“It’s a difficult time for everyone,” Rachel said and looked with interest at the man who came to stand at Roberta’s side.
“I must ask you to forgive my manners once again.” Roberta tucked her hand in the arm of the tall, good-looking man and drew him close. “This is Wingate Michaels. My lawyer and a dear friend. I felt the need for support during this trying time and asked that he visit. Greyson,” she said smoothly, “I believe you and Winn know each other.”
Grey gave a short nod but didn’t offer his hand. “Michaels.”
“Nighthorse. I’m sorry to hear about the child.”
Rachel sensed the tension between the two men and wondered at its cause. No love lost there.
She did a quick study of the man. From his salon-styled hair to his Italian-made suit, Ferragamo shoes and platinum Rolex, he exuded upper crust. None of that mattered to her, but she recognized it as important to others. For her, class was measured in integrity and honor.
Roberta gestured to a delicate-looking settee. “Please, sit down. Tell me what you’ve found.”
Grey nodded to Rachel. She perched on the damask-covered settee. It seemed designed to render people as uncomfortable as possible while, at the same time, reminding them of the gracious surroundings.
She didn’t know how to dress up the news and so said it straight-out. “We discovered Jenae Natter dead in her apartment.”
Roberta clutched her hands in her lap, twisting a lace-edged handkerchief. “That poor girl. How did she die?”
“Two shots to the forehead.”
“You think she was involved in the kidnapping.” Grey’s ex-mother-in-law left the handkerchief in her lap and reached for Michaels’s hand.
“We think it’s likely,” Rachel said. “We have a lead on a man who was thought to be dating her. Could be that he’s involved in the abduction.”
“Do you have a name?” Michaels asked, leaning in. “A description?”
“No name,” Grey put in. “And only a general description.”
“Not much to go on,” the other man said, voice subtly derisive. “What else do you have?”
Rachel didn’t answer immediately. How much did Grey want to tell these people?
Grey answered for her. “A man who was in ranger training with me and lives in Atlanta now made it pretty plain that he has it in for me. Whether or not he took Lily—” his lips pressed into a hard line “—I don’t know. But we’re looking into him.”
Roberta once more folded her hands in her lap. “You’ve been busy. I’ve been busy, as well. I’ve offered half a million dollars as a reward for information leading to the child’s safe return.” She waited expectantly as though applause would surely follow her announcement. When neither Rachel nor Grey responded, Roberta frowned. “I think a simple thank-you would be in order.”
Rachel swallowed a gulp of air. “You’re kidding, right? About putting out a reward for Lily’s return. Do you know what you’ve done?” That kind of money would attract hundreds—maybe even thousands—of calls in attempts to cash in. In addition, it could promote demands for more money.
There was a lengthy pause. If silence could hiss, it would sound like the tension that stretched between Rachel and Roberta.
Roberta finally broke it, her eyebrows lifting far enough to practically disappear into her rigidly tight hairline. “I beg your pardon.”
“The reward. You must know what it will do.”
“Elicit information, I hope.” Roberta’s voice was now dipped in ice, a brittle crackle that Rachel imagined must sound a great deal like a glacier breaking apart.
“We’ll have every lowlife in the South calling in with false leads, trying to get their hands on that money. You might as well have asked to be fleeced, not to mention wasting our time while we try to track down any so-called leads.”
“I don’t believe you. A reward will draw out someone who knows something. If we get word of it to the criminal element in the city, I feel certain it will bring results. For your information, young woman, I am not accustomed to being spoken to in such a manner.” Roberta stood. “This interview is over.”
Rachel stood, as well. Frustration scratched the back of her throat, making it difficult, if not impossible, to breathe, much less speak civilly. “Mrs. Gyllenskaag, I’m sorry if I offended you, but you must see that this is a bad idea. Please call it off. Retract the reward. Leave it to us. For Lily’s sake.”
“It is for the child’s sake that I’m doing this.” The woman turned her attention to Grey. “Perhaps it would be for the best if I hired another firm to look into this matter.” She directed a disparaging glance at Rachel. “A firm whose operatives have more experience. Not to mention more courtesy.”
Grey got to his feet and put his hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “This matter, as you put it, is my daughter’s life. S&J is the best there is. You may have just signed Lily’s death warrant with your grandstanding.” Anger leaked from his voice like the most corrosive acid.
A gasp. “I’m sure you can show yourselves out.”
Rachel and Grey did just that.
FIVE
Neither Grey nor Rachel spoke until they were in the truck and once more on their way. “You really know how to make an impression,” he said.
The hunt for Lily was going nowhere. Roberta had done the unthinkable and put out a reward for information, one that was probably going to backfire in their faces. But for the first time in over forty-eight hours, Grey felt the faintest of smiles slip onto his face. Seeing someone stand up to Roberta Gyllenskaag was a novelty, one not to be missed.
The woman ran roughshod over everyone unfortunate enough to come into contact with her. Maggie was a prime example. Roberta had browbeat her daughter into submission over and over until Maggie had been afraid to even think for herself.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Rachel said, “but I couldn’t help myself. Putting out that kind of reward was more than stupid. It could get...”
