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Authors: Richard Castle
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could be heard coming from inside Toppers’s Lilly Pulitzer handbag.
“Your phone?” he asked her.
“Yeah.” It was 6 P.M. The kidnappers were calling right on time.
Toppers was so nervous that she dropped the phone while she was removing it from her handbag. She bent forward and snatched it off the floor mat.
“Give it here,” Storm ordered. He answered it.
A deep voice that sounded like Darth Vader said, “You got our money?” The caller was using some sort of voice changer software.
“That’s right. Where do you want us to go?”
“Arlington National Cemetery. Robert E. Lee mansion. Leave the first gym bag in a public trash receptacle about fifty feet from the house’s front entrance. There’s a National Park Service sign next to the trash can.”
The line went dead.
A trash container in a public park. It was an odd place for a drop. Or was it?
Pulling from the memorial’s parking lot, Storm headed west across the Potomac River into Northern Virginia. He glanced at Toppers. Her face was ghost white. She looked as if she were about to faint or vomit. When he lowered his eyes, he noticed that her tight jean skirt had risen up when she’d bent over to retrieve her cell phone from the floor. She was wearing a tiny red thong with white polka dots. She’d either not noticed or felt no need to readjust her skirt.
She was a distraction and he needed to be focused. He decided to do what he always did when a woman was distracting him, especially sexually. He would talk with her. He would calm her down. Then he could focus on what was important and not her taut little body, her freshly shaved legs, her muscular thighs.
“You’re doing fine,” he said. “Think about something else. Tell me about Matthew. Where did you meet?”
“We were in the same first-year English class. He asked me to have coffee. He kept his eyes on my eyes the entire time. Not many boys do that.”
Her candor surprised him. Why? Did he think she was so naïve that she didn’t understand how her figure affected men? How she could use it to manipulate them?
“What are you studying in school?”
“No one believes me when I tell them, because they assume that someone who looks like I do has to be dumb, but I’m studying mechanical engineering.” She laughed.
Good. He was breaking the tension. Helping her relax. Mechanical engineering. Curious.
Continuing, she said, “I know Senator Winslow thinks I’m stupid. He told Matthew that I was an airhead. But I’ve always been good with math and designing. I’m a whiz at reading and drawing blueprints.”
“Good for you,” Storm replied. “The senator’s a jackass.”
“Where did the kidnappers tell you to stash the money?” she asked him.
Her question set off an alarm bell. Although he’d heard her, he acted as if he hadn’t. He wanted to make sure that he’d heard exactly what she’d said.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Where did they tell you to stash the cash?”
He had heard her correctly.
“In an outside trash can,” he replied. “How long have you been engaged to Matthew? Tell me a little about your background.”
“He asked me three months ago. It was a total surprise. He wants to have a big wedding in Texas on a ranch.”
“You aren’t getting married in your hometown?”
“No. I lost my folks when I was a teenager. In an accident.”
“An accident?”
“An awful car accident. We were vacationing in Spain, where my parents had a house. My mom and dad and a friend of mine who was on vacation with us were killed by a drunk driver who swerved into the wrong lane. It was horrible.”
“You weren’t with them?”
“No. Everyone said I was lucky.” Tears began to fill her eyes. “I had a bad cold that night and stayed home when they went to dinner. I’d rather not talk about it.”
The Taurus reached a traffic circle. Storm turned from it into the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.
“Is that where we’re going?”
“Your phone?” he asked her.
“Yeah.” It was 6 P.M. The kidnappers were calling right on time.
Toppers was so nervous that she dropped the phone while she was removing it from her handbag. She bent forward and snatched it off the floor mat.
“Give it here,” Storm ordered. He answered it.
A deep voice that sounded like Darth Vader said, “You got our money?” The caller was using some sort of voice changer software.
“That’s right. Where do you want us to go?”
“Arlington National Cemetery. Robert E. Lee mansion. Leave the first gym bag in a public trash receptacle about fifty feet from the house’s front entrance. There’s a National Park Service sign next to the trash can.”
The line went dead.
A trash container in a public park. It was an odd place for a drop. Or was it?
Pulling from the memorial’s parking lot, Storm headed west across the Potomac River into Northern Virginia. He glanced at Toppers. Her face was ghost white. She looked as if she were about to faint or vomit. When he lowered his eyes, he noticed that her tight jean skirt had risen up when she’d bent over to retrieve her cell phone from the floor. She was wearing a tiny red thong with white polka dots. She’d either not noticed or felt no need to readjust her skirt.
She was a distraction and he needed to be focused. He decided to do what he always did when a woman was distracting him, especially sexually. He would talk with her. He would calm her down. Then he could focus on what was important and not her taut little body, her freshly shaved legs, her muscular thighs.
“You’re doing fine,” he said. “Think about something else. Tell me about Matthew. Where did you meet?”
“We were in the same first-year English class. He asked me to have coffee. He kept his eyes on my eyes the entire time. Not many boys do that.”
Her candor surprised him. Why? Did he think she was so naïve that she didn’t understand how her figure affected men? How she could use it to manipulate them?
“What are you studying in school?”
“No one believes me when I tell them, because they assume that someone who looks like I do has to be dumb, but I’m studying mechanical engineering.” She laughed.
Good. He was breaking the tension. Helping her relax. Mechanical engineering. Curious.
Continuing, she said, “I know Senator Winslow thinks I’m stupid. He told Matthew that I was an airhead. But I’ve always been good with math and designing. I’m a whiz at reading and drawing blueprints.”
“Good for you,” Storm replied. “The senator’s a jackass.”
“Where did the kidnappers tell you to stash the money?” she asked him.
Her question set off an alarm bell. Although he’d heard her, he acted as if he hadn’t. He wanted to make sure that he’d heard exactly what she’d said.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Where did they tell you to stash the cash?”
He had heard her correctly.
“In an outside trash can,” he replied. “How long have you been engaged to Matthew? Tell me a little about your background.”
“He asked me three months ago. It was a total surprise. He wants to have a big wedding in Texas on a ranch.”
“You aren’t getting married in your hometown?”
“No. I lost my folks when I was a teenager. In an accident.”
“An accident?”
“An awful car accident. We were vacationing in Spain, where my parents had a house. My mom and dad and a friend of mine who was on vacation with us were killed by a drunk driver who swerved into the wrong lane. It was horrible.”
“You weren’t with them?”
“No. Everyone said I was lucky.” Tears began to fill her eyes. “I had a bad cold that night and stayed home when they went to dinner. I’d rather not talk about it.”
The Taurus reached a traffic circle. Storm turned from it into the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.
“Is that where we’re going?”
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