Pete nodded. “I’m an attorney, not that it makes a difference. My fiancée disappeared, and so did her friend. No, she did not get cold feet.” He leaned over the table, made eye contact and started to talk. Jakes’s eyes never wavered.
“I want you full-time on this,” he concluded. “A bonus if you find both women. I filed Missing Persons reports. I had this . . . feeling the police were . . . sloughing me off. They had to take the report, but that’s all they did. Don’t you take notes?”
“Don’t have to,” Jakes said, biting into his sandwich.
Pete began eating his sandwich too. “I make lists,” he said, and immediately wished he hadn’t opened his mouth. Jakes stared at him over his sandwich. “In my business you can’t trust your memory,” Pete explained.
“In my business you don’t put anything on paper,” Jakes said. “At least I don’t. Clients get nervous about things like that. I charge three hundred dollars a day plus expenses. Expenses can be high or low. Sometimes there are no expenses. I pay out whatever it takes, but I am always aware of my client’s money. If that’s going to be a problem, let’s air it now. I’m not the kind of dick that calls for permission to grease someone’s palm.”
“Whatever it takes,” Pete said, wiping mustard from the corner of his mouth. “Do you have any influential friends in the police department?” Jakes nodded. “How about higher places?” Jakes nodded again.
“I have a few,” Pete said. “Let’s call in our favors with the police. I have a feeling they know more than they’re telling. It was this cop Nester’s whole attitude. The guy didn’t give a shit. That’s not the kind of attitude a citizen is supposed to get from the police.”
“Maybe he hates lawyers,” Jakes replied. “Lots of people hate lawyers. Maybe you got him at a bad time. They put in a lot of overtime. I’m not playing devil’s advocate here. I have some friends on the force and I know how it works. Do you have any pictures of your fiancee?”
Pete pulled his wallet from his hip pocket and withdrew a photo of Maddie he’d snapped in Central Park. She was smiling straight into the camera, her dimples showing clearly. He handed over a second shot of Maddie and Janny standing outside the apartment building. “I want you to find both of them.”
“You’re certain they’re together?” Jakes asked, finishing off his sandwich.
“I think so. Check out the brokerage house where she works and see what they tell you.”
“Then it’s four hundred a day. I might have to hire operatives to run down possibilities where she’s concerned. I can’t be two places at one time.”
“I told you, whatever it takes. Can you get on this now, after you finish lunch, and get back to me say around seven? My apartment. I’ll even feed you. I have a friend from Boston who has taken over Maddie’s shop. She’ll be at the apartment, and I’d like you to meet her. She’ll be our go-between in case I’m out checking something on my own. I have some office business I have to clean up too.”
“I’ll need an hour or so. I have to go back to my office and reassign some of my caseload. I charge overtime after six. Even if you do feed me.”
“Look, Jakes, I don’t care. I said whatever it takes. Just find Maddie for me.”
“I like things cleared away up front,” Jakes said, gulping what was left of his coffee. “Great lunch, counselor. I’ll see you around seven. I’m partial to Chinese.”
“Chinese it is.” Pete found himself wincing when Jakes shook his hand. A moment later the detective was gone. Pete pushed aside his half-eaten sandwich and signaled the waitress for a coffee refill. Now what? He felt a groan starting to build in his gut. He needed to go home and make a list, but first he wanted to stop by Fairy Tales.
Pete paid the check and left a healthy tip for the overworked waitress.
“I’m going to find you, Maddie,” he said under his breath. “Count on it.” If it turned out she changed her mind and didn’t want him, then she’d have to tell him face-to-face.
Four hours later Pete Sorenson listened to Maddie’s message. She was alive and she was safe, for the moment. Jesus.
Maddie had every intention of following through on her plan to have a bite of dinner, pick up a copy of USA Today, and place her ad in the paper. A second call to Pete was number two on her list. Instead she showered a second time and washed her hair with the shampoo the small Miami motel provided. She turned on the television before she climbed behind the crisp, clean sheets. A moment later she was asleep. She didn’t wake till noon the following day.
