14

Forty-Three

Nashville, Tennessee Tuesday, December 23 1:00 p.m.

They arrived in Nashville in clear, freezing, blue skies. They deplaned on the tarmac, a stiff breeze accosting them. Baldwin tossed Taylor his cashmere blazer to keep warm. Though he’d brought her all the necessities, he’d forgotten to pack a coat. She had balked at buying one in New York. She had plenty at home, and didn’t see the need to wear one while she traveled by cab to the airport. It wasn’t terribly cold in New York. That wasn’t the case in Nashville. In one of those strange atmospheric inversions, it was much cooler than its northern neighbor, below twenty degrees. She shrugged into Baldwin’s blazer, thankful for its warmth.

They climbed a short metal staircase that led to the terminal building. As they exited the door into the warm interior of the terminal, a small grouping of media started yelling, trying to get their attention. The closer they got to the group, the more the reporters sounded like a hive of bees.

“Lieutenant, can you tell us where you’ve been?”

“Is it true you were kidnapped by the Mob?”

Taylor spied Fitz and Sam standing a few feet away and went to them, ignoring the throng of gathered reporters. Fitz grabbed her in a bear hug, the snap of cameras and the whir of video making background noise almost loud enough to dance to.

“It’s damn good to see you, girl. You had me a little worried there.”

She just hugged him back, then turned to Sam. There were tears in her best friend’s eyes. They’d talked the day before, and it wasn’t words they needed now. Sam embraced Taylor, and they both held on for dear life. She had a moment of sickening clarity. If Sam had ridden to the church in the limo with Taylor as planned, it was quite likely that she would be dead now. Taylor squeezed a little harder and offered up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was watching over both of them that day.

Baldwin moved toward the media group. Taylor heard him talking, telling them they would have a statement later on. She and Sam broke their hug, and each took one of Fitz’s arms. They made their escape down the hallway that led to the outer terminal. Fitz started teasing her immediately.

“I can’t believe you ruined all our plans. We were going to put a goat in your honeymoon suite.”

“Oh, shut up, you were not.”

Fitz nodded, and Sam giggled. “Seriously, we were. You remember Alfred Turner, Taylor? Retired a couple of years back, opened that farm and petting zoo down in Williamson County? He was going to loan us one of his babies.”

“So do I want to know what we were supposed to with it, or am I just better off not knowing?”

Fitz shook his head, caught Sam’s eye for a moment. His eyes twinkled with merriment. “Naw, you don’t wanna know.”

“I’ll see what I can do to rearrange things so you can play your jokes.” Taylor cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.

They reached the doors and stepped out into the frigid air. There were four news vans lined up at the curb. Fitz gestured toward them.

“You’re gonna have to talk to the news at some point.”

“I’ll talk later, once I have a handle on what’s been happening here.”

Sam squeezed her arm. “I’ve got to head back to the office. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine. You go on.”

Sam nodded at her, then scooted across the walkway and disappeared into the parking lot.

They got into the unmarked Caprice and Fitz turned the heat on high. Taylor shrugged out of Baldwin’s jacket. Within moments, Baldwin clambered into the backseat and they headed toward downtown.

They went directly to the Criminal Justice Center, Fitz talking more of nothing than anything of consequence. Ballistics on Richardson and Gonzalez, Jane Macias, there was nothing new on any of those fronts. When pressed, he told her of the intensity of the rescue and recovery efforts on her behalf, and Taylor vowed to get the names of each and every person who’d spent the night and day on the freezing bank of the river, searching for her. She would have to thank them personally for their efforts. The thought floored her. Baldwin hadn’t gone into much detail other than pointing out that he couldn’t believe that she was gone and refused to give up looking for her. Fitz, on the other hand, gave her all the specifics, and she felt tears prick the corners of her eyes at the pain she’d caused them.

Baldwin had been quiet on the last half of the flight, distracted when they landed, and Taylor had left him to his devices. She’d been racking her brain trying to put a name to the face of the man with the signet ring. It just wouldn’t come. She needed the library, the society pages from her childhood. She knew there had been photographers at the party-the Nashville media were always in attendance at her parents’ soirees. The library would have thirty-year-old society nonsense, she was sure of it. She hated to lose the time looking, but she had no choice.

There was a regular welcoming committee when they got to the CJC. Lincoln and Marcus stood on the landing without their coats, both young men jumping up and down in an attempt to keep warm. Captain Price was standing just inside the door, waiting to buss her on the cheek.

She was greeted with hugs and Baldwin with handshakes and back slaps. They didn’t linger long over the festivities. They had a killer to catch.

Baldwin took Lincoln aside, speaking to him out of earshot of the rest of the crew. “I have a favor to ask.”

“Name it.”

“I’d like to have a conversation with your South American friend. Juan. Could that be arranged?”

“Of course. I’ll go make the call right now. Would you like him to call you back here or on your cell?”

“My cell would be great. Thanks, Lincoln.”

“No problem. Do you…never mind. I’ll just go call him right now.”

Baldwin went back to Taylor’s office, shut the door behind himself and took a seat.

“I have a theory,” he started, but her phone rang. She held up a hand in a wait-a-minute gesture, and answered the phone.

