Paying The Piper (12 page)

T
he call came in the afternoon. It gave the FBI something
to do. The Piper had less than an hour’s head start on Sheils, but a multi-jurisdictional sweep of the Bay Area had failed to locate him. No one knew what they were even chasing. They didn’t know his identity or a make on his vehicle. Scott guessed he’d gone underground within minutes of snatching Peter. The belief was that the Piper was holed up somewhere in Northern California. Scott wondered if he was staying close to home. It would take an army to search every house and apartment in San Francisco. Not to mention that they didn’t even have a description. The Piper could hide in plain sight quite easily.

Until the phone rang, defeat hung in the air. FBI heads had dropped with the second kidnapping. The electricity that had buzzed around the agents fizzled. Peter represented their ninth Piper kidnapping, tenth if someone wanted to include Scott, and the odds of catching the Piper looked slim to none.

Their defeatism was hurting Jane, eroding her faith. It would be eroding Scott’s too, if it weren’t for his alliance. The Feds couldn’t do anything for his sons, but he could. The Piper was going to give him one more shot. Scott didn’t fear the Piper’s demands. The only thing that mattered was saving his boys.

The phone rang and Scott and Jane sat down
together on the couch.

“Play it just as we discussed,” Sheils said.

Scott nodded and squeezed out a smile for Jane before answering the phone.

“Scott, are you ready to do this all again?” the Piper’s distorted voice asked.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

The technician gestured to Scott to stretch out the conversation like he’d been told. Scott didn’t see the point. The FBI hadn’t managed to trace the call so far.

“Is Peter okay?”

The technician flashed him the thumbs-up.

“Both your boys are fine.”

Jane wept at this news. Guerra moved in to comfort her.

“What do you want?” Scott asked.

“Cooperation.”

“You have it.”

“I can rely on you to do exactly as you’re told?”

Scott read between the lines. “I’ll do exactly as you tell me. You have my word.”

“And the FBI?”

“They’ll behave,” Scott said.

“They won’t, but I applaud your conviction.”

“I’m not interested in your games. I just want my kids back. What do you want?”

“Scott, I get the feeling you might be learning after your previous mistakes.” The Piper paused, but Scott said nothing. “Okay, we’re going to try and do this right this time. Two million in nonsequential bills.”

Several of the agents groaned out loud. Sheils dropped his head. Jane buried her face in Guerra’s shoulder.

“I’m going to be generous this time. I realize
another two million will be hard for you, so take a few days. Just know the longer you take, the longer it will be before you see your kids again—if ever.”

Jane uncoiled herself from Guerra and lunged for the phone. She snatched the receiver from Scott’s hand. “If you hurt my children, I’ll kill you,” she screamed. “Do you hear me?”

What the Piper had heard was hard to say. By the time Jane paused to listen to his reply, he’d already hung up.

“Jane, it’s going to be okay.” Scott rounded the coffee table and pulled her to him. He pried the phone from her and handed it to Sheils. “Don’t let this bastard get to you. That’s what he wants. He wants us to feel helpless. That’s what gives him power. Do you want to give him that power?”

“He doesn’t have any damn power over me.”

“Good,” he said and kissed her. “We’re going to get through this.”

Where Jane felt pain from the ransom demand, Scott felt relief. The dummy ransom was in, and he could expect a call from the Piper soon with the real one.

Sheils conferred with his team before coming over to them. “We need to talk about this new ransom. I can get a bank to provide the two million, but I’m going to need guarantees that you can cover the money. I’m not trying to pressure you, but I need to know where you stand.”

“We don’t have it,” Scott said. “We can cover about half, but that’s it.”

“Maybe we could get the Piper to give us more time or negotiate the amount,” Jane said, but she lost faith in what she was saying before she finished saying it. They all knew the Piper wasn’t going to budge, not with them. Scott couldn’t imagine leaving Sammy and Peter in the Piper’s charge for weeks while he and Jane raised the ransom.

“Can I make a suggestion?” Sheils asked. “Go to Charles Rooker.”

“We lost two million of his already,” Scott said.

“I know, but if he’s willing to advance you the
money, I can get the bank moving.”

“We can ask,” Jane said.

