“No!” she cried. “The minute they show up, he’d know.”
“They’re capable of subtlety. If they look like tourists…”
“He’s going to be watching for something like that,” Elias said. “How will they be able to talk to Hannah or set up here in the house without being noticed?”
“It’s more of a challenge in a town this size,” he conceded. “But they have the experience to think five steps ahead of this guy.”
If I see police…your boy will die. Hannah shook her head hard. “No. If I do what he says, he’ll bring Ian back. I have to do what he says.” Even she knew hysteria ran through her voice.
Daniel sat back. “The decision is yours, Hannah. Just…think about it.” When she stared mulishly at him, he nodded. “I won’t involve anyone else without your permission,” he promised. “We’ll let the search continue, as if we have no idea you’ve received a call.”
“What if…” Somehow, her chest kept expanding with each new injection of fear. “What if he – the man who called – isn’t the one who took Ian?” Her voice rose. “What if he just heard about him being abducted and thinks he can get some money?”
“That’s why we – you – will insist on hearing Ian’s voice or receiving similar proof he really has your son, and that he’s okay, before you agree to the drop.”
Proof of life. Daniel Colburn was kind enough not to use those words. They were too terrible. Your boy will die. Will die…will… No!
She sneaked a look at Elias, closed her eyes for a second to soak in his warmth and strength before she took a deep breath. “Yes. Okay.”
“Then let’s start with you repeating everything he told you.”
“Wait! Can you trace the call?”
“I’ve already started an attempt. I got the number from your phone.” Seeing her surprise, Daniel said, “While Elias was carrying you to the couch.”
Oh. Had she completely lost consciousness for a minute? She didn’t think so, but wasn’t sure.
“I’m betting the phone is what we in law enforcement call a throwaway, or a burner. One of those cheap ones you can buy almost anywhere. If he’s smart, he’s already disposed of it and will call tomorrow using a different one.”
So she repeated, to the best of her ability, exactly what he had said, guessing at the parts she couldn’t quite hear. The recording would be forwarded to Daniel’s phone and he might have access to technology to enhance clarity. But if she really knew the man, that meant she was the likeliest to recognize his voice or phrasing.
“I think he was using something like cloth to muffle his voice,” she explained. She had tried so hard to make out words, she couldn’t summon any memory of intonation. By letting herself get so upset, she’d screwed up. She began to shake again, but pictured the way Ian had of looking up at her with such complete trust. She couldn’t fall apart. She had to be strong.
“Nothing about his particular phrasing?” Daniel asked. “The way he constructed a sentence?”
Hannah shook her head. “He didn’t say enough.” She frowned, trying to think through this miasma of terror. “Most of it sounded like he’d borrowed it from a thriller. You know? He wants the money in ‘various denominations. Non-consecutive serial numbers’.” She found herself mimicking in a way that made her realize she had taken in more than she’d thought. “‘If it’s marked in any way, the boy…’” She stuttered to a stop.
Elias’s hand tightened on hers. “He’s trying to scare you, Hannah. That’s all.”
“That’s true,” Daniel agreed. “Most amateur kidnappers aren’t prepared to kill anyone. What he’s done already is huge and traumatic for him, in a way. He may be excited, but shaken, too. Like you said, he’s using a script. If he admitted he’d let Ian go in a couple of days anyway, you wouldn’t be motivated to pay.”
Hannah wanted desperately to believe them. “What if I can’t come up with that much money?”
“Then you negotiate,” Daniel told her, with continuing calm. “He probably doesn’t expect to get the full amount.”
“If…if he’s my secret admirer, why the money? It seems…” She hesitated.
“I’m going to guess he has financial problems. Initially, he probably didn’t expect you to solve them for him. But now he’s mad at you. Why not kill two—” He saw her expression and stopped. “I’m sorry,” he said gently. “That was a poor choice of words.”
Holding onto any kind of poise was almost beyond her, but she managed to nod.
