“I told you, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was just worried about you. Your behavior has alarmed me.”
“And you genuinely believe that asking me to Haven Lake,” he paused and she felt his stare all the way down to her navel, “is going to help?”
Sophie inhaled slowly. She, more than most, knew the power of placebo. She met his gaze unflinchingly.
“Yes.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The ringing phone didn’t disturb his wife’s sleep. It didn’t surprise him. He’d seen her take the sleeping pill her doctor had prescribed her last week and had already learned of the medication’s profound effect on her.
He, on the other hand, had barely slept in days. On one or two occasions, he’d been tempted to take one of his wife’s pills, but there’d been too much at stake to be caught unaware, befuddled and vulnerable from chemically induced sleep.
Plenty of time to sleep when you were dead.
He didn’t answer the phone until he’d walked into the large den that was down the hall from the master bedroom suite and shut the door. It was a residential phone, one that was regularly checked for surveillance.
“What took you so long in getting back?” he growled into the receiver without a greeting.
“I’m sorry. Things got a little hectic.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t pull it off.”
“No . . . no, the deal went off just fine. From what I’ve heard, it was quite a fireworks display.”
He paused, his jaw clenching tight as realization hit him. “Jesus. By ‘a little hectic’ don’t tell me you lost him? Again? After he fell right into your pocket today by showing up at his condo and then his office?”
“It wasn’t my fault. Listen, we tailed him from his office building, but then he went to the one place in the city where you specifically said you didn’t want us anywhere near tonight.”
“He went to the warehouse? Is he alive?”
“Yeah. I thought at first he might have caught the heat there himself, but I told Flavio to cruise down the street while things were still hot. He doesn’t have a record,” Garnier said rapidly, obviously sensing he was about to be reprimanded for the news. “There’s nothing on Flavio, nothing the feds could trace back to us even if they did have the area under surveillance.”
“And?” he asked tautly.
“Nicasio’s car wasn’t in the parking lot,” Garnier admitted.
A pain went through his chest at the news. His goddamn acid reflux had been biting at him from the inside out for weeks now. “Do you mean to say you have no fucking idea where he is?”
“Don’t worry,” Garnier said grimly. “We have his condo and his office staked out, his club, favorite restaurant, Kelly’s house, plus the residences of most of his friends. He hasn’t been seeing anyone regularly for the past few months, but I put a couple guys on the residences of two of his former girlfriends. Figured it couldn’t hurt.”
“He’s seeing that redhead. The interior designer.”
“Not according to the redhead,” Garnier said flatly. “He hasn’t called her in weeks. But like I said, we’re watching her place, just in case.”
He inhaled slowly, tamping down his temper with effort.
“We need that tape. Are you sure you’ve checked everywhere that you can?”
Garnier grunted. “He’s got it with him. He has to. Try not to worry too much. All it takes is one phone call from his cell phone and our contact at the phone company will be able to give us his location within fifty yards.”
“All it will take is one phone call from him, you asshole!”
A silence ensued following his outburst. He clutched at his chest, knowing his employee had been caught off guard by his uncustomary show of fury.
“If he uses his cell phone to contact one person—just one—we’ll have him. How much damage could he actually do in a few hours?” asked Garnier.
“Think apocalyptic, you stupid son of a bitch. You’d better rattle around those rocks in your head, Garnier, and figure out exactly where he is. If you think I’m going to wait around for him to make the phone call that’ll ruin me in order to find him, you’re even more of an idiot that I thought you were.”