Nothing Is Negotiable (27 page)

“Will someone please tell me, what the hell just happened?”

“Pete’s been shot!” Rita screamed into her cell phone.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Sonny said.

“Bonnie had a pistol and shot him. He’s in bad shape. We’re at the loading docks next to Penny’s. Get over here.”

Sonny dropped the phone and drove frantically around the mall.

He had told them to keep out of sight. Not to confront Luke or Bonnie inside the mall. All they had to do was let him know when Bonnie showed up. He would take care of them in the parking lot. That’s all they had to do.

The loading docks were secluded from the main parking lot by an eight-foot high brick wall on two sides and a hedge of shrubs on the other. When he drove in, he saw Rita kneeling beside Pete’s body, which lay in a puddle of dark red blood.

After the van skidded to a stop, Sonny jumped out and knelt down beside him. Rita was trying to stop the flow of blood by pressing each hand in different spots, about a foot apart.

Sonny had never seen that much blood. “What the hell happened?”

“She shot him twice,” Rita cried. Her face was locked in fear. “He’s lost too much blood.”

“Open the back door,” Sonny said. Pete’s eyes fluttered as he grabbed him under the arms and muscled him inside onto the floor in front of the backseat. Rita knelt beside him and applied pressure to his wounds.

As the van raced toward the closest exit, Sonny tried to think what to do. This had not been a scenario they had considered. Bonnie was not supposed to have a gun.

“Rita, you’re a nurse; what do we do now?”

She didn’t answer.

“Where do we go?”

As they got closer to the parking lot exit, he looked back at her. She was holding her hand to Pete’s neck, feeling for a pulse. Sonny pulled to the side and stopped where other cars could get around him.

Sonny saw her expression turn to sorrow as she squeezed her eyes closed and covered them with the backs of her bloody hands. She began to wail.

Pete was dead.

“Son of a bitch!” Sonny screamed, slamming his open palm onto the steering wheel, and then yelled again. “Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!”

For half a minute he sat, trying to grasp it all. Nothing like this was supposed to happen. He stared straight ahead and through gritted teeth he asked, “What happened back there?”

“Bonnie shot him,” Rita sobbed.

“I fucking know that. Where’d she get a gun?” he screamed.

“I don’t know.” Rita screamed back.

“Tell me what happened.”

Rita told him about the unknown woman that led Luke out the back door of the gift shop and how Bonnie shot Pete. And that Bonnie may have recognized her when she ran off the loading dock.

“Who in the hell is this other woman?”

“I don’t know. She had on a cap. All I know is they got into a big white SUV and hauled ass.”

Sonny thought about what losing Pete really meant. Pete was his best friend. But, he was also the one who handled all of the technical details. The entire ransom plan was his, setting up fake email accounts for ransom demands, offshore accounts for the fund transfers, securing fake passports and new identities for them to live in Germany or Switzerland or Costa Rica or wherever they wanted to live.

But, there was nothing they could do about it now. As he started driving out of town, he called Rosemary to tell her what had happened. She was inconsolable. They had started sleeping together three months ago and planned to get married.

“We all knew something like this was possible and now we have to move on.” He waited for her to say something but all he heard were her choking sobs. He gave her some time then said, “Has Kim updated Olivia’s blog?”

Through her sobs she said, “Yes, it says, ‘
Olivia is more important than any amount of money.’”

“Good. How’s Olivia doing?”

“She’s okay, she’s asleep right now.”

“Good. Can you leave her alone for about twenty minutes?”

“I think so.”

“Good.” A month earlier, Pete and Sonny had driven around town and located a number of unsecured Internet connections. “Go to the Kalispell Koffee and use their Wi-Fi from the parking lot. Use the first Yahoo email account and send Kim the e-mail with our demands.”

“Okay,” she said, choking back her sobs.

“We’ll be back in about an hour.” He disconnected and looked back at Rita, who was covering Pete’s body up with a painter’s drop cloth. “Give me Pete’s phone.”

She pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it to Sonny as she moved into the passenger seat up front. Sonny hit the speed dial number to call Bonnie.

“What do you want?” she snapped.

He knew that he had to disguise his voice. Chances were good she’d recognize his voice from the camera shop and he couldn’t take that chance. She had already identified Pete, and now possibly Rita.

To disguise his voice he spoke from deep in his throat, just above a whisper. “If you go to the police before we get our ransom, I promise you, I’ll kill Olivia.”

“You promised you wouldn’t hurt her.”

“When you killed my friend, you changed everything.”

“He was going to kill us. I had no choice.”

“And now I have no choice. I will slit her throat and watch her bleed to death, calling for her Mommy. And for the rest of your life you’ll have to remember that it was your fault.”

“Okay. We won’t go to the police, but how do I know you’ll let her go?”

“As soon as I have my money, we’ll tell Kim where to find her. But, remember: I have friends in the police department. If you interfere in any way or I hear you had any contact with the police, I’ll kill her.
Even
if I get my ransom. Do you understand?”

“Yes. We won’t do anything.”

“Good. And don’t try to call me again.”

Sonny ended the call and turned off the phone. He had stalled her. At least for now.

They continued to drive west until he came to a gravel road that led into the forested foothills. After a few miles, the gravel road gently gained elevation. He turned down a one-lane road that looked more like a cross-country ski trail and followed it until they crossed a bridge over a shallow creek. He pulled over and stopped.

Together, they dragged Pete’s lifeless body across the creek and into the woods. At a narrow crevasse that fed into a deep ravine, he said, “This is good enough.”

He removed Pete’s wristwatch and wallet and handed them to Rita who was breathing hard.

“Take these and go back to the van. I’ll be there in a minute.”

When she was out of sight, he pushed the body over the edge. It rolled into the gorge ten feet below him, then tumbled sideways another twenty feet before coming to rest at the bottom. Sonny watched as dirt and rocks trickled down on top of the bloody body of his old friend.

He kicked more rocks, pine needles, leaves and dirt into the ravine. There were some bigger rocks nearby and he rolled them in until Pete was completely covered.

On the way back to the van he came to the creek where Rita was washing the blood off her hands and arms. He looked at the blood on his own hand and scooped up a handful of sand from the bank and mixed it in the cool, clear water and rubbed his hands together. The blood washed away, leaving only the memory of losing his friend.

This would be the last time he would underestimate Bonnie. Nor would he trust her.

When they got back to Rosemary’s apartment complex they found her sitting inside the motor home at the table. Her eyes were red, but most of her tears had dried. Rita went to her and they hugged and both started to cry again.

After a minute, Rosemary lifted her chin and said, “I sent the email just like you told me.”

“Good. Did you take care of Olivia?”

“About twenty minutes ago I woke her and gave her a double dose of Benadryl. She’ll sleep for several hours. We’ll move her to the compartment under the bed just before we cross the border. No one will ever find her unless they tear the bedroom apart.”

“Good. It’s time to get going, but there’s been a small change of plans. There’s too much blood in the van, so we need to get rid of it.”

“So what do we do?” Rita asked.

“Rita, you drive the Jeep and Rosemary you drive the RV. Leave now and go back to the house in Whitefish. I’ll be a few minutes behind you in the van.”

When Sonny got to the house an hour later the Jeep and the RV were sitting out front. He parked the van in the garage and went back to the RV where Rosemary and Rita were waiting.

“Did you check with Vic to make sure he’s working at the border crossing today?”

“Yes. I sent him a text earlier saying me and Rita were leaving on vacation today and asked if we’d see him when we crossed the border. He said he’d be there until ten tonight.” Rosemary said.

“Good. Text me when you get across the border,” Sonny said as he stepped away.

As he watched the Winnebago drive away, he knew what he had to do now.

