Hero for Hire Page 5

  But right now, she wasn't up to Neil's antics and certainly not to Josephine's.

  "Did you come here for a specific reason, Neil?" Impatience prompted Veronica's question. "Because if you didn't…"

  The dark head bobbed up and down. "I understand. Here." He thrust a small bag at her. "I prom-ised Casey I'd pick this up for him the next time I went to Dodger Stadium." The grin was just the slightest bit sloppy, testifying to his imbibing more than one beer at the stadium. "It's an autographed baseball from…"

  Veronica took out the plastic-encased ball. She read the almost illegible signature. It was Casey's favorite pitcher. Oh Casey, I wish I could just run up to your room and give this to you.

  "Is he around?" Neil asked, walking farther in. He looked up the staircase. "I'd kind of like to see his face when he sees what I got him."

  Clutching the gift, Veronica turned around. She started to say that Casey was still at the party, but the words never made it to her lips. Instead, she began to cry.

  When Josephine looked at him quizzically, Chad moved forward and slipped his arm around Veronica, pretending to comfort her, keeping up the ruse that Veronica had started. Josephine looked properly placated and just a shade envious.

  Flustered, Neil looked from Chad to Veronica. "Hey, it's only a baseball." The pleased look on his face turned to a distraught helplessness. "This wasn't something that Bobby talked about giving Casey, was it? Because if he did, you know I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. Just goes in one ear and out the other." He dragged a hand through his unruly hair, apparently stymied as to how to rectify the situation. "I didn't mean to stir up any memories for you, Veronica, honest."

  Trying to regain her composure, Veronica held her hand up to stop him. She shook her head, only marginally aware that Chad had slipped his arm around her in mute comfort. She was behaving like a fool and she hated it. "No, it's just that…"

  Lies were only going to complicate things. Thinking fast, Chad decided that someone had to know the truth. Besides, he wanted to see Neil's reaction.

  "Casey's been abducted." He watched each of their faces as Neil and Josephine absorbed the terse sentence. Disbelief and shock registered on Neil's, while Josephine appeared as if she was having trouble assimilating the information. He could almost see her struggling with the words.

  Josephine cocked her head, auburn hair spilling over her bare shoulder. "Abducted. Does that mean he's been—"

  "Kidnapped," Neil snapped at her, sobering instantly. "How dumb are you?" Ignoring Josephine, as well as Chad, he took Veronica's hands into his own. "When? How?"

  "Today, from the birthday party I took him to."

  Neil looked as if he i was having trouble breathing. His grasp tightened on her hands. "Are you sure?"

  For all the world, she wished she could say no. "Yes."

  Neil's eyes darted back and forth between Veronica and the tall stranger standing beside her. He looked as if he didn't trust Chad. "How much does the kidnapper want?" he asked Veronica. Before she could answer, he added, "Can you raise it?"

  Because he could see how much it distressed her to talk about it, Chad answered for her. "The amount wasn't specified. The connection broke off before she could find out."

  Neil turned to Chad. "Have you called the police yet?"

  "No police," Veronica said quickly to squelch any ideas he might have of calling them himself. "He said he'd kill Casey if I called anyone."

  Hanging on the fringes of the conversation, Josephine moved forward. "So what are you going to do?"

  Drawing on what felt like her last reserve of inner strength, Veronica squared her shoulders. She would not fall apart again, she swore to herself. She couldn't afford to. She glanced at Chad before answering. "We're going to wait."

  The answer didn't sit well with Neil, but it was her call. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets in muted frustration. "Want us to…?"

  Anticipating his offer, Veronica rejected it as gently as possible. Having them here waiting with her would only increase her agitation. She was in no mood for anyone's company—especially his girlfriend's, the latest entry in a long parade of airheads Neil had hooked up with since he'd first reached puberty.

  "No, that's all right, Neil. Really." She began urging him toward the door. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm better off alone."

