“Black. No topcoat or anything. Just the black suit. I think he had a colored shirt on, yellow or pink or something. He was wearing a tie — I couldn’t say what color.”
“What about his voice?”
“I didn’t notice anything unusual about it. He didn’t have an accent or anything. He talked clear, like a radio announcer, you know, the guys that get all the accent rubbed out of their voices in broadcasting school.”
“Tell me again what he said.”
“He said he was just coming outside, a lady in there asked him to pass a message to me, she said she wanted to pick up something at Saks and she felt like a walk, and would I pick her up at Saks at twelve-thirty.”
“Before you said he asked if it was Mrs. Pastor’s car.”
“That’s right, he asked me that first. And he said the reason she asked him to deliver the message she was under the hair dryer and couldn’t come out.”
“Can you remember any of his exact words?”
“I don’t think so, I’m no good at that kind of thing. I’m sorry, Mr. Pastor. I’m doing my best.”
Ezio said, “We know you are. Nobody’s blaming you.”
Frank was scratching the top of his head through the toupee. “Why don’t we hear from them?”
“Trying to make us nervous,” Ezio said. “Sometimes they do that. They snatch the wife and let the husband spend the night alone, missing her. Then they make the call in the morning. Don’t be surprised if we don’t hear until morning.”
He saw the rage in Frank and he added quickly, “Listen, it’s an occupational hazard. Guys in our business, they know we won’t go to the cops. But you think about all the snatches you heard about people in our business. They usually handle the victim with a lot of care and they don’t hold you up for an arm and a leg. That Galleone kid, what was his name, they took him three-four years ago, somebody out in Kansas City. They called Galleone, they told him to drop twenty kay in small bills. He made the drop, they delivered the kid safe and sound. They don’t mess up the merchandise and they don’t ask for too much money because they know that would bring the whole organization down on them... That’s all this is, Frank. Tomorrow night, Saturday morning, I bet you she’s home right here in perfect health. You want to try and take it easy.”
“I don’t think you’re reading it right, Ezio.”
“It’s not professionals, Frank. Professionals don’t kidnap people in the first place because the odds are wrong. In the second place nobody in the business is going to mess with Frank Pastor’s wife. So it’s a bunch of amateurs, maybe longhair kids or something, they want some quick money.”
“This guy that decoyed Belmont away from the beauty shop wasn’t any longhair kid.”
“So maybe they’re a bunch of middle-class middle-age businessmen that fell on hard times. Somebody he’s in trouble. I don’t know who they are but I’ll bet you they’re not professionals. It’s not some rival guy trying to put any kind of pressure on you. That leaves amateurs. Amateurs get scared, they don’t want trouble, they take the ransom and give her back safe.”
“Amateurs get scared, they start killing. You know that as well as I do. Don’t try to soft-soap me with reassuring lies, Ezio. I don’t need that crap.”
“I still say they’re not going to hurt Anna. Nobody’s that stupid.”
“I hope to God you’re right.”
2
It wasn’t a phone call. It was a small package, marked Personal, delivered by hand messenger at eleven-fifteen Friday morning.
Ezio signed for the package. Behind him in the foyer Frank said, “That’s probably it.”
“Sure.”
Frank said to the messenger, “What’s the name of your outfit?”
“MRDS. Midtown Rapid Delivery Service.
“Where’d you pick the package up?”
“Forty-second Street Library. The main reading room.” The messenger was an old man without teeth; his jaw chopped up and down like a marionette’s when he talked.
Frank went into his pocket and took out his roll. He peeled off a twenty. “Describe the man who gave it to you.”
The old man gaped at the money. “Well I don’t know as I noticed him all that much. Young man, he was. Not a kid, you know, but young. A little younger than you, anyway.” He laughed, high-pitched and nervous.
“For twenty bucks you can do a little better than that, old man.” Frank held the bill up a yard from the messenger’s nose.
“Well he was kind of dark, I remember that. Not Negro, a white man but he had dark hair, dark clothes.”
Ezio said, “Black suit?”
“Maybe. I guess it was. Young man, dark hair, that’s it. Not very big. No bigger than me.”
“What kind of voice did he have? How did he sound?”
“Ordinary. Nothing special. He wasn’t no foreigner or anything.”
Ezio said, “Sounds like the same guy.”
Frank pushed the twenty-dollar bill into the old man’s hand and Cestone ushered him out.
They opened the parcel on the pool table. There were two enclosures: a cassette of recording tape and a small gold ring. Frank held the ring up and squinted at the tiny inscription engraved inside it. “Anna’s wedding ring all right.”
“Got a recorder to play this tape on?”
“The kids have them. I’ll be right back.”
While Frank was gone Ezio examined the cassette. On Side One it had the words Frank Pastor printed in block letters in pencil. There was nothing written on Side Two. It was an ordinary half-hour cassette; you could buy the brand in any electronics shop.
Frank came into the study carrying a small recorder. They plugged the cassette in and Ezio punched the “start” button. The tape ran silently for a bit; then there was a click and a hollow noise as if the microphone had banged against something when it was picked up.
Ezio clenched his fists and prepared to listen.
3
“This is for Frank Pastor’s ears only. And I suppose Ezio Martin’s if it’s unavoidable.”
Ezio looked up. He couldn’t read Frank’s face.
“I’m sure you recognize my voice, although it’s been a long time since you’ve heard it.”
“I recognize it, Merle.”
“... We’ve invited Mrs. Pastor to spend a vacation with us. She’s a little run-down, I think she needs a holiday.”
“Vicious bastard,” Frank said. He swung roughly away but not before Ezio saw the moisture in his eyes.
“We have a few requests to make of you. They’re simple and you shouldn’t have any trouble following them. You may have thought that your wife had been kidnapped, but that’s not true. She’s taking a vacation, that’s all. Nobody is asking for ransom money or anything of the kind.”
Ezio said, “That’s in case we brought a few friendly cops in.”
Frank said irritably, “Shut up,” and because they’d missed a few words he pushed the “stop” button and rewound the tape slightly. Then he started the machine again.
“... vacation, that’s all. Nobody is asking for ransom money or anything of the kind. Your wife is in perfectly good health, she’s just a little tired. The rest should do her good. The only thing that could endanger her health, and the health of the baby, would be an attack on her or the place where she’s resting. I’m sure you understand what that means.
“We don’t know yet how long Anna will choose to stay here. That’s up to her, of course. It depends on how well she responds to therapeutic treatment.
“She doesn’t want you to worry, but I think you should. We’ll be in touch at fairly regular intervals. Expect to hear from us again in a week or so. In the meantime, as I said before, we have a few simple requests and recommendations.