?I told you yesterday that retail?s gone down the toilet. Well, I did some things to try to compete with the big guys. Expand, you know? But I just made things worse. The debts just grew and grew. Then I did some gambling, hoping to make up the shortfall.?
This takes me completely off guard. ?I didn't know you gambled.?
?I don'?t, really. Just enough to get to know some of the people who run the casinos. Which is crazy, when you think about it, because I didn't even want the damned casinos here. But it was Sands who bailed me out, man. He got me out of??
?Sands?? I ask sharply. ?Jonathan Sands??
?Right. One night I got a little drunk and started bitching about the banks hounding me, and Sands offered to help out. He did too. But now?? Paul looks helplessly at me, then grabs his own shirtfront and jerks it upward. ?They own me, man. They
me. I owe them so much money, I could never pay it back. There?s no way I can be mayor with them pulling my strings like a puppet. It?d be a travesty of everything you and I ever talked about doing.?
?Jesus, Paul?I had no idea. Why didn't you come to me? I would have tried to help.?
?Come to you? Do you have
idea how hard that would have been? Come to you and tell you I'm a total fuckup? My old man already thinks I drove the business into the ground. He doesn?'t get it, how the world has changed.?
?Paul?look, I know you?re in trouble, but I?'ve got something really big going on right now. I?'ve got to make some calls.?
He?s shaking his head again. ?No, no, I told you, I was supposed to come see you this morning. I just couldn'?t do it. That'?s why I started drinking. I couldn'?t face you, man.?
?What are you talking about??
At last all his frenetic twitching stops, and he looks me dead in the eye. ?They sent me to talk to you. To give you a message.?
?Who did??
?Sands?s security guy. Quinn. It?s about Caitlin.?
For a moment I'm not sure I?'ve heard right, but then my face goes cold.
?Whatever it is you?re doing,? Labry says, ?you'?ve got to stop it for thirty-six hours. That'?s the message. They don'?t have any intention of hurting her. They?ve got her in a hotel somewhere.?
I'm pushing myself slowly away from my desk, trying to process what I'm hearing as panic and rage rise in me. ?How long have you known this, Paul??
?Quinn came to the store this morning. Look, I know it sounds bad. But they have some big deal about to go down, and they said you guys were going to screw it up somehow, by going public with something. I don'?t even know if you know about it. Maybe it was mostly Caitlin, but?Penn, don'?t look at me like that. You look like I took her or something. I love Caitlin. She?s got more??
?Get out of my sight, Paul.?
Labry stares as though I?'ve slapped his face, then begins sobbing. I stand and walk past him, heading for the stairs.
?Where are you going?? he cries, running after me as Rose gapes.
?To see Shad Johnson.?
?Shad? Why?? He catches up with me on the staircase and pulls me to a stop. ?Penn, if you report this, they?ll kill her.?
?You just said they wouldn'?t!?
Labry is fidgeting again, trying to think of anything he can to stop me. ?I don'?t
! I have no idea what?s really going on. But you must, right? Just do whatever it is they need, and she?ll be fine!?
?Get out of my way, or I'?ll throw you down these stairs. I'm not going to Shad about the kidnapping.?
He backs away, looking stricken. ?Why, then??
?He has something I need.?
?What??
?You?re still trying to get something for Sands, aren'?t you??
?No! I had to do this, Penn. He was going to tell my father everything! Pop would die of shame, man.?
I leap down the stairs and race out of the building, headed down the block to the DA?s office. Labry chases after me, yelling where anyone can hear. A deputy going into the sheriff?s office looks up and stares after us.
?Let me make it up to you, man!? Labry screams. ?I'?ll do anything.?
?Get her back for me!? I shout over my shoulder. ?Can you do that? That'?s the only way to make this up.?
As I enter the building that houses the district attorney?s office, a sudden epiphany hits me. I run up the stairs, knowing that Labry will follow. When I reach the top, Paul calls out from the landing, trying to keep from being heard by the people on the upper floor.
?Penn, don'?t! Don?t say anything you can?t take back! Let?s go talk to Sands. I'm sure we can work something out. You?ve got money??
?They don'?t care about
Not the kind we have. They could buy this town a thousand times over!?
?There?s got to be something we can do!?
?There is. Come up here, and I'?ll tell you.?
Labry climbs warily toward me, then stops one step below the top as I make room for him at the head of the staircase.
I reach out and pull him up to the top step, then speak quietly. ?You?re going to come into Shad?s office with me and tell him just what you told me. The message you gave me, and who told you to give it.?
Labry jerks back, his eyes wide, then tries to turn to go back downstairs. I reach out and grab his shirt, half to hold him here, half to keep him from breaking his neck. But panic has seized him. He windmills his arms to get his balance, then strikes out at me hard enough to disengage us. As we separate, he falls backward, but the wall catches him, and he practically rides it to the bottom of the steps.
?How could you do it?? I shout. ?Our children
together!?
Labry is sobbing again, staring up in despair. ?I had no choice,? he says in a dead voice. ?No choice.?
He looks as if he?s about to say something else, but then his eyes go wide, and he backs out of the building.
?What the hell was that about?? asks a clipped baritone voice behind me.
I turn and look into the face of Shadrach Johnson. He regards me with cool detachment, waiting for me to explain my presence on his territory.
?You and I need to talk,? I tell him. ?But first get rid of your secretary. You don'?t want any witnesses to this conversation.?
CHAPTER
52
