Ransom Read online

  Ted drove Rick back to his office, and half an hour later, he walked into his.

  “Is the captain in?” he asked the senior officer's secretary, a pretty girl in a blue uniform, and she nodded.

  “He's in a rotten mood,” she whispered.

  “Good. Me too,” Ted said to her with a grin, and strode into his office.

  Will bounded down the stairs from his room, and reached for the front door. Fernanda was at her desk, and instantly stopped him.

  “Stop! The alarm is on,” she shouted at him, louder than she needed to, and he stopped in his tracks and looked startled.

  “That's weird. I'm just going out for a minute. I need to get my shin guards out of the car.” She had left the station wagon in the driveway when she came in, and knew she couldn't go out to it until the police arrived sometime that night.

  “You can't,” she said sternly, and Will looked at her strangely.

  “Is something wrong, Mom?” He could see that it was, as she nodded and tears filled her eyes.

  “Yeah…no… actually there is. I have to talk to you, Ash, and Sam.”

  She had been sitting at her desk trying to figure out what to say to them, and when. She was still trying to absorb what had happened, or might, and all she'd heard from Ted and Rick. It was a lot to swallow, and would be even more so for her kids. They didn't need this any more than she did. They'd been through enough in the past six months, and so had she. But now all she could do was look at Will. There was no point putting it off. She had to tell them. And it looked like now was the time, since Will had just discovered that something was up. “Will you go upstairs and get them, sweetheart? We need to have a family meeting,” she said somberly, and almost choked on the words. The last family meeting they'd had was when their father died and she had told them the news. And the full impact of what she had just said hadn't been lost on Will. He looked at her, with terror in his eyes, and without another word, turned and ran up the stairs to find the others, as Fernanda sat shaking where she sat. All she cared about now was keeping them safe. And she just prayed that the police and the FBI would be able to do that.

  Chapter 13

  Fernanda's meeting with her children went as well as it could have gone, under the circumstances. They came down the stairs to the living room five minutes after she had sent Will up for them, after conferring briefly in Sam's bedroom about what might be wrong. Finally, Will told them to just get downstairs, and they did, trailing down the stairs, by order of age, with Will first. All three of them looked worried, as did their mother, as she waited.

  She waited until Ash and Sam had settled on the couch, and Will sprawled out in the chair that had been his father's favorite. Instinctively, he had taken it over as soon as Allan disappeared. He was the man of the family now, and did his best whenever possible to fill his father's shoes.

  “What's wrong, Mom?” Will asked quietly, as Fernanda looked at them, not sure where to start. There was so much to say, and none of it good.

  “We're not sure,” she said honestly. She wanted to tell them as much of the truth as she could. They needed to know, or at least Ted said they did. And she suspected he was right. If she didn't warn them of the potential danger, they might take risks they wouldn't otherwise. “It may be nothing,” she tried to reassure them, and as she said the words, Ashley suddenly panicked, fearing her mother might be sick. She was all they had now. But as their mother went on, they knew it wasn't that. Fernanda thought it was worse. “Maybe nothing will ever come of this,” she started again, as the moments ticked by agonizingly for all of them, “but the police were just here. Apparently they arrested someone yesterday whom they think is a bad man, and something of a crook. He had a big file on your dad with pictures of all of us in it. And apparently he was very interested in your father's success”—she hesi-tated—”and our money.” She didn't want to tell them yet that they no longer had any. They had enough other problems apparently at the moment, and there was still time for that. “They also found in his desk the name and phone number of a man who recently got out of prison. Neither your father nor I know any of these people,” she reassured them, and even to her, this sounded crazy as she told it. The children were staring at her in fascination, without comment or expression. The story was too foreign to them, and too unfamiliar, to even fathom the implications. “They went to search the hotel room of the man who came out of prison, and found the name and number of another man, who is thought to be extremely dangerous, and also just got out of prison. They don't know what the connection is between these three men. But apparently the man the FBI arrested yesterday is in a lot of trouble, and needs a lot of money. And they found our address in the hotel room of one of the men. What the police are afraid of”—she swallowed hard, trying to keep her voice steady with considerable effort—”what they're afraid of is that the man who was arrested might try to kidnap one of us to get the money he needs.” That was it, in a nutshell. The children stared at her for an interminable moment.

