Necessary Decisions, A Gino Cataldi Mystery (12 page)

I turned to Scott. “Mr. Winthrop, would you mind getting coffee while I brief them?”

I didn’t know if he could tell I wanted him out of the way, but he took the hint like a pro.

“Okay, I know neither one of you has worked a kidnapping before, so listen up. It’s time critical, more so than a homicide or anything else.” No questions popped up, so I continued. “We’ve got a seventeen-year-old girl presumably grabbed on her way to school. Scott got the call within the hour. So far, no contact with the victim.” I lowered my voice. “That’s
not
good, but he doesn’t know that.”

“Are we calling the FBI?” Connors asked.

“Chief doesn’t want to due to publicity, but if we don’t make any headway
very
soon, I’m dialing. I’m not fucking with some kid’s life.”

“What do you need us to do?” Ribs asked.

“Winthrop will show you the route to the bus stop. I want
every
person within view of that route questioned. Did they see anything this morning? If not, any morning for the past week? Anything strange or out of place? A guy walking a dog that they don’t know. Cars passing by too often, a cop car, electric company, a jogger…anything.”

“Got it.”

Winthrop returned with two cups of coffee and handed them to Connors and Delgado. I think this was his fourth cup, maybe my fourth too.

“Ready?” he asked.

Once they left, I called Julie.

“My favorite Philadelphia detective,” she said. “Are you looking for information?”

“I hope you got something.”

“The call came in on an untraceable line.”

I looked behind me to make sure Winthrop hadn’t returned. “And Winthrop’s finances?”

“Everything is good. And he stands to gain about $80 million more. He owes no one, and he has never had so much as a ticket. The guy may not be a saint, but he hides it well.”

“Okay, that eliminates a lot. How about the techs? Charlie send them?”

“They should be there any minute, literally.”

“All right, Julie, thanks.”

Winthrop came in right after I hung up. “Should we be concerned with the cars out front? What if they—”

“As I said, they knew you’d call the cops. And I doubt if they’re watching the house; they already have what they need.” I cringed when I said that, realizing how insensitive it sounded. “Sorry, Mr. Winthrop, I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”

“I understand, Detective. It’s your job. That’s something I know about.” He sat and looked at his cell phone.

“Thinking about calling her?”

He nodded.

“Don’t,” I said, then, “How about her friends? Have you called any of them?”

“I don’t know their numbers.” He paced. “Sad isn’t it. I don’t even know their names. My daughter is seventeen, and I know nothing about her.”

“You don’t know any of her friends?”

“I know her best friend’s name is Jada, but I don’t know the last name.”

“That’s all right. We can get that from the school.” I felt sorry for the guy. “Mr. Winthrop, I don’t like to push, but do we have any news on that money? We
will
need an answer for these people in the morning.”

The doorbell rang again. It was the technicians. Winthrop steered them to the home phone so they could work their magic.

“Give them your cell phone, too,” I told Winthrop. “The kidnappers might decide to call on that.”

“They don’t have my cell number. Besides, I need it to make calls.”

“Is your home number private?”

He seemed shocked. “Yes, it is.”

“As I said, these guys are not amateurs.”

“Anyone want more coffee?” Scott asked.

“Me,” I said. “And if we need to make a run for more, let me know. I’ll send someone.”

Scott’s cell rang. He scrambled to open it. I stopped what I was doing and focused on him. It was probably too early for the kidnappers to be calling, but when dealing with such people, nothing was out of the question. From the look on his face, I presumed it wasn’t them. I was too far away to hear the other caller’s words, but Scott’s side of the conversation was easy enough to follow.

“Hello, this is Scott Winthrop.

“Oh, it’s you, Michelle. Who told you, Fred? Thanks. The police are doing everything they can at this point. And, Michelle, please tell Fred that no one else needs to know. In fact, make
sure
that no one knows. Yes, thank you. I’ll call when we know something. All right…wait, Michelle. Is Fred there? Can you get him for me?…

“Fred, any news from the bank? They did? Good. Tell Gerard that I will
not
forget this. Thanks, I need the luck. Fred, one more thing. Put me through to Chris, will you?…

“Chris, any news from Sanjay? All right, keep me posted.”

Winthrop walked away then, too far for me to hear, but I saw him dialing someone else.

***

Scott punched in Sanjay’s cell number. It took him half a dozen rings to answer.

“Sanjay speaking.”

“This is Scott. Are you alone?”

A pause, then, “Yes, sir.”

“Any update on the data?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Sanjay, no matter what, we need to delay this information for at least a few weeks.”

“But…”

“But nothing. Who gave you the information?”

“Mr. Winthrop, I—”

“I could report you for having it.”

Silence.

“Who, Sanjay?”

“My brother.”

“Good. If the data comes in as you suspect, see if your brother can…delay things.”

“He would never—”

“He already did something that could cost him his job. I’m not asking him to change data or do anything that will affect someone’s life. All I’m asking for is a little time. For all of us, Sanjay. Your brother, too.”

Sanjay was silent for a long time. “For how long are you talking?”

“At least for a couple of weeks.”

“We are treading dangerous ground, Mr. Winthrop.”

“It’s important. Trust me.”

“This data is important too.”

“Sanjay, remember your family in India waiting to come over?”

“Yes.”

Scott checked to make sure no one was listening. “I’ll get them here when this is over. But no one can know about our conversation. Not Chris or Fred.
No one.
”

“Yes, sir. I’ll let you know.”

***

I kept an eye on Winthrop. He seemed more relieved. “Good news, Mr. Winthrop?”

“The bank will cooperate on the ransom.”

“That
is
good news. It will make our job a lot easier.”

“Also, I called the school. Jada isn’t in either.”

