Darcey still talked to Kelli morning and evening. She visited Trent each evening before bed. Her heart ached with missing both of them. But she wouldn’t give up. She would never give up.
Something wasn’t right. Segal could feel it. He still had no definitive information on Marshall’s fate. He thought he was still alive but didn’t know for sure. It was too risky to send someone into the hospital. Segal knew there was a time to take a risk and a time to avoid it. The instinct that allowed him to survive many threatening situations told him now was not the time to take that risk.
It was, however, time to take another risk. One that would be far away from him. It was a step he would rather not take but if Marshall was still alive, he was a formidable enemy. If he was dead, his wife and those around her were equally dangerous.
He recalled the words of the Italian despot, Niccolo Machiavelli.
“Men must either be caressed or else annihilated; they will revenge themselves for small injuries, but cannot do so for great ones; the injury therefore that we do to a man must be such that we need not fear his vengeance.”
Marshall and Booth made a mistake when they allowed him to escape the rubble of Rossi’s criminal alliance. He wouldn’t make the same mistake.
When he received the evening call from Louisiana he would issue orders to take the first step toward annihilation.
Dr. Shannon was still at the hospital when Darcey arrived for her evening visit.
“Any change, Doctor?” Darcey asked.
“Yes and no,” was the unexpected response. “Trent is still in a coma but it’s not being induced by us now.”
“Same question as always,” Darcey said. “Is that good or bad?”
“And the same answer. We don’t know. He could remain this way indefinitely or he could open his eyes at any time. It’s always a wait and see situation.”
In her midtown apartment, Jayne Colombo laid awake. The little twit Fiona wasn’t responding to her attempt to forge a relationship with her. In the older woman’s mind, it was incontrovertible that Fiona intended to replace her at Segal’s side.
That would mean the girl must have computer skills. That probably explained what she was doing the night Jayne caught her sneaking out of the office. But her generation was born with a phone in their chubby little hands. And for them, a phone was a computer.
She, too, was considering risk. She decided it was too risky to take Fiona on directly. At least not yet. Better to recruit her own allies. She didn’t want to be standing alone when the time came to take on Segal.
That time would come. It would come soon.
July 25th
It was a cool, cloudy day. Most of the guests on board the yacht Bounty were staying inside the main lounge. Two hearty souls, one a middle-aged man whose belly overhung his belt by several inches, the other a young woman who looked as though she’d rather be almost anywhere else, were on deck. They were jigging for halibut. He was enthusiastic. She was not.
They were in Coffman Cove, just north of Ketchikan when the Coast Guard Cutter Bailey Barco spotted them. The skipper slowed his ship as they came abreast of the yacht. He stepped out on deck, a smile on his face, as he waved at the two on the Bounty’s aft deck.
“How’s the fishing?” the skipper called out.
“Not good,” the man said. “We caught a couple of small halibut this morning. Not much after that. Maybe enough for a chowder.”
On the yacht’s bridge, the vessel’s owner inched closer to the closet in which his AR-15 was stowed. He knew Segal’s strict orders not to engage with the Coast Guard. He wasn’t sure he could stand by and let them take his boat.
“Well, the secret is patience,” the friendly skipper advised. He waved again as his ship passed the yacht.
With the skipper distracting them, the two “guests” hadn’t noticed the crewman snapping pictures of them. The photos would be e-mailed to the other participants in Monk’s summit to see if anyone recognized the pair.
The yacht’s owner watched the cutter cruise by with relief. He wouldn’t have to decide between disobeying Segal’s orders and losing his vessel.
Old man Garth stood on his back porch looking out over Toledo Bend Lake on the Louisiana-Texas border. It was one of the country’s largest man-made lakes created by damning the Sabine River. The project was jointly funded by the states of Louisiana and Texas. No federal money involved. That wouldn’t happen these days when the states looked to the feds for everything.
He was dressed in his usual bib overalls with no shirt. He didn’t especially like the bib overalls but with his big belly they were comfortable. He was wearing work boots, which he hadn’t bothered to lace. He didn’t like boots to be tight on his feet.
Garth was over eighty now. The thin wisps of hair on his head were snow white. The doctor in town had warned him about being so over weight. He had said Garth’s heart would go out one of the days. He couldn’t expect it to continue pumping blood through that oversized body forever.
The old man didn’t worry much about that. He figured he’d die when his time came and not before. He didn’t worry about much of anything.
He left the family farm before he turned twenty. He always hated that farm. He kept it after he inherited it but only because it was convenient for hiding stolen merchandise.
Once the dam was built his goal was to have a house on the lake. A nice house. And he got it, too. One of the first ones built on the water. One of the nicest. The owner hadn’t wanted to sell, especially at the low ball price Garth offered. He changed his mind after Garth’s oldest boy, Stuart, broke only one of his arms. That and Garth’s threat to turn the man’s wife over to all three of his boys. The man took Garth’s offer and quickly left the parish without talking to the sheriff.
Garth chuckled when he thought of Sheriff Jack Blake. Old Jack had been trying to bust him for years but never could pin anything on him.