  Josephine followed without any coaxing. "Doesn't look as if you're alone from where I'm standing." She made no effort to hide her smirk as she gave Chad another long appraising look.

  Neil looked somewhat annoyed as he took hold of Josephine's arm and pulled her after him through the front door.

  "Okay, we'll leave," he told Veronica. And then his expression softened. "But if there's anything you want, Veronica, anything you need, just call."

  Touched, Veronica leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek, knowing he was sincere, if sadly ineffectual. Neil looked enough like Robert to have been his twin, but the similarity between the two brothers ended on the surface. Neil had never possessed any of Robert's ambition or his backbone. The only thing the two had in common when it came to personalities was that both were good men in their own way.

  "I know, Neil." Veronica took a step back. "Thank you."

  He placed a hand against the door, keeping her from closing it. "Call me if you hear anything. Okay?"

  She nodded, praying she would have something to tell him soon. "I will, I promise."

  Still, Neil stood wavering in the doorway, wrestling with his thoughts and a conscience he rarely heeded even as Josephine was tugging on his arm to leave. His last words were directed at Chad. "Look, you're new to me so I don't know just how serious things are between you and Veronica. But she's the best, so be good to her or, as puny as I look in comparison to you, I'll find a way to break every bone in your body. Okay?"

  The threat didn't bring the expected smile to Chad's lips. "Okay," Chad promised with a sincerity that pretense and undercover work had long since made easy for him.

  Chad closed the door behind Neil and Josephine. Flipping the lock and testing it, he turned around to look at Veronica. "You seem fairly close to him."

  She supposed she was. "He's a good person. A little misdirected, but good."

  That wasn't his point in making the observation. "Then why didn't you tell him who I was?" It seemed only natural that she would confide in Neil, especially after the man had made his not-so-veiled threat.

  She bit her lip as she looked at Chad. Something had held her back at the last minute. She shrugged.

  "Maybe your caution is rubbing off on me. For the time being, this is easier." She followed the thought a step further. "If Neil found out you were a private investigator, he'd want to help, and he'd only get in your way. He has a habit of being a little over the top at times."

  That was putting it mildly. "How long has he been with that girl?"

  She would hardly have called Josephine a girl, but under all that makeup and the volume of hair, she supposed Josephine was only around twenty-two or so. "A couple of months, I think. She's the flavor of the month." Veronica saw Chad raise an eyebrow in silent query. "Neil also has a habit of getting restless. He doesn't stick with anyone or anything for long."

  That would describe a lot of men in his acquaintance, Chad thought. "Know her last name?"

  Veronica shook her head. "I've only seen her a few times. Neil's never mentioned it. Since he doesn't seem to stay with anyone for more than a few weeks, I didn't think her last name was particularly important to know." Veronica glanced toward the closed door. "She looks as if it's a challenge for her just to remember to put one foot in front of the other when she's walking."

  True, Chad mused. "I don't like leaving any rock unturned," he told Veronica just before the phone rang again.

  This time it was hers.

  Chapter 5

  Hands shaking, Veronica placed the phone to her ear.

  "Hello?" Straining every fiber of her being to listen, she felt her hear
t sink at the first words. "No." Veronica bit off an oath as she closed the cell phone. The two ends came together with a sharp snap like two sides of a clam.

  "Wrong number," she replied to the silent question in Chad's eyes. Her own began to fill with frustrated tears as she stared down at the phone in her hands. She couldn't take much more of this. She'd thought she was made of stronger stuff, but she was wrong. She felt as if she was going to fall apart at any second. "Why doesn't he call?"

  Chad knew what this was doing to her and how frustrating and annoying it was to hear excuses. But he wanted her to go on talking. As long as she talked, she couldn't dwell on things beyond her control.

  "Could be he's having trouble finding a phone." That was the most logical reason. "Or maybe he's enjoying this." She looked at him sharply. Despite her worldliness, he had a feeling she'd been sheltered from the world's dark underbelly. "Playing cat-and-mouse with you might be a bonus.''