He went back to the garage and opened the side door of the van. Blood covered the back seat and floor. There was no doubt their fingerprints were in there, too. As an agent for the Canadian government, Pete’s were on file. Since Sonny was an ex-con, his were on file, as were Rita’s. He wasn’t sure about Rosemary’s, but in a few minutes, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Cardboard boxes were stacked along one wall of the garage. They were filled with old magazines, newspapers, books, old clothes and other junk not worthy of a thrift store. Along another wall were stacks of old lumber and broken-down furniture.

He emptied several of the boxes of papers and magazines inside the van on top of the drying blood. On a shelf at the back of the garage was an array of chemicals, most probably banned by the EPA decades ago. Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, weed killer, bug spray, and a couple of old gas cans. He wasn’t sure which of the chemicals would burn, so he piled everything on top of the pile of paper. Then he carried some of the old clothes and magazines inside the house and piled them along the wall under the old tattered curtains. On his way out back to the old house he had stopped and bought a bottle of charcoal starter at a convenience store. He sprayed it all over the curtains then dropped a match.

Back in the garage, he doused the inside of the van and the lumber along the wall with the rest of the fuel. He dropped a match on the lumber and another one inside the van. A yellow flame slowly started to rise, then gradually spread across one magazine toward the others. As the flames grew higher he moved to the side door of the garage. When the entire interior of the van was ablaze he closed it and walked to the Jeep.

As he backed out onto the road he could see the flicker of flames through the broken window in the front room of the house. Looking over at the garage he now saw smoke billowing out of the front and side doors.

The house and garage were surrounded by trees and bushes, and the surrounding forest was thick with heavy undergrowth. Sonny knew the fire would spread fast. In five minutes, any evidence or DNA would be gone. Within thirty minutes it would be a serious forest fire.

He didn’t care. He didn’t care if it burned the whole fricking town of Whitefish.

It took about ten minutes to get to the edge of town. Sonny pulled into the parking lot of Le Chateau Apartments. He powered up the laptop and grabbed the first available wi-fi signal.

While he waited for his computer to boot, he thought about Pete, and that’s when it dawned on him. His take in the ransom just increased. The ransom was to be divided evenly between all five partners. Now, with Pete dead, there were only four.

But, there was still the issue of Bonnie and Luke. He was sure that they wouldn’t go to the police until the ransom was paid because they knew he’d kill Olivia. But once the ransom was paid and Olivia was released, he knew they would, and they’d tell them about Pete. But, they had no proof. No blood, no fingerprints, no photos. Nothing. Perhaps they’d suspect that Pete was in hiding with the ransom. His body wouldn’t be found for years, if ever. And, if they did find him, there was no way to connect him to the others. All they had to do now was wait for Kim to wire the money.

When his computer powered up, he noticed he had two new messages in his inbox. The first was from Yahoo welcoming him as a new member, and the other one was from Kim.

Sonny’s pulse quickened as he double-clicked on the mouse pad. The message filled the screen.

He read:

Ms. Rich,

When my husband and his parents were killed in the airplane crash, the media reported that I inherited over two billion dollars. That’s not exactly true. Though I am the heir to the Townsend estate, all of the money will be held in a trust for the next ten years. I am given a very generous amount of money to live on and I can petition the trustees for funds for special reasons, such as the children’s center at the hospital. They have never turned down any of my requests, until now.

There are rules that govern the trust. One of them says no money can be paid for blackmail, extortion, or ransom demands, under any conditions.

Sonny could not believe what he was reading.

I have begged the trustees to make an exception to save Olivia. But, they said the rules were set up specifically to prevent situations like this. There are no exceptions.

I don’t have $40,000,000 I can give you.

Sonny thought he was going to throw up. His eyes went to the top of the page and he read it again. When he finished, he leaned back and stared blankly out the windshield at the brick wall of the apartment building.

This can’t be happening.

