No One to Trust - Iris Johansen [78]
She nodded jerkily and thrust the note back at him. Then she carefully smoothed Barry’s picture and carried it to the door. “I’m ready. You’re right, there’s nothing more we can do.”
I saw lions and tigers, Mama.
“Thirty million,” Judd said crisply. “Not a penny less.”
“You’re crazy,” Chavez said. “I won’t pay more than ten.”
“Yes, you will. Thirty million is a drop in the bucket to you. You can get that on a small shipment of coke to Miami.”
“Because I can get it is no sign I will.”
“What I’m selling you is priceless. You can’t get it anywhere else.”
“I won’t pay it.”
“Did you get the photograph I sent you?”
“Yes.”
“The next one I send you will show you a dead boy. Then no more dreams of a father-and-son business. No more child to mold.”
“You would kill a child?”
“Did you check my background? A kill is a kill. Do you want the boy or not?”
“Fifteen million.”
“I need more than that. As you probably found out, I’m very hot. It will take a lot of cash to cool me down. Thirty.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll give you twenty-four hours. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He hung up.
“Judd,” Barry called from the bathroom.
“Coming.” He stood in the doorway and looked at Barry in the tub. “Problem washing behind your ears?”
“No.” He floated the rubber crocodile on the water. “I was just lonesome. Are you ever lonesome, Judd?”
“No, I guess I like my own company too much.”
“I miss Mama and Dominic.”
“Aren’t you having a good time?”
He nodded. “But I worry about Mama.”
“Sometimes it’s best to get used to being without people. Then it doesn’t hurt so much.”
He shook his head emphatically. “Not Mama. When she had to go to the city to work, I never got used to it. Maybe we should—”
“Your mama wants you to have this adventure. She’ll be disappointed if she thinks you’re not happy.”
Barry frowned, troubled. “I guess so.”
“Then get out of that tub before you turn into a prune.” Judd grabbed a bath towel and held it for him. “You need to get to sleep. Tomorrow we’re going to a petting zoo. Would you like that?”
Barry’s face lit up. “Oh, yes. Will they have llamas? I saw a llama once.”
“I have no idea. I guess we’ll find out together.”
“And I can talk to Mama and tell her about it?”
He draped the towel around him. “Absolutely.”
“That’s good.” He ran out of the bathroom.
Well, there wasn’t much else good in this entire scenario, Judd thought wearily. The whole business was making him a little sick. Not that the nastiness of it would cause him to back down.
Thirty million dollars was good. Being free to live his own life was good. He could swallow the filth and do whatever was necessary.
“Come on, time for bed.” Galen helped Elena out of the car. “Judd will call tomorrow and maybe we’ll get another clue as to where he is.”
“Yes.” She clutched Barry’s drawing as she started up the stairs. “He promised, didn’t he?”
“Yes.” He led her through the dark house to her bedroom. “And he’ll keep his promise.” He took the drawing from her clenched hand and set it on the nightstand. He started to unbutton her shirt.
“I can do it.”
“Sure.” He finished unbuttoning her shirt. “But you’ve had a knockout punch. Let me.”
She didn’t care. It didn’t matter.
He quickly undressed her and tucked her beneath the blanket. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get you a couple aspirin.” He gave her the aspirin and then slipped into bed beside her. “God, you’re cold.” He cuddled closer to her. “Try to go to sleep.”
She closed her eyes. “Lions and tigers … Barry has a book about a tiger named Sarina. It was a very playful tiger, and I wondered if the writer shouldn’t have given a hint about how dangerous they are. But I thought it was okay because you don’t run into tigers every day.”
“Very rarely.”
“But Barry has run into a tiger, and no matter how playful he seems, the danger is there. There’s no telling what Judd could do.”
“Nothing’s happened yet. I agree Judd is an enigma, but we have to hope for the best.”
“The best is for him to give me back my son. He’s not going to do that.”
“No.”
“I’m going to sleep