  “Is that why the alarm is on?” Will looked at her strangely. The whole saga sounded incredible when you heard it, or tried to tell it.

  “Yes. The police are going to send two policemen to protect us, and so is the FBI, just for a few weeks, until they see if anything happens. Maybe their theory is all wrong, and maybe no one wants to hurt us. But just in case, they want us to be careful, and they're going to be with us for a while.”

  “In the house?” Ashley looked horrified, as her mother nodded. “Can I still go to Tahoe?” Fernanda smiled at the question. At least no one was crying. She suspected correctly that they hadn't fully understood it. Even to her, it sounded like a bad movie, as she nodded at Ashley.

  “Yes, you can. The police think it's a good idea for you to get out of town, in fact. You just have to be careful, and keep an eye out for strangers.” But she knew the family Ashley was going with was extremely cautious and attentive, which was why she had agreed to let her go. And she was going to call them and warn them of what was happening before Ashley left.

  “I'm not going to camp,” Will suddenly said sternly, with an anguished look at his mother. He got it. More than the others. But he was older. And he was playing the role of protector now, in his father's absence. Fernanda didn't want him to have that burden. At sixteen, he still needed to enjoy the last of his boyhood and childhood.

  “Yes, you are,” she said firmly. “I think you should. If anything happens, or it gets worse here, I'll call you. You're safer there, and you'd go crazy stuck in the house with me and Sam. I don't think we're going to be doing much for the next few weeks till this gets sorted out, or they figure out what's really happening. You're much better off in camp, playing lacrosse.” Will didn't answer as he sat in the chair, mulling it over. And Sam was watching her reactions.

  “Are you scared, Mom?” he asked openly, and she nodded.

  “Yes, I am. A little,” which was an understatement. “It sounds scary. But the police will protect us, Sam. They'll protect all of us. Nothing is going to happen.” She wasn't as certain as she sounded, but she wanted to reassure them.

  “Will the policemen wear guns when they're here?” he asked with interest.

  “I think so.” She didn't explain the theory about the risks of being protected by cops in uniform or plainclothesmen, and their being used as live bait to catch the criminals quicker. “They'll be here by midnight. Until then, we can't go out, at all. And the alarm is on. We have to be careful.”

  “Do I have to go to day camp?” Sam asked, hoping he wouldn't, since he'd had cold feet about it anyway, and had changed his mind about it. He liked the idea of men wearing guns around the house. That part sounded like fun to him.

  “I don't think you have to go to camp, Sam. You and I will find lots of things to do here.” They could go to museums and the zoo, and do art projects, or go to the Exploratorium at the Museum of Fine Arts, but she wanted him with her. He looked pleased.

  “Yayy!!!” he said, d
ancing around the room, as Will glared at him and told him to sit down.

  “Don't you realize what this means? All you're worried about is Tahoe and day camp. Someone wants to kidnap us, or Mom. Don't you get how scary that is?” Will was seriously upset, and after the others went back upstairs, slightly mollified after his outburst, he argued with his mother again. “I'm not going to camp, Mom. I'm not going to leave you here, just so I can play lacrosse for three weeks.” He was old enough, at sixteen, nearly seventeen now, for her to be honest with him.

  “You're safer there, Will,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “They want you there. And Ash in Tahoe. Sam and I will be fine with four men to protect us. I'd rather you go away so I don't have to worry about you too.” It was as honest as she could be with him and it was true. He could get lost in the anonymous shuffle of other boys at camp, and be safe there. And Ashley would be protected in Tahoe. Now all she'd have to worry about was Sam. One child instead of three.

  “What about you?” He looked genuinely worried about her, and put an arm around her shoulders, which brought tears to her eyes again, as they walked back up the stairs to his room.

