DEAD MAN'S JUSTICE - A Place of Evil (Stone & McLeish Thriller Series of Stories Book 2) (13 page)

Chapter 30

After Anthony Bloom and Mrs. Randall had shown Stone and Mac to the elevator Bloom quickly returned to Mrs. Randall’s living room, Mrs. Randall had gone to powder her nose after the teary session a little earlier. Bloom switched on Guy’s cell phone. It sputtered into life and, keeping an eye on the door to make sure he wasn’t being seen, scrolled through the dead man’s contact list searching for one important number. He found what he was looking for and deftly punched it into his own phone. Then he switched Guy’s off and returned it to the same position it was before on the coffee table. Mrs. Randall came into the room a few seconds later and Bloom pretended to be finishing up a phone call,
‘Yeah, yeah I’ll be back at the office in a short while, okay...Okay, later.’

Bloom closed up his phone, which wasn’t really on at all, made his excuses and left telling Mrs. Randall not to worry that he will make sure he and Stone will retrieve the money from the safety deposit box.

He had one thing, or rather one person, on his mind and as soon as he got down to his Jaguar in the basement car park he took out his phone and made a
real
call. The call connected.

‘Hello, who is this?’

‘Rachel?’

‘Yes, who is this?’

‘It’s Anthony Bloom.’ Bloom rather expected Rachel to be happy that he had called but it was quite the opposite. She disliked Bloom intensely, she thought he was a creep and knew he had only one thing on his mind.

‘What do you want Bloom? It’s getting late and I’m tired, I’m looking after my sister who’s…’

‘I…I shan’t keep you long Rachel, I apologize for interrupting, I want to invite you to dinner but I can see it’s not a good time, can I call you tomorrow?’

‘I’m not sure…’

‘I might know something to your advantage Rachel.’ Bloom bit his bottom lip hoping Rachel would be interested in what he had to say but her day had been quite traumatic and she became even more impatient with him.

‘Can it wait Bloom? I really am exhausted.’

He decided to go for broke.

‘Just thought you’d like to know that Mrs. Randall has asked me to go and collect Guy’s one million dollars in cash from his safety deposit box for her.’

There was a distinct pause whilst Rachel thought through what Bloom was telling her.
Why is he telling me?
She thought. And…how did they learn about the money and where it was stashed? It was almost too much for her to take in. It reminded her of an episode in her life that she was trying hard to put behind her.

Bloom could sense that she was intrigued and interested and pushed her a little more. What would one more lie matter. ‘It’s really your money Rachel, I mean you were with Guy at the time and you earned it, every cent of it.’ Bloom would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He was sure it was working.

‘Where? Why? I mean how do you know about the money?’

‘I have my ways Rachel.’ More lies.

Rachel’s opinion of the man was already lower than the newly dredged east river but somehow he’d surpassed even those levels. She needed to turn this information to her advantage so she decided to play along with him, but she would stop short of sitting in the same room as Bloom eating dinner.

‘It’s not my money Bloom, although it’s kind of you to think about me, I’m sure Mrs. Randall will…’

‘Look I’ll be going there tomorrow evening at seven, I’ll call you and maybe we can meet up afterwards, what do you say?’ If he could swing juries to return not guilty verdicts for his low life clients, he was certain he could win round Rachel Parker. His bravado and confidence on this occasion though may be just a little misplaced.

‘He used to use Chase Manhattan Bank over on
76th St., is that where you're going?’

She was fishing.

‘No, it’s on 11th St, in Queens. You want to meet me after?’

‘I…I might, I have to make sure my sister’s nurse is settled in tomorrow.’

Now Rachel was lying. She had what she wanted, the location of the safety deposit box.

Bloom rang off. He was smiling as he drove out of the car park.

He was underestimating Rachel Parker.

Chapter 31

Later that evening they had the best dinner they could all remember and for the sake of Laura, Stone and Eleanor called a truce from their usual bickering and sniping at each other and just enjoyed celebrating Laura’s good news. They were proud parents and pledged to each other that, whatever their personal circumstances, Laura’s education and future would come first at all costs.

Laura had forgotten to tell her father that she had been invited to a television interview, with the other prize winners, and hoped that he could go with her the day after tomorrow. 

Stone’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket, he took it out and saw that Mac was calling him from back in
New York. He apologized to Eleanor and Laura and said he really had to take Mac’s call and stepped outside into the quiet of the restaurant’s lobby.

‘Mac. What’s up?’

‘Good news mate.’

‘Go on.’

‘I managed to make good time and caught Jennifer Madison before she left her office for the evening. Remember? The pretty girl at Guy’s funeral, she used to be his P.A. or something.’

‘Yeah I remember Mac. She’s a woman Mac.’

‘Whatever. Well, she told me how Shadow had gone to see her one lunchtime when there was no one around in the office and muscled her for Rachel’s apartment address.’

