“Then how do you know I’ll be safe back home?”
She was right. The safest place for Veronica Gale was with me. But I didn’t want her to be there when I killed him.
“And you are not backing out on your promise.”
My eyebrows went up. “My promise?”
She nodded smugly. “You said you’d help me solve Senator Anderson’s murder.”
Shit. I did. Didn’t I? “I can do that once I’ve taken care of Dekker.”
“And just what does ‘taken care of’ mean, anyway? Are you going to kill him?”
Veronica’s words vibrated through me. She hit too close to home. Did she think I was going to kill him?
“What did Arje Dekker tell you about me?”
She looked uncertain. “He said you were hired to kill him. Is that true?”
“No.” Yes.
Her shoulders relaxed. “Who is he? And why did he attack you like that?”
It kind of warmed my heart a bit that she was more concerned about him hurting me than him hurting her.
“He’s a mercenary. The worst kind. A mass murderer on a global scale.”
Ronnie looked shaken. “What do you mean?”
So I told her. I told her everything about the nice Dutchman she thought was so cute. And I left nothing to the imagination. She deserved to know the truth. And yes, I wanted her to hate him. Sue me.
“Oh, my God,” Veronica whispered when I was through. “I…I had no idea.”
“I’m sorry, Ronnie.” And I was. “But now you know you can’t stay with me. A man like that will kill you next time. He’s just not the sentimental type.”
“Why don’t you call Interpol or something? Why do you need to go after him?”
Good question. Too good. I had no answer. What was I going to say?
“Do you think someone like him was responsible for Anderson ’s murder?”
“What?” I hadn’t expected that response. “Ronnie, there’s no evidence Anderson was murdered.”
She actually unbuckled her seat belt and stood. “You said you would help me. You promised.” Veronica wavered a little unsteadily on her feet. Maybe she’d left the hospital too soon. I led her over to a divan and forced her to lie down.
“And I will. But you have to realize that one of the possibilities is that Anderson died of a heart attack.”
She nodded, but it was only a physical agreement. Her eyes told another story.
“Look, we have a few hours. Let’s go over what you have.” Then I could make good on my promise and change the subject. Maybe by the time we landed at Heathrow I could convince her to go home and drop this case. A two-for-one deal, if you will.
Veronica’s file on Senator Anderson was three inches thick. And because she had the time, she had managed to review more than one hundred and sixty-two suspects. These suspects had, at one time or another, threatened the senator. Unfortunately, she included in with the serious threats people who had threatened to have city hall nab him for not mowing his grass, two pastors, a thirteen-year-old paper boy and a conservative talk-show host.
“Okay. Let’s narrow this down a bit,” I began. “I mean, do you really think Oprah’s hairstylist wanted to kill a senator?”
“Yeah, I know.” Ronnie sighed and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I guess I went a little crazy. Then again, the woman did make his hair look ridiculous. But I see where you’re going with this.”
“There has to be a motive for murder. And I’m still not convinced it was anything more than a bad heart.” I held up two medical forms. “How in the hell did you get these?” Wasn’t anything confidential anymore?
“From another theorist.”
“Well, they prove that the man had a rotten ticker. And there’s a lot of stress in holding public office.”
“I know that, but something about the whole thing just doesn’t feel right. You know?”
“Fine. Let’s go through these names, then.”
The rest of the flight went quickly as we went through each name on her extensive list. Veronica was willing to concede that Anderson ’s elderly kindergarten teacher and his neighbors weren’t proper suspects. I had to admit, her notes were pretty thorough. Anderson did have a lot of enemies. There were a lot of people who felt he was too revolutionary in his ideas.
“All right. So we have it narrowed down to four people, and you have excellent penmanship.” I stretched my arms above my head. The shoulder was starting to heal now that I wasn’t taking a beating every day. “But I think your research is pretty one-sided.”
Veronica was making piles from the pages we sorted. “How so?”
“Well, you only have information from major newspapers, liberal magazines and networks here. What about alternative papers, independent radio, the international press?”
“Well, I admit I haven’t really gone that far.” She looked tired and more than a little concerned. I suppose I could’ve given her a hard time about the basic tenets of scholarly research, but I just couldn’t do it. She’d been through too much.
I pulled her close and silently held her in my arms until the plane landed.
Chapter Twenty-five
Emperor Zhark: What’s the point in possessing a devastatingly destructive death ray if you can’t use it?
– THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS, JASPER FFORDE
London. One of my favorite cities. I did some postgraduate work once upon a time there and loved it ever since. It was a city where history came alive and grappled with itself. I still had some valuable contacts there. And it gave me an idea.
“Who are you calling?” Veronica asked.
“A friend who can help you.” And hopefully take you off my hands and keep you safe while I flush out my vic.
A few minutes later, I was hustling Ronnie through the airport toward the baggage claim.
“Richard works for the Sentinel. It’s the largest independent paper in the world, and it can give you a more unbiased perspective,” I said as I hailed a taxi.
“He’s waiting for you at the door.” I told the driver where to take Veronica, and to see that she got there safely I threw in one hundred euros. “I’ll meet up with you later.”
Ronnie looked at me in a way that said she wasn’t sure about this idea. But I was. And I could feel it as I shut the door on her and smacked the cab, sending it on its way.
“Monty,” I said into the Bluetooth I’d just inserted. “Where is Vic?”
“Hey, Coney! It’s Jack!” Missi’s other twin greeted me on the phone. Great, now I’d have to explain what I was doing all over again.
“We’ve been following him on the airport security cameras ever since the plane landed. He’s in the shopping area,” Jack said before I could reply. “Did you know Mom’s a contestant on a reality show?”
“I heard that,” I said quickly as I made my way through the terminal. “Where in the shopping area?”
“Looks like a toy store or something. It’s hard to tell…Hold on. I’ll find out what toy stores are there and map it for you on the phone,” Jack said, and within seconds I could see a little red dot indicating Dekker’s position. It looked as though he was in a room about two hundred yards on my right.
“Keep it on until I make visual confirmation.”
“Roger that,” Jack answered. I was pretty impressed with the boys. I made a mental note to knit that bag Missi wanted using the cashmere I’d gotten from Mongolia.
It should be said that it isn’t easy walking fast without looking like you are walking fast. There really is only one place where everyone moves that way. And that is an airport. As I closed in on the location, I congratulated myself for getting rid of Ronnie and fulfilling my promise to her at the same time.
“You should be within range now.” Jackson ’s voice rang in my ear. Oh, yeah, the assignment.