“Including Las Vegas showgirls?” he says, with a wink.
“Especially them.”
25
I LEAVE DR. P.-slash-Darwin with his thoughts and take the elevator to our room. Miranda lets me in and I dig through my duffel until I find a disposable cell phone. After putting it in my pocket, I get some hotel stationery and a pen from the desk drawer.
I put my finger to my lips and write, I need a favor. Then hand Miranda the pen.
She writes, Name it.
Use my phone to call your mother. Chat till I come back.
She frowns. How long will you be? You know my mom makes me crazy.
Ten minues.
Okay.
You’re probably thinking this business with the phone suggests I don’t trust Darwin. In general, I do trust him. Not only that, I’m pulling for him to make it. I mean, how wonderful would it be if Darwin becomes the test case, proving it’s possible to eventually retire from this business and live a normal life? On the other hand, he’s been keeping tabs on a lot of people for a lot of years, and old habits are hard to break. I have a sensitive call to make, and don’t want to take a chance Darwin might monitor it.
I wait till Miranda has her mom on the line, and smile at what she’s written on the stationery.
You owe me!
I blow her a kiss and head out the door, down the elevator, and find a quiet spot near an outdoor fountain.
Then I call Callie and ask, “Is Maybe with you?”
“Nope. You called it. She bolted.”
“Were you able to follow her?”
Callie laughs. “You really need to teach her the basics. She asked to borrow my Jag.”
“And didn’t stop to consider it might be rigged?”
“Nope. GPS intact, all cameras functional.”
I shake my head. “Where is she now?”
“Room 228, second floor, Vega Rouge Hotel.”
“Who’s she with?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re sure about the room number?”
“I watched her elevator go to the second floor and stop. Then I had to run the length of the hall to get to the stairs. I made it to the second floor landing and peeked around the corner just in time to see her enter room 228. From that angle I couldn’t see who let her in.”
“Good job.”
“More lucky than good. If she’d gone to the third floor, I might’ve missed her.”
“Put me on hold and call the front desk. Ask them to connect you to Sam Case.”
“You’re shitting me!”
“I wish.”
“How would he-oh, God, Donovan. You should’ve let me kill him when I had the chance.”
“Tell me about it.”
Callie sighs. “I’ll call. Hold on.”
A minute later she says, “There’s no record of Sam Case at the Vega Rouge.”
“I didn’t expect him to use his real name,” I say, “but we had to try.”
“I thought he was in the bunker at Mount Weather.”
“I thought so too.”
“Working on a synthetic cure for the Spanish Flu,” she adds.
“He might be there. But as it turns out, he’s Maybe’s employer.”
“Sam Case? He’s a computer nerd!”
“A computer nerd who’s goal in life is to pay me back for destroying his marriage and business.”
“So you think they’re meeting about a hit?”
“I’d like to think so, compared to what else I’m thinking. But according to Darwin, all the contracts for murder were arranged by phone.”
“Did you say Darwin?”
“Yeah. Darwin’s alive and well.”
“So I was right? Lou Kelly is Darwin?”
“Try Dr. Petrovsky.”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m serious.”
“Dr. P.? But how did you-”
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s try another name Sam might be using.”
“Go ahead.”
“Donovan Creed.”
“What? Why would he use your name?”
“Just give it a try. See if I’m registered.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“No. Just see if he used my name. It would be just like him.”
“Okay.”
She puts me on hold again. Moments later she says, “Bingo.”
Callie says, “I can kill him now, once and for all.”
I don’t respond.
She says, “Donovan?”
“Sorry. I’m still pondering the idea Sam has stolen my identity.”
“Your identity?”
“In order to check in, he’d need a credit card with my name on it.”
“Wow!”
“Wow, indeed.”
Darwin told me Sam hasn’t left the bunker. Doesn’t mean he’s lying. Sam’s a genius. He could probably find a way to confuse Darwin for a few minutes when he needs to come and go. It would have been especially easy during the past thirty hours, since Darwin’s with me in Virginia, away from all his equipment.
Darwin also said he’s positive Kimberly isn’t having sex with Sam. He said she’s got some sort of sexual issue she’s been discussing with a psychiatrist.
My gut tells me Sam’s in a hotel room with my daughter, and sexual issues or not, I expect he’s found a way to manipulate her into a physical relationship.
The burning question is do I let Callie kill him?
That’s the smart play, and she’d love to do it. But there are two problems with that scenario. First, I’d be denying myself the opportunity to torture Sam to death. And second, my daughter’s in the room. Kimberly’s not in Callie’s league, but she’s had some training. If she puts up a fight, Callie will have to hurt her. If she pulls a gun or knife, Callie will have to kill her.
“What do you want me to do?” Callie says.
“Are you available to stay there until Kimberly leaves?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. When she leaves, subdue him and keep him there.”
“You’re on your way?”
“I’m on my way.”
26
Maybe Taylor.
SAM’S PHONE IS buzzing.
“I need to get that,” he says.
“Tough shit.”
“Maybe, seriously. I need to answer my phone. You’ve had your fun. Now untie me.”
It has been fun, but there’s more fun to be had. She looks at the man who’s been such a powerful influence on her life the past twelve months. He’s on the floor on his side, naked, curled in a fetal position, arms tied behind his back, wrists cuffed. Knees tied, ankles cuffed. A twelve-inch tail of red tubing protrudes from his backside, courtesy of the butt plug she’s placed in his rectum. She was in the process of forcing a red plastic ball in Sam’s mouth when his cell phone started buzzing.
She opens it, puts it to his ear.
Sam says, “Hello?”
She hears an altered voice coming through the ear piece. With his ear blocking most of the sound, the words aren’t clear to her.
But Sam seems alarmed.
He says things like, “No!” and “You’re kidding!” and “What’re you talking about?” and “You can’t quit!” and “What’s going to happen to me?”
Maybe’s heard enough. While she enjoys humiliating her boyfriend, no one else is going to upset him on her watch. She pulls the phone from Sam’s ear and says, “Who is this?”
Sam screams, “No!”
The person on the other end immediately stops talking, but it’s too late. She heard the last few words, and recognized him.