THE Porsche was moving wildly through the Mulholland slalom. Jack Karch was going too fast for his skill now and the car was intermittently crossing the yellow line in the middle of the two-lane road and then rebounding by going off the road onto the shoulder. Karch was red-lining the tach but didn't want to take his hand off the wheel to pop the car into a higher gear. The engine roared and whined as the car went through the turns. Cassie gripped the windshield brace with both hands but was being thrown violently back and forth in her seat. Karch screamed over the din of the engine.
"I WANT THE FUCKING MONEY!"
She didn't answer him. She was too busy watching the road uncoiling in front of them and thinking for sure they would go off the shoulder and down the embankment.
"MARTIN IS DEAD! PALTZ IS DEAD! LEO IS DEAD!"
She turned to him at the mention of Leo's name. She felt her heart being pierced. Karch throttled back. He kept the car moving but the engine noise and wind abated.
"They're all dead," he said. "But I don't really want or need to hurt you, Cassie Black."
He smiled and shook his head.
"In fact, I admire you. You do good work and I admire that. But I came for the money and you're going to give it to me. You give me the money and we'll call it square."
Cassie spoke slowly and sternly.
"I don't know what you are talking about, okay? Please pull the car over."
A look of sincere disappointment crossed Karch's face and he shook his head.
"I spent all night at Leo's. I tore that place apart. I found a lot of champagne and I found the briefcase I was looking for. But I didn't find what was supposed to be in the briefcase. And I didn't find you until along about dawn when I found you sitting there right in front of me. Leo's cell phone. I hit redial and I got the dealership. I went through the direct extension directory and, lo and behold, I hear the name Cassie Black. I switched over just to hear your voice. 'This is Cassie at Hollywood Porsche. I'm not at work for a few days but if you call back and ask for Ray Morales he can handle – ' Blah, blah, blah, don't fucking lie to me. I don't like it. I WANT THE MONEY!"
"I SAID PULL THE CAR OVER!"
"Sure."
Karch suddenly steered the car hard right and they turned violently onto a gravel road that cut through a stand of pine trees. Cassie thought it was a fire road or some kind of public utilities access road. Whatever it was, it was clear Karch was taking them away from other traffic, from potential witnesses.
When they were about two hundred yards down the road, Karch slammed on the brakes and the Porsche skidded to a halt on the gravel. Cassie was thrown forward, her body pressing against her shoulder harness, and then back. She had no sooner recovered from the jarring stop then Karch was leaning across the center console onto her and pressing the long dark barrel of a gun against her face. He brought his free hand up and locked it onto the underside of her jaw.
"Listen to me. Are you listening?"
He was squeezing her jaw and she was unable to speak. She nodded.
"Good. What you need to know is that the people I work for care about one thing at this time. The money. Nothing else. So don't be like your pals Leo or Jersey. It will only get you killed."
Cassie just stared at him down the length of the gun. She could see it had a silencer attached to it.
"Don't think," Karch said. "Just talk."
He relaxed the pressure slightly so she could speak.
"Okay," she said. "Don't hurt me and I'll tell you where it is."
"You'll do more than that, sweetheart. You'll take me to it."
"Okay. Whatever you – "
He cut her off by squeezing her neck.
"You get one chance. You understand?"
Cassie nodded. Karch slowly released his grip and took his hand away. He was leaning back toward his seat when he suddenly snapped his fingers and leaned toward her again. He reached up to her face and she flinched, but then his hand went past her face to her ear.
"I looked in your office in the showroom before you showed up. Playing cards all over the place. Like you were looking for something. This what you were looking for?"
He pulled his hand back and seemingly pulled something from her ear. He held it up in front of her face. It was the ace of hearts. He smiled.
"Magic," he said.
And then it struck her. Magic. The name Karch. She remembered the newspaper stories. Reading them in Metro detention before her arraignment. Jack Karch. He was the one.
He read something in her face.
"You didn't like that, huh? Well, I've got more. After we take care of business I'll show you a real disappearing act."
He settled behind the wheel, his right arm still stretched across the console and poking the black gun into her ribs.
"Now, we're going to have to work together here, that okay with you? Put it in gear."