Jaw set, Elias looked at Daniel. “You’ll be looking into who might have money problems?”
“I will be. Especially anyone on our list.”
Of the men who’d asked her out at some point, he meant. Hannah began an automatic protest. “But they’re all—” Successful? No, that wasn’t true. Blushing, freckle-faced Ron Slawinski certainly wasn’t, but she didn’t think any of them had taken him seriously as a suspect.
Daniel said with irony, “They’re among our town’s leading citizens? On the surface, some of them are. Doesn’t mean they haven’t hit a bump in the road.”
“Like Rand Bresler did when sabotage and protesters held up construction on his resort for months,” Elias said grimly.
Hannah had already seen that he didn’t like Rand, although whether they’d clashed in the past or she was the only issue, she had no idea.
Daniel didn’t argue. “Fletch is in real estate. Lot of ups and downs. Right now, tourism is hanging in there, but real estate is slow. He isn’t new at this, though. He’s ridden this roller-coaster enough times to know how it goes.”
Hannah nodded. Furrows between Elias’s eyebrows suggested he was less convinced.
Daniel went on. “Ron Campbell could have over-extended. I know he opened his fourth store a few months back. The other three are in small towns, but the newest one is in Lincoln City, where he’s probably facing established competition. Castaneda? Maybe a pest wiped out his crops. With organic, he couldn’t spray. Jeff Lee – no idea. Oh, by the way, the D.A. you mentioned moved over a year ago. Took a job in Bend.” He glanced at Elias. “He’s the one I started to tell you we’d crossed off our list.”
“Something else,” Elias said slowly. “Did he say how he thinks you can come up with the money?”
“He said Grady.” She frowned. “No, not his name. ‘Ian’s father.’ That’s what he said.”
“You don’t talk about him.”
“Not…usually,” she whispered.
From Daniel’s expression, she wasn’t alone in understanding what Elias was getting at.
“So how does this guy know that your ex-husband likely has that kind of money?”
“You can find almost anything on the internet,” she offered, not really knowing whether that was true or not.
But Elias nodded. “He could have done his research.” His eyes locked on hers. “Or he already had an idea.”
She swallowed. “Fletch sort of knew how much I had and probably guessed it was a divorce settlement.”
There was a small silence.
“But I had to tell the loan officer at the bank even more. And there had to be somebody who processed the paperwork. I’m sure I’ve told friends what Grady does for a living.” She looked at Daniel. “Sophie, for one. Someone could have overheard. And…people talk in Cape Trouble.”
Daniel grimaced. “They do. One careless word, and everyone in town knows all.”
When neither man said anything for a minute, she knew what they were waiting for. She had to call Grady.
*****
A woman answered the phone, Elias could tell that much from where he sat at Hannah’s side.
“Nicole, this is Hannah. I…need to speak to Grady.” Despite the police request, any pretense of civility had been stripped from her voice.
The new Mrs. Cline spoke, and Hannah said raggedly, “Yes. Yes, I am.” Pause. “I know you do. Thank you.”
She sat without moving, not looking at either man. Seeing her s
o lost tore at Elias.
Then she jerked. “Grady?”
After listening for a moment, she said, “I’d like to put the phone on speaker. A…a friend of mine is here, and so is our police chief.” Apparently he agreed, because she did what she needed to and set the phone on the dining room table, to which they’d moved in preparation for this call. Clenching her white-knuckled hands together, she said, “I got a ransom call, Grady.”
“Jesus, Hannah. What did he say? Wait. It was a man?”
“Yes, I think— Yes, I’m sure it was. His voice was muffled.” She visibly gathered herself and started describing the call.
He interrupted almost immediately. “He told you not to call the cops and you did? What were you thinking?” he yelled.
Elias had pulled his chair close enough to hers to feel Hannah’s tremor. Angry, he opened his mouth, but Daniel beat him to it.
