Deadly Intent (10 page)

“Well—“ she moistened her lips “—as you know, my mother has Alzheimer’s. She also has arthritis, and I thought if we could build a bedroom and bathroom downstairs, it would make her life much easier.” Forgive me, Mom, for using you this way.

“Have you had the house appraised?” Ron asked.

Abbie began to feel uncomfortable. This wasn’t going the way she had anticipated. “Not recently.”

“Well, it so happens that I’m familiar with the homes on Shaw Drive, and what they are selling for.” He gave a light shake of his head. “The kind of improvements you’re talking about would make your mother’s house the most expensive property in that neighborhood. And that, as you know, would greatly diminish her chances of selling it later.”

“My mother has no intention of moving.”

“Maybe not now, but she’ll have to eventually, right?”

“I suppose so.”

“Let’s put the resale value aside for a moment and tackle another problem—your ability to take on a new loan.” As he talked, Ron’s fingers moved across his computer keyboard. Once Abbie’s account was on the screen, he turned the monitor around so she could read the display.

“As you can see, you have two jumbo loans already, one for the restaurant, the other for the house. If you recall, it took quite a bit of persuasion on my part to convince the board of directors to approve that second mortgage.”

“And I haven’t let you down,” Abbie was prompted to say. “I’ve made my payments every month, on time.”

“Indeed you have, but this would be a considerable bur

den on your budget.” He looked sincerely regretful. “I wish I could help you, Abbie. You’re a hard worker and an important member of our community, but to approve such a large loan at this time would be unwise. My advice to you is to keep your mother’s house as it is, and when she can no longer manage the stairs, which I hope is a long way from now, encourage her to move in with you. Or into a retirement community.”

Abbie remained silent. What could she say? He was right. She had been so desperate to get this loan, she hadn’t seen the obstacles in her way. Barely able to force a polite smile, Abbie rose, thanked Ron and hurried out.

Oblivious to the crowds that jostled her, Abbie walked slowly back toward the restaurant. Now what? Ron had turned down her request for a loan and taking her chances elsewhere was pointless. Every financial institution she approached would tell her the same thing. She was overextended.

Short of robbing the damn bank, she wasn’t going to get her hands on a hundred thousand dollars anytime soon.

She could call Ian’s bluff. She could simply tell him she had been turned down for a loan and had no money. Nada. If he wanted to go through with his threats, so be it.

But was that a risk she was willing to take?

The answer was all too obvious. She had never been much of a gambler. No, that wasn’t entirely true. She had taken a huge chance when she had decided to open her own restaurant. But the food business was her field. Crises didn’t scare her off. Neither did difficult customers or a temperamental staff. She could deal with the daily ups and downs of her trade, but what did she know about bluffing a blackmailer?

She kept thinking, refusing to give up, until a possible

solution found its way through the haze of despair. She could cash in her zero coupons and her certificate of deposit. With a penalty for early withdrawal and interest computed in, the total would come close to fifty thousand dollars. It was a huge cut from what Ian had hoped to get, but if he was as hungry as Abbie thought he was, he might just take the money and run.

Considering Ian’s low level of patience, she had expected to find him waiting in front of the restaurant when she returned from the bank, but he wasn’t. Instead, he showed up in the middle of the lunch hour, this time making his grand entrance through the back door, surprising the staff, especially Brady, who looked as though he could strangle him.

Without a word, Abbie led Ian toward her office. Once there, she closed the door and leaned against it. “Is this some kind of emotional harassment, Ian? Coming here at all hours, disrupting my work and my staff.”

“I call it protecting my investment.” He sat down behind her desk and leaned back in her chair. “So, you heard from Earl?”

“Don’t look so smug. The man sounds like a complete phony.”

“But he can make a lot of trouble for dear Mom.”

That he could do. “It doesn’t matter,” she said flatly. “I don’t have a hundred thousand dollars.”

Ian’s arms came down. “What kind of shit is that? You’re loaded.”

“I don’t know what gave you that impression, but the truth is, the restaurant didn’t start making money until a few months ago.”

“That’s not my problem—“

“Let me finish.” She fixed him with a hard stare, and to her surprise, Ian’s mouth snapped shut. “All I have is

thirty thousand dollars plus interest in zero coupons and a thirteen-thousand-dollar CD that doesn’t mature until three years from now.”

Ian remained perfectly still. “I can cash both,” she continued in the same commanding tone. “I made some calculations and the total should come to approximately forty eight thousand dollars.”

She saw him wince.

“Take it or leave it.” She offered no apology, made no request for mercy. Both would have been useless.

“What about a loan from your bank?” he said at last. “You’re somebody in this town. You’ve got clout, collateral.”

“I went there this morning. They turned me down. With my business loan and the mortgage on the house, I’m overextended.”

She folded her arms and watched him, feeling a perverse pleasure at the look of disbelief and disappointment on his face. It felt good to have the tables reversed for a change. How long that would last, however, was anyone’s guess.

When Ian spoke again, his voice was surprisingly subdued. “How soon can I have the money?”

She fought back a sigh of relief. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing how frightened she had been that he would turn her offer down. “I’ll have to check with the bank, but probably no later than Friday afternoon.”

“I’ll be here at four.”

“No.” Her sharp tone made him cock his head. “You’ve caused me enough trouble by coming here. Just tell me where you’re staying and I’ll bring the money over.”

