Fifth Victim

and where to make the drop. No bargaining. No second chances. After that, the old lady starts getting her daughter back a piece at a time, you hear me? Dina’s a good-looking girl. Would be a shame if anything happened to that pretty face, wouldn’t it?’

‘How do we know you’ll keep your word?’ This time.

‘You don’t.’ Another short, rough laugh. ‘Guess we’ll just have to trust to luck that nobody’s going to be stupid enough to try screwing anybody else this time.’

The connection severed and the line went dead. An electrified silence remained for several seconds afterwards. Parker reached out and killed the speaker slowly, as if his limbs suddenly weighed very heavy.

‘I don’t trust him as far as I could spit him, never mind throw him,’ I said bluntly. ‘Even if it’s true about the necklace being a fake, we know Torquil was dead long before they could have discovered that fact.’

‘We could play along and set a counter-ambush,’ Landers suggested. ‘Grab him before he gets to the ransom drop – like they pulled with Charlie last time.’

‘What then?’ Parker asked. ‘Subject him to extraordinary rendition until he talks? If he puts Dina in the ground someplace before he arranges to collect the ransom, he’ll know time will not be on our side. She could easily die before we get her location from him.’

‘And she’s claustrophobic,’ I said, suddenly recalling her admission. ‘She freaked out when she found out what had been done to Torquil.’

Parker paused, frowning. ‘Do the kidnappers know that?’

‘I don’t see why not – they seem to know everything else.’ I stood, suddenly restless. ‘Look, I can’t just sit here and wait for this guy to torment us. I’m going to go and pay a visit on the previous “victims” – see what I can shake loose.’

‘You rattle the wrong cages, and you may provoke the kidnappers into acting prematurely,’ Parker pointed out.

But I was already shrugging into my jacket. ‘Whereas they’ve behaved so impeccably up ’til now.’ I favoured him with a cynical smile. ‘If I can find out which of them hired Lennon, it may give us another line on finding her before he buries her.’

I snatched up the keys to the Navigator and headed for the hallway, only to find Parker on my heels. He touched my arm just before I reached the front door.

‘Charlie, wait. I’ll come with you.’ There was something close to anguish in his voice that was enough to stop me, turn me back towards him.

‘You’re needed here, Parker,’ I said, almost gently. ‘What if they call again?’

He sighed. ‘Take Landers then. Don’t go alone.’

‘No offence, but Erik looks too threatening. I’m trying to coax them into talking rather than scare them.’ Not true, but it sounded halfway convincing at least. ‘I really think I’ll get more out of them if I’m on my own.’ That much was true. ‘And you need him here to look after Mrs Willner.’

‘I know,’ he said, and I realised he was only too aware that it was Landers’ sense of fair play I was trying to avoid, for what I might need to do. ‘Sean once told me your courage was the thing that terrified him most – that you never flinch, never hesitate,’ he said then, with a smile as twisted as my own. ‘Now I think I see what he meant.’

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

‘I’m sorry, Miss … Fox, did you say your name was?’ Orlando’s father said with the offhand snub perfected by the ultra-rich towards people who are clearly not their social equal. ‘But as our housekeeper, Jasna, explained to you, I’m afraid our daughter is not here at present. And as for your … suggestion that you will go to the police, I’ve already spoken to their chief today – he’s a friend of the family – regarding the Eisenbergs’ tragic loss. So, you see, I really can’t help you.’

For ‘can’t’, I read ‘won’t’. In big letters.

Orlando’s family didn’t so much have a house as an estate. A sprawling place with manicured lawns and clumps of trees that were too artistically grouped to possibly be natural.

The house was weathered red-brick, with gothic pointed arches, turrets, and an intricate series of what looked like blocked-up windows decorating the front facade. I dredged my distant education and recalled it was called something like ‘blind arcading’. The whole place was traditional and imposing, and must have cost more in window cleaning and gardening bills than I earned in a year.

I got my first glimpse of all this from the wrought iron gateway at the end of a long drive when I arrived. I pressed the intercom and waited, staring up into the lens of the CCTV camera, which was supposed to be hidden in the beak of a stone griffin.

It was just after eight in the morning. Two hours since the kidnappers’ call. Twenty-two since Dina had been taken.

When the intercom buzzed, I explained I was a friend of Dina’s, here to see Orlando. There was a long pause, then a woman’s voice said, ‘She not here. She go away.’

‘In that case, I’d like to speak to her parents.’

‘They busy. You go now.’ The accent was eastern European of some description, although it was difficult to be more accurate through the distortion of the tinny speaker. I was suddenly reminded of the kidnapper’s mechanical voice.

‘No, I not go now,’ I said with pleasant precision. ‘Tell them Dina has been kidnapped, and I need to speak with them before I go to the police, OK? Police, cops, FBI – they’ll all be down here, asking questions. You understand me?’

There was a long pause. So long, in fact, that I feared the woman had simply gone away herself and left me to stew with my veiled threats. But a minute or so later the gates began to swing open and I nosed the Navigator through.

There was a motor court around the side of the house, where there was undoubtedly also a tradesman’s entrance. I parked at a jaunty angle on the stone setts outside the front door, just for badness.

Now, sitting in one of the coldly unwelcoming drawing rooms, I assumed I was supposed to be so overcome at the orchestrated grandeur on display I would Know My Place.

I offered Orlando’s father a lazy smile. ‘As I mentioned to Jasna when she let me in, I’m just trying to ensure Dina’s safe return – that’s my only concern. Anything else is a matter for the police. You said you’d already spoken to them, but I can assure you they’ll be back. And the FBI. Kidnapping is a federal crime, after all.’ I waited a beat for that to sink in, then said, ‘I need to know if anyone had access to Orlando’s cellphone yesterday.’

‘Of course not,’ he said, brusque.

I crossed my legs, draped an arm along the back of the brocade sofa they’d steered me towards. ‘You seem very certain, considering your daughter is apparently not staying here with you at the moment?’

He bridled at that, a tall tanned figure I recalled from the charity auction, who had allowed his hair to grey a little around the temples, but drew the line at actually looking his age. He was wearing an open-necked shirt with a pale-pink sweater draped around his shoulders, and loafers with no socks. His face showed distinct signs of regular Botox injections, which made his micro-expressions difficult to read. Nevertheless, gentle provocation always seems to get people to reveal themselves.

‘Look, Miss Fox, I fail to see what business this is of yours, but Orlando left here only yesterday morning for one of our other properties, and she accidentally left her cell behind. It’s on the desk in my study. What can that possibly—’

‘Orlando’s cell number was used to lure Dina away from her close-protection officer, and into a successful kidnap,’ I said, piling over his bluster, shutting him down completely. ‘Her bodyguard was shot trying to prevent her abduction. He’s still critical. You know what happened to Torquil Eisenberg, only a few days ago. If your daughter knows anything that might save Dina’s life, we need to know.’

‘Of course she doesn’t know anything!’ he snapped, and though his face betrayed nothing, his voice told another story. Stress, guilt, and just an underlying trace of anger. But not, interestingly enough, directed at me. Not all of it, anyway.

As if realising how much he’d inadvertently given away, he sighed, aimed for a more reasonable tone. ‘Look, Miss Fox, I can appreciate your concern, but Orlando’s cellphone hasn’t been outside this house, and my daughter is