Vendetta (7 page)

Alexis said, just loud enough for Chai to hear, “I sure hope Mr. Li can find some interesting men to join us at his home after the party. I’d hate to think I wasted two thousand dollars on a dress just for this affair.”

“I think I need some air,” Nikki said.

Outside on one of the wide marble terraces, Nikki leaned over and pretended to retch. “Do you have any idea how hard that was? I’m sorry, of course you do. The man is a pus ball. He’s greasy, oily, unctuous and his eyes are dead. Did you see the way he undressed us all with those eyes? I wanted to kill him. Did he hear what you said, Alexis?”

“I think I said it loud enough. Mr. Li will make the arrangements if he doesn’t ask to be invited back to his house. Don’t look now, but here comes the little shit again.”

Nikki whirled around.

“I hope I’m not intruding, ladies. I came to apologize for what I’m assuming is bad behavior on my part. Please, let me make it up to you.”

Nikki rolled her eyes as though nothing he could say or do would interest her.

“And how would you go about doing that, Mr. Chai?” Yoko queried.

“By showing you the nightlife in Hong Kong. It’s very interesting and exciting.”

“Some other time,” Nikki said. “I doubt your nightlife can compare to nightlife in America. Now, should you ever find yourself in our neck of the woods, we could really show you what a party is.”

“Do you ever go to the States, Mr. Chai?” Yoko asked.

“Call me John. No, I don’t go to the States. My home is here. However, I was educated at Harvard.”

“Big deal. Half the world went to Harvard. Now, if you told me you were some high-ranking government official or a diplomat, that would impress me. I graduated from Yale. We Yalies have no respect for you Harvard guys. Wimps. Wusses,” Nikki said. “Lace on your underwear.”

John Chai’s voice took on an edge that hadn’t been there previously. “Is there a reason you’re being so rude to me when I’m trying to be nice to you?”

Nikki looked him up and down again. “You don’t interest me.”

Chai laughed but it was an embarrassed sound. “What would make me interesting to you, Miss Quinn?”

Nikki hoped what she was feeling didn’t show on her face. “Perhaps knowing you had a sense of adventure. That you liked to skirt danger. I’m not interested in fly-fishing, smoking pot and drinking myself silly so that I don’t remember what happened the next day. I like a man who is devilishly clever, experimental and who thinks for himself. Again, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Chai.” Then she said to the others, “We must be off, girls. I’m sure Mr. Li is ready to leave and we certainly don’t want to keep him waiting, now do we?”

There was nothing for John Chai to do but move aside and allow the three women to walk past him. Alexis winked and pinched his cheek. “I bet we could have had a swell time. Ah, well, if you ever come to the States, look us up. We’re in the phone book.”

Nikki looked toward the carved double doors that stood open. The families of Yet Kwai and Jin stood at the entrance. More bowing was going on. The line was endless as far as one could see. Where was Li? More important, where was Charles? She’d barely seen him all evening.

“There must be another exit, girls. I’m not up to standing in that line in these shoes. We’ll be here till midnight.”

“Allow me to escort you ladies to your car,” Chai said gallantly. “There is an exit off the terrace. I must warn you that you will be accused of having bad American manners if you choose to use that particular exit. By the way, Mr. Li has kindly extended an invitation to my family to attend the little two-day gathering at his home. Unfortunately, my father has other pressing matters to take care of, so I will be attending in his place. I look forward to getting to know you ladies better.”

“Ask me if I care,” Alexis snapped. “Lead the way, Mr. Chai.”

“How nice,” Nikki mumbled.
Where was Charles?
“Won’t that interfere with all the security you people have surrounding you? There’s nothing worse than security spying on your every move.”

“We are going to the country where Mr. Li resides. There is no need for security. I, too, hate to have people watching my every move. Ah, now we are clear of the crowds. Tell me, which is Mr Li’s car?”

“Now, how would we know that?” Yoko snarled. “All the vehicles look alike.”

Nikki tried to squelch the panic that was threatening to engulf her. Where was Charles? For that matter, where was Li? She could feel the weasel behind her breathing on her neck. And then she saw both men. Charles had his cellphone to his ear and Mr. Li was smoking a cigar. They were walking toward them. “Thank you, God. Thank you, God,” she said silently.