  "A bonus?" Veronica looked at him, confused.

  Her mind didn't run in those channels, he thought. His did.

  "Might be someone you know slightly whom you've inadvertently ticked off." He couldn't see her antagonizing anyone on purpose. Or being spiteful. There was just something about her that told him that sort of behavior was foreign to her. "More than likely, though, it's just someone who hates anyone who's better off than they are—especially someone like you."

  "Someone like me," she echoed.

  Chad couldn't tell by her tone if she was bewildered or on the verge of being defensive. Maybe a little bit of both, he judged. "Good family background, money, happy marriage."

  To Veronica, it almost sounded as if he was describing someone she'd been in another lifetime. She felt completely detached from all those things—and horribly alone.

  "My husband's gone. The happy marriage is over," she reminded Chad. "And it wasn't that easy to come by to begin with." Veronica closed her eyes, running her hands over her arms. And the pain it exacted from her when she lost Robert had been almost too much to bear. She was never going to allow herself to fall into that trap again. Better to remain distant and unhurt…

  Suddenly she felt cold, so cold. Any minute now, she was afraid she was going to begin shaking uncontrollably.

  Maybe because he was almost a nonentity to her, someone being paid to help her, someone she knew would be out of her life very soon, she heard herself saying things to Chad Andreini that she hadn't allowed herself to share even with her best friend. This was something she'd only told Stephanie and then later Robert, but not until after they'd been married several years.

  Even then, she had been slow to bare her soul and her feelings to him. She'd learned to be cautious. To withhold her trust.

  But right now, with her emotions being torn apart, feeling as if she was in the grip of something she couldn't begin to control, Veronica opened the door to her innermost world just a crack.

  And let Chad in.

  "Do you really think you know what it means to be someone like me, Chad?"

  For just a second he found himself drawn to the look in her eyes. Surrounded by it. It took him a moment to pull back.

  "Not firsthand," he allowed, surprised that he had difficulty shaking off the effect of her eyes. "But I know it can't be easy. Being rich has its own penalties. Anyone who thinks differently is a fool."

  He surprised her. Most people just envied her, thinking she had the perfect life. Like the assessment he'd just made a minute ago.

  "Being someone like me means never being sure if people are your friends because they like you or because they want something from you. Most of the time it's the latter." She sighed, hating this reality that was so much a part of her life. Being married to Robert had made her forget for a while. But it was something she had grown up with. Something that would have tainted and infected her life if she'd allowed it to. "It means having photographers pop up at the worst times, trying to get the worst picture possible to peddle to some tabloid so people can gloat and point, saying, 'All that money and see how awful she looks.' " Humor dipped in sadness played along her lips. "It means being lonely because you don't know who to trust, who to turn to.

  "It means having people constantly after you for one thing or another and becoming angry if you don't come through the way they ask you to." But there were bright spots, and it was the bright spots she chose to remember. She couldn't have lived any other way. "Being someone like me makes finding someone like Robert almost a million-to-one shot— and that's being optimistic."

  He had a feeling that she was. Despite everything. And that being an optimist was what was going to see her through this. "But you found him."

  The smile now was still sad, but happy at the same time. "Yes, I did. And for however long it lasted, it was very good." And then Veronica sighed. "But it's over. And now all I have are memories—and Casey."

  She felt the tears beginning again. For a second she fisted her hands at her side. So much for promises she'd made to herself, she thought. Sniffling, she brushed away the first tear, doing her best to dam up the rest.

  "I'm not really like this, you realize." She fell back on a flimsy excuse they both knew wasn't true. "Maybe I'm allergic to the cologne you're wearing."

  "Maybe," he agreed. It was time to get to work. He took a receiver from his pocket that was so small it could have passed for a wad of lint. "I want you to switch off your call-forwarding from your cell phone."

  She opened her phone and punched in the proper code as she watched him attach something to the earpiece of the telephone on the coffee table. "What are you doing?"

  "Putting a tap on your telephone."

