by R E Swirsky
CHAPTER 45
Wednesday 00:18 Paris, France
It was after midnight when Nathaniel’s phone buzzed inside the nightstand next to the bed. He rolled over and pulled the phone out from the drawer. The call from Kaito still weighed heavy on his mind, making sleep impossible.
“Who is calling you this late?” Diane called out sleepily. “Let it go to voicemail and go back to sleep.”
But it wasn’t Kaito. It was Jack.
“Sorry, Diane, but I need to take this.”
She rolled over in a huff and pulled the blankets over her head as he switched the bedside light on.
“Yeah,” he said into the phone.
He dressed quickly, keeping the phone pressed to his ear as he listened to Jack explain what was going down. He turned the light back off and was out the door in minutes on his way to the lobby where he could talk openly.
“I’m gonna have Antonio link you in so you can hear this,” Jack said.
“Yeah,” he replied. The fog of sleep still floated around his head. The phone went silent. He could hear Antonio mumbling something in the background as he prepared to route an ongoing conversation from inside Metcalf’s home to his phone. He took the stairs, thinking he might drop the call if he used the elevator, and by the time he was in the lobby, sitting on one of the leather lounge chairs near the fireplace, Antonio had the live feed shunted through.
“I don’t care.” Metcalf said.
The sound was muffled. Static interlaced the words, making it difficult to hear clearly.
“Just get him to say a name.”
Silence and heavy breathing followed. More static.
“Don’t worry about it. He’ll know what you’re talking about. I’d like at least one name to be sure.…”
“Look. I don’t care if you have to threaten to break both his damn legs! Until he admits he knows who those men were on Friday night, you tell him he’s not going anywhere!”
A long pause.
“You already said Johnny!”
Another long pause.
“Ask him again.”
“What?…No! I want to know how this kid, Michael.… No! No! Just shut up and listen to me. If he recognizes or can put a name to any one of those men who showed up on Friday, I need to know. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.”
“Yes. Just get me one name, that’s all.”
A few minutes passed by. Metcalf gave a few “uh-huhs” and “okays.”
“Ask him how he knew what really happened on the mountain? Ask him that.”
“Never mind what mountain! I’m paying you to ask him questions, not me! He’ll know what you mean.”
Silence.
“He’s saying what? He didn’t push her?”
Rustling sound. Metcalf said something, but it was unclear.
“He’s not making any sense. How can he say he was hiding under her bed and then be on the mountain?”
Another pause.
“Oh? Now he says he wasn’t on the mountain.”
“What? Say that again.”
“Why does he think he’s going to die?”
Another pause.
“He thinks you’re who?”
Metcalf breathed heavily again. His voice faded as if he walked away out of the room.
“…sent him…shit, no!…fu…mis per…walk some time.…”
The next few minutes were unclear before Metcalf’s voice returned strong.
“I’ll tell you when we’re done with him! You keep holding him until I say we’re done! ”
“I already told you. The funeral’s tomorrow. After that.…”
“Yes, I do understand exactly what we are doing. And you are getting paid a lot for this.”
“Uh-huh…he is, is he? Do we have a problem?”
“Don’t tell me what’s legal, for Christ’s sake! What’s legal went out the window hours ago. As long as you’re holding him, I want answers from him!”
“No!”
“Get him calmed down, then. Goddamn! If he’s rambling on like a lunatic, then we don’t know if any of what he’s saying is true or not. He’s just a kid.”
Pause.
“Yeah, yeah, I know what I said. Things have changed. Tomorrow night will be long enough.…What’s that?
“Yeah, good idea. One of you can go down to Okotoks and pick up some pizzas for him. Make him comfortable.”
“Yeah, it’s the closest and…oh, and there’s liquor down there already.”
“Yeah, the lower level. Beer and soda in the fridge. He’s in college so I’m sure he drinks beer.”
“Yes, I’m sure about this.”
A muffled rustling noise.
“Johnny’s who? Whose son?”
A long silence.
“You’re sure about this? Ask him if he knows.…”
“Well I’ll be…I knew it was that SOB.…”
Another pause.
“Okay, just give him some space and let him calm down. No more questions for now. I got what I wanted. Just make him comfortable.”
Pause.
“Yeah, the lower level’s secure. The windows all have security shutters down there. Let him run loose. He may have more to say if he thinks you’re not there to hurt him.”
Rustling sound.