I stopped to give that thought. This
could
be a case of a couple of kids skipping school and someone’s idea of a sick prank.

“Out of curiosity, Detective, what would have happened if I couldn’t get the money?”

I hoped he wasn’t asking out of some greed factor or from second-guessing, but in either case, I didn’t want him going off track. “Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about that, because it wouldn’t be a pretty situation.”

A few minutes later, the techs reported they had the home phone ready. “We’ll be able to triangulate their position if we can keep them on for more than three minutes.”

“How close can you get?”

“If we get all three cell phone towers, we can narrow it down to fifty, maybe one hundred feet.”

“So what that means, Mr. Winthrop, is that you have to stall. They will probably time the call to make sure they don’t go over, but…we’ve gotten lucky before. It’s worth a shot.”

Scott nodded but didn’t seem to buy it. As he walked toward his patio, I got a sick feeling in my gut. I didn’t want to be in this man’s house, and I didn’t want this case. I hated kidnappings. In a lot of ways, they were worse than homicides. At least with homicides, the victims were through suffering. No matter what they’d gone through, it was done. Over. Nothing else could hurt them. But with kidnappings—and it was usually a kid, hence the name—the suffering was just beginning. There wasn’t much in life I hated more than someone hurting a kid.

Now I had two cases with kids: the Marshall case, where they’d already done their damage; and this one, with a little girl scared shitless. The worst thing was that I knew she’d probably be raped. Maybe killed. Nothing good. An image of Betty Ming from the Philadelphia case returned to haunt me—again.

I can’t let that happen to Alexa.

Chapter 19

What Do the Neighbors Know

D
elgado didn’t like leaving Gino alone, even in Winthrop’s house. Gino tended to lose control every time he got involved in cases with kids or drugs. Since Mary died, Gino had been angry with the world. Downright pissed off. When Ron got hooked on drugs, it got worse. Rumors on the street said he killed a drug dealer a few months back. Ribs didn’t doubt it, didn’t mind if he
did
do it. The world didn’t need another scum-sucking drug dealer like Rico…but Delgado couldn’t let Gino ruin what was left of his life. Blood was blood—even if it was by marriage. Before Mary died, Ribs had promised to keep an eye on Gino. At the time, he hadn’t known it would be so damn difficult.

“Where are we going first?” Connors asked.

“May as well start with the neighbors. The friends at school will clam up like New Yorkers once they see we’re cops. And they’ll see that from a block away.”

Delgado and Connors walked across the street to a sprawling ranch house, which sat a couple of hundred feet off the road.

“This is probably our best shot,” Delgado said. “Not many trees in the front yard, so maybe they saw something.”

A few seconds after ringing the doorbell, a thirty-something blonde with her hair in a ponytail answered. She filled out her jogging suit nicely.

“May I help you?” she asked, her voice a little on the mousy side. Not what Ribs expected.

Delgado held his badge up. “Detective Hector Delgado. This is Detective Connors.”

“Is something wrong?”

“We have a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

“What’s this about? Is something wrong with Martin?”

“No, ma’am. It has nothing to do with you, but…and this has to remain confidential. We’ve had an issue at the Winthrop house across the street. I’m talking to neighbors to see if anyone noticed any unusual activity or strangers in the area.”

“You mean
here?
This morning?” She seemed more than surprised, even aghast, at the suggestion that someone had disturbed suburbia. When Delgado didn’t answer, she continued. “I was jogging this morning.”

“What time?”

“I just got home and showered. I was gone for an hour and a half. No more.”

“You’re certain of the time?”

“I’m gone for an hour and a half
every
morning, Detective. I go to the gym to work out.” She said it as if it were a saintly thing, to work out
every
morning. “Did you see anyone in the neighborhood who didn’t belong? Even someone who may seem to—a repair truck, a workman of some kind, a utility person…anyone?”

She chewed on a finger, shifting weight to her left leg. The shift forced Delgado to stare at her legs for perhaps a bit too long. When she cleared her throat to get his attention, he
knew
it had been too long.

“Not today, but a few days ago, I saw a telephone repair truck. Southwestern Bell. The white trucks with their logo.”

“You’re certain?”

“I know what a phone truck looks like. I remember thinking how long it was out there.”

“Where was it?” Connors asked.

She pointed down the street. “Near that bend. It was there when I left to jog, and it was still there when I got back.”

Connors took notes while she talked. “Did you see the workers? How many were there? Men or women?”

“I didn’t notice. All I remember is one person wearing a yellow hardhat, and, of course, those silly orange cones cluttering up the street.”

Delgado waited to see if she’d add anything. He thought about what the neighbor of the Marshalls’ had said about a man walking a dog. “How about strangers? See any couples walking around you don’t know, or people walking dogs you didn’t recognize?”

Her head was shaking before Delgado finished the question. “No. Nothing like that.” Her response had been too fast, a sign she was tiring of the questions. It would be better to break it off now and come back later.

“All right, ma’am. Thanks for your time, and please don’t mention this to anyone.” He handed her a card. “Call us if you think of anything.”

As she moved to close the door, she said. “I won’t.” She blushed. “I mean, I
will
call, but I won’t mention it.”

Delgado and Connors started toward the next house. “She’ll be on the phone calling someone before we hit the end of the driveway,” Connors said.

“That’s what we’re counting on,” Delgado said. “She blabs it to enough people, someone might remember seeing something. And they
might
even call us.”

“Let’s go see what the next neighbor doesn’t know,” Connors said.

***

I went over the details with Scott, hoping to make him feel better, although everything the techs were doing was standard stuff. We could tape incoming calls and we could triangulate the position of the kidnappers,
if
we kept them on the line long enough. It was a long shot, but I knew from my days spent at the racetrack that sometimes long shots came in.