40
MARCH 27, 2010
SATURDAY, 12:50 p.m.
SATURDAY, 12:50 p.m.
The phone again jolted both Laurie and
Jack, causing their pulses to speed up. A half-hour earlier it had
been Warren apologizing for disturbing them but telling Jack that a
handful of the boys were already out at the court and thinking they
might start earlier than usual that afternoon. He wanted to know if
Jack would like to join them to take his mind off what was going
on. Jack had given the idea a brief thought, but after looking at
Laurie had decided not to do it. He reasoned that they needed to be
with each other even though they had run out of things to say. For
both, the hardest part was feeling helpless while flipping back and
forth between despondency and anger.
Before he’d hung up, Warren did have something at
least interesting if not hopeful to say. He’d said that he and
Flash had found a possible watcher, and Grover and Colt had come
and hauled the man away.
“I actually saw the abduction,” Jack had admitted.
“Do you know where they took him?”
“No idea,” Warren had said. “But we’re supposed to
wait around for when they bring the guy back. That’s why we decided
to start playing early.”
The second time the phone rang, neither of them
wanted to pick it up. Laurie sat in a club chair, Jack on the couch
next to the corner table where the phone lived. At that moment he
was in the depressed side of his cycling emotions and was not sure
he could interact with anyone. Nonetheless, after a few more rings
he picked up the handset. He expected it was Warren trying to put
more pressure on him to play ball, but it wasn’t. It was Captain
Detective Mark Bennett.
“How are you people doing?” Marked asked. “Did you
get any sleep?”
“Sleep is not in the cards today,” Jack said. “Is
anything happening? You know we got another call?”
“Absolutely,” Mark said. “I listened to the
recording a number of times and have even visited the Laundromat
from where the call was made in hopes of talking to an employee who
might have remembered the incident, but no go. At least we know the
way they are going to communicate with us, which is important in
and of itself.”
“Is that going to help?”
“Yes and no. There’s still a lot of public phones
in the city, so we cannot stake out all of them. But it is
something we’ll keep in mind as things progress. The important
thing is that they came up with a specific demand, which means the
negotiation will be starting. That’s an important milestone.”
“And reminded us of a previous demand,” Jack said.
“They said no police. They threatened to physically hurt JJ if we
don’t respect it.”
“That’s a demand kidnappers generally make,” Mark
said, “and for obvious reasons, we are sensitive to the issue. We
will certainly not broadcast our involvement in any way or form.
Whether you tell the media or not is up to you, although we
strongly recommend you don’t.”
“What about your coming in and out of here?” Jack
questioned. “And what about the officer downstairs?”
“The officer downstairs will remain for now but
will not be going in and out your door. We will be appreciative if
you temporarily provide him with food and drink. Today or tomorrow
we will figure out a way for him to get in and out and to be
replaced without it being obvious to anyone watching the building.
It is one of the benefits of living in a row house with multiple
entrances into the rear common area.”
“No one is going to be coming in and out of the
front door?” Jack questioned, just to be certain.
“Absolutely not,” Mark said.
“Anything else on your end?” Jack questioned.
“Yes,” Mark said. “I got a call from the people
going over the white van that was used for the snatch. As we
suspected, it was stolen, and as we suspected, it had been
carefully wiped down. Still, we were able to pick up some partial
and a few full prints, and all of them have been sent for
evaluation. Something like that could be a big breakthrough. Also,
we have put out an APB on your coworker, Vinnie Amendola. So far
he’s evaded it; I mean, I’m not trying to suggest he’s doing it
purposefully, just that we’ve had no responses.
“Now I have a suggestion for you,” Mark continued.
“As you know, they have indicated they want the ransom to be in D
perfect diamonds, which is clever on their part. Diamonds worth a
million dollars will be easy to get but not without money. I’m
afraid you should begin to see what kind of money you will be able
to raise and how you are going to do it.”
“All our savings are completely tied up in our
house. It has no property mortgage and no construction mortgage,
either.”
“I encourage you to talk to your bank and see what
kind of cash you might be able to expect on a financing deal. What
about life insurance?”
“I have some but not much,” Jack said.
“Well, give it a go. When we get to that point of
the negotiation, we have to have an idea of what’s the top amount
we’ll have to work with. Now, do you have any questions? We are
putting all our efforts into your case. I just spoke with the
commissioner. He is extremely interested in having the case
resolved yesterday.”
“I do have a question,” Jack said. “What do you
think about finding out where these people are holding my
kid?”
“It happens, but it is very rare. It also, in our
opinion, puts the kidnapped individual at heightened risk. Our
experience is to get the kidnappers to the bargaining table and
negotiate the best terms possible for the release.”