THIRTY-FOUR
Andy answered the phone; it was Sky. “Did you get back to Washington okay?” she asked.
“Finally. Next time remind me how much I hate public transit.”
“At least we were able to sell the car in California.”
“We?” Sky laughed. “Yeah, and for half of what we paid for the damn thing. But at least there’s no way they’re going to trace it back to us. It’s probably in Mexico already, in parts.”
“At least that’s something.”
“Stop trying to look on the bright side, Andy. Do you know how much this adventure cost us?”
“I told you it was risky.”
“It wouldn’t have been so risky if Clay had done his damn job.”
“I never felt right about this anyway,” she confessed.
“It’s not over, kid.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you heard anything on Glandon? Has he come to, now that he’s at the hospital?”
“It was on the news this morning. He and Danielle are still in Havasu. He’s still in a coma. But from what I heard, the doctors really don’t understand why.”
“As soon as he wakes up, we’ll try again.”
“Exactly how do you expect to do that?” Andy asked. “Sky, this thing just blew up in our faces. We’re lucky we’re not sitting in jail right now, and if he happens to die, then we’re really screwed if they figure out our identities.”
“Then let’s hope he’s not going to die. Anyway, we need him so we can get that money.”
“Do you expect him to charter another plane in the near future? Or do you plan to take him again when he flies home from Havasu?” Andy snapped.
“Our plan was too elaborate. I know that now. We should have just taken him in Frederickport.”
“And exactly how would that work?” she asked.
“Nothing more than a home invasion, really. Use his own Internet to make the transfer. Like I said, our other plan was too elaborate before.”
“No, Sky. Please. You can’t do this.”
“Listen, I didn’t spend over a year working on this program for nothing. I know it’s going to work, but I also know that after I use it, the banks are going to swoop in and fill in the hole. This is a onetime shot, and you know it.”
“So how do we convince him to go along with us?”
“Remember how accommodating he and the rest were when we threatened to smack around that sweet innocent girlfriend of the police chief’s?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Take Glandon, along with the people closest to him, and then see how he feels about us mishandling one of them. I imagine just threatening will do the trick.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then he isn’t such a good friend after all, is he?”
“How do you intend to get away? That’s one thing I especially liked about the first plan. No one had any idea where we were—and by the time the cops showed up the hostages would be safe and sound, with no sign of the kidnappers.”
“Let me work out the getaway plan. You just pay attention to any news on Glandon. I’m not walking away from this ten thousand in the hole.”
“WAS THAT ANDY?” Clay asked when he walked into the room and saw Sky hanging up the phone.
“Yeah. I just told her what we were talking about this morning.”
“And? Is she going to fight us on this?”
Sky shrugged. “She isn’t thrilled, but she’ll do what I want. She always has.”
Clay plopped down on the worn recliner and looked over at Sky, who now lounged on the couch, a beer in hand.
“Isn’t it a little early for beer?” Clay chuckled.
“It’s noon somewhere.” Sky chugged the beer.
“You didn’t tell her about our getaway plan, did you?”
“Why do you say that?” Sky smirked and drank more beer.
“Because I don’t think she’d go along with it. I don’t see Andy sitting back while you pump bullets into Glandon and Boatman.”
Sky shrugged. “What’s she gunna do about it? It’ll be over before she can stop me.”
WHEN THE CHIEF went into the station on Thursday morning, he was immediately besieged by his staff, who were thrilled to have him back. The happiest of the crew was Brian Henderson, who gratefully returned the mantle of power to his boss.
“You look like hell, Brian,” the chief said with a laugh as he patted him on the back and followed Brian into his office. He found the office neat and tidy, with no stacks of paper littering his desk. What he didn’t know, Brian had spent the previous evening getting the office back in shape.
“I haven’t had a day off since you left. The next time you decide to take a vacation—don’t. Or at least, don’t take Joe with you.” Brian sat down on a chair and watched as his boss slipped off his coat and hung it on a rack before taking the seat behind the desk.
“I imagine Joe would agree with you. I don’t think either of us want to go anywhere for a very long time.”
“I spoke to Joe a few minutes ago; he said he was going to be in a little late coming in this morning,” Brian added.
“Yeah, I told him yesterday not to rush back today. It was a hellish week.” The chief then went on to tell Brian more about their ordeal, beginning with the unexpected change of pilots.
“I wonder what would have happened had Glandon not hit his head,” Brian asked.
“No idea. Not sure how the kidnappers thought they were going to get ahold of fifty million dollars while hiding out in Lake Havasu. But they must have had some plan.”
“You might be glad you decided to come in today and not rest up at home.” Brian leaned forward in the chair. “I got a call this morning; they finally tracked down the original pilot’s girlfriend—or at least the woman he dated for a time and bragged to about Glandon hiring him.” When talking to the chief on the phone after the rescue, he had told him about the woman they were trying to find.
“Where is she?”
“She’s back in Frederickport. I sent someone over to bring her in.”
“And Thomas and Wilson?” the chief asked.
