The Sam Prichard Series - Books 9-12 (Sam Prichard Boxed Set 3)

by David Archer

  11

  “Michael,” Kathleen said, but he cut her off.

  “Don’t,” he said. “Don’t you beg for his life, I won’t have that! Harry did damned well for himself, and he’s a hero several times over. He doesn’t need anyone to beg for his life. That would demean him, make him less than he is, so don’t do it.”

  “Then what’s next?” Sam asked. “What are we going to do now? I can’t imagine you want to kill us right here in front of your wife, do you? That would be messy, and it might lead to police being called in.”

  “You’re right about that,” Michael replied. “I can’t have that sort of thing, even though I could easily make it appear that you were intruders. I could even say that you murdered my wife, and I was acting in self-defense when I shot the two of you.”

  Kathleen’s eyes were wide, and Sam realized that she knew they were all likely to die. Unfortunately, at the moment he didn’t see any way to avoid it.

  Poker! I’m playing poker, and the cards have been stacked against me, but there’s always a way to win. I’m in the game, so what’s the next bet?

  “But you’re supposed to be in Japan,” Sam said. “Wouldn’t it seem odd if you just happened to be here when these intruders broke in?”

  Michael shrugged. “Plans get changed all the time,” he said. “As it happens, I ended up sending a new employee at the last minute. Kate and I had been fighting, you see, and I just felt that it would be best for me to be at home, right now. Imagine my shock when I came in to find her bleeding on the floor, with two strange men standing over her. One of you was holding a gun, so I grabbed one of my own and managed to take you both in a shootout. Do you really think that will be hard to sell? Especially with three dead bodies as evidence? I’m certain at least one of you is carrying a weapon, so it wouldn’t be difficult to kill both of you, find it and use it to kill Kate.”

  “Michael, please...” Kathleen said, her voice cracking. “You don’t have to do any of this! All I wanted was to see Harry, to know he was all right, I won’t do it again, I swear! Harry, tell him you’ll let this go, tell him…”

  “Harry can’t do that,” Michael said. “He’s seen the truth now, and nothing will do for him but to reclaim you from me. Isn’t that right, Harry?”

  Harry looked him in the eye. “If I could kill you right now,” he said, “I’d do so with not a moment’s hesitation. I’d face the kids and tell them the truth, and leave the choice of whether they wanted me in their lives to them, but yes. I want Kathleen back. She is my wife, Michael, not yours. She always was.”

  “That’s debatable, Harry, but it’s no longer important. I have always cared for her, but I confess that watching her lie to me about what she’s doing when I know she’s been shadowing you has worn my feelings thin. If she dies today, I’ll still have the kids. They honestly love me, you know; I’m the only father they’ve ever really known, after all.”

  Harry tensed, but Sam put a hand on his arm. “Easy, Harry, he’s trying to goad you into making a foolish move. He wants to kill us, but he wants it be our own fault.” Sam thought for a moment as Harry settled back again, then turned to Michael.

  “How about if I make a proposition,” he asked, “one that you haven’t considered?”

  “And what would that be?”

  “You want to keep all this from coming out, I understand that. Still, there’s no reason to kill anyone if you can do that without resorting to violence, and I think I may know a way. You’re a spook; as Harry says, you can do things that no one else can. You’ve already started over more than once. Why not just create another new identity and walk away? The intelligence people won’t care who you are, and I can get Harry to keep his mouth shut, if for no other reason than to protect Kathleen.”

  Michael’s eyes went wide. “Are you insane, Sam? Do you know how much I’m worth in this life? I’ve been buying and selling yachts for twenty years, and now I’m the number one salesman for all of the biggest yacht builders in the whole world! I make more on one sale sometimes than you’ll earn in your entire life. I’m not walking away from that. Try again, maybe there’s something else in that crazy brain of yours that could make me laugh. I could use a good laugh about now.”

  “Then let’s try another variation,” Sam said. “How about if Kathleen leaves you? She found another man, you caught her cheating, but she agreed to let you have everything in the divorce? Harry won’t talk, because he knows you could always come back and hurt her. It’s a way out that lets you keep everything you really want. How about it?”

  Michael rolled his eyes. “And you honestly think Harry Winslow could honor that sort of deal? That he’d let me get away with what I’ve done, just so he can have his last few months or years with her?”

  “He’s right, Michael,” Harry said. “We both know you were always better than me; there’s no way I’d ever risk you taking your vengeance out on Kathleen. If you agree to Sam’s idea, we all win, and we all survive. I give you my word, and you know I never break my word. If you’ll go along with this plan, I won’t ever tell anyone what I know about you.”

  Michael looked at him for a long moment, and then turned to Kathleen. “What about you?” he asked her. “Would you want to go along with this scheme? Leave me and go off with Harry? You couldn’t ever tell anyone the truth, you know. I’d know instantly if you did, and all bets would be off. Both of you would die, and within hours. Would you agree to keep your mouth shut for the rest of your life?”

  Kathleen stared at him, her eyes revealing just how scared she was. Did she dare say she’d agree to it, or would that push him to the point of killing them all? “I—If it’s what you want, Michael, of course I’d agree. But it’s up to you, of course.”

