“LePointe has talked to Decell a lot since the grab, but not once in the weeks before. That makes sense. But LePointe called Fugate scores of times: last call was an hour before you arrived at her house. After that call, LePointe called Decell. Decell called LePointe a few minutes after you got clobbered. Talked three minutes. Minutes after that, LePointe called the president of the bank Decell visited an hour later. Looks like maybe LePointe is going to pay somebody for something.”
“Could there be a ransom demand the doctor hasn’t mentioned?” Alexa asked.
“I don’t see Fugate tied in with Grace. Fugate didn’t make any calls to anyone else on the list, did she?”
“Fugate didn’t call anybody the month before the grab except LePointe. Short-duration calls. She’d been dead two days when Gary was taken. LePointe always called her. A lot of those calls from LePointe were immediate hang-ups. Eighteen ran thirty seconds or longer. It looks like LePointe didn’t know about Fugate’s death until after it happened. He didn’t start frantically calling Fugate until a few hours ago. What was the trigger?” Alexa wondered.
“If LePointe found out the media was hunting for Sibby, he could have started calling Fugate to tell her to circle the wagons. But she doesn’t answer. He panics. When LePointe can’t reach Fugate, Decell goes over to check on her for LePointe-see why she wasn’t taking his calls. Once he gets there he finds her dead and Sibby’s gone. He begins to sanitize the house, but you interrupt him. He pushed you down the stairs and ran away with all the evidence he could carry. Bond saw Decell twenty minutes later go to his office to ditch the evidence. It fits.”
“And then Decell goes to the bank when it’s closed to normal people,” Alexa said. “Decell went to the bank because he found something at Fugate’s house that LePointe needed money to deal with.”
“This is giving me a headache,” Manseur said.
“Or because LePointe got a ransom demand.”
“How do we find Gary West?”
Manseur’s cell phone rang and he answered it.
Alexa watched his face as he listened. “Good work. We need to put out a BOLO on him.” Manseur closed the phone. “Got a hit on a partial fingerprint taken from Gary West’s Volvo.”
“Leland Ticholet?” Alexa guessed.
Manseur nodded and smiled.
“If you can deal with the travel agency, I need to talk to Veronica Malouf.”
“Why?”
“After that, you join Bond watching LePointe’s. I’ll meet you there. We’re going to need some help staying with the money. Can you get GPS trackers?”
“I’ll see if I can. Finding help to follow money sounds easy enough.”
58
When Veronica Malouf answered her door and saw Alexa, her face crumpled.
“This isn’t a good time,” she said, after looking up and down the street.
Alexa heard the volume of the stereo drop and knew Veronica wasn’t alone. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“I have a friend here.”
“That’s fine. I don’t have time to come in.”
“What do you want?”
“A favor.”
“What kind?” Veronica pulled the door shut behind her.
“I want you to go to the hospital and get me a set of records.”
“I gave you everything I had.”
“On Sibby. But I need the records on another inmate.”
“Who?”
“Leland Ticholet.”
“Who?”
“Swamp Boy.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“But I never go there after five. The offices are closed except for a skeleton crew. How about early in the morning? I might not be able to come back home. The way back into town is being blocked by highway patrolmen.”
“If they won’t let you through, call me.”
“You’re going to get me fired,” Veronica said weakly.
“That is the least of your worries,” Alexa told her.
59
It was dark when Alexa arrived on St. Charles Avenue, parked, and climbed into Manseur’s car. A man she had never seen before was in the back seat.
“Alexa, Larry Bond. Larry, Agent Keen,” Manseur said.
“Pleasure,” Bond said. Manseur’s ex-partner wasn’t at all what Alexa expected. He was blond, muscular, and tall. His face was all sharp angles and sunburnt. “Decell’s been in the house since he got here from the bank.”
“Casey arrived twenty minutes ago,” Manseur said.
“Was Grace with her?”
“She was alone, far as I could tell. Might have the little girl with her.”
Alexa opened her cell phone and dialed. “Casey, it’s Alexa.”
“You won’t believe this, but I was just about to call you,” Casey told her. “I’m conflicted and I’m trusting you to tell me something.”
“Shoot,” Alexa said.
“I’m at Unko’s. He admitted there was a ransom demand for Gary, and that he faked the note to keep you and Manseur from screwing things up. The kidnappers are going to be watching, the note said.”
“You saw the ransom demand note?”
“Yes. I threatened to call you, so he and Decell showed it to me. They didn’t want to. I want you to promise me you won’t interfere in getting Gary back. But I want you involved, Alexa. You’re better at this than Unko and Decell. I can’t risk Gary getting hurt.”
“It’s your call, Casey, not your uncle’s. Gary is your husband.”
“They treat me like I shouldn’t know anything. If it’s my call, I’m making it. Unko’s going to pay in bearer bonds. I told him he had to tell you and he and Decell both said that if I did, Gary’s death would be on my head. The note says that Unko is to handle the actual swap. It could be dangerous, couldn’t it? Decell should do it.”
“This is far too dangerous for your uncle to deal with. I doubt even Decell is capable of handling it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s possible that the person who has Gary may have killed Nurse Fugate. If it is who I think it is, he’s very dangerous and mentally unstable.”
“Alexa, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I overheard Unko and Decell talking about some item Decell had to make sure he got from the kidnapper, no matter what else happened.”
“Gary could be the item he meant,” Alexa said.
“I don’t think it was a reference to Gary. I know it sounds paranoid, but I think they have more than just Gary to recover in this exchange. I didn’t hear it all, but I’m sure Unko said something about a diary.”
“That’s interesting,” Alexa said, remembering the secret stash in Fugate’s closet. If Fugate had kept her diary under the floor, there was no telling what she might have written in it that LePointe wanted it back to prevent anyone knowing its contents.
An ambulance raced past, its siren blaring.
“Where are you?” Casey asked.
“I can’t say,” Alexa said, knowing Casey had heard the siren in stereophonic glory.
“You’re right outside!”
“Look, I’ll do whatever I can, you know that. Try to trust me a little longer.”
“I knew you were good. You already knew there was a ransom demand, didn’t you? You’re going to follow to the exchange, aren’t you?”
“I need to get off the phone, Casey. We’ll talk later.”
“The note said Unko was to come alone and that they’d know if anybody else was with him or following him.”
“Casey, do you know where Grace is?”
“Her phone must be off. I’ve tried to call her several times, but I get her message. Why?”
“I just wanted to be sure you weren’t alone,” Alexa lied. “The waiting will be excruciating for you until this is over. Where’s Deana?”
“I have someone watching her at home.”
“Just a sec, Casey.” Alexa muted her phone and told Manseur and Bond what Casey had said. “Grace is in the wind,” she whispered. “Fugate may have had a diary. That may be the trigger we discussed.”
“Grace is going to be involved in the drop,” Manseur said.