“I just spoke to them. They’re already in town and will be here in about five minutes.”
ANDREA BANNER SHIFTED NERVOUSLY in the chair. She glanced around the small room and noticed the mirror on the wall across from her. Near it was a clock. It was almost noon. The door opened and in walked a man wearing a suit. He carried a manila folder.
“Miss Banner,” the man greeted her. He closed the door behind him and approached the table where she sat. “I’m Special Agent Wilson from the FBI. Thank you for coming in today.”
“FBI?” She sat up straight in the chair and watched as he took a seat across from her. “Why am I here?”
“We have a few questions for you.” Wilson opened the file and glanced through it. He then looked up and smiled. “Do you know Mason Murdock?”
Andrea frowned. “Mason? Sure. We used to date.”
“Used to? You aren’t seeing him anymore?”
“The last time we went out was over a month ago,” she explained. “It was never a serious thing. We only went out a few times.”
“Have you seen him within the last month?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Yeah. I ran into him in the grocery store. What’s this about? Has something happened to Mason?”
“Mason is fine—now. So tell me, do you remember him telling you about a new client? Chris Glandon?”
“Sure.” She shrugged again. “I think he was trying to impress me. So what’s this about?”
“Are you saying you don’t know about Murdock’s plane being hijacked?”
“Hijacked? Is he alright?”
“Yes, he is, fortunately. Are you telling me you had no idea about the hijacking and kidnapping? The story has been all over the news.”
“I don’t really watch the news.”
“You don’t listen to the radio in y
our car?” he asked.
“I listen to music. I don’t like listening to the news; it’s depressing.”
“Where have you been this past week?”
“With a friend.”
“That’s who you were with—I asked where you were.”
“You don’t seriously think I had something to do with Mason getting hijacked, do you? I mean seriously, what would be the motive?”
“Fifty million.”
Andrea’s eyes widened, and she grew still. Licking her lips nervously, she asked, “Did Mason say I had something to do with it? I mean, I know he was kind of annoyed that I didn’t want to go out with him again.”
“No. According to Mason, he didn’t think you had anything to do with the hijacking.”
Andrea released the breath she had unwittingly been holding. “Then why am I here?”
“Just because Mason thinks you’re innocent doesn’t mean I do.”
Expressionless, she asked, “What do you want?”
“You can begin by telling me where you were this last week.”
“I went to Vegas with a friend.”
“Who was this friend?”
“Just a guy I know.”
“How did you get there? Your car’s been in your driveway all week.”
“He picked me up.”
“But you came back on a bus; why is that?”
Andrea pulled her brow into a frown. “How do you know that?”
Wilson smiled. “We just do. So tell me where you were staying in Vegas.”
Andrea shrugged. “Some apartment. The guy I went with has a friend in Vegas who let us use his apartment.”
“Where was this apartment? Who can verify you were there?”
“I don’t know,” she snapped. “I don’t even know where the apartment is.”
“How is it you stayed in Vegas but don’t know where?”
She slumped down in the chair. “I never pay attention when I’m not driving. I don’t know my way around in Vegas. My friend picked me up, and when we got to Vegas, we went to his friend’s place. I don’t know where it was.”
“How long did it take to drive to Vegas? It’s pretty far from here. Kind of a long drive. So tell me, how many hours was the trip?”
Andrea frowned. “I don’t know, I fell asleep after a couple hours, and when I woke up, we were there.”
“What’s the name of this friend of yours so we can talk to him.”
“His name is Bob, but he doesn’t live in Frederickport, and I don’t know how to contact him. We sort of had a fight in Vegas, which is why I took the bus home.”
“His last name?”
Andrea refused to answer immediately; instead she stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest and stared blankly ahead.
“His last name?” he asked again.
“I don’t know. He told me it was Collins, but I found out that was a lie when we were in Vegas. He was married. Okay, are you happy now?” she snapped angrily.
“Okay, let’s forget Bob for a moment. Do you know Herman Shafer?”
Andrea swallowed nervously. “Herman?”
“Yes, Herman Shafer. Do you know him?”
“Well, yeah…I guess…”
“You guess?”
“Herman is my uncle.”
THIRTY-FIVE
Brian greeted Joe with a bear hug when he arrived at work later that day. “It’s about time you showed up to work, you slacker!” After a few additional backslaps, Joe and Brian each took a chair facing the chief, who sat behind his desk. The conversation quickly shifted to the recent interview with Andrea Banner, which both Brian and the chief had observed from behind the mirror, along with Special Agent Thomas.
“We know she arrived back in Frederickport this morning. She drove in from Barstow,” Brian told Joe.
“I thought she said she came in from Vegas?” Joe asked.
Brian leaned back in the chair. “She claims she got in a fight with this Bob character and got on the first bus she could find and ended up in Barstow. She had the ticket stubs to prove she came from Barstow, but she claimed she threw away her ticket stubs from Vegas. She paid cash for the tickets.”
“I suppose they can check with the bus station in Vegas and see what they have,” Joe suggested.