“Mr. Cline, this is Chief Colburn.” He gave the same talk he had to Hannah, not pretending he didn’t grasp the tragic possibility of a misstep, but also explaining in a way any reasonable person would understand why he needed to stay involved. “I will not interfere in the ransom drop, but if at all possible I want to be in a place where I can see and photograph the man collecting the money.”
“How much money?” Caution suddenly altered Grady Cline’s voice. He knew this call was about his money, and his reaction was already subtly wrong. A spike of anger had Elias wondering why he wasn’t saying, How much, and how long do I have to gather it?
Hannah drew a deep breath. “Three hundred thousand dollars.”
The silence read to Elias as stunned.
“Three hundred thousand dollars?” Grady whispered.
“You know I don’t have it.”
“I don’t have it! If I did, you’d have gotten more out of me in the divorce.”
Hannah flinched. Elias couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Did that creep not realize how nasty the comment was? And to hit her like that when she had come to him in such frantic need?
Daniel’s glance touched Elias’s in warning, and he spoke up again. “Mr. Cline, the kidnapper is to call her again tomorrow. She has to give him an answer. She may be able to negotiate a lower amount, but how much lower, it would be premature to guess. It’s my understanding you have a well-paying job.”
“I also have a wife and daughter, and another child on the way!” he snapped. “I had to make a sizeable settlement in the divorce. How do you think Hannah set herself up in business? And I’m stuck with child support besides. Are you suggesting I bankrupt myself?”
Stifling a cry, Hannah slapped a hand over her mouth. Vibrating with anger, Elias grabbed her other hand and held on.
“Ian is your child also,” Daniel said quietly.
“Fuck.”
A muffled woman’s voice wasn’t clear.
Grady came back on, agitated. “I don’t know. I have to think. I can maybe cash out…sixty or eighty thousand?”
“I can’t promise you’ll get your money back, Mr. Cline, but we will do everything we can to make that happen.”
“God,” he said in a strangled voice. “I just don’t have—”
“What about the rental properties?” It was Hannah, suddenly fierce.
“They bring in income, but there are expenses, too,” he said defensively. “Taxes, maintenance. They don’t—”
“You could borrow against them.” She had leaned over the phone, anger transforming her face. “Don’t tell me you can’t.”
“I’d be ruined.” He sounded shell-shocked.
“If you don’t, Ian will die. Do you understand that, Grady?”
“Yes, but—”
“You have to help me. You have to.”
“I need time to think.”
“What is there to think about? Whether being rich is more important than your son?”
“I have other kids, too!” he yelled.
She stared at the phone, devastated and yet not appearing surprised. Elias was the one stunned that a man wouldn’t sacrifice everything he had, including his life, to save his child. Was her ex-husband that selfish? Or was she right, that he felt no real attachment to a funny, smart, talented, loving boy, his own son, because that boy looked too much like her? And what was the wife, sitting in the background, thinking? She’d be weighing in one way or the other, that was for damn sure.
Elias hadn’t contributed to this conversation yet, and wouldn’t. He wasn’t capable of Daniel’s restraint. The violence welling up in him wouldn’t help Hannah’s cause.
“We’ll call first thing in the morning,” Daniel said. “Just remember that you are Ian’s best hope.” Gaze on Hannah’s face, he picked up the phone and made sure it was disconnected before setting it down again as carefully as if it was fragile porcelain.
“Eighty thousand.” With her face bleached of color and her eyes dilated, even her whisper hoarse, Hannah might have been staggering away from the center of a bomb blast. “That’s not even close. With enough time, I might be able to borrow another ten or twenty thousand against this house, but—”
It still wouldn’t be enough. And even if it was, Elias guessed she couldn’t afford higher payments. She could get her son back, and lose their home or livelihood.
“My parents will help. It’s just…I don’t think they have much. They live on retirement and Social Security. You know. But for Ian—”
There wasn’t even a conscious decision. “I’ll pay the ransom,” Elias said.
*****
“The best I can do is seventy thousand,” Grady told her. “I can get that much in cash today. I’ll bring it to you by this evening.”
