Broken Promises (20 page)

Her captor stopped. Next came the sound of
metal scraping. A lock? Then the sound of a door swinging open.
Sounded like a heavy door too. He adjusted her dead weight against
his side, closed the door and started downward. Cool, damp air.

No. No
. Imprisoned in some kind of
basement or cellar, she’d never see the light of day again. She
counted the steps—fifteen. Fifteen steps and a metal door between
her and freedom.

He stopped and set her on her feet. “We’re
home now,” he said. Something familiar about his voice and yet not.
It had to be the same man who pulled up and asked Jackie to see
about his sick cat. Were she and Cody already dead? And now it was
her turn? “Jackie! Cody!”

“We’re here, Bette.” Jackie’s voice. Hope
surged through her. Breathing became easier. They were still alive.
So what did he want with her?

“Quiet!” he ordered, then whipped the hood
from her head.

Light. Dim, but still it hurt her eyes until
they adjusted.

Her captor loomed over her, bulky and
muscular. Dressed in black. She raised her gaze. Full sandy beard.
Blue eyes. So familiar.

“Oh, crap.”

Chapter Twenty

Before Alex could figure out his next move,
his cell phone chimed again. Detective Spitz returning his call
with just a quick “Down to the house. Now.” No use arguing he
needed to check out the old wineries.

Hold on, Bette.

Now, here he was. Spitz ushered him into a
small office and told him to wait. Hurry up and wait. Oldest game
in the book. He settled in a guest chair and drummed his fingers on
the padded arm.

No time for this shit.

He stood and paced. Checked his watch. They’d
already kept him waiting for over an hour. Time was flying by, and
he was hung up here. Time he needed to find Bette and his family.
He stepped outside the office, glanced up and down the hall.
“Where’s Detective Spitz?” he asked a passing uniformed
officer.

She shook her head. “Don’t know. But he said
you were to wait.” She jerked her head toward the office.

“I’ve been waiting. Dammit.” He went back
inside and sat, fists clenching and unclenching. Should’ve never
come down here. Should’ve gone looking for Bette and Jackie.

After another eternity, the door opened. He
glanced up, expecting to see Spitz. Instead, the newcomer was male,
tall, and moved with an attitude of authority. Alex noted the navy
suit, tie, and white shirt, but it was the attitude more than
anything else which marked the newcomer as one of his federal
counterparts.

“Tom Hixson, Buffalo field office.” He gave a
grim smile. “Sorry to hear about your troubles, Agent
MacGregor.”

Alex acknowledged Hixson with a nod. “I’m
just glad the local LEOs finally requested federal intervention.”
He leaned forward. “Maybe now we can make some real progress.
There’s been a ransom demand. I’m telling you, I’ve got a good
lead, and no one’s doing shit about it.”

Hixson sat behind the desk. “You understand
you can’t be a part of the investigation?”

“Would keeping me up-to-date on developments
be too much trouble?”

“We can do that,” Hixson said, nodding.
“What’s this about a lead?”

“Bette—Miss Smithson—left me a voice mail
sometime before I heard from the kidnapper. I was in the shower and
missed her call. Somehow, my sister got to a phone and called
Bette. The connection was terrible, but she made out something
about a deserted winery. Might be the old Massamore Winery. I was
headed up there, but Detective Spitz caught me before I could
leave. I’ve been cooling my jets for nearly two hours.”

“Good thing he did. We don’t need you going
off precipitately.” Hixson’s expression took on a contemplative
note, as if considering whether or not to reveal something. “In the
interest of full disclosure, as soon as we were called by the local
department, we subpoenaed your brother-in-law’s financial records
and discovered something interesting. He makes regular monthly
payments to an escort agency in New York City.”

“What!” A burst of anger flashed through
Alex. Fists clenched, he stood. “I knew that bastard was hiding
something.”

“Now, hold on.” The agent held up a delaying
hand. “What we
didn’t
find was any indication he’d hired
anyone to kidnap your sister. He submitted to a polygraph
yesterday. It was inconclusive. As expected, there were some areas
of deception noted when he was questioned about his alibi.”