Sonny gritted his teeth and stabbed at the reply icon on the email.
They are not going to screw this up. Not now. Not after all we’ve done. This was the perfect plan. Pete died for it.

His breathing increased as he stabbed at the keyboard.

I don’t care what the rules are. If you ever want to see your child again, you will wire $40,000,000 as we have instructed or she will die. Olivia’s next treatment is less than 37 hours from now. If we do not have the money by then, she will die. If you do not wire the money, the next time you hear from us will be to tell you where you can find her body.

Without another thought, he hit the send button.

***

“We have to turn ourselves in to the police,” Luke said.

“We can’t,” Bonnie said.

“Why not? You shot that guy in self defense. You were abducted and held hostage for four days. If you had not kidnapped that little girl they would have killed me and her. Isn’t that what you told me?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then the best thing we can do is turn ourselves in to the police.”

“They said that if we go to the police before they get the ransom, they will kill her after they get the ransom.”

“Bonnie, they won’t kill her. They want the ransom.”

“I won’t take that chance. It’s because of me they have Olivia.”

Luke leaned back and slowly nodded. She knew he understood.

As Lauren drove, she said, “So, where do you want me to go?”

Luke turned and looked behind them as they drove through the middle of town. “I think we need to get this vehicle out of sight as fast as we can. You don’t just shoot someone in a parking lot that big and drive away unnoticed. I think we can count on the fact that the cops will be looking for a white Suburban very soon.”

“Where do you want to go?” Lauren asked.

“I don’t know,” Bonnie said. “Somewhere we can lay low for a day or two.”

“If you and Luke had passports and driver’s licenses we’d go back to Cardston.”

Bonnie noticed a green road sign—
Flathead Lake 7 miles.
It gave her an idea. “You said that fishing guide friend of yours is out of town. Maybe we can stay at his place.”

Lauren nodded. “That’s a good idea. Let me call Roger. He always takes care of Beau’s pets when he’s not around.”

She told Roger that her fishing trip had been delayed and she was low on cash and needed a place to crash for a day or two. “Would it be okay to stay at Beau’s place?”

“Sure. Would you mind feeding his cat while you’re there? That would save me a trip over there every day.”

“Is Gato still alive?”

“Yeah, she’s at least fifteen, and still mean as ever. Her food is in the pantry by the washing machine. Remember how to get there?”

“I do if he still lives in that little house down on Big Arm Bay.”

“Still does. When you go to the back door, you’ll see a little birdhouse in the tree. Inside is a key chain with two keys—one to the back door and one to the garage. Make yourself at home. He won’t be back for a week, but let me know when you leave.”

Beau’s house was about an hour south of Kalispell and by the time they turned in his long driveway, the sun had dipped behind the mountains to the west and his entire yard was in the shade. The small cottage had a low hedge across the front and a detached garage off to the right. Next to it were two empty boat trailers. After they got the garage unlocked, Lauren pulled in and they closed the door.

While Lauren was unlocking the back door, an old Siamese cat came up and brushed against her leg and followed her inside. The house was neat and cozy. In the living room a big flat panel television hung on one wall and several mounted fish adorned the others.

“Pretty nice place for a bachelor,” Bonnie said.

“Beau’s not a slob like a lot of single men. And he’s an excellent cook, too,” Lauren said. “Roger said to help ourselves to anything we need.”

“I could use a shower and a change of clothes. How big is Beau?” Luke asked as he spied a jar full of what looked like chocolate chip cookies. He lifted the top off and pulled out a couple.

“Beau’s about your size, maybe a little shorter, but I bet his clothes will fit. Let’s go look.”

As they disappeared around the corner, Bonnie rummaged through the cabinets and pulled some pasta and canned goods out of the pantry. By the time Lauren came back to the kitchen, Bonnie had a pot of water heating on the stove and was adding an assortment of ingredients and spices to some tomato sauce.

