Nelson DeMille - Spencerville

Trains and buses were not an option, but he had several other options — hire a limousine, charter a plane, or charter a boat to take them to a Great Lakes port someplace out of state. Charter and hire places were cash up front, didn't require identification, were not normally watched or even notified by the police, and the only question a charter or hire service usually asked was, "Where do you want to go?"

He had three other options — call the police, as Annie suggested, call the Porters, or call Charlie Adair. But none of those options seemed palatable at the moment. He might call the police in the morning, but the Porters didn't need any more problems at any hour, and lastly, Charlie Adair had a string attached to everything. Nevertheless, these were options, too, and Keith would decide in the morning.

Annie came out of the bathroom, and he stood. He said to her, "Is it your birthday?"

"No. Why?"

"You're wearing your birthday suit."

"Oh! I forgot to put on my pajamas. I'm so embarrassed. Don't look."

He smiled, and they walked to each other, embracing and kissing.

She said, "Keith, no matter what happens tonight or tomorrow, we're going to have this time now."

"We have all the time in the world."

Cliff Baxter sat alone in his office at Spencerville police headquarters. The entire fifteen-man force was on duty, some at headquarters, the rest on the road.

He drank a Coke, staring off at the opposite wall. He took some perverse satisfaction in the knowledge that he'd been right. His wife was a liar and a whore, Keith Landry was a low-life, wife-fucking prick. "I knew it."

What bothered him was the fact that they'd somehow gotten together over the past weeks, right under the noses of his stupid men, and had made their plans and gotten away. He couldn't blame himself; he'd been right on top of this from day one.

It had been relatively easy to find Annie's car. One of the options she didn't know the car had was a radio transmitter, a homing device bought by the Spencerville police for its high-tech fight against crime, and in Baxter's car was the radio receiver.

Baxter remembered walking into the Landry barn, seeing the white, gleaming Lincoln sitting there beside the tractor, and opening the car door. Cliff, Fuck you, signed Keith Landry. "No, fuck you, asshole."

He'd pocketed the note before his men could see it — not out of embarrassment, he told himself, but because it was a purely personal note and wasn't a clue to the kidnapping.

Of course, it wasn't a kidnapping, and he guessed his men knew that, but no other cop in the state knew it.

The intercom buzzed, and Sergeant Blake said, "Chief, it's Captain Delson from the State."

"Okay." Cliff Baxter picked up the phone, and Captain Delson, of the Ohio state police, said, "Chief, we got something."

Baxter sat upright in his chair. "Yeah?"

"About half an hour ago, the state police were checking out Toledo Airport, and a security man there tells them he saw the subjects. Right car, right description, and he even remembered part of the license plate, which matches."

"They get on a plane?"

"No, they missed the last flight and told the guy they were going home."

"Okay, okay. Good. You got them fixed in the Toledo area, so..."

"Right... thing is, Chief, the guy said that the woman, who he identified from the photo you sent as Mrs. Baxter, didn't look like she was under duress or being forced..."

"Ah, bullshit. The son-of-a-bitch had a gun on her..."

"Well, the male suspect — Landry — was away from the Blazer for some time, and the female was sitting alone in the vehicle."

Baxter cleared his throat and said, "Well... who was this airport guy? A security cop? How the hell does a square-badge guy know about?.."

"Chief, the subjects appeared to be wanting to board an aircraft together. This doesn't look like a kidnapping or an abduction in the strict legal sense."

Baxter didn't reply for a few seconds, then said, "You're gonna take that chance? If she winds up dead, you want to be the one that called off the search?"

"Chief, we turned this state upside down for you, and I don't respond well to threats. Look, cop-to-cop, I have to tell you, it looks like your wife ran off with this guy."

Baxter stayed silent.

Captain Delson continued, "Based on the Social Security number you gave us for Keith Landry, we faxed the FBI, but we can't seem to get much information on him. What we have seems to indicate that he's a retired colonel in the United States Army, assuming this is the same guy. No criminal record, no previous anything. We're still checking."

"Yeah... a colonel?"

"That's right."

"What's the bottom line? What are you telling me?"

"Well... I don't know. You want to fax us a deposition with the whys and wherefores and your signature?"

"Well... why don't you make the state of Ohio the complainant?"

"The state of Ohio has no complaint against this man or Mrs. Baxter."

"No? You mean you have no complaint against kidnapping?"

"Yeah, we would, but it seems you were mistaken. Look, Chief, I know this is tough, but I had that security guy on the phone myself for twenty minutes, and I have to believe that these two people he saw were the subjects of the all-points, and further, that Mrs. Baxter, whose photo he identified, was a willing companion of the male she was with. Now, we can keep looking for them, as a professional courtesy — and that's between us and not for the taxpayers to discover — but I have to put out a new bulletin that says locate and maintain observation, await further instructions, and do not question unless subjects are about to leave the jurisdiction, and do not detain or arrest unless there's probable cause. We don't need a lawsuit, and you don't need the embarrassment. Okay?"

Baxter thought a moment, then took a deep breath and said, "Landry is wanted here in connection with traffic violations, obstructing justice, harassment, and trespassing."

There was a silence on the phone, then Captain Delson said, "Well, fax us the particulars." He added, "But don't reach for things that won't stand up."

"Hey, I'm gonna send you a bench warrant, signed by the local judge here, and we will extradite. All you got to do is hold them. Spencerville will come get them."

"I'm not holding them, but if we locate them, we'll let you know. Here's something else — a Keith Landry made reservations at the Airport Sheraton in Cleveland and booked a USAir flight to New York from there." He gave Baxter the details and added, "We're watching the roads between Toledo and Cleveland, and there will be Cleveland police at the Sheraton." Captain Delson added, "We'll leave that in place for you. Also, because they were spotted at Toledo Airport, as standard operating procedure, the state and local police are checking the area motels, boardinghouses, and so forth. The subjects might not be going to Cleveland if they get wind of an all-points bulletin."

Baxter nodded. "Yeah... okay. You'll let me know as soon as you get a lead or something."

"We will." Captain Delson stayed silent, then said, "You might want to handle it yourself, man-to-man."

"Yeah... whenever and wherever you get a fix on them, you let me know." Baxter added, "I want to talk to her... I want to see if she knows what she's doing before she runs out on a husband and two kids. Hey, if you're right, and she's going with this guy willingly, then the hell with her. But I want to hear it from her own mouth. You understand."

"I do."

"Yeah... hell of a thing. Married twenty years... son and daughter in college... they're home now," he lied, "real upset... her mother almost had a heart attack. Sister can't stop crying, father is mad as hell at her. What the hell's wrong with these women today?"