John Sandford - Silken Prey

That done—it took fifteen seconds—he got out, climbed in the backseat, and pulled Carver into the back, and tried to wedge him down onto the floor. Carver was too big for that, so he got out again, moved the passenger seat fully forward, and pushed Carver’s head and chest down on that side, folding his legs onto the other side.

The back windows were darkened, but Dannon walked around to the back of the truck, took out one of the blankets they kept there, for when passengers wanted to sleep on trips, and spread it over Carver’s body.

He closed the door and walked back to the driver’s side, looking in the side windows as he went: Carver was invisible.

Two minutes after the shooting, he backed the truck out of the parking slot and started toward the exit. He was forty-five minutes from the perfect graveyard.

• • •

LUCAS WORKED HIS WAY to the front of the ballroom. Taryn was still talking to people on the stage, but Schiffer had a hand on her back and was moving her toward the stairs. Lucas moved close, where Schiffer could see him, and fixed his eyes on her face and sent her a telepathic message to look at him, and, as usually happened, a few seconds later she glanced his way, recognized him, and frowned. He jabbed a finger at Taryn, and then did it again.

She turned away, but he knew she’d seen him, and as they got closer to the edge of the stage, she said something sharp in Taryn’s ear, and Taryn frowned and looked down and saw Lucas, turned and said something to Schiffer that he couldn’t hear.

Lucas kept working toward the end of the stage where a crowd was waiting to talk to and touch Taryn as she came off. She moved slowly down the stairs, then through the crowd, shaking hands and patting shoulders. Lucas kept moving to stay directly in front of her, and eventually she got to him and she said, to the side of his face, so only he could hear, “Now you’re in real trouble, governor or no governor.”

“Why did you send me that message about Dannon and Carver?” Lucas asked.

She pulled her head back and said, “What?”

She didn’t send it , Lucas thought. It was right there on her face.

“Do you have your cell phone? You sent me an urgent message from your phone.”

She said, “What? Why would I . . .” She turned to look behind her and called, “Marjorie . . . Marjorie.”

One of her campaign people, a short woman in a blue dress, shouldered her way through the crowd; she was carrying a clipboard, a huge tote bag, and two purses.

Taryn said to her, “Give me my purse.”

The woman handed the purse over. Someone in the crowd tugged on Lucas’s jacket, and he half turned and saw Bradley there. She put a hand to her ear, miming a handset, and mouthed, “Right now.” Bradley eased back into the crowd and Taryn was saying, “Where’s my phone? Marjorie, where’s my phone?”

“I . . . I . . . I don’t know.” Marjorie looked frantic. “I never saw a phone.”

“It was in there,” Taryn said. “I put it there.”

“You did not send me a text message?” Lucas asked her, virtually speaking into her ear. They looked like they were dancing.

She said, “No, no . . .”

Lucas backed away, and Taryn looked after him, puzzled, then dug through her purse again, while talking to Marjorie, and Schiffer began to urge her through the crowd. Lucas got to the edge of the ballroom and stepped behind one of the TV-set stands, put the handset to his face and said, “This is Lucas: What’s up?”

Shrake came back instantly: “Carver’s truck is moving, it’s leaving downtown. Jenkins and I are on it, but we’re gonna need help.”

Jenkins said, “I was parked in the bottom of the garage, near the exit. I don’t think it’s Carver in the truck: I think it’s Dannon.”

“Where’s Carver?”

“Don’t know.”

Del came up: “Dannon’s truck is still in the garage. Maybe they switched vehicles.”

“Okay,” Lucas said. “Jane, Sarah, have you seen Carver?”

Stack came back. “I haven’t, not since before you came up. He went in the back . . .”

Bradley said, “I saw Dannon maybe ten minutes ago, going into the back.”

Lucas said, “Okay, you guys take off, help Shrake and Jenkins. Chase them down. Lights and sirens until you get close, then hang back and follow, okay?”

“Gotcha,” Stack said.

Lucas asked, “Del, you’re pretty sure Dannon’s truck is still in the garage?”

“Yeah,” Del said.

“Okay. Work your way up the parking ramp, see if you can spot him or Carver or the truck. I’m going into the back, see if I can chase them down.”

“What’s going on?” Del asked.

“I don’t know—but Shrake, Jenkins, don’t lose that car. Don’t let it get too far ahead of you, either. I want you to be able to see it, if it stops.”

“That’s a risk,” Shrake said. “He could spot us.”

“I trust your professionalism that that won’t happen,” Lucas said.

“Thanks a lot,” Jenkins said. “Shrake, I’m right behind you. Take a right.”

“Taking a right,” Shrake said.

“We need to get those goddamn women up here,” Jenkins said.

“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Bradley said.

• • •

LUCAS BADGED HIS WAY into the back. Taryn and her closest campaign people, including Green, were going through in a cluster, heading for a back elevator that would take them to the parking ramp. Taryn never looked back but Green did; she nodded and went on. Lucas hurriedly checked the back area—no Carver—and then took the stairs down to the parking ramp.

He arrived just as the elevator did. Green took the lead, and they walked over to the truck that Dannon had been driving, and Green took the wheel. Schiffer got in the passenger side and Taryn in the back, and the rest of the crew broke for different vehicles, and Lucas, still not seeing Carver, ran toward the truck carrying Green.

As he did that, Del pulled onto the floor and paused. Lucas ran up to Green’s window and she rolled it down and Lucas asked, “Where’s Carver?”

Green said, “He and Dannon headed back to the house. We’re having an after-party, they’re setting up there.”

Lucas was unhappy about that, but nodded, and Taryn called, “Where’s my phone?”

“Don’t know,” Lucas said, and he turned and walked down the ramp toward Del’s car, putting the handset to his head: “Jenkins . . . I’ve been told that Carver and Dannon were going together out to Grant’s house. Are you sure they weren’t both in the car?”

“Man, they had to stop at the pay booth, and I was right there. There was a lot of light behind them, coming through the windows. There was only one guy in the car, and that was Dannon. Unless Carver was on the floor or something.”

“Goddamnit,” Lucas said. “You think you could buzz him?”

“Yeah. Once.”

“Is Shrake close enough to pick him up after you buzz him?”

Shrake: “We’re on 94 North, I’m about a quarter mile behind Jenkins. I could do it for a while, but he’s driving right at fifty-five. If I hang back here, he could get suspicious. We need Jane and Sarah right now.”

Bradley: “We’re getting on the ramp now. . . . We’re coming.”

Lucas said, “Jenkins, go ahead and buzz him. We need to know if both of them are in there.”

Lucas walked down to Del’s car and Del opened the passenger-side door and asked, “What are we doing?”

“I can’t find Carver. Nobody’s waiting for him, because they think he already went.”

“Is it possible he split?”

“You mean, called a cab or took a bus?”

“Okay, that doesn’t seem likely,” Del said.

Lucas looked at the phone message again: Dannon will kill Carver tonight at the hotel and bury him in the perfect graveyard. Best wishes, Taryn.