For sure, the guy had brass in his pants.
Delray? I typed.
He messaged back instantly: good name as any
Who are you?
u took
Turn yourself in.
u only 1
I don’t understand, I texted, but of course I did. Either Delray was working with Lamm, or he’d found out about Second Securities on his own, perhaps through Rikk. No matter; he’d known to go to Second Securities, to look for cash. But what he’d found was a splintered door, a trashed Ford, and the realization that, with my extensive insurance company contacts, I’d gotten the address of the Carson beneficiary, and beaten him to the money. I shivered, realizing we must have missed each other by only a few hours.
u bring, he wrote.
Bring what? I texted, still playing dumb.
we trade
For what? I wrote, like I didn’t know.
wp
And there it was. Likely enough, Wendell had driven right into his own abduction.
I’ll have to call Wendell, I texted.
noon bl will tell u where then
I don’t understand, I wrote again.
wp not where u think
I need more time.
He didn’t respond. He had gone.
I called Amanda.
‘Delray’s in it with Lamm. They’ve got your father.’
She inhaled sharply. ‘How do you know?’
‘Delray just texted me. They want to trade your father for the payout, up here at noon.’
She paused, thinking. ‘We should call Krantz?’
‘They’ve anticipated that. Delray wrote that your father’s not where I think he is, meaning not at Lamm’s camp. Since there’s two of them, they can operate from two locations.’
‘What do we do?’
‘We’ve got a big advantage. They don’t know I’m already up here. That buys us six hours, time enough for me to sneak out to Lamm’s camp, to see who’s around before I call the sheriff.’
For a minute, only the rain made a sound. ‘You’re sure this is the best way?’
‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t have spent the night sleeping in a leaking Jeep in the rain.’