  He stared at her for a moment, then looked back at Sam. “I know you’re armed. Take it out, carefully, and toss it over here onto the carpet.”

  Sam reached slowly behind his back and took hold of the Glock with two fingers. He had to tug a bit to get it to come free of the tension holster, but then he withdrew his hand and let Michael see the gun dangling from it. He swung it once and let go, and it landed on the carpet near Michael's feet.

  Michael turned his gun on Harry. “What about you? Let’s have yours.”

  Harry didn’t even try to claim he was unarmed. He reached into his jacket and took the Kel-Tec out the same way Sam had done, with two fingers, and gave it a toss to land beside the Glock. “That’s all I have,” he said.

  Michael slowly lowered his own gun, but kept it in his hand as he narrowed his eyes and looked at the three of them. “Okay, now, let’s talk about this. Kate, even the kids have felt the tension between us lately. They’ve asked me about it. I always say it’s just that we’re both getting old, but I think they know there’s something. If you were to admit to having an affair and deciding to leave me for your”—he smirked—“much-older boyfriend, that would be believable. Are you willing to do that, let the kids think that was all it was? You couldn’t ever tell them the truth, you know. They can never know who Harry really is.”

  Kathleen licked her lips nervously. “If that’s what you want, Michael, I’ll do it. And I’d never tell them, I swear. Just promise me you’d never hurt them, will you do that?”

  “Of course,” Michael said. “None of this is their fault, now, is it? They probably wouldn’t believe it, anyway, but they’d come and ask me about it, so I’d know. So, we’re agreed on that, then?”

  She nodded her head vigorously. “Yes, no problem, if this is what you want.”

  Michael looked at Harry. “And you? No problems later, down the road? Are you going to come after me yourself, or send someone else to try to kill me?”

  “As I said, you have my word,” Harry replied, looking Michael straight in the eye. “I won’t bother you as long as you don’t bother us. The kids will only know me as their mother’s new husband. You won’t ever have a reason to harm any of us.”

  Michael looked him in the eye fo
r a few seconds before turning to Sam. “You won’t be a problem, will you, Sam? Knowing how easily I can find your family?”

  “Look, it was my idea,” Sam said. “All I’m trying to do is get us all out of this alive, Michael, and this is the best shot I could come up with. You keep your money and everything else, and you can stop worrying about any of this ever coming to light. It’ll be a non-existent problem.”

  “Uncontested divorce,” he said, turning back to Kathleen. “I keep the business, the houses, the yachts, everything. No alimony, but I suppose the court will insist on some kind of a settlement, so I’ll give you five hundred thousand dollars, and you can keep the Bentley, I suppose. Other than that, you take nothing but your own clothes and mementos. Deal?”

  She was still wide-eyed, but there was hope beginning to show in her face. “Uncontested, you can have it all. Yes, Michael, I agree to all of it.”

  He stared at her for another moment, then pointed with his pistol at the guns lying near his feet. “Pick those up, carefully, and put them in the cabinet under the entertainment center.” He kept his gun angled at the floor, ready in case she decided to try anything, but she did exactly as she was told and then came back to her chair and sat down.

  “Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this,” he said. “Kate, you’re going to call the kids and ask them to come over. I think the time to do this is now, don’t you?”

  She looked at him for a moment, then reached down and picked up a cordless phone from the end table beside her. “All right, Michael,” she said, and then pressed a button on the phone and put it to her ear. A moment later, she smiled cautiously.

  “Beth? It’s Mom. Listen, are you busy with anything right at the moment? Well, um—your dad and I would like you to come over, please. Yes, I’m afraid it’s pretty important. Please? All right, honey, we’ll see you then.” She hung up, and then pressed another button. “Harry? It’s Mom, honey. Dad and I need you to come over. It’s something important, Harry, and Beth is already on the way, so please? Okay, thank you, honey. Okay, we’ll be waiting.” She hung up again and looked at Michael. “They’re both coming. Harry says it’ll take him an extra few minutes, he’s got to run by his place and drop something off, but he should be here by the time Beth arrives.”

  “Good. The more I think about this wild idea of yours, Sam, the more I like it, and the sooner we get it started, the better.” He turned to Kathleen. “You’ll leave today, you and Harry. You can make arrangements to come and pack your things next week, one day while I’m at the office. I’ll have someone here to watch, of course, but that’s just to keep up the pretense that we’re having hostilities between us over your affair with old Harry, here.”

  “That’s fine,” Kathleen said. “I’ll want to pack a bag, of course.”

  Michael nodded. “Go on,” he said. “I know you’re not gonna try anything, Kate. Go pack what you need for a few days, you can get more later if you need to.”

  She looked at him for a moment, then slowly rose from her seat and walked out of the room.

  Michael looked at Harry. “You never remarried, did you? Still in love with Kathleen?”

  “I always was,” Harry said. “Did you think that would change?”

