Perfect Victim, The (25 page)

They returned to where Randall had left the rope looped around a tree branch. Spreading her legs, she let him snap the safety harness into place and adjust it to fit her smaller frame. Slowly, mechanically, she began to climb, using the saplings and larger rocks for footholds when she could.

"Randall?" It amazed her how normal, how strong her voice sounded in the midst of such physical and emotional tumult.

From behind her, he answered with an irritated grunt.

“
I was wondering ... about my parents' car. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Climb. We'll talk about it when we get out of this ravine."

Addison stopped climbing
.
"Te
l
l me
,
" she sa
i
d.

He
star
ed
u
p at her
,
his eyes searching for we
ak
nesses she hoped he wouldn
'
t find
.
"
I
couldn
'
t find anything useful
,
" he
said
.
"
There was too much rust
,
too much damage."

"So
w
e wasted our time?"

"
Pretty much
.
"

She considered the words for a moment
, d
o
i
ng her best to fend off the dull wash of defeat
.
"
I don
'
t know i
f
I
'
m disappointed or
r
elieved."

"As long as you do
i
t on level ground
.
Start cl
i
mbing."

"
Bu
t
—
"

"
We
'
ll talk more once we get out of this damn ditc
h
.
"

Addison turned back to her rope
.
But
a
s she began to
c
limb, something niggled at he
r
.
Someth
in
g about the way he
'
d looked
at
her, the way his gaze had sk
itter
ed
a
way when
s
he
'
d pressed him
.
As she heav
e
d h
er
body slo
wl
y upward
,
she wondered if h
i
s reaction stemmed
f
rom wh
a
t he
'
d seen
i
n the ravine
-
or i
f
that haunted
l
ook in his eyes was a result of his own t
r
oubled pas
t
.

Chapter 11

He arrived at the Clipper Tavern in Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel just before four P.M. Pushing his way through the tavern doors, he spotted his contact immediately, sitting alone in a booth set against a backdrop of well-dressed couples and businessmen gorging themselves on slow-roasted Colorado prime rib.

He made his way through the crowd, loosening the Hermes tie that had pinched his Adam's apple for the last eighteen hours, trying to ignore the pain that peeked out from behind his right temple. . .

"Mr. Fagan," he said when he reached the booth. It wasn't the other man's real name, but a pseudonym used for professional purposes. Neither man cared about such details.

Fagan stood. Looking like two businessmen about to negotiate a deal, they shook hands before sliding into opposite sides of the booth. Neither man spoke until the waitress had taken their orders and left their drinks on the table.

Finally, the man in the Hermes tie spoke softly, deceptively, masking the rancor behind the words. "Who the fuck
i
s Jack Talbot?
"
The name stuc
k
in his throat like a shard of glass
,
and he washed i
t
do
w
n with a gulp of Tanqueray
.

Fagan rem
a
ined impassi
v
e
,
sipping h
i
s scotch and water
,
unaf
f
ected. "A pr
i
vate
i
nvestigato
r
.
Mo
s
t
l
y d
i
vo
r
ce ca
s
es. Che
a
ting spouse sur
v
e
i
llance. A fe
w r
unaway teens
.
He's strictly small time. Nothing to worry about
.
"

"I see.
"
He reached into the pocket of his St
.
Laurent for h
i
s bottle of Percodan
.
Just beh
i
nd his eyes
,
the headache lurked
,
as i
f
wa
i
ting for e
x
actly the
ri
ght moment to clench his brain in a v
i
ce gr
i
p
.

"Our g
i
rl hooked up w
i
th him a
f
ter she returned from Ohio
,"
Fagan said.

''
This private
i
nvestigator has become a problem.
"

"
Do you want him eliminated?
"

"Of course I do
,
" the man in the Hermes tie snapped
.

Fagan looked amused for a moment
.
"I must say I'm quite taken with this young woman."

The other man tossed back two of the pills and downed them with a gulp of gin. "Did you take care of the lawyer?
"

"No longer a problem
.
"

Two down
.
Two to go
.
Relief washed over
,
him at the prospect of finishing this dreadful assignment
.
He only wished it wasn
'
t so damned important
—
or the
s
t
a
kes so high. "When can you finish up?
"

''
That depends."

"
Depends on what
?
"

''
The private dick has a brother
.
"

The man in the Hermes tie
felt a swirl of panic at the thought of yet another person's involvement
.
Anothe
r
loose end to deal with. Dammit
,
there were too many loose ends. The whole
f
ucking me
s
s wa
s
l
i
ke a g
r
as
s
fire that had burned out of control and erupted
i
nto a forest f
i
re
. "
Does he know anyth
i
ng
?"

"
Probably
."

He cursed the man
'
s
c
alm demeanor, knowing the son of a bitch had nothing at stake but money. If life were only so
simple. "Eliminate them. All of them. And I don't want any more questions raised."

The other man sipped his scotch. "I'll expect additional compensation."

"I anticipated that."

"Generously, I hope."

"You have three days."