One Week To Live (23 page)

Dodging a pickup truck impatient to exit the garage, he made his way to his car and shoved the key into the ignition. The car refused to start.

“Come on, don’t let me down now,” he muttered, trying again. Again it wouldn’t crank over. Climbing out, he slammed the door and kicked the tire for good measure. “No good piece of shit,” he muttered.

He took the elevator to the street level and hurried through the casino to the street. Before he hailed a cab his cell phone rang. It was Rita, not Angie. What she told him sent an apprehensive shiver through him. Angie was missing. Once in the taxi, he ordered the driver to hurry. With each traffic-filled mile, his panic increased. Where was she? What had happened to her?

****

He found Rita pacing in the apartment complex carport not far from Angie’s car. Dunning’s people had stretched crime scene tape around her car. An agent dusted her open car door for prints.

“Rita, what’s going on?”

She ran over to him, tears streaming down her face. “It’s awful. She’s gone. When a tenant drove into the carport a short time ago, he saw her stuff strewn all over. He contacted the manager. He was pounding on her door when I stuck my head out. Hearing about it, I called Special Agent Dunning.”

Her shoulder bag lay on the carport concrete straddling a parking space’s white line. He spied her compact and a tube of lipstick nearby. He couldn’t help but think of the lipstick covered lips he’d savored not that many hours ago. When he saw her cell phone with the message light blinking, he knew she’d never retrieved his message.

“Do you think that…?” Rita hesitated.

“She’s been abducted,” he said voicing the words Rita couldn’t.

He looked over at Dunning quietly talking to his partner while another agent gathered evidence. “Have they said anything?”

“No.” She choked on the word. “He just told me to stay out of the way and not touch anything.”

It sure looked like an abduction to him. Had the nursery rhyme kidnapper made good on his threat to harm her? He’d mentally tormented her throughout the case. Maybe forcing her to watch him kill Polly was his ultimate torment. Did he somehow know that Polly was Angie’s grandchild? He thought about her possessive ex-husband. Should the kidnapper be the only suspect?

“Was there a note?” he asked Rita.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I haven’t seen them putting anything in an evidence bag.”

He nodded, his frustration growing. Rita might be obeying Dunning’s orders to stay away, but he wouldn’t. Ducking under the crime scene tape, he marched over to the man.

The man glared at him. “You could be contaminating evidence. Get back on the other side of that tape.”

He’d been a crime reporter long enough to respect the crime scene, but when it came to Angie the rules no longer applied. “Did you find a note?”

Dunning continued to scowl. “I don’t discuss my cases with reporters. Wait for the official statement from our media person.”

“Stop with your damn rhetoric,” he spat back. “We aren’t talking about a stranger. We’re discussing Angie Martin, a woman already involved in the nursery rhyme case.”

“Maybe if she’d kept her nose out of the case, she wouldn’t be missing,” Dunning fired back.

“So you do think the kidnapper took her?”

“We’re not sure she’s been abducted yet.”

“What the hell do you think all of this is?” he said pointing to the open car door and her personal belongings scattered across the ground. Why did this man continually aggravate him? It had to be abduction. Was he stupid?

“Things aren’t always what they appear to be,” Dunning said, his smugness obvious. “Until the evidence is processed, I won’t talk about what happened here. People leave car doors open and drop purses when they are in a hurry to go somewhere.”

“Where would she be going?” he challenged, his frustration growing. “She’s not in her apartment.”

“How do I know? People do ditzy things all the time.”

He seriously considered assaulting a federal officer when the other agent investigating the scene shouted at Dunning. “You better come look at this, sir.”

Dunning joined the agent peering under a car across from Angie’s. “Looks like a necklace to me,” he said.

“Yeah, let’s see it,” he replied.

The agent dropped to his knees and reached for it with a gloved hand. Standing, he placed it in an evidence bag and held it up. “Think it’s hers?”

Before Dunning could answer, Brian moved to his side to study the slim gold chain containing a delicate cross. “It’s hers. She wore it last night.”

