Lost Lake

CHAPTER THIRTY

Victor Hobson had crawled under the covers of his hotel bed a little after midnight at the end of a fruitless day spent shuttling between the Portland police bureau and the FBI office. Then he had tossed and turned all night. At five in the morning, he dragged himself out of bed feeling more exhausted than he’d been when he went to sleep. On the east coast it was eight o’clock. If he were home, he would be at least an hour behind his usual schedule.

Hobson went into the bathroom. The mirror in his hotel room was not kind to him. Shaving, brushing his teeth, and taking a cold shower raised his spirits a little, but his failure to make any progress in the manhunt was still depressing.

Carl Rice had been as insubstantial as a ghost for the past twenty years, and there were times when Hobson had wondered if Carl was just a figment of his imagination. Now, just when it appeared that Rice was in his grasp, he had disappeared again. Victor could not understand how a man could vanish so completely.

It had been too late on the east coast to call Emily before he went to bed, so Hobson decided to call her now, knowing that she’d be up with the kids. He was reaching for the hotel phone when his cell phone rang. Hobson tried to remember where he’d put it and finally found it on the desk after several unnerving rings that sounded to his tired brain like metal dishes clattering on a tile floor.

“Hobson,” he barked as he turned on the desk light.

“Victor, this is Vanessa Kohler.”

Vanessa’s voice acted on Hobson like a strong cup of coffee.

“Where are you?” he asked, trying to hide his excitement.

“I’m with Carl Rice in my father’s mansion. You know where that is, right?”

“Yes.”

“My father’s men kidnapped me and he’s been using drugs to keep me a prisoner. Carl broke into the mansion to rescue me but we’re trapped. We’ve barricaded ourselves in a maid’s room on the second floor. My father’s men are trying to kill us. We’re armed, and we’ll fight if we have to, but we’d rather turn ourselves in.”

“I can arrange that.”

“Then you’d better move fast. I don’t know how long my father will wait before he tells his men to storm the room. Now, here’s what I want you to do. First, you have to tell the local police where we are and that we want to surrender to them. They’ll have to come to the room. We’re afraid to step into the hall if we’re not protected. My father’s men have already fired several shots at us.”

“I’ll call the police immediately,” Hobson assured her.

“As soon as the police are on the way I want you to call my father. I’ll stay on the line so you can hear him if he tries to break into the room. Tell him that you’re talking to me and that the police are coming. Tell him to stop shooting. He’ll kill us if the police aren’t here soon.”

“Give me the number of the estate.”

As soon as Vanessa rattled off the phone number, Hobson dialed Detective Walsh on the hotel phone. Walsh answered almost immediately. He sounded half-asleep.

“Howard, this is Victor Hobson. I’ve got Vanessa Wingate on my cell phone. She’s barricaded in a second-floor room in General Wingate’s mansion in California. Carl Rice is with her and they’re armed, but she assures me that they’ll surrender to the police if the police go to the room and escort them out. Call the police in San Diego and get them to Wingate’s estate immediately. Explain the situation. Vanessa says that her father’s security guards are shooting at her. I’m going to call General Wingate and try to cool things down.”

Once Hobson told Walsh where Wingate’s estate was located, he disconnected and dialed the Wingate mansion.

“Answer that, General,” Hobson heard Vanessa yell as soon as the phone started to ring. “I’m talking to an assistant director of the FBI on Sam’s cell phone. We’ve offered to surrender to the police. He can hear everything that’s going on. He wants to talk to you now.”

“Did you hear that?” Vanessa asked Hobson.

“I can hear you,” Hobson assured her.

“My father knows you’re on the line. If he shoots us it will be murder.”

There was a click on the hotel phone line. “Who is this?” General Wingate asked.

“Victor Hobson, General. I’m an assistant director of the FBI. We spoke many years ago when I was investigating the murder of Congressman Eric Glass.”

“Yes, I remember. You were an agent then.”

“You’ve got a good memory. Your daughter called me. She’s on the line now on a cell phone and can hear what I’m saying. I understand we have a situation at your mansion.”

“My daughter is a sick woman, Director Hobson. Carl Rice-the man who murdered Eric Glass-was in jail in Portland, Oregon. Vanessa helped him escape. He’s insane but very clever. Rice has convinced Vanessa that I’m some master criminal who is trying to kill them.

“My men rescued Vanessa from Rice but he got away. She was brought here so that I could get her the help she needs. I was going to call the authorities after I contacted a lawyer to represent her, but Rice broke into my home. He’s killed several of my guards and he tried to kill me. I managed to escape and my security force has them pinned down. He’s holding one of my men hostage, if he hasn’t killed him already.”