“I imagine they will. But getting home via Barstow is not exactly a straight shot. She headed south before going north,” the chief said. “And if she was one of our kidnappers, it’s possible she got to Barstow from Havasu in time to catch that bus.”
“Banner admitted knowing about her uncle’s properties. She didn’t hide the fact she’d visited the Havasu property a couple times when her cousin was alive,” Brian told Joe.
“If her uncle knew that she’d visited the property, then denying it wouldn’t be very smart at this point,” the chief said. “I know Shafer, and if his niece is involved, I don’t believe he was.”
“The FBI isn’t holding Banner?” Joe asked.
“No. They let her go, but I think they’re still looking at her,” Brian said. “Do you know if one of the kidnappers was a woman?”
“We only saw two of them; both were men,” Joe said. “But Carol Ann said there were at least four of them.”
“The chief mentioned they always wore masks when you saw them,” Brian noted.
“Yes. Except in the beginning. We saw the pilot, but he was basically in disguise, hiding behind a beard, glasses and dyed hair.”
“You said the two you saw were men, what about the other two Carol Ann saw?” Brian asked.
“According to Carol Ann, she didn’t get a good look at them. They were wearing masks, and she said she couldn’t really tell if they were men or women,” the chief explained.
Brian’s cellphone began to ring. He stood up and pulled it from his pocket. When he ended the call a few minutes later, he looked at the chief and said, “That was Agent Thomas. Something has come up, and he wants me to meet them at Lucy’s Diner.”
“Do you know what?” the chief asked.
Brian shook his head and put the cellphone back in his pocket. “He didn’t say.”
WHEN BRIAN WALKED into Lucy’s Diner fifteen minutes later, he found Agents Thomas and Wilson sitting in a booth.
“Thanks for coming over,” Thomas said as he scooted over on the bench seat to make room for Brian.
“What’s going on?” Brian sat down.
“We found out where that call came from giving you the tip about where to find the hostages,” Wilson explained.
“And?”
“Marlow House,” Thomas said.
“Marlow House?” Brian frowned.
“Yes. According to the phone records, the landline at Marlow House placed two phone calls during the time Danielle Boatman was being held hostage. The first was when Chief MacDonald’s son called his aunt, and the second was the call to you, telling you they were being held somewhere in Havasu,” Thomas explained.
“I don’t get it. Who could have called?” Brian asked.
“That’s why we wanted to talk to you first. What do you know about Joanne Johnson?”
“Joanne? She’s Danielle’s housekeeper. I’ve known her for years. She used to work for Danielle’s aunt.”
“I didn’t think Danielle’s aunt ever lived there,” Thomas noted.
“No, she didn’t. But she paid Joanne to clean the house once a week, and when Danielle inherited it, she hired Joanne to stay on,” Brian told him.
“We need to talk to Joanne, and we’d like you to go over there with us.”
AN HOUR later Brian Henderson sat in Joanne Johnson’s living room with the two FBI agents.
“I was so relieved when I heard they’d been found,” Joanne told the men as she took a seat on the sofa. “I understand the kidnappers are still on the loose. I assume that’s why you’re here to see if I know anything that might help.”
“Were you over at Marlow House on Tuesday?” Agent Thomas asked.
“Tuesday? Why yes
. I went over to Marlow House every day since Danielle and Lily have been gone. Twice a day at least.” Joanne sat primly on the sofa, looking curiously from Agent Thomas to Wilson.
“Did you use the phone at Marlow House on Tuesday?” Thomas asked.
Joanne frowned. “Do you mean the landline?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “No, I had no reason to. I have my own cellphone. But I don’t remember using even that when I was over there on Tuesday.” She looked directly at Agent Thomas. “What is this about?”
“Someone used the phone at Marlow House on Tuesday,” Agent Wilson said. He then went on to tell her the exact time the call had been placed.
Joanne arched her brows. “That is interesting. I wasn’t there at that time. I was sitting in my dentist’s chair, getting a root canal. You can ask him if you want.”
“Do you know who might have access to Marlow House?” Wilson asked.
“Danielle routinely changes the lock on the front door—because guests get a door key, and even if they return their key, there’s no guarantee they haven’t made a copy. I know she changed the locks after our last guests, and Marlow House has been closed for weeks because Danielle had a new heating and air-conditioning unit put in.”
“So you can’t think of anyone else who might have a key to the house?” Thomas asked.
“I assume you mean someone who wasn’t with Danielle. Because of course Lily has a key, as do Ian and Chris. But aside from them, I believe Marie Nichols might have a key. But I’m not sure. I don’t think Danielle gave one to Adam.”
“No one else?” Thomas asked again.
Joanne started to say something and then paused. Tapping her index finger against her chin, she stared into blank space for a moment and then looked at Thomas. “I almost forgot. Heather Donovan has a key.” Joanne shook her head. “To be honest, I was quite surprised Danielle gave her one. I questioned Lily about it when I talked to her on the phone earlier, and she confirmed what Heather had told me.”
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