Читать книгу Security Measures - Joanna Wayne - Страница 9

“Out for a walk?”

Kelly froze for a second, then spun around. But it was only Vincent. “Kind of,” she answered, then felt herself getting all tense. “Are you following me?”

“I heard you leave the house and I thought you might like company.”

“Only if you don’t go blabbing to Mom. If she finds out I sneaked out, she’ll ground me until I’m thirty.”

“You must be off on some exciting adventure to risk that.”

“Not really. I have this friend…” She hesitated. Vincent seemed all right—for an adult—but that didn’t mean she could trust him not to repeat any of this to her mother. “I couldn’t sleep so I decided to go for a walk.”

“To meet the friend? Don’t worry. I don’t squeal.”

“Yeah, I’m meeting a boy, but just to talk, you know?” She started walking again, and Vincent kept pace.

“Nice neighborhood for walking at night,” Vincent said. “Well lit. I guess it’s safe.”

“Real safe. Nothing ever happens around here.”

“You must have missed your school friends while you were on vacation.”

“Yeah, but Byron’s not exactly a school friend.”

“Just a neighborhood buddy, huh?”

“We’ll both be at the high school next year.”

“So, Byron’s older?”

“He’ll be a senior. He’s a lot more mature than the freshman boys.”

“I’ll bet. So, how did you meet Byron?”

“On the Internet. We were in a Lord of the Rings chat room, ’cause we both loved the movies.”

“Good books, too.”

“You read them?”

“The whole series, from beginning to end.”

“So did Byron. I don’t read that much, but I read the Harry Potter books. I like all that magic stuff.”

“I read those, too.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’ve had a lot of time to read lately. Does your mother disapprove of Byron? Is that why you sneak out?”

“You think I’d tell her about him? She disconnected me from the Internet for six months the last time she caught me in a chat room.”

“She’s pretty strict, huh?”

“Is she? You wouldn’t believe. It’s worse than being in prison.”

“I sincerely doubt that.”

“Believe me, it’s true. That’s why you have to promise not to tell her about Byron, or that I sneaked out of my room.”

“I’ll never tell—unless I think you’re in danger. Then all deals are off.”

“I’m not in danger. Byron’s a real nice boy.”

“That’s good to know, but I don’t think your going out at night without her permission is the right choice.”

“You would if you lived with someone who treats you like a two-year-old. What was your mom like?”

“She was terrific, but she died when I was too young to think about sneaking out of the house.”

“I don’t wish anything like that would happen. I love my mom. I just wish she’d ease up with the controlling bit. I bet my dad wasn’t like that.”

“He might have been with a teenage daughter.”

“How come Mom doesn’t like you?”

“You noticed, huh?”

“How could I miss it?”

“Maybe I bring back too many memories of your father.”

“Maybe, but it’s not just you. When I asked to go to the fire station in Charleston so that I could see where my father worked and meet some of the guys he worked with, she said it wasn’t a good idea. I’m beginning to think she didn’t like him very much.”

“I know he loved her and you.”

“That’s good to know. I was only two when he died, so I don’t remember anything about him. I have a picture of him that Mom gave me. He’s very handsome. I don’t look much like him, though.”

“You have his eyes.”

She smiled, and that surprised her. She hadn’t felt at all like smiling when she’d climbed out of her bedroom window. She’d been excited about seeing Byron, but they didn’t exactly have fun when they were together. Mostly they complained about their mothers and talked about how his life sucked.

“What’s Byron like?” Vincent asked, as if reading her mind.

“He’s kind of a loner, what I’d call a deep thinker.”

“What does he deep think about?”

“Life and everything.” Kelly crossed the street and turned the corner. The park was in the next block, and it backed up to some wooded lots. Mostly it was a baby park. A slide. A few swings. A climbing tower. The best part about it was a walking track that went through the woods and over a little stream. Byron lived beyond that.

“We meet in the park,” she said. “He’s probably already there. He jogs over.”

“I’d like to meet him, if that’s okay.”

“Sure. I already told him a friend of my father’s was visiting.” She led the way toward the swings. It was darker beneath the leafy branches of the oak trees, but enough moonlight filtered through so that she could see to stay on the worn path.

There was no sign of Byron, but she dropped into one of the swings anyway. Vincent took the one next to hers, the one where Byron usually sat. She’d never arrived at the park before Byron and never really realized how dark it was here. Now she was kinda glad Vincent had stuck around.

“What did my dad like to do when he was a kid?”

“He was a baseball nut. He loved playing it, watching it and collecting the cards. His favorite team was the Yankees and he had Yankees pennants all over his room.”