“Yes, loose. He can’t run anywhere—there’s only the one door. Just be sure to bag him as you take him through the upstairs.”
“No, that’s good. And don’t touch a hair on him.”
He laughed.
“No. My wife wants to meet him when we’re done.”
He laughed again.
“Yeah, it is. Unfortunately, they’ll both have to wait until after the funeral.”
“…and when you do, he’ll wonder what the fuck just happened to him, but he won’t have a stinking clue.”
“Say that again…?”
“He’s young. He’ll get over it.”
“No, I’m sure we’re not. Just make sure he can’t identify any of you or where he is right now.”
Pause.
“I know it’s not. I’ve haven’t been down there for a while.”
“Then take another look around to be sure before you take him down. Check everything. I don’t want something like a magazine or photo laying around that he’ll be able to identify later in connection to this property.”
“No. I’ll miss…are the…some.…”
His voice faded.
“No, I don’t know.…”
“…keep…any longer than possible.”
Another pause. Static increased.
“…the evening…any longer than that.…”
“…his sister.…”
“…yard pool.…”
Nathaniel listened for another two minutes as static filled his ears. Metcalf had left the room. Antonio flipped the signal back to Jack.
“You get that, Nate?” Jack asked.
“Yeah. Am I missing something or did Metcalf just have someone kidnapped?” He rubbed his tired eyes.
“You heard what we heard.”
“Yeah. Michael.”
“Same Michael from before?”
“Michael was her boyfriend,” Nathaniel said.
“This isn’t good. Why the hell would he kidnap anyone?”
“You heard what he said. Sounds like he thinks this Michael knows something about what went on. I just wish I did, too.”
Jack chuckled. “Yeah, don’t we all. So what do we do?”
“Just continue doing what you’re doing for now, but it is sounding like Metcalf is desperate about keeping whatever is going on under wraps.”
“But a kidnapping? He’s a lawyer. What the hell is he doing?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Play that again for me.”
He ended the call after listening to the recording two more times. Things were becoming very sticky now. Even though the problem with Metcalf and Kaito was escalating, his thoughts still went up to Diane up in the hotel room. She didn’t deserve this kind
of neglect from him while they were on vacation, especially on vacation half way around the world. But what could he do? This problem with Kaito just wasn’t letting go.
He sighed, raised himself from his seat, and walked back towards the elevator from the lobby seating area, passing by the front desk.
It was well past two in the morning and his shoes clicked on the marble tile, echoing across the empty lobby. The young night attendant stationed at the front desk had a phone pressed between his shoulder and left ear and studied Nate as he crossed the lobby. He was hastily scribbling something down, keeping one eye on Nathaniel the entire time. He slammed the phone down in the cradle and called out, “Excuse me, Monsieur!”
Nathaniel ignored him and kept walking.
“Monsieur?” Urgency reined through his young, squeaky voice. He waved one arm at Nathaniel. “Monsieur Diamond!”
Nathaniel stopped abruptly at hearing his name and turned towards the young attendant he recognized from earlier. He seemed to be behind the desk twenty-four hours a day.
“A message is come for you.” He extended the note towards him.
He pointed at himself in question.
“Oui, Monsieur.” He shook the note out at Nathaniel, his eyes fraught with concern.
Nathaniel read the note.
Blood drained from his face and he felt light-headed. He reached out to the front desk to steady himself. He read the note again.
“Is it that you are okay, Monsieur? Is everything for you alright?”
He nodded and waved the hand that held the note, assuring the young attendant that everything was fine. But everything wasn’t fine.
“When did this come in?” he asked.
“Just now, Monsieur.” He nodded over towards the fireplace. “You were sitting.…”
“Thank you,” he said abruptly and turned away, his light-headedness remained. He couldn’t go upstairs. This was bad—very bad. He retreated back to the seat next to the fire with the note and read it a few more times until he had it memorized word for word. He keyed the number scribbled in bold, square numerals at the bottom of the note into his disposable phone.
The flames of the lobby fireplace licked high and crackled at him. His eyes were captured by the dancing flames. They seemed to be laughing at him, taunting him to step forward and make a decision. The heat washed over him as he moved forward and dropped down onto his knees. With the note between his fingers, he slipped his hand forward between the mesh of the guard and flipped the note into the fire. It erupted immediately into a single white flash and withered away, changing through a series of mesmerizing colours until nothing was left but strips of blackened ash.
“Fucking hell,” Nathaniel whispered and quickly covered his mouth. He rarely swore.