Not that there was nothing to pin on him. The truth was that Garth never worked a day in his life. He figured out early on he had no need to work when he was so good at stealing stuff from the folks who did. Most of the time he got away clean. Occasionally he had to send his sons to “reason” with one of his victims.
This morning he was thinking about the phone call he had received the night before. The man needed a job done. A mutual friend suggested he call Garth.
The job seemed simple enough. Shoot a place up a little. The kind of thing Garth and his sons were good at. And the guy was willing to make a generous deposit in Garth’s bank to pay for the family’s time.
He was going to have to round up three other men to help with this job. Garth didn’t like that. He preferred to use only his sons. Family could be trusted. Outsiders were always a risk. But the man with the money was paying generously. Enough to make the risk worthwhile.
“Stuart,” the old man called loudly. “Come up here, son, and bring your brothers, Sterling and Mackie. We got work to do.”
In Anchorage, Jayne Colombo sat at her desk in the office of JS Bistro. Segal hadn’t yet arrived. She was looking over a job application filled out by one of the kitchen workers.
Segal had made the decisions on hiring the chef and Maitre d’ but left her to hire all the other employees. She had generally hired reliable workers. One she hired for other reasons.
Dennis Caine had been arrested more than once, always for violent crimes. Assault with a deadly weapon. Attempted murder. He had done a little time but most of the cases ended in the charges being dismissed for lack of evidence. She suspected there were other crimes for which he was never charged. From what she knew of him, he had lived, in the words of the song, la vida loca. The crazy life.
She went downstairs to the kitchen where Caine was working. He had a face that was handsome in an unfriendly way, a look she found enticing. He was always rumpled, his brown hair uncombed, his face sporting a two-day beard. She really didn’t care what he looked like as long as he did what he was told.
&n
bsp; Jayne walked through the kitchen, appearing to be doing nothing but observing. She paused when she came to Caine’s station. He was slicing cheese. She watched him handle the knife deftly.
Stepping closer to him, she spoke softly.
“I might have some extra work for you if you’re interested,” she said.
He continued slicing cheese without looking up.
“What kind of work?”
“The kind we don’t want to discuss here,” she said. She knew his shift ended at six o’clock. She told him to meet her at a Spenard bar at eight. Spenard was the old section of midtown Anchorage. It was where her apartment was located.
Only a barely noticeable nod of his head indicated his agreement.
Segal was in an extraordinarily good mood when he arrived at the restaurant shortly before noon.
Stopping by the kitchen on his way to the office, he sought out Fiona.
“Are you ready for Juneau? Ready for an adventure?” he asked, cheerfully.
“Right now? Today?” she asked, trying to sound like an innocent girl.
Segal was amused at what he took for naiveté.
“No, not today. Tomorrow. I’ve booked us on the midday flight. We’ll take off shortly after eleven o’clock and be in Juneau before one. We’ll be there for five days, maybe a week, so pack accordingly.”
When Segal walked away, Fiona let out a deep breath. Events were moving quickly. She felt her heart racing. Not from fear. No, not fear. Anticipation.
The rain had cooled the city. It felt more like an evening for a fireplace rather than the deck. They left the door to the deck open. The sound of the drizzling rain was comforting. They stayed inside for cocktails.
Monk was in charge of the fireplace. By the time Darcey and Nancy had mixed rum and cokes for everyone, there was a comfortable blaze taking the damp chill from the air.
Darcey stood looking out the window at the view to the east. The city of Anchorage with its scattering of tall buildings set before the backdrop of the Chugach Mountains. She wondered what it would look like in winter. When the city was wrapped in a white blanket of snow.
Caine was sitting at the bar when Jayne walked in. She told him to get her a scotch and join her at a table away from listening ears.
Sipping the strong liquor, she questioned Caine. She had to find out what he was willing to do. How far he was willing to go. It didn’t take her long to decide he had no limits. She decided he was kinky as was she.
Could she depend on him? Her instinct told her she could. At least enough for one job. There would be only one. After that she wouldn’t need him.
She asked him if he had any friends who could be trusted. Friends who would do what they were told. Friends who also had little in the way of limits.
“Yeah, I got a couple,” Caine said. “Brooke and J.B. We done a few jobs together.”
“Brooke? A woman?”
“Sort of,” Caine said, disparagingly. “She’s meaner than J.B. I’d trust her over him to get a job done. But he’s ok.”
After an hour and a second scotch, Jayne was warming to the thought of working with Caine and, from his brief description, his friend, Brooke. She felt the old itch inside. She and Caine and maybe Brooke might have some fun together. She would have to kill them anyway once they did the job for her.
Darcey sat by Trent’s bed at the hospital.
“What would you say to a white Christmas?” she asked him. His eyes remained closed. He didn’t speak.
“You didn’t say no,” she said out loud, a smile on her face.
It didn’t trouble her to talk about Christmas. Trent would be with them. She wouldn’t think of it any other way.
JS Bistro was closed. All the customers and employees were gone.
All but one.
Fiona was busy in the upstairs office. It was her second nocturnal visit to the office. The first time had been to reconnoiter. To learn what operating system and software were installed on Colombo’s computer. The purpose of this visit was to get into that computer. She worked quickly and efficiently. It didn’t take long for her to accomplish her goal.
