‘They cut off the little finger of his right hand,’ I said. ‘Straight through the knuckle of the first joint. Used a meat cleaver or something pretty similar, and no anaesthetic.’
Parker winced. ‘Nasty.’
‘Yeah, but apparently the worst thing is that Benedict was reputed to be quite a talented classical guitarist.’
My boss let out a long breath. ‘Well, I guess that’s the kinda thing where you need all your fingers.’
I shrugged. It was uncharitable of me, but I couldn’t help it. Benedict had taken on a distinctly martyred air after he’d done his big reveal of the missing digit – more so after Manda had come rushing in to comfort him. I’d been on the receiving end of more than a few daggered or reproachful looks.
But I remembered Bill Rendelson, who was missing his entire arm, and my initial sympathy for Benedict’s situation rapidly dissipated. Bill might not be the easiest person to get along with, but on the whole I preferred his general bad temper to Benedict’s ‘woe is me’ attitude.
Dina, needless to say, had barely spoken to me for the remainder of the evening. The party had finally wound down at about 4 a.m., and by the time we arrived back at the Willners’ place, the sun was on the rise.
I saw Dina to her room, where she slammed the door smartly in the face of my murmured ‘goodnight’. I suppose that was only to be expected.
More in hope than expectation, I’d called Parker’s cellphone. It went straight to voicemail, which wasn’t a surprise, either, but was still a disappointment. I recognised that I needed to talk as much as make my report, that on previous jobs I would have been able to call Sean, any time, and he would have been there for me. Instead, I left my boss a brief precis of the night’s events, including the details I’d learnt of the road ambushes used to grab both Manda and Benedict. I knew that he would immediately suggest upgrading Dina’s transport to something more substantial without me needing to put in the request.
Anticipation was one of Parker’s qualities.
I wasn’t quite so appreciative of his efficiency, though, when he turned up at the house a little after eight the following morning. He called when he was less than ten minutes out to warn me that he was personally bringing over one of the agency Navigators. It just about gave me time to scramble out of bed and take the world’s quickest shower. Dina, I’d been reliably informed, was more than likely to sleep in until noon after partying half the night, and I confess I’d been quietly hoping for the opportunity to do the same.
As it was, Parker was already in the open-plan living area, sipping tea with Caroline Willner, when I made a belated entrance with my hair still wet, in khakis and a hastily donned shirt, both chosen more for proximity than style.
Parker had forsaken his usual line of immaculate dark suits. To blend in on a Saturday morning, he was in jeans and brown leather deck shoes, and a polo shirt in a pale washed-out shade of blue. Caroline Willner passed a critical eye over my own appearance, made her scrupulously polite excuses, and left us to it.
Wary of prying ears among the staff, I took Parker down to the garages, which occupied the entire ground floor area at the front of the house. He’d pulled the Navigator into an empty bay, next to Dina’s Mercedes. There was also a Range Rover, a couple of anonymous vehicles the staff used to run errands, and a little bright-yellow Mazda two-seater convertible. I’d recognised it as an MX-5 from home, but over here it was called a Miata instead. Caroline Willner had described it to me as her personal toy, with just the suspicion of a reckless smile hovering round her mouth. I’d found space for my Buell in a quiet corner, and not used it since I’d arrived.
Parker handed over the Navigator’s keys and I examined all the usual areas that might be vulnerable to sabotage, following protocol rather than demonstrating a lack of trust. He watched me without comment. And while I worked I gave him the full information, as it had come to me, about what had happened to the previous victims of the kidnap gang.
‘I’ll check out their stories, as far as I can,’ he said when I was done. ‘But without any official paper trail, there won’t be much I can confirm.’ He paused. ‘You said you have some history with the Dempsey girl. That going to cause you a problem?’
‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘She seems to have grown up a lot since I was working for them.’
‘But she still told everyone at the party what you are. If the connection between the victims is the circle they move in, you’ve been made.’
‘Maybe. But it doesn’t stop me doing my job, Parker.’ I paused. ‘Did you ask Caroline Willner about trying to talk Dina into going to stay with her father?’
He nodded, frowning, and turned a slow circle as if admiring the gleaming paintwork on the Miata, but I saw the flick of his eyes and knew he was pinpointing the two CCTV cameras that monitored the garage area.
‘What’s the set-up here?’ he asked.
‘Video but no audio, monitored live off site, and recorded to hard drive via an Internet link to the security company’s own server. Local cop response time is eight minutes.’
