Into the Whirlwind (7 page)

“Do you want me to?”

“No. He'll pressure us both to do this his way, and I'm not willing to do that.”

“Then I won't tell him. I won't lie to him, but I won't say more than I have to.”

She nodded. She felt the same way. “So what do we do now? Do we just wait for the kidnappers to call? Wait till they tell us where to take the money?”

“We aren't waiting for anyone. I talked to Sadie while you were upstairs. She's digging deeper into Pamela Vardon, looking for connections to anyone who might be involved.”

“Yes, that's good.”

“You mentioned the references she gave you. Were they people you knew?”

“One of the mothers she worked for lives in the neighborhood. She had also worked at the day-care center and they gave her a glowing review.”

“So not likely the people she's involved with now.”

“Not likely.”

“Sadie located the owner of the rental, but he wasn't much help. Lives in California, made a deal for a two-week rental. Renter paid cash through the mail. Used a phony name.”

Another dead end. Meg walked over and poured herself a mug of coffee, wrapped both hands around it to keep it steady. “I didn't ask you last night. Maybe I was afraid to hear the answer. Now I need to know.”

Dirk took a drink of his coffee. “What's the question?”

“Are you sure Charlie was in the house last night? Before we got there, I mean.”

Dirk lifted the flap on the pocket of his blue chambray work shirt, reached in and drew something out. “Put out your hand.”

She extended her hand. Dirk turned it over and carefully rested something in her palm. A sob broke loose as she recognized the shiny red lock of her little boy's hair.

She didn't hear Dirk move, just felt his arms around her again. “Take it easy, honey. They left it so we'd know he was okay.” He lifted her chin. “Remember what I said. He'll be home soon. You just keep thinking that, okay?”

She swallowed, managed to nod. When he let her go, a chill took the place of his warmth.

“I'll call your father. I put his number in my contacts before he left last night.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he walked past her out of the kitchen.

Chapter Seven

Dammit, what the hell was wrong with him? Luke would still be chewing his ass if knew he'd held Meg the way he had. Jeez, and he'd called her honey again. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

But damn, he felt sorry for her. He knew she was suffering. He knew the way she felt about her little boy, knew the kid meant everything to her. It was the elephant in the room, the main reason she had ended things between them. She couldn't see Dirk as a father.

Hell, maybe she was right. He'd come from a broken home, never had a real family, didn't know jack about being a dad. His own father had left when he was eight years old, abandoned him to a single mom who scrubbed toilets in a seedy motel just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

His mom had died the day he'd turned eighteen. The next day, he'd enlisted in the army. He'd gone to junior college on the GI Bill after he'd left the Rangers, then gone into private security, which fit his talents perfectly.

Meg wanted someone stable to help her raise Charlie, and maybe she was right. With his background, he had no idea how to be a family man.

He didn't know how to be a dad, and yet at that moment, the mere thought of Meg's innocent little boy in the hands of those thugs made him sick to his stomach. He had to clamp down on the rage boiling through him to stay in control when he wanted to tighten his hand into a fist and punch something.

He stayed calm for Meg. She needed him now in a way she hadn't before, even when her life was in danger. It didn't matter that he didn't come up to whatever standards she expected in a man. No way was he going to let her down.

When the clock hit eight a.m., he phoned the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. After being jerked around for a couple of minutes, he got through to a supervisor, who checked the records and told him what he'd already guessed.

No leak in the gas line had been reported in the Madison Park area. The men who'd come into the house hadn't worked for PG&E.

At least he had a description. Rose had described one of the men as tall and skinny, with a crooked nose and very curly brown hair. The other man was shorter, stocky build, balding, with a fringe of sandy hair.

“The tall, skinny man was very polite,” Rose had said. “Both of them were.”

“Anything else about them you recall?”

“Well, I heard the shorter man call the taller man Cliff. I don't think he realized I was close enough to hear.”

“How old were they?”

“In their late thirties, I guess. After that I went into the family room and I didn't see them again until they left. They said everything was okay, then went out to their truck and drove away.”

“I don't suppose you can remember the license plate number.”

Rose shook her head. “I never even thought to look.” She sighed. “I wish I could think of something else, but I'm afraid that's it.”

It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Cliff was a common name, but if it tied in with something else, it might prove a useful bit of information.

Next Dirk phoned Meg's father.

“Just a minute,” Edwin O'Brien said. “Let me put you on hold while I go into the library so we can talk.”

