In Your Name, page 6
Moran took a closer look.
‘They don’t look deep enough to kill him.’
‘That’s what I figure but until I do more work I can’t say. But I think whoever did this …’ he pointed to the metal bar, ‘… did so when he was alive.’
Moran was buzzing. As first days go, this beat the shit out of meeting the team.
13
The journey back to Tallahassee was grim. Lucas’s expectations had been dashed to pieces to be replaced with despondency and rage. Days spent chasing down every café and bar to the point of embarrassment had taken its toll.
Several times he lost track of where he had been and visited establishments for a second and third time. He was always greeted politely by staff, who exchanged knowing glances across the coffee tables.
‘Weren’t you here the other day, sir?’ one young man asked him. Lucas stared at him without a shred of recognition. The young man shook his head and smiled. ‘I still don’t know the woman in the photo, sir, and we still don’t stock plain white sugar packets.’ Lucas turned and left without uttering another word.
It was an exhausting and humiliating experience.
Harper was right to leave him to it. Despite the complete failure of his wild goose chase, Lucas had to get it out of his system. He had to explore every possibility and if that meant turning up at cafés and asking the same people the same questions he’d asked two days earlier, then so be it. His legs ached, his head hurt and he was dog-tired. But most of all he was fucking furious.
Then things got a whole lot worse. He arrived home to find his wife, Darlene, gone.
Every woman who marries a cop accepts there will be three in the relationship: her, him and the job. The problem for Darlene was there were four: her, him, the job and Mechanic.
Mechanic was like a mistress she could never hope to compete with. Most men who cheat on their wives tend to keep the other woman under wraps. In Lucas’s case he flaunted her in front of his wife every waking minute of every day. Darlene had recognised the gradual slide into unhealthy obsession – as Lucas’s physical health improved so his mental health took a dive. He thought of nothing else and certainly didn’t think of her.
She stuck with him through his recuperation but was squeezed into playing a bit part in their marriage. It was ironic to think she’d come so close to losing her husband to Mechanic, nursing him back to health only to lose him all over again – to the same damn woman.
Lucas arrived home to a brief note on the dining room table. It said, ‘I’m staying with Heather. Call only in an emergency. If not an emergency, don’t call.’
Lucas considered the breakdown of his marriage constituted just that, so called immediately.
Neither Darlene nor Heather was impressed with his urgency, especially at one thirty in the morning. And despite his protestations to the contrary, his wife did not share Lucas’s assessment that her leaving him was an emergency.
She hung up in tears.
Lucas replaced the receiver and went back to planning what to do next to catch Mechanic.
Lucas swung his car into the parking bay and bumped the front wheels against the kerb. He reached over, grabbed a brown paper bag from the front passenger seat and stepped out into the Florida mid-morning sun. He felt like shit.
Crossing the road, Lucas headed for yet another café. This time he was sure he’d find what he was looking for.
He shoved open the heavy door and the toxic atmosphere clogged the back of his throat. He put his hand up to his mouth and stifled a cough. His eyes took a while to adjust to the smoky gloom. It never ceased to amaze Lucas how many people frequented this place by choice. Their pasty faces turned to look at the stranger standing in the doorway. Harper spotted Lucas and raised his hand.
Lucas picked his way around the jumble of chairs and tables and sat next to him in the half-moon booth.
‘Hey,’ said Harper.
‘Hey yourself.’
‘Did you find anything?’
‘Yes and no.’
‘That sounds intriguing. You look dreadful, where the hell have you been?’
‘All over.’
‘I thought you’d give it one more day at most. You’ve been gone four days.’
‘It looks like you were right. I returned to the bank several times and spoke to different people. The story was the same. No, you can’t have access to our CCTV and no, we don’t recall the transaction.’ Lucas was drumming his fingers on the table.
‘That figures.’
‘I carted around the photograph but not a single person recognised Mechanic. It was as if she was never there.’ Lucas continued to drum.
‘Well we know she was there because she withdrew the money from the account. We even know which bank.’
‘Yes, but that’s a long way from her “being there” isn’t it.’
‘I don’t get you.’ Harper frowned.
‘What I mean is,’ he paused, ‘she could have driven through Baton Rouge on the way to somewhere else, stopped off at the American Gateway Bank, withdrawn the cash and left.’ The drumming on the table grew louder.
Harper nodded his head. ‘Yeah, so what? I suppose she could have breezed through.’
‘Only she didn’t, did she,’ Lucas said with a slight edge to his voice, ‘because I got the letter posted from Baton Rouge containing the sugar packets. She withdrew the cash from the bank eight months ago and I received the letter three weeks ago. So that would suggest she was in town for the best part of seven months, wouldn’t it?’ Lucas’s fingers were drumming hard.
‘Well yes I suppose it—’
Lucas cut him off.
‘But not a single person recognised her photo. Not a single café, bar, supermarket, gas station or corner store has any recollection of seeing her. Seven months and not a single sighting.’
‘What did you expect, man? Baton Rouge is a big place and you were stretching it if you thought you were going to get a hit.’ Harper was getting annoyed with the drumming when it suddenly stopped.
