The Good Die Twice (28 page)

“Mr. Dagger, if you’re home, I’d advise you
to pick up.”

Dagger looked up. He and Padre exchanged
glances.

“I’ve got someone here who wants to speak to
you,” the voice continued.

After a few moments, a voice said, “Dagger?”
It was Sara.

“SARA?” Dagger yelled, as he ran for the
phone. “Where are you?”

“Not too fast.” The man had taken the phone
from Sara.

“Sara, are you all right?” Dagger pressed the
record button on the phone so the conversation could be
recorded.

“You have something of ours and we’ve got
this gorgeous piece of meat.”

“If you hurt her I’ll…”

“That’s all up to you. She has a knife to her
throat right now, so her life is in your hands.”

Dagger knew Sara wouldn’t shape-shift,
couldn’t take the chance of being seen even though it might be her
only way to save her life.

“What do you want?” Dagger demanded.

“The diamonds. All of them. Give me your
cellular number.”

As he gave the caller the cellular number,
Dagger pulled his Phoenix Raven from the bottom drawer and checked
the clip. “I don’t have the necklace.”

“Then I would suggest you and old man Tyler
get your heads together and figure it out. I’ll call you back in
thirty minutes. If you don’t have the necklace, she dies.” He hung
up.

“Dammit.” Dagger punched the speaker button
off. He rifled through papers on his desk until he found a phone
number. He grabbed the box containing the diamond earrings, shoved
the piece of paper at Padre, and said, “Come on. You call while I
drive.”

CHAPTER 45

Sara struggled against the ropes that bound
her hands and the tape across her mouth. She didn’t like the way
Joey glared at her. His eyes rarely looked at her face, only her
body, as if she were some tasty meal and he hadn’t eaten in a week.
He had weasel features, thin and pointed. He never left her alone,
always leering, always playing with the knife.

Her trip earlier to Tyler’s to check on what
she had discovered on the Internet, had been interrupted when the
truck engine died. Sara had let her foot off the clutch a little
too long. Then she couldn’t get the truck started again. When a man
stopped to offer his help, she noticed it was one of the men who
had broken into her home and beaten up Dagger. And his friend, the
man with the marred face, had opened the driver’s side door and
forced her to scoot to the middle.

After shoving her down on the seat, Joey had
taped her hands and mouth. He had kept her head down so she
couldn’t see where they were headed. All she could do was
concentrate on the sounds outside the truck, anything that could
give her a clue where they were going. When the truck finally came
to a halt, they lead her down a dirt driveway to a cabin. She could
hear the rush of water, maybe from a nearby creek. But no traffic,
no human sounds. They were deep in the woods somewhere.

And as they walked, her eyes kept roaming,
searching for some trail marker and identifier. And she had found
it. A small sign nailed to a tree said Possum Creek. They were in a
wooded area near a field where Dagger used to take Einstein. But
Einstein had kept going too deep into the woods and refused to obey
Dagger’s commands. All she needed now was one chance to talk to
Dagger to possibly give him a clue as to her location.

Mince had just left with Dagger’s truck. He
was to abandon it somewhere in town. Joey pulled the tape off
Sara’s mouth. She ran her tongue over her parched lips.

“Like how you do that,” Joey sneered. He
strolled around the cabin, pulled open the shutters, and let the
sunlight stream in. “You can try to scream all you want but we’re
pretty isolated here.”

The cabin was dusty and smelled of stale air
and kerosene. A small wood-burning stove was nestled in a corner
and a twin-sized bed with a stained bedspread occupied the wall
near the window.

Turning away from the window, Joey asked,
“I’ve really been curious, Sweetie. How did you survive that plunge
into the quarry the other night?”

Sara blinked and thought back to that
harrowing night. “The car mangled the fence. I was able to reach
for the fence and hang on until Dagger pulled me up.”

Joey circled Sara slowly. She felt trapped,
vulnerable, and his eyes had the hunger of a predator. Her wrists
were starting to ache and she had to go to the bathroom.

Before leaving, Mince had warned Joey to not
do anything to Sara until Luke gave him the okay. That had sent
chills down her spine. All it meant was whether or not Dagger gave
them what they wanted, Joey was still going to kill her.

“Mr. Tyler!” Dagger tore past Lily, who had
opened the front door to him and Padre. They ran through the foyer
with Lily close behind.

