When Darkness Falls

chapter 41

T he relief was written all over Sergeant Paulo’s face.

Jack felt exactly the same way, and to that extent, looking at Paulo was like looking in the mirror. It had been Paulo’s idea to plant the tiny electronic listening device in the bottom of the double paper bag, buried between the seams. No one, however, had expected such a big payoff so soon: no bomb. On some level, it seemed bizarre to rejoice in the fact that they were dealing only with a paranoid killer who had plenty of ammunition and was a crack shot with his pistol. Small victories, however, were a relative concept, especially in hostage negotiations.

“So, who’s the weatherman?” said Jack.

“We think it must be Walt the Weather Wizard from channel seven,” said Paulo. “He left the station at eleven-thirty last night and never came home. His wife reported him missing this morning.”

“His wife?” said Alicia. “I thought he was gay.”

“Everybody does,” said Paulo. “Maybe that’s how he ended up in a hotel room with two prostitutes. A metrosexual with something to prove.”

“More to the point,” said Jack, “we now know that there are two male hostages and two females. That’s an awful lot for Theo to deal with.”

Alicia said, “You mean it’s a lot for Falcon to deal with.”

“No, I meant Theo,” said Jack. “I know how my friend thinks. He won’t come out of that hotel room unless they all come out together. Now it turns out that he’s stuck in there with two teenage girls and Walt the Weather Wizard. It’s all on Theo’s shoulders.”

No one disagreed.

“At least there’s no bomb,” said Alicia.

Paulo said, “It’s interesting, though, the way he talks about his generator. You can hear it in his voice. It’s as if he thinks a generator is more scary than explosives.”

“I heard it, too,” said Jack. “But it’s hard to imagine how that could be.”

“Depends on your imagination, I suppose,” said Alicia.

“What do you mean?” said Jack.

She hesitated and looked away. “Just, you know, this Falcon has already shown himself to be highly delusional. There’s no telling what he thinks his little generator can do. Maybe he’s convinced himself that it has the power to change the magnetic charge of the earth’s poles or the gravitational pull of the moon.”

“You sure that’s what you meant?”

“Yeah. What else would I mean?”

Several possible answers to that question tumbled through Jack’s mind. The same intuition that had raised his antennae a few hours earlier was gnawing at him again. He could have sworn she was backpedaling. “Tell me something, Alicia. What scares you the most about Falcon?”

She gave him a curious expression. “That he’ll kill the hostages, of course.”

“Let me ask a different question. What does your father fear most about him?”

“The same thing, I’m sure.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know my father.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” she said, somewhat annoyed.

“Do you know what your father’s bodyguard was doing along the river, down by Falcon’s car, the other night?”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“How about you, sergeant?”

Jack had hoped to catch Paulo off guard and get some kind of reading from his expression. Paulo was too savvy for that. “Funny thing about people with something on their chest. If they’re afraid to get it off, they usually end up with a chip on their shoulder.”

“Meaning what?”

“Spare us the cross-examination mode, counselor. If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I’m all for the direct approach, so long as it’s a two-way street. Does somebody want to tell me what the mayor’s bodyguard was doing down there, or are you going to keep pretending that you didn’t know anything about it?”

“I’m sure he had a good reason,” said Alicia.

“I’d sure like to hear it. Because a woman was killed that night.”

“She was beaten to death with a lead pipe that has Falcon’s fingerprints all over it,” she said.

“Alicia,” said Paulo. It was clearly an admonishment, as she was sharing confidential details about the investigation with a guy who was (or at least had been) Falcon’s lawyer.

“I don’t care,” she said. “I see where you’re headed with this, Swyteck, and it’s nothing but a distraction. You think something smells fishy. Maybe you even think my father sent his bodyguard down to the river to make sure Falcon doesn’t come after me again.”

“Maybe I do,” said Jack.

“Alicia,” said Paulo.

“No, I want to clear this up right now. It’s ridiculous. Even if my father were the type of man to do such a thing-which he’s not-your insinuation just doesn’t make any sense. If Falcon himself had ended up dead, maybe you would at least have some semblance of logic on your side. But why in the world would my father’s bodyguard kill a defenseless woman who has been homeless for so long that not even the medical examiner can identify her body?”

She had a point, but at this stage of the discussion, Jack wasn’t ready to concede anything. “I’m working on that.”

“Your work would be better focused on helping Vince solve this crisis.”

“That I agree with,” said Paulo. A moment later, his phone rang. It was the outside line, not their negotiation line. Paulo answered, then covered the mouthpiece and spoke to Jack. “It’s Darden, the Miami officer who went with you to the Greater Bahamian Bank and Trust Company. Can you excuse me for a minute please?”

Jack didn’t move. “Two-way street, remember?”

Paulo was about to object, then seemed to think better of it. Perhaps he saw an opportunity to regain Jack’s trust by not making him leave, but he didn’t go so far as to put Darden on speaker. It turned out to be a short conversation, with Paulo doing a lot of listening and very little talking. He hung up after just a couple of minutes.

“Did something turn up at the Bahamian bank?” said Jack.

“Quite the opposite, actually. Darden just gave me a little update on Mr. Riley, the manager who let you into the bank this morning.”

“What about him?”

“He’s gone missing.”

It took Jack a moment to process that one. “‘Missing’ as in he ran away? Or ‘missing’ as in foul play?”

“Don’t know yet. But according to the Bahamian police, every computer record relating to Falcon’s safe deposit box has been destroyed. Every handwritten record, including the access log book, is gone also.”

“Sounds like you need to find Mr. Riley.”

“Yeah,” said Paulo. “I’d say that sounds about right.”