“I’ve never even been to a baseball game.”

“Every year for his birthday, your father’s dad took him to Yankee Stadium. It was the high point of his year. Easily beat out Christmas.”

“Wow! Every year, and I haven’t been to New York even once.”

“I should take you there.”

“Yeah, right, like my mother would let me go. She wouldn’t even trust God to take me out of town without her. If you look paranoid up in the dictionary, you’ll see her picture.”

But Kelly was getting a little worried herself now. Byron was always here when he said he’d be. “I can’t imagine what happened to my friend.”

“Maybe he saw me and ran off.”

“Could be, but… I don’t know. I’m starting to get a really weird feeling about this.” She looked around, not that she could see much.

“I have a cell phone. Would you like to call him?”

“Can’t. I don’t know his phone number. We only talk in chat rooms or by instant messages. I don’t even know his last name. He says names aren’t important. It’s only who you are inside that matters.”

“Then why don’t we walk back home and you can contact him.”

“Can we just walk down the path a little farther first and make sure he’s not on his way. He comes from the opposite direction as me, through the woodsy area.”

“I’m not much for walking in the woods at night.”

Coming through the woods didn’t bother Byron, and he wasn’t nearly as big and muscled as Vincent. Adults were so strange. She got out of the swing and left it yanking around on the chains. Vincent followed her.

When they reached the path, she stood on the edge and looked back down the way Byron would have come. A noise came from the woods, like someone was trying to muffle a cough.

“Byron. If that’s you, come on out.” If it was him, he didn’t answer.

Vincent stepped between her and the woods. “Let’s get out of here.” He took her arm and led her out of the park.

“I just wish I knew what happened to Byron.”

“I’m sure he’ll tell you in your next instant message.”

That’s when she saw the silver pistol in Vincent’s hand. She’d never seen one up close before. “Are you a cop or something?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think there was someone in the woods?”

“No. The weapon is just a precaution.”

“Have you ever killed a guy?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

Since he didn’t answer, she figured he had. Byron would be impressed when she told him that. Only she didn’t know why a cop with a gun would be afraid to walk in the woods, even if it was dark.

THE MESSAGE from Byron came less than a minute after Kelly had connected to her server.

I thought you were coming alone.

I was, but my dad’s friend saw me sneak out of the house and tagged along. Why did you run off?”

She waited. Sometimes instant messages weren’t all that instant. Finally the new message flashed on the screen. It didn’t explain why he’d run out on her.

So what’s the guy’s name?

Vincent Jones. He’s a cop. He carries a gun. I saw it.

I never trust cops.

She laughed and grabbed a quick gulp of her soda. That was soooo Byron. Then she started typing again.

You never trust anyone.

What did you tell him about me?

That you’re a deep thinker.

Is that all?

No, I told him you’re an ax murderer. What do you think I told him, silly?

I’m just checking. Don’t tell him anything else about me. He’ll just cause trouble for us.

He’s not like that.

I’ll bet.

What about tomorrow night? Want to try again? I’ll come by myself.

We’ll see.

He was pouting. She hated it when he acted like that, especially when she took all the risks of sneaking out. Her fingers flew across the keys.

Okay. I’m off to bed.

She chose a sleepy face from the graphics, sent it off and flicked off her monitor.

It was bad enough that all her friends were leaving for New Orleans without her tomorrow. She wasn’t going to stay awake just so Byron could make her feel bad about bringing Vincent along tonight.

Besides, that had to have been him she heard in the woods. That wasn’t bright at all, so maybe he wasn’t as smart as she thought. What if Vincent had shot him or something?

She yawned and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She stared at herself in the mirror, leaning in close and trying a couple of different looks. She had her father’s eyes. She wondered why her mother had never told her that.

JANICE ROLLED OVER as the first light of dawn crept into her bedroom. She sat up in bed, instantly alert even though it had been after 3:00 a.m. before she’d fallen asleep. A line of light crept under her bed room door, more than that cast by the night-light she left burning in the hall.

Someone was up, and she had no doubt that it was Vincent, roaming her house as if he belonged there. He’d always believed that whatever he wanted was his for the taking. Apparently prison hadn’t changed that.

She shuddered and touched the cool, hard surface of the phone. All she had to do was pick it up and call Ken Levine. He’d have cops at her door in a matter of minutes. They’d arrest Vincent and stick him right back behind bars where he belonged.

Then it would be just her and Kelly—and Tyrone.

The dark images of a horrible night hit with a rush and the darkness of the room transformed itself into a river of red. Blood pooled on the thick Persian rugs, splattered the walls and dripped from the ceilings. She could hear Tyrone Magilinti’s laugh and see the machine gun in his hand.

