Kirk Russell - Redback

‘Come on, Sheryl, don’t say that. Don’t tell me you took it without knowing where it came from. Tell me some rich uncle died and was sleeping on a mattress stuffed with hundred dollar bills, and taxes were paid on it fifty years ago. But don’t tell me the Phelps I knew gave you a big chunk of cash and you don’t really know the details of where it came from, other than it was some real estate deal with siblings. That’s just not good enough.’

‘That’s what happened. The real estate was before me, before we married. It wasn’t money I was entitled to, but he bragged about it for too long and I was that angry. I wanted him to hurt. I wanted half and I told him I’d hire private investigators if he didn’t come across. I told him I’d go to the IRS and give them a statement.’

‘What statement could you give them if you didn’t know anything about the real estate deal?’

‘I knew enough about it and I knew about him and his crooked siblings. I knew he’d split it with me if I pushed him hard enough. And that’s what happened. We met at a bar on the marina one night when our divorce lawyers were still going at it, and he brought his shitty old gym bag filled with money.’

‘Cash?’

‘Yes.’

‘What kind of real estate deal did that come from?’

‘A back door deal in property the siblings inherited. They swapped property with some Chinese guy and part of the deal was cash so they could dodge capital gains. The Chinese guy ended up with some site he had to clean benzene out of. They screwed him.’

He paid you because he knew if you took it, you were in, Marquez thought. You wouldn’t have any way to back out later. Marquez looked at her and knew he’d always wondered how she pulled off the San Francisco house. She was a saver and he’d figured she had finally saved enough. Everything he was hearing now disappointed him and suddenly he was unsure what to believe.

‘This might sound crazy, John, but I was thinking I’d been married to him for two and a half years and that was worth something. I remember sitting with a calculator dividing thirty months into two hundred thousand dollars. I still remember the number because it’s like the mark of the devil or something – six thousand six hundred sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents per month of marriage. I did it over and over because I kept thinking that’s not enough money for what I went through. Not for cleaning up after him and sleeping with him, and the whole thing with his lies. He was such a scuzzball that finally I thought just do it, make him hurt, make him split his secret stash, then call it a divorce and walk away. I promised to take myself on a great vacation and I did. I went to Hawaii for ten days. That’s another thing they’re looking into now. Murky was here yesterday asking who I met with in Hawaii.’

Marquez absorbed that for a moment and then his phone buzzed again. It was Desault calling for the third time in five minutes.

‘I’m going to have to take this.’ But he didn’t answer the phone yet. He asked, ‘So it’s just your word against Pete Phelps?’

‘Yes, and he’s already denied that it ever happened.’

‘Where’s he living?’

‘He remarried. He’s in San Diego selling real estate.’

‘Do you have an address?’

‘In my briefcase in the car.’

‘If you get it for me, I’ll go see him.’

She left to get it and he called Desault back.

‘Jack Gant got recognized at a convenience store by a clerk in South Lake Tahoe. The clerk didn’t put it together until after he left so doesn’t know what direction he drove, but we’ve got a make and model on a pickup and video from the store. It’s confirmed. It was Gant.’

‘When was this?’

‘About two hours ago. Didn’t you say your daughter is in the mountains?’

‘She is, but well south of Tahoe. She’s in Yosemite hiking with friends.’

‘Can you get ahold of her?’

‘I’ll try.’

‘Find out where she is and we’ll get agents to her. For all we know, Gant is after her.’

He hung up with Desault as Sheryl returned with Phelps’ address and phone numbers written on a piece of lined paper. She handed it to him and said, ‘I am so sorry and so ashamed, but you have to believe me. Everything I told you is true.’

That night a Mill Valley police officer knocked on the door and explained to Katherine that the mother of a teenager who lived down the street had found the stolen photo of Maria in her boy’s room. It was not the kid’s first break-in. He had psychological issues and his mother was suspicious enough after she heard about the burglary that she searched his room. That news came as a great relief to Katherine.

Then Maria returned Marquez’s calls. The bounce was back in her voice, but the phone reception wasn’t good so it was hard to follow her, and she was in a little bit of a rush. She and her friends were in the Yosemite Valley. Though they were camping they were also splurging on a good dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel.

‘That’s where I am, right now,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to tell you that we hiked up to Olmstead Point from the valley today. I didn’t even know about that trail. It was really steep with a lot of switchbacks, but we went early in the morning and it was beautiful climbing up as the sun was first on Half Dome. I wanted to tell you also that I’m over everything else. I don’t blame the FBI, but why were you calling me, Dad?’

‘Jack Gant bought food at a convenience store in South Lake Tahoe this morning. The FBI has all kinds of people looking for him and they’d like to know where you are to protect you.’

She was quiet so long he thought the connection broke.

‘I’m not going to call them. We’re camping. Jack doesn’t know where I am. Tell them I’m not going to call and I’m turning my phone off. I’m going to leave it in the car. I’ll call you when we’re on our way home.’

She hung up and less than an hour later Desault called.

‘John, it’s getting complicated with Gant. He checked in under a false name at the Tioga Lodge which is near the eastern Yosemite entrance.’

‘I know where it is.’

‘The pickup he had in Tahoe was parked there and it looks like he used the shower. Some grocery bags were found inside, but we haven’t found him. There are agents there waiting for him to come back, but at the same time the search has extended to Yosemite. An employee in the cafe at the Tioga Lodge believes Gant may have gotten a ride into the park. Where is Maria in Yosemite? We need to get to her.’

‘She called an hour ago from the Ahwahnee Hotel where she and her friends were having dinner, but I don’t know what campsite they’re at and she told me she was turning her phone off and would leave it in the car. Are there agents on the valley floor?’

‘There are and they can be at the Ahwahnee in minutes. How about the names of the friends she’s with and the make and model of the car?’

‘Hold on, Katherine knows more than I do about them.’

He handed Katherine the phone and she gave Desault the names of two friends of Maria’s and another who wasn’t with them that would have phone numbers or be on Facebook. Desault said it wouldn’t take long to get phone numbers. It didn’t and they got to Maria through a friend she was with. Two agents met with her at the Ahwahnee and Maria told them she had walked from the campsite. She wouldn’t tell them where that was or what vehicle she and her friends had driven to Yosemite in. They told her that what Gant had pulled off so far suggested he wasn’t working alone. They worried that Gant perceived her as a threat and was in communication with someone who’d tailed her to Yosemite, and Maria dismissed that idea. She refused protection and was evasive.