Page 110 of Sting
Jordie said, “Because Mr. Kinnard has this wild hair that Josh, not Panella, has access to the stolen money.”
Everyone looked at her. Wiley asked, “Does he?”
“No.”
Wiley looked back at Kinnard, who said, “My opinion differs, but we gotta catch him to find out.” He paused and touched his side as though it pained him. “Where are you on that? Any updates?”
Joe brought him up to speed, starting by telling him about Josh’s unexpected call to him two nights before. “Here we were stomping around in the woods searching for him, my phone rings, it’s the man himself.”
He recounted that conversation, including mention of the bank account in Costa Rica, but omitting that Jordie had accompanied Panella on a trip there. He finished by telling him about the call he’d got before dawn. “Surprised me again.”
“What’d he say?”
“He wanted verification that Jordie was safe.”
Kinnard frowned. “That first call. Was he telling the truth, you think? Granted, Costa Rica would be a good stopover for somebody wanting to disappear. Gulf on one side, Pacific on the other. Rain forests and mountains to hide in. But have you confirmed that this bank account exists?”
“As of this morning, the money’s still there. Intact. Never touched.”
“No shit?”
“Our thought exactly,” Hick said, and Joe noticed that he shot a glance at Jordie.
Kinnard, lost in thought, didn’t catch it. “And Josh called you again this morning, indicating to me that his nerves are wearing thin. Whether or not he’s got the money, he still betrayed Panella. He’s rethinking his decision to abandon the protective arms of Uncle Sam.”
“If he wasn’t rethinking it before, he is now that I told him I talked to Billy Panella last night.”
Kinnard looked at him with a start. “You what?”
“He thought it was you calling.” Joe told him how the conversation had come about and related it in its entirety. “We had all the geegaws hooked up to the phone. Got nothing. Panella hung up in less than thirty seconds.”
Kinnard absently rubbed the scar on his chin. “His attempt on Jordie’s life was a bust. Josh still knows all his secrets and is inclined to make deals.” Addressing them all, he said, “Our friend Panella can’t be happy with the status quo, especially if he was left holding an empty bag. Do you realize how dangerous that makes him?”
“We do. That’s where we were when you came in,” Joe said. “Hick and I were encouraging Ms. Bennett to share with us any information she has regarding either Panella or her brother’s whereabouts.”
“Morrow told me you were questioning her.” Kinnard looked across at her, but he referred to her in third person. “That’s one reason I left the hospital in such a hurry. For a day and a half, I tried everything I could think of to get information out of her. Some of my tactics were unpleasant, even crude.” He waited a beat, then looked at Joe. “If she knew anything, I believe she would have told me.”
She hadn’t told him about her weekend getaway with Panella. Joe would bet one of the swindler’s millions on that. If Kinnard knew about that, he wouldn’t be letting her off the hook now.
Another one of those awkward silences ensued. Kinnard was staring hard at Jordie as though compelling her to look at him. She kept her eyes downcast, looking only at her lap.
Eventually Adrian Dover stirred. “That’s it then. Is my client free to leave?”
Joe said, “Ms. Bennett is free to go now, but she remains in our custody. Hick, tell Marshal Saunders she’s ready to return to the hotel.”
Hick stepped out and called down the hallway to the marshal.
Jordie said nothing as she stood up. Evidently she planned to walk out without acknowledging any of them, especially Shaw Kinnard. But when he spoke her name, she hesitated on the threshold before turning around. And if looks could kill.
Kinnard said, “You can’t protect your brother from Panella, Jordie. He’ll send the next Mickey Bolden, then the next, until he gets him. He won’t give up until Josh’s entrails are strung along behind him in the Gulf.”
She held his stare for the length of a slow freight train, then said, “I wish I’d gone for the kill.”
She and the lawyer walked out as Hick came back in, his cell phone to his ear. He mouthed, Morrow.
Joe, who’d stood up as a courtesy to the ladies when they left the room, sat down again and scrutinized Shaw Kinnard. He looked worse off now than he had when he’d made his grand entrance, and he’d looked like hell then. He was pale, the lines in his face more deeply carved, cheeks sunken.
Nevertheless, from deep within their shadowed sockets, his eyes projected a cold glint that signaled danger despite the signs of his physical debilitation. Joe didn’t have that quality. Nobody would ever move out of his way simply because he focused on them.
