The Hungarians didn’t like getting played by Elizabeth and me. Not enough to kill us, but more than enough to make sure we didn’t interfere with the killing of Brunetti and von Oehson. Security stills from our visit to the consulate had been shared with their hired gun. Now they were being leveraged in the worst possible way.
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, Lizzie…pick up! Answer the phone!
After five rings I got her voicemail. Instead of leaving a message I hung up and immediately called again. Five more rings that felt like a lifetime. “Call me as soon as possible,” I said after the beep.
“Maybe she’s still asleep,” said Foxx, looking at his watch. “It’s only six-thirty.”
“Only if it was Sunday,” I said. “She’s up. She’s definitely up.”
Julian looked at me. He could see my panic growing by the second. “What do you want to do?”
No sooner did he ask than my phone rang. It was Elizabeth.
“Hey, sorry,” she said. “I was just pulling out some laundry from the dryer. It’s early. What’s up?”
“Are you on speaker?” I asked. She hates when people put her on speakerphone. Even more than I do.
“Yeah, I know. Do you mind? I just want to fold these sheets before they start to wrinkle.”
“No, that’s fine,” I said. “I need to talk to you, though.”
“I can fold and talk at the same time, Dylan.”
“Not over the phone.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to tell you in person.”
“Okay. How about lunch?”
The last thing I wanted to do was scare the hell out of her. I just needed to get over to her place as fast as possible. I could explain everything when I got there.
“It can’t wait until then,” I said. “I’m going to come over now, okay?”
“No, it’s not okay. What’s going on?”
I wasn’t so much scaring her. Pissing her off was more like it. “Frank Brunetti’s dead,” I said. Silence. She didn’t respond. She didn’t say anything. “Are you there?”
“I’m here,” she said.
“It happened yesterday. It’s not public yet.”
“How is it not public?”
“That’s a longer story. But last night someone also tried to kill von Oehson. I was with him at the time.”
Again, she didn’t say anything. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“What?”
“I said, are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just taking it all in.”
It was a lot for any time of day, let alone first thing in the morning. Still, that was only the half of it.
“Listen, there’s more,” I said. “But not over the phone, okay? Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be there in about a half hour.”
“All right, sounds good. I’ll see you then.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked. “Besides everything I just told you?”
“Of course I’m sure. I mean, yeah, besides what you just told me,” she said. “Everything’s peachy keen.”