She was groggy and disoriented when she woke. In her life she’d never slept so long or so deeply. Even now she hated to get up because she didn’t want to face the new day. She pulled the sheet up to her chin and curled into a ball. The soft whirring of the air-conditioning unit was comforting. The low voices on the television set made it seem like old friends were close by. She burrowed like a mole into the soft bedding.
She didn’t like being alone because it made her vulnerable. Though more than capable of taking care of herself, the loneliness got to her. She’d put herself through college, got a good job, worked her way up to the position of buyer, managed to save money, and paid rent on a New York apartment. None of which was shabby. Pete always said he admired her perseverance, and it was the main reason he knew she would make Fairy Tales work. And it would have. She would have given one hundred percent.
Maddie showered, dressed, ate a huge breakfast. The moment she finished, she headed straight for the phone booth at the end of the motel building. She tried Pete’s number for thirty full minutes. Each time she had the operator try it, she was told the line was busy.
Inside the motel office she asked for directions to a shopping center, where she bought a newspaper and some envelopes and paper. Before she went back to the motel, she called the 800 number of USA Today to ask for rates. She stopped at the coffee shop, copied down two messages for her ad, bought money orders farther down the street and some stamps. She mailed the letters feeling she’d accomplished something important.
At the motel she tried Pete’s number. It was still busy. She couldn’t make up her mind if she should call the Fairy Tales number or not. Pete should be sitting by the phone waiting for her to call. Instead he was talking on the phone. She wondered why that was. “Always go with your instincts,” was one of Pete’s favorite sayings.
She knew about Annie, Pete talked about her all the time. She was his compadre, probably his best friend in the whole world. After her, he was always quick to add. He admired everything about Annie, her quick wit, her super intelligence, her courtroom expertise, her humble beginnings, whatever they were. Annie’s friendship was important to Pete. No matter what, Annie was always there for him, day or night. She’d never had the nerve to ask exactly what that meant. And, yes, she was jealous of Annie. Pete thought her jealousy was wonderful. She wasn’t really jealous. She was more frightened of Annie, and she wasn’t sure why she felt that way. Once she’d tried to explain it to Pete, and he just laughed and said, “Trust me, you are going to love Annie.” In a pig’s eye. Anytime two women liked or loved the same man, it meant trouble and someone got hurt.
Maddie looked at the change in her hand. She had the operator try Pete’s number one more time. When the answering machine came on, she hung up. Why wasn’t he sitting glued to the phone? She started to cry as she made her way back to her room.
Inside she didn’t know what to do. She paced, wringing her hands as a soap opera carried on with its daily tale of woe and calamity. The pleasant room was going to close in on her momentarily. She had to get out, enjoy her freedom and make some plans. Now. She should get out now. She didn’t stop to think, didn’t stop to use the bathroom or comb her hair. She slung the straw bag over her shoulder and walked out of the room.
Maddie walked back the way she’d walked earlier and then caught a cab that dropped her off on Biscayne Boulevard. She walked a few blocks and then hailed another cab to take her to Miami Airport, where she board
ed a shuttle that took her to Palm Beach Airport. Go with your gut instincts.
She was almost afraid to look in her wallet to see how much money she had left.
In the airport, Maddie called the Chamber of Commerce and asked for the names of several small, inexpensive motels. She snitched a road map from the Avis desk to get her bearings, then moved on to the rental car pickup location. She waited until she saw a young man in his mid-thirties, then sauntered over, smiled, and asked if he could give her a ride to town. He obliged and gallantly agreed to drop her off at the first motel on her list.
Go with your instincts.
He was a salesman headed for Port St. Lucie, Melbourne, and Daytona Beach. When he finished his business in Daytona, he was going to stop in St. Augustine for a day to visit with his sister, drop the rental car off in Jacksonville, and fly home to New York. Go with your instincts.