He depressed the clutch pedal and she reached over and moved the shift into the first gear slot. He started the car moving. He turned it around and headed back up the gravel road to Mulholland. After he wound it out he called for second gear and she complied. He started talking again as though they were out for a Sunday drive.
"You know something, I gotta tell you, the way you did this thing, I… my hat's off to you. I think, you know, different circumstances… you and me, we could've… I don't know, done something."
He took his hand off the wheel and pointed to the gear shift.
"See, we work good together."
She didn't answer. She knew he was a psychopath, able to talk sincerely about doing things together with a woman he was holding at gunpoint. Cassie knew she had to make a move, to shift things. She knew this man was going to kill her. She would be part of the disappearing act he had promised. She couldn't help but smile sadly at the irony of her situation. She knew she could make the argument that this man had already killed her, six-and-a-half years before.
"What's so funny?"
She looked at him. He had caught her glib smile.
"Nothing. The vagaries of life, I guess. And the coincidences."
"You mean like fate, bad luck, that sort of thing?"
She casually moved her right arm so that her hand rested between her legs. Karch noticed and pushed the muzzle deeper into her side.
"Like the void moon?"
She turned sharply to look at him.
"Yeah, Leo mentioned something about it last night. Later on when I was looking around I read up on it in one of those books he's got. He was a big believer. Didn't do him any good in the end, did it? Where to?"
They were moving through the grove of pine trees, coming up to Mulholland. Cassie realized this might be her best chance. She took a deep breath and made her move.
"When you get up there you – "
She started raising her left arm as if to point out directions but then snapped her arm straight, knocking the gun away from her mid-section. She then grabbed the wheel with her left hand at the same time her right went down the front of her seat and engaged the air bag kill switch. She yanked the wheel hard right and the car lurched off the gravel road and directly into the trunk of a pine tree. It happened so fast Karch didn't have time to scream or fire his gun.
The driver-side air bag exploded from the steering wheel upon impact with the tree. It slammed Karch back against his headrest.
Cassie's shoulder harness stopped her forward trajectory before she hit the windshield. She was momentarily dazed but knew she had to move. She unfastened the seatbelt and frantically tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. She didn't try it a second time. She hoisted herself up and jumped out of the car. Immediately, she started running downhill through the trees. She didn't look back at the Porsche.
Karch was more than momentarily dazed by the impact. The air bag hit him like a one-two punch to the chest and jaw. The tiny explosive used to propel it from the steering wheel also singed his face and neck. The impact knocked the gun out of his hand and onto one of the tiny rear seats. As the air bag began to deflate he came out of the daze and slapped it out of his face. He tried to jump up but his seatbelt held him secure. He quickly unfastened it and climbed up with his knees on the seat. He looked in all directions and then finally caught a glimpse of Cassie Black moving quickly away through the trees.
Instinctively he knew he would not catch her. She had a lead and she probably knew where she was going. It was her turf, not his.
"Fuck!"
He looked down into the rear of the car and found the Sig Sauer on the backseat. He reached down and grabbed it and then slipped back into his seat. He turned the key and tried to start the car again. Nothing happened. He turned the key back and forth several times but all he heard was a clicking sound.
"Fuck!"
He tried to open the door but it was jammed closed. The impact from the tree had apparently damaged the car body in such a way that the doors were sealed tight. He started climbing out of the seat again and as he did so he saw the little black wallet that Cassie Black had placed in the CD holder on the dashboard. He reached down for it and opened it. Behind a clear plastic window was a California driver's license. He studied the photo of Cassie Black and then looked at the address. She lived on Selma in Hollywood.
Karch looked off into the woods. Cassie Black was long gone now. Still, standing on the front seat of the Porsche he held the wallet up as though she were in there someplace looking back at him.
"Look what I found," he called out. "You didn't win yet, sweetheart!"
He took the silencer off the Sig and fired the gun once into the air, just to let her know he was still coming.
As Cassie sprinted carefully down the hill she began to hear music and used its source as a beacon. Eventually she came out of the woods at a parking lot she recognized as being behind the Hollywood Bowl. She guessed that the Philharmonic must be practicing. She followed the access road down to Highland and then walked down to Sunset.
