Cure

40

March 27, 2010

Saturday, 12:50 p.m.

The phone again jolted both Laurie and Jack, causing their pulses to speed up. A half-hour earlier it had been Warren apologizing for disturbing them but telling Jack that a handful of the boys were already out at the court and thinking they might start earlier than usual that afternoon. He wanted to know if Jack would like to join them to take his mind off what was going on. Jack had given the idea a brief thought, but after looking at Laurie had decided not to do it. He reasoned that they needed to be with each other even though they had run out of things to say. For both, the hardest part was feeling helpless while flipping back and forth between despondency and anger.

Before he’d hung up, Warren did have something at least interesting if not hopeful to say. He’d said that he and Flash had found a possible watcher, and Grover and Colt had come and hauled the man away.

“I actually saw the abduction,” Jack had admitted. “Do you know where they took him?”

“No idea,” Warren had said. “But we’re supposed to wait around for when they bring the guy back. That’s why we decided to start playing early.”

The second time the phone rang, neither of them wanted to pick it up. Laurie sat in a club chair, Jack on the couch next to the corner table where the phone lived. At that moment he was in the depressed side of his cycling emotions and was not sure he could interact with anyone. Nonetheless, after a few more rings he picked up the handset. He expected it was Warren trying to put more pressure on him to play ball, but it wasn’t. It was Captain Detective Mark Bennett.

“How are you people doing?” Marked asked. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Sleep is not in the cards today,” Jack said. “Is anything happening? You know we got another call?”

“Absolutely,” Mark said. “I listened to the recording a number of times and have even visited the Laundromat from where the call was made in hopes of talking to an employee who might have remembered the incident, but no go. At least we know the way they are going to communicate with us, which is important in and of itself.”

“Is that going to help?”

“Yes and no. There’s still a lot of public phones in the city, so we cannot stake out all of them. But it is something we’ll keep in mind as things progress. The important thing is that they came up with a specific demand, which means the negotiation will be starting. That’s an important milestone.”

“And reminded us of a previous demand,” Jack said. “They said no police. They threatened to physically hurt JJ if we don’t respect it.”

“That’s a demand kidnappers generally make,” Mark said, “and for obvious reasons, we are sensitive to the issue. We will certainly not broadcast our involvement in any way or form. Whether you tell the media or not is up to you, although we strongly recommend you don’t.”

“What about your coming in and out of here?” Jack questioned. “And what about the officer downstairs?”

“The officer downstairs will remain for now but will not be going in and out your door. We will be appreciative if you temporarily provide him with food and drink. Today or tomorrow we will figure out a way for him to get in and out and to be replaced without it being obvious to anyone watching the building. It is one of the benefits of living in a row house with multiple entrances into the rear common area.”

“No one is going to be coming in and out of the front door?” Jack questioned, just to be certain.

“Absolutely not,” Mark said.

“Anything else on your end?” Jack questioned.

“Yes,” Mark said. “I got a call from the people going over the white van that was used for the snatch. As we suspected, it was stolen, and as we suspected, it had been carefully wiped down. Still, we were able to pick up some partial and a few full prints, and all of them have been sent for evaluation. Something like that could be a big breakthrough. Also, we have put out an APB on your coworker, Vinnie Amendola. So far he’s evaded it; I mean, I’m not trying to suggest he’s doing it purposefully, just that we’ve had no responses.

“Now I have a suggestion for you,” Mark continued. “As you know, they have indicated they want the ransom to be in D perfect diamonds, which is clever on their part. Diamonds worth a million dollars will be easy to get but not without money. I’m afraid you should begin to see what kind of money you will be able to raise and how you are going to do it.”

“All our savings are completely tied up in our house. It has no property mortgage and no construction mortgage, either.”

“I encourage you to talk to your bank and see what kind of cash you might be able to expect on a financing deal. What about life insurance?”

“I have some but not much,” Jack said.

“Well, give it a go. When we get to that point of the negotiation, we have to have an idea of what’s the top amount we’ll have to work with. Now, do you have any questions? We are putting all our efforts into your case. I just spoke with the commissioner. He is extremely interested in having the case resolved yesterday.”

“I do have a question,” Jack said. “What do you think about finding out where these people are holding my kid?”

“It happens, but it is very rare. It also, in our opinion, puts the kidnapped individual at heightened risk. Our experience is to get the kidnappers to the bargaining table and negotiate the best terms possible for the release.”