“Do you mind if I ride along with you?” She blurted out a story she made up as she went along. Her tears flowed right on cue when she showed him the ring on her finger. “I have to sell it. He stole everything from me, my credit card, everything. I’m trying to get back home to Pennsylvania.”
“Sure, miss. I’ll be glad of the company. Bruce Holstein.”
“I’m Jane Steinwitz. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Hey, it’s okay. I’d hate to have someone do that to my sister. I don’t know what you’re going to do when I’m conducting business, though.”
“I’ll walk around. It will do me good to see new places. I love visiting . . . churches and ... local shops. Don’t worry about me. When I get back home, I can send you whatever it costs for you to get me to Jacksonville. How many days will it take?”
“A day and a half. It isn’t as far as you think. I’m visiting steady, old accounts that don’t require a hard sell. I will have to take my sister out to lunch or dinner, though. You can come along if you like,” he said magnanimously. Maddie demurred nicely.
It was a pleasant enough experience, Maddie thought two days later when Holstein dropped her off in downtown Jacksonville.
Maddie meandered down one busy street after another, trying to form a plan in her mind. The first thing she did was buy a copy of USA Today. She carried it with her into a luncheonette where she ordered a bowl of clam chowder and a cup of tea. She felt light-headed when she saw her ad and the one Janny placed.
When she paid the check she asked the cashier where the nearest library was. She needed to get back issues of the paper to see how many ads Janny had placed. She copied down the directions in a loose-leaf notebook she’d purchased back in Fort Lauderdale.
A bus ride later she climbed up the steps of the library. She looked around and headed straight for the magazine/newspaper section. Her heart thumped and bumped in her chest thirty minutes later when she realized she had a full set of numbers. Sweat broke out on her forehead and rolled down her cheeks. Did she dare call? Of course she dared. Nothing in the world could stop her. The sick feeling she was so familiar with of late settled in the pit of her stomach. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was they were supposed to do. It was supposed to be a pay phone somewhere, and they were supposed to be there at a certain time. What time? Think, Maddie. Take your time and think. Get out of here, go someplace where it’s quiet, where you can think.
Maddie stopped to use the bathroom before she left the library. The small slip of notepaper with Janny’s phone number went down her bra. As soon as she found out where the area code 801 was, she would know where Janny had been taken.
Maddie retraced her steps, took the bus that brought her to the library. When she got off, she was dripping sweat, but was so excited with the prospect of talking to Janny, nothing bothered her.
In the same luncheonette where she’d had the clam chowder, she ordered a tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee. She was in the last booth in the small but clean restaurant. Here she could shift her mind into neutral and think.
Maddie looked around and spotted the phone on the opposite wall. A thick phone book rested on the metal shelf. She was out of the booth in a second, flipping through the first pages of the huge telephone book.
Utah! Janny was in Utah!
Maddie swayed as her head buzzed. It took only a minute for her to realize she’d penetrated the oh-so-secret Witness Protection Program. In that one instant she felt more powerful, more in control than she’d ever felt in her life. She thought about Adam Wagoner and wondered if he’d really died, of Monroe from the Justice Department and Weinstein from the FBI. She remembered how they’d told her the program could not, absolutely could not, be penetrated.
Abruptly, she wondered if they were right about Pete’s uncle. And then she almost laughed. They’d lied to her, they’d been wrong about everything! Why should she believe they were right about Pete’s uncle?
Back in the booth, Maddie picked up the sandwich she didn’t really want and started to chew. Her mind clicked as she chewed and sipped.
When she finished eating, she accepted one last refill of her coffee. She rummaged in her bag for a crumpled pack of cigarettes that was weeks old, lit up and looked around nonchalantly. The luncheonette was almost empty now, people lined up at the counter with their own coffee. A quiet time for the busy little restaurant.