‘And?’

‘Well he was his usual charming self; he scared the living proverbial out of her.’

‘Does she know where his office is?’

‘Well, no. Just thought I’d tell you about it. She did have something though. She and Rachel shared an apartment; I think it was Jennifer’s. When she moved out to shack up with Guy, she left in a hurry. Jenny was cleaning up the place and found a black and white photo of Rachel and Guy…you know?’

‘No Mac, what was the photo of?’

‘It was them, together, on a bed…’

‘Okay so how does this help us?’

‘It must have been taken secretly; Jennifer thinks it was part of a kidnap ruse or at least a way to bribe Guy out of the million dollar ransom.’

‘I see, still can’t see how …’

‘On the back mate was some Chinese writing, all Greek to me of course, but by chance one of Jenny’s co-workers was a Chinese girl and she translated it for us and turns out it was the address where the photo was developed, Chang must have used an SLR and then got it processed at this old Chinese shop.’

‘Great Mac, so we have a link back to Shadow.’

‘We’ve got more than that mate; I paid a little visit to Mr. Wong’s Photoshop and blagged him for Shadow’s office address.’

‘Blagged?’

‘Sorry mate, I mean conned, I told him I was Shadow’s new partner in crime. Anyway, we know where he is now mate, when are you coming back?’

‘I’m getting the
10.10 a.m., it gets in at 11.15 can you pick me up?’

‘No sweat mate, have a great night and see you tomorrow.’

‘Mac? One thing, make sure you're not followed, we have to be real careful, okay?’

‘Nah, I’ll make sure no one is on my tail, don’t worry.’

Good thing for Mac that Maloof only appeared to be interested in Stone.

For now.

Stone rejoined Laura and Eleanor and tried to relax as best he could for the short time he would have with Laura on this visit. There were a few tears and tantrums when he announced that he had to leave early the next morning but he managed to repair most of the damage by promising faithfully to return within a few days. The Christmas holidays were not far off and to cement the deal further he said he would take them both skiing in Whistler and to see New Year in there.

Mac was driving back through
Queens after leaving the Chinese Photoshop when his soldier’s sixth sense kicked in. His eyes had registered a set of headlights in the rear view mirror; they appeared to be maintaining the same distance back from the car. In the darkness Mac couldn’t make out the make of vehicle, the guy knew that it would be difficult to see him behind his bright headlights. Mac figured that, taking probability into account, there should have been occasions where there were no cars or traffic, yet wherever he went, the headlights went also.

He slowed down by around ten M.P.H. and took a zigzag route until he reached the
Queensboro Bridge and sure enough the probability rule was broken again. Half an hour later, Mac drove up the ramp to the hotel entrance and found a space between parked cars. He knew the guy would not follow him so closely. He would stalk from some yards back, comfortably out of sight.

Mac got out of the Porsche and dropped into a push up position on the ground to look under the car. He found what he was looking for just six inches in from the bottom of the door on the chassis, far enough in not to be easily visible. He gripped the small aluminum box, with a blinking red transmitter on the underside, which attached itself magnetically, and wrenched it free. ‘Gotcha’ he said to himself and thought he would have a little fun. The car immediately behind the Porsche was a dark colored Chevrolet. Mac crept to the side of the vehicle and bent down to put the tracking device underneath it in roughly the same position. He buttoned his coat against the cold and strode across the forecourt to the hotel lobby. The hotel bar had a seating area facing the forecourt, Mac took a seat next to the window, ordered a drink and settled down to relax.

He was in luck, just twenty minutes later the owner of the Chevy left the hotel, the driver got into the car and pulled away. Mac was ready with his Nikon. Khaled was taking a snooze. He had pulled his baseball cap down over his eyes settling himself for a long wait when the dashboard bleeped and the tracking arrow started to move. He straightened himself up, and pulled out, up the hotel ramp and out through the other side in the direction of the bleeping arrow.

Mac smiled when he saw the Escalade pass by the window and snapped away with his camera to get the plate number.

Forty three minutes later Khaled was more than a little surprised when the car ahead slowed down, turned into the driveway of a suburban house and a blond haired woman stepped out of the car and went into her house. 

Khaled smashed his fists against the steering wheel in frustration, several times.

Maloof had got a call that the five Saudi businessmen he was expecting to say they were arriving into JFK tonight, a day early. He called Khaled and told him to drop what he was doing and to get over to terminal x at JFK and collect the visitors. He texted their names over to him and told him he would meet them at the hotel later in the evening. When asked, Khaled told Maloof that he was outside Stone’s hotel having followed him to several destinations around
Queens. He was lucky that Maloof didn’t know the truth, one, Khaled had no idea that he’d followed Mac and not Stone, and two, he lied about where he was.

