The Daughter-in-Law (35 page)

She went downtown and turned east through the park. Then she headed down Fifth, well across from the fountain. She started to window-shop, watching the fountain in the window reflections. Whenever she left a store window, she took a quick scan of the pedestrian traffic. The faces rushed by with no one taking any notice of her. She checked her watch. Ben should be arriving at any moment.

She saw him across the street, dodging in and out of shoppers and tourists as he rushed to the meeting. Carefully, she searched behind him. There was another man, someone she had never seen before, darting through pedestrians in an effort to keep up. Who? One of Jimmy’s goons? Or a soldier in the Donner’s private security force? It didn’t matter. Both were dangerous.

Nicole walked away quickly trying to blend in with the flow of people. Across the street, Ben arrived at the fountain and checked
his watch. He looked in every direction and then circled the fountain twice. The man following him went to the steps of the hotel, a vantage point where he could watch Ben and still keep his distance. She kept moving, watching the traffic lights until she saw a chance to cross back to the park. It was there, in the middle of the street that she recognized a familiar face. Greg Lambert was walking directly toward her, a tall figure in a summer suit, obviously in a hurry. She turned her head away, kept walking, and felt him rush past her, on his way to the fountain. Her makeover passed its first test.

But she still wasn’t out of the woods. Lambert was the Donners’ man. If the Donners had turned Ben Tobin, then it was equally likely that they had gotten to her banker. What would it take? A comment that they would be very grateful to learn if she came in to transfer her funds? A few words to imply that Sound Holdings was looking for a new banking connection? She was money being withdrawn. They were money being deposited. Which side would a banker want to be on?

What were her alternatives? Leave for Europe and have the Swiss bank transfer the funds? That was risky. Any sort of glitch would leave her broke in a foreign country. Or walk into the bank and sign the transfer herself? That would put her face-to-face with a banker who had seen her before and who would certainly be fascinated by her new appearance. Maybe he could refuse to act based on the claim that he didn’t recognize her. And he could probably give a very good description of her as a dressed-down brunette.

One thing was certain. Her position wouldn’t get any safer over time. Delaying just meant more opportunities for Alexandra’s detectives and Jimmy’s thugs to find her. She had to keep to her time schedule, and that meant taking her chances with her bank.

SIXTY-FOUR

N
ICOLE PHONED
Ben from a park bench. He was breathless when he came on the line. “Nicole, I just got back. You never ...”

“Did you know you were followed to the Plaza?”

There was a long pause. “No . . . who followed me?”

“A man I didn’t recognize. He was running after you up Fifth Avenue. But that’s not what bothers me. I saw Greg Lambert, Alexandra Donner’s house detective. He was coming from the other direction and he nearly knocked me over on his way to the meeting.” Then she asked, “Do you have any idea how he found out you were meeting me?”

An even longer pause. Then Ben said, “They must have me under surveillance.”

“Are you helping them, Ben? Have you switched sides?”

“God, no! Lambert asked me to arrange a meeting with you and Alexandra. I told him I’d propose it, but it was entirely up to you.”

“You know damn well I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to see anyone.”

“Pam needs to talk with you,” he said. “Nicole, you can’t just vanish. There’s too much unfinished business.”

“What does Pam want?”

“You were going to back her in a gallery.”

She gave a long sigh. “That’s her fantasy. I never promised anything.”

“She thinks you did.”

“Ben, she’s not a child. And she has much more behind her than I could ever bring to the party.”

“Nicole—” he tried to interrupt.

“I’m leaving, Ben. As soon as you transfer my money to Switzerland.”

He paused, breathing exasperation into the phone line.

“You are going to transfer my money, aren’t you?”

“Nicole, the Donners will toast me. I can’t help you get away.”

“Is that what Jack said?” she demanded.

“No. It’s Alexandra. And maybe Pam.”

“Ben, talk to Jack. Because if I talk with him and tell him what’s going on, you’re really going to feel the heat.”

Another pause while Ben thought his way through the problem. “You’re right. I’ll talk to Jack. Call me back in an hour.”

