I followed the path and soon saw John Wesley standing by the large Mammoth sculptures at the edge of the pool. Berenko wasn’t there. Neither was Jett.
He said, “You ain’t carryin’ the merchandise, podnah.”
“Do you have body odor or something? Maybe halitosis? That the reason no one’s ever around you?”
“Yore jokes are gonna get that girl killed.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s safe. Now where are the goods?”
“They’re safe. Now where’s the girl?”
He was mad. “I walk out of here empty handed, she’s dead. Entiendes, Baca?” He looked me up and down, “That means ‘Do you understand’ in Spanish. I wasn’t sure you’d get it, even if your name is Baca. Where you from, anyhow. You don’t look Mexican.”
“My parents were from Bolognia. That’s in Europe, the big continent across the ocean. I wasn’t sure you’d get it. Europe I mean.”
“Laugh it up,” He said, “Your smart mouth just signed her death warrant.”
He turned to walk away and I waited, watching to see if he signaled anyone. He didn’t, so I put my hand in my pocket and took out a MAV.
I spoke loud enough to get his attention, “Now let’s turn that frown upside down.” I held the MAV out to show him. “Just to prove I’m not fooling.” He came back.
“Give it here,” He said. I put it in his hand. He took out a jeweler’s loupe and looked it over.
“Where’s Jett?” I said.
He put the MAV in a glassine envelope and stuffed it in his shirt pocket. He said, “You think we’re that stupid?”
“Yes, I do think that.”
“Well, we ain’t.”
“Wow, amazing. What’s the next move here?”
“Now we know for sure you’ve got ‘em, so you foller me and we’ll see about a horse trade. That is, provided you have the rest of ‘em.”
“I’ve got them. Let’s go.”
John Wesley gave me a little smirk, “Yeah, we probably need to, ‘cause Ajax was eyeing that filly real close, like he was getting’ antsy to be carvin’ on somethin’.”
I said, “Knock off that fake hick accent. If I want to hear somebody talk like they’ve got a mouth full of horseshit, I’ll buy a Gabby Hayes DVD.”
John Wesley’s lips thinned and he walked away. I caught up and walked side by side with him, forcing several teenagers off the walkway and onto the grass.
I said, “Where are we going, in case I lose you in traffic.”
John Wesley slow-motion turned his head and stared hard at me for several seconds, “You’re a real asshole,” he said with no accent, then looked straight ahead and kept walking. He had a good long stride, too. That made it a little hard to keep up but I did, just to aggravate him.
John Wesley surprised me and didn’t go towards the parking lot but turned toward the museum. I said, “They’re inside?”
He opened the door and went in first. I said over his shoulder to the lady, “My grandfather’s paying for both of us.” John Wesley stiffened, but he paid for us and we went in. I stopped him and said, “I need to know Jett’s okay. I showed you what you wanted, so let me see her.”
He looked at me, then pulled out a phone and hit some numbers and said into the phone, “He wants to see her.” He hung up. We waited a few seconds and his phone rang. His ringtone was The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
He hit the buttons and turned the phone towards me. “Take a look, asshole,” he said.
The short video showed a big uni-browed guy leaning against a dark Mercedes. The back passenger window in the car was down and the cameraman walked forward to show a blindfolded Jett in the back seat. Her face below the blindfold was skinned and bruised. The cameraman said, “Say the day and the time.”