Magic Moment

by Adams, Angela

  Silence hung heavy. Dick stared into his glass. Chase considered his father as he contemplated the frenzy called his life.

  He needed Dick to name those partners. That was the evidence needed to convict those bastards, protect his wife, and aid his father.

  Dick’s slumped shoulders and defeated expression made Chase physically ill. Either by the detriment of his dirty deeds, or the torment of admitting them to his son, sitting across from Chase was a severely broken man.

  “Dad, we’ve hashed enough problems for one night. You okay driving home?”

  Dick nodded. “You heading back to Sea Tower?”

  “No. I told Laura I’d have to wait for the boat’s compressor to come in,” he lied. “I need a night away. I’m staying at a hotel. I didn’t think I was welcomed at the house.” At the house, he wasn’t able to converse freely with Saunders.

  Chase forced his best cheerful voice. “We’ll meet for breakfast,” he said. “How’s that sound? After a good night’s sleep, we’ll talk and find a way out of both our hell holes.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  When Chase arrived at Rita’s Diner the following morning, he found his father sitting in a booth nursing his coffee. Upon seeing his son, Dick’s apprehensive stare broke into a huge grin, almost as if he feared Chase had changed his mind.

  For Chase, entering the diner had an eerie feeling. This was where it all began. He blinked quickly, escaping the vision of Laura perched on the stool, her green eyes wide and confused as Saunders beleaguered her.

  Chase smiled. “Morning, Dad.”

  The bacon and egg breakfast started on a pleasant note. At times over the years, the two Donovans had shared diner breakfasts, easily discussing the few mutual interests they had, horse racing, basketball, football, Dick’s golf handicap and Chase’s skill at the gaming tables.

  The conflict between Dick and Chase Donovan arose when the father refused to accept his son’s decisions, arguing against or ridiculing them — and Chase.

  “Chase, under different circumstances you, Laura, the baby, and me as Grandpa, may have been welcome,” Dick reflected after the waitress had poured fresh coffee.

  “Yeah, maybe. Laura turned me on initially, but the reality is I don’t love her. I don’t want to be a husband, or a father.” Harmony wasn’t Saunders’ plan.

  “You don’t have to love your wife, any wife.” After a long pause, Dick tilted closer to his son. “Yours, on the other hand, is a subject requiring further discussion.”

  Chase eased back. “Dad, don’t worry. If you don’t have the money, I’ll get it somewhere. While she’s in the hospital with the baby, I can get to Atlantic City. Win some at the tables.”

  Dick was direct. “Your financial dilemma isn’t the issue.” He glanced around, then looked his son straight in the eye. “My partners insist on their original plan. Laura has to go.”

  Chase arched an eyebrow and faked ignorance. “Go? Go where?”

  “Nothing’s changed since the boat.”

  Chase pursed his lips, mustering up just the right amount of protest. “We’re not heading back down that road, are we? I don’t want to stay with the woman, but she is my son’s mother. Besides, without Laura, who’s raising this kid?” He snickered. “You can bet your ass, not me.”

  “Chase, listen. You didn’t listen to me before and look at the mess you’ve created.” Dick gulped his coffee. “Two of my partners cannot take the chance on being identified. What did Laura tell you she saw?”

  Chase was casual. “She saw you and Daniels with two other guys.”

  “Who did she say she saw?” Dick repeated.

  Chase lifted his mug. “She wouldn’t tell me. She got all coy and shut up. Like I said, she’s full of it. I’m calling her bluff.” He swallowed his coffee.

  “No!” Dick said sharply. “We can’t do that.” He looked around, ensuring no one stood within eavesdropping distance. With an index finger, he beckoned Chase closer.

  Chase wore his best inquisitive expression. “What?”

  “My partners, besides Oliver, are Alan Blair and Chuck Hunter.”

  Bingo, Saunders. The roller coaster spiraled in the pit of Chase’s stomach. Cocking his head as if feigning unfamiliarity, his eyes widened on cue. “Dad, doesn’t Alan Blair sit on the federal bench?”

  His father nodded. “Worked his way up from traffic court.”