She took her time going back to the hotel. She was already checked out and her single piece of luggage was with the bell captain. She was in no hurry to get anywhere until she confirmed that her money was in Switzerland. Then she’d be gone.

Had she won her battle with Alexandra Donner? Not yet. Alexandra had stood in the doorway and blocked her entrance into Jonathan’s world. If she just could have gotten past Alexandra! She hadn’t even gotten the financial settlement she deserved. She had settled for much less than her husband’s material worth. And still, Alexandra was hanging on.

Alexandra had seen through Jonathan’s new love interest right from the start. She had been right when she accused Nicole of stalking her son like a big-game hunter, right about the guise of reluctant virgin she had used to bring him down, and right again in charging that Nicole engineered a hasty wedding before her background could be exposed. Still, Nicole had been able to back her into a corner, strip away her allies and, in the end, even compromise her husband. She had won at least part of what she had set out to achieve. All she needed now was for Alexandra to let go. Then she would be free. Free from her less than spectacular youth and from the restraints of small town America. Free from her troubled past with its seamy dance halls, sleazy photographers and doped up managers. Free from the taunts of a society she wasn’t good enough to join.

She had a drink in the cocktail lounge, surrounded by exhausted tourists, scheming businessmen, and dating yuppies. She checked on her luggage and told the bell captain that she would need her rental car from the garage. She stood in front of her hotel to make her call. It was safe now. If someone traced the call and worked their way back to the hotel she would already be long gone on her way to Boston. She would overnight in a motel using an alias. The next afternoon, she would be off to Europe.

Ben picked up instantly. “It’s me,” Nicole said. “Everything taken care of?”

“No, there’s been a complication.”

“Damn it!” she snapped in anger. “Did you talk to Jack?”

“Nicole, it’s not about the money. It’s about Pam. She’s been kidnapped.”

The anger vanished from her voice. “What?”

“Pam has been kidnapped. Your old friends want to trade her for you.”

The punch in the stomach drove the breath out of her. She tried to digest the implications of what she had just heard. “I don’t believe it,” she managed even though she already knew it was true.

“You’re the only one who knows these people. Alexandra’s security guys want your help. They need to know where to look and what kind of deal they should try to make.”

“They should get the police,” Nicole said.

“Not until they take their chances on a quick private recovery. They don’t know whether your friends would really hurt her.”

She leaned back against the building. “I’d like to help,” she said. “But if Alexandra got her hands on me she’d trade me for her daughter without a second thought.”

“Nicole, you know these people. How much danger is Pam in?”

“They’re not nice, but all they’re ever after is money. Tell Alexandra to offer them some of what she should have given me.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” Ben asked.

“Then it will be Alexandra’s chickens coming home to roost. This never would have happened if she didn’t drive me out.”

“What should I tell her?”

“Tell her it’s time to pay the piper. And, for Pam’s sake, wish her luck.”

She stood against the building for a few seconds after she hung up, trying to compose herself. Jimmy Farr was one of the world’s great bastards, she thought. She hoped that Greg Lambert would help him pay his debt to society. Then she started back to the hotel where her freedom was waiting.

The money was hers, safe in her account with attorneys paid and taxes deducted. The Swiss bankers would welcome her deposit. If anyone tried to derail the transfer she would have to talk to Jack.
She had a much better chance with him than she would walking into her New York bank and trying to transfer the money herself.

In the car, she drove north until she picked up the thruway. Her plan was to drive upstate to Albany where she could spend the night. Early in the morning she would pick up the Massachusetts Turnpike, and cross the state to Boston. And then, the plane to Switzerland. Her money would follow in just a few days.

“Poor Pam,” Nicole said to herself, shaking her head in the process. She certainly was the innocent victim. It was hard to imagine that she could have had any dealings with Jimmy Farr, or anyone like him. And Jimmy had no interest in her. Her only sin, Nicole thought, was that she had gotten too close to her new sister-in-law. Nicole had vanished, and Pam was living out in the open, in plain sight. Jimmy had grabbed what was available, thinking that she would come to the rescue.

