Phillip Margolin - Ties That Bind

"Did he tell you who they were?"

"No. He didn't mention any names, but he hinted that there were judges and cops in it, even DAs. It sounded far-fetched until Hayes tried to fillet me."

Something was still troubling Amanda, something that didn't make sense. It took her a moment to figure out what it was.

"You didn't tell Travis about the tapes, did you?"

"No."

"And you couldn't prove that Travis was in this club?"

Dupre nodded.

"And you didn't know anyone else in the club, right?"

"Only Travis, and I wasn't sure that he wasn't bluffing to keep me from hurting him."

"It doesn't sound like these people would be worried about you hurting anyone. They didn't know about the tapes and they wouldn't know that you knew about the group unless Travis told them. Even if he did, he'd also tell them that you didn't know anyone's identity but his, and Travis was dead by the time Hayes tried to murder you. So why did he do it? It doesn't make any sense, something's missing. What aren't you telling me?"

Dupre averted his eyes and licked his lips nervously.

"This isn't twenty questions, Jon. If you want to have any chance of walking out of here you have to tell me everything. I told you I'll hold it in confidence, and it's not going to do you any good if you're dead."

Dupre took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll tell you. There are some other tapes. I only held out because they're all I've got left. I was counting on them to bargain with if things got really bad."

"I've got news for you, things are really bad right now, and they are going to get worse if we don't get some breaks. Now, what is on those tapes?"

Amanda had a hearing in another case at three. She called Kate on her cell phone as she walked across the street from the Justice Center to the courthouse. Kate was out, and Amanda left a message saying that it was urgent she call her. As Amanda went through the security checkpoint, her eyes darted around the main floor, lingering for a moment on a tall man in a leather trench coat before shifting to a slender man in a windbreaker and a Mariners' baseball cap, lounging on a bench, and finally passing over a muscular woman in a navy-blue pea coat who was staring at her. Everyone looked dangerous.

Amanda walked up to the fifth-floor courtroom. Inside, she saw a few lawyers and court personnel she knew. There were also some court watchers; unemployed or retired men and women who preferred watching court cases to viewing the daytime soaps. None of the men who had kidnapped her were in the room.

Frank was waiting for Amanda outside the courthouse to take her home when she was finished with her hearing. He slipped her the .38. When they got to the parking garage, Frank pressed the button for their floor. Just as the elevator doors closed, Amanda thought she saw someone start up the stairs. Was he the slender man in the windbreaker and baseball cap she'd seen in the courthouse? Amanda tightened her hold on her gun.

They got to their car and drove home without incident. Frank parked in the garage. Amanda hefted her briefcase and waited for Frank to open the door and punch in the alarm code. They walked through the kitchen and into the living room. Amanda pulled her .38. A man was sitting in the dark. He was over six feet tall, rangy, and dressed in tan slacks and a dark turtleneck sweater. His shiny black hair was fastened in a ponytail, and he had the high cheekbones and bronze complexion of a Native American. The gun didn't seem to bother their visitor, because he smiled when Amanda sighted on him.

"I'm George. I work with Anthony," he said in a deep clear voice.

Frank relaxed. "Put the gun down, Amanda. He's here to help you."

"Who . . .?"

"He's a bodyguard. I hired him."

George stood up and crossed the room with a confident stride.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Jaffe." He smiled warmly. "I hope you'll forgive my dramatic entrance but I wanted to test Mr. Jaffe's security procedures. Obviously they're wanting, but we'll shore them up."

"Where is Anthony?" Frank asked him.

"You won't see him unless there's trouble, but he's around."

Amanda was still holding her gun.

"Do you know how to shoot your weapon?" George asked.

Amanda nodded.

"Good, but I don't want you shooting one of the good guys. Our code word is 'red'. If there's a problem and someone shouts it out, you'll know they're friendly." George's smile widened. "Don't shoot them.

"I've had you under observation for a couple of days. There are some procedures I'd like to go over. I'll try not to make them cumbersome but they are necessary if we're going to keep you safe."

"How intrusive are you going to be?" Amanda asked.

"I'll be with you all the time but I'll try to blend in as much as possible."

Amanda looked skeptical. George would stand out in any crowd.

"I know," he smiled, as if he'd read her mind, "but part of the value in having a bodyguard is that it scares some people away. The people you're dealing with don't scare that easily, so it helps if they think I'm all you've got. Think of me as a diversion. The people you won't see until they're needed are very good at what they do."

Chapter Forty-Four.

Kate waited until the sun went down before driving to Jon Dupre's riverfront house. In her pocket was the combination to his safe and a description of the envelope containing the tapes from the Travis fund-raiser, which Dupre had given Amanda at the jail; a .45 lay on the seat next to her. If she ran into any of Pedro Aragon's men, she wanted to be carrying a gun with stopping power.

Kate left the highway several miles south of Portland and drove along an unlit, two-lane country road for fifteen minutes before turning off onto a long dirt driveway. As she approached Jon's house from the side, she saw a deck projecting out over a swath of lawn that ended at the river. Kate parked her car around the side of the house where it wouldn't be seen from the road. Then she went around the back, with her gun leading the way. All the doors were locked, but Kate had a set of lock picks she'd taken off of a perp when she was a cop. She'd practiced with them for fun but found that they occasionally came in handy. Now she jimmied the rear door and let herself into a finished basement. The alarm started to hum but she had the code.

Kate switched on her flashlight and played its beam over the finished basement. There was a wet bar at one end of the room and a pool table in the middle. A large-screen TV dominated one wall. Someone had been watching it recently. A beer can and a half-eaten pizza sat on a table next to a lounger.

According to Jon, the safe was under the floorboards in the laundry room at the bottom of the basement stairs. Kate decided to check out the rest of the house before opening the safe, to make sure that she was alone. The pizza and beer bothered her.

Kate crept up the stairs and opened the basement door slowly. The lights were off in the house. Kate stood still but heard no sounds on the main floor. She searched through the rooms quickly until she reached the bedroom. The rest of the house had an unlived-in feel, but someone had been using the bedroom recently. The blanket and top sheets had been thrown back as if someone had just gotten out of bed. A carrying bag with woman's clothes sat on the floor next to the dresser. There were men's clothes, probably Dupre's, in the dresser.

Kate checked the bathroom and found a toothbrush, a half-used tube of Crest, and a hairbrush on the sink. A small black kit with more bathroom items sat on a shelf. Kate hurried back to the basement determined to find the audiotapes and get out before the person staying in Dupre's house returned.

The safe was concealed under several linoleum tiles. Kate pried up the tiles and used Dupre's combination to open it, listening all the time for any sound from the top of the stairs. The safe was crammed full of videotapes, ledgers, and papers. Before she could sort through them, headlights swept across the back lawn. Kate drew her gun and listened. Moments later, car doors slammed and the front door opened.