  “I'll be fine. No one is going to do anything to me.” She sounded so certain of it that he looked surprised.

  “Why not?”

  “They'd want me to pay the ransom, and if they take me, no one could.” It was a horrifying thought, but they both knew it was true.

  “Will Sam be okay?”

  “With four policemen to protect him, I can't imagine he wouldn't be.” She tried to smile bravely, for Will's sake.

  “How did this happen, Mom?”

  “I don't know. Bad luck, I guess. Your dad's success. It gives some people a lot of crazy ideas.”

  “That's so sick.” He still looked horrified, and she hated to expose any of them to so much risk and fear, but as long as it was happening to them, or could be, they had to know. She had had no choice but to tell them. And she was proud of the way they took it. Especially Will.

  “Yes, it is sick,” she agreed. “There are a lot of crazy people in the world, I guess. And bad ones. I just hope these people lose interest in us quickly, or figure we're not worth the trouble. Maybe the police are wrong. They're not entirely sure about any of it. Right now, it's all theories and suspicions, but we have to pay attention to that too. You haven't seen anyone watching us, have you, Will?” she said more out of form than any real belief that he had, and was shocked to see him pause for a minute, and nod his head.

  “I think I have … I'm not sure…I saw a guy in a car across the street a couple of times. He didn't look weird or anything. Actually, he looked nice. He just seemed normal. He smiled at me. The reason I think I noticed him”—Will looked embarrassed at what he said next— ”I think I noticed him because he looked kind of like Dad.” What he said rang some kind of bell for her too, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

  “Do you remember what he looked like?” Fernanda asked, looking worried. Maybe the police were right, and there were men watching them. She kept hoping that they were wrong.

  “Sort of,” Will said. “He looked kind of like Dad, but with light hair, and he dressed like Dad too. He was wearing a blue button-down shirt one time, and a blazer another time. I just thought he was waiting for someone. He seemed okay.” Fernanda wondered if he had dressed that way intentionally so he would fit into the neighborhood. They talked about it for a few minutes and then Will went to his room to call his friends to say good-bye before he left for camp. She had already warned him not to tell anyone about a possible kidnapping threat. Ted had told her that it was important that they kept it quiet, or if word got out, it might hit the press, and they'd have copycats all over the place. Will and the others had promised. The only people she was going to tell were the family in Tahoe who would be taking care of Ash.

  Fernanda called Ted as soon as possible. She wanted to report to him about what Will had said. The secretary told her that he was in a meeting with the captain, and would call her back. She stood, looking out the window then, thinking about all of it, and wondering if there were people out there, watching her, whom she couldn't see. And as she did, Ted and the captain were shouting at each other. He said it was an FBI problem, not theirs. The primary suspect had been arrested by the FBI, mostly on financial issues, this had nothing to do with the SFPD, and he wasn't going to tie up his men babysitting some Pacific Heights housewife with three kids.

  “Give me a break, for chrissake,” Ted shouted back at him. They knew each other well and were old friends. The captain had been two years ahead of him in the Academy, and they had worked on countless cases together. He had profound respect for Ted's work, but this time he thought he was nuts. “What if one of them gets kidnapped? Whose problem is that going to be?” They both knew it was going to be everyone's problem then. The FBI and the SFPD. “I'm onto something here. I know it. Trust me. Just give me a few days, a week, maybe two, let me see what I come up with. If I come up dry, I'll shine your shoes for a year.”

  “I don't want my shoes shined, nor the taxpayers' money thrown out the window for baby-sitting service. What in hell makes you think Carl Waters is involved in this? There's no evidence to prove that, and you know it.”

