Ravenous (19 page)
Authors: V.K. Forrest
When the guy sent to hook up the Internet arrived, it was almost eleven. Mai spotted him out front chatting with her father. Actually, he was talking to Corrato; Corrato was busy watching a squirrel carrying what looked like a piece of a hot dog bun across a branch in the tree nearby.
Mai stuck her head out of the shop doorway. “You’re here to hook up the Internet, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He was a burly guy with a buzz-top haircut, wearing a shirt with the name of the local cable business over the breast pocket. He carried a toolbox in one hand, a new modem in the other. “To tell the truth, I was surprised when I saw the work order.” He followed her inside when she motioned to him.
“I’m just running upstairs,
Babbo,
” Mai called from the doorway. “You and Prince sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
Babbo,
” Mai called from the doorway. “You and Prince sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
“Almost lunch,” Corrato announced. “Could use a pastrami on rye. Antonia’s, one street over from where I grew up in Jersey, always made a good pastrami on rye.”
“We don’t have pastrami,
Babbo,
” she said as she followed the workman into the shop. “How about turkey? I can bring you turkey.”
Babbo,
” she said as she followed the workman into the shop. “How about turkey? I can bring you turkey.”
“I hate turkey.”
Mai offered the workman a quick smile as she closed the front door. “Sorry. Right up those steps. You were saying you were surprised about the work order?”
“Yeah, right.” He glanced around. “Wow, this place looks better than it has in years.”
She smiled, looking at the displays she had arranged: a dining room, a bedroom; she’d even made a work area for Liam with an area rug and an old Victorian desk. “Thanks.”
“Liam’s not home much. Doesn’t usually have the cable turned on when he
does
come home.” He glanced at her over his shoulder as he went up the steps. “You staying long?”
does
come home.” He glanced at her over his shoulder as he went up the steps. “You staying long?”
“Just a few more days. Top of the stairs, turn right. Living room.”
“This won’t take me long.”
Mai waited until he went into the living room and then she entered the kitchen. She was digging in the lunchmeat drawer when the cell phone in her pocket rang. The screen read
CALLER UNKNOWN
. She debated for a second, then let the phone keep ringing. She set it on the counter, grabbed the turkey and cheese and mayo, and set them beside the phone.
CALLER UNKNOWN
. She debated for a second, then let the phone keep ringing. She set it on the counter, grabbed the turkey and cheese and mayo, and set them beside the phone.
It stopped ringing. She pulled out a loaf of bread. The phone rang again while she was making two sandwiches. That was one of the weird things about living with a senior citizen; you started wanting lunch before noon.
The third time it rang, the cable guy stepped into the hall. “Everything okay?” he asked, looking at her.
She found the question odd for a guy who installed Internet modems. “Yup,” she said. “Fine.” When he went back into the living room, she opened her phone and switched off the ringer.
As she put away the lunchmeat and mayo, the phone vibrated on the counter. It was still reading
CALLER UNKNOWN
.
CALLER UNKNOWN
.
What if it was Liam? What if he was calling from someone else’s phone?
But she knew it wasn’t Liam. She knew who it was. Somehow, he’d gotten her cell number.
The smart thing would have been to let it ring. Better yet, shut it off, but by call five, she was standing there watching the phone vibrate on the counter. She grabbed it and flipped it open.
She waited. She knew someone was there. “Liam?”
“No,” said a male voice. It was the same man who had called her at home, then at Suzy’s. It was the Weasel.
“What the hell do you want?” she demanded softly. She didn’t want the guy in the other room to hear her.
“You know what I want.”
“No, no, I don’t,” she said. She wasn’t so much scared as she was angry. And frustrated.
“The diamonds,” he hissed.
“I don’t know anything about your damn diamonds! How did you get this number?”
Getting the awful feeling that someone might be watching her, she drew back the curtain she had hung just the day before. She couldn’t see anyone on the street. Her father was out of view; he was sitting too close to the door for her to see.
