Part 20 (1/2)
The smile again, but this time insultingly patronizing. ”Why would you think McKenna would contact me? After all, he hasn't been a part of the agency for almost four years.”
Whatever he said after that went unheard as Tess tried to understand why Reed McKenna had been ly Lug to her from the moment he'd appeared at her door the night of Selena's'disappearance.
REED DIDN'T KNOW what kind of damage the small, sharp stiletto had done to his body, but he knew he couldn't risk trying to keep a bike upright on the rutted drt road back to Bodden Town.
”Get up,” he ordered the young man sitting on the floor opposite him.
With the gun at his back, Reed ordered Paolo into the front yard.
After fumbling for a moment, he managed to remove the rope from around the greyhound's neck. FLU ally freed, the dog stumbled into the shade beneath the wrecked car and collapsed with an exhausted sigh.
With the gun c.o.c.ked and aimed at Paolo's heart, Reed moved toward him with the rope. When the young man realized what Reed meant to do he began backing away, his hands raised.
”No. No. You can't do this to me.”
Paolo fell to his knees.
”Please, I'll do anything.”
”Tell me where she is,” Reed growled.
”I don't know.”
Reed drew the hammer back on his gun and aimed the barrel at Paolo's head.
”Okay, okay, I was with her--yes. B-but I didn't hurt her. She's all right.”
Reed shoved the young man face-first into the dirt and tied his hands and feet behind him.
”She'd better X be, you son of a b.i.t.c.h, or you'll wish you'd never seen my face. Now keep talking until I tell you to stop.”
Paolo told Reed about the rendezvous, about Iaek's Bay and about the message he was supposed to have delivered to Tess at The Dive last night.
”But you decided to blow the place up instead, right?”
”I know nothing of the eplosion,” Paolo insisted. ”I was only paid to deliver the message for Miss. Elliot to be at Jack's Bay tonight at midnight.”
”Who paid you?” Reed demanded to know.
”I don't know.”
Reed looped the remaining length of rope around his neck and jerked it tight.
”Who?” he shouted. ”Who paid you?”
”I--I don't know,” Paolo gasped.
”I was given my orders by phone and the money was left in the cave above Jack's Bay. I never saw the man who left it.”
Reed had dealt with liars long enough to know when he was hearing the truth, even from a practiced liar like the one who lay facedown in the dirt in front of him. With another knot, Reed effectively harnessed Paolo to the st.u.r.dy stake on which the dog had been tied.
”When I get back to Bodden Town, I'll send the local police out to water and feed you,” Reed said, his voice caustic with the contempt he felt for Paolo.
”Which is a h.e.l.l of a lot more than you did for that poor animal. And more than you deserve.”
After filling the cleanest bowl he could find with' water from a hand pump inside the hut and leaving it for the dog, Reed found the keys to Paolo's limousine and climbed behind the wheel. His wound had stopped bleeding, but it had begun to throb, keeping lime with the pounding in his head.
Before he drove away, he took careful aim and, with two shots, flattened the tires on the motorcycle. If old silver-eyes somehow managed to work his way free before the police. arrived, Reed had no desire to give him an easy means of escape. The man was hate filled and dangerous. He had been beaten and humiliated and if he managed to, get lose he would be bent on revenge.
Because of the confession Reed had extracted from him at gunpoint, Paolo would know exactly where to find him tonight at midnight.
Ab-TER QUESONING her for over three hours, Agent Talbot offered to drive Tess back to West Palm. Since she hadn't told him about the rendezvous at Jack's Bay, she couldn't give him a good reason for wanting to remain in Bffdden Town. Afraid if she pressed the issue she'd arouse his suspicions, Tess accepted his offer.
Sitting in his car outside the hotel, Tess thanked him for the lift and reached for the door, only to have him stop her.
”It was extremely foolish for you to think you could track down the man the bartender described,” he admonished her.
”I hope you realize now what a mistake that was.”
Tess nodded, but the only thing she realized was that Nick Talbot was a condescending a.s.s.
”Remember, if you think of anything you've forgotten, anything your cousin may have shared with you, anything at all that could help us find her, you must call me. I'm staying at the Georgetown Holiday Inn in room 612. Don't forget. I'm the federal authority in this case. I can't help you out of this mess if you won't confide in me, Miss. Elliot. Do you understand?”
Tess muttered that she did and moments later stood on the sidewalk outside West Palm and watched the rental car pull away. She'd been relieved' three hours ago to discover that Nick Talbot was a federal agent, but now, ironically, she was even more relieved to see him go.
On the way back to the hotel, he'd attempted to bring levity to what had ultimately been a grueling afternoon by handing her Oman's boat rental logbook and making her promise to send it back to the old man.
”Seriously, Tess,” he'd said, staring at her like an overbearing father, ”if the kidnappers contact you again, you must call me.
You've interfered in a serious criminal matter. I only hope you haven't compromised the state's case entirely.” He'd stared at her almost angrily.
”Promise you'll go straight to the nearest phone and call me. No more cops and robbers with McKenna.”
Tess had agreed, knowing it was. a promise she'd never keep.” Her experience on the beach this morning had convinced bet that the men who held Selena were deadly serious about killing her cousin if Tess did hot comply exactly with their wishes. And her experience with Talbot had convinced her that he cared far more about the prosecution of Edward Morrell than saving Selena's life.
Despite his persistent questioning, Tess hadn't told Talbot everything.
In order to justify her presence in Bodden Town she'd had to admit to what Davey had told them about the silver-eyed man. But every time she'd considered telling him about her ordeal in the cave or the rendezvous tonight, she remembered the deadly warning she'd received at knife point The more Nick Talbot had badgered her, the easier it had become to lie to him. His demeanor had been condescending and ultimately chauvinistic.
In the end, those disagreeable traits had worked to Tess's advantage.
She'd convinced him, or at least she hoped she had, that if Selena's abductors contacted her again she'd be all too happy to turn the rescue of her cousin over to him.
What Nick Talbot had convinced her of was that he was a coldhearted, by-the-book cop. who thought in terms of eases first and people later.
Although she couldn't argue with a cop dedicated to duty, she'd be d.a.m.ned if she'd compromise her cousin's life just to help some ambitious federal agent earn a promotion.