He smiled very slightly, in such a way that I realised he already knew the answer before he’d asked the question. He was just checking that I knew it, too.
‘She confirmed, but was evasive,’ he said then. ‘Tried to pass it off as some kinda short vacation.’
‘But you didn’t believe her?’
‘No.’ He gave a slight smile. ‘She was too tense. There was clearly more at stake than just a battle of wills between the two of them.’
‘Ah.’ My turn to frown. ‘Is it just that she doesn’t believe she’s in real danger, or that she doesn’t want to leave her horses, I wonder?’
‘That you might have to ask Dina – when the two of you are speaking again,’ he said gravely. ‘Meanwhile, stay sharp. Don’t forget that the first girl, Orlando, was snatched from the family property.’
I nodded. ‘And her parents are rolling in it, by all accounts, so their home should not exactly be a soft target.’
‘We already know these guys either have very good intel, or they’re real pros,’ Parker agreed. ‘But some folk are remarkably careless with their own safety. Until the worst happens.’
‘Yeah well, Orlando and the boyfriend, Hunt, certainly left with some pretty heavy security in tow. Could you put out some feelers in the industry – find out how much of it was put in place after the kidnap? It would give us a better idea of what we’re up against.’
‘Of what you’re up against, you mean.’ He watched me for a moment, the kind of narrow-eyed stare Benedict could only ever aspire to. ‘You need backup, Charlie, you let me know.’
‘I will.’
He held the eye contact a beat longer. ‘Sean would not forgive me if I didn’t take real good care of you while he’s out of action.’
‘I don’t need taking care of, Parker,’ I said gently, touched but strangely discomfited by the pitch of his gaze. ‘Have you … been to see him?’
‘Went yesterday, right after his scan—’
‘Scan?’ I interrupted. ‘What scan? He didn’t have anything scheduled or I would have been there. Do they think … ?’
Unable to finish forming the words of wretched hope, I turned away, moved across to the Buell and ran a hand over the smooth acrylic tank. Whoever habitually kept the Willner cars gleaming had gone to the trouble of wiping the dust off the bike, I noticed absently.
When he spoke again, Parker’s voice was much closer behind me than I was expecting, and perhaps because I couldn’t see his face, I heard the hesitation in his voice more clearly. ‘Look, Charlie—’
‘Just tell me, Parker.’
He sighed. ‘The consultant ordered him up for another CT scan yesterday,’ he said at last. ‘Apparently his physical therapist has been growing kinda concerned about some of his responses.’
‘Concerned how? About what?’
‘His brain activity,’ Parker said flatly. ‘I’m sorry, Charlie, but … they think it may be slowing down.’
Slowing down. You mean he’s dying?
My shoulders went rigid. When I made a conscious effort to relax them, it seemed my self-control went at the same time. I let my chin drop, stifled a kind of half gasp, half sob, and felt Parker’s hands on my arms. He turned me back to face him and ducked to get a good look at the misery I couldn’t hide.
‘Do not give up on him,’ Parker said with quiet ferocity. ‘Whatever happens, Charlie, we’ll get through it. You’re not alone in this.’
I took a steadying breath and stepped out from under his fingers. He made no moves to stop me, letting his hands drop.
‘Yeah,’ I said with a shaky smile. ‘I know. Thanks, Parker.’
‘I’d tell you to be careful on this one, but I know you will be anyhow,’ he said. ‘Apart from that, how’re you finding things here?’
‘OK,’ I said carefully. ‘I thought Dina and I were getting on pretty well – until last night. I’m waiting to see how she behaves when she wakes up. If she’s still not talking to me, you might have to use Gomez for this after all.’
Parker smiled more fully then, as if glad to be back on safer ground. It made him look younger, too, despite the old gaze. ‘According to Dina’s mother, you’re the only one she’d trust to get the job done and not give a damn who you rode over to do it.’
‘Ah.’ I recalled with discomfort the reckless comment I’d thrown at Benedict Benelli the night before, about how if he turned out to be peddling drugs to his friends, I’d take him down regardless of family influence, and the ripples it was likely to cause. ‘I don’t suppose she qualified that at all, did she?’
Parker made an amused sound in the back of his throat, too dignified for it to be a snort. ‘She likes you well enough and thinks you’re doing a fine job, Charlie,’ he said. ‘Someone offers you the moon, don’t ask for the stars as well.’
I would have remarked on the exaggeration of that statement, had it not been for the fact that we both knew he wasn’t talking about Caroline Willner.
Sean was still alive – for the moment. I tried to tell myself that anything else was a bonus.