“Taylor? Honey, is that you?”

That voice again. This time deeper, richer. Not a tape. Taylor tried not to respond, but the word slipped out. “Daddy?”

“Yes, Taylor, it’s me. Dad. Win.” He was whispering. “You’ve been making life a little difficult here lately, sugar.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your sugar.”

“Taylor, listen to me. You need to follow Mr. Delglisi’s-”

She slipped a finger to the keypad and silently pushed the speaker button. Baldwin leaned forward to listen. “-instructions. Just make the massage parlors go away. Taylor, I’m sorry for all this. I’m trying to make it all right. I know I’ve botched everything, but I-”

Her blood started to boil, that familiar sensation of disbelief streaking back into her mind. Her father wasn’t dead. He was alive, working for a fucking mobster, and wanted her to turn the other cheek to something illegal he was involved in. Abso-fucking-lutely not.

“Stop. Just stop. What do think I am, Dad? You seem to forget that I’m a sworn officer of the law. I work for the good guys, Win. Not the bad guys. Not the ones like you.”

“Taylor, knock it off. You have no idea what kind of situation we’re in. You need to cooperate with him, Taylor. If you don’t-”

“What, Win? What kind of threat can you throw my way this time? Kidnapping isn’t enough for you? Now you’re going to have me taken care of?”

A rush of noise spilled from the speaker, what sounded like banging and yelling. Then another voice came on the line.

L’Uomo laughed, a sneering, belittling noise. “Oh, Win. I should have known I couldn’t trust you. Leave you alone for a second and you try to warn your sweet girl. Hello, Lieutenant. Lovely to speak with you again. Just wish it were under better circumstances.”

“What have you done with my father?”

“Nothing, yet. But I’ll kill him if you don’t cooperate. Slowly.”

Taylor felt herself pale. The mixed emotions-she hated her father, but she loved him, too. Damn it. They were both bastards. She gritted her teeth, snapping off the ends of each word as if they tasted bitter in her mouth.

“Like you did to Burt Mars? I swear, you son of a bitch, if you do anything to him, I will personally take you down.”

“No, you won’t. You don’t have that kind of power. Your fiance doesn’t, either, so don’t think about running to him. Mars was collateral damage. I do what needs to be done, Lieutenant. Just remember that. Now, it’s time to stop this game. You need to listen to me, once and for all. I’m willing to make a deal with you.”

“A deal? With a criminal? I don’t think so.”

“Oh, I think you’ll play along when I tell you what the offer is. Something to sweeten the proverbial pot. You turn your pretty little head away from my business interests in Nashville, and not only will I let your father live, I’ll give you Snow White.”

Taylor didn’t reply, just looked at Baldwin. He wrote her a note, slid it across the desk. She read the message- calm down.

Taylor nodded. Tried to sound more reasonable.

“Delglisi, I can’t do that. I can’t turn my head on illegal activities.”

“Yes, you can. And you will. You hold your father’s life in your hands. Snow White’s head on a platter, Lieutenant. I think that’s a generous gift.”

She raised an eyebrow at Baldwin, decided to take a chance, con the con.

“Yes, I agree. Very generous. There’s just one problem with your offer. I know who the Snow White is. So your little deal isn’t going to work. You need to let my father go.”

The laughter emanating from the speaker chilled Taylor’s spine. “You don’t know who he is, or you would have arrested him by now. Last chance, Lieutenant. I’ll give you a few hours to think it over.”

He was gone. Taylor slumped her head in her hands. Baldwin stroked her arm until she raised her head.

“Now what?” she asked.

“I have a call coming in. If my theory is right, I think we can take him down. There’s someone who might know a little more about his activities, know if he’s bluffing. And we need to get Snow White. That’s our only bargaining chip.”

“Bargaining? Surely you can’t be thinking of making a deal with that scumbag.”

Baldwin rocked back in his chair. “I figured you’d want me to do everything I could to stop him from hurting your father.”

“He won’t hurt him. They’re in this together. I can tell. I have a sneaking suspicion about Delglisi. Lincoln said Jane Macias’s notes had the name Malik next to Delglisi’s, right? What if Anthony Malik is Edward Delglisi? It would explain everything. Eldridge said they know Delglisi isn’t L’Uomo’s real name.”

Baldwin was nodding. “This makes sense.”

“And they’ve been friends for years. That’s what I keep remembering-Mars, my dad, the guy who I think must be Snow White, all chummy on New Year’s Eve. If I could get deeper into the memory and put a voice to the fourth man, I’ll bet you anything it’s Malik. Snow White’s name isn’t coming to me, but I’m sure if I go through the society pages real quick, I can find a picture of him and that damnable signet ring. If there’s a shot of Malik, too, maybe I can tie everything together, recognize Delglisi as Malik. We’ll have actual proof.

“But I’ll be damned if I’ll listen to directives from a bunch of old criminals, trying to one-up each other. Sick bastards. My father will have to fend for himself. I’m not bailing him out of this mess.”

A knock sounded on her door. “Come in,” she yelled.

Marcus opened the door, pale in the glare of the fluorescent bulbs. He stood, seemingly frozen in the door frame, and his voice shook just a bit when he told them.

“We have another victim.”