Lauren said, “Beau’s clothes are going to fit Luke fine. He’s taking a shower now.”

“Good. How does spaghetti sound?” Bonnie asked.

“Sounds great,” Lauren said as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a head of lettuce and two tomatoes.

While Lauren started on a salad Bonnie tried to concentrate on the spaghetti sauce, but her mind kept whirling back to the events earlier in the day. For the second time in four hours, she had narrowly escaped with her life. The first time was at the hospital when Coley’s gun misfired. Then again at the mall. This time he hesitated, not realizing she had a gun.

And she had committed murder. Had taken the life of another human being. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that could happen. She never thought she’d have to kill to protect herself and the ones she loved. Although it was self-defense, it was hard to believe she had killed a man.

As she tried to get the image of his bloody body out of her mind she thought about seeing Luke for the first time in five days. There were many times she thought she’d never see him again. Now that they were together, she didn’t want him out of her sight.

In the refrigerator she spotted a six-pack of beer. Shiner Bock—one of Luke’s favorites. She pulled one out and told Lauren, “Keep your eye on the sauce. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Bonnie opened the bottle and walked through the living room and down the hallway to the master bedroom. There she found the bathroom door closed. She tapped lightly and said, “Luke?”

“Yes?” came a muffled answer.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Dense steam filled the small bathroom and Luke stood on a bathmat beside the tub. He was naked, a white towel hung in front of him while he dried his chest.

He watched as she closed the door and stepped closer.

“I thought you could use one of these,” she said, holding the beer out to him.

He took it and set it on the shelf above the toilet.

“You are what I need.” He dropped the towel and pulled her closer.

He kissed her softly and their arms wrapped around each other. They kissed again, this time more passionately. His lips were soft and they covered hers, filling a need she never felt so strongly. His hands pulled her tight against his body. One hand at her waist pulled her close and the other moved up her spine until it stopped at the nape of her neck, where it began to caress handfuls of red hair. Luke had always said her hair was like an aphrodisiac to him. She felt sexy as he played with it.

They kissed and Bonnie felt Luke getting hard as he pressed himself against her. Her hands slowly slipped down his back until they reached the bare cheeks of his butt. With both hands, she pulled him against her body and slowly worked her hips against him. His hand moved to her rear and pulled her hard against him. Slowly, they began to move in rhythm.

He was naked and fully erect now. Her breathing quickened as their hips pushed harder and faster against each other.

This was not the right time or place. The kitchen was on the other side of the bathroom wall. Lauren was not twenty feet away in this quiet little cottage. She would hear them for sure.

“Not now,” Bonnie said, breathlessly. “We can’t do this here.”

But her comment fell on deaf ears as his hand moved from her hair to her breasts. He caressed them and never had his touch aroused her like it did now. His other hand came around and began to fumble with the button of her jeans.

Stopping now was the last thing Bonnie wanted. She needed Luke more than ever. She reached down, undid the button for him, and quickly pushed down her pants and panties, and kicked, until one foot was completely out and free.

Luke reached down and grabbed her by the back of the thighs and lifted her on top of the counter beside the sink. As she spread her legs and lifted her knees, he moved to her. Her heart pounded wildly and she wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled herself closer. The other hand went down and grabbed his erection and guided it between her legs. When her lips were just inches from his, he thrust himself inside her.

She cried out and dug her fingernails in his back. With a grunt, he withdrew and thrust again, and again, and again. Unable to control her emotions, Bonnie cried out each time, each time louder. As the pace quickened, she felt as if every nerve ending in her body was on fire and Luke knew just what to do.

It was hard, raw passion like Bonnie had never experienced. And she didn’t want it to end.

But it was over quickly.

They held each other tightly; breathing hard, a feeling of satisfaction, a feeling of love like she’d never felt before. Luke held her close, and gently, she started kissing him on the neck, and ear, and lips, not ever wanting to let him go.