She stopped short, but Grey knew what she’d been about to say.
“Go ahead. Say it. We both know what a reward like that could do.”
But Rachel didn’t state the obvious, that it could get Lily killed. “Your mother-in-law is a piece of work.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Has she always been that way?”
“According to Maggie, her father died just to get some peace.”
“I should apologize to her.”
“Don’t ruin it,” Grey said. “No one’s ever stood up to Roberta before.”
“Maybe it’s time someone did.”
Grey reminded himself that Roberta had offered to keep Lily while he finished his deployment. She didn’t understand what the reward could do, and he surprised himself with a desire to defend her. “She means well.” The words sounded lame even to his own ears. “She helped me out of a tough situation by volunteering to take care of Lily while I was overseas.”
“What’s the story with you and Michaels? You obviously don’t like him, and the feeling’s returned.”
Grey’s lips twisted in a wry smile. “Picked up on that, did you?”
“It would be hard not to.”
“Michaels and Maggie were engaged at one point. She’d already broken it off before she and I met, but he blamed me for her ending the engagement. According to her, Michaels never got over it.”
Rachel made a humming sound. “Interesting.”
“We’re civil enough, but that’s as far as it goes.”
“Michaels appeared pretty chummy with Roberta.”
“Roberta was furious when Maggie broke her engagement to Michaels. Maggie said that her mother threatened to cut her off completely if she married me. Roberta came around. Eventually.”
“What’s he to Roberta?” Rachel asked. “Why did she feel the need to call h
er lawyer?”
“Roberta and Michaels have remained close, despite the difference in age. He serves as her escort to social functions when she doesn’t want to go alone.”
“The plot moistens.” She said it lightly, but Grey didn’t smile.
“Michaels wouldn’t kidnap Lily. For one thing, he has his own money. Family money. And a very lucrative law practice. Even if he wanted to hurt me that way, he wouldn’t get his hands dirty. Not with kidnapping.”
“There’s been no ransom demand,” she reminded him, “so money may not be the goal. Or the only goal.” She switched subjects. “I want to check out those wannabe soldiers Kelvin is playing with. See what they have to say about him. If nothing else, they might give us some insight into him.”
“Or alert him that we’re investigating him.”
“What if we talked with just one or two of them? Get their take on him?”
“How do you suggest we do that?”
“I’ve got a list of names and places of employment for some of the men. Most of these guys have real jobs during the week. They just play war on weekends.”
“You have been busy.”
“I try.” She entered an address into her phone, then gave Grey directions. “One man, an orthodontist, works not far from here. Let’s see what we can find out about Kelvin from him.” She thought about calling, then decided she wanted to catch him unawares. If he were a friend of Kelvin’s, he might contact their suspect.
An uneasy feeling of being followed caused her to check the side-view mirror. She couldn’t detect a vehicle following them, so she chalked it up to her anxiety over finding Lily.
A receptionist greeted them. “Ordinarily, Dr. Wixell doesn’t accept drop-ins, but you caught him at a good time. He’s between patients at the moment.”
She disappeared into a back office and returned shortly, a small, bookish-looking man walking slightly behind her. He didn’t look like the type to be playing war in the woods with a bunch of wannabe soldiers. It took all kinds.
Rachel held out her credentials. “Dr. Wixell, we’re not here for your professional services, but we do need a moment of your time. Is there someplace we can talk privately?”
After shooting her and Grey a quizzical look, he led them down a short corridor to a plainly furnished office. “Now, how can I help you?”
“I’m Rachel Martin of S&J Security/Protection, and this is Grey Nighthorse, ranger in the United States Army.” She let that stand for a moment. After she figured Wixell had enough time to digest that information, she said, “We understand that you belong to a group of men who conduct quasi-military maneuvers every week.”
Confusion clouded the doctor’s gaze. “That’s right. There’s nothing dangerous about it. We use blanks. Each week we choose teams and try to take the other team out. Losing team has to buy pizza and soda for the winning one.” Color climbed up his neck to fill his cheeks. “I suppose it’s not the best use of our time, but it’s harmless enough. One of our members is a lawyer. He made certain that we weren’t breaking any laws.” His voice grew urgent, and Rachel guessed that he was concerned about any legal repercussions the group might incur.
“We’re looking into one of the men in your group,” she said, seeing no point in beating about the bush. “Victor Kelvin.”
His urgent tone turned to guarded. “Why?”
“He’s a person of interest in a case we’re investigating. You don’t have to talk with us, but we’d appreciate it if you did. It could help more than you know.”
Guarded moved into suspicion. “What kind of case?”
“I’m afraid we can’t give out that information.” Rachel didn’t apologize or explain, and once again gave him time to absorb the words. She figured the doctor as a man who prided himself on doing the right thing.
Wixell drew air through his nose, expelled it slowly. “You seem like okay folks,” he said after a long pause, “so I’ll give it to you straight. Kelvin is a jerk. Always holding it over the rest of us that he was actually in the army and acting like that automatically puts him in charge. Most of us go along with him just to keep the peace.”
