?How about a nice holiday? We could go to Niagara Falls.?
Mavis said, ?I?m not going to Niagara Falls, you corny bastard.?
?Anywhere you like, then.?
?Hollywood!?
?Right. Okay. Right.? It was no use. Her mind was set.
?When this is done, I want to pack up and go west.?
?As you say, my darling, but first we need to bugger that alarm,? Jack said. ?We get paid and we head west.?
?Okay then.?
?Kiss kiss, love.? He hung up.
He tried dialing Louis Ortega again. Still no answer. Where the fuck was this guy? Jack Sprat didn?t like being cut off from the man who was supposed to pay him. Jack didn?t like the idea of Mavis finding out.
Sprat would make sure the job was finished, and woe be unto Ortega if he failed to pay.
28
The cup of coffee was bad. Bitter. The BLT wasn?t much better, soggy bacon and wilted lettuce. The potato chips were okay, but they were out of a bag and hard to screw up. So far, Mike Foley wasn?t too impressed with Maxine?s Diner just southeast of Oklahoma City.
But Mike had bigger things to contemplate. Ortega worked for Meredith Cornwall-Jenkins and not the other way around. Mike was still trying to get his mind around that. Where did he go from here? He hadn?t gotten the information he needed from Ortega. He?d have to get it someplace else.
The waitress took his plate away and refilled his rancid coffee.
He?d brought in Meredith?s purse to the restaurant, spread the contents on the table. He took a few of the phone numbers and names and began to put some kind of half-ass plan together. Yeah, it just might work.
He scooped the stuff back into the purse, left money on the table, and went back out to the Caddy. He pulled around to the back of Maxine?s Diner, where the noise from the highway wasn?t so bad. He had two numbers for John Jenkins. He checked his wristwatch and dialed the office number. A cool female voice answered and asked how she could direct Mike?s call.
?I?m calling for John Jenkins.?
?May I tell him who?s calling?? she asked.
?Principal Resnick from his wife?s school.?
?Hold just a moment, please.?
When John Jenkins came on the line he said, ?Hey, Larry, it?s been a long time. What can I do you for?? His voice sounded friendly and smooth, like a car salesman. No, classier. Like a folksy congressman from the South angling for votes.
John had met the principal before. How long ago? Would he know the voice? Mike coughed, cleared his throat. ?Sorry, Mr. Jenkins, I think I?m coming down with something.?
?Sounds rough,? John said. ?Better hit the fluids.?
?Right, right. Good advice. Listen, I?m trying to track down Meredith. I know she went out of town, but we really got a thing going on here and I need to ask her some questions.? Mike crossed his fingers. Time to try out the story he?d prepared. ?She mentioned she might be visiting her sister sometime. I thought I?d take a chance. See if you had a phone number.?
?Yeah, she went down a couple days ago,? Jenkins said. ?Her mother?s been having some health problems.?
?I?m sorry to hear that,? Mike said. ?I sure hate to disturb them, but it?s important, and I?m up against a deadline.?
