Mind Games

by Polly Iyer

  The phone rang. Diana heard Lucier’s voice. “Don’t come, Ernie. Macon has my mother and says he’ll kill her if the cops get involved.”

  “Don’t be stupid. He’ll kill you the first chance he gets. Don’t you see he’s desperate and coming unglued? He can’t let someone live who can get into his head and destroy him.”

  “I have to do things my way. The minute he thinks I’ve brought the police in on this my mother’s as good as dead. Please, I still think I can beat him.”

  “Maybe with your mind, Diana, but he’s not interested in that. He knows you can beat him. All he wants now is for you to be dead, and he won’t play games on the way to accomplishing that. Let me help. He’ll never know I’m involved.”

  “But you see he will, and I can’t take that chance. Don’t interfere.” She hung up.

  “I can’t let you do this, baby. I don’t want him to have you or your mother.” Galen burst into tears. “What did I do? Oh, God, what did I do?”

  “Get a grip, Galen. Tell me what he wants from me.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  A Deal with the Devil

  “She’s a whiny bitch. If she doesn’t shut up, I’m gonna whack her.”

  Blanche Racine huddled blindfolded in the corner of the room, alternating between sniffling and sobbing.

  “Easy, Harley. She’s a scared old woman. She hasn’t had this much excitement since her wedding night. I’ll calm her down. Kill her and you’ll never get her daughter. What time are you supposed to call?”

  Macon looked at his watch. “Right about now. Gimme your cell phone.”

  “I can’t see that little runt letting his daughter walk into a trap. What father would do that?” Alice squinted in thought. “Well, maybe mine would’ve, but that’s another story.”

  “He thinks I only want to talk to her.”

  “Come on, Harley, you know he didn’t believe that shit, don’t you? The man might be a shameless con artist, but he ain’t stupid. He’s between a rock and a hard place. You either kill his wife or his daughter. Ain’t much of a choice.”

  At that, Blanche started bawling.

  “Shut up, old lady,” Macon screamed. “You too, Alice. He’ll do what I say. Now, go settle that old hag in the other room before I lose my temper altogether.”

  Between the headaches and the old lady, Macon’s patience had almost run out. He punched in the hospital number and extension Diana’s father and given him and waited. Four rings later, she answered. “Diana, good to hear from you,” he said without preamble, his silky voice oozing charm.

  “It’s Racine,” Galen said.

  “What do I want to talk to you for? Put your daughter on the line.” He waited. And waited.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “We have to meet one more time.”

  “Let my mother go, otherwise, no deal.”

  “You’re not in a position to bargain. We meet, then I let your mother go.”

  “Not acceptable.” Click.

  Huh? “She hung up on me. The bitch hung up on me. I don’t fucking believe it. Alice,”―Diana Racine had him screaming like a banshee―“bring the old lady here. Now.”

  * * * * *

  Galen paced the floor of the hospital room, flapping his arms in panic. “What did you do, Diana? He’ll kill her. How could you do that?”

  When Diana made the call and Macon addressed her by name, she handed the phone to Galen. She couldn’t let her mother’s kidnapper get the upper hand right away. “Don’t worry, Galen. He knows where I am. He’ll call back. Wait and see.”

  They waited. Five minutes. Ten. Had she read him wrong? She didn’t think so.

  “I told you. He’s killed her. What did I tell you?”

  “Be quiet, Galen.” The phone rang. “Now, listen to me and do what I say. No questions. Understand?”

  Galen looked at the phone, then pleaded to Diana. “Answer the phone, please. It’s rung three times.”

  “Let it ring a few more times.”

  Galen wiped the sweat off his face with the sleeve of his shirt. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.”

  “Now pick up the receiver and answer, Galen.”

  “He wants to speak to you.”

  “Just do it!”

  He answered and handed the phone to Diana. “For you.”

