well started out of this space, he thought despondently. He hit the button on his arm rest and heard the door locks disengage.
To Will’s complete astonishment, the passenger door opened and a pale, frightened-looking teenaged girl got in. She looked about 13 but he supposed she might not even be a teenager. She rolled down the window on that side. Another man, dimly seen outside her window, said, “Go ahead!” With trembling hands, the girl unbuttoned her blouse to expose tiny breasts.
“Don’t do that!” Will said. “What’s going on here?!”
The voice outside the passenger window said, “Shut up, Mr. Mayor,” words which incidentally let him know they knew who he was. A metallic tap of the gun on the driver’s window reminded Will he didn’t have much choice.
To his dismay, the girl leaned towards him. For a moment, Will thought she was going to try to kiss him, but then to his utter horror, her head descended into his lap. To his great relief, her face didn’t actually make contact, but a flash came from the open window behind her. Camera! Will thought in alarm. He grabbed at the back of the girl’s blouse, thinking to lift her back up, but before he even got a grip she’d already started to rise. Then her head fell back down toward his lap.
She sat back up, a terrified look on her face, her blouse gaping wide open for a moment before she clutched it shut.
The camera flashed rapidly through the entire performance.
The passenger door opened and the girl got out. A well-dressed man got in and turned toward Will, “Hello Mr. Mayor, I’m Mr. Romano.”
A sick feeling rising up in his stomach, Will said, “What do you want?”
“Well now, I’m just wanting to reach a little understanding about how things are going to work here in Lareta. I know you and your new City Council have all kinds of bright ideas,” Romano gave him a big smile, “and I even think they’re quite laudable. But, it’s important you understand there are limits to what you’re going be able to do. Me, or my boys, will keep you informed as to the extent of those limits.” Romano fixed Will with an icy stare, “And should you decide to exceed our limits; we have a four-step process. The first time it happens your wife Francine’ll get a copy of the pictures we just took. If you still haven’t learned your lesson, your daughter Vanessa’ll disappear and wind up doing the same kind of work as the young lady who just sat in your front seat. After that, your son Darian’ll have a fatal accident, then you and your wife… But, well, I’m pretty sure it won’t ever come to step four, will it?”
Trying to ignore the cramping in his gut; Will slowly shook his head.
“Well then,” Romano said cheerfully, “I look forward to working with you, Mr. Mayor.” He got out the door of the car, but then leaned back in, “If something happens to me, the next one of those four steps is still gonna happen, so you’ll want to keep me healthy, right?” Romano stood back up and disappeared into the darkness. Will had forgotten about the open window until a sheaf of papers flew in through it to land on the passenger seat. A gruff voice from the darkness outside said, “A little reminder of what the world’s gonna see if you cross Mr. Romano.”
Will rolled up the passenger window and picked up the papers. Flicking on the dome light he stared at the photographs of himself and the girl. To his dismay, the hand he’d reached out with, thinking to pull her up out of his lap, looked like it was pushing her down! He flicked off the dome light and tilted his head back while he wondered what the hell to do.
Turning the dome light back on he studied the pictures to see if the man with the gun standing outside the driver door window might’ve been visible in any of them.
He wasn’t.
Will closed his eyes. In an ideal world, he’d go talk to his wife about the situation and he and his life partner would figure out what to do together. Unfortunately, Francine was extremely jealous. In addition, she’d been sexually abused when she was young, so she absolutely despised pedophiles. Will loved her, and she loved him, but he didn’t think their relationship could survive her seeing those pictures. Even if she rationally believed he was being framed, Will thought the agonizing suspicion such pictures would raise in her subconscious would doom their relationship. I’ll talk to our new FBI liaison, he thought. For a moment, he considered heading downtown and trying to contact Special Agent Mullaney in the middle of the night, No, those sons of bitches have got to be watching me right now. If I don’t go in the house, they’ll probably deliver the pictures tonight!
Will carefully rolled up the pictures and slid them in under his car seat. Getting out, he headed into the house with a heavy heart.
***
After a long night with little sleep, the sound of Will’s alarm was harsh. He got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, mechanically put on his clothes, and headed downstairs to have his cereal. When he poured cereal into his bowl the first thing that fell out of the box was a folded piece of paper. Puzzled, he unfolded it. Correcti
on, two pieces of paper. Then his stomach congealed. He glanced around to make sure no one else had come in the kitchen, then turned back to the papers. The first one had a picture of the girl from last night, blouse gaped open and breasts plainly visible. The second piece of paper had the same picture—with a photograph of his daughter’s face taped in place of the girl’s head.