It took her twenty minutes to get back to the dealership. As she approached she saw two black-and-white police cars parked in the entranceway to the parking lot. There was also an unmarked car with a bubble light on the dashboard parked up on the curb in front of the showroom. Behind it an ambulance was parked but its rear doors were closed.
There were many people standing out on the sidewalk, including most of the dealership's sales and service staff. Cassie walked up to a salesman named Billy Meehan, who was staring into the showroom with a stricken look on his face.
"Billy, what happened?"
He looked down at her and his eyes grew large.
"Oh, thank God! I thought you were in there with them. Where have you been?"
Cassie hesitated, then decided on a lie that was not technically a lie.
"I was taking a walk. In there with who?"
Meehan put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down into her face as though he was breaking very bad news to her. He was.
"There's been a robbery. Somebody put Ray and Connie down on the floor in her office and shot them both."
Cassie brought her hands up to her face and stifled a scream.
"They then stole the silver cab. We thought maybe, uh, you were a hostage or something. I'm glad you're okay."
Cassie just nodded her head. Her history had been a guarded secret with Ray Morales. She realized that if other employees had known about it, they probably would have immediately suggested her as a suspect to the police. Maybe that was what Karch had been counting on.
She felt weak all of a sudden and had to sit down. She practically slid down Meehan's body and sat down on the curb. She tried to understand what had happened and could only conclude that Karch must have shot Ray and Connie because he didn't have a fake driver's license with the name Lankford on it. He knew there was no way he could leave a record with his real name on it. Not with what he had planned to do with her.
"Cassie, you all right?"
"I just can't believe – are they dead?"
"Yeah, both of them. I looked in there before the police came. It wasn't a pretty picture."
Cassie leaned forward and vomited into the gutter. It was one deep heave that seemed to empty her totally. She wiped her mouth with her hand.
"Cassie!" Meehan cried as he watched. "I'll go get one of the paramedics."
"No, don't. I'm fine. I just… poor Ray. All he wanted to do was help."
"What do you mean?"
She realized she had made a mistake giving her thoughts voice.
"I mean he was just a nice guy. Connie, too. They would have given up the keys or the money. Why'd he have to shoot them?"
"I know. It makes no sense. By the way, did you see someone?"
"No, why?"
"I noticed you said 'he' when you were talking about it."
"No, I've been gone. I was just saying it was a he because I just think it probably was. I can't think straight right now."
"I know what you mean. I can't believe this is happening."
She sat on the curb with her face in her hands, the guilt of the world weighing down on her. The words I did this, I did this, I did this kept running through her head. She knew she had to get away from this place and never look back.
She found her strength and stood up, grabbing Meehan's arm one time to steady herself.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
"Yes, fine. I'm fine. Thanks, Billy."
"You should probably let the police know you're okay and you're here."
"Okay, I will. Actually, could you tell them for me? I'm not sure I want to go in there."
"Sure, Cassie, I'll go tell them right now."
Cassie waited a few moments after Meehan walked away, then walked down the sidewalk to the alley that ran behind the dealership. She followed the alley behind the service center to the other side of the dealership and walked into the sales lot. The silver Boxster that Ray had been letting her use was there. She always parked it in the sales lot in case a customer was interested.
The car was unlocked but her key was in her backpack in her office. She opened the door and pulled the front trunk release. She came around and opened the lid and took out the leather-bound owner's manual, then closed the trunk and got into the car. Behind one of the folds of the booklet was a plastic key for the eventual owner to put in a wallet as an emergency backup. She took it out, started the car and drove out of the lot into the alley. She kept a slow, deliberate speed until she had covered two blocks in the alley. She then cut up to Sunset and took a right, in a direction away from the dealership and toward the 101 Freeway.
Tears ran down her cheeks as she drove. What had happened at the dealership changed everything. Leo's death was awful and hurt her deeply. But Leo had been in the circle and knew the risks. Ray Morales and Connie Leto, the finance manager, were innocents. Their deaths signaled the lengths to which Karch was willing to go to recover the money. It meant there were no bounds anymore. To Karch, to her guilt, to anything.