Jack looked around the crowded barn. “Son of a bitch!” he snarled when he saw a rat scurrying past him. In all his life he’d never seen such a pile of junk. Why would Myra save the ancient Duesenberg with the four flat tires? To cover the floor, of course. Obviously the car wasn’t going anywhere. Neither was the wagon that was loaded with hundred-pound bags of rock salt. The bags were stacked up under the wagon, too. He estimated two hundred bags in total. He could try to move the bags, but where the hell would he move them to? He shone the flashlight on a tractor lawnmower that was just as rusted as the Duesenberg.

Jack debated calling Conway, Garrity’s replacement, but nixed the idea almost immediately. If there was a secret trapdoor in this barn it was going to stay a secret unless he had a warrant to move everything out. He’d need a crew of at least ten men to clear this junk pile.

His options had just run out when his cellphone chirped. He growled a greeting. “I’m in the barn, Mark, and there’s no way in hell I can move any of this crap. I’m going to give the house a shot.”

“Jack, don’t even think about breaking into the house. You’ve been lucky so far. I told you, we don’t have enough money in the bank to post bail for you.”

“Listen to me, Mark. When am I ever going to get another chance at this place? It’s like goddamn Fort Knox. If that gizmo you gave me opened the gate, why won’t it give me the code for the inside alarm system?”

“I don’t know that it will and I don’t know that it won’t. At best you would probably have forty-five seconds to get in and disarm the system. If you aren’t successful, all the bells and whistles will go off and they will rupture your eardrums. You willing to take that chance?”

“Hell, yes. If that happens, I can be out of here in five seconds and over the fence to the forest. I hid my car. It will take the cops at least ten minutes to get here, maybe longer. C’mon, buddy, show me some support here.”

“Jack…OK, OK, but leave the line open. Where are you now?”

“I’m on the back stoop where the kitchen door is. I can see the alarm from where I’m standing. I can pick this lock with no problem. OK, I got it open. The alarm is beeping.”

“You ass, turn on the gray box.”

Jack did and waited. He had a feeling he knew the code, Barbara’s birth date. He wasn’t surprised when the numbers flashed green on the gray box. Jack pressed in the numbers and the high-pitched beeping stopped. He was in and he was safe. “I’ll call you back, Mark. Oh, wait, what’s the story on the architect?”

“My guy disabled her car. That’s not to say she won’t rent another one, but for now you’re safe. Conway is up in the tree and has his eye on you. Don’t forget the dogs arrive at five. You have to turn the power to the gates back on before the guy gets there.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jack said, clicking off the phone. He looked down at his watch. Hell, he had
hours
.

Jack made himself at home by making a pot of coffee. While he waited for the water to drip through the filter, he picked ham off a bone that was in the refrigerator. All the while his brain raced. There would be no way to the tunnels from the second floor, so he had to concentrate on the first floor. He’d start with the basement. He tried to remember what Nikki had told him about the tunnels. She’d never said anything about a secret opening. She’d also never said how she and Barbara got to the tunnels. Through the basement? How else?

Jack poured black coffee into an oversize mug and carried it with him when he opened the cellar door. He turned on the light switch and made his way cautiously down the steep flight of narrow steps. He walked around, trying to figure out where a trapdoor could possibly be located. If one of the tunnels led to the barn, the opening should be right about where he was standing. The only problem was, he was standing on a concrete floor that had no cracks and nothing that could pass for a trapdoor.

Jack picked up a broom handle and started tapping the wooden walls. They all gave off the same sound. No false doors. He focused on the shelves, where he could see jars of home-canned peaches. Maybe there was an opening behind the shelves. He gave up that idea when he saw the thick cobwebs and dirt. Everything in this basement had layers and layers of dust.

It was like any other basement, full of junk and odds and ends. Still, he wasn’t giving up. He continued to poke and shove. He moved an ancient ice box — nothing. Maybe Myra was a pack rat and couldn’t bear to part with her junk. It was unlikely that any of the clutter was being kept for sentimental reasons.

An hour later, Jack stomped his way back upstairs to the kitchen. He didn’t bother to look back. If he had, he would have seen the footprints he left behind. He closed and locked the cellar door before he poured himself a second cup of coffee, then called Mark to report his lack of progress.