  Chase’s features became pensive. “Blair and Hunter?” He paused, giving the impression he searched for recollection. Actually, he was weighing his words carefully. “Didn’t I meet them at your twenty-fifth anniversary party?” Chase asked, of course, knowing the answer.

  “We’ve been friends from childhood,” Dick replied proudly. “Alan had the hots bad for Lonnie at my wedding, but she couldn’t be bothered. She was extremely obnoxious. It figures that aunt of yours ended up a spinster.”

  Hearing that Lonnie loathed Alan Blair nearly made Chase laugh. Undoubtedly, she had gotten a whiff of the man’s character flaws from the get-go. Lonnie had her great love, a brave soldier. Blair, federal judge or not, wasn’t fit to lick the deceased man’s army boots.

  “We all make our choices,” Chase muttered, his comment having various subtle meanings.

  “True.” Dick lifted his mug as if in a toast to his son.

  “I don’t care what Laura saw, or who’s afraid, or who’s got problems,” Chase said. “I’ve got my own.”

  “Chase, you have to understand. Alan was brought in as insurance. If we ever got in a fix, he’d make it go away.”

  “Fix?”

  “If Oliver or I ever got caught with a cocaine shipment. But now that Laura saw us all together … ,” Dick added.

  Guilt crawled through Chase as he considered the listening device attached to his belt. His father confided in him. He trusted his son, and what was Chase intending to do? The regret left Chase quickly when he remembered those he loved in Sea Tower.

  “Whose idea was Laura’s boat outing?”

  “Oliver and Chuck. Alan had squared a few things for Chuck. Out of friendship, of course.”

  “Of course,” Chase said. Like a technicality on a search warrant that got an arrest tossed.

  “Anyone who may recall they once were acquainted, Chuck and Alan give the appearance of having severed their ties,” Dick said. “If anyone ever found out a personal connection between them still exists … well, Chase, you can figure out the rest.”

  Chase nodded. He certainly could.

  “I doubted Laura recalled seeing us on her first visit with the agents,” Dick said. “I’m sure she was nervous. But if the agents persisted, my partners feared she would remember. Laura’s resignation as my bookkeeper wouldn’t stop the questions.”

  Chase said nothing. Too numb, too shocked, too sick by what he was hearing.

  “Oliver suggested Ron Caldwell,” Dick went on. “Laura knew Ron and would accept the ride. Ron and the other man, Lou Kent, moonlight as Oliver’s couriers. He had complete faith in them. Laura, so sweet and unsuspecting, did exactly what was expected by accepting my offer of a ride and walked right into the trap.”

  Chase bit his tongue to hold back the acid retort.

  “Inviting you to dinner was to keep you from the boat,” Dick continued. “When I got your voicemail declining, I prayed you were shacked up with some overpriced whore.”

  Again, Chase didn’t speak. Dick had prayed his son was with a hooker, a bizarre, let alone sacrilegious, prayer. On the other hand, one of Chase’s prayers was just answered. Ron and Lou, their names, on tape for what they had done to Laura.

  “Oliver had a fit when he heard the stunt you pulled, arriving on the boat, running his men off,” Dick said with an ironic grin. “It took a fifth of my most expensive bourbon and a romp with Rachel to calm him down.�
��

  “Rachel?” Chase nearly choked on the woman’s name. “Your secretary? With Oliver Daniels?”

  Dick nodded. “You may ignore her, but most men welcome her invitations. Rachel likes her lays rich, and she doesn’t give a hoot about the age difference. Frankly, my boy, I can tell you first hand, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

  Oliver Daniels and Rachel. His father and Rachel. Chase’s digested breakfast revolted.

  “Nothing surprises me anymore.” Despite the grave situation he was in, Chase suppressed a laugh. In all the years Rachel had worked for his father, she always referred to Dick as Mr. Donovan. He wondered if his father was Mr. Donovan while the pair engaged in a sex romp.

  “I was able to cover for you good,” Dick said. “I told Oliver you dated Laura a few times, gave her a tumble.”

  Chase said nothing.