They’re telling me they can get into the house. And they’re saying they know who my daughter is. They even know which cereal I eat for breakfast every morning!
He looked back at the picture of Vanessa’s face. He was pretty sure it wasn’t a picture he’d ever seen before, or that anyone in the family’d ever taken, so those bastards must have taken it themselves.
Just to prove they could.
Will folded the papers back up and stuffed them into his pocket. Realizing he couldn’t possibly eat, he dumped out the cereal and put the bowl in the dishwasher. As he headed out the door to go to work, he thought, I’ll ask Georgie to set up an appointment with Special Agent Mullaney first thing.
Getting in the car, he felt under the seat for the roll of photographs. They weren’t there, but he felt something square in the same location. Pulling it out, he found a piece of two-by-four with something written on it. He turned the block around; the writing was the word “bang” in felt marker. Will closed his eyes, thinking, This is actually saying that killing me wouldn’t be difficult.
He drove to his office, mind whirling. Once he’d parked his car, he got out and looked under the seat to be sure the photos weren’t there, maybe shoved further back when they’d stuffed in the block of wood.
They weren’t.
He checked again, using the light on his cell phone to make absolutely positive he hadn’t missed anything.
With the piece of two-by-four in his hand, he headed upstairs to the town’s offices with a heavy heart. He was having second thoughts about contacting Mullaney. Considering the ease with which Romano had delivered all his implied threats, it seemed unlikely that the FBI’d be able to protect Will or his family. Maybe they’d put my family into some kind of witness protection? Or Will could send Francine and the kids to stay with Francine’s mom. However, he was having doubts about whether he should be staying in town himself.
When he got to the city offices no one seemed to be working. Most of them were standing around chattering anxiously amongst one another. A couple of them gave him furtive glances, making him wonder if they’d somehow already received the pictures Romano’s man shot the night before. He frowned, it looked like John Miller was packing up his desk but Will didn’t know about any resignation or termination proceedings. Could Miller have been fired? And, if so, why hadn’t Will heard about it?
Will walked to where Georgie seemed to be talking somewhat frenetically to her best friend in the office. As he said, “What’s going on?” he realized they both looked red-eyed. Like they’d been crying, but they also looked frightened.
Georgie sniffed, “You haven’t heard?”
Will shook his head, “Heard what?”
“I’d have thought someone would’ve called you. Chief Smith… he and that FBI agent, Mullaney. They were killed last night. Someone in a mask just walked into Earl’s Diner and shot them. And, and, and…” Georgie stopped talking and her eyes filled with tears.
Will felt like the bottom was dropping out of his world, yet he managed to step forward and put an arm around Georgie’s quaking shoulders. After waiting briefly in the name of decency, he asked because he had to know. “And what, Georgie?”
Georgie buried her head in Will’s shoulder, “Oh, Mr. Jennings! They went by Chief Smith’s house and killed everyone in his family. Even the baby!”
Feeling like his world was coming apart, Will let go of Georgie and stumbled back to sit in the closest chair. There was no doubt in his mind that these were all the acts of an organized crime lord. My God, no wonder the people in the last government colluded…
***
It was the first day of school, so two-a-days were over. Hax entered the building with his head on a swivel. He really wanted to see Hallie. Part way down the first hall, he saw her leaning up against the wall. Her eyes were already on him and she had a big grin on her face. Hax thought she looked great. He’d seen her a few times earlier in the summer, but not since football practice started. The practices were a major time commitment and whenever he had any free time, his dad demanded that Hax spend time working in the store.
Ravinder’d said he had to let one of their employees go so he needed Hax to fill in the gaps.
The emaciated look Hallie’d had back when she was under Vito’s thumb had disappeared part way through spring semester, but now she looked… even healthier than she had at the end of spring semester. More toned or something.
Hax wasn’t sure just how she looked better, he just knew she did.
When he got close, she leaned up away from the wall to give him a hug. “What’s this I hear about the football team having a new quarterback?” She leaned back to look him in the eye.
Hax shrugged diffidently, “They must be getting pretty desperate, huh?”
