The Chain(35)

“Yes, and I’ll bring her down to Boston so you don’t have to come up again. Least I can do,” Rachel says, wondering if Kylie will be back next weekend. If she is and if she’s safe, nothing else will matter. Marty can take her to the damn aquarium every weekend until the end of time.

“That won’t be necessary,” he says, giving her a parting hug. Tammy gives her a kiss on the cheek. In five minutes they are back outside and climbing into their car.

Pete and Rachel wave goodbye from the doorstep, go inside, and close the door.

Five twenty now. So much time wasted. Archery begins at six, and Toby Dunleavy’s walk home begins at seven o’clock.

“They want another twenty-five thousand by midnight or they’ll kill Kylie,” Rachel says, trying to ward off panic.

“I’m already on that,” Pete replies, and she watches as he logs on to a Bitcoin buying site on the dark web.

“What are you going to do?” Rachel asks.

“Fifteen-thousand credit limit on one card, ten-thousand limit on the other, no problem,” Pete says.

“Do you have money in the bank to cover that?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? Getting Kylie home is all that matters.”

Rachel kisses him on the back of the neck and helps him set up an account and transfer the funds.

“Are you watching the clock?” she asks him.

“Nearly done,” he says. “Get the Dodge warmed up. Make sure the masks and gloves are packed.”

She runs outside, loads the vehicle, puts the key in the ignition, and starts the engine.

It’s five minutes to six now.

“Done,” Pete says when she comes back in. He looks at Helen Dunleavy’s Facebook feed. “She’s on her way to the archery club. We better go too. I’ll get the gun.”

“I don’t want this boy hurt,” Rachel says.

“I don’t think we’ll need to hurt anyone, but we might need to fire a shot in the air to scare off any Good Samaritans. I’ve got a loud Colt .45 that’ll do that,” Pete assures her.

Rachel nods. She thinks of those words, I don’t want this boy hurt. This boy. This boy has a name: Toby. He’s Toby Dunleavy. But it will be easier to think of him as this boy. An abstract thing. Not a human being. Not a human child. They might need to threaten this boy. They might, in fact, need to carry out the threat.

She shudders. Pete stares at her.

“All right. Let’s go,” she says.

They get in the Dodge and drive down Route 1 toward Beverly. Traffic is heavier than normal, but they aren’t worried. It’s only a twenty-minute run and they have an hour before archery gets out.

Pete takes her hand and gives it a little squeeze. “Maybe you better call your mother and prep her in case Marty calls looking for Kylie.”

“Good idea,” she says and dials her mother in Florida.

“I’m about to play bridge, what is it?” Judith answers.

“Mom, listen, I just told Marty that Kylie is staying with you in New York.”

“What? Why did you do that?”

“He came over today and it’s one of his weekends but Kylie hates Marty’s new girlfriend and didn’t want to go stay with him, so I just sort of panicked and said that she was with you for a couple of days in New York.”

“But I’m in Florida.”

“Mom, I know you’re in Florida, but if Marty calls, you have to tell him that you’re in Brooklyn and Kylie’s with you.”

“What are we doing in New York?”

“Kylie wants to see all the Egypt stuff at the Met.”

“She would like that.”

“And you guys got tickets to see Hamilton.”

“How did we manage to do that?”

“I don’t know, maybe you know some old lady who isn’t using her tickets.”

There’s a long silence on the line while Judith thinks about it. “This is quite the web of lies you’ve hooked me into, Rachel. Now I’m going to have to pretend I’ve seen Hamilton if my ex-son-in-law calls. What am I going to say?”

“Hell, Mom, can you not think on your feet? Oh, and you’ve confiscated Kylie’s phone,” Rachel snaps as they pass a sign that reads BEVERLY, NEXT EXIT.

“Why would I take my thirteen-year-old granddaughter’s phone?”

“Because you’re sick of her coming all the way to New York City and then just staring at a piece of glass six inches from her face the whole time she’s there.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Judith says.

“OK, Mom, thanks a lot, you’re a lifesaver. I better go,” Rachel says as they arrive in Beverly.

“Take care of yourself, honey, I worry about you.”

“I’m fine, Mom. Everything’s fine.”

She hangs up. It’s drizzling and a chill wind is blowing in from the water. “Don’t like this weather,” Pete says. “Helen might change her mind and pick up Toby instead of letting him walk. I better check.”

There’s nothing on Facebook, but using the worm on the home PC, they find Helen writing a text to her sister to say that, per her recommendation, she is watching Atomic Blonde with Mike.

They have their window.