Lancaster lowered his voice so Nicki and her mother couldn’t hear. “The police can do any damn thing they want to, if they want to. But so far, they haven’t. There’s a reason for that. The police believe Nicki is tied into some type of bad activity, like drug dealing or selling her body, and is bringing this situation upon herself. So they’re not interested in helping. You can file a report, but don’t expect anything to come of it.”
Lancaster jumped out of the boat and nodded at the mother before heading inside. As he neared the front door, Pearl appeared.
“My wife called 911,” the doctor said.
“Then I need to beat it. I hope you get to the bottom of this,” he said.
He did not want to have another encounter with Vargas and Gibbons. The last time, they’d run him in on a trumped-up charge, and made his life miserable before his attorney had bailed him out of jail. The charges had later been dropped.
He went outside. His Camaro was parked in the street beneath the shade of a cluster of royal palms. In South Florida, it was all about the shade when it came to parking a car, even if it meant walking half a mile.
Pearl came up behind him, breathing hard. “Wait.”
“I can’t. Sorry.”
“But I need to explain something to you.”
“All right, but make it fast.”
“My family and I lived in Dubai for the past five years while I ran the neurology department of a large hospital. We only returned to the United States three months ago. Nicki hasn’t had time to get herself in the kind of trouble that you’re describing. I know this sounds trite, but she’s an innocent child.”
“You’re saying your kid couldn’t know who’s behind this.”
Pearl nodded vigorously.
“Where does she go to school now?”
“Pine Crest. It’s the finest private school in the area. She’s taking several Advanced Placement classes. All she does is study.”
“I’ve heard of it. No time to get in trouble, huh?”
“She wants to be a doctor like her father. I told her it wasn’t easy.”
“Then who the hell are these guys stalking her?”
“God only knows.”
A police siren blared in the distance, and he judged it to be less than a mile away. He said goodbye and started toward his car. Pearl’s hand touched his sleeve.
“I want to hire you, if you’re still interested,” Pearl said.
As courtships went, this one had taken a while. Pearl had a situation that the police weren’t going to solve, and he had money, and in Lancaster’s experience those were the best kind of clients to have. If there was a problem, it was that Pearl was a doctor, and doctors were used to calling the shots. He decided to lay down the ground rules now, just so they were both clear who was in charge.
“I still need to talk to your kid,” he said.
“May my wife and I be present?” Pearl asked.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Then yes, of course.”
“Then you and I have a deal, Dr. Pearl. I’ll call you once my job in Melbourne is over. In the meantime, keep Nicki inside the house. No more lounging by the pool.”
Pearl nodded.
“And whatever you do, don’t let strangers inside the house for any reason. Those two guys in the cigarette boat were real pros. They spent the afternoon cruising the Intracoastal, sneakin’ and peekin’.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means to case a place. It’s a special ops expression.”
“I see. Were you in special ops?”
“I was a Navy SEAL. Don’t act so surprised.”
The siren was drawing closer, less than a few blocks away. Pearl cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to sound vulgar, but what are your fees?”
“I need a new refrigerator made by a company called Bosch,” he said. “I’ve already got it picked out. I’ll text you the details.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?”
“No joke. That’s how I get paid. I also need to get reimbursed for the gun I tossed, seeing how it was your kid’s life I saved. Are you good with that?”
“Whatever you’d like, Jon. It’s your show.”
“I’m glad we’ve come to this agreement. Goodbye, Dr. Pearl.”
He hustled over to his car. His shirt lifted as he climbed in, exposing his big belly. He shut the door and glanced at his new client, who’d remained in the driveway. Pearl wore a frown that hadn’t been there moments ago.
Get over it, he nearly said. He’d been born with a belly. Growing up, he’d been left off teams because the coaches thought he was overweight, and shamed by girls because of his looks. That had changed after he became a SEAL. No one in the navy had made fun of his appearance. All that had mattered to the navy was his ability to accomplish a dangerous mission in a hostile environment with an enemy who wished to kill him. On that playing field, he’d had no peers.
Pearl didn’t know any of this. For all Pearl knew, he’d just hired a fat bum. He lowered his window.
“Stop worrying,” he said, and drove off.
Chapter 3
Janey
Driving toward I-95, he asked Google Maps for instructions to Melbourne so he’d have the quickest route. Shorty would be arriving soon, and he wanted to be there to supervise the search for the missing girl, Janey MacKenzie.
Janey’s grandmother, an elderly lady named Sheila Dotson, had hired him to find her missing granddaughter. As payment, Mrs. Dotson had agreed to buy new dishes and cutlery for his apartment, which were sorely needed. Mrs. Dotson lived off her Social Security, so he’d told her to pick the items off the Walmart website, and not spend too much. But first he had to get there. Google was telling him traffic was standing still and that there was no estimated time of arrival. That had disaster written all over it, and he found a Starbucks and called Shorty from the parking lot.
“I’m thirty minutes away,” the tracker said. “Where are you?”
“Stuck in Fort Lauderdale,” he said. “Call me when you arrive. You can start the search, and I’ll direct you with my laptop.”
“Sounds like a plan. Did you tell the sheriff I’d be coming?”
“I did, and he okayed it. He also told me that I was wasting my time. I’m looking forward to proving him wrong.”
“What an idiot. I’ll call you when I pull in.”
His next call was to Mrs. Dotson. She whiled away her days on the living room couch with a mangy mutt and a flat screen TV tuned to The 70 °Club.
“Mrs. Dotson, it’s Jon Lancaster. Do you mind turning the TV down?”
The volume was lowered. “Hello, Jon. I hope you’re calling with good news.”
“We’re going to be starting our search soon. I was calling to see if you’d gotten any additional texts from Janey.”
“Yes, matter of fact, I did get a text. It was from him.”
“The kidnapper?”
“I’m sure of it. He’s using Janey’s phone and pretending to be her. He said Grandmom, I’ll be home soon. That’s how I knew. Janey calls me Grans. It’s her special name for me.”
“Did you share the text with the sheriff?”
“And have him say ‘I told you so’? No, I didn’t. The sheriff is a fool.”
“I won’t argue with you there. When did you get this text?”
“Two hours ago. Is that significant?”
“It may be. I was knocking on doors earlier today. Maybe our kidnapper found out and got scared. He could have sent you that text to throw me off the scent.”
“I pray that you’re right. Could Janey be nearby?”
He started to say yes, but bit his tongue. The evidence pointed to a patron of the bar where Janey worked following her home and abducting her, but sharing that with Mrs. Dotson would do nothing but raise her blood pressure.