This was nice, Maddie thought. Here she was, in Jacksonville, Florida, and she’d gotten here under her own power using her own ingenuity. They hadn’t taken away her will or her mind. She knew Janny was in Utah because she’d listened to her instincts and made a plan early on. She knew if she could just relax enough, she would remember the details of the plan.
Maddie focused on the decor of the luncheonette. It was pretty in a cottage kind of way, with its black and white tieback curtains on the square-paned window. The place mats on the round, white tables matched the curtains, but had thin strands of red thread running through the material. Very pleasant and homey to the eye. Green plants in candy-apple-red pots lined the windowsills. Homey. Everything was homey and restful, and the service was excellent. Even though she couldn’t afford it, Maddie knew she was going to leave a generous tip for the waitress.
She focused now on a domed cake plate housing a homemade carrot cake with thick vanilla frosting behind the counter. Thursday and then Friday, but for some reason that was tied into a weekly ad in the paper. They’d written on the steamed mirror and Janny wiped it off. Maybe she wiped it off. Eleven days. They’d been separated for eleven days, and Janny managed to get the whole phone number plus the area code into the paper. Utah only had one area code. Was that a plus or a minus? Lord, she couldn’t remember what day it was. The beginnings of a panic attack started to form in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t give in to the feeling now, not here in a public place.
It was time to leave. Her best thinking was always done on the move when other things were under control. It would all come back to her, she just had to be patient.
Maddie paid her check at the counter, smiled at the waitress as she handed her back a quarter and took two licorice sticks from the crystal crock next to the cash register.
Outside she walked as though she had a purpose, up the street, around the corner, and then down a street to another corner. She refused to look over her shoulder. She was a free woman. When you were free, you didn’t need to look over your shoulder.
Should she try to call Pete again or wait until she made contact with Janny? Go with your instincts. She paid attention now to her surroundings and looked for a drugstore. Drugstores sold everything and usually had phone booths. They were bright and shiny and smelled of expensive perfume and powder. Across the street, two doors down, she noticed a sign that said PHARMACY in bright red letters. She crossed the street when there was a break in traffic. Inside she bought two packages of cheap underwear and a package of men’s undershirts marked Small. She added shampoo and a deodorant stick to her purchases as well as a comb and brush. When she paid for them, she asked for five dollars’ worth of change.
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br /> In the aisle where the phone booth was located, Maddie waited patiently until two giggling teenagers finished their call. Lord, was she ever that young, that carefree? She felt like crying as she stared at the Revlon cosmetics lined up on the wall in little bubble packages.
Should she stay in Jacksonville or move on? She stared at a lip gloss that promised kissable lips the moment it was applied. She was tempted to buy a tube until she remembered there was no one to kiss her.
It was an old-fashioned phone booth with a metal seat. Maddie sat down and pulled the door closed. Should she leave a message for Pete or hang up when the machine came on? Go with your instincts. “Operator, if the answering machine comes on, I want to leave a message.” She felt herself grow faint when she heard Pete’s voice say, “Maddie, tell me where you are. I’m going crazy. I think I have a spin on what’s going on here, but I need you to tell me how to get in touch with you. Maddie, listen to me very carefully. Do you remember where you got Tillie? Call them and leave a message. I’ll be in touch. I love you, Maddie, more than life itself. I’ll find you. I promise.”
“Oh, Pete, I love you too. This is awful. I’ll do what you say as soon as I can. I can’t tell you where I am. I don’t want them to ... I love you, Pete, so much my heart aches.”
Maddie left the drugstore, her purchases jammed into the straw bag. How long had she been on the phone? Three minutes? Calls could be traced in three minutes. If anyone was listening in on Pete’s phone calls, they would know where she was. She had to leave.
This time Maddie hailed a cab and asked to be taken to the train station, where she again hovered near the rental car agencies. Her instincts or her sixth sense kicked in just as she was about to approach a middle-aged man with a worried look on his face. Not a good idea, Maddie, she cautioned herself. Time to hitchhike.
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