“Last night?” Dunning asked.

“Yes, and she had it on this morning when she left me and returned here.” It was the only thing she’d worn when they made love, he thought, remembering how it glistened against her skin. His fear grew. “Now do you believe foul play is connected to her disappearance?”

“When I saw the scuff marks on the pavement,” the agent said, “I thought I should examine the parking space across from her car. I suspect he dragged her from her car to a vehicle parked here.”

“Give me that flashlight,” Dunning ordered, taking it from the guy. He surveyed the inside of the old station wagon parked in the space now. “It appears to be empty.”

“That car pulled in just before you arrived,” Rita announced. “It belongs to a neighbor who works at a nearby casino.”

“Are you sure?” He glared at a passing driver who’d slowed to gawk. He motioned the man to keep moving.

The agent, who’d retrieved the chain, touched the car’s hood. “She’s right. Engine’s still warm.”

Dunning took the bag containing the necklace and studied it. “The clasp appears to be broken.”

“Broken when she tried to escape her assailant,” Brian pointed out. “Come on, Dunning, when are you going to admit the obvious? She’s been abducted.”

The man looked uneasy as he mopped the sweat from his brow with a pristine, white handkerchief. The carport was hot, but his discomfort didn’t stem just from the heat.

“Yes, the evidence points to that,” he admitted.

“What are you going to do to find her before it’s too late?” The words stuck in Brian’s throat. He didn’t dare to think about the consequence if they didn’t. “Do you think it’s the nursery rhyme guy?”

“It could be. He’s threatened her, but there’s no nursery rhyme clue,” the man said. “Therefore, we shouldn’t rule out other people as suspects. Abduction and rape aren’t uncommon in any big city and she is an attractive woman.”

He refused to think about her being raped. “If you’re straying beyond the nursery rhyme kidnapper, you might take a look at her overly possessive ex-husband.”

Brian told Dunning about his altercation with the man along with the fact that he’d been pursuing Angie ever since she walked out on him. “He says she still belongs to him and doesn’t acknowledge that they are divorced.” Just saying these words made Brian angry.

“I can’t believe Tony could harm her. I’ve known the man a long time. He isn’t violent. Besides, if Ms. Martin felt she was in danger, why didn’t she say something to me?”

“Because she figured you wouldn’t believe her. It would be your fraternity brother’s word against hers.”

Dunning frowned. “I don’t think it’s him.”

“College was a long time ago,” he said. “You don’t really know the man he’s become. He’s amassed power and wealth, and from what I’ve read he’s used to having his own way. He wants Angie back and he’ll stop at nothing to get her. As far as he’s concerned, she still belongs to him.”

“That’s ridiculous.” He studied Brian for a minute. “You’ve fallen for her, haven’t you? Jealousy colors your opinion of my friend.”

“My feelings for her are none of your business.”

The man’s impatience showed. “Leave my crime scene before I arrest you. And take your emotional garbage with you.”

With this he turned his back on Brian and began to talk to his partner again. He stood his ground and listened.

“I just interviewed the guy who reported this to the manager,” the partner said. “He says when he drove into the garage a white van left in a hell of hurry. In fact, the car nearly sideswiped him.”

“Did he get a license plate number?”

His partner shook his head. “No. Nor did he really see the driver or anyone in the passenger seat.”

A diesel pickup rumbled past belching exhaust fumes. In spite of the noise, he heard most of the conversation. Things weren’t looking good. Disgusted, he ducked under the crime scene tape and returned to where Rita stood.

“I need a favor,” he said. “I want to talk to my cop friend and I need a ride.”

“That little sports car of yours on the fritz again?” Rita smiled.

“Yeah, how’d you know about it?”

“Angie told me. My car’s parked over there. Let’s go,” Rita said.

****

Thick threatening clouds darkened the sky and obscured the afternoon sun, but the torturous heat remained. Damn it, he thought. Soon the desert rain would return. Stormy weather pursued him from the moment he’d left San Diego. He was sick of the hot, humid cloak suffocating him every time rain threatened.