  “It was harder to convince Chuck to wait while Laura went through her pregnancy,” Dick went on. “But I convinced all parties you could keep her mouth shut. I used the boat excursion and hiding Laura in Sea Tower, away from those agents, as evidence of your loyalty.”

  Chase sighed. “Dad, this is crazy. We’ll pay off Laura. She’ll go away.”

  Dick became agitated. “Suppose she decides the amount we give her isn’t enough,” he insisted. “She’ll hang her federal friends over our heads. She’ll threaten to take the baby, your son, my grandson. Her threats will be a constant. Besides, Chase, we don’t have money to waste on her.”

  “I said I’ll get it.”

  Dick continued. “Think of us as a family, Chase. The three of us, the Donovan men.”

  Dread filled Chase at the prospect of not having Laura in his life. “After the baby’s born, we’ll discuss my sham of a marriage,” he said in keeping with Saunders’ program.

  “We’ll take care of it now,” Dick demanded, his gray eyes hard like steel. “You’ll listen to me. You’ll do what I say. You’ll let me fix this mess you’ve gotten us into.”

  Chase hid his smirk well. This was the father he had anticipated.

  Dick’s cell phone chimed, and he excused himself. Chase recognized the caller as Rachel. Considering what he had learned this morning, he wondered if the call was business or pleasure.

  “Chase, I need to get to the warehouse,” Dick said, returning the phone to his inside jacket pocket. “Rachel set up a meeting with a new customer. Apparently, I’m late.”

  Chase laughed, a tactic to return a cordial note to the conversation. “Dad, how did you get Rachel to keep your trysts quiet? She’s got the mouth that roars.”

  “Her mouth is good for other things, too,” Dick said with a wink, and slid from the booth. “She’s too fond of keeping her job to blab.” He reached inside his jacket pocket.

  Chase held up his hand. “My treat, Dad.”

  “Rachel aside, we’re not done talking.”

  Chase nodded. “I can only stay another day before Laura gets suspicious.”

  “I understand,” Dick said. “We don’t want her suspecting you’re cheating. Next she’ll hire a private detective. Get a lawyer who will really take you for a ride.” A whimsical look passed over his features. “See how inconvenient divorces are.”

  Chase replied with a frown.

  “Why don’t we have dinner tonight?” Dick proposed.

  “Sounds good.”

  Dick smiled. “I’ll call you later with the details. We’ll make a real night of it.”

  Chase gave his father the hotel where he was staying, and the cell phone number Saunders had given him. “I got this phone without telling Laura,” he repeated the cover tale. “I left the other on the bureau. On purpose. I don’t need her calling me for every little baby kick.”

  Chase watched his father leave the diner. He silently bemoaned last night’s restlessness without Laura and their hyperactive baby, the latter who generally woke his parents at two in the morning while he practiced his field goal kicking.

  • • •

  In the small hotel room, Saunders, Morgan, and Chase sat at the square table by the floor-to-ceiling window eating Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and discussing their progress so far.

  Morgan swallowed from his water bottle. “First off, we don’t know how the money’s exchanged. And we need to find out how the stuff’s getting in.”

  “If the airports are out, it’s coming by boat,” Chase said.

  “How’s that work?” Morgan asked.

  “The fruit arrives on a ship and gets unloaded at the waterfront,” Chase said. “Customs inspects, but not every little nook and cranny. They may even be paying someone off. You’ll need to check that.”

  Morgan nodded his head, acknowledging, and Chase went on.

  “Even without someone on the inside, if the coke bags are small and sandwiched among the fruit, they would be difficult to detect.” He turned to Saunders. “You guys are so worried about undesirables busting the airports, start paying more attention to the seaports.”

  Saunders nodded, filing the comment before returning to the current discussion. “We have to find out who their contact is in South America.”

  “It’s either the supplier or the shipping firm. I might be able to get that information tonight.” Chase took a generous bite of his sandwich.

  “You’ve done great so far, Chase,” Morgan said.

  Saunders agreed. “That was good stuff on Caldwell and Kent. They’re not walking from anything. What about this Rachel broad? She in on what’s going down?”