The images faded. She took her hand from the phone. Vincent was a Magilinti, too. He had been there that night as well, though she hadn’t seen him until the cops had busted their way inside the century-old mansion.

Her body stiffened when she heard footsteps in the hall outside her door and then a soft knock. Sliding from beneath the covers, she grabbed her white cotton robe from the foot of the bed. She padded across the floor and opened the door just a crack.

“I brought you coffee.”

She swallowed hard. There were two cups on the tray. And Vincent was standing there in jeans—no shirt, no shoes. His hair was still wet from the shower and a few drops of water clung to the dark curly hairs that speckled his chest.

Unexpected memories flooded her mind, but this time they were cruelly erotic. “Thanks,” she said, taking a cup from the tray, “but I prefer to have my coffee alone.”

“We need to talk.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“You really want to make this difficult, don’t you?”

His gall amazed her. “This is difficult, Vincent, but none of it is my making.”

He pushed his way past her, set the tray on the bedside table, then went back and closed and locked the bedroom door. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m going to give it to you straight.”

She pulled her robe tighter, suddenly chilled through and through. “I thought you said all you had to say last night.”

“I’ve learned more since then.”

“Like what?”

“Kelly left the house last night after you went to bed.”

Her suspicions soared. “You’re lying. Kelly would never do that. Whatever you’re trying to do here, it’s not going to work.”

“She went out her window.”

“I set the alarm before I went to bed. If she’d opened her window, it would have gone off and I would have heard it.”

“Apparently she’s bypassed the alarm system some way.”

“She wouldn’t know how.”

“Then someone did it for her. Check the window. See for yourself.”

She didn’t want to believe him, yet he was either telling the truth, or he was a very good liar. “Why would she go out that late?”

“Look, I know this is disturbing, but it will be better if you let me say what I have to say without arguing with me.”

She took a long sip of the coffee. It didn’t do a thing for soothing her nerves. “I’m listening.”

“I was doing a routine check of the outside of the house when I saw Kelly climbing out of her bedroom window. She didn’t see me, so I followed her out to the street, then joined her. I walked with her to the park, where she was supposed to meet a friend named Byron. He didn’t show, but I think he was there and ran away when he saw me.”

Janice dropped to the edge of the bed, not wanting to believe Vincent, but afraid to discount his story. Kelly had been so rebellious of late; Janice worried that she might be taking up with the wrong crowd at school. “I’ve never heard her mention anyone named Byron.”

“She met him through an Internet chat room.”

“I’ve forbidden her to ever talk to strangers on the Internet.” Fear and aggravation melded and made Janice’s voice a lot shakier than she’d intended. “She deliberately broke my rules.”

“She’s a teenager,” Vincent said. “It comes with the territory. You surely remember that.”

She ignored his last remark. “I’ll take care of it from here.”

“You can’t tell Kelly that I told you this.”

“Surely you don’t think you can tell me how to discipline my daughter.”

“I told her I wouldn’t squeal on her. It’s better if she thinks she can trust me in this.”

“I will not have her sneaking out to meet some boy she met on the Internet.”

“I think it could be a lot worse than that.”

“Worse?”

“I think Tyrone could be behind this. I’m not sure how or why, but the relationship sounds suspicious. It started just after Tyrone was released on parole. It could have been Tyrone’s way of locating her or of finding out about her schedule and habits. I’ll look into it, but you have to work with me and not go blowing Kelly’s trust in me.”

She raked her fingers through her hair, pushing the blunt ends behind her ears. The irony of his words grated on her nerves. He was a convicted felon, yet he talked about trust as if it were an integral part of his dealings.

“I’ll need some time alone in Kelly’s room to check some things on her computer. I’ll ask if I can check my e-mail, but you’ll need to keep her busy so that she doesn’t come in while I’m snooping.”

“I don’t want you in her room, and…” Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Ken. Could he possibly know Vincent was here?

“I have to answer that,” she said.

Vincent took the phone from her and checked the caller ID for himself. “The Justice Department?”

“It’s probably the marshal who’s handling my case,” she said, knowing he’d surely figured that out for himself.

“Answer it, but don’t say anything to let him know that I’m here.”

She took the call. “Hello.”

“I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“I’m awake.”

“I have a bit of bad news.”

“What is it?”

“They haven’t apprehended Vincent, and they suspect that he may have left the area. But they have Tyrone under surveillance just in case Vincent tries to see him. There’s been no change in Tyrone’s behavior. He’s reporting for work every day and staying close to home at night.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

“Damn good. We know Tyrone’s not a threat. I’m more concerned about Vincent, though.”