Scott knew it was their only option, but he hated it. The Piper had destroyed Rooker’s life once. Losing the two–million–dollar ransom added insult to injury. Now to have to beg for another two million was kicking him when he was down. But it was money to save Sammy and Peter. Scott had to try.

“We’ll call,” Scott said.

Sheils left them alone while Jane called Rooker about the second ransom. To their surprise, he barely gave her time to explain before he told her he would pay again. They collapsed into each other’s arms before breaking into sobs. In spite of everything that cursed them, people like Rooker made them feel blessed.

They met at the bank an hour later. Rooker arrived early and rushed up to them the moment they set foot inside. He engulfed Scott and Jane like they were his own lost children.

“I’m just sick about Peter,” Rooker said.

“We’re going to pay you back this money,” Scott said,

“I told you before, there’s no need.”

Scott pulled out the check the
Independent
had given him and held it out to Rooker. “That’s yours.”

Rooker made no attempt to take the check.

Scott couldn’t profit at this man’s expense. “Name a charity. I’ll sign it over to them.”

Rooker smiled. “That’s very generous. We’ll worry about that when this is all over.”

Jane took Rooker’s hand and placed it between hers. When she smiled at him, tears spilled out. “You’re a very good man.”

“I’m not. Not really. I’ll be honest with you. I’m helping you for selfish reasons. The Piper robbed me of my son.” His eyes shone with tears. “I was thinking only today that he would be graduating this year and going on to college—his life before him, still waiting to be written. But it wasn’t to be.”

“Don’t torture yourself, Charles,” Jane said.

“He shouldn’t have died. I had the money, and I had
no problem paying it. But circumstances…” Rooker trailed off when his gaze fell on Scott. “Look, I had the good fortune to be able to pay my son’s ransom, but never got the chance.” Suddenly, anger gripped him and his voice rose. “The Piper took my son and killed him—for no reason.” His anger subsided. “Giving you the money lets me pay the ransom that I never got to pay for Nicholas.”

Scott imagined he hadn’t shared this pain with anyone before. There were few people who could understand it. He and Jane were unfortunate enough to be in that select group.

“You’ve paid. You don’t have to pay again,” Scott said.

“I’ve made a good living. Money I have. Money I don’t need. There’s no one to pass it on to. Besides, I’m not paying for Nicholas, I’m paying for your boys.”

Jane palmed away her tears. “Thank you. There’s nothing else I can say except thank you, Charles.”

Rooker said nothing, accepting the compliment with good grace.

“Would you like to have dinner with us?” Jane asked.

“Actually, I was wondering if I could take you two somewhere,” Rooker said. “If that’s okay with you, Agent Sheils?”

Sheils looked uneasy.

Rooker smiled. “I promise to have them home before curfew.”

“Okay, but I need you to remain in contact in case of any developments,” Sheils said to Scott and Jane.

“We have our cells,” Jane said.

Reluctantly, Sheils let them leave with Rooker. By the time they got into Rooker’s Mercedes, rush hour was in full swing.

“Where are we going?” Jane asked.

“Hopefully to someone who might be able to help.”

Half an hour later, Rooker pulled up in front of Four Embarcadero Center. He checked in with reception and they rode the elevator to the ninth floor. The elevator doors opened up on an office floor belonging to Friedkin International Investigations.

Rooker waved to a trim man in his late
forties with salt-and pepper hair. The man waved back, but his expression was grim. He was stretched across the reception desk with a phone pressed to his ear. His call seemed to be the reason for his displeasure.

Rooker and the Fleetwoods approached, but they stood a respectful distance from the man while he talked.

“Okay, I’ll find out where he is. In the meantime, I’ll assign another of my investigators to your case. Thank you. And I apologize for the inconvenience.” The man handed the phone to the receptionist.

“Problems, John?” Rooker asked.

“Only a small one.” The man put out his hand to Scott and Jane to shake. “I’m John Friedkin, Mr. and Mrs. Fleetwood. It’s a horrible thing that’s happened to your children. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

Scott wondered if Friedkin knew them from their faces being splashed across the TV or if Rooker had filled them in.

Friedkin said to the receptionist, “Rebecca, see if you can get a twenty on Alex Hammond. I want an explanation for his no-show.”