If not for Elias, Hannah would have felt sick. She still did, but in a different way. A way she could live with.
Of course, she had protested at his offer, but the relief was so huge and deep, he had to have known how half-hearted her effort was. He only shook his head and said, “I have plenty. I’ll talk to my broker and the bank first thing in the morning.”
Her silence now, on the phone, provoked her ex-husband into continuing to talk. “I made a bad investment last year.” His voice was tight. “I lost a lot of money. That’s the truth, whether you believe it or not.”
She didn’t want to believe him, but did. Humility was a rare quality for him, but she thought that’s what she was hearing. Or was it humiliation because Grady Cline, financial genius, had not only fouled up, he had to confess to his blunder?
“Thank you,” she managed to say.
“If he insists on more—” He breathed raggedly. “I don’t know what we’ll do.”
At least there was a we. He did care, if only in a limited way. Or perhaps Nicole had gathered their daughter close to her and let him see her wondering how complete his commitment was to any of his children.
“I’m sorry,” he added, and this time his humility sounded real. “When you called yesterday, I didn’t take it very well.” He paused to shore up his defenses. “You had longer to absorb the shock.”
“About ten minutes longer,” she agreed quietly. “I’ll see you later, then. Do you have directions?”
“GPS.”
Of course he did. Grady liked his toys. Which made her remember the jet ski – but any price he’d get for it used wasn’t enough to help. Ditto for any toys he’d acquired since their divorce.
She set down the phone and stared into space. A cup of coffee might be good – but not worth the effort required to brew it.
She should call her parents again. They’d be sitting by the phone. They still didn’t know about the ransom call. But if she told them, she’d have to explain where she was getting the money. See, this guy I just started seeing is rich, and he offered, so…
Elias had spent the night on her sofa. She should have suggested he sleep in Ian’s room, even if the twin bed was too short as well, but she hadn’t, and Elias had been sensitive enough to her pain not to ask. He had been so tender yesterday evening and this mornin
g. He didn’t press her to talk, but was there if she wanted to. If she’d cried, he would have held her, but she didn’t dare let herself. She felt too…fragile. No, not a word she would ever have applied to herself, five foot nine inches and too many pounds that she was. This was different. It was as if she’d become aware that the part of her people saw was nothing but a thin shell, usually sufficient. So much filled her now – terror, love, grief, anger and all the subtleties in between mixing to create toxic waste ready to spill out if that too-delicate shell shattered.
Like Humpty Dumpty, Hannah thought dully, I will never be able to put myself together again.
Part of her was glad to be alone, at least for a little while. There was nobody to make demands of her. Even Jack-Jack was gone. Edna had insisted this time on taking him and Hannah hadn’t argued. A puppy wouldn’t understand why standing to let him out to pee was a monumental effort, why she didn’t want to play, why she might cry if he chewed up one of Ian’s toys.
They had decided Daniel would call today, but come by no more than once, and then briefly. She would greet him on the porch where anyone could see, exchange a few words while looking brave, and send him away.
He might not be watching, but he also might.
Her phone rang constantly, scaring her each time. By now, everyone in Cape Trouble knew about the kidnapping. She wondered if the footage from the security camera had been released to appear on television news. For Elias’s sake, she hoped not. Whether the police insisted he had been cleared or not, all people would remember was that he’d been under suspicion. Hannah hadn’t let herself watch the coverage or read the paper this morning.
When she recognized phone numbers, she let most callers leave messages. She’d heard from fellow merchants along Schooner Street who had her cell phone number, like Monica from the gallery and Anita from Sea Watch Café, Norma and Garn and Cheryl. Customers mostly called her landline, which was listed in the small local directory.
Closer friends had left short, comforting messages. Over and over, she heard, “If you need me, just let me know.” Any of them would have come over to be with her, she knew, just as her parents would be on an airplane as quickly as they could, but she only wanted Elias.
Whisper of Revenge (A Cape Trouble Novel Book 4) Page 12