  “Diana, don’t come. He’ll kill you. Let him take me instead, please, honey. I’m old, I’m—” Diana heard her mother gasp as the phone had been snatched from her hand. Macon laughed.

  “Well, do you believe that? The old lady has guts after all. And here she was whining and crying like a newborn.”

  “You won’t hurt her, Macon. It’s me you want.”

  “Pretty confident about that, aren’t you? She’s okay right now but for how long depends on you. Don’t hang up on me again. If you do, I swear the next time you see your sweet old mama, you’ll be looking inside a coffin.”

  “I told you, there’s nothing to talk about until you let her go. Trust me, Harley. If I say I’ll talk to you, I will. I’ll meet with you, but not as long as you have my mother. I want her dropped off at this hospital now. I promise the police won’t know a thing.”

  “You think I believe you? We talk first, then I let her go.”

  Click.

  “You hung up on him again?” Galen ranted. “You’re signing her death warrant.” He fell into the chair next to the bed and cradled his head in his hands.

  Diana’s heart pounded. He’ll call back. Mad, but he’ll call. She couldn’t let him win. If he did, both she and Blanche would die.

  Fifteen minutes dragged by. Just when she started to lose hope, the phone rang.

  “You win,” he said.

  * * * * *

  “Jason, this is Diana.”

  “Diana, I’ve been worried to death about you. I called, but they wouldn’t put me through. Finally, I got hold of your father. Did he tell you?”

  “Must have slipped his mind. Listen, Jason, I need you to do something for me. It may be the most important job you’ll ever have. Lives depend on what you find out.”

  “You’re scaring me. What is it?”

  “I want you to find out everything you can about Harley Macon. I don’t care how you do it or what it costs.”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “I don’t know. Whatever you can find. Dig deep.”

  “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

  The phone rang when she hung up from Jason. She knew the call was from Lucier, and she really didn’t want to answer. So she didn’t. He’d try to talk her out of going because Macon couldn’t let someone live who could get into his head and destroy him. He’d be right. But she still thought she could beat him. She had to try.

  * * * * *

  A cold spike of fear stabbed Lucier when Diana didn’t answer the phone. He knew what she’d do if he didn’t stop her. He sped to the hospital, but Mrs. Kirk’s boarding house was a thirty-minute drive. His worst fears were realized when he saw Diana’s bed empty and her parents sitting in the room. Blanche, dabbing a wadded up tissue at her eyes, met Lucier’s shocked expression with one of apology.

  “Where is she?” Lucier demanded.

  “Gone, Lieutenant,” Galen said. “I couldn’t stop her.”

  Diana’s mother burst into tears. “She went to meet that maniac.”

  “Jesus. Of all the stupid, foolhardy gambits.” Lucier raked his fingers through his hair. “And you let her go? What the hell’s wrong with you people?”

  “Diana called the shots,” Galen said. “She told Macon she wouldn’t meet with him unless he let my wife go first. She promised to keep her word and he gave in. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Ten minutes,” Mrs. Racine answered.

  “Where’s she meeting him?”

  “She wouldn’t tell us. She said to tell you not to be mad.”

  Lucier, mumbling obscenities under his breath, flipped his phone
open and called Beecher. He juggled his interrogation between asking the Racines about Macon’s car and their own, reciting the Georgia plate numbers.

  “Macon’s car is an old Camry, but that’s all they know.” When he disconnected, he stared at Racine. He wanted to put the old man in jail, if not for Diana’s protection, for his own, because Lucier wanted to throttle him.

  “Why didn’t you chain her to the bed, Mr. Racine, inject her with a sedative. Something.”

  Galen turned his basset hound eyes away. “What was I supposed to do, Lieutenant? How do I make a choice? He had my wife.”

  “And now he has your daughter.”

  “He told Diana that if she didn’t come, he’d kill Blanche, then me, and then you. After that, he’d kill her anyway.”

  “What about you, Mrs. Racine? Why didn’t you try to stop her?”

