Sidney Sheldon - Chasing Tomorrow

“Damn it!” he said aloud, earning himself more than one bemused glance from nearby shoppers. Just as he was about to make a belated run for the doors, one of the two men appeared in front of the window, literally inches from where Jean was standing. Instinctively, Jean shrank back. The man had his coat on now. He was short with dark hair, but he still had his back turned. Turn around, damn you. At one point he leaned back so that his woolen coat actually touched the glass. Then he edged forward, apparently waving to someone across the street. Jean couldn’t see who it was. Seconds later the man’s hand shot out. A yellow cab pulled up.

“No!” Jean was running like a madman, falling over himself as he careered toward the store exit.

“Watch it, asshole!”

Outside, the crisp December air hit him in the face like a punch. Christmas shoppers swarmed the sidewalks like ants. Along both sides of Madison Avenue, a line of yellow taxis stretched for block after block, like bricks on the road to Oz. Jean’s heart sank. One man had gone. Jean doubted he would have recognized the other, even if he saw him. He was about to head back to Elizabeth’s hotel, more in hope than expectation that the three might regroup there, when suddenly he saw her. She was on foot, headed toward the subway.

Jean Rizzo followed. Neither of the males was anywhere to be seen, but he was determined not to lose Elizabeth again. He followed her down into the tunnels and onto a train that was heading uptown. Keeping Elizabeth in sight, and staying close enough to the doors that he could follow her out at a second’s notice, Jean scrolled through the pictures on his phone. The tech guys at Interpol could work wonders with images, but even Jean knew that these looked unpromising. Two distant figures in a sea of people. Damn it. How did I screw this up?

Elizabeth got off the train at Central Park West. She seemed in no hurry, back in tourist mode. Jean followed her through the park at a discreet distance. It was four o’clock. Light was fading and the earlier crowds had begun to thin. Snow began to fall again. Thick heavy flakes like goose down stuck to Jean’s hair and coat. Where is she going?

Suddenly Elizabeth stopped. She looked around her briefly, perhaps to ascertain if she was being followed, then sat down on a bench, clearing off the newly fallen snow with a sweep of her arm. Jean kept walking. Once he reached the top of the hill, he slipped behind a small clump of trees. It was a perfect vantage point, close and completely hidden. Jean pulled out his phone and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long. A tall gentleman in a cowboy hat began walking purposefully toward the bench. There was no hint of subterfuge, no attempt at discretion. As the man drew near, Elizabeth stood up and smiled broadly, holding out her arms. Then the man took off his hat and gave Jean a clear view of his face. It was the first time Jean Rizzo had seen those handsome features in the flesh but he would have known them anywhere.

Well, I’ll be damned.

He lifted his phone and began taking pictures. Click, click, click.

TRACY WAS AT THE top of a ladder, fixing a dog-eared Christmas angel to the top of the tree when the phone rang.

“Would you get that, honey?” she called down to Nicholas.

They’d spent a lovely afternoon decorating the house together, with Blake Carter helping to put up the enormous Norwegian pine. Tracy loved Christmas. This house had been made for it, with its high ceilings, roaring open fires and log-cabin charm. Blake rolled his eyes every year at Tracy’s over-the-top decor, including tacky carol-singing dogs from CVS and a life-size plastic Santa with flashing boots and hat who said “Ho! Ho! Ho!” whenever you rubbed his belly. “It looks like an elf threw up in your living room.” But Tracy suspected Blake secretly loved the display as much as she did. Especially when he saw the delight in Nicholas’s eyes.

“Oh, hi, Jean.” Nicholas’s cheerful voice sent chills through Tracy’s body. “How are you? Did you want to talk to Mama?”

Tracy descended the ladder, a fixed smile on her face. Nicholas handed her the phone. “It’s your friend Jean,” he said, heading back to the tree and the big cardboard box of decorations.

Tracy walked into the kitchen, out of earshot.

“I thought we agreed. No calls to the landline,” she hissed. “Not until after he’s asleep.”

“This couldn’t wait. I just saw Jeff Stevens in Central Park.”

Tracy’s stomach lurched.

“He was meeting Elizabeth Kennedy. They looked close, Tracy.”

The elevator hit the ground. Tracy felt her knees start to give way. She leaned against the table for support.

“I sent you pictures. Check your phone. They talked for about half an hour and then went back to his hotel together. Elizabeth’s planning a hit on Bianca Berkeley. It looks like Jeff’s involved. Can you open the pictures?”

Silence.

“Tracy? Are you there?”

“Yes.” Tracy’s voice came out high-pitched and strangled. “I’m here. Go on.”

Jean filled her in on the events of this afternoon. The two men at Barneys. His certainty that Bianca Berkeley was the target and that the heist would go down at the Winter Ball, just like Gunther Hartog predicted. And his growing suspicion of Jeff Stevens.

“She was in his hotel for an hour. She left first, then he did. I followed him.”

“Where did he go?” Tracy asked calmly.

“He went to the Meatpacking District and picked up a hooker.”

Tracy’s heart cracked. She felt as if she were having an out-of-body experience. She looked at her son, hanging glass reindeer figurines onto the Christmas tree. Carols were playing in the next room. Jean Rizzo’s voice didn’t belong in this picture. Nor did Jeff.

I came here to escape him, to escape that life.

Anger overwhelmed her. Wild, irrational anger.

How dare Jeff work with Elizabeth! How dare he sleep with prostitutes! How dare he still have the power to hurt me, after all these years!

And yet another part of her felt protective of Jeff and furious with Jean Rizzo.

Why was Jean telling her these things? Why did he keep pouring poison back into her life?

“What do you want, Jean?” Her voice was cold. “Why did you call me?”

“I want you to come to New York.”

Tracy laughed bitterly. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s Christmas.”

“I need you. You know Jeff Stevens better than anyone.”

“Not anymore I don’t.”

“Aren’t you listening to me?” Jean’s voice rose in frustration. “Something’s going down here, Tracy! The Winter Ball is happening in less than a week. Elizabeth and Jeff are planning something together, something big. There may be others involved, a gang, I don’t know. Jeff’s already seeing hookers. He’s getting excited, aroused. His adrenaline’s up . . . This time next week, if we don’t do something, another girl could be dead.”

“Hold on a minute.” Tracy dropped her voice to a whisper. “Am I hearing you right? You think Jeff’s the Bible Killer?”

“I think it’s a serious possibility.”

Tracy shook her head. Is this a nightmare? Is this conversation even real, or am I going to wake up in a minute and laugh?

“You’re out of your mind.”

“Then come to New York and help me. Help Jeff. Prove me wrong.”

“Are you deaf? I’m not coming to New York. That wasn’t part of our deal.”

“Tracy, you get on a plane!” Jean was yelling now. “Do you hear me? You get on a plane or I will tell your son the truth.”

Tracy hung up. She unplugged the phone from the wall. On the counter, her cell phone was flashing red .