No money trail. And no alibi.
Alex
scratched his head and sat, wishing his present nightmare would go
away quicker than the itch. “What about the escort agency? Could it
be a front for a killer-for-hire business?”

The agent’s mouth quirked in a half smile.
“Hire a hit man…on a monthly payment plan?” He shook his head.
“Doubtful. We’re still investigating the escort agency. It’s
definitely a shell company and backed by money out of the Caymans.
We don’t know who owns it yet, but it appears to be exactly what it
purports.”

“While my sister was being kidnapped, my
brother-in-law was in the Big Apple playing hide the salami with a
hooker. Bastard still has a lot of explaining to do.” He clenched
and unclenched his fists, envisioning what he wanted to do to the
sorry son of a bitch his sister had the poor judgment to marry.

Hixson shot him a sympathetic look. “Know how
you feel, MacGregor, but you need to hold off…for the time
being.”

Alex took a deep breath before answering.
“Could you? If it was your sister?”

The agent shot Alex a sideways glance.
“Probably not.”

“What are we going to do about the ransom?
You’ve seen the financials. Does Brad have that kind of money lying
around?”

“You know we don’t recommend paying any
ransom.”

“What choice do we have? We have to at least
make him
think
we’re going to pay it. Set up surveillance.
Catch him when he comes to pick it up.” Crap! This was taking too
damned long.

“More than likely, it won’t be a simple drop.
If the unsub knows what he’s doing, he’ll have multiple check
points to make sure you aren’t followed. Don’t suppose
you
have that kind of money, do you? Better not, since that would
trigger an automatic investigation of
your
finances.” The
agent shot him a wry smile.

Not amused. “Hell, no! I don’t have that kind
of change in my piggy bank or anywhere else. You never answered my
question. Does my brother-in-law have it?”

Hixson offered a grim facsimile of a smile.
“Given his propensity for engaging prostitutes, he might only want
to pay the ransom for his son.”

“I’ll take it from his hide if he
doesn’t.”

“In any case,” Hixson continued
,
“we’ve placed a trap and trace on both his home
line and his cell phone.”

“The kidnapper called
my
cell phone.
He could’ve only gotten the number from my sister or Bette.”

“Hm.” The agent frowned, then let out a sigh.
“We ran background checks on everyone involved. Bette is
really…”

“Yeah, yeah. I know who she is, and her
brother too.”

“Any chance she’s involved in this?” Hixson
rested his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers in a
thoughtful gesture as he spoke. “Maybe your Miss Spinelli is
shaking you down, pretending she’s been kidnapped? The brother
could be a part of the scheme.”

“No.” Alex leaned forward. “She left New
Jersey after her parents died. She has no part in the family
business. Her brother doesn’t even know where she is.”

“You sure about that? Do you really want to
trust a woman with mob connections with your sister and nephew’s
lives?”

“
I
trust her. Whoever did this is
trying to get to me. Someone has a grudge and is trying to hurt me
by taking the people I love.”

Eyebrows shot up. “You’re in love with this
Spinelli woman, or Smithson, as she’s calling herself now?” Hixson
shook his head. “You’re aware how your career will be affected?” He
paused and raised a quizzical brow. “If you choose to pursue a
relationship.”

Alex swallowed the impulse to tell the agent
to mind his own damned business. “Let’s just find them. Then I’ll
sort out that particular relationship when I have time.”

“No offense. Just a friendly warning.” Hixson
made a small washing-hands gesture.

“None taken.”

“Now, I’m going to follow up on this winery
lead of yours with the detective. I’m sure he’ll want to assemble a
team to check out the place.” He stood and indicated with a frown
that Alex should remain seated.

“It’s about time someone did something.” Alex
nodded. Besides, he needed to have a man-to-man with Brad and see
what he could do about the ransom. He waited until Hixson was out
of earshot, then rose and pulled out his cell phone. He seldom had
any reason to call his brother-in-law, but the number was in his
call directory for emergencies. And this was a freaking
emergency.

While it rang, he waited and sucked in a deep
breath. Damn! Why wasn’t he picking up? Then, as Alex was about to
give up, Brad answered.

“It’s Alex. Need to talk to you, man. Where
the hell are you?”

“Home. What do
you
want?” Bastard’s
tone was surly. He’d show him surly. Kick his ass too, while he was
at it.

