On Tenterhooks (20 page)

“No, Steve.
There is a difference, and if you don’t mind
my
saying so, you’d do well to learn it
,
too
.
I don’t want to forget
. . .
and I never will
.
But we can’t let it consume us
.
If you
do
, it
will
run you down and destroy you
.
There’s no way your wife would’ve wanted that.”

Steve
listened, watching the skaters below. Silent moments passed slowly between them.

“Besides,” said Martin, “
Maggie
told me to be strong, and I am not gonna let her down!”

Steve
nodded
.

“Now come on, man,” said Martin, grabbing Steve’s shoulder. “This cold ain’t too good for an old man. Let’s get moving!”

“You’re not that old,” said Steve
as they turned to go
.

“I wasn’t talking about me!” Martin laughed.

They each took a last glance at the
happy
scene below
,
before leaving to head south down Fifth Avenue.

Chapter
2
5

The two men
arrived at
Veronica
’s office
at 1:10 in the afternoon
.
T
hey had stopped and lingered over a lunch
of warm falafels
, putting a plan together that did not involve
Veronica
dismissing them again.

“Well,
” said Steve, “t
his is the place.”

He stared up at the building
.
It was over
30
stories high, with the gray sheen and gargoyles
common in many
of the older buildings in Manhattan
.
Martin stared up as well.

“What does she do
,
again?” he asked.

“No idea.
Her sister gave me her work address and phone number
—
didn’t think to ask about
her
career
choices
.”

They walked
through the rotating glass door
. The high walls of the lobby were cultured
white marble
.
The
massive
art deco columns
flanking th
os
e walls
stretched
more than 20
feet up, where they met
a
cream-colored ceiling
.
O
rnate crown molding that
looked to be at least
a foot thick
provided an elegant frame for it all
. In the middle of the lobby, behind the security desk, were four gold-plated elevators.

“Wow,” said Martin.

“Yeah, n
ice place.”

They walked across the lobby toward the elevators. A
yawning
security guard greeted
them before they reached the desk.

“May I help you
,
gentleman?” he asked, putting down
the April
issue
of
Maximum
Handgun
ner
magazine
and straightening in his desk chair.
His question
was professional, but the tone was clearly annoyed.

“Yes,” said Steve. “We’re here to see
Veronica
Ryder.”

“
’
Kay. What
company is she with?” he asked, reaching toward his phone.

“Umm, right, well
—,”

Martin jumped in.

“We’re old frie
nds of hers, from out of town.”

“That’s fine,” said the guard. “But I still gotta tell her you’re here. She can
give me the green light to send you
up
,
or
she can
come down
to
see you. What company?”

“We don’t know that
.
Can’t you use her name?”

The security guard shook his head, snorting.

“Look pal,”
he said, jerking his thumb toward the elevators. “There are 22 companies in this building, with close to
9
00
people. I got their names and I got their numbers in here, but I gotta have a company name first.”

“Wait,” said Martin. “We have her phone number
.
Will that work?”

“If you
’ve
got her phone number
,
why aren’t you calling her yourself?”

“It’s complicated,” said Martin
.
“We want to surprise her
—
she’s not expecting us.”

“Well, I still gotta get her to vouch for you,” said the guard.

“Yeah, not a problem,” said
Steve
.
He handed
Veronica
’s number to the guard. “Look, here’s her number
.
Can you just tell her Steve Connor is her
e
to surprise her
?
Tell her I want to
discuss
the
“
Say Goodbye to Me
”
letter.”

The guard looked skeptical.

“What?” he asked, snickering
.
“She dump you or sumthin’?”

“Just help us out,
please,
” said Martin. “
All we want to do is
to get back in touch with an old friend.”

“And you are?” asked the guard.

“Martin Abingdon.”

The guard shook his head
,
but picked up the phone and di
aled
Veronica
’s number. Steve slid
closer,
hoping
to overhear.

“
Hello, Ms. Ryder?
Yes ma’am, this is Officer Roth, building security. Ma’am, I have two gentlemen here
in the lobby
who say they are old friends of yours
—
Steve Connor and Martin Abingdon. Mr. Connor says
he wants to tell you about the “
S
ay
G
oodbye to
M
e”
letter
?
”

Officer Roth looked up at Steve. Steve nodded. He strained to listen in
,
but couldn’t hear anything from
Veronica
’s end of the phone.

