The Husband

constrained. Twice he'd told her that he loved her, but she had not responded in kind. Something was wrong.
    The gentle voice returned: "There's been one change in the plan, Mitch, one important change. Instead of a wire transfer, cash is king."
    Mitch had worried that he would not be able to talk them out of having the ransom sent by wire. He should have been relieved by this development. Instead it troubled him. It was another indication that something had happened to put the kidnappers off their game. A new voice on the phone, then Holly sounding guarded, and now a sudden preference for cash.
    "Are you with me, Mitch?"
    "Yeah. It's just, you've thrown me a curve here. You should know...Anson hasn't been as full of brotherly concern as maybe you thought he would be."
    The caller was amused. "The others thought he would be. I was never sure. I don't expect genuine tears from a crocodile."
    "I'm handling the situation," Mitch assured him.
    "Have you been surprised by your brother?"
    "Repeatedly. Listen, right now I can guarantee eight hundred thousand in cash and six hundred thousand in bearer bonds."
    Before Mitch could mention the additional four hundred thousand that was supposedly aboard Anson's boat, the kidnapper said, "That's a disappointment, of course. That other six hundred thousand would buy a lot of time to seek."
    Mitch didn't catch the last word. "To what?"
    "Do you seek, Mitch?"
    "Seek what?"
    "If we knew the answer, there'd be no need to seek. A million four will be all right. I'll think of it as a discount for paying cash."
    Surprised by the ease with which the lower figure had been accepted, Mitch said, "You can speak for everyone, your partners?"
    "Yes. If I don't speak for them, who will?"
    "Then...what's next?"
    "You come alone."
    "All right."
    "Unarmed."
    "All right."
    "Pack the money and bonds in a plastic trash bag. Don't tie the top shut. Are you familiar with the Turnbridge house?"
    "Everyone in the county knows the Turnbridge house."
    "Come there at three o'clock. Don't get cute and think you can come early and lie in wait. All you'll get for that is a dead wife."
    "I'll be there at three. Not a minute earlier. How do I get in?"
    "The gate will appear to be chained, but the chain will be loose. After you drive onto the site, replace the chain as it was. What will you be driving?"
    "My Honda."
    "Stop directly in front of the house. You'll see an SUV. Park well away from it. Park with the back of the Honda toward the house and open the trunk. I want to see no one's in the trunk."
    "All right."
    "At that point, I'll phone you on your cell with instructions."
    "Wait. My cell. It's dead." Actually it was somewhere in Rancho Santa Fe. "Can I use Anson's?"
    "What's that number?"
    Anson's cell phone lay on the kitchen table, beside the money and the bonds. Mitch snared it. "I don't know the number. I have to switch it on and look. Give me a minute."
    As Mitch waited for the phone company logo to leave the screen, the man with the gentle voice said, "Tell me, is Anson alive?"
    Surprised by the question, Mitch said only, "Yes."
    Amused, the caller said, "The simple answer tells me so much."
    "What does it tell you?"
    "He underestimated you."
    "You're reading too much into one word. Here's the cell number."
    After Mitch read the number and then repeated it, the man on the phone said, "We want a smooth simple trade, Mitch. The best piece of business is one from which everyone walks away a winner."
    Mitch considered that this was the first time the man with the gentle voice had said we instead of I.
    "Three o'clock," the caller reminded him, and hung up.

Chapter 50

     
    Everything in the laundry room was white, everything except the red chair and Anson in it and the small yellow puddle.
    Reeking, restless, rocking side to side on the chair, Anson was resigned to cooperation. "Yeah, there's one of them talks like that. Name's Jimmy Null. He's a pro, but he's not a front guy. If he's on the phone with you, the others are dead."
    "Dead how?"
    "Something went wrong, a disagreement about something, and he decided to bag the whole payoff."
    "So you think there's just one of them now?"
    "That makes it harder for you, not easier."
    "Why harder?"
    "Once he's wasted the others, his tendency will be to clean up totally behind himself."
    "Holly and me."
    "Only when he's got the money." In his misery, Anson found a ghastly smile. "You want to know about the money, bro? You want to know what I do for a