Cold Silence (A High Stakes Thriller) (26 page)

"Fine, I'll see you tomorrow. We can talk then."

Mei almost asked what tomorrow was.

"Red egg and ginger," her mother snapped.

"I know. I'll be there."

Her mother hung up, muttering something Mei couldn't understand.

Mei listened to the message from Andy Chang twice, then hit seven to delete it so she wouldn't do it again. What was wrong with her? He'd said he got her message and would try her again in a half hour or so. There was nothing else to his message, no hidden flirtations. This was business.

Just then, Allen Stiller appeared at her door. "Jennifer around?"

Mei shook her head. "She got a call and went to pick something up."

Allen nodded. "That was me. I have these cell phone records for her. She came by and I was on the phone. She was waiting in my office; then Steve Edwards came by and the two of them disappeared."

Mei frowned. "Cell phone records for what?"

"Case number's right on them." He handed the stack to her. Allen scratched behind one of his large ears. It jiggled as he did.

She studied the case number. "You sure the case number is right?"

"It's what she gave me."

Mei stood and opened the file drawer behind her. In it she had their cases by number. She found the one with the same number and opened the file. The case involved a hacker who had gotten into some DMV files, but it had been closed in July of 2001. Why would Jennifer be looking at it now? She turned back to Allen. "You said she ran into Steve Edwards and took off?"

He nodded.

"Did you see Steve?"

"Sure. He's in his office."

"Thanks, Allen. I'll make sure she gets these."

Allen nodded and turned around, scratching his ear again as he moved down the hall.

Mei snatched up the phone and dialed Steve's extension. "It's Mei," she said when he answered.

"Yeah, Mei." He laughed. "I don't know what I said to your partner, but I sure made her happy."

"That's what I heard. I'd love to see what you gave her. Do you have a copy?"

"Sure. I'll print one now."

"I'll be by in five to get it."

Mei put the phone down and went back to Jennifer's desk. She scanned the open notebook page again for anything she might have missed the last time. What was Jennifer up to? There was nothing there. She flipped the page and found a phone number. It was a 734 area code. A new Michigan area code, Mei thought. She had a friend at medical school in Ann Arbor and that was her area code. Mei transcribed the number onto a Post-it note and considered whether or not to dial it. She went back to her desk and looked at the records Allen had brought. They were for the same phone number. It wasn't in Michigan, though. The phone had been traced to somewhere near Oakland, California.

After what Andy had told her, she immediately wondered if the number had anything to do with Megan Riggs. Snatching her badge, Mei tucked the phone report in a bottom drawer, locked it, and pocketed the key. Then, leaving the office, she headed to see Steve Edwards.

Steve was standing at the printer as she entered the pod that made up his data group. "It's almost done." He pulled a bunch of pages off the printer. "Here's the first part."

"Thanks." Mei flipped through what appeared to be a bunch of newspaper articles. The first was about a fire in Minnesota that had claimed two victims, one an eight-year-old boy. The next was about a drunken driver who killed a whole busload of kids in Atlanta, then one about a missing child from a neighborhood park in New Mexico. She shook her head. What was Jennifer looking for?

"But here's the one Jennifer flipped out over."

The paper was barely in her hands before Mei realized what Jennifer had discovered. "Holy shit."

"Must be good. I've never heard you swear before."

Mei blushed. "Sorry."

"No. I'm glad to bring out such strong emotion." He laughed as she blushed harder.

Mei focused on the features of Megan Riggs's face. She was older, her hair darker, more makeup—a lot more—but it was definitely Megan.

"Who is that?"

"Someone who's in a shitload of trouble."

"Yee-haw. Nail her to the wall."

Mei thought someone was already trying to. She thanked Steve and hurried back to her office as fast as she could without running. She put a call in to Andy, letting him know what Jennifer knew, and then she paged him to call her back. This couldn't wait.

After a moment of looking around the room in desperation for what to do next, she found the phone number Jennifer had written down and dialed it.

It rang four times, and then a computerized voice told her to leave a message. With a deep breath, Mei prayed she was not making a terrible mistake. Then she began to speak.

"Hi. It's Agent Mei Ling with the Chicago field office of the FBI. It's been a long time and I hope you're okay.

"I want to warn you that you may be in danger. An article in the paper may have given away your location, and they may be moving in. I hope I'm wrong and this isn't you, but if it is, call me directly and I'll get you some help out there. Don't talk to anyone else." She paused, feeling like she was quoting some bad police movie. "Please let me help, okay? I'm worried." She left her cell numbers and her pager and urged Megan not to call the office for fear she'd get Jennifer directly.

She opened her directory to the San Francisco field office and called the special agent in charge out there. She left a message on his voice mail and hoped Andy called back before the California agent did. She wanted to get those agents moving, but she didn't have the authority to do it on her own.

Sinking into her chair, Mei pulled her knees to her chest, and crossed her arms around them. Dread pooling in her veins, she waited for something to happen.

Chapter 25

The colonel lifted the last things into the back of the Jeep and closed the hatch. It had stopped raining an hour ago and he hoped the weather held up for the drive. He hated the way folks drove in the rain.

