“And some of these men have pursued the woman and girl?” All this with his back still to us.
“Yes. They followed them to South Carolina. Followed me, maybe. I killed one of them two days ago.” There was no need to tell him that, but I also didn’t see any reason to keep the information from him.
Belov was silent again. After a while I said, “The woman will be leaving soon. She’s afraid to stay here, and she’s not going to. We don’t want anyone to pursue her, whether they come from your people or from Hubbard’s people. We were hoping you could help us with that. I thought seeing the tape might be worth that to you.”
“Have the police seen this tape?”
“No.” I hesitated for a minute and then decided not to lie to him. “But they will. They’ll probably see it today.”
Alexander muttered something under his breath, not pleased by the news, but Belov didn’t react. We sat there for another five minutes without speaking. I had nothing left to say, and Dainius Belov didn’t seem like the type of man you rushed. When he did break the silence, it was with two short sentences.
“The woman and the girl will not be harmed. You may go now.”
Thor pulled open the door and stood beside it, and Alexander picked our guns off the floor and followed us out. Joe and I didn’t say anything to Belov as we left. He never turned from the blank television screen.
We walked back up the steps and outside to the car. Thor drove us back to the Tower City parking garage, and when we pulled inside Alexander handed us our guns. I opened the door and stepped out, then turned and motioned for Thor to put the window down.
“Can we trust him?” I said.
A slight smile played on his lips. Amused by my question. “They are more safe now than ever before.” The window slid back up, and he pulled the Town Car away.
Joe and I stood in the parking lot and watched them drive off. I leaned against the trunk ofa car beside me and said, “Wow.”
“Belov doesn’t look like the most dangerous man in the city, does he?” Joe said.
“No, he doesn’t. But I’m still pretty sure he is.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you believe Thor?”
“When he said Mrs. Weston and the girl are more safe now than ever before?” Joe nodded. “I do. Guy like that? Who’s to doubt him?”
We walked back to our cars. Before he got inside the Taurus, Joe said, “You know, I’d pictured more yelling, more profanity, more threats. At least two or three references to how our bodies could be dumped in the Cuyahoga. Instead he acted like we were discussing stock quotes.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Somehow,” he said, “that scared me more than anything.”
“Yeah,” I said, “me, too.”
CHAPTER 24
WE DROVE to my apartment. As soon as I turned onto the avenue I felt good. I was home now, and things were wrapping up nicely. Julie was still going to run, though. That thought spoiled my mood.
I didn’t go inside the apartment but transferred my things out of the Contour and into the truck. I was damn sick of that little car. Once I’d made the vehicle switch, we went to the office. I found Sellers’s phone number, then gave him a call. He remembered me, and when I told him what I had to offer I thought he was going to have a stroke. He promised to have Laura Winters call me back immediately. She was the prosecutor who’d handled several other cases with the Russian mob in town, and Sellers said she’d probably be salivating at the thought of taking on Jeremiah Hubbard as well. True to Sellers’s word, Winters called within minutes. I ran through things again with her, and I was impressed by the way she kept silent and let me get through the story without shouting at me for failing to contact authorities sooner, as Sellers had done.
“Well, Mr. Perry, this is real big,” she said. “How soon can you have Mrs. Weston here?”
“This afternoon.”
“All right. I want to see her here at one, and I want you and your partner here, too. From what I’ve heard, the police are trying to locate you, but I’m not going to bring that into play yet, because I don’t want this place turning into a circus before I have a chance to sit down with Mrs. Weston.” Her voice had a nice hard edge to it. She sounded like a woman who probably did some serious ass-kicking in court.
“Thanks,” I said. I knew she wasn’t going to like what I had to say next, but it was probably better to prepare her over the phone, before I was within slapping range. “One other thing, Ms. Winters—a reporter for the Journal already has this story. She’s probably going to want to run it tomorrow.”
For a while there was just static in my ear. “Mr. Perry,” she said eventually, “you’re going to be a colossal pain in my ass, aren’t you?”
I was smiling, but only because she couldn’t see me. “I hope not, ma’am. But I know this isn’t a real good start. Just remember that I am bringing you Julie Weston and the tape. That should help a little, shouldn’t it?”
“It should, but that’s no guarantee it will. I’ll see you at one.” She hung up on me.
Joe looked at me. “Good to go?”
“She wants us there at one.”
I drove us back to the cottage. Amy had joined Julie, Betsy, and John now. I told them about our visit to Belov, and I told Amy that she couldn’t consider including such information in the article. She said she understood, and I believed her. I trusted Amy as I trusted few others, which was what Julie had noticed the night before.
The mood at the cottage was light, but I didn’t share it. I was tense, as I had been when I woke up in the morning reaching for my gun. Belov hadn’t provided me with enough comfort. Krashakov and the rest of them were still out there, and they’d found us once before.
While the rest of us passed time inside, Joe took Betsy outside to play. I was amazed by how taken he was with the girl. As long as I’d known Joe, he’d never had a particular affinity for children.
“Are you ready to meet with Winters?” I asked Julie while we ate.
She finished chewing and frowned, then nodded. “Yes. I think I am. I guess I’ll have to be.”
John reached over and patted her hand. “You’ll be fine.”
I was about to say more when Joe stepped through the door, grim faced.
“Mrs. Weston, come here, please.”
Julie saw something in his face that scared her, and she dropped her sandwich back onto her plate and said, “What is it? What’s wrong?” A mother’s instinct telling her something Joe’s words hadn’t.
“We’ve been playing hide-and-seek,” Joe said. “I can’t find her, and she won’t answer my calls.”
I was out of my chair even before Julie moved, my hand reflexively creeping toward my gun. This was it, I thought. That bad feeling I hadn’t been able to shake was well founded, after all. The Russians had come, and they had Betsy.
Joe put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back as I moved for the door.
“Relax, LP. The kid’s just hiding. I’ve been outside the whole time, and nobody’s here.”
“Let’s find her, then.”
We all went out on the deck, with me leading the way. Julie shouted Betsy’s name while I scanned the woods, looking for a trace of movement, my hand still hugging my hip, ready to reach for the gun.
“Elizabeth Ann Weston, you come here this minute!” Julie shouted, and her voice went up in pitch at the end, a note of panic there.
We stood clustered together on the deck, listening for a response. A cold silence mocked us.
“Shit,” I said, starting down the steps. “They’re here.”
“Wait,” Amy said, grabbing my arm. “Listen.”
We all froze again and listened, and this time I heard it, too. A faint voice coming from one end of the cottage.