Edwin picked up the conversation a few minutes later. “Sorry about that. Meg's mother is already suspicious that something is wrong. After all these years, I guess she knows me too well.”

Must be nice, Dirk couldn't help thinking, to have a wife a man loved enough to want to protect her the way O'Brien did his.

“So where do we stand?” the man asked.

“A couple of things you should know. Two men dressed like PG&E workers came into the house last week and installed a dozen listening devices throughout the house. We found them, disabled them. But they're aware we've been trying to find them. They've moved up the deadline.”

“They called?”

“They left a note. Also, it looks like the babysitter's definitely involved. I've got someone looking into her background, her friends, anyone who might be part of this.”

Silence fell. “I don't like this. If these people know you've been digging around, trying to find them, they might kill Charlie.”

“They've heard enough to guess we haven't found anything. By now they probably know Luke and I are both PIs. They'll know I won't let you give them the money without proof of life. Which means they won't kill the boy before they get their hands on the cash.”

“I still don't like it. You could be wrong about all of this. I say we give them what they want and bring my grandson home.”

“If we could be sure the money would be enough to buy his release, we'd do that. Unfortunately at this point there's no way to know for sure. That's why we need more information.”

A long pause ensued. Then O'Brien sighed into the phone. “You aren't leaving me any choice.”

“No, sir.”

“We still need to have the funds available. I'm in the process of converting the sum into cash, mostly twenties, nothing larger than hundred dollar bills. It's taking more time than I thought, but I assume that's the way they'll want it.”

“Oh, yeah. You'll make them very happy with that.” Assuming the greedy bastards actually got their hands on the money, which Dirk was fervently hoping they wouldn't. “I'll keep you updated if anything new turns up, or if we get a ransom call.”

“All right. Tell Meg I'll be over in a couple of hours. I told Patsy I had a golf game this afternoon.”

“I'll tell Meg.” Dirk hung up the phone.

* * *

Meg needed someone to talk to, someone besides Rose Wills or her father. Someone other than Dirk or Luke. She needed a friend, someone she trusted. Her best friend, Valerie Hartman, soon to be Val Brodie, was off somewhere with Ethan. No way would Meg intrude.

She thought about calling Isabel Rafaeli, another La Belle model, but what was happening felt too personal to share with any but her closest friends.

She glanced away from where Dirk sat at the computer, working on leads, she presumed. Determined to control her fear for Charlie and ignore her ache for Dirk, she wearily climbed the stairs. She hadn't showered yet, just dragged on clean clothes and headed back downstairs. Maybe a few minutes under the hot spray would revive her spirits a little.

Rose was just coming down the hall with an armload of towels as Meg walked toward her bedroom.

“I freshened the guest room bath.” Rose managed a weary smile. “Your friend Dirk was in there washing up. He wasn't as messy as most of the men I know. He wiped up the sink after he was finished and hung up his facecloth.”

Meg nodded. “He was in the army. A Ranger. I guess that stayed with him.”

“A Ranger. My daughter's husband was a Ranger. He's very good to her and he loves their two boys.”

Meg felt a pang in her chest. “I guess some men settle down after they leave the service.”

Rose's silver eyebrows drew together. “I don't think Mike has changed very much. He was a good man then. He's a good man now.”

Meg thought of Dirk, thought of his two-hundred-mile-an-hour Viper, his flashy speedboat, his Harley. “Dirk's not the kind of man to settle down.”

Rose glanced toward the stairs as if she could see him sitting at the dining room table, his head bent over the laptop. “He isn't what I expected.”

Meg's lips thinned. She was tired of people making assumptions about Dirk. “Yes, you already said that.”

“He isn't what I expected, but I don't think having a tattoo is such a bad thing, do you? It doesn't have anything to do with the person he is inside.”

Her throat tightened. She could still remember running her hands over the beautiful colors imbedded in his skin, the feel of his muscles bunching as she traced the outline of the ferocious dragon that wound seductively over his shoulder and crept up his neck. “No, it doesn't have anything to do with who he is inside.”

“The way that man looks at you.” Rose shook her head. “He has very strong feelings for you, dear.”

Meg stared into the woman's round face and read the concern stamped into her features. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with her housekeeper, and yet she couldn't stop the words from pouring out.

“I loved him. I've never felt that way about anyone. Not the man I married. Not anyone. I loved him, but I knew it would never work.”