When Bonnie went back into the kitchen she saw three salads on the table. Lauren sat quietly thumbing through an issue of
Field & Stream
. Without looking up, she said, “Everything okay in there?”

“Oh, yeah... everything’s great,” Bonnie replied, noticing a hint of a smile on Lauren’s face as she turned another page.

“Well, dinner’s ready if you’re still hungry,” Lauren said.

Bonnie cleared her throat and said, “Starving.”

A few minutes later, as Lauren was putting the spaghetti on the table, Luke strolled into the kitchen wearing a pair of Beau’s fishing shorts and a clean T-shirt. His hair was wet but neatly combed and he had shaved off his four-day beard. He slipped up behind Bonnie, who was opening a bottle of wine, and kissed her on the cheek.

“I didn’t thank you for bringing me a beer a while ago,” he said quietly.

You certainly did thank me
, Bonnie thought, but instead said, “My pleasure,” while trying to stifle a grin.

This was the first chance they had to sit down together and there was much to talk about. When they started to eat and Luke told Bonnie how after three days the Cardston police department decided he was an abusive husband and they had proof she had taken a bus to the Calgary airport, and from there caught a flight back to Texas. But, he wouldn’t give up. He told her about Dr. Duncan’s apartment, the blood on the floor, and how it disappeared by the time the police got over there. And why he was now convinced Sonny was behind it all.

“I should have told you not to trust Sonny,” Lauren said to Luke.

“But, there was no way you would have known Sonny was involved,” Luke said.

“But there’s a lot more I should have told you about him.”

“Like what?”

“I told you we used to date, but I didn’t tell you why we broke up.”

“Would it have mattered?”

“Probably. Our senior year, he was sent to prison for murder,” Lauren murmured.

“Murder? Who’d he kill?” Luke asked.

“A professor he was having an affair with.”

“My God, what happened?”

“I don’t really know for sure, but here’s what came out during the trial. She was in her thirties and had a thing for football players and—”

“Was Sonny a football player?” Bonnie asked.

“Yes. He went to the University of Wisconsin on scholarship. In high school he was one of the best quarterbacks in Alberta.”

“I thought hockey was the big sport in Canada,” Luke said.

“It is, but we love our football, too.”

“Were you dating him at the time?”

“Yeah, we dated our last few years of high school and I followed him to Wisconsin.” She picked up her glass of wine and swirled it for a few seconds, seemingly lost in thought. Without taking a sip she put it down and continued. “Our junior year he had her for Kinesiology. All the jocks tried to get her class because it was an easy A. According to what came out in the trial the professor had had affairs with a number of the football players over the years. Sonny started having sex with her while he was taking her class.

“That summer we got engaged and according to his testimony he went over to tell her it was over and she didn’t take it too well. He said she came after him with a butcher knife and he turned it on her, killing her in self-defense. But instead of going to the police, he tried to make it look like she had been killed by a burglar. He might have gotten away with it but he tried to fence some of her jewelry. To make things worse, they had had sex before he killed her. So, they even had his DNA.”

“Did he confess to killing her?”

“Not at first. He tried to get me to give him an alibi but there was no way I was going to lie for him. That’s why he hates me now. He thinks if I had vouched for him he never would have gone to prison and would be playing football in the NFL.”

“So, what happened?”

“When he found out what all they had on him, he took a plea. He went to prison and was paroled after ten years. He got out about five or six years ago. He spent a couple of years in a halfway house in Wisconsin then came back to Cardston a few years ago. An old friend hired him to run his camera shops.”

“He had me fooled. I thought he was sincere and really wanted to help,” Luke said.

“I know and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier. When you asked me if you could trust him, I said yes, because he
can
be a nice guy,” Lauren said, shaking her head. “So, when I found your message telling me you were sure Sonny was behind it all, I almost died. If I had warned you about him maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess. But I didn’t and that’s why I’m here. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you get out of this mess.”