Touch & Go (Tessa Leoni, #2)(86)

Anita flushed, didn’t say anything.

“Justin knows,” Daniel repeated. “But he doesn’t pry. After all these years, it’s just one of those things. The arrangement works, as long as no one questions it.”

“And Tim has never questioned it?” Tessa asked.

“No, ma’am.”

“And Justin’s never questioned it?” Wyatt pressed.

“Not that I know of.”

“We’re going to pull your financials,” Tessa warned, glaring hard at Anita. “Anything else you’d like to tell us now, before we read about it later?”

Anita flushed again. “I have nothing to hide. Whatever happened to Justin…whoever is holding him for ransom, it has nothing to do with me or my family.”

“Any fresh ideas who might be behind it?” Wyatt again.

Anita regarded him curiously. “It doesn’t have to be any of us, does it? I mean, if it’s a ransom case, and he’s been taken by professionals… Well, I mean, anyone can tell Justin is a wealthy man. His homes, his cars, the company. Maybe he was targeted because of who he is, not who he works with.”

“They knew the security code to his town house,” Tessa rattled off. “They knew the family’s schedule, the home’s layout and exactly when and where to strike. This was an inside job, and you’d better believe Justin is as aware of that as we are. Meaning the second he and his family are safe at home… You really think Justin’s going to just let this whole incident slide?”

Anita had paled. She shook her head.

“It’s going to be warfare,” Tessa continued. “Justin himself is going to go after each and every one of you, even if it means dismantling his own company brick by brick. The more you know him, the bigger your exposure is going to be. So speak now, Anita. We’re willing to listen. Justin, on the other hand, after having watched his wife and daughter suffer…”

“I don’t know anything,” Anita insisted. “I wouldn’t harm Justin, let alone his family. And I can’t think of anyone else in the firm that might.”

“Not even someone who was unhappy with the direction things were moving?” Wyatt pressed. “Might think he or she could do better, if they were in charge?”

A slight hesitation. “You should talk to Ruth Chan.”

“The CFO?” Tessa asked. “The one on vacation?”

“We finally spoke this morning. She was going to head straight for the airport, try to get on the first available flight out. But in the beginning, when I told her what had happened to Justin… She got real quiet. It’s not that she said anything, or confessed anything. Just…”

Tessa and Wyatt waited.

Anita finally looked up. “She didn’t seem shocked. I told her Justin and his family had gone missing, and it didn’t seem to surprise her at all.”





Chapter 30


ZLED ASHLYN AND ME through a maze of broad corridors. At first I thought we must be heading to the kitchen for lunch duty, but after we bypassed those doors, I gave up guessing our destination and simply followed in his wake.

He hadn’t bothered to shackle our wrists. Nor did he walk between us. Instead, he strode forward several paces, shoulders loose, body language relaxed, a man who might as well be on a Sunday stroll.

Now that the ransom wheels were set in motion, did he figure he had little to fear regarding an attempted escape? Or, when it came to him versus us, did he just figure he had little to fear?

Ashlyn was moving slowly. She should be resting in bed, not roaming a vast, hard-floored building. When we got home, I’d take her directly to the doctor. As well as have a long-overdue heart-to-heart chat.

Z finally arrived at a heavy steel door. He opened it and we entered a modest room, with floor-to-ceiling wood paneling against one wall and a raised dais. A gold cross was mounted on the wood paneling. Chapel, I realized. We had reached the prison’s sanctuary.

Radar was already there. He had every light on and was walking around the space with his iPhone, either filming or snapping photos. He looked up when we entered, but his face was as expressionless as always.

“We’ll start them here,” he said to Z, pointing to a spot on the dais. “Should give us enough light, with a neutral-enough backdrop. I gotta go with a wider frame to include two people, so the viewers are going to see more. But wood paneling’s pretty nondescript.”

“Their jumpsuits?” Z asked.

Radar held up his phone, aimed it at Ashlyn and me. “Not gonna happen. Orange collar clearly visible.”

Z nodded, apparently having expected this answer. He gestured toward the corner, where I saw a pile of clothing on the floor. Our clothing. From the first day. Was that yesterday, or the day before? Time grew murky when you spent 24/7 under the glow of fluorescent lighting. I didn’t know how lifers learned to stand it.

“Tops only,” Z instructed us. “Just throw them on over your jumpsuits, then we’ll figure out the collars.”

I finally understood what they were trying to do. Disguise us and our location. Of course, the ransom demand had to be beamed to the authorities, who would scrutinize the video footage for any clues as to our whereabouts. For example, cinder-block walls, orange prison jumpsuits, anything else they could see in the frame. So we’d film against the one noninstitutional wall in the entire facility, while wearing our last known garments.