His mistake! She would call his bluff. Nicole had no intention of giving herself up just to make things easier for Pam. It was too high a price to pay for her freedom. And when Jimmy figured that out, what was he going to do? He had nothing to gain by hurting Pam. He wouldn’t want to get into long dangerous negotiations for a ransom. All he could do would be to bellow and let her go.

Pam wasn’t in any real danger, Nicole thought. Oh, of course her young friend was frightened out of her wits. But that wasn’t reason enough to turn her car around and give up her escape.

SIXTY-FIVE

G
REG
L
AMBERT
blasted through Ben Tobin’s front door the instant Ben opened it, sending links of the security chain flying. He pushed Tobin back into his living room, and then Alexandra Donner came in behind him.

“For Christ’s sake ...” Ben protested.

“Where is she?” Lambert wanted to know. He pushed Ben into a soft chair so that he towered above him. “We’re out of time, Ben. We need to get Nicole now. So, where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Ben pleaded. Greg grabbed his shirt collar in one hand and made a fist with the other. He was ready to beat the information out of Nicole’s attorney.

Alexandra put a hand on Greg’s arm, restraining the punch he was about to throw. “Ben, please. You know that Pam’s life hangs in the balance. If you have any idea of how we can reach Nicole ...”

“She’s gone,” Ben interrupted. “I told her about Pam and that we needed her help. But she said she was leaving. She never told me how she was traveling or where she was going.”

“She just said, ‘no’? That was her only comment. Nothing more?”

“ ‘No’ was the only thing that mattered,” Ben answered Alexandra.

Greg pulled his cocked fist free from Alexandra’s grasp. “Damn it! What did she say?”

Ben looked from the fist to Alexandra. “She said that none of this had to happen.” Alexandra looked puzzled, and Greg seemed about to attack. “She said that none of it would have happened if. . . you . . . had accepted her.” He was looking straight at Alexandra. “She said it was your chickens coming home to roost.”

Greg took a step back. “Jesus,” he blurted out.

“My fault?” Alexandra asked. “She blamed me?”

Ben writhed in his chair. “No, she was shocked. They were just words.”

“But she was determined not to help,” Alexandra concluded.

Ben answered, “She was determined to disappear. She just. . . ran.”

Alexandra looked at Greg. “Then Jack is right. It’s all my fault. Jonathan, Pam, I destroyed them both.”

Jack was sitting in his New York office staring at the phone. His words were rehearsed. “We can’t trade one person for another, but we can give you more money than Nicole could have given you. I have five million dollars right in front of me. It can be yours in a matter of minutes. All I want is my daughter returned safely. There are no police. Nobody is going to try to trap you. On that I give you my word. It will be a clean exchange. You can take the money and walk away. I’ll leave with my daughter and call it even.”

This was the role that he could play; the grief stricken father anxious to pay anything for his daughter. Alexandra had chosen the other course of trying to find Nicole and trade her for Pam. As a third part of the plan, Lambert’s men were watching every move that Jimmy Farr might make. Jimmy, they were sure, knew exactly what had happened to Pam and where she was. But if they threatened him, his best response would be to destroy the evidence. They hoped that he would soon lead them to the girl, but no one wanted to do anything that might threaten him.

Jack was distraught, nearly paralyzed with guilt. He was the one who had bought off Nicole and asked her to vanish. And it was apparently because of his solution that Pam had been taken as a hostage. He couldn’t bring himself to blame Nicole. All she had done was try to outlive her past. She had wanted more than eking out a living in a backwater town, more than bit parts and commercials, and even more than the company of a famous director. Jonathan had been the answer to her prayers, but just when she finally had everything, it was all snatched away from her by Jonathan’s death. By Alexandra’s intransigence. By his own weakness.

Nicole hadn’t meant to put Pam in jeopardy. Pam was her friend, her adopted younger sister. How could you blame her for the characters of her past who were determined to drag her back?

Jack knew that Nicole had been told about Pam. Like Alexandra, he thought that the right thing for her to do was come back to help
win Pam’s release. But he was the one who had sent her away. He had even paid her handsomely to have no further contact with him or his family. So how could he blame her for disappearing? It was as much his fault as it was hers.