July 26th
“Is there a hat maker in Anchorage? Or a store that carries men’s hats?” Darcey asked Robert.
“Yes, there is a store that carries Stetsons and other name brands. At least there used to be. Haven’t been there in years. I’ll check to see if it’s still in business or if it’s been driven out by the big box stores. Do you need a hat?”
“Not for me,” she said. “For Trent. He’s going to come out of the hospital soon. And he’ll have a bandage on his head. I want to get him a hat he’ll love and want to wear to save him the embarrassment of being seen with his head wrapped in gauze. He won’t want people to see him all bandaged up.”
“What kind of hat?” Robert asked.
“A Stetson if you can find one. Pinched front. Western style with the front of the brim turned down and a slight upward curl on the sides.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“And Robert, it should be black,” Darcey said.
“Of course. It’s for Trent. It couldn’t be any other color,” the old friend said.
Segal and Fiona landed in the rain not long after noon. Cameron McGraw met them and drove directly to the building that would soon house JS Bistro Southeast with its apartment, which doubled as living quarters and office, on the second floor.
There were two bedrooms in the apartment. Segal had instructed McGraw to clear his bedroom for Fiona. He should plan to sleep on the couch, Segal directed.
He didn’t want to complete his seduction of the young woman until he got her alone on the boat. That seemed the proper time for the next phase of what he viewed as their nascent relationship. A very exciting next phase.
Fiona put her small bag in what was usually McGraw’s bedroom. Segal tossed his bag into his own room. He left few clothes in Juneau simply because he didn’t want to be bothered doing laundry when he was in the state’s capital city.
McGraw led the way downstairs into the restaurant. While Segal was unhappy with McGraw for being slow to let him know what he found out about Monk, he was pleased with the appearance of the restaurant. The front of the house was in place. Tables, chairs, and decoration all completed and in place. It looked ready for customers. It looked like it would attract customers.
The kitchen was almost done. There was still some work to do to get the walk-in freezer going properly. Fiona proved herself helpful by pointing out how the prep stations could be rearranged slightly to make the work flow smoothly and more efficiently.
Segal was impressed with the young woman’s intelligence. He had no intention of a entering into a long term relationship with her. But perhaps he could dump her without firing her. She could be an asset. If not, she was replaceable.
It was another cool, wet evening in Anchorage. Robert again got a blaze going in the main parlor’s fireplace while Darcey mixed Trent’s peach martinis for everyone.
She went out on the deck with her cocktail. For long minutes she stood staring out over Cook Inlet. The clouds were blocking most of the Alaska Range in the distance. She could see Fire Island with its wind farm, the large blades turning slowly. Muktuk Marston’s thoughts on what it meant to be an Alaskan were on her mind.
Later that night Jayne knocked on the door of Dennis Caine’s apartment in Fairview on the east side of downtown. Caine’s friends, Brooke and J.B., were there to meet her. More importantly they were there for her assessment.
Brooke and J.B. were there. Each of the three had a beer. Caine offered her one. She wasn’t a beer drinker but accepted to put them at ease.
The apartment was about what Jayne would have expected. Dirty dishes in the sink. Garbage can overflowing. Through the door of one bedroom she could see a rumpled, unmade bed and clothes on the floor. She didn’t live there. She didn’t care about such things.
The door to what was probably a second bedroom was closed. Tha
t meant one of the three slept on the couch. Probably J.B.
Brooke was younger than Jayne expected. She had brown hair which she wore up in a bun. She would have been pretty had it not been for the mean look of her eyes. Jayne imagined she had destroyed many a would-be lover.
J.B. was a small, older man, face smoothly shaved and gray hair with a bald spot on the back of his head. He was dressed in a coat and tie. He wore an unwavering smile. The mark of the professional confidence man. But his mouth was small. The smile looked more painful than pleasant. Jayne didn’t know what the J.B. stood for and didn’t ask. She didn’t care. They weren’t going to be friends.
The only thing she wanted from the three of them was that they obey her order to kill. Who and when were her decisions.
July 29th
Segal, McGraw, and Fiona spent the next two days working in the new restaurant. McGraw and Fiona got their hands dirty. Segal not so much. His manager and the young woman worked well together. They seemed comfortable with each other from the moment they met.
Segal saw no reason to become involved in the actual work of preparing a restaurant for opening. As the man putting up the money, he was entitled to remain management only.
He was pleased with the progress. He thought they would be ready to take delivery on provisions by next week. The employees McGraw had already hired would be on site then. The restaurant could be ready to open by the following week. McGraw had already done some preliminary advertising. Segal told him to pick a day for the opening and start promoting it.
He had planned to take Fiona out on the boat for the weekend. But the forecast for Saturday was for rain. The long range forecast showed sunshine and seventy on the following Tuesday. That would be the day. It would be beautiful on the water. He would keep her busy in the restaurant until then.
Meanwhile, Bounty was due to meet the supplier on Saturday night to pick up a cargo of video games and ladies’ high-end accessories, including hand bags and shoes. Segal had no intention of being in the neighborhood when the transfer took place.
A Shooting at Auke Bay Page 14