  “Everything changes with enough time. I was crazy about her myself, even though she was married to you. Crazy enough to go to some wild extremes to have her, obviously. But that was then, and let me tell you, this is now. She’s been difficult, and since long before she found out about you being alive and kicking. She was always trying to hold me back, keep me from building the business. Her whining about me being gone all the time cost me two of the finest restaurants, but I put my foot down on the yacht business. Built it up from nothing, buying older sailing yachts and restoring them, then selling them for a big profit. Got one that had sunk in the bay, an old hundred-eighty-foot Perini Navi from back in the ’90s, and raised it all by myself, then rebuilt her from stem to stern. Turned fifty grand invested into eight million in profit, and I was made. I could give her anything she wanted, but was she ever happy? Not even a bit. Still whined all the time about me working too much, but you know damn well, if you’re gonna make it in business, you can’t be loafing around. You’ve gotta keep at it, right, Sam?”

  The more he talks, the crazier he comes across, Sam thought. This is a man who has driven himself mad with the things he’s done and his own fear of being caught out. He drives himself in order to feel like he’s still in control, and that’s the way I’ve got to play him now. He has to be in control, or he’ll decide it’s all going wrong. That’s when things will get really bad.

  “Sometimes you do, yeah,” he said. “Listen, should I be gone when the kids get here? I don’t really fit into this scenario, you know.”

  Michael grinned. “Oh, the hell you don’t,” he said. “You are a famous private investigator. You’re the thing that’s going to pull this all together and make it work. See, I was suspicious that Kate might be having an affair, but I didn’t have any proof. What does a husband do in a case like that? He hires a private eye to follow her around. That’s you, Sam. You been following her around for the last couple of months, and you were able to tell me when to catch the two of them together here at the house. I had you come along as a witness, to make sure nothing got out of hand. That’s your story, and you’d better stick to it.”

  Sam swallowed, but he managed to keep his expression straight. “Okay,” he shrugged, “I’ll play my part. Let’s just get this over with.”

  12

  Indie had hung up the phone and hurried up the stairs to wake Kenzie. When Sam said to move, she had learned, there was usually no time to waste. She wanted to be out of the house within ten minutes.

  Fortunately, she had gotten into the habit of keeping what she called ‘bug-out bags’ ready to go at all times. These were small sports duffels that were always packed with clothing for one of them, just in case of circumstances like this one. She had Kenzie up and dressed in only two minutes, and had snatched up her and Kenzie’s bags on her way back downstairs.

  She set the still half-asleep Kenzie on her bed and hurriedly dressed herself, then grabbed her purse and computer, slung the bags over her shoulder again and took Kenzie’s hand. They were out the door and in the Ridgeline with only seconds to spare on her original deadline.

  The truck started instantly, and she backed out and headed down the street. Her eyes were scanning the street and the rearview mirrors, watching for any sign that they were being followed or observed. From what she could tell, no one was paying them any attention.

  After some recent events, Indie had begun keeping a cheap, throwaway phone in her purse, charged up and activated, but never used. She’d left her own cell phone lying on the bed, and would use this one only when she needed to. At the moment, she wanted to let Kenzie’s grandmothers know what was going on. She dialed her mother’s number and listened for an answer.

  “Hello?” Kim said, half-asleep. “Indiana? Is that you?”

  “Yes, it’s me. Mom, get Grace up and both of you stuff some extra clothes into something fast. Leave your phones at home, I’m coming to get you now.” She didn’t bother waiting for a response. While it was possible to trace a cell phone even after the call ended, keeping it short might mean it wouldn’t even be noticed by anyone watching her mother’s phone activity.

  She raced through the streets of Denver, barely keeping her speed close enough to the limit to avoid getting pulled over, and made it to Grace’s house without any problem. Her mother rented a room from Grace, and the two had become best friends. They were standing on the porch, waiting, when she roared into the driveway.

  “Get in,” she yelled through her open window, and neither of them stopped to ask questions. Kenzie was in her car seat in the back, and Kim slid in beside her while Grace took the front passenger side. Indie spun the truck around and took off down a side street, trying to randomize her path so no one would be able to anticipate it and g
et ahead of her. She filled the women in as she drove.

  “Oh, my God,” Grace said. “How does he always get into these kinds of messes?”

  “Well, sometimes it comes with the territory,” Indie said. “I mean, he’s dealing with spies and secret agents at the moment, so you really don’t know what to expect, you know?”

  “But this is no way to be raising a family! I’m going to talk to him. He’s just got to give up all this private eye stuff, that’s all there is to it!”

  Indie rolled her eyes. “Grace? Shut up, would you? I’m trying to think of where to go, and you’re not helping anything with your mouth running off with oral diarrhea!”

  Grace turned and stared at her, but didn’t say anything. Indie kept driving, and then turned onto I-70 and pointed the truck west.

  Kim cleared her throat from the back seat. “Um...”

  “What, Mom?” Indie asked, her face turning sour as she dreaded the answer she knew was going to come.

  “Um—Beauregard says we need to go back to your place.”

  Indie’s eyes went wide, and she looked at her mother in the rearview mirror. “Sam just told me to get out of there,” she said. “The guy they’re dealing with is probably the one who left that letter for Harry, so he probably was following him and knows he came to our house...”