“Yes ma’am,” said Officer Roth, nodding. He stared at Steve and Martin. “No ma’am, I don’t believe so.”

Another pause
,
and Roth listened intently to
Veronica
on the other end.

“Yes, ma’am.
Thank you, ma’am.”

He hung up the phone.

Steve
looked at Martin and shook his head.

“
She said she’d
be right down,
” said Officer Roth, smiling.
“And
here’s
a warning
fellas
. My old lady, she don’t like surprises
.
And judging by the tone, I am guessing Ms. Ryder is the same way.”

“Thank you, Officer Roth,” said Martin. “We’ll wait over here.” He pulled Steve away from the desk and toward the closest of the columns.

“Okay
,
brother.
We m
ade it through the first hurdle. Now
,
we gotta get her to believe we are legit long enough to hear us out.”

“What do you suggest?” Steve asked.

“I think we keep it short and simple,” said Martin. “Just tell her what we know, see what she knows. Oh, and I don’t think we should mention the preacher until we see how she reacts to the rest of our story. That stuff is all still a
bit
blurry, and I don’t think it’ll help our case.”

“Agreed,” Steve said.

They waited and watched. Several people came in and out of the lobby. Most flashed badges as they approached the security desk. Officer Roth waved or nodded them through
.
Several women came off the elevators
,
but most didn’t even glance in their direction. Officer Roth watched each one with interest as well, clearly
not wanting to miss
the “reunion
.”
Tense minutes passed.

“I guess we have no idea what she looks like,” muttered Martin.

“Well, we have her
mother
’s
obit picture
.
Maybe there’s a family resemblance,” Steve offered.

“
Probably. A
nd judging from the phone calls we’ve made to her today, she’s gonna looked pissed,” said Martin.

“So
,
no worries
,” said Steve. “How many pissed-off
women can there be in one office building
in New York
City
in one day?”

“Sounds like the set-u
p to a bad joke
.
”

When she got off the elevator, there was no question whether or not they were looking at
Veronica
. She strode
into the lobby
and made a beeline in their direction, staring at them the entire time
.
Short
,
spiky hair framed her face
.
A knee-length skirt and cream-colored blouse covered by an open suit jacket tastefully accentuated her
compact
, fit frame
.
Her skin was tan
,
and her face had the
self-assurance
of someone used to calling the shots.
As she passed the
guard station, heading directly for Martin and Steve, Officer Roth shot up.

“Ms. Ryder?” he said. “That’s them.” He pointed to Martin and Steve.

“Thank you, Officer,” she replied, without looking back
.
“I’ll handle it from here.”

Officer Roth moved out from behind the guard station, remaining a respectful distance away, but well within earshot. She sized them both up and addressed them both at once.

“Who the hell are you
,
and what the hell do you want?” she asked calmly
,
but with clear power.

“
Veronica
, I’m Steve. Steve Connor. We spoke on the phone
.”

“Yes.
And I believe I told you then to leave me alone.”

“Yes, you did,” said Martin. “But we need to talk to you.”

“And you are?”

“Martin Abingdon,” he replied, extending a hand in gre
eting.
Veronica
stared at him
but s
he
did not accept his hand.

“Look,
Veronica
,” said Steve,
“
w
e need to talk to you about your mother and how she died.”

“Why?”

“It
’s a long story,
b
ut Martin’s daughter died, my wife died and
these deaths are
all related. We’ve got something in common. Someone is manipulating all of us through these letters.”

He waived the letter from
Say Goodbye to Me
in front of her. She took it and skimmed it.

“Ma’am,” interrupted Officer Roth from behind her. “Do I need to have these gentlemen removed from the premises?”

She waived him off
silently
with a hand
,
already engrossed in
Steve’s letter.
She handed it back.

“Look, Steve, Martin,
I wasn’t born yesterday
.
Hell,
I wasn’t born last week
!
  I’ve been in advertising long enough to know a scam when I see one. I don’t know if you are running
it
or were a victim of it, but either way I can’t help you. Good day.”