Danielle Steel - Fine things

“I will. You better have Jane.”

“You got yourself a deal.” He laughed. “For one million dollars.” And on those words he hung up, as Bernie sat back breathlessly. There was a film of sweat on his forehead, and when he looked at Grossman, the lawyer was shaking.

“Nice guy.” Grossman felt sick.

“Isn't he?” Bernie sounded bitter. He felt as though he would never recover from this, even if they did get her back.

The phone rang again half an hour later. It was Winters. He didn't mince words. “We got him.”

“Oh my God. Are you serious? I just talked to him.” Bernie's hand shook on the phone, and his voice trembled.

“I mean we know where he is. A waitress at Carlos O'Brien's has been babysitting for Jane. I had to pay her a thousand dollars to keep her mouth shut, but it was worth it. She says she's fine. She told the girl that Scott isn't really her dad, but he 'used to be,' he was married to her mom once, but he told her that if she ran away or tried to get help, he'd kill you and the baby. Apparently the girl friend got tired of babysitting at night while Scott goes out to play, so they hired this waitress.”

“Christ! How could he tell her a thing like that?”

“That's not unusual. Usually they tell them their parents are dead or don't want to see them anymore. It's amazing what kids will believe when they're scared.”

“Why didn't the girl go to the police?”

“She says she didn't want to get involved, you never know if kids are telling the truth. And anyway, he was paying her. We just paid her more. And she may be sleeping with him, but I don't think that holds much weight with her.” She had offered Winters a blow job for another hundred dollars. But he hadn't put it on the expense account, and he'd laughed when he told Gertie. She was slightly less amused than he was. “What did he say on the phone?” Winters was worried they were going to make a move that night, after the conversation, and it might be hard to follow him without being spotted.

“He wants a million now. And he gave me a week to get it.”

“Great. That means he'll relax. I want to grab the kid tonight. Okay by you? For another thousand bucks, the girl will help me. She's supposed to babysit for Jane tonight. I want to grab her then.” Bernie's heart turned over at the thought. Please God keep her safe. “We can't get a plane out of here tonight, but we'll drive like hell for Mazatlan and catch a plane out in the morning.” He sounded every inch a professional, and he was. But Bernie would have preferred to be there. He knew how frightening it would be for Jane. And Jack and his wife were just two more strangers. But it would be easier for them to move fast than it would have been with him, and Nanny and the baby. “With luck, you'll have her home tomorrow.”

“Keep me posted.”

“You should hear from us by midnight.” It was the longest night of his life, and Grossman went home around seven and told him to call if he heard anything, no matter how late it was. Bernie thought of calling his mother too, and then decided to wait until he had more to tell her.

He didn't have as long to wait as Winters had thought. Shortly after ten o'clock he got a collect call from Valle de Banderas in Jalisco.

“Do you essept de charges?” the operator asked, and he instantly said yes. For once Nanny Pippin had gone to bed, and he was alone in the kitchen. He had been making a fresh pot of coffee.

“Jack?”

“We got her. She's fine. She's asleep in the car with Gertie. She's exhausted. I'm sorry to say it, but we scared the hell out of her. The girl let us in and we grabbed her. She's going to tell Scott that the cops grabbed the kid. You may not even hear from him for a while. Anyway, we've got reservations on a nine A.M. flight out of Mazatlan and we're staying at the Holiday Inn when we get there. And no one's going to touch her now.” Bernie knew they were armed. There were tears streaming down his cheeks as he held the phone, and all he could say to the man who'd saved Jane was “Thank you,” as he hung up the phone, sat down at the kitchen table, laid his head on his arms, and sobbed with relief and regret and pent-up terror. His baby was coming home…. If only Liz had been coming with her …

Chapter 31

The plane landed at eleven o'clock local time and Bernie was waiting at the airport with Nanny and Grossman and the baby. Jane was holding Gertie's hand as she walked off the plane, and Bernie lunged forward and swept her off the ground, holding her close to him as he sobbed openly. And for once even Nanny didn't retain her composure. There were tears streaming from her blue eyes as she kissed the child, and even Bill Grossman kissed her.

“Oh baby …I'm so sorry …” Bernie could barely speak, and Jane couldn't stop crying and laughing as she kissed him and the baby and Nanny.

“They said that if I said anything or tried to run away …” She started crying again. She couldn't say the words, but he knew it from Winters. “They said they had someone following you all the time.”

“It was a lie, sweetheart. Like everything else they told you.”

“He's a terrible man. I don't know why Mommy ever married him. And he's not handsome, he's ugly, and his friend was horrible …” But Gertie said that from talking to her alone, she was positive that the child hadn't been molested. They were strictly interested in the money, and they must have been mad as hell when they found that she was gone when they got back from Carlos O'Brien's.

When they got back to the house, Jane looked around as though she thought she had gone to heaven. It was exactly sixteen days since she'd left home and the nightmare had begun for all of them. Sixteen days and forty thousand dollars to find her. His parents had sold stock to help him pay Winters' fees, but it was worth every penny. And they called them now, so Jane could talk with Grandma Ruth herself, but his mother could only sob into the phone and finally had to pass it on to Lou. She had been sure that they would kill her. She had remembered the Lindbergh kidnapping too. She had been a young woman when it happened and it had impressed her all her life.

Bernie held Jane in his arms for hours that day, and they reported to the police that she'd been found, but no one sounded very excited, and the court was notified too. They proclaimed themselves pleased to hear it, and Bernie was bitter against everyone except Jack Winters. He had Winters line up bodyguards for him. Jane and Alexander were not to leave the house without an armed guard, and Bernie wanted one at home with her whenever he was out. And then he called Paul Berman and told him he'd be back in the store by morning. He had only taken two weeks off, but it felt like a lifetime.

“Is she all right?” Berman was still horrified at what had happened. Those poor people had had one nightmare after another, with Liz dying and now this. He felt desperately sorry for Bernie and he had already begun the search for someone to replace him in California. Even Berman realized now that it wasn't fair to leave him in San Francisco any longer. The guy had been through enough, although he knew it might take months, or even a year, to find a replacement to run the San Francisco store. But at least the search had started.

“Jane's fine.”

“We all prayed for her, Bernie.”

“Thanks, Paul.”

He hung up, feeling grateful that they had found her. He thought again about the people who never saw their children again, fathers and mothers who spent a lifetime wondering if their children were alive, and cherishing photographs of five-year-olds who by then were in their twenties or thirties, and maybe didn't even know their parents were alive, after the lies the kidnappers had told them. To Bernie, child stealing seemed almost as awful as murder.