He started the engine and reversed the car into his driveway, and then went to make his phone call and get Florence. He still hadn't heard from his old buddy at the ranger station up there, but he'd left Cody's cell phone number and he hoped he'd call back soon. No reason to stick around and wait.

The colonel had packed a couple days' stuff for himself and Florence. If all went well, that was the most they would need. And he had his books. Cody would have her cell phone and laptop, so they could watch for new additions to the site. But they had the location. Ryan was somewhere in the Sierra mountains. Now they just had to find out where. Damn if that was the hard part. But it wasn't. The phone call was. The one he'd been putting off for nine years.

He had the number memorized. He'd always tracked her, made sure she was safe, that the asshole she'd married hadn't run out on her. But he hadn't. They had a nice little house. She worked at the local library. He worked for the Ford dealership about thirty miles away. All this time he'd seen them, but he'd never called to tell her he was thinking about them. Or to apologize. Damn, apologizing was the worst. And he had a hell of a lot of apologizing to do.

He lifted the cordless phone, and the weight of it made him sit down. He balanced it between his hands and punched the familiar number with his thumbs.

"Hello," his daughter's voice answered, and he could see her with those big brown eyes, her wide smile, and beautiful straight teeth. She looked just like a kid. His thumb moved to hang up the phone. This was when he always hung up.

"Hello," she repeated.

"I'm here," he choked out.

There was silence on the other end. And he thought he heard the sound of a chair moving. Maybe she'd had to sit down, too.

"It's your father calling, Roni. Or do you go by Veronica now?"

She didn't answer, and he wondered what the expression on her face was. Was she angry? Or hurt? Did she even care?

He heard the sniffling sound of someone crying and then realized it was coming from him. "I'll be damned," he said, letting out a coughing sob. "I've turned into a blubbering old fool and I didn't even know it."

He thought he could see her smile on the other end and he prayed he was right. "I need your help, Roni."

"What's wrong? Where's Mom?"

"She's here, Roni. She's still here. This isn't about us, and I can't explain much. I need to come up there, stay with you. Maybe just your mom, maybe both of us and one other. I can explain a lot more when we're there." He paused and pinched his brow as he waited for her response.

"I need to talk to Doug. I can't just make that decision on my own. We don't do that."

He nodded and stared up at the ceiling, blinking hard. "I know it. You're a good kid, Roni. And that kid of yours is a real looker. Mean on the basketball court, too. Guess he got his daddy's height, eh?"

She gasped, and he searched back for the mistake he'd made. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, and it sounded more full of awe than anger or fear. "You've seen him? When did you see him?"

"I've been up from time to time, Roni. I didn't think you'd want to see me, but I had to be sure you guys were okay."

"Why didn't you come? Why call now, after all this time?"

"Damn it. I don't know. I was hurt back then and scared. You'd done some rough stuff, but I didn't want you bringing a baby into that world you were in. It was tough for me. I was scared for you because you weren't scared."

"I was scared, Daddy."

"I'm sure you were. And I was no father to you."

She didn't respond to that and he knew she agreed. He'd cut her loose. And now what did he expect? "I'm sorry to be asking something of you now. But it's important. It isn't for me, and it's important."

"I'll ask Doug and I'll call you. You guys have the same number?"

He smiled. "Same number, same old house." Then he read her Cody's cell phone number off a Post-it note.

"Okay."

"Listen, Roni. Tell Doug this isn't about me. There's a boy who's your son's age." He scratched his unshaven chin. "I don't even know your boy's name."

Roni didn't offer it.

"This boy's not nearly as big but the same age. He's gone missing. And I'm going to help his mom find him. That's why we need to stay."

"He's up here?"

"We think he's in the Sierras."

There was no response.

"I called because I want us to talk, too, Roni. I want to apologize for what I did back then, how I reacted."

"But you need help for this other woman's child."

The colonel felt that last one like an electric volt. "Yes, I do."

"I'll call you back."

"Either way, Roni. I'll call you soon. Maybe we can see each other."

"Okay." With that, the phone went dead. The colonel held it, faceup, in his lap until the computerized voice informed him that if he'd like to make a call, he needed to hang up and try the number again.

* * *

The colonel helped Florence into the backseat of the car. She sat in the center, as she insisted, saying it gave her a better view of both sides. He and Cody didn't argue. She didn't seem at all concerned about where they were headed. "It's a beautiful day for a drive," she said.

It was almost pitch-black, and the light she pointed to was merely a streetlight that reflected off of the windshield of another car.

"Remember the old model-T Dad had?" She beamed. "That thing never ran right, drove him plain nuts. But, boy, did we kids love it. Didn't we, Daryl?"

"I'll bet it was something, Mrs. Turner."

"Oh, it was." After a momentary pause, her smile broke and disappeared in a flash. "I'm tired, Luanne. I'm going to rest back here. You let me know when we're there."

With that, she closed her eyes and started to snore.

The colonel rubbed at his chest with the heel of his left hand. His right still grasped the phone. It hadn't rung in the last hour. She wasn't calling back. "I'm going to lock up the house and we'll go."