“Yes, well, I want you to tell your men to hold their fire,” Hobson said. “We’ve contacted the San Diego police and they’re on the way. Vanessa says she and Rice are willing to surrender to them, so there’s no need for you to take any action aside from making certain that they stay put.”

“Did you hear that?” Hobson heard Vanessa yell at her father. “You better not try anything now. Director Hobson will hear everything you do. Carl and I will lay down our weapons when the police come. We won’t hurt anyone, so there won’t be any ‘killed resisting arrest,’ or ‘killed in self-defense.’ If you shoot us you’ll be charged with murder.”

The second line in Hobson’s hotel room started blinking.

“I’m going to put you on hold for a moment, General” he said. “I’m getting another call. It’s probably an update on the police situation.”

“I’ll hold,” Wingate said. “And don’t worry. My men won’t shoot. I don’t want Vanessa hurt.”

Hobson spoke to Detective Walsh long enough to be briefed. Then he reconnected with Wingate.

“The local police are minutes away, General. Please have your gate man let them in.”

“Of course. Now, Director Hobson, will you ask my daughter, as a show of good faith, to send my man out?”

“Vanessa?”

“Yes.”

“Your father says that you have a hostage.”

“He’s not a hostage. He’s the bastard who kidnapped me. You’ve met him. He’s Sam Cutler.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Ex-boyfriend. My father paid him to keep an eye on me. He’s the one who’s been giving me drugs, and he tried to murder Carl.”

“Will you send him out as a show of good faith?”

“I should kill the bastard, but I’ll give him back to his master if Carl says it’s okay.”

Hobson held on the phone. He could hear Vanessa and Rice conferring, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Okay. Tell the General to keep his men back and we’ll drag him out. He’s still unconscious.”

“Vanessa has agreed to send out your man, but you have to keep back from the door.”

“I’ll tell my men to back away and hold their fire.”

“Good.”

“And I have a favor to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Please tell the police to treat my daughter gently. She’s a sick woman. I’m certain she has no real grasp of reality. She belongs in a hospital, not a jail.”

Vanessa could hear Victor Hobson’s half of the conversation, and she could imagine what her father was saying. He would be lying, of course, telling Hobson that she and Carl were crazy, but crazy was better than dead.

As soon as Hobson told her that the General had pulled his men down the hall, Carl gave Vanessa his gun.

“He looks like he’s still out,” Carl said, “but don’t hesitate to kill him if he’s faking.”

Vanessa kept the gun trained on Cutler. Carl grimaced from the pain in his shoulder as he pushed the bed out of the way and pulled the chair from beneath the doorknob. Then he grabbed Cutler under the arms and dragged him to the door. Vanessa followed him, keeping the gun trained on Cutler. He still looked unconscious, but Vanessa wasn’t taking chances.

Carl wrestled Cutler to the door and Vanessa opened it. The area in front of the door was empty. Carl laid Cutler on the floor and shoved him into the hall. Vanessa slammed the door shut and Carl wedged the chair under the knob again before pushing the bed back into place.

“We did what you asked,” Vanessa told Hobson. “Sam’s in the hall, safe and sound. Now it’s your job to keep us alive.”

“The police are almost there,” Hobson said.

Vanessa sat down with her back to the far wall and pulled her knees to her chest.

“How are you holding up?” Carl asked.

“I’m fine, just tired. It’s probably the drugs.”

“They’ll wear off soon.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry I got you into this,” Carl said.

“You didn’t get me into anything. I’m the one who broke you out of jail.”

“And now it looks like we’ll both go to prison. I never meant for it to be this way.”

“Why did you come for me, Carl? You could have been well away from here, on your way to freedom.”

“I betrayed you once, Van, and I wasn’t going to do that again. I let the General seduce me. That decision has haunted me my whole life.”

“You think we would have stayed together if you went to college? I was pretty screwed up back then.” She laughed. “I still am.”

“I have no idea what would have happened. I just know that I let you down.”

“So you were trying to set things right by storming the General’s castle?”

“I was keeping my word. You saved me and I told you I’d come for you. That’s what I did. Sorry it didn’t work out like it does in the movies.”

“Oh, I don’t know. In the movies, the cavalry always comes to the rescue.”

Vanessa pointed to the outer wall. Rice heard the faint sound of sirens.

“We’ll be out of here soon and we’ll be alive,” Vanessa said.

“But we’ll both be in jail.”

Vanessa reached over and held Carl’s forearm. “Don’t give up. We’ll beat him. I know it. I just haven’t figured out how, yet. But we’ll beat my father.”

Vanessa swore this with conviction, but Carl knew he was doomed to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Vanessa’s father could probably keep her out of jail, though she would spend years-if not a lifetime-in a mental hospital.

Carl put his good arm around her shoulder and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Sure we will, Van. Sure we will.”