The lieutenant nodded at the two barmen, who were now leaning against a marble wall, waiting in angry silence. “We received an anonymous call asking us to check the bar staff. I gathered a few of my men, we came upon these two, saw they were armed and brought them here. Unfortunately, they decided to put up a struggle. Otherwise, no one in that lobby would have known that these gentlemen existed at all.”
“Who are they?” Louis asked.
The lieutenant shrugged. “We don’t know. But something tells me these boys have been through this before. We’ll find out who they are once the police bring them downtown. We’ll print them, we’ll run a check and we’ll find out who they are.”
He must have noted the guarded look on Louis’ face, because he said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Ryan. We’ll wait until after the party to contact the police. These boys aren’t in a hurry and neither am I. There’s no need to cause a commotion on a night like this.”
Louis nodded his thanks.
The lieutenant turned to Leana. “But I am going to have to insist that you forgo your speech, Ms. Redman. I know what happened to your sister. I understand her death might be connected with the bombs that exploded on top of your father’s building. If that’s the case then you are not safe and I can’t take the risk of having you at that podium tonight.”
He glanced over at the two barmen, then with disappointment at the three men watching them. “I thought security was tight tonight,” he said, more to the three men than to Louis and Leana. “We took every conceivable precaution against this very thing happening and I’m embarrassed to say that these men somehow slipped through. While I think they’re an exception, I can’t be sure there aren’t others. I need you to forget the speech and allow me to shadow you for the rest of the evening.”
Leana couldn’t conceal her disappointment. All her life she had waited for this moment and now it was being taken from her. A wave of stubbornness rose in her. “I have to give that speech,” she said. “People are expecting it.”
“I’m sorry,” the lieutenant said. “But as long as I’m in charge of security, I won’t allow it.” He studied her for a moment. “Is this speech really so important to you? Think about what you’re saying. We’ve just proved that mistakes have been made. There’s no telling who else is in that crowd.”
He was right. There was no telling what could happen if she stood at that podium. The presence of these barmen suggested there could be others.
Her anger dissolved into frustration and sadness. Once again, another opportunity had passed her by. Once again, it wouldn’t be her front and center. “Well,” she said, more to herself than to anyone else, “I came close, didn’t I?”
The lieutenant didn’t know what she was talking about, but Louis did and when Leana looked at him, hoping to find sympathy and a hint of understanding in his eyes, she saw nothing but a controlled look of rage that was becoming difficult for him to suppress.
He addressed the lieutenant. “Would you please excuse us? I’d like a moment alone with her.”
The lieutenant nodded and started moving in the direction of the two barmen.
“No,” Louis said. “You’ve got three men watching them already. I want you in the lobby, where there could be others. Find Zack Anderson and tell him to inform the crowd that for personal reasons, Leana Redman will not be delivering tonight’s speech.” He saw the hesitation on the man’s face and said, “Let’s not forget that you work for me.”
The man left the room.
“I know how much that speech meant to you,” Louis said to Leana. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out.”
Leana lifted her head. I’ll bet you’re sorry, she thought. She knew that having that speech delivered by her meant more to him than the opening of this hotel. But she had more important things to address. “I need you to tell me what you know. Who murdered my sister?”
He led her across the empty lobby, toward an illumined bank of elevators. “I’ll do better than just tell you,” he said. “I’ll take you to him.”
“Take me to him?” she said.
“Spocatti has him upstairs. Right now, the man you’ve been looking for is waiting in your office. I suggest we confront the son of a bitch and end this now.”
Jack Douglas heard the clicking of Elizabeth Redman’s heels and saw her shadow stretching along the far north wall before he actually saw her.
He stopped pacing in the rose-colored foyer and turned to watch her round the corner at the end of the long hallway. She was wearing a cream silk suit that was so delicate, it might have been transparent had it not been for the paleness of her own skin. As she came toward him, Jack saw nothing in her demeanor that suggested she was annoyed or surprised by his unexpected presence.
Yet he knew she wouldn’t be pleased to see him. She had made it well known that she held him personally responsible for Celina’s death.
Jack started walking toward her, thinking that if she didn’t cooperate with him, she might be facing the reality of another dead daughter. “I’m sorry for intruding,” he said. “But I have to speak to George. Do you know where he is?”
At the mention of her husband’s name, there was the slightest hesitation in Elizabeth Redman’s stride. Then she stopped in the center of the hallway and said coolly, “My husband isn’t here, Mr. Douglas.”
And without another word, she stepped into the sitting room.
Jack stood there a moment, weighing his options and then he went after her. He found her across the room, facing a window that looked uptown, toward the swirling lights of The Hotel Fifth. If she knew he was there, she didn’t let it show.
There was no time for games. “I know who murdered Celina,” he said. “I know who rigged those spotlights with explosives. If you want me to catch the man and put a stop to this, then I suggest you cut the bullshit, Mrs. Redman, and help me.”
Stunned by the tone of his voice and what he’d just said to her, Elizabeth turned.
“Where is George?” he said again. “You must know where he is.”
“You know who killed Celina?”
“I do,” he said. “But I need to speak to George.”
She stepped away from the window and sat in a white chintz chair. She seemed very tired when she said, “I don’t know where he is. He left an hour ago. He didn’t tell me where he was going.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Of course, it’s unusual.”
“And you have no idea where he could have gone?”
“None,” Elizabeth said. “He received that letter by messenger and then he left. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going.”
Jack’s mind was racing. “What letter?” he said. “Who sent it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you read it?”
“He wouldn’t let me.”
“And he left after receiving it?”
“Yes. Whatever was in that letter disturbed him very much.”
“Disturbed him how?”
“It was a look I haven’t seen in him before. George looked frightened. I could see it on his face when he put the letter in his jacket pocket. It was clear that he was scared, but there was something else, some other emotion I couldn’t define. At least not then.”
“But you can now?”
Elizabeth was silent a moment, but then she nodded. “Yes. I’ve seen that look before. I saw it quite a bit in Leana when she was growing up.” She took a breath. “George looked incredibly sad, as if he had been cheated out of something he always wanted. That’s what I saw in his face-beneath the fear.”
“What could it be?”