  At Morgan’s more raunchy interpretation of the secretary’s role, the small group laughed. Chase munched on his fries as he gave a verbal dossier on Rachel.

  “If you told me she banged the warehouse guys, I’d agree.” Chase laughed. “Oliver Daniels? My father? Incredible.”

  The cell phone on the nightstand rang, interrupting their amusement. Chase excused himself. He sat on the bed’s edge and flipped the top.

  His father sounded in good humor. He had ordered a car, legit and not from Leisure Limo.

  “The Donovan men deserve a guys’ night out,” Dick insisted. “I mean big time. Dinner and gambling in Atlantic City. I’m looking to pick up some skill at the blackjack table before we grab a couple of girls.”

  Chase controlled his wince. Girls? Hookers? He hoped Saunders had some notes in his manual on getting out of that situation. There was no way Chase was cheating on his wife. “Dad, sounds like a night,” he said as if there were no place else he’d rather be. “I have the best luck at The Nile.”

  “That’s where we’ll go. Meet me at the warehouse around six,” Dick suggested.

  Chase ended the call and briefed the two men.

  “I don’t like it,” Morgan said immediately.

  “What don’t you like?” Chase asked. Everything seemed casual enough.

  “All of it,” Morgan replied. “The warehouse. Driving in a car, Leisure or otherwise, to Atlantic City. Why can’t you take the Honda?”

  Chase sipped from his soda can through a straw. A Honda wasn’t Dick Donovan’s style.

  “We got time to get a team in the hotel,” Saunders said.

  “Suppose they don’t go to The Nile,” Morgan said.

  “We’ll follow the car,” Saunders countered.

  “I don’t like it,” Morgan repeated. “How do you feel, Chase?”

  “I didn’t give the invitation much thought until I looked at your gloom and doom expression.” Chase said matter-of-factly. He paused. “My father won’t hurt me if that’s your concern. If anything, I’ll be brow-beaten into giving up Laura.”

  “Chase, I’m not saying it’s your father who would set you up,” Morgan said. “We’ve seen how gullible and loyal he is to these people. You and your father could be walking into a trap where you
’ll both end up on a slab.”

  Saunders considered before agreeing with Morgan. “They believe Laura’s in Sea Tower. Remember what Daniels and Hunter planned for her, Chase. What’s to stop them from killing you and your father? Then going after her. No waiting for the baby to be born.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Morgan and Saunders, in a black van with two other special agents, followed the yellow cab carrying Chase to the warehouse at a safe distance. Daylight savings time had come and gone. Tonight’s sky was in full twinkle with a shadowed half-moon hanging over the area.

  Earlier, Chase had given Saunders duplicated keys to the Food Mall’s front gate, the Donovan warehouse, and Dick’s office. Now putting his own key in the lock, Chase pulled open the gate and stepped inside.

  He wore his jeans, and a blue button-down shirt. His denim jacket protected against the autumn night breeze and kept the transmitter hooked to his belt looking discreet. He also had a companion; his revolver tucked in the back of his pants. Chase had argued against it. But he was entering a dangerous situation and held a permit, Saunders had reminded him. The special agent ordered Chase to carry the weapon.

  He walked up the loading dock stairs, stepping into the faintly lit warehouse. The silence and scarcity of people wasn’t unusual. What was unusual to Chase was the clear sound of his heart pounding wildly. He had ignored the tension all day, but at this moment, his gut screamed loudly, and his day-long unease revolved into full-blown fear.

  The outer office was empty. Rachel flew out the door at five. Laura’s replacement appeared to have acquired that same skill. Laura … the love of Chase’s life. Saunders had arranged a phone call to her before leaving the hotel. Apprehension, due to Morgan’s irksome reservations over tonight’s meeting, had overwhelmed Chase. He had feared that the call might be the last time he heard Laura’s voice. She had been ecstatic to talk with Chase. And how well he knew the woman he loved. When she prattled on about knitting Baby Donovan a blanket, how nice the motel was, Aunt Lonnie was catching up on her reading, and that Special Agent Newrome made the best pancakes, Chase knew her nonstop talking was her way of hiding her own anxieties.