“Check out Charles Martin’s room, Jack. Listen, I really don’t know much about old slave houses and the like, but doesn’t it stand to reason they wouldn’t have an opening in the basement? Wouldn’t that be the first place one would look? I’m thinking it’s probably some kind of secret opening. Try tapping the walls. That’s what they do in the movies.”

“This isn’t a movie, Mark. I’m watching the time. I’ll call you back.”

This time Jack left his coffee on the table. He galloped up the staircase to the second floor. He’d been here before but for some reason the house now looked more lived in. He smelled perfume as he walked from one room to another. He looked through everything, trying to figure out who slept where. He knew where Nikki’s room was. She’d shared it with Barbara when they were kids. She still slept here from the looks of things. He moved around but didn’t touch anything. He opened a closet and saw many garments he recognized. Nikki must be using a new perfume these days. He closed his eyes and let his senses and his memory go astray. He forced himself to move out of the room. His eyes burned unbearably. Must have been all that dust in the cellar.

Myra and Charles’s room. So neat and tidy. King-size bed. Triple dresser, double walk-in closet. Two bathrooms. His and hers. Well, why the hell not? When you had money you could have two bathrooms back to back. The bathrooms here were bigger than his bedroom in the apartment he shared with Mark.

Everything was luxurious, the carpeting lush and ankle deep. The draperies were a rich champagne color and were drawn across the windows. A fire was laid in the huge fireplace. Two deep matching recliners sat next to the fireplace with small folding trays beside them. The old folks probably ate breakfast or had late-night snacks while they watched the news. On the opposite wall a giant television screen waited to be turned on. A person could literally live in this room.

Jack moved to the dressing room, which was lined with mirrors. Nothing there. He looked behind the pictures hanging on the walls. No wall safe anywhere. Nothing in the bathroom or the linen closet. He moved over to Charles’s closet. Clothes, shoes, winter wear, summer wear, luggage. Nothing personal. Not even a check book or a receipt of any kind. He pawed through the dresser drawers. Underwear, socks, tee shirts, pajamas. Nothing underneath. No false bottoms to the drawers. Zip. His shoulders sagged as he went through Myra’s things, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to find anything.

Back on the first floor, he called Mark again to report on his lack of success. He expected some kind of harangue and was surprised to hear him say, “Think about it, Jack. Don’t you find that weird? Where is his personal stuff? Put yourself in his place. Where would you stash your past life? It’s a given that you wouldn’t totally discard it. I suppose he might keep things in a safe deposit box, but for some reason I don’t think so. A man like him, with his past, he’d want to keep it close to his chest. My advice is to keep looking and watch the time. Is there an office anywhere in the house?”

“No, but there’s a library. No desk, though. Which makes me wonder where they sit down to pay their bills.”

“They probably do it electronically. Keep looking, Jack. ’Bye.”

Jack prowled and paced, banging walls, kicking furniture, and cursing. He dropped to his knees and crawled around the rooms to check the baseboards, lifted area carpets looking for a trapdoor. He went to the kitchen to look through the drawers in the hope of finding a magnifying glass. He found a small one and was again on his knees inspecting the rosettes on the carved mantel when his cellphone chirped. He clicked it on as he pressed the magnifying glass to his eye. He saw the button at the same instant that Conway barked, “Get your ass outta there, Jack. Company. The man with the dogs. You got two minutes to get that fence back on and outta there. Go, Jack!”

“Son of a bitch!” Jack raced through the house, set the alarm in the kitchen, barreled through the door and out to the gates where he held up the gray box. He watched as the gates sizzled to life. In the time it took his heart to beat five times, he raced across the driveway and threw himself over the chain-link fence. Disoriented by his fall, he staggered off. He had no idea where he was in relation to Conway until he heard him.

“Over here, drop down, Jack,” Conway hissed. Jack dropped and crawled through the brush.

“Those dogs have your scent, Jack. Jesus, will you listen to them? Shit, man, they’re up on the stoop and the trainer is looking around. They know. Come on, Jack, we need to haul ass.”

They were clear of the property in less than eight minutes. “I gotta get my car outta there. Check out that guy, can you see anything with those binoculars?”