Childfinders Inc - Hero For Hire Part 10

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 nonent.i.ty 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 a.s.sessment 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.e.l.l 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."

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."