  More than likely, the kidnapper was taking precautions when it came to making the calls to her, but it didn't hurt to cover all the bases. Overestimating an opponent was as big a mistake as underestimating him. Chad wanted to be guilty of neither.

  Finished, he took out what Megan, with her love of electronic gadgetry, fondly referred to as a decoder. He could feel Veronica watching his every move.

  "When the kidnapper does call, we can pinpoint where the call is coming from. Just keep him on the line as long as you can." Taking the device between his thumb and forefinger, he held it up. It looked like a tiny monitor. "This doesn't take long to home in."

  As if taking its cue the moment he said it, the telephone rang. Her sharp intake of breath accompanied it half a beat later. Chad held his hand up as he checked the panel on the device. This was the first time he'd used it. Megan had sworn to him this was state-of-the-art and foolproof. Right now he wished she was here to make sure it was.

  The phone rang again. Veronica's hand hovered over the receiver. Her eyes were urgent as she looked at him. "He might hang up."

  "Now." He pointed to the telephone.

  Veronica jerked up the receiver. The moment she did, the line of ten digits on the tiny screen began whirling madly, chasing around as they searched for their proper positions. Listening to Veronica's side of the conversation, Chad kept his eye on the monitor.

  One by one, the whirling numbers slowed down and finally came to a halt. Forming a phone number. Creating a link to the kidnapped child.

  "So," the voice on the other end grated metallically, "how are you holding up, Ronnie?"

  Rage shot up through her, beginning at her toes and zooming right up through the roots of her hair, threatening to detonate within her. She struggled with the very urgent desire to shout curses at the kidnapper. But she knew she couldn't allow herself that luxury. Venting would only marginally purge her anguish and might come at a price too dear to pay. She had no idea who she was dealing with or what he was capable of. Casey's safety came before everything.

  Her hands tightened around the receiver so hard she thought the shell would crack. "Not well. Is that what you want to hear?"

  The voice began to sound more satisfied. Chad was right. This was a game of cat-and-mouse. And she was the mouse. "What I want to hear is that you'll cooperate."

&nbs
p; Veronica could feel perspiration begin to zigzag down her spine. She wanted this to be over. "I already told you I would."

  "Talk is cheap, Ronnie," the voice mocked. "The ransom won't be."

  "I don't care. Whatever it is, I'll pay it." This was a negotiation. Robert had taught her that you never let the other side feel as if it held all the cards. But the kidnapper did. And she was no good at bluffing. "How much?"

  There was a pause. One, two, three beats. Veronica looked at Chad, her eyes widening. Had she lost the kidnapper again? And then she heard the voice ask, "How much is your golden-haired boy worth to you?"

  There was a noise pounding in her head. She could hardly hear. "I'll give you whatever you want. Just please—" '

  The kidnapper cut her off. "That's always nice to hear. How does three quarters of a million dollars sound to you?"

  "I'll pay it," she said instantly. Veronica knew without stopping to think that she didn't have that kind of money in a liquid account. There was property plus stocks and bonds and treasury bills, along with enough red tape to keep three accountants happy. But all that could be handled. "But I'm going to need some time to get it together."

  "Time, eh? Maybe you should think about auctioning off one of those paintings you've got hanging in the hallway. The Renoir'll get you that, easy."

  Even with the metallic interference, she recognized the voice of pure evil. Was her son still safe? Had he been harmed by this madman? "Where do you want me to bring the money?"

  The kidnapper was clearly enjoying himself. "Now, now, Ronnie, you're getting ahead of yourself. First, get the money and then we'll talk." The laughter faded, replaced by something that made her blood run cold. "Just don't take your sweet time getting it. Understand?" She could feel fear sinking its nails into her again. The kidnapper was going to hang up on her. "Why can't you tell me where to bring it now?" she demanded.

  "Because it's my show. And don't you ever raise your voice to me again, Ronnie. Or you're going to need tweezers and a magnifying glass to put your son together again."