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“I work for him. I didn’t think he even knew my name and just paid my wages. After my wife died, he helped me. You see, I didn’t take it too well and gambled a bit. Spent all my daughter’s college fees.”
He had a tear in his eye, but it meant nothing to me if he had hurt Avery.
She’s training to be a doctor. The only good thing I ever did. Mr. Sendler said if I did a few things for him, he would pay off the lot.”
“What things,” I asked.
“I know you are the man that hit him. He wasn’t happy about the pictures you had and said he wanted to frighten you a bit that’s all. I sent the letter and threw the smoke-making machine into your place. I thought it was empty. It wasn’t meant to start a fire.”
“Why would a rich man like him use you?” Drake asked, shaking his head.
He obviously wasn’t convinced.
“What, ‘cause I’m a nobody? He said his other associates didn’t want to be involved with petty revenge. They just wanted to keep it simple with the money.”
“Why would he tell you all that and let you live?”
“He didn’t. I have less than a month to live with cancer. I just wanted to make sure my girl was okay. She won’t have to worry now.”
“So, what do you know about Avery?” Drake asked.
Mark started to fidget in his chair. I didn’t like it. “He said he wanted to talk to her. Said it was the last thing he would ask me to do. The money was in the bank and I sent it to my daughter.”
“What did you do?” I asked, clenching my fists. Drake looked at me and shook his head.
“I paid the girl at the shopping mall to get her to come to me. Then I knocked Avery out. I just had to get her to him, and it would all be finished.”
The rage built inside me like a fire as I ran at him, grabbing him around the neck.
“You fucking bastard. I’ll kill you now.”
“Stop, Flynn,” Drake said as he pulled me off. “We need to know where she is.”
I stood back but fisted my hands waiting for Mark to make a move so I could pound him, dying man or not.
“I’m sorry. This was too much. She reminded me of my daughter. I took her to a building down by the ocean and left her with him. Brad said he just wanted to talk to her, but I’ve never seen him like that before. He was talking to himself and yelling at no one. It was like gibberish. He would start a sentence and then go off saying something else. I got out.”
“But you left her there, you coward,” I said.
Mark looked down at the floor as he wrung his hands. Then he looked up.
“I called you. That’s the best I can do. I’m telling you now, if you go to the police, he will kill her. That’s one thing I do know. He will go down screaming rather than go to jail. He has enemies in there as well.”
Drake walked up and spoke close to Mark’s face. “My man will be watching you, so don’t think you can do a runner. Dying or not, we will be getting testimony from you. Now, what’s the address?”
Drake drove again, which was just as well because I would not be safe on the road at the moment. The address we were given was in the bay area near Hermosa Beach. When we pulled up outside it gave nothing away. It was a luxury condo with three levels overlooking the ocean. I would have loved one of those condos, and now I had to think Avery was trapped in one of them.
“Okay, so Mark said Brad is in the penthouse, and the other condos below are empty. I notice there is an external fire escape. It will have a security system to get in through the front door, but I should be able to get in through the fire door on the roof.”
“So, what do I do? I don’t like the idea of just sitting here and waiting.”
“If you’re up to it, I want you to go through the front door. It’s not Avery he’s mad at, it’s you. If you can distract him then I can take him out, and we can get her out of there safe.”
“I will do anything to help her. It’s my fault she is in there.”
“Don’t blame yourself. This guy is nuts. All his life he gets what he wants and is pissed off now it’s not going his way. Give me ten minutes. I’ll wave when I’m on the roof and ready to go in.”
It was the longest ten minutes of my life. All I could hope was that she was alive. Then I saw Drake wave from the roof. This was it. I walked up to the door and pressed the intercom for the penthouse. I thought I would be scared, but I was calm now the moment had come. She needed me and I would not let her down. There was no answer at first, so I kept pressing. It would have a camera and he would know it was me.
