Need a ride tonight. Walking over now.
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” said Jack. “What do you want?”
“There’s been a change in our arrangement.”
Jack massaged between the eyes, staving off a massive headache. “There is no arrangement.”
“Relax and listen. This is all good. See, now that I heard you and the party slut talk, I believe you. You really don’t know where she is.”
“That’s what I told you from the beginning.”
“No worries. Just a little glitch. We can work around this.”
“I’m not interested in working anything out.”
“Sydney won’t just walk away from a book and movie deal. She’ll call you again. Especially after that lawsuit is filed tomorrow against BNN.”
“How do you know about-”
“I know these things, Jack. When she calls, I want you to insist on meeting her face-to-face.”
“No.”
“Don’t tell me no. You know what happens if you don’t do your part.”
Jack said nothing, but he remembered the threat welclass="underline" Someone you love will get what Sydney deserves.
“We’re a team, Jack. We’ll find her.”
The call ended, and the light from Jack’s keypad faded, leaving him alone in the dark.
Chapter Eighteen
Jack met Andie the following morning in Miami Gardens, a short ride away from the FBI’s Miami field office. Andie didn’t want a meeting at the office. Over the years, Jack had done legal work for the St. Thomas University Center for Justice and Peace, and he’d spent enough time on campus to remember that the coffee at the book center was drinkable. They each grabbed a cup and a bagel and walked across the parking lot to the baseball diamond, where a travel team was practicing. Alone in the bleachers behind home plate, they could talk freely.
Jack had left a message for Andie immediately after the call from his attacker. It had taken another phone call and two text messages to get a callback, which told him either that she was really mad at him, or that something big was in the works.
“I’m going undercover again,” she said.
Something big-which explained her hypersensitivity about the publicity over the Sydney Bennett case. But it didn’t rule out the possibility that she was also mad.
“When?” he asked.
“You know I can’t tell you that. But soon.”
The ping of an aluminum bat sounded on the other side of the batting cage. The baseball team was fielding ground balls. Jack watched, working on a chewy bagel. He was reluctant to ask, but he needed to know.
“Is this in response to the threat?”
Andie seemed put off by the insinuation. “Are you asking if I’m going undercover to run away from the man who attacked you?”
Hearing Andie rephrase it made the question sound insulting. “Sorry,” said Jack. “I asked only because you were the one who immediately thought that the threat against ‘someone you love’ meant you.”
“It has nothing to do with that. This assignment has been in the works for months.”
Jack’s attention turned briefly to the infielders, then back to Andie. “So. . where does this leave us?”
“We’ll be fine,” she said.
He smiled a little. “Does that mean I’m off the FBI’s ten most unwanted list?”
She returned the smile, more with her eyes. “You’re such a goofball. Yes, you’re off the list. Or at least out of the top ten.”
“So you still love me?”
She gave him a little kiss. “Yes, I love you. Even though I was right.”
Jack knew it wouldn’t be simple. “Right about what?”
“That photograph of us walking out of the emergency room. It took less than eight hours for it to show up on the Internet.”
“True. But you’re barely recognizable. Obviously, the bureau doesn’t think it’s an issue if they’re sending you back undercover.”
“We got lucky. This time.”
Jack drank his coffee, watched the infielders turn a double play. There was more to sort out. “Who will be my contact at the FBI when you go undercover? It’s clear I haven’t heard the last from this guy.”
“Until I’m reassigned, the contact is still me. Then it will be up to the assistant special agent in charge. Depending on how this plays out in the short term, it’s possible that the bureau will defer to local police. In that case, you would follow up with Detective Rivera.”
“Rivera?” Jack said, uneasy. “I’m not so keen on that guy.”
“He has an excellent reputation.”
“Do you agree with him? Celeste and I were victims of the same attacker?”
“Yes. Our forensic experts were already leaning that way based on the comparison of your photos to her bruises. Last night’s call removes all doubt. He attacked Celeste thinking she was Sydney. Now he’s after you to get to Sydney.”
“What’s the plan when he calls me again?”
“I wish you would listen to me and let us tap your phone.”
“I’m not going down that road. Mr. Shake-Hands-with-My-Throat has already hacked into my old phone.”
“What do you mean your ‘old’ phone?”
“I’m picking up a new one in an hour. I’ll text you the new number.”
“And exactly what is your plan to stop this guy from hacking into your new phone?”
“I’m meeting with a spyware expert to sort that out.”
“You’re going to pay a private spyware expert instead of trusting me?”
“It’s not a matter of trusting you. Just on general principle, a criminal defense lawyer doesn’t need the FBI checking out his address book and examining his call history, let alone tapping his phone conversations.”
“Well, you’ve already had one trip to the emergency room. Maybe you should reconsider.”
“I might if you were the only one involved. But I’m not going to share my line with any old agent in the FBI. And I’m definitely not sharing it with Detective Rivera.”
“I told you, Rivera’s a good guy.”
“Call it defense lawyer’s intuition. He’s got an ax to grind. He doesn’t even return my phone calls.”
Andie dug her cell from her purse. “I’ll take care of that right now,” she said, dialing.
“Don’t,” said Jack, but it was too late. Andie already had the detective on the line. Jack heard one side of the conversation as she gave Rivera the FBI lecture on the importance of communication with victims. A minute later, she put the phone on speaker and laid it on the bleacher seat between them. “Rivera has an update,” she told Jack. “Go ahead, Detective.”
“I had a very interesting heart-to-heart with Celeste’s friend this morning,” said Rivera, his voice a bit tinny on the speaker.
“You mean Celeste’s roommate?” asked Andie.
“Yeah. The girl who went to the detention center with her on the night of Sydney Bennett’s release. Her story has completely unraveled.”
“How so?”
“She told Faith Corso on the air that she and Celeste had just come from a Sydney Bennett look-alike contest at Club Vertigo on South Beach. We called the club manager. It turns out that the contest was canceled. Never happened.”
Jack and Andie exchanged glances. Andie followed up with the detective: “Why would she lie about that?”
“She was covering for her friend,” said Rivera.
“Covering up what?” asked Andie.
“It took me a while to get it out of her, but she finally admitted it this morning. Despite all the accusations that BNN reporters were making things up, it turns out that somebody did, in fact, hire Celeste Laramore to go to the women’s detention center that night.”
“Hire her-why?” asked Andie.
“Celeste’s friend doesn’t know why,” said Rivera, “but it’s at least plausible that it’s just like BNN reported it. Celeste got paid a thousand bucks to show up and make people think she was Sydney Bennett. She was a diversion to stir things up and draw the crowd’s attention so that Sydney could slip away.”