Too freaking bad. Sonofabitch was at home
when he ought to be out looking for his wife and kid. Alex tamped
down the anger and modulated his tone to noncommittal. “There’s
been a ransom demand.”

“What? No one called me.”

“Everything isn’t about you. Stick around.
I’m on my way.” Unable to control his frustration any further, Alex
snapped the phone shut and sprinted for the rental car.

~~*~~

Alex bounded up the front steps and went
inside. He brushed past the two agents, who were minding the trap
and trace, and found his brother-in-law standing by the fireplace,
drinking what appeared to be a scotch rocks.

Great. Freaking great
. He grabbed the
bastard by the front of his pricy silk shirt and slammed him
against the brick wall. “Dude! I know you lied about the hooker.
You son of a bitch! You freaking failed the lie detector test. Now
either tell me what you’ve done with my sister, or I’m going to
beat you within an inch of your life.”

“Man, that’s not how it is.” The oily sheen
of sweat glistened on Brad’s flushed face.

“Then tell me
how it is
, Brad. And
this time, it better be the truth. Or so help me God…” Alex drew
his fist back.

“B-Brandi’s my sister.”

“That’s a good one. Don’t remember you having
a sister named Brandi.” He relaxed his grip on Brad’s shirt.

“Yeah, uh—” Brad swallowed hard. “Maybe you
remember Susan, the youngest? She moved to the city to go to design
school. Got in with some real artsy-fartsy types who got her
hooked. Now, she’s on the streets. Not on the streets, exactly.
She’s working for this escort agency. Higher class clientele, I
guess.”

“First I’ve heard about it.” Not that he’d
bothered to keep track of his brother-in-law’s siblings.

“I’m the only one in the family who knows.
Jackie doesn’t even know. I tell her I’ve got a conference, and I
go up there periodically to see if Suze’s all right. I go through
the agency, pretending to be one of her out-of-town johns. I pay
her so she won’t get in trouble with her bosses. That’s where the
money goes. And I promise you, every single time I go up there, I
do my best to talk her into going into treatment and coming home,
but she’s not having any.”

A familiar story. But was it the truth? “You
better not be bullshitting me. And don’t think I won’t check it
out. I want the name of the escort agency, how you contact her, the
whole works.”

“All right! Now take your damned hands off
me.”

Alex released his hold. Brad sagged against
the wall and let out an exasperated grunt. “You slam me against the
wall one more time, and I’ll have your special-agent ass arrested
for assault.”

One of the agents stuck his head into the
den. “Everything all right in here?”

Alex glared at his peer. “Family matter.
Everything’s fine.” He redirected his attention to his
brother-in-law. “What about the three million ransom? Are you going
to pay it or not?”

“Three million?”

“He wants a million for Jackie, a million for
your son…and for Bette. Did you even know she’s been
kidnapped?”

“No, but you’ve got some damned nerve, Al.
First you come in here, slam me around, and then have the nerve to
ask me if I’m going to bankrupt myself to pay a ransom for your
sister and your girlfriend.”

“Your
wife
and your
son
,
dickhead. Bette wouldn’t even be involved if—”

“If you hadn’t sent her up here to work. How
the hell do I know she’s not involved in the whole scam? Hell,
Jackie might’ve cooked this up herself to get back at me. They’re
probably both sitting somewhere, laughing at us and tossing back
mojitos.”

“Why would she want do something like
that?”

“Jackie already accused me of being
unfaithful. Guess she got suspicious of my trips to New York.” He
shrugged. “But I had to check on Suze.”

“Oh, you couldn’t just share the truth with
your wife. Somewhere along the line, did you find time to cheat
too?”

“No.” Brad’s head twitched to the side. “Not
really.”

Alex took a step forward, ready to slug his
brother-in-law. “That’s like being a little pregnant. Either you
were faithful or you weren’t. There’s no in between.”

“It’s none of your damned business.” Brad’s
face grew red, and his gaze shifted down and to the left. “I know
my wife a hell of a lot better than you do. How long’s it been
since you bothered to show your face around here? You breeze in
here after not seeing your sister for years, acting like you’re
some kind of Fed big shot.”