“Unhurt and sedated,” she told him. “My people got her out of the house without any trouble.”
“That’s a switch,” Huddy muttered.
“She didn’t have a chance to get to her phone, didn’t even have time to yell for her parents.” She could almost see him nodding appreciatively at the other end of the line.
“Should’ve done it that way in the first place,” Huddy mumbled. “But who knew? Who knew?”
“I had an idea that we were being too delicate about the whole business when you called and told me they’d missed him at the motel in Abilene,” she said firmly. “That’s when I decided to go ahead with my own ideas.”
“I’m glad you did, Ruth. I’m at my wit’s end.”
“Come on, Benjy,” she chided him, trying to raise his spirits, “I know we’ve had another setback, but it’s only temporary. Now that we’ve taken the grandniece we can back off Pickett and he’ll do just what we want him to. I know it’s an extreme move, but he forced us into it.”
“Setback? Ruth, this is getting out of hand. I never expected it to go this far. I never expected Pickett to …” He hesitated, stopped, started again. “Ruth, there are dead people all over the place, others scattered around area hospitals working with rotten explanations that the police are bound to see through sooner or later. Now another kidnapping, an innocent crippled girl, I just don’t—”
“Don’t go soft on me now, Benjamin,” she said tightly, trying to keep the anger and disgust out of her voice. “This is no time to think of backing out.”
“I wasn’t saying that,” he replied defensively. “It’s too late for anyone to back out even if he wanted to. I’ve authorized too much, taken the responsibility for too much. We have to see this through to its conclusion.” He was trying to sound confident and only partly succeeding.
“Those of our people who survived were told that a power station blew up. It did, but it was no accident. There are no accidents around Pickett. But it makes sense, and so far the local authorities are buying it. Why shouldn’t they? There aren’t any other explanations. But I don’t know how much longer I can keep the lid on this. Some of these guys saw things out there no power station failure can explain. Eventually they’re going to start wondering, and talking.”
“Do any of them suspect the old man directly?”
“I don’t think so. Materson, maybe. He was in charge of the operation. Local. But he wasn’t there when Pickett broke through so he didn’t see anything. I can keep him quiet. It’s only a question of money. I should’ve been there myself, Ruth.”
“You didn’t have time, Benjamin,” she said soothingly. “Neither of us could have made it up there in time. Now listen to me. We’ve made some mistakes along the way. We’ve had some problems. We can’t shoulder all the blame because we had no idea that the old man had this kind of potential. Frankly, I don’t think he knew it himself.
“When he finds out that his grandniece is missing he’ll turn docile and cooperative, you’ll see. I know I’ve taken an extreme step, but we’re reduced to taking extreme steps. He won’t be surprising us with any more unexpected … what do you call it… disassembling? I think he’s going to be real nice from now on. You ought to be pleased. I’m finally convinced your suspicions about him were right.”
“That’s something,” he admitted. “You’re right, Ruth. There’s nothing to worry about anymore.” He was sounding like his old arrogantly confident self again. “Sorry if I sounded reluctant. It’s just that I never expected things to go this far.”
“How could you? Oh, you’re safe as far as this Abilene business is concerned, aren’t you?”
“You mean the confrontation with Pickett, or the unfortunate business at his motel?”
“Both.”
“I think so. I was nowhere around when they happened.” He didn’t add that he was innocent as far as the grandniece’s kidnapping was concerned, too.
“You know,” she added, “what we’ve done is nothing compared to the damage Pickett’s caused.”
“Not that that’s any use to us.” He let out a hollow, bitter laugh. “Can you imagine trying to prove in court that he’s responsible for all those deaths and injuries? ‘Your honor, this man, the one sitting over there with the heart condition, is responsible for killing and injuring twenty younger, healthier, armed men.’” He switched to mimicking a judge’s stentorian tones.
“‘And how did the defendant accomplish this orgy of destruction, Mr. Huddy?’
“‘Well, your Honor, he looked at them.’” Again the humorless laugh, then, “Where’ve you stashed the grandniece?”
“Up at CCM’s Matagorda complex,” she told him. “The plant manager’s a fat toady named Barker, five years from retirement. The only thing he’s worried about anymore is his pension. He doesn’t like it one bit, but I assured him he’ll be kept out of it. Of course, we can involve him if we have to, but he doesn’t know that. The only threats I made were indirect, but he got the message. He won’t give us any trouble.”
“What about the lower-downs?”
“Everyone there’s busy with his or her own job. I’ve got one of my own people handling outside traffic and you already know who’s taking care of things inside. None of the employees saw the girl being brought in. She’s in the apartment in Administration that the plant maintains for visiting VIPs. Relax, Benjy. Everything’s under control.”
“That’s my girl,” he said admiringly. “I need to let you take some of this kind of heavy stuff off my shoulders more often.”
“That’s exactly what you should do.” Privately she was still worried about Huddy. He sounded normal now,’ but the longer this Pickett business dragged on, the more he seemed to be coming apart. Damned shame if that happened. She’d hate to lose him, both as lover and coconspirator within the corporate ranks. He was important to her future. But she’d have to watch him from now on. She had no intention of going down with his ship.
“One thing worries me,” he was saying. “I wonder if Pickett will believe us when we go to tell him that we’re the people who have his grandniece.”
“Oh, I think he will, Benjy. He’s already seen that we’re not afraid of going to extremes. If necessary we can let him talk to her on the phone. Relax. The two of you will be on an L.A. bound plane within a couple of days.”
“I hope so. Okay, everything’s set, then. You sit tight. I’ll be there in a few hours, as soon as I can charter a plane out of here. Then all we have to do is wait for Pickett to show at his niece’s place, learn about the abduction, and us get in touch with him.”
“Right.” Her tone softened. “I’ve missed you, Benjamin.”
“I’ve missed you too, sweet thing. Are all the taps still in place at the niece’s house?”
“No sweat. The cops down here wouldn’t recognize a tap if it crawled up and bit them on the ear. Bye.”
The phone clicked. She held onto the receiver, thinking, and finally decided to call Matagorda. It wouldn’t hurt to make doubly certain everything was going smoothly up there. Not that she anticipated any trouble with the girl. Even if she awoke, she could hardly up and run away.
She dialed the private number. She didn’t like assigning Drew the task of keeping watch over the grandniece, but he’d been in on this Pickett business almost from the start. It was safer than using a local, and Benjamin had always shown a great deal of confidence in him. At least she didn’t have to deal with him much in person. She didn’t like the way he looked at her. He intimidated Barker, though, and it was always useful to have that kind of man around. Sometimes a warning grunt could be the best answer to an awkward question.
The crocheted placemat which usually adorned the center of the coffee table was coming to pieces in Wendy Ramirez’s hands as she twisted and pulled it absently. She needed something to hold onto, something solid. Something of her daughter’s. The centerpiece that Amanda had crocheted for a school project wasn’t much.
Her husband paced the floor nearby. His big, scarred hands, which had caught too many fishhooks, flexed dangerously. His normal cheery demeanor had vanished completely. Events had stunned him into a furious, futile silence.
Sheriff Benbrook looked tired. Considerably more tired than the day he’d driven out to talk to them about the vandalism of their van. Benbrook liked working in Port Lavaca. You got to know everyone and they got to know you, a situation which made solving crimes a fairly simple matter of just asking around.
