Michael Connelly - Void Moon

"Now, I have to go back into the bathroom, close the door and make a phone call. This time I want you to come with me. This way if he comes back you can say you're going to the bathroom and that he can't come in."

"I don't have to go to the bathroom."

"I know, sweetie, but you can tell him that."

"Okay."

"Good girl."

Cassie kissed the top of her head and realized that the last time she had done that had been in the hospital ward at High Desert. A nurse was standing impatiently next to her bed, waiting for the baby with her arms outstretched.

Jodie's hair smelled like Johnson's baby shampoo and for some reason Cassie's identification of it served to remind her of all she had missed. She faltered for a moment while leaning over her child and the bed.

"Are you okay?" Jodie whispered.

Cassie smiled and nodded that she was. She then led the girl to the bathroom and quietly closed and locked the door. She took one of the bath towels off a shelf over the bathtub, put it on the floor and pressed it against the bottom crack of the door.

"My daddy does that when he smokes in the bathroom," Jodie whispered.

Cassie looked up at her and nodded.

"Mommy doesn't like him to do it because it smells funny."

Cassie got up and picked Jodie up and sat her on the closed toilet. The black gym bag was on the tank behind her.

"Now if he tries the door or knocks, you tell him he can't come in because you're going to the bathroom. Then flush the toilet and go on out, okay? But remember, before you go out take that towel from the door and throw it into the bathtub so he doesn't see it, all right?"

"Okay."

"Good girl. You stay here. I'm going to go into the shower stall to make the phone call."

"Are you calling my daddy?"

Cassie smiled sadly.

"No, baby, not yet."

"I'm not a baby."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"He called me that."

"Who did?"

"The magician. He said I was a baby."

"He was wrong. You're a big girl."

She left her there, grabbed the gym bag and another towel and went into the shower stall. She carefully and quietly closed the door and then got her cell phone out of her pocket and unfolded it. She had a page of blank note paper she had torn from a hotel pad in the bedroom. The toll-free number for the Cleopatra was printed on the bottom. She pulled the towel over her head to further deaden the transmission of sound out to Karch and punched in the number. In a low voice she asked the operator for Vincent Grimaldi. The call was transferred and picked up by someone who was not Grimaldi. He told Cassie that Mr. Grimaldi was too busy to take a call at the moment and that he would be happy to take a message.

"He'll want to talk to me."

"How so, ma'am?"

"Just tell him there are two-and-a-half million reasons to talk to me."

"Hold, please."

She waited a nervous minute, wondering how long it would be before Karch checked on Jodie again, saw the bed empty and came to the bathroom door. Finally, another voice came on the line. It was calm and smooth and deep.

"Who is this?"

"Mr. Grimaldi? Vincent Grimaldi?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"I just wanted to thank you."

"For what, I don't know what you're talking about. Two-and-a-half million reasons? What two-and-a-half million reasons?"

"Then I guess Jack hasn't gotten it to you yet."

This was met with a long silence. Cassie lifted the towel and looked out through the glass door of the shower stall. Jodie was where she had left her. She was rolling the toilet paper into a pile on the tile floor.

"You say Jack Karch has this money?"

Cassie dropped the towel back down. She noted Grimaldi's use of the word money for the first time in the conversation. Also the name Karch. He was getting hooked in.

"Well, yeah, I gave it to him like we agreed. I was calling just to thank you. He told me it was you who okayed the trade."

Grimaldi's voice took on an urgent tone now. Cassie was getting juiced because she thought it was working.

"I'm not clear on what you are – could you speak up? I can hardly hear you."

"I'm sorry. I'm in the car on the cell phone and my daughter's sleeping. I don't want to wake her. Plus out here in the desert, I think I'm losing reception."

"What exactly did Karch say I okayed? What trade?"

"You know, the trade. My daughter and me for the money. I told him, we didn't know about the payoff or Miami or any of that. We didn't want to be greedy. As soon as we opened the case and saw all that money we knew we'd made a mistake. We wanted to give back the money. I'm just glad we were able to – "

"You're saying Karch has the money now?"

Cassie closed her eyes. She had him.

"Well, I think he was going to bring it down to you. But he had some arrangements to make first, he said. He was on the phone when we left. He was – "

The line went dead. Grimaldi had hung up.

Cassie closed the phone and slid it into her pocket. She dropped the towel and came out of the shower. She went right to Jodie and knelt down in front of her. She started untying the girl's sneakers.

"We're going to go now, Jodie. We have to take these off so we don't make any noise."

"How come?"

"Because we're going to climb up into the wall and crawl through a tunnel that will take us out to the elevator."

"I'm afraid of tunnels."

"You don't have to be afraid, Jodie. I'll be right behind you the whole time. I promise."

"No, I don't want to do it."

The girl looked down at her hands, which were in her lap. She looked as if she might be about to start to cry. Cassie reached a finger under her chin and tilted it up.

"Jodie, it's all right. There won't be anything to be afraid of."

"No…"

She shook her head. Cassie didn't know how to budge her. If she threatened her she would only scare her. And she didn't want to lie to her, either.

She leaned forward, her forehead against her daughter's.

"Jodie, I can't stay here. If that man comes back in and finds me he'll take me away. So I have to go. I wish you would go with me because I want you to be with me. But I have to go now."

She kissed Jodie on the forehead and stood up.

"No, don't leave me," the girl protested.

"I'm sorry, Jodie, I have to go."

Cassie picked up the gym bag and went to the bathroom door. She kicked the towel aside and put her hand on the knob. Jodie whispered behind her.

"If I go with you, will I have to see that man again?"

Cassie turned and looked back at her.

"Never again."

THE steak was a bloody mess, just the way Karch loved it. He had been so hungry and the piece of meat was so good that he was on the verge of having a religious experience as he worked his way toward the last bite, dipping each chunk that he cut into the mashed potatoes before delivering it to his mouth. Being totally consumed in this process, he was taken by surprise when the door to the suite opened. He looked up, a forkful of meat and potato poised in front of his mouth, and saw a man he remotely recognized entering the sitting room followed by Vincent Grimaldi and then Grimaldi's top thug, Romero. The new man and Romero held guns at their sides.

Karch put the fork down on his plate.

"How's it taste, Jack?" Grimaldi said.

"It's excellent, Vincent. You know, you're a little early."

"I don't think so. More like a little late."

Karch frowned and stood up from the desk. He instinctively knew something was wrong and that he was in trouble. He picked up the napkin from the desk and wiped his mouth. He then held his hands down at his sides, the napkin still in his right hand. Very casual. Michelangelo's David.

"She's going to call any minute now," he said. "But you don't want to be up here when it all goes – "