  “I did, Lieutenant. I told her to leave me there. Not to come. But Diana is as hard-headed as Galen.” She caught a sob in her throat. “No one pays any attention to me. I’ve never had any say in this family.”

  “That’s not true, sweetheart,” Galen said. “I always listen to you,”

  She shrugged off his hand. “No, Galen, you don’t. You’re a gambler, and now you’re gambling with my daughter’s life. I’ll never forgive you if anything happens to her.”

  Galen swiped the back of his hand under his nose and sniffed. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

  Lucier realized the argument was pointless. What was done was done. He’d concentrate on extracting whatever information he could. “Mrs. Racine. Were you there when Macon made the arrangements with Diana?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t hear anything. When he finally talked to her, the woman, Alice, that’s her name, Alice, she locked me in another room.”

  “Do you have any idea where you were?”

  “No, but it was about twenty minutes from here. They blindfolded me on the drive and kept me that way the whole time. I was so scared I couldn’t think.” She fell into her husband’s arms and burst into tears.

  Lucier paced the floor, until he stopped short. He’d called the hospital before, then tried her cell. She didn’t answer either. Maybe she would now. He’d try again. Nothing to lose. This time she answered. “Diana, where are you?”

  “Don’t try to talk me out of this, Ernie. I gave my word. If I didn’t, he said he’d kill all of you before he killed me.”

  “If you tell me where this meeting is taking place, you’d never have to worry about that because we’d get him.”

  “No offense, Ernie, but the whole country is looking for him, and no one’s found him yet.”

  Lucier couldn’t argue. No one knew that fact better than he. “This time we will.”

  “Along with how many innocent bystanders?”

  “Do you think he’d keep his word if the situation were reversed? He’ll do or say anything to get at you. Come back here. Please. You’re weak, wobbly on your feet, and one eye is half shut. Tell me where you are. I’ll come.”

  “This is the only way. He’ll know if someone’s tailing me, maybe read my mind for all I know. I controlled the meeting. I chose the place. That gives me an edge.”

  “There is no edge. He has to kill you to be free, and you know it. You’re on a damn suicide mission.”

  “Sorry, Ernie. If he kills me, you can say I told you so. And don’t try tracking the cell phone. I’m taking out the battery.” She broke the connection.

  “Damn.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Promises, Promises

  Diana insisted on meeting Macon in a public park adjacent to a small neighborhood playground, usually populated by parents watching their children at play. She remembered this park from an earlier visit to New Orleans and the feeling of missing out on that part of her childhood. Even now, the scene recalled that longing to be a normal kid, doing normal things. But as her father always reminded her, she wasn’t normal. The memory almost made her forget why she was there, until she saw the two cops patrolling the area. She remembered that too, and hoped things hadn’t changed, which was why she’d chosen this spot.

  The setting sun over her shoulder cast a bright copper hue over the scene. She strolled while every bass-drum beat of her heart signaled the foolishness of putting herself in a vulnerable position. No one paid attention to the woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat over large sunglasses, limping toward a waiting couple. Makeup hastily applied made a sorry attempt at covering her bruised face. Her stubborn insistence at going alone, without backup, might very well end her life, but she knew any alternative would place others in jeopardy. Besides, Macon would have detected a setup, if not visually, maybe through a psychic warning she released. And if he got away, he would take out his revenge on those she loved. Maybe not today but some day.

  She approached, keeping far enough away to give her time to alert the unsuspecting officers should Macon lunge for her or draw a gun.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” he said.

  He wore a cap with the brim down, covering most of his handsome face, but she could see the signs of strain, the deep circles cupping his eyes, the hard lines carved around his mouth.

  “I stand behind my word. I hope you do the same.”

  “Didn’t I? I kept my promise about the girl, and I let your mother go.”

  “Would you have let the girl die if I hadn’t found her?”

  Macon hesitated. He looked off behind her. At first, Diana thought someone might be there, but his fixed eyes contemplated nothing more than his answer. Reconnecting, he confirmed what she had known.