“Why not? You don't think he would have been a good husband, a good father to Charlie?”

“I don't know.”

“If you loved him, dear, maybe you should have taken the time to find out.”

The words stung. But maybe she needed to hear them. She was grateful Rose was strong enough to say them. “Dirk isn't like other men. He deserves to be free, to live his life to the fullest. He shouldn't be tied down to a woman with a child to raise. A little boy who isn't even his son.”

There was pity in Rose's expression. “Perhaps that wasn't your decision to make. Perhaps you should have let Dirk decide the answer to that.”

Pain sliced through her. She watched the heavyset woman continue on down the hall with her armload of towels. She had always kept Rose at a distance. It was the way she'd been taught to deal with people who worked for her.

But the truth was, Rose was a friend. She was as distraught over Charlie as Meg was, barely hanging on by a thread.

Meg realized she valued the woman's opinion, had for quite a long time.

Her mind went back to Dirk. Surely the decision she'd made had been the right one. Charlie had to come first. The danger he was in only made the truth more clear.

No matter what Rose said, she had done the right thing. Once her baby was home, she would make the same choice again.

Meg went into her bedroom and closed the door. She didn't want anyone to hear her crying.

* * *

Dirk sat in front of Meg's laptop, his cell phone on the table beside it. He was on speakerphone with Sadie, still at work in the office this morning, back on her computer and hard at it.

“I've looked over the employee list for Solar-Renew,” she said. “A guy named Pedro Martinez wrote a letter that appeared in the editorial section of the Seattle
Times,
but nothing seems to have come of it. There was general bitching and complaining on the local media. Martinez was pretty vocal, but he's working now, got hired shortly after all the brouhaha settled down.”

“What about Dunham and Algreen? Anything show up there?”

“They were highly paid executives. Dunham was CEO and president of the company. Algreen was CFO. Algreen was laid off for nearly two years before he got rehired at a company called North Pacific Wind and Solar as head of the accounting department. A couple months later, Dunham went to work for Blue Ridge Energy in Tennessee. Moved there to take the job.”

“So Algreen's still in Seattle?”

“That's right.”

“How much was he being paid at Solar-Renew?”

“Three million a year plus bonuses.”

Dirk whistled. “And now?”

“Eight hundred thousand. Plus he gets expenses and stock options.”

“So getting the ax from Solar-Renew cost him millions and he still isn't back to where he was before. Might make him believe he deserves to recoup his losses.”

“Could be.”

“If it's him, he probably hired someone to handle the dirty work. Can't see a corporate exec changing diapers and trying to manage a crying kid.”

At a sound behind him, Dirk turned to see Meg looking over his shoulder at the computer screen. Her eyes were puffy, as if she'd been crying again. They were still the prettiest shade of blue he'd ever seen.

The soft curve of her breasts beneath her fuzzy yellow sweater drew his attention. He remembered their exact shape and size, the weight of them in his hands, the taste of her nipples on his tongue. He forced the images out of his head and wished he had good news.

“Charlie doesn't wear diapers,” Meg said with a hint of defiance Dirk was glad to see. “He's very bright. Rose and I potty trained him about six months ago, before I left on the tour.”

“Good to know,” Dirk said. The way she was looking at him down her nose, ready to go toe-to-toe, reminded him of the old Meg, the woman he had fallen so hard for.

He didn't want to remember that so he returned his attention to the lady on the other end of the phone.

“Make another pass at Algreen, Sadie. Look for any sign of him slumming, connecting with an ex-con, someone not in his usual social circles. Check his e-mail if you can get in. See if anything jumps out.”

“Will do.”

“Where are we with Pamela Vardon?”

“Might have something for you there. I located her mother in Portland, gave her a friendly phone call. I pretended I was a friend of Pam's, looking to get in touch with her. Mom was about half sloshed when she answered. Lamented how her daughter never called anymore, not since she's been running around with some joker named Vincent Sandoval. Mom said he was a gambler, a con man, and a real no-good.” Sadie scoffed. “Takes one to know one, I guess.”

“Impressive. Maybe you should think of going for your PI license.”

“No, thanks. More trouble is the last thing I need. The bad news is, Vincent Sandoval's an alias. Nothing pops up under that name.”

“Keep at it. Thanks, Sadie.” Dirk ended the call, picked up his cell, and shoved it back into his pocket.

“So Pamela was seeing someone,” Meg said. “You think her boyfriend might be one of the men who took Charlie?”