‘That might well be true, but it got me thinking. He reached down and picked up the paper bag. ‘It got me thinking about these …’ He upended the bag and hundreds of sugar packets scattered across the table and onto the floor.
‘Hey, what the …’
‘Take a look at them,’ Lucas said holding up a handful. ‘They all have print on them. Take a look.’
He scooped up a handful and thrust them at Harper, turning them over and over in his hands. They were all covered in writing, some emblazoned with the name of the establishment, some saying brown or white, some with fancy scrolling around the edges.
‘See what I mean?’ said Lucas holding them at eye level. ‘Take a look.’ He thrust them into Harper’s face.
‘Okay, man, I get it!’ he said pushing them away. ‘So they all have writing on. I get it … Jesus Christ.’
‘Yes, they all have writing,’ Lucas said bulldozing the entire tabletop of sugar packets into Harper’s lap.
‘Hey! What is wrong with you, man?’
‘But they don’t all have fucking writing on them, do they?’
Lucas reached across and grabbed the sugar pot from the next table and slammed it down in front of Harper. He grabbed a handful of packets and spread them out. Harper looked down at the cluster of plain white sugar packets. Lucas produced the evidence pouch from his inside pocket and slid it next to them – they matched.
‘I couldn’t get my head around how Mechanic knew my return-to-work date. I invented all sorts of convoluted explanations in my head and made it possible. After all, she had a direct line into your investigation and into mine, so who’s to say she didn’t have another link into the station. But it wasn’t convoluted, it was straightforward. She didn’t know when I was going back to work, cos it was you. You sent the fucking letter, didn’t you? You took the sugar packets from here, sent the letter to some long-lost cousin in Baton Rouge and asked them to mail it to me.’
Lucas was shaking with rage.
Harper raised his head. ‘I drove there,’ he said. ‘I don’t have a cousin in Baton Rouge. I drove there and posted it myself.’
‘You fuck!’ Lucas shouted, banging his hands down and pushing himself away from the table. ‘What the hell made you think that was a good idea? I’ve been trekking around every joint in Baton Rouge asking people if they remember a woman who probably stopped there for thirty minutes to withdraw cash.’
‘You trekked around because you wanted to,’ Harper snapped back. ‘And you wanted to because you got your fight back. You might want revenge now but let’s face it, until you received that letter you were checking out. You were ready to throw in the towel.’
‘What!’
‘After the first Mechanic case, I slid so far down into a black hole I couldn’t crawl back out. I had every bit of fight kicked out of me and had nothing more to give. I was broken and had jack shit to live for. I stopped caring, man. Have you any idea what that feels like? When you don’t care about the job, about your friends, about your family, you don’t even care about yourself. I didn’t care about nothing. I hit the booze hard and my life dissolved into an alcoholic mush. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to you. I didn’t want you to stop caring. You needed something to fight for. So I gave it to you.’
‘You mean you did this …’ Lucas said holding up the sugar packets, ‘for my own good!’
‘Yes, I suppose I did.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
‘I didn’t want you to go the same way. I knew about the cash transaction in Baton Rouge and mailed the letter from there. Simple as that. You did the rest.’
The room was silent.
‘I don’t fucking believe this.’ Lucas kicked the table away and left.
A dozen disappointed faces watched him storm out. After all, it’s not every day you get a front-row seat to watch two guys fighting over sugar.
14
Mechanic escorted her new boss as he created havoc in a host of casinos, though most of the time it felt less like escorting and more like chasing after.
It occurred to her that today must be can’t-make-my-mind-up day. As soon as Harry got himself comfortable and started throwing chips around, he was talking about where to go next.
Mechanic advised Harry not to talk about the carjacking as the police were still investigating the case. He nodded and tapped the side of his nose, then shouted about it to anyone who would listen.
The day was uneventful. A couple of drunks took offence at Harry so Mechanic stepped in and with good humour moved them along. A fifty-dollar chip to say sorry helped them on their way. An older woman, who had dressed herself from the wardrobe of a teenager, thought it was fine to sit next to Harry and siphon chips into her purse. Mechanic pointed her out to hotel security and they took care of the rest. The chips were returned without Harry even noticing they were gone.
He was still loud and he was still brash. But, on the whole, the fact that he’d almost been killed had the effect of making Harry a nicer person, and as such there was less requirement to keep him out of harm’s way. That allowed Mechanic ample time to think about Walker.
Accepting the job with Harry kept her close to him, which was essential if she was going to tidy up the loose ends. But she ran the risk that her real intentions would shine through – he might be dumb but he wasn’t stupid. A casual glance or careless word in the wrong place would tip Walker off. She had to keep it clean and controlled, and convince him she was genuine.
Mechanic had not finalised her thoughts, but sticking with Walker’s kidnap plan was a good option. It would also help to rebuild his confidence after things had gone so badly wrong. Mechanic needed him confident and careless.
The most difficult aspect Mechanic had to manage today was the logistics of Harry’s indecision about which casino to inflict himself on.
Then all of that changed.