Hallie took his arm and turned him toward their first class, “Oh, I don’t know. I hear he never misses a pass.”
Hax frowned, “That’s not true! He’s had a lot of incompletions.”
She bumped his shoulder, “From what I hear, that’s only because the receivers can’t hold onto the ball.”
Hax shrugged and tried to keep from smiling, “Sometimes that damned quarterback throws the ball too hard.”
Hallie snorted a little laugh, “Hey, do you know Darren Elias? He plays football too.”
Turning abruptly to stare at her, Hax felt his own eyes involuntarily narrow, “Yeah, why?”
“What’s the matter? He’s on your team, right? He says he knows you.”
“Yeah…” Hax said slowly, discarding several things he wanted to say. “He does.”
“So, what’s the matter? Don’t you like him?”
Hax felt an involuntary twitch in his cheek, “He’s been…” after a pause, Hax continued in a quick mumble, “really attacking me.”
Brightly, Hallie said, “He’s a linebacker, right? Isn’t attacking the quarterback his job?”
Slowly, Hax said, “Yeah…” Hax trailed off, not knowing how to explain. Telling Hallie that Elias was trying to hit him too hard, when good aggressive football counted on hard hits, seemed impossible to clarify. At least not without sounding like a complete wuss.
Seemingly oblivious to Hax’s concerns, Hallie cheerfully said, “He’s in even more of my classes than you are.”
Hax found it impossible to concentrate that day. He kept wondering why Elias was talking to Hallie. Not for any good reasons, he kept concluding.
***
In the locker room, as Hax put on his uniform, he eyed Darren Elias down at the other end. Elias looked really powerful and Hax wondered—if Elias attacked him somewhere besides the football field—what it might be like to fight him. Hax had repeatedly learned from Master Akita that strong wasn’t all there was to a fight, but that power made its own kind of difference.
Elias hadn’t attacked Hax in the last couple of practices and Hax had learned to respect him as the best linebacker on the third team’s defense. Hax thought, I wonder if we could learn to get along. Then, But, what’s he doing hanging around with Hallie?
As Hax exited the locker room he didn’t really pay much attention to the group of guys clustered around the bulletin board, but then he heard Johnny Argo shout, “Hax! You’d better get over here and look at this. You’re not on third team anymore.”
Hax tried to ignore the sinking sensation that came over him as he moved over to look at the bulletin board. Sure enough, someone else was listed in the quarterback slot on third team. With dismay, his eyes searched down to the quarterback slot on fourth team, but he didn’t find his name there either. Am I getting cut?! he wondered.
Then Johnny slapp
ed him on the shoulder pads and said, “You’re lookin’ too low, son.” He pointed up to the second team’s roster. “You’re up there!”
Hax’s eyes rose and, with relief as much as excitement, saw his name listed in the quarterback slot for second team.
Johnny slapped him on the shoulder again and said, “We’d better get out there and figure out where second-team practices.”
Hax stared at the grinning Johnny, “You got moved up too?!”
When Hax and Johnny got out on the field it only took a moment to figure out where second team practiced. As Hax trotted up he heard someone mutter, “Well, looks like he finally decided to show up.” He wondered why they weren’t hassling Johnny.
The coaches’ whistles blew and they all started their warm-ups. As they were finishing, a guy in a coaching shirt and shorts trotted up and looked around, “Where the hell’s Davis?!”
Hax realized the guy must be Coach Dotson. Dotson didn’t work at the school, he held a regular job instead. He loved football and had been some kind of star player at Lareta High when he’d been in school there. Now he volunteered as an assistant coach after he got off work at his regular job. Supposedly he was really knowledgeable, but obviously he wasn’t up to speed on the day’s changes in the rosters. Hax thought the “Davis” that Dotson was looking for was the quarterback who’d just been bumped back to third string. Hax began to wonder whether he was going to have to say something himself when one of the other players sourly said, “Davis got sent down.”
Dotson looked right at Hax since Hax had been warming up in the quarterback’s spot. “Who’re you?”
“Hax Buchry, sir.”
Dotson nodded, “Oh. Right. Your arm as good as people’ve been saying?”
Uncomfortably, Hax just shrugged.
“Well, we’ll find out in a bit, won’t we?”
The Boy Who Couldn’t Miss (Blind Spot #2) Page 6