He retrieved the tracking device from under the woman’s car, breathed a sigh of relief, and headed for JFK.

Chapter 32

Rachel checked in on Rebecca who was brushing her hair after bathing and it suddenly occurred to her how she could get Shadow off her back once and for all. She returned to the living room and dialed his number. She got his voicemail and left a message for him to call her back. She told Shadow it was a matter of life or death that he returned her call.

Rachel sat impatiently for his call, fidgeting and pacing up and down from the couch to the window and back again. Rebecca shouted out to her from her bedroom. Then she decided to walk down the hall to see Rachel.

‘R-a-c-h-e-l?’

‘Yeah sis, what is it?’ She shouted back.

‘Do you have any mascara and lip gloss? I haven’t worn make up in ages.’

Rachel’s cell phone rang. She scrambled back to the table to pick it up and answered Rebecca quickly so she could take the call. ‘There’s some in my middle drawer sis. Okay?’

By the time Rachel had responded Rebecca was almost at the living room door, she said ‘Thanks Rach,’ and turned to go back.

Rachel saw who was calling and hit the green button.

‘Shadow?’ she wanted to make sure it was really him.

‘Yeah girl, what’s so important? I’m in the middle of a card game here.’

Rebecca, was still by the door and stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of Rachel calling Shadow’s name. A shiver ran down her spine. She had no idea that Rachel even knew the man let alone that she would be on speaking terms. She crept quietly back and listened in to the call through the crack and could see Rachel sitting on the couch.

‘Don’t get the wrong idea Shadow; I have a deal for you, so listen carefully.’ Rachel was trying with all her might to keep her temper; she wanted to ball him out, to threaten him with the police for what he had done to her sister. But she would need to play smart. He would not respond to threats, he would just get even. First she would give him the opportunity to finish what he’d started three months earlier.

‘Spill it,’ he said curtly.

‘This is a one-time offer, I have some valuable information for you…but there’s a trade-off. I give it to you, you leave me alone, forget me, and I mean that’s it. Never speak to me or contact me again.’

‘What have you got bitch, I’ll tell you whether it’s valuable or not.’ Shadow was in no mood for games.

‘I know how you can finally get your hands on your one million dollars.’

Rebecca listened in, her anger growing by the second, the vile memory of not only the man that was instrumental in her mother’s death, but also the man who had callously violated her when she was at her most vulnerable.

‘You got ten seconds to start making sense girl I told you I was busy.’

‘Tomorrow afternoon at
four p.m. Bloom, the Randall’s lawyer, will be at the Chase bank on 11th St. to empty Guy’s safety deposit box.’

She had his attention.

‘You know this for sure?’

‘Yeah, he called me just five minutes ago, he was trying to sweeten me up, wants to meet me. The guy’s a slime ball.’

‘If you're wasting my time…’

‘Why would I? I’ve waited for this moment for so long, to put right what you always blamed me for and…’

‘And what?’

‘…to get you out of my life. For good.’

‘Sister, you were doing cheap tricks before you met me, you not nothing like your mother girl.’

That was enough to stir up all the bad feeling Rachel had stored up for Shadow, she let off both barrels.

‘Don't you dare mention my mother, if it wasn’t for you she’d still be alive, I’ll kill you Chad Loman. You just give me one more reason.’ 

Shadow laughed, he was oblivious to her hatred and threats. She was someone to be used and she was only worth dealing with if she had something useful or valuable. He ended the call and went back to the card game. Rachel switched off too and swore to herself out loud,

Rebecca heard every word that Rachel had said, she walked slowly back to Rachel’s bedroom, her mind blinded of revenge. She snapped out of the trance induced by hearing Shadow’s name again and remembered what she had wanted in the first place. She opened the middle drawer of Rachel’s dressing table and found the lip-gloss. She bent forward and applied the some to her lips one by one then placed her lips together to admire herself in the mirror. As she replaced the stick in the drawer to look for the mascara something shiny caught her attention. She pushed aside a scarf that was partly covering the glinting item and she was shocked to see that it was a gun. She looked around to make sure that she wasn’t being watched and picked it up between her thumb and her forefinger. She had never held one before. It was a Berretta 32 Tomcat and she could see the magazine lying next to it. A weird and frightening thought raced through her mind. She placed the gun back under the scarf and closed the drawer.

Sitting propped up against a bottle of perfume on top of the dressing table was a call card. The name Loman drew her eyes to it like a magnet. The address and telephone number for
‘Loman’s Import/Export’
was staring back at her.

It was too good to be true.

She stuffed the call card into the pocket of her dressing gown and took tiptoe steps out of her sister’s bedroom. She could hear Rachel stomping around the living room still in a rage after Shadow’s call. Her last words to Shadow resounded around Rebecca’s head,
‘I’ll kill you Chad Loman.’

The same thought crossed
her
mind.