Page 45 of Her Dark Melody
At least you are,my precious little one, she thought to herself. That’s all she could worry about now – get Fino safely away from the psychotic Franks. The room they were in was small and damp, with a window high up on the wall. Standing on her shoulders, Fino could reach it, but even from here, she could see it was locked. Maybe if they could break theglass…
The door opened, and someone new came in: a young, nervous looking boy, carrying a tray of sandwiches and water bottles. He set the tray on the ground and slid it over to them. “Boss says eat anddrink.”
Ebony nodded, giving him a half-smile. “Thank you. Could you possibly open that window, let some air in? It’s very dank inhere.”
Okay, so it was worth a shot, but the boy just shook his head. “Sorry.”
He disappeared, and Ebony heard the door lock behind him. “Fino, eat a sandwich,please.”
“Only if you willtoo.”
“I’lltry.”
The truth was she felt sick to her stomach. Back at the diner, when they had been taken, a cloth with chemicals on had been placed over her face, and she’d blacked out. She could still taste the acrid flavor of them now, and her stomach roiled. That, and the pain of the small wound, was making her feel as if she would be sick. She took a couple of unenthusiastic bites of the sandwich and some of the water, then feeling a little better, finished thesandwich.
It became obvious all too soon that the food or water had been drugged as first Fino, then Ebony, passedout.
Carson Franks lookedover the unconscious pair and grinned. “Time to call Tigri, I think, see how much he’ll give me to get his wife and nephewback.”
The other man, the young boy, Rex, nodded. “So, you are going to give them bothback?”
Carson laughed. “Not a chance. Oh, the boy, I don’t care about. We’ll dump his body in the ocean, but the girl…she’s all mine…and her body, we’ll send back to Tigri just so he knows that you never ever mess with CarsonFranks…”
* * *
PartFour
Chapter Twenty-One
John Halsey stood up from the chair in his office and looked at the three men. “You understand me, don’t you? No heroics, no going off on vigilante missions. Let us handle this, or you riskeverything.”
The three men stared back at him. Atlas Tigri, Blue Allende – and their unlikely comrade in this, Cormac Duggan – all wore the same expression: Skepticism. John Halseysighed.
“Look, I realize men in your position believe that money can solve all woes – it can’t. You give Franks an inch, and you’ll never see Fino or Ebonyagain.”
“All we care about is getting Ebony and Fino back safely,” Atlas said, but even to his ear, he knew it was more than that. All of them in this room wanted nothing more than to rip Carson Franks limb-from-limb with their bare hands, and Halsey could see he wasn’t getting through tothem.
“Alright, just promise me this…you won’t impede our investigation, you tell me everything.” He fixed them with a hard stare. “Regardless of circumstances, if you get in our way, I will arrest you for obstruction. No taking justice into your ownhands.”
“Detective, we are men of the world,” Blue said, a little testily, “and we have the resources to search every inch of it…which is what we aredoing.”
“And that’s fine. Just don’t take unnecessary risks, is all Iask.”
“None of us are amateurs, Detective.” Cormac Duggan was the most arrogant of the three, Halsey decided, and the most irritating. He could feel for Tigri and Allende; they’d been through hell. But thisman…
“Mr. Duggan, I understand why Mr. Tigri and Dr. Allende are here – why areyou?”
There was a long silence, Duggan glancing at Atlas, then Atlas sighed. “Because he’s the father of Ebony’s baby, and he’s also suing me for custody of Fino.” He recited all of this in a dead voice, and Cormac had the grace to look slightlyashamed.
“All I care about right now,” he said softly, speaking directly to Atlas, “is that we get them back safe and well. Anything else…can wait. We can resume our usual feud when they’re back safe andsound.”
Atlas studied him for a long moment, then noddedcurtly.
John Halsey sighed and nodded at the door, indicating the meeting was at an end. “I’ll keep you informed, gentlemen. Remember what Isaid.”
Outside the office,Cormac turned to them. “I’ll be in touch as soon as my men find anything. Can I ask you do thesame?”
“Sure.”
