because he
“Out of some kind of loyalty to Sandline?”
“Or fear of what they would do to him.”
“But his life was already in shambles. The New Day killed his stepson-or so he believed-took his daughter, his wife had left him. He stood to lose all his money. What else could they take from him?”
“His life; until he took it himself.”
Jeffrey tapped his finger on the door handle, was silent for a moment. “Maybe Dax was right after all; suicide as the ultimate act of control.”
“Or surrender.”
“Okay, say any of this is true. What does Dax have to do with it?”
“I just think he knows more than he’s saying.”
Jeffrey shook his head. “If he knew something that would help us, he would have told us.”
“Not if he thought he was endangering us by doing so.”
More silence. Then, “Where does Mickey fall into this?” asked Jeffrey.
“If Detective Breslow truly did see him that night and he’s still alive, then we have to assume that he’s in partnership with The New Day and not a victim,” said Lydia.
Jeffrey shook his head. “Since Florida we’ve been thinking that he infiltrated The New Day to help Tim Samuels and either they fucked him up so badly that he killed himself, or he got too close and they took care of the job for him.”
“But maybe Mickey was working with them,” said Lydia, thinking aloud.
“But why? And how would they even have come in contact with one another?”
“Maybe Rhames sought him out. You know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“Did Mickey really consider Tim Samuels his enemy?”
“I guess it depends on what those dark secrets are, on what Trevor Rhames may have told Mickey about his stepfather’s past.”
When they got to Dax’s house, the windows were dark and the gate was locked. Lydia rolled down the car window and pressed the buzzer near the gate but the box was silent. She stared at it worriedly, as if doing so would cause him to answer. But it didn’t work. She felt a rise of dread in her chest.
“He’s not here,” she said pointlessly. She turned anxious eyes on him.
He released a breath. “Oh no,” he said raising his hand. “You don’t want to break in.”
She looked at him.
“Bad idea,” he said. “Very bad idea.”
She had to agree with him. She took her cell phone from the center console and dialed Dax’s number. The voicemail picked up before the first ring.
“Leave a message. No names, no numbers. If I don’t know who you are, you shouldn’t be calling.” A long tone.
“I need to talk to you,” she said. “It’s urgent. Seriously.”
She ended the call and looked with dark frustration at the windows of his house. She fought the urge to pound the dashboard with her fist.
“What now?” she asked, as much of herself as of Jeffrey.
He was quiet a second. Then, “I think I know where we can get some information.”
He got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s side. “I’m driving.”
She rolled her eyes and slid over to the passenger seat.
“Control freak,” she said.
Manny Underwood looked as if he’d been on the losing end of an argument with a jackhammer. He lay on a thin cot in the center of a stone room beneath the streets of the diamond district. He turned swollen eyes on them when they entered the room.
“You can’t keep him here forever,” Jeffrey said to Chiam Bechim.
“We’re very patient people. But, no,” the old man said solemnly, “we can’t.”
“So what are you going to do with him?”
“All we want to know is where the rest of the stones are,” he said vaguely.
“And who he was working for.”
Chiam shifted on his feet, his eyes on Lydia. He leaned into Jeffrey and whispered, “This is not a place to bring a woman, Mr. Mark.”
“She’s no ordinary woman,” said Jeffrey with a smile. “She’s my wife.”
Chiam made some kind of uncomfortable throat-clearing noise and looked over at Underwood. “He has been wholly uncooperative. But I have the sense that under the right circumstances, he might begin to loosen up.”
Jeffrey looked at him.
“We’re employing a program of gradual escalation,” Chiam said softly, as if he were a doctor discussing the treatment of a terminally ill patient.
The man on the cot released a low groan. He didn’t sound healthy and Jeffrey felt a wash of compassion for him.
“Don’t feel too badly for him, Mr. Mark,” said Bechim, reading his expression. “This is a very bad man, guilty of some heinous acts. When we enter this business and conduct ourselves poorly, we all know where we might wind up.”
The old man’s words were a warning and Jeffrey felt them in his bones. He felt Lydia stiffen at his side. He turned a cold stare on Chiam.
“All I’m saying is that you might just ‘escalate’ yourself out of what you want to know.”
“If you think you can do better, be my guest,” he said. He turned and left, leaving Lydia and Jeffrey alone in the cellar with Underwood. Jeffrey didn’t hear the door at the top of the staircase open or close so he knew Chiam was nearby, listening.
“Mr. Underwood,” Jeffrey said softly. “If you talk to us, we might be able to help you out of this mess.”
Underwood jumped at the sound of his name, struggled to sit up and couldn’t. Another low groan accompanied by a gurgling sound in his chest.
“You’re thinking if you tell them what you know then they’re going to kill you. And you might be right. But if you cooperate with me, I’ll do my best to see that doesn’t happen.”
Manny turned to look at Jeffrey, moving his head slowly to the side. His face was purple and swollen and Jeffrey doubted that he’d recognize the man before the beating he’d received.
“Did Trevor Rhames hire you to steal those diamonds?”
He jumped at the sound of Rhames’s name but didn’t say anything. Jeffrey waited a minute for him to speak.
“We found a pink diamond in an abandoned house in Riverdale that we know is connected to The New Day. We believe that diamond was in the cache stolen from the dealer who was killed at the JFK airport. Who hired you to do that job?”
Still nothing from Underwood. Jeffrey waited a beat and then released a low sigh.
“Okay, this is what we’re thinking, Mr. Underwood. We’re thinking that Rhames had an issue with Tim Samuels, your former employer. That he bought Body Armor when Samuels put it up for sale and has been using it as a front to launder stolen money and gems. We think that you went to work for Rhames when he bought the company, just like the mercenary that you are and shifted easily from doing legitimate bodyguard work to being a thug for hire. You were unlucky enough to get caught by the people whose diamonds you helped to nab; now you’re stuck. No one’s going to help you because you’re a mercenary. If you give up your employer, you’re going to die. If you don’t, you’re going to die. So what are you doing-just buying time?”
Underwood started to shake a bit and made a low, horrible noise. “You don’t understand,” he said.
“Make me understand,” said Jeffrey
More shaking from Underwood. It was disturbing, making Jeff uncomfortable. He looked over at Lydia who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed on Underwood.
“He gets
Jeffrey heard Lydia draw in a breath and release it slowly.
