F Wilson - Deep as the Marrow

“You want money? I’ll give you whatever I have. I’ll—”

“Don’t want your money, guy. I got a sweet little girl here who can’t wait to get back to her daddy and I’m gonna like see to it she gets there. Come to the Maryland House on Ninety-five. Wait upstairs by the phones around nine o’clock. I’ll meet you there with Katie. And no cops, okay? Let’s do this so’s we both walk away happy. See you at nine.”

“Wait!”

Another rattle and then Katie’s voice. “Bye, Daddy!” A click and she was gone.

He stood there, pressing the receiver against his ear, listening to the electric silence, searching for an echo of her voice, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Finally he turned to hang up and saw his mother standing in the doorway.

“Katie?” she said, digging at her neck. “That was Katie?”

He could only nod. He threw his arms around her.

“I heard you shouting,” she said. “It sounded like you were talking to—”

“She’s alive. Mom! That was her! She’s alive and she’s okay and I’m getting her back. Mom. Katie’s coming home tonight!”

17

Agent Samson caught him in the White House parking lot. Bob Decker was just unlocking his car door when he spotted him running across the pavement, waving a sheet of paper.

“What is it, Rick?”

“The Vanduyne taps!” he said, puffing as he reached the car. “I thought you should see this.” Bob scanned the sheet and couldn’t resist a tight smile.

The whole plot was crumbling. Looked like there’d been a falling out among the kidnappers and someone wanted to cover her ass.

“Where was she calling from?”

“The place she mentions for the switch—the Maryland House?”

“What’s that?”

“A traveler’s stop on the median on Ninety-five. You know, tourist info, burgers, yogurt.” He cleared his throat. “This sounds like a kidnapping. How come we’re involved in—?”

“Friend of Razor’s,” Bob said.

Samson nodded. That was all Samson needed to know, all he’d ever know. He was monitoring a line tap and was to transcribe all conversations. Beyond that, he was in the dark.

“She called on his cell phone,” Samson said. “Probably thought no one would be listening on that. Nobody seems to realize how unsecure they are.”

Bob nodded, half listening. No use sending anyone out to the Maryland House now. The woman would be long gone by the time anyone got there. Better to wait for her tonight.

He wondered if Vanduyne would tell him about this call. He decided not to hold his breath. The woman had said no cops and the doc wanted his kid back.

All right. He’d get his kid back. And Bob would get the woman. Put her together with whatever went down in that Palls Church house where the child’s pills were found, and he’d probably have this thing sewn up before the weekend was over.

He imagined how it would feel to stroll into Bethesda Naval Hospital tomorrow night and tell Razor his godchild is safe and the assassination conspirators are either locked up or on the run.

Sweet. Very sweet.

18

Poppy finally heard it on the six o’clock news.

“… And in Falls Church today, a murder mystery. Neighbors on this quiet suburban street called police when they heard shots fired. Inside the house, a dead man. But the as-yet-unidentified victim died of stab wounds. Nearby, in Alexandria…” Somehow, hearing it on the news made it official. Paulie was dead. Poppy started to cry, then caught herself.

“… the as-yet-unidentified man… ?” What about men? She’d left two bodies in that house. Paulie had been stabbed to death, and Mac had a bullet in his brain. How come they were only talking about Paulie?

Unless…

A stab of fear, as sharp as the blade that had killed Paulie, knifed through her.

“Oh, Jesus!” she said aloud and leapt to her feet.

“Can I change the channel now?” Katie said.

“Sure,” Poppy said without looking at her.

She went to the window and peeked around the edge of the curtain. The light drizzle outside made the parking lot shine. The Holiday Inn sign reflected from the wet surface.

A minute ago she’d felt so safe. She’d had everything planned. Tonight she and Katie would get back on Ninety-five, but they would not stop at the Maryland House. She’d copied down the numbers from a couple of the phones there when they’d called Katie’s dad this afternoon.

At nine o’clock sharp she’d place a call to one of those phones, tell her father that he’d find his daughter waiting in the Roy Rogers at the next rest stop up the freeway from the Maryland House. Then she’d leave Katie in a booth with a burger and fries.

If Katie’s dad was like the rest of Mac’s victims, he probably hadn’t said word one about the snatch to the cops. And even if they were involved, they’d all be at the Maryland House. Poppy would be long gone by the time they reached Katie.

Poppy’s heart would be broken but Katie would be safe and at home with her family, where she belonged.

But she wouldn’t be safe if Mac was alive.

Poppy could still see his eyes as he came out of the kitchen with that knife, saying “She saw me!” Only two people could connect Mac with the kidnapping—and Paulie’s murder—and both were in this room.

Even the slightest chance that Mac was still alive changed everything. A whole new game, a completely different world if Mac had survived. But how could he be alive? She’d like shot him in the head. She had to know. Before she made another move, she had to be sure.

She turned to Katie. “I’m gonna run down the hall for like a soda. You want anything?”

“Can I have a Yoo-Hoo?”

“Sure.”

“My daddy never lets me have Yoo-Hoo.”

Her daddy, her daddy. Never her mommy. Poppy forced a smile. “Well, I’m not your daddy. Be right back.”

This was risky, she knew, maybe even stupid, but it couldn’t wait. She dashed through the drizzle to the Shell station on the far side of the parking lot and found the pay phone. A call to information got her the Falls Church Police Department, and pretty soon she was talking to a homicide detective. He kept trying to get her name and she suspected he was trying to like keep her on the phone.

“Look,” she said, “I’ll just say this once: I know the names of the dead guys in the house on Sylmar Street. The stabbed guy was Paulie Dicastro. The shot guy was—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said the cop. “Nobody was shot. We’ve only got one victim.” Oh, no. Oh, sweet Jesus, no! He’s gotta be lying!

“No. You know damn well there were two! All I can tell you about the shot guy is that his name was like Mac and he drove that blue Jeep out front.”

“What blue Jeep? Do you know the tag number?” Poppy hung up. The drizzle had suddenly become freezing and the night much darker. She shivered and looked around, feeling as if someone was watching her.

Mac was alive! But how? She’d seen him lying there on the floor with like a bullet in his head. Somehow he’d survived.

She dashed back across the parking lot, ducked back into the motel room, and locked the door behind her. She saw Katie sitting there on the bed, eyes glued to the TV. How could she send that little girl back to her father with Mac alive and on the prowl? Her father wouldn’t know how to protect her. Mac had known enough about Katie to kidnap her. How much would it take to get a rifle and put a bullet in her the next time she stepped out her front door?

Poppy shuddered. No way Katie could go home tonight. She hoped the information she’d given the Falls Church cops would set them hunting for Mac. But until they caught him, Katie would be safer with her.

Katie looked up. “Didn’t they have any Yoo-Hoo?” Damn! She’d forgotten all about the drinks.