“Your father’s next, you know. Maybe I’ll have better luck getting the information out of him. Maybe not. Good thing is, I know right where to find you, thanks to a little bird.”
A sound behind Mai made her whip around.
Chapter 19
S
he gave a startled cry as she turned to find not the Weasel standing in the kitchen, as she had feared, but the cable guy. She slapped her chest with her free hand. “Jesus! You scared me.”
he gave a startled cry as she turned to find not the Weasel standing in the kitchen, as she had feared, but the cable guy. She slapped her chest with her free hand. “Jesus! You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He eyed the phone. “Everything okay in here?”
She closed the phone, hanging up on her uncle’s killer, as she tried not to cry. She hadn’t really believed it, not even when she had gone to her house with Liam to look for the diamonds. But Uncle Donato really had stolen diamonds and this guy wasn’t going to go away. And if he could find her unlisted phone number, how long would it be before he found her and her dad?
“Ma’am?” He was still looking at her. “Should I call Liam?” he asked.
“No.” She exhaled, trying to slow her pounding heart. “What’s your name?”
“Shawn. Shawn Hill.”
“Lots of Hills in this town,” she said. Her thoughts were scattered. She felt like she couldn’t quite catch her breath. It was as if, suddenly, the severity of her situation was just hitting home, after weeks of living it. “A lot of Kahills, too. Weird.” She walked toward him. “I don’t want you to call Liam, Shawn. And I don’t know what you overheard, but you don’t need to tell him any of that, either. You . . . I just need you to install whatever needs to be installed so I can have Internet service and then you need to go.”
He started back down the hall. “I didn’t hear anything. Swear I didn’t. I only came to the kitchen because I need to follow the original cable wire.” He hooked a thumb behind him. “It goes to another room, probably to the end of the house, and I didn’t want to—you know—walk around the house without your permission.”
She took another breath and started down the hall. Everything he said sounded perfectly reasonable. Perfectly innocent. So what was it about the guy that made her suspicious? Was he really watching her with too much interest right now, or was it just her imagination? Had the Weasel just spooked her? “Okay. Where do you need to go?”
“Liam’s bedroom.”
She glanced back at him, but she didn’t ask him how he knew which room was Liam’s. He said they were friends. Maybe he’d been in the apartment before. She walked past the living room and flipped on the overhead light in the bedroom. It was as austere as it had been when she moved in two weeks ago. The only thing that adorned the walls was a very old, very creepy—in her opinion—crucifix.
Shawn glanced at the single bed that was neatly made, then at the wall shared with the living room. “Aha.”
Mai waited at the door, her hand on the doorknob. What was she going to do? She had to get out of Clare Point. She had to run. What other choice did she have? She knew Liam had said he would get to the bottom of this, and she had sort of agreed to let him try. But that was before she found out that her uncle really
had
stolen diamonds. Or at least the crazy old guy on the phone thought so.
had
stolen diamonds. Or at least the crazy old guy on the phone thought so.
“See, it goes this way.” Shawn pointed to a thick black cable stapled between the floor and the wall. He followed it from one side of the room to the other. “Shoot.”
“It goes into the next room, too?” Mai asked, hoping it didn’t.
“Sorry.” He grimaced and walked out of the bedroom and waited in the hall for her.
She led him to the end of the hall, pushed open the door to the bedroom she and her dad shared, and let him pass. “How much longer is this going to take?” She had thought about calling Liam, but the thing she needed to do right now was to take a minute and think. If her uncle really had stolen the diamonds, and he hadn’t sold them, then they had to be somewhere. Maybe if she found them, if she gave them back, then the Weasel would just leave her and her dad alone. She knew Liam had said it wouldn’t be all that simple, but he was exaggerating, wasn’t he?
“You sleep in here?” Shawn asked, walking to the wall this bedroom shared with the other. He had noticed a bra and panties she’d left drying over a chair. She snatched them up and dropped them on the seat so at least they weren’t hanging for the guy to see. It had never occurred to her that the cable guy would need to get into the bedroom.
Like that mattered right now.
“Just get the Internet up and running,” she said.