  “Probably,” he said.

  Diana ignored his female companion, except for a brief glance on her walk over. Alice Mayburn’s face showed no expression other than the wary eyes of a woman examining a rival. She also wore a hat, hair tucked under. Diana’s fleeting impression was what her father would call a tough cookie.

  Macon made no introductions. Diana reminded herself that she was a performer, an actress, and confronting Macon would be more a test of who put on the better show. There could be no chance for a split decision. She had to win.

  “I don’t understand you, Harley. You might have gotten away by now. Why? Why did you have to see me? As soon as I get back, cops will be all over the area, on every route out of town. They’ll know what you’re driving and what you’re wearing. They already know who you’re with.” She hesitated, cast a fleeting glimpse at Alice. “Unless, of course, you don’t expect me to walk away.”

  Macon’s expression gave him away.

  “Are you going to kill me in front of all these people?” She tilted her head toward the playground. “Why, two cops are standing right over there, watching the children. They don’t know who we are, but all I have to do is scream.” Diana motioned toward Alice without looking directly at her. “You might get me, but the two of you will never get away. Are you willing to take the chance?”

  Macon looked across the park. Diana imagined he was weighing his chances, chastising himself for letting her control the meeting.

  “I want to make a deal.” His weak smile belied the desired appearance of confidence. “You see, I’m not quite ready to go to that great serial killer heaven in the sky.”

  “Don’t you have your directions mixed up?”

  He snorted. “Whatever. North, South, what’s the difference? I’ll be dead anyway.”

  “What are you ready for? What’s your deal?”

  He stepped toward her. She stepped back, keeping her distance and glancing across the park to the two police officers on watch.

  “The police can’t guard you and your family forever. Stay out of my head and I won’t kill them. Or you,” he added as an afterthought.

  Diana detected an underlying tone of desperation. She searched his face. The same face that stared her in the eyes as he violated her. Over and over. The same face that beat her until she fought for breath. “Sure, Harley, I’ll stay out of your head if you promise not to hurt my pare
nts. You have my word.”

  “And I can trust you?”

  “I came here, didn’t I? No cops, no weapons. Just my word. After all, that’s all one has that’s worth anything.”

  “I’m going to believe you because if I kill you now, I’m a dead man before I can get to my car. And like I said, I’m not ready.”

  “Then we have a deal. I’m going now.”

  “Walk to your car, get in, and leave. Don’t look back. By the time you get back to wherever you’re going, we’ll be long gone.”

  “You walk first. I won’t turn my back on you this close.”

  “Don’t you trust me?”

  Diana stared without moving. “Walk.”

  “What if you call to the cops?”

  “I won’t.”

  He backed away, his arm across Alice’s chest, gesturing her to do the same.

  “Goodbye, Harley. I’d wish you luck, but I don’t. And stay away from my family.” Diana waited until he was far enough away, then backed up and turned toward her car. She knew he had come with the intention of killing her. But he hadn’t counted on the location, the cops across the street, and Diana’s brazenness. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw Macon and Alice walk out of sight. She could have called out to the cops patrolling the park—the thought crossed her mind—but she didn’t. People would surely die, and she had no room left on her conscience.

  * * * * *

  Diana opened the door to her hospital room to the icy glare of Lucier, arms crossed over his chest. Galen and Blanche, both red-eyed, jumped up and rushed to embrace her. Lucier didn’t move, but his face softened with relief. She extricated herself from her parents, threw off her hat and sunglasses and shuffled toward the bed. She eased down, raised her legs, and fell back onto the pillow.

  Lucier got up and stood by her side. “You are a foolish woman. Are you all right?”

  “I’m sorry, Ernie. I know I took an awful chance, but he wouldn’t let Blanche go otherwise. I figured I’d be safe in a public place or I wouldn’t have gone.”

  “And he just let you walk? What did you have to promise for that?”