Harry got a phone call while in Caesars Palace and he shifted into business mode. He beckoned Mechanic over.
‘I need to get back to the Hacienda – a couple of work issues need fixing,’ he said, sweeping chips into her outstretched arms.
‘Okay, Mr Silverton, let’s get you back to base.’ She nodded towards Walker who went to get the car.
Once back at the hotel, Harry shut himself away in the study and shouted down the phone. Mechanic could hear that all was not well and he was not a happy man.
That left her and Walker sitting in the lounge like a couple suffering the cold blast of silence following a quarrel. Walker edged forward with his elbows on his knees and spoke first.
‘So how is this going to work?’
‘Not sure yet,’ she said shaking her head. ‘How much were you going to take him for?’
‘About two mill.’
‘Wow, nice. Is he good for that much?’
‘And more. He’s got cash in his pockets to cover double that.’
‘Would the negotiations have run smoothly or were you expecting to cut bits off him?’
‘No. With me running that end of the operation it would have been a breeze.’
‘Would the police be involved?’
‘Definitely not. I’ve worked for Silverton for five years and I’m not sure everything he does would stand up to close scrutiny. His people back in Philly are well aware his business interests are a little shady and wouldn’t welcome a police presence.’
‘How was the drop going to go down?’
‘Keep it simple. I leave a bag of money in the trunk of a car in a disused warehouse out towards the Hoover Dam. My men come and take it, drive to the Valley of Fire State Park and switch vehicles. Then lie low.’
‘And you trust these guys?’
‘Yes, or at least I did until you wasted them.’
‘They were second-rate, Walker.’ She was unapologetic. ‘Are there any more of them?’
‘Yeah, there are still a couple of people I know could do the job.’
‘Local?’
‘Both of them.’
‘Are they known to the police?’
‘One’s done time for aggravated burglary, the other is clean. Neither does drugs.’
‘Good. Get them lined up because I want to move fast.’
‘How do you see it going down?’
‘Pretty much along the same lines as your screw-up but this time done properly. A carjacking followed by a ransom demand. Straightforward.’
Walker nodded his approval. He liked the fact she wanted to run with his plan.
‘But with one significant difference.’ She fixed Walker with an icy stare. ‘This time you get kidnapped as well.’
Walker shook his head in protest. ‘No, that’s not—’
‘If I’m going to hold your hand through this I need some added security. What’s to stop you and your boys cutting me out the loop when you get the cash? If we stick with your original plan you would be in Philly conducting the negotiations and your stooges would have two mill in a bag. Then with a puff of smoke, you’re all gone.’ Walker made a non-committal sound which sounded like ‘no we wouldn’t’ or ‘of course we would’.
Mechanic continued, ‘It’s my plan or nothing. I know how to do this and your execution is piss poor. I can pull this off, you can’t. When we’re done you will be a damn sight richer and a hero into the bargain. But I need you where I can see you. When the hit goes down, it will be you and Silverton taken hostage. That way I know where you are.’
‘But who would conduct the negotiations?’
‘Come on, Walker, think it through. I saved his life, remember – he thinks I dance on water. During the initial round of contact, you issue the instruction to the estates team to hand that responsibility over to me. That way I’m in control of the money and in control of you.’
‘But I could take a walk at any time.’ Walker shook his head. ‘You forget that my guys are calling the shots at the holding pen.’
‘No, I’ve not forgotten. That’s why I will have a little piece of added insurance of my own. One of my boys will be watching you. He’s a real pro, I’ve seen him take out bad guys from a mile away. They never saw him and neither will you. He’ll have eyes on you through the whole operation. One false move and you all die. Oh, and I will be the one to make the drop.’
‘Hell no. What stops you taking the cash and doing a runner with your invisible man?’
‘Nothing I suppose. But why would I put myself in that position? I’ve already saved Silverton from one attack so why would I expose myself like that? All I have to do is stay put and take my cut of the money. Think it through, Walker, think it through.’
‘I don’t like this.’ Walker was not prepared for the twist in the plan.
‘And the best thing about this plan is …’ Mechanic leaned forward, her voice hard and uncompromising, ‘you don’t have to like it. You get kidnapped along with our boss and two weeks later you’re one and half mill better off.’
‘One and a half, how do you figure that?’
‘The other advantage of you being in the mix is the ransom goes up. You’re a loyal employee and Silverton would want to secure your safe return as well as his own. So it’s three mill split fifty–fifty. And before you say anything, my math is fine. You get one and a half to share with your goons and I get one and a half. And yes, I get the bigger share.’
Walker thought for a while. ‘Okay. I’m in.’ He extended an open hand towards Mechanic.
She looked at it and shook her head.
‘This is not a second-hand car deal.’
‘Have it your way.’ He withdrew his hand. ‘The only thing left is, where and when?’
‘It needs to be soon. But as for where—’ she stopped as Harry burst in waving a sheaf of papers.
‘Listen up. The Vegas idiots are making a complete fuck up of this, so we’ll be sticking around. Get your bunks sorted out, we’re gonna be staying till it’s fixed.’ He turned and marched the wad of papers back into the study and slammed the door.