Shawn followed the cable to the far wall and knelt, examining where it appeared to come into the house. “Here we go. Here’s the problem.”
She closed her eyes, running her hand over her face. “Look, is this going to take a long time? If it is, I don’t want to hold you up. We can just . . .” She felt so overwhelmed, she wanted to sit on the floor and have a good cry. “I don’t know, reschedule?”
“Nah.” He got down on his knees. “A simple splice job and that will be it.”
Mai gazed down the hallway. She’d been making the sandwiches before the Weasel called. She should take a sandwich to her dad.
What if he called again? Did she answer? Not answer? Did she try to reason with him?
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” she said.
Mai retraced her steps and finished the sandwiches. She took the time to put them on a plate and add some chips.
When Shawn shouted “almost done” from the living room, she got carrots from the refrigerator, peeled two, and cut them up to add to the plates. Her father liked carrots on his lunch plate. Not in the least bit hungry, though, she left her plate on the counter.
“All done,” Shawn announced as she headed for the door to go downstairs.
“Great.” She let him go in front of her. “So . . . you’ll just send a bill?” Liam hadn’t said anything about paying him.
“Yup.”
She followed him down the steps and through the shop. “Thanks. Have a good day.”
“You, too. Tell Liam I said hey.” He held open the front door for her.
“Thanks.” Mai walked out onto the sidewalk and it took her a second to realize what was wrong. “
Babbo?
” Holding the plate in both hands, she looked up the street, then down. A block away, she saw the postman pushing his cart, but no sign of her dad.
Babbo?
” Holding the plate in both hands, she looked up the street, then down. A block away, she saw the postman pushing his cart, but no sign of her dad.
“
Babbo?
” Her heart thudded in her chest. “Prince?” She spun around to Shawn. “My dad. He’s gone.” She didn’t say it, but all she could think of was that while she was on the phone with the Weasel, someone was downstairs, kidnapping her father. Images of her uncle lying in blood on the floor of her shop flashed through her head and a moan escaped her lips.
Babbo?
” Her heart thudded in her chest. “Prince?” She spun around to Shawn. “My dad. He’s gone.” She didn’t say it, but all she could think of was that while she was on the phone with the Weasel, someone was downstairs, kidnapping her father. Images of her uncle lying in blood on the floor of her shop flashed through her head and a moan escaped her lips.
“It’s okay. He’s got to be here somewhere.” Shawn put down his toolbox and took the plate from her hand. “Maybe he just went for a walk.” He set the plate on the little table Liam had put out for her father.
Her father’s crossword puzzle book and pen were still lying there. “He . . . he didn’t go for a walk.” She shook her head. Her brain was working too slowly. She didn’t know what to do.
“How about if I take the van and drive around the block? I bet he didn’t get far.”
“I . . . I have to call Liam.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the crossword puzzle book. How long could he have been gone? She wasn’t upstairs more than half an hour. “I . . . I need my phone.”
“Okay, you go upstairs and get your phone and call Liam.” He grabbed her arm, forcing her to focus on what he was saying. “I’ll go around the block.”
“I should look for him,” she said.
“No. No, you need to stay here. Do you understand?” Shawn had the clearest blue eyes. She hadn’t noticed that before. “You have to stay here,” he insisted, “in case he comes back. You understand?”
She nodded. “Right.” She turned to run into the shop, then turned back. “His dog. Keep an eye out for his dog. It’s a rat terrier. His name is Prince. My father would never voluntarily leave his dog somewhere, or let him run free.”
“Prince. Got it.” Shawn picked up his toolbox. “And your dad’s name?”
“Corrato Ricci.”
Shawn headed for his van.
Mai ran into the shop. She considered locking the door behind her. What if the Weasel had taken her dad? What if there was someone lurking around the building, waiting for the cable guy to go so they could snatch her as well? But what if her dad came back? What if he really had just gone for a walk? She wouldn’t want him to return to a locked door.
