As he waited, Brian called on all his extensive experience as an ESU officer about to initiate a dangerous mission to keep his emotions in check. He knew all too well how important it was to maintain a clear mind so as not to make inadvertent, silly mistakes. Part of it was to control his breathing and even heart rate, but most important was to keep his attention homed in on the details of the plan.
Jeanne appeared at the heavy glass art nouveau door to the six-story apartment building that housed the bed-and-breakfast she had booked when she moved out of her rented apartment, having given away what furniture and household equipment she had. Seeing she was struggling with a large shoulder bag, a roll-on suitcase, and another sizable valise, he rushed to help. As he had requested, she, too, was dressed in dark clothing.
“Let me help,” Brian offered after pulling the glass entrance door completely open. He took the valise, which was a good deal heavier than he anticipated. “What’s in this?” he questioned with a quizzical chuckle.
“Books I can’t live without,” she answered with a laugh of her own, though he could tell by her movements that she was on edge more than he.
They got Jeanne’s things into the back of the car, and Brian replaced the blanket that served as a tarp. They were planning on leaving the car for a number of hours and didn’t want to invite a break-in. Luckily it would be in a safe, supervised place.
A few minutes later they were heading north on Broadway en route to City Island, New York, part of the Bronx. Six days earlier they’d rented a black inflatable Zodiac boat with a forty-horsepower outboard motor, a mooring slip, and fishing gear from Butler Marine.
“I can’t believe we’re really doing this,” Jeanne admitted, trying to get herself to relax now that they were underway. “Is this really happening after all this planning and preparation?”
“I hope so,” he said, also coming to terms with the fact that his life as he knew it was about to be over.
“Are you as angry now as you were the day Juliette died?”
“Even more so,” Brian said. “The more we learned about the lifestyle of these extortionists, the more outraged I’ve become. I’ve lost everything I love and cherish while they wallow around in their swimming pools. And to add insult to injury, MMH is still dragging its feet after all that has happened just to provide Megan Doyle with a full copy of the hospital bill.”
“I feel the same way,” Jeanne agreed.
“Of course, things can still go awry despite our planning,” Brian cautioned. “There could be unexpected glitches, but everything is looking good, including the weather. Luckily both Kelley and Williams are such creatures of habit, which makes it possible for everything to fall into place.”
The first thing that they had done after discovering where the two executives lived was to rent the Zodiac boat on City Island, a mere two miles across the Long Island Sound from both locations. They’d then spent the next four days supposedly fishing in and around Manhasset Bay armed with a pair of powerful binoculars. Since they weren’t using any bait, they didn’t have to deal with actually catching any fish. Instead, they were able to study both mansions, noting, as Brian had suspected, that there were no walls or fences on the waterside of either property. Despite constantly moving from place to place to avoid being at all suspicious, they’d quickly learned that both executives adhered to predictable workday schedules upon their arrivals at home.
Although Heather Williams lived a bit farther from Manhattan than Charles Kelley, she was the first to arrive home, at five o’clock. When she got there, the first evidence was several dark-suited men who walked the grounds, even checking inside the substantial sailing yacht tied to the long, massive pier. A few minutes after they left the scene, she appeared in a riding outfit along with several beagles. With the dogs frolicking along beside her, she walked across the paddock to her nearby stable, where she was greeted by a stable hand. A half hour or so later she reappeared mounted on a horse. For the next hour, she exercised the horse in the paddock at varying speeds, even doing a few jumps. An hour later she was in the pool, swimming laps. Having watched this program over a few days, they understood it as her daily warm-weather routine while in residence in her Sands Point mansion. Online, Jeanne had learned that she spent July and August at her house in the Hamptons with her horses, often playing polo at the Meadowbrook Polo Club. All in all, from Brian’s perspective, he was encouraged that both the riding and the swimming would offer multiple opportunities for a sniper shot.
Charles Kelley’s routine was somewhat similar, although on arrival he did a cursory property check himself, accompanied by his liveried driver. A half hour later they both re-emerged onto the terrace, one from within the house and the other from around the side, both dressed in T-shirts, shorts, and high-top sneakers. Since the driver didn’t come from inside the house, Brian assumed he lived on the premises but in the guest house. He recognized that the driver’s presence would need to be taken into consideration if a home invasion became necessary.
After reappearing in athletic gear, both Charles and his driver proceeded to the tennis court. They didn’t play tennis but rather played one-on-one basketball, during which Charles invariably prevailed by a wide margin. In contrast to Heather Williams’s solitary riding routine and its favorability for a sniper shot, Charles Kelley’s basketball playing was not ideal, not only because he wasn’t alone, but because the court was surrounded by a metal chain-link fence. As Brian explained to Jeanne, trying to target through the fence could be a problem, since there was a substantial probability that a bullet would be deflected, potentially wounding the target instead of killing him.
The most disappointing aspect of Charles Kelley’s routine, as they observed on the first day, was that after his basketball triumph, he didn’t swim solitary laps like Heather Williams in his Olympic-sized pool as they had hoped. But it was a good thing they had been patient and stayed while the sun set because Charles had eventually reappeared. To their surprise he suddenly emerged out of a Moorish arched door onto a second-floor balcony, and what surprised them even more was that he was naked save for a towel casually thrown over his shoulder. Later, thanks to the floor plans they had obtained online from the Kings Point Building and Assessor’s Office, they learned that the door led out from a master bedroom/bath complex. While they watched him on that first occasion and on subsequent evenings, Charles Kelley always took lengthy outdoor showers. Thanks to his significantly above-average height, he was visible from mid-thorax to the crown of his head the entire time — a perfect setup for a sniper shot.
“I hope you remembered your French passport,” Jeanne said half in jest and half to break the tense silence as they turned onto the Cross County Parkway, heading east. In contrast to his practiced calmness, she was a ball of nerves.
“I remembered mine,” Brian said. “I hope you brought yours, too.”
“No problem for me. I’m bringing everything I still own. You are the one leaving an entire house full of furniture, an extended family, all your personal stuff, and a lifetime behind.”
It was true. The last few days had been hectic for him, trying to get everything done, including signing the new deed to transfer the house to Camila and sign over the car as well. Luckily Patrick McCarthy had been willing to help, since he wrongly assumed it was merely a private deal that Brian had arranged with Camila to keep the house from the hands of MMH Inwood via their subsidiary Premier Collections.