“Why is that?”

“I looked over his prison records. The last psychological evaluation of him indicates he’s delusional at times.”

“Meaning what?”

“He doesn’t have a firm grasp on reality. That’s all it said.”

Delusional, meaning all his fears about Tyrone could be groundless.

“Are you okay?”

Far from it, but she didn’t dare give that away, not with Vincent glaring at her and listening to every word she said. “I’m fine.”

“Call me if you need anything or if you hear from Vincent. Though like I said, there’s no reason to indicate he knows you’re alive.”

None, except that he was standing in her bedroom, telling her disturbing tales about Kelly.

“Later.”

“Yeah, later.”

She broke the connection and turned back to Vincent. She expected him to bombard her with questions about the call, but apparently he was satisfied that she hadn’t given his presence away.

“I’ll get out of here and leave you alone,” he said, picking up the tray. “But no funny stuff.”

“No funny stuff.”

“I mean it. I don’t care what your marshal friend says. Tyrone may have convinced him he’s gone straight, but I know him too well. He’s out for revenge. Turn me in, and you and Kelly don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of this alive.”

Vincent’s words ricocheted around in her brain like stray bullets, hitting old and new fears at random and making her blood run icy cold.

STRANGE THAT BEING on the run didn’t make Vincent feel nearly as vulnerable as finally meeting his daughter did. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it hadn’t been this. Meeting her was like waking up on Christmas morning and finding this present so fantastic that you’d never even imagined it existed sitting under the tree.

Even though she was pouting about missing out on her trip to New Orleans, she was still amazing. Smart. Spunky. And he hadn’t lied when he’d said she had his eyes. She did, but the rest of her was all Candy, or Janice as she went by now. She wasn’t as pretty as her mother, but she would be in time.

Time that he had to make sure she got.

He opened the door to her bedroom and went inside. He skimmed the items on her bulletin board, then picked up a picture of Kelly and Janice, heads together, both laughing. He tensed, as if he were gearing up for a fight.

It wasn’t as if he felt anything for Janice anymore. He didn’t. How could he be attracted to a woman who hadn’t even looked him in the eye when she’d sat on the witness stand and testified for the prosecutor? But that was behind him. It was Kelly he was here for, her safety that was all important.

He sat down at the computer and brought up her e-mail. Thankfully he didn’t have to worry with trying to figure out her password. She had left it so that it came up automatically when he went to her Internet access. Kelly’s mailbox was full of new and previously read messages.

He read the most recent ones and found a few Byron had written under the pseudonym of Ringman. He scrolled down, reading earlier messages from Byron. Nothing gave him away as working for Tyrone, but nothing cleared him, either. He’d have to find out more about the kid. He’d start by visiting the chat room where Kelly and Byron had met.

But he’d also get the address of Byron’s computer and see what information he could get online. He had learned a few helpful things in prison.

KELLY WAS sprawled out on the sofa skimming the latest issue of Seventeen magazine with the earphones to her radio firmly planted in her ears. Vincent was in Kelly’s room with the door closed. Janice was in the laundry room folding shorts and shirts still warm from the dryer and considering her plan of action.

Vincent had taken her by surprise last night. His argument that she needed him to protect Kelly had struck such fear in her heart that she’d gone along with him.

But Ken’s call had started her seeing things a bit differently. She still thought that Vincent actually believed Tyrone was a real and imminent danger. But if he were delusional, that would explain his intensity and fears. And it might mean that he could turn dangerous himself, especially if she ordered him out of the house.

She had to get Kelly away from him. She could do it. Kelly’s clothes from the beach were here in the laundry room; so was their luggage. Janice’s clothes, makeup and the charger for her cell phone had never been unpacked.

All she had to do was add a few things to the luggage, and they could get in the car and drive away before Vincent even realized they were gone. Then she could contact Ken and he would take over from there.

But she had to do this just right. If Kelly made a scene in any way, Vincent would hear her in the back of the house and come running in to see what was up.

She repacked Kelly’s clothes and carried both pieces of luggage to the SUV, careful to make as little noise as possible when she opened the back door and set them inside. So far, so good, but the real challenge was yet to come.

Trying to appear as calm as possible, she walked to the den and sat down on the arm of the sofa. When Kelly looked up she motioned for her to take the earphones off.

“What’s up?”

This was it. One yell of protest from Kelly, one untimely appearance by Vincent, one wrong move, and her plan could prove to be fatal. It was a risk, but one she had to take.

She had to make this work.