She hurried up the steps, through the door, leaving it standing open, and grabbed her phone off the counter. When she opened it to call Liam, she saw that she had missed a call. The caller ID feature listed the number as
CALLER UNKNOWN
.
CALLER UNKNOWN
.
“Just one more quick thing,” Gair said, coming out of his laundry room with an air filter in his hand. “Could you replace the filter in my air handler? It’s in the attic.” He passed Liam in the hallway and grabbed a string hanging down from the ceiling.
“Gair, I really need to—”
The older man tugged on the string, and the pull-down stairs to the attic groaned, cutting Liam off. A ladder stairs sprang down. “It’ll just take a minute.” He pushed the filter into Liam’s hand.
Liam considered arguing with him but decided it would be faster just to climb the creaky steps and replace the air filter. Then he was out of here. He’d already been gone longer than he intended. He’d “fixed” the garbage disposal by removing a cap from a beer bottle from it, tightened the hinges on the back door so the door hung square again, carried porch furniture to the shed, and set three mousetraps.
“I’ve got things to do,” Liam said, tucking the filter under his arm and climbing the steps. He stuck his head through the opening in the attic floor. “Left or right?”
“Left. Oh!” Gair snapped his fingers. “Lightbulb. It blew out. Let me get one for you.”
“I’m a vampire, Gair. I don’t need a light.”
“Take my word for it. Save your eyesight. You’ll be glad you did when you get to be my age.”
Ignoring him, Liam stepped onto the attic floor and carefully walked on the narrow walkway laid down in plywood strips. “You ought to nail this down. Someone’s going to fall through your ceiling doing this one of these days.” He squeezed past a pile of neatly stacked boxes and a beautiful leather trunk that had to be more than a hundred years old.
Spotting the air handler, he searched for an opening. He was just sliding the old filter out when his cell rang.
Damn, he was a popular guy today.
He added the dirty filter to a pile of them on the floor and checked the direction the airflow was supposed to go on the clean filter and slipped it in place. His phone stopped ringing.
“Got a bulb,” Gair shouted up.
“Don’t need it!”
“What?” Gair hollered.
Don’t need it,
Liam telepathed, trying not to be impatient. He’d been old once. He’d be old again, before he knew it.
Liam telepathed, trying not to be impatient. He’d been old once. He’d be old again, before he knew it.
The ladder creaked and Gair’s head popped up through the opening in the attic floor. “Got it. Goes right over there.” He pointed to the opposite side of the house from where Liam stood perched on a two-by-two-foot piece of plywood.
“Do you really think—”
“Humor me,” Gair interrupted. “I like everything in working order in my house.”
As Liam leaned over to snag the five dirty filters, his phone rang again. He considered not answering it but then shifted the filters to one hand to answer it. Afraid he wouldn’t get to it fast enough, he answered without checking who it was.
“Liam, he’s gone.” It was Mai; she sounded terrified.
“The dog?”
“My dad. And the dog. And . . . and he called again. On my cell.” She sounded as if she was barely keeping it together. “The Weasel. He . . . he said Uncle Donato stole his diamonds and he wanted them back. He said he knew where to find us. Liam, what if he took my father?”
Liam strode toward the stairs. Did the Weasel really know where Mai and her dad were? How? Surely Anthony wouldn’t have told him. Damn, but he wished the old geezer would answer his phone! “Corrato just wandered away,” he insisted, trying to reassure Mai.
“But he’s never done it before. He’s never even gotten out of that chair. I shouldn’t have left him.”
I have to go, Gair,
Liam telepathed.
Liam telepathed.
Gair stood on the top rung of the ladder. “But my lightbulb. I wanted you to—”
Liam dropped the filters and sprang through the air, twisting so that as he fell through the opening in the floor, he would stay clear of Gair and the staircase. He hit the hallway floor with a loud thump but landed upright.
Gotta run,
he told Gair.
Gotta run,
he told Gair.
“Liam? Liam, are you still there?”
“I’m here.” Liam strode out of the house, across the porch, and down the painted white steps. He slipped on his sunglasses. “Now tell me exactly what happened.”
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