“He’s in the dining room,” Lily called out,
her hands pressed together.

As they entered, the Tyler clan was seated
around the table. Edie looked calm, her steepled fingers lightly
tapping against her chin. The patio doors were open and a warm
breeze filtered through the room. The air was tense, and both
Dagger and Padre detected it immediately. They turned to see Luke
standing next to the bookcase, a cellular phone in his hand.

“Well, if it isn’t the dick-and-dick twins.
Did you bring the earrings?”

Dagger and Padre pulled their guns at the
same time. Luke just waved his cellular at them. He pointed at Lily
and ordered her to join the others at the table.

“If I don’t call my partners back, I don’t
have to tell you what will happen to that sweet, innocent child.”
He dragged a tapestry upholstered chair from the corner by the door
and took a seat.

Undaunted, Dagger walked up to Luke and
shoved his Raven .25 in his face. “You’ll get the earrings when
Sara is safe.”

“That wasn’t our deal.”

“You’re lucky I haven’t put a bullet between
your eyes.”

“Tsk, tsk. So much pent-up frustration.” He
motioned toward the two men with a long-barreled pistol. “I’ll take
your weapons, nice and easy. Set them right there on the floor.”
Luke pointed to a spot about five feet from him. “Oh, and the
earrings, too.” Dagger shoved his hands in his shirt pockets and
retrieved an earring out of each.

“On the floor.” Luke picked up the weapons
and earrings. “Please, join the rest.” Luke was seated about twenty
feet from them where he could see everyone. “Has Detective Martinez
clued you in on Joey’s rap sheet?”

“I read his rap sheet.” Dagger said. He and
Padre took a seat at the end of the table away from the Tyler
clan.

Luke smiled and crossed his arms, the bulk of
his muscles oozing from under his short-sleeved shirt, the phone
almost hidden under his thick fingers.

“I bet the rap sheet doesn’t have the rape
and murder of a fifteen-year-old girl in Boston six years ago. Or
the rape and mutilation of a twenty-year-old college girl in
Florida last year. Or how about the twenty-two-year-old he
sodomized and beat so bad she lost her eyesight. That was six
months ago in Indianapolis.”

Dagger shifted in his seat, looked to Padre
who shook his head. It was obvious Padre had not known this about
Joey. Dagger’s thoughts turned to Sara. He had done his best to
teach her about his world. But he had never exposed her to the
dredges of society like Luke and his thug friends before. She was
fine when Dagger was around for backup. But he wasn’t sure how she
would handle Joey and Mince.

Robert spoke up. “He said he wants the
diamonds.”

“They have Sara,” Dagger explained to
Robert.

“Sara?” Nick jumped to his feet, almost
knocking the chair over. “That pervert he just talked about has
Sara?” He made a move for the giant.

Luke pointed his pistol at Nick. “Sit,” he
ordered.

The room grew quiet. The grandfather’s clock
in the far corner of the room clanged loudly. Lily twisted her
hankie while Robert wrapped a consoling arm around her
shoulder.

Eric checked his watch. “He has been
terrorizing us for the past thirty minutes. Why the hell does he
think we would have diamonds?”

Padre glared at Eric and asked, “Why don’t
you ask your wife?”

Robert and Eric turned to Edie who feigned
shock.

“I have never seen this man in my life.” Her
eyes challenged Padre.

“What the hell is he talking about?” Eric
demanded.

“They’re bluffing.” Edie remained calm.

“I don’t know.” Dagger shoved his seat back
and propped his legs up on the linen-covered table. He took some
deep Chi breaths to calm down and watched the glimmers of doubt
growing in Nick’s and Robert’s eyes. “Maybe Nick would like to tell
us about the woman he saw the night Rachel disappeared. The woman
who let Nick think all these years that he’s the one who pushed
Rachel and caused her to hit her head.”

“What?” Robert gasped.

Nick stared at the table. He ran a trembling
hand through his hair and glanced toward the bottles on the
bar.

Robert stared at his son from across the
table. “Nick?”

Nick turned on Edie. “You were there that
night.”

“What?” Robert turned to his daughter-in-law.
“What the hell is going on under my nose?”

Edie tapped her nails against the linen,
averted her eyes from Padre. “Of course, I was. Eric and I found
you the next morning.”