“He was in the army,” Grey said, speaking for the first time, “but he was dishonorably discharged and stripped of his rank. Plus, he served six months in the brig. He was fortunate not to have been sent to Leavenworth.”
Disbelief passed over Wixell’s face, and then he laughed. “Oh, that’s rich. Him bragging about his army career, going on and on so that you just want to shut him up, and you tell me he was kicked out.” Another laugh. “Wait till I tell the guys about that.” The laughter died. “Or maybe I won’t. I’m not ashamed to admit that I don’t want to get on his wrong side. He’s got a mean streak, and he doesn’t try to hide it.”
“What else can you tell us about him?” Rachel asked.
“Aside from the fact that he’s a first-class jerk and always complaining that he got handed a raw deal by life?”
“Yeah,” she said, lips quirking, “aside from that.”
“Knows his way around weapons. I’ll give him that. Thinks it gives him the right to boss everyone else around. He struts through the camp, issuing orders and expecting them to be obeyed. Or else. He calls himself General and wants the rest of us to address him by that. He’s got a temper to go along with that mean streak. He’s smart enough, I suppose. Street-smart, I guess you’d call it.” The doctor gave a self-deprecating shrug. “Me, not so much. Maybe that’s why I wanted to play soldier—to give myself some street cred.” Another shrug. “Whatever that is.”
“Can you give us an example of Kelvin’s temper?” Grey asked.
“One of the guys accidentally got in Kelvin’s way during maneuvers one weekend and cost his team the victory.” The doctor made a tsk-ing sound. “Kelvin ripped into him, raked him over the coals something awful. He held on to it like a dog with a bone. He chewed on it, worried on it, made the other man’s life miserable, until he quit the group. Word is that he moved out of state. I don’t know for certain, but I always wondered if Kelvin had something to do with that, threatened him somehow. Or his family.
“I can tell you, the whole thing made me think twice about going back. My wife has been trying for months to get me to quit. Says it doesn’t look good for an orthodontist to be out mixing it up with some pretend soldiers. I think I’m going to listen to her this time.”
“Thank you, Dr. Wixell,” Rachel said. “You’ve been a big help.”
“No problem.”
Rachel turned to leave, then turned back and held up a hand. “One more thing. Does Kelvin have any pals, men he hangs around with even when your group isn’t...uh...on maneuvers?”
Wixell thought about it. “There are a couple of guys. They look like ex-army, too.” He pulled out a pad of paper, wrote something down, then tore off the page and handed it to her. “If you talk with anyone else, please don’t use my name. Like I said, I don’t want to get on Kelvin’s bad side. Or his pals’.”
“Your name will never come up, I promise. And, Doctor?”
“Hmm?”
“Your wife’s right. You’re better off out of that group.”
Once they were back in the truck, Rachel turned to Grey. “Kelvin just jumped to the top of my dance card.”
“Yours and mine both,” Grey said. “He was always a bully. Looks like he found the perfect place to push others around and get called General while doing it.”
Rachel didn’t need to look for another reason to dislike Grey’s former army buddy, but she’d sure found one. It didn’t take much imagination to picture Kelvin threatening anyone who got in his way, especially a mild-mannered man like Dr. Wixell.
She pulled out her tablet, did some quick research.
Both names Wixell had given them came up as former army. Not a surprise. Nor was it a surprise when she found rap sheets on each
man. Charges ranged from petty theft to brawling. Somehow, they’d managed to skate on most of the charges, but a few had stuck. The violence seemed to have escalated with every charge, including the last—robbery and assault. They’d served their time and were now out.
“I want to meet Kelvin’s friends. If he was behind taking Lily, they may be in on it, too. We’ll play it cool, see what they can tell us.”
She wondered if cool was in Grey’s vocabulary when it came to Kelvin. They couldn’t tie the man with the kidnapping, but she didn’t doubt that he was behind the failed brakes and possibly last night’s explosion, as well. They just couldn’t prove it.
Yet.
She let the pieces turn over in her mind, looking for a way to make them fit. It was a jigsaw puzzle with some of the key pieces missing, the pieces that would make everything else make sense.
A movement in the rearview mirror caught her attention. She’d been right. Someone had been following them. “Looks like we picked up a tail,” she said with a nod at the mirror where a brawny-looking Humvee was closing the distance between them.
Grey didn’t turn his head. He was too well trained for that. He gave the mirror a glance. “What do you want to do?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I want to turn the tables on them and do some following of our own.”
* * *
Grey saw the Humvee closing in on them. Slightly behind it was a burly motorcycle. “Let’s do it.” After checking to make certain the traffic was clear on both sides of the highway, he executed a hard U-turn, whipped the truck to the other lane, and circled around behind the vehicle.
The driver sped up, and Grey did the same. He judged his spot and made his move, forcing the Humvee off the road and into a guardrail. The front end of the vehicle was smashed, but the occupants didn’t appear to be hurt.
He and Rachel exited the truck.
The next moment the motorcycle showed up. Victor Kelvin pulled a helmet from his head and walked toward Rachel and Grey. He carried an Ithaca Mag-10 with casual ease. It was a powerhouse of a weapon.
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