  Ted looked him right in the eye fearlessly. “All the evidence I need is here.” He pointed at his gut. He had already sent an undercover policewoman out, dressed as a meter maid, to check the cars lining Fernanda's street. There were no meters, but cars had to have permit stickers in order to park for longer than two hours, so the meter maid's presence would seem entirely reasonable to anyone who saw her. Ted was anxious to know what she'd come up with, who was sitting in parked cars, what they looked like, and he had told her to run a check on every license plate on the block. She called while Ted and the captain were still going at it, when Ted's bureau secretary came in to tell him that Detective Jamison had something for him, and said it was urgent. The captain looked annoyed when Ted took the call, and Ted stood there for a long moment, holding the phone and listening. He made a few unintelligible comments and thanked her, and then looking at the captain, he hung up.

  “Now, I suppose you're going to tell me that Carlton Waters and the guy the FBI busted are standing on her doorstep with shotguns.” He rolled his eyes, he'd heard it all before. But Ted looked serious as he looked him in the eye.

  “No. I'm going to tell you that Peter Morgan, the parolee who had Waters's number in his hotel room, is sitting in a parked car across the street from the Barnes house. Or it sounds like him. The car is registered to him. And one of the neighbors said he's been sitting there, or up the block, for weeks. They said he looked like a nice man and they never thought anything of it. They didn't seem worried.”

  “Shit.” The captain ran a hand through his hair and looked at Ted. “This is all I need. If they kidnap that woman, it will be all over the papers that we didn't do a damn thing about it. All right, all right. Who've you got on it?”

  “No one yet.” Ted smiled at him. He didn't want to be right about this, but he knew he was. And it had been a lucky break that Jamison had found Morgan sitting there. He was going to instruct his men not to touch him. He didn't want to scare him off. What Ted wanted was to catch all of them, whoever they were, and however many, whether Carlton Waters was involved or not. Whatever this conspiracy was against her, all Ted wanted was to blow it sky high, arrest the men involved, and keep her and her kids safe. It would be no small feat.

  “How many of them are there, the Barnes woman and her kids, I mean?” the captain asked, sounding surly, but Ted knew him better than that.

  “She's got three kids. One leaves for camp tomorrow. Another one leaves for Tahoe the day after, and we can cover that through the sheriff at Lake Tahoe. After that, it will just be her and a six-year-old kid.”

  The captain nodded in answer. “Give her two guys around the clock. That ought to do it. Is your buddy Holmquist giving us anyone?”

  “I think so,
” Ted said cautiously. It was a little awkward that he had told Rick about it, before he'd gone to the captain, but it happened that way sometimes. When they traded information, cases got solved more quickly.

  “Tell him what you just found out about Morgan, and tell him to kick in two guys for sure, or I'll kick his ass the next time I see him.”

  “Thank you, Captain.” Ted smiled at him and left his office. He had some phone calls to make to set up the protection for Fernanda and Sam. He called Rick and told him about Morgan. And he had a junior officer print out a mug shot of Morgan so he could show it to Fernanda and the kids. And then he took a folder out of his desk, and wrote a case number on it, to make it official. Conspiracy to commit kidnap, he wrote in bold letters. He wrote in Fernanda's name, and those of her children. And where it said to list suspects, he wrote Morgan's name. For the moment, the others were too remote, although he jotted down Phillip Addison's name, and wrote a brief description of the file he had on Allan Barnes. This was just the beginning. Ted knew the rest would come. The little pieces of sky were falling into place. It had just gotten a little bigger. All he had in that piece of sky now was Peter Morgan. But he felt in his gut that the others would be in the puzzle with him before too long.

  Ted drove back to Fernanda's house at six o'clock that evening. And as he had earlier, he made a decision to enter the house visibly, like a guest, and look casual about it. He had taken off his tie, and was wearing a baseball jacket. The policeman he had brought with him was wearing a baseball cap, sweatshirt, and jeans. He could have been one of Will's friends, and Ted his father. She and the children were eating pizza in the kitchen when they walked in. They had let Ted in as soon as they saw him through the peephole. And the young man he had brought with him had brought some things with him in an athletic bag slung over his shoulder, which coordinated well with his youthful, athletic demeanor. Ted quietly asked him to set up in the kitchen, and then after asking Fernanda's permission, he sat down at the kitchen table with her and the kids. He had brought an envelope with him.