“I really don’t care to hear a trip down
memory lane,” Luke snarled. He picked up his cellular and turned to
Dagger. “You’ve got five minutes. You and old man Tyler here better
get your heads together.”

Dagger asked Lily, “Did you have any luck
finding the kangaroo?”

Lily shook her head.

“Kangaroo?” Edie asked. “What kangaroo?”

Robert told them about the phone call he
received from Rachel more than a week ago and how she had asked if
he still had the kangaroo.

“That really was Rachel who was murdered? She
has been alive all this time?” Nick slowly rose from the table, his
head shaking in denial.

Luke dialed the phone. “Joey, we have a
problem here. They can’t seem to find the diamonds.” Luke’s gaze
jerked to Dagger. “Oh, really?” He smiled broadly and held the
phone out to Dagger. “Your little lady is claiming to know where
the necklace is, and she’ll only tell you.”

This brought Edie out of her chair, her eyes
wide in anticipation.

Dagger crossed the room and took the phone.
“Sara?”

“I’m fine, so far, Dagger.”

“You said you know where the necklace is?”
Dagger listened for a while then strolled over to the patio.
Sliding the screen door open, he stepped out. “Okay, I’m on the
balcony but there’s nothing here.”

Suddenly, Luke’s massive frame was behind
him, breathing down his neck. Dagger heard Joey tell Sara, “Just
tell him where it’s at and give the phone back to me.”

“Describe it.” Dagger stepped back into the
room, his eyes searching, then settling on a plant with red
flowers.

Sara asked, “Einstein is okay, isn’t he?”

“Sure, of course, Sara.”

“Just don’t let him out like you did a few
months ago when he got lost.”

The rest of the Tyler crowd stood and
followed Dagger’s gaze.

Dagger walked up to Padre and whispered in
his ear.

“Hey.” Luke leveled his gun at Dagger’s back.
“What are you talking about? Give me the phone.” He pulled the
phone from Dagger and spoke with Joey. “Hang on.”

Dagger settled back in his seat, hands
clasped behind his head, legs propped on the table. His dark eyes
danced as they followed Luke’s movements. Luke hadn’t noticed that
Dagger had pressed the mute key on the telephone. Joey wouldn’t be
able to hear him. That should buy Sara a little time. The detective
said, “The diamonds are in the plant.”

Padre walked around the plant with the woolly
leaves and red flowers. “So this is a Kangaroo Paw.” He looked
around for something to cover the floor before spilling the
contents.

“Kangaroo?” Robert gasped. “Of course. I had
forgotten what Rachel called it.”

Unconcerned about dirt being spilled on the
floor, Luke gave the plant a shove, sending the plant tumbling,
spilling the dirt and smashing the terre cotta pot.

“Let me see.” Edie muscled her way between
Padre and Luke. She knelt on the floor, staining her white slacks.
Her long fingers plunged into the dirt. “I feel something,” she
cried. She raised a wrapped plastic package, pulled at the sealed
edges and gasped when she had the necklace in her hands.

The Tyler men watched Edie’s reaction with
horror.

Padre announced, “I believe we have found the
rest of the Williamsburg Collection.” He turned to Dagger. “Why
aren’t you excited?”

Dagger smiled. “I’m waiting for the missing
player.”

Padre smiled in agreement. “He’s a little
late.”

Robert asked, “He who?”

J.C. Kinnecutt appeared in the doorway.
“Guess I didn’t fool you, did I, Dagger?”

CHAPTER 46

“Oh my god.” Edie glared at J.C. and clutched
the necklace to her chest. “You!”

“Hello, Sweetheart. Forget to call?” J.C.
held a small Smith & Wesson .9mm in his hand.

“Sweetheart?” Eric stammered.

“Something’s come up,” Luke said into the
phone before hanging up, unaware Joey still couldn’t hear him. Luke
slid a beefy hand around Edie’s slender neck and pulled her against
his body, his gun pointed at her head.

Lily let out a scream.

“Let’s all remain calm,” J.C. said. He asked
Dagger, “What gave it away?”

“Celia, the desk clerk at the Carmelite
Retreat couldn’t quite remember specific details about Rachel’s
fictitious brother, Sean, until Padre called earlier and asked her
if the brother had an Australian accent.”

“Ahhh. Just a tiny detail, but
significant.”

“Well, well, Edie.” Luke traced her jaw with
the barrel of his gun. “Why don’t you tell us who your friend
is?”