He hesitated as though suspecting she might pull some kind of trick.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Unlike you, I’m a person of

my word. If I tell you I’ll be there with the money, I’ll be there. Just make sure you have my mother’s letter—the original—with you.”

He took another two or three seconds to answer. “I’m staying at the Clearwater Motel on Route 27.”

She nodded. “I’ll be there at three-thirty. I’ll call if there are any changes.”

“What kind of changes?”

“I don’t know,” she said impatiently. “My schedule doesn’t revolve around you, Ian. Problems occur.”

He stood up and walked around the desk. “See that they don’t.”

Eleven

Ian got behind the wheel of Rose’s Oldsmobile and glanced at the dash clock. Shit, he was late again. True to her word, Rose had started making the rounds of beauty salons in search of a job and had asked him to bring the car back by one. Well, let her stew. He didn’t give a fuck. His sweet deal was beginning to turn sour and he didn’t know what the hell to do about it.

Finding out he’d be getting less than half what he had expected had been a huge disappointment. At first he hadn’t believed Abbie. Forty-eight grand. She had to be shitting him. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized she wasn’t lying. She was what you called house poor. In her case, house and business poor.

Forty-eight thousand dollars was still a lot of money. More than he’d ever had in his life. And since he had never intended to split it with Earl, it was all his. But his bad luck hadn’t stopped there. Earlier today, he had learned through Rose’s cousin in Toledo that Arturo Garcia had showed up at her house, put a knife to her throat and demanded to know where Ian was. Marie, who was afraid of her own shadow, had claimed to have had no choice but to tell him the truth.

Ian had almost pissed in his pants. Now that Arturo knew he was in Princeton, he’d call every fricking motel in the area until he found him.

Common sense told him to get the hell out of Dodge. Hanging around until Friday wasn’t healthy. On the other hand, how far could he get on fifty-nine dollars? He pulled the money from his pants pocket and counted it again. The small roll hadn’t magically fattened overnight. Count it any way you want, it still came to fifty-nine stinking bucks. Even if Rose found a job today, she wouldn’t be getting a paycheck until next week.

As always when he was in a bind and needed some quick cash, he thought of his sister, Liz. Like Rose, she had come through for him before, but Liz was unpredictable. And so damn judgmental. That ice-princess stare she gave him every time he asked for money always made him feel like a beggar. Unfortunately, at the moment, she was his best bet. Hell, she was his only bet, so maybe he should swallow his pride, buy a round-trip bus ticket to New York and look her up.

It was either that or starve until Friday.

By splitting up the driving and stopping only to buy food and to shower, Tony and Arturo had made the eighteen-hundred-mile trip from El Paso to Toledo in thirty-nine hours. In Toledo, Arturo had quickly located Rose Panini’s cousin and found out that Ian and his girlfriend had left for Princeton, New Jersey, on June second. But although Marie Panini was scared out of her mind, she couldn’t tell Arturo any more than that. Rose hadn’t left a forwarding address and she hadn’t heard from her. Arturo didn’t seem worried, though. The name of the town was all he needed. The rest would be easy.

Finding a place to stay so far away from home would have been a challenge for most people, but not for Arturo, who had connections in half of the fifty states. After a few calls, a friend of his had put him in contact with Enrique

Soledad. Enrique owned a garage in the south side of Trenton and occasionally rented the small apartment above it. Judging from the conversation between Arturo and the mechanic, Tony had concluded that Enrique wasn’t too keen on harboring two strangers, but after a little coaxing, he agreed to let them move in, for free, provided they were out of there before his next renter moved in, two weeks from now.

As they were about to cross the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border, Tony made one last attempt to convince Arturo to turn around and forget Ian McGregor had ever existed.

“He can’t repay you anyway,” Tony pointed out. “You heard Rose’s cousin. The man is broke.”

“I know a loan shark in the Bronx.” Arturo gave Tony a nasty grin. “I’ll be glad to give McGregor a recommendation.”

“And how is he supposed to repay the loan shark?”

“That ain’t my problem, little brother.”

Tony knew only too well what happened to people who didn’t repay loan sharks, but maybe Arturo was right. That wasn’t their problem. If McGregor was stupid enough to go that route, then he ought to be ready for the consequences.

They arrived in Trenton at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and easily found the garage. As Tony had expected, Enrique’s greeting was just a shade warmer than icy, but when Arturo handed him a bottle of Johnny Walker Black—Enrique’s favorite—the man mellowed considerably. Half an hour later, the whiskey still burning their bellies, the three men walked up the stairs to the garage apartment, which was small but clean. It even had a working TV, which made Arturo happy.

“Call me if you need anything,” Enrique told them before leaving. “After hours, all calls to the garage are for

warded to my house. If I’m not there, my grandfather will take a message.”

As soon as Enrique was gone, Arturo didn’t waste another minute. He took the Mercer County phone book from the bookcase and sat down. Using Tony’s cell phone, he began calling the area’s motels.

Twelve

It was a little after five o’clock when Ian stepped off the bus at New York Port Authority, and already the streets of the Big Apple were thick with commuters hurrying to catch their rides home. This was a great city to get lost in, he thought as he joined the throng of people for the walk uptown. Arturo would never find him in this maze, and since that big bully was still a threat, maybe he should consider moving here. Liz might even let him crash at her apartment until he found his own place. He didn’t need much, just a couch, a shower and a six-pack.