Part 58 (2/2)
”Just for two days. If it doesn't work, you can drop him at a kennel. He'll not be happy but it's better than dead.”
DeWitt looked at him as if he were mad. ”Right. Lay on the guilt,” he muttered.
”It's for the good of the story,” Gage cajoled. ”You can put his steak on the expense account.”
”Steak?” DeWitt's voice was strangled.
”Well, hamburger will do in a pinch.”
Meredith saw the wicked gleam in Gage's eyes.
”d.a.m.n you, Gaynor.”
”You won't be saying that when you win the Pulitzer for your exclusive story. Besides, he's a good guard dog.”
”Yeah. Maybe I won't have a home to guard.” But he took the dog's leash. Beast followed happily enough.
An hour later Gage, Meredith and Dom were on the road to Birmingham.
*Chapter Thirty*
'NEW ORLEANS'.
”We might have found her,” Samuel Matthews told his son-in-law as they met for breakfast. They sat in the corner of an out-of-the-way restaurant and talked in low voices. There was no one nearby.
”Where is she?”
”Arizona. A little town near the Mexican border called Bisbee.”
”How...?”
”The craft business. Our guys found a sculpture on the Internet. It's almost identical to the one she left at your house. Of course, there are hundreds, probably thousands, of people doing this type of thing, but there is a very close resemblance. My people are flying down in a private plane to check it out. There's a nearby airport.”
”They know what to do?”
”Yes.”
”I want my son.”
”Impossible. He's smart. You know that.”
”We can keep him away from anyone for a while. I can hire someone to look after him.”
”The decision has already been made,” Matthews snapped, cutting off the conversation. This d.a.m.ned business had already taken too long. Court was in recess, but he had a dozen cases to review, several opinions to draft.
Dammit. He stood to lose everything because of a moment's carelessness. Randolph had a.s.sured him that the house was empty when they'd had the unfortunate phone conversation, that Holly was taking Mikey to the preschool they had so carefully selected. He hadn't known the boy had a stomach upset, that she was waiting for a call from the doctor and had picked up the phone when he'd called.
He hadn't known until he heard a click on the phone that someone had overheard him talking about campaign money from gambling interests--from, in fact, gambling interests that reached deep into organized crime. Any hint of involvement would destroy his career.
It was d.a.m.nable bad luck for him and stupidity on Randolph's part.
He'd never felt much for Holly. Although she was a beautiful woman, he'd always considered her weak and not very intelligent. But she'd fulfilled her role quite nicely until now, and in turn he had a.s.sured her a powerful husband and prosperous life.
How could he not have seen the rebellion that lurked inside? She'd always been such a compliant little thing.
Now he could end it once and for all, and settle back into his life. The friends.h.i.+ps of some of the most important people in Louisiana, even Was.h.i.+ngton. He was powerful. Respected. He had worked every day of his life to get to where he was, and no little fool was going to end it.
He shrugged. ”Anyway, it's too late. They have their orders. We need to start thinking about some press releases for you.”
”I have that call, remember?” Randolph said. ”DeWitt will be at my office this morning, expecting to talk to my wife.”
”I have you covered. One of my people has found a woman in California. He's filled her in completely. She knows all about Holly. Maybe that will get DeWitt off your back.”
”I don't know. He's d.a.m.ned persistent.”
”Well, in a couple of days, he will have a grief-stricken husband and father to interview.” He handed Randolph a number. ”Tell him it's a cell phone. Memorize it, because you should know it by heart.”
”Have you found that d.a.m.ned cop and the Rawson woman?”
”No, and Cross has disappeared as well. That's why we have to get rid of all of them. They can't find her or Mikey. They can't get her DNA, or the whole d.a.m.n mess will unravel.”
Randolph closed his eyes. Then opened them. ”What if they find her first?”
Matthews detected a thin note of hope in Randolph's voice. He decided to placate the man. A little.
”I've thought about that. I've told a friend of mine on a confidential basis that your wife has stolen your child, that she is mentally unbalanced. He issued a custody order. Perhaps we won't need it. But we have it if we do. Holly will do or say anything to keep Michael. We can bargain with her. Then we can take our time in solving the problem.” He looked at Randolph. ”I never leave anything to chance. You should know that by now.”
He didn't like the look on his son-in-law's face as he nodded. Perhaps he'd overestimated Randolph Ames's ambitions. He hadn't expected this sudden sentimentality.
He would keep a closer eye on him, especially in the next few days.
No, he never left anything to chance.
'BISBEE'.
Holly answered the phone after listening to it ring for several moments. She was in the midst of one of her pieces. But the insistence alarmed her.
By now most of her friends knew that if she didn't answer, it was because she couldn't.
She picked up the phone.
Marty's voice was as insistent as the ring had been. ”Liz, I have to see you immediately.”
Holly didn't like the tone. It was almost frantic. Marty didn't get frantic.
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