On the ride over, Rooker had assured Scott and Jane that Friedkin was the best, but his staffing issues didn’t instill confidence in Scott.

“This way, please,” Friedkin said.

The investigator walked them through a modern office complex and into a corner office with a view of the piers and the Bay Bridge. It was very impressive, but Scott guessed that was the point. This was no sleazy gumshoe operation, and Friedkin was no sleazy gumshoe, judging by the suit he wore and the Rolex on his wrist.

Everyone sat around a conference table. Friedkin and Rooker sat with their backs to the million-dollar view.

“Why are we here?” Scott asked.

“I told you I had selfish reasons for helping you,” Rooker said. “Never paying Nicholas’s ransom was one. The other—the main part, really—is that I want the Piper caught.”

“The FBI is doing
that,” Jane said.

“It’s what they’re trying to do,” Rooker corrected.

“Maybe I should explain,” Friedkin said. “The FBI is a well-trained organization with excellent personnel. They have resources and contacts that, as a private investigation firm, we don’t.”

“Then why are we here?” Scott asked.

“The FBI, like any law enforcement agency, is constrained by laws which I’m not. For example, I’m not burdened by such things as ‘probable cause.’”

“After Nicholas died, I waited for the FBI to catch the Piper,” Rooker said. “I expected and believed they would. When it became obvious they wouldn’t, I turned to John.”

“And obviously, you didn’t get any further than the FBI did,” Scott said to Friedkin.

“No, but the kidnapping of your sons gives me a fresh line of inquiry, something I’ve never had before.”

“I’m hoping you’ll allow John and his people to work the investigation alongside the FBI,” Rooker said.

“What do to you mean by work alongside?” Jane asked.

“Give me access to information that comes your way,” Friedkin said.

“Will the FBI allow that?” Jane asked.

“The FBI won’t like it, but they can’t stop you from going to a private investigator. You’re a private citizen, and you can call upon anyone you wish.”

“I don’t know,” Jane said. “Like you said, the FBI has better resources.”

Rooker reached across the table and took Jane’s hand. “That’s the way I thought before Nicholas died. Please don’t make the same error.”

Jane looked over at Scott. He knew Rooker was attempting to corner them, using fear to sell them this bill of goods, but in some ways, it was a friendly corner. Sheils had yet to make any inroads on the Piper, and Rooker just wanted justice.

“There is no risk to you. I would be
covering all fees,” Rooker said. “I want this man caught just as much as you do. I hope you understand that.”

“We do, Charles,” Jane said.

“Can we chat this over between us?” Scott said.

“Of course,” Friedkin replied and walked Rooker out of the room, closing the office door behind them.

“What do you think?” Jane asked.

“It’s going to piss off Sheils.”

“Do you care?”

“Not as long as he keeps doing his best for Sammy and Peter.”

“Sheils is driven.” Jane glanced over at Rooker, who was in muted conference with Friedkin. “Just like Rooker. They’re both desperate for the Piper. There’s no danger of Sheils not doing his best.”

“You want to do this?”

“Don’t you?”

Bringing Friedkin in could only help the investigation, but he would be another person Scott would have to deceive. It was getting harder and harder to play the Piper’s game with so many observers. Sheils had gotten suspicious in Oregon. How long before Friedkin felt the same way? But to deny Friedkin’s help raised red flags. He couldn’t see how he could say no.

“I just don’t want to make things worse for the boys.”

“You won’t.”

He called Friedkin and Rooker back in.

“We want you to help us,” Jane said.

Rooker hugged Jane and pumped Scott’s hand. “You don’t know how much it means to me.”

“We do have one stipulation,” Jane said.

“Name it,” Friedkin said.

“You share any developments with the FBI.”

“You have my word.”

Friedkin produced a contract for them to sign. Rooker explained that Friedkin would be sharing information with him as well. Once the paperwork was out of the
way, Friedkin talked about himself and his firm. His background was military intelligence. Mainly, he conducted background checks, fraud investigations, industrial espionage claims, and criminal defense investigations. His investigators possessed the different backgrounds necessary to cover the wide-ranging specialties the agency offered.