He shoved stuff into his duffle bag. Thank God, tonight it all ended. He’d played the game long enough. Thinking of the long-desired revenge, he smiled. Little remained in his life but the impending chance to get even. That thought spurred him on.

Grabbing the duffle, he loaded it in the van along with a tarp, several large black plastic bags, and a wheelbarrow. Raindrops spattered the desert dust. He prayed the deluge held off until he arrived at his destination. Although he hated getting soaked, it would provide good cover. Hiding behind a curtain of rain, he could accomplish his task more easily. Few would be around to question his actions. Everyone knew it wasn’t safe to be out in the rain during a lightning storm.

He ran back into the house and grabbed the kid. Wrapping her in a blanket, he carried her out of the house and slammed the door behind him. Even if the cops found the place, they wouldn’t find anything. He’d been careful to clean up any evidence. He knew all about crime scenes and how to handle them.

He smiled as he pulled out of the driveway. Soon he’d be leaving Las Vegas far behind. There were just a few more things to do to complete the task he’d carefully orchestrated.

As he left, he glanced in his side mirror. His smile faded to a frown when he spotted a man beyond the walled compound. Who was he and what was he doing here? He breathed a relieved sigh when he saw the jogger. What kind of nutcase ran in this heat with a storm approaching? He didn’t like strangers snooping around. He was happy he’d soon be leaving this place far behind.

****

Driving Rita’s car, Brian negotiated his way through afternoon traffic en route to the police station. He answered his phone’s wireless headset with a muttered “Yeah.” The conversation with his friend Joe was brief. Disconnecting, his frown deepened. At the next light, he made a hard left and stomped on the accelerator. Car horns blared as he cut off oncoming traffic.

“Gees, where are we going in such a hurry?” she asked, tightening her seat belt. “How about keeping all four wheels on the ground.”

“They’ve found a woman’s body in a vacant field near the airport. Joe’s on his way to the crime scene now.”

Rita looked at him. “You don’t think…” Her voice trailed off.

“I’m trying not to think anything right now.” He cursed at a driver who cut him off. “Damn it, I should have stopped her from running out this morning.”

“Why didn’t you?” Rita said, her tone accusatorial. “You’ve been stuck together like glue much of the week.”

“She ducked out while I was getting dressed.”

“So why did she leave in such a rush? What happened?”

He reached in his back pocket and handed her the article.

“You bastard,” she muttered after reading it. “How could you do this to her? You know how she hates publicity, but you wrote another article anyway?”

“I haven’t filed it yet, Rita.” He whipped the car around a slow moving truck. “I wanted her to approve the article before I did.”

“Brian Murphy, you’re a fool. You just don’t get it, do you? Even I wouldn’t like my private life spread all over the papers. You should know by now Angie has a good reason for demanding privacy, her ex-husband.”

“I didn’t know about him until recently,” he said, feeling bad that he hadn’t.

“She’s been on the run since she walked out on him. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be continually on the move looking over your shoulder.”

“And my recent stories led him right to her doorstep. Is that what you’re saying?”

“It looks that way, doesn’t it?”

“Lay on the guilt,” he replied. She didn’t need to pile it on. He already suffered enough. “I deserve it. I wish she’d told me about him. I’d have respected her privacy if I’d known.”

“Would you, I doubt it.”

“Maybe you’re right.” He glanced over at her, but couldn’t read her expression. Returning his eyes to the road, he slammed on the brakes to avoid running a light.

“Watch what you’re doing, buster. It’s my car you’re driving, not your old bucket of bolts.”

Ignoring her comment, he whizzed past another slow moving car when the light turned green.

“Because she feared you’d write the article, she confronted her daughter with the truth yesterday.”

He didn’t say anything.

“She thought it wasn’t the right time because of her daughter’s emotional state. However, she did it anyway and it didn’t go well.”