Private London

Chapter 31

I nodded.

‘Jessica Shapiro told her captors exactly who she and Hannah were, what they were worth and said she was a hundred per cent certain that her husband would pay the ransom.’

‘But he didn’t,’ Wendy Lee said.

‘No. John Santini contacted Harlan Shapiro and gave him a couple of days to come up with the money. No police or all bets were off and then he would be collecting his wife and daughter in plastic bags. Given their history as enforcers for East Coast organised crime it was no idle threat. Not that Harlan Shapiro knew that, of course. He is a man used to getting his own way.’

I took a sip of my coffee. ‘Harlan Shapiro decided to make a stand. Like his government he was going to stand firm in the face of terrorism, as he saw it. He needed a private detective agency known for getting the job done. One that would not hesitate if lethal force was required. One that wouldn’t be hamstrung with legal bureaucracy and Miranda rights, etc., etc. One that would get his wife and daughter back safe. He never believed that if he paid the money the kidnappers would make good on their promise. Most likely he was right.’

‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ Sam agreed.

‘Yeah, so he went to a private-investigation outfit he had used a few times before. Run by a guy called Prentiss who assigned Jack Morgan to the case.

‘Right off the bat Jack advised Harlan Shapiro to pay the ransom. From what he had heard of the operation he deduced they were dealing with a couple of chancers whose ambitions far outstretched their likely experience. Pay the ransom and he could practically guarantee they would trace the kidnappers down, recover the money and deliver them to justice.’

‘But Shapiro didn’t listen to him?’ asked Suzy.

I shook my head. ‘No. He didn’t.’

‘Jack obviously managed to get them back, though?’ asked Lucy puzzled.

‘Not entirely. He saved Hannah. But not before she was forced to watch her mother being raped by Vincent Cabrello and murdered by John Santini.’

‘That’s awful.’

‘You’ve got to remember that Jack didn’t have the resources of Private behind him at the time, Lucy. When he got there he was too late for Jessica but at least he saved Hannah.’

‘What happened to the kidnappers?’

I smiled bleakly. ‘Let’s just say they didn’t make it to trial.’

‘You reckon the two cases are connected?’ asked Brad Dexter.