Slash and Burn (17 page)

‘Why Quicksilver?’ I asked.

It was Rink who chose to answer. He did so in his usual drawl. ‘The pussy is good with a blade. Skilled and very fast, they say. Y’know, as in quick with the silver?’

‘We’ve been there before.’ I saw Rink’s fingers go to a livid scar on his chin. The scar was courtesy of Tubal Cain, a serial killer who was very good with a knife. Cain made the mistake of abducting my brother, John, and we’d hunted him down. Cain had cut the two of us – he’d almost killed me, but I’d rammed a bone from his stash of trophies in his throat. ‘We’ll stop Huffman, too.’

‘Don’t underestimate him, guys,’ Harvey cautioned. ‘There are stories about Huffman. Apparently his specialty is to slice the throat, but he’s also been known to peel off the faces of his enemies while they’re still alive. If the stories about him are true, he’s as bad a dude as any you’ve gone up against.’

I sniffed in disdain. But Harvey was right: you should never underestimate anyone, especially when he was the top enforcer of a crime syndicate. Nobody gains that accolade without proving himself.

‘Any word from Imogen yet?’ Rink asked.

I shook my head.

‘Let me have her number,’ Harvey said. ‘I’ll see if her phone can be located.’

Passing Kate’s phone over to him, I said, ‘I doubt you’ll get anywhere. My guess is that Huffman’s already tried that.’

Harvey smiled. ‘Huffman won’t have the contacts I have.’

He handed the phone back after memorising the number. ‘Keep that close in case Imogen does get back to you.’

‘I’m expecting another call,’ I explained, putting Kate’s phone in my jacket pocket.

‘Huffman?’ Harvey asked.

‘He’s bound to press Kate for a way to contact me. He’ll find out that she left her phone back at the motel and guess that I have it now.’

‘Maybe we should get rid of it. He could use it to find you.’

‘You said he didn’t have the contacts you do.’

‘And I mean it, but it’s easy to find an active phone. Kate’s service provider could run a search for hers. I don’t doubt he has contacts at that level.’

‘We don’t have to worry about that, Harvey, because I’m going to find him first.’

‘Assuming he’s here, that is,’ Rink said.

‘He’s here. It’s his home turf; it’s where he’ll feel strongest.’

‘Shouldn’t be too difficult to find him,’ Harvey put in. ‘All I need do is a search of public records. See who owns what and then track back to a registered office.’

‘Or we could look in a phone book.’

I picked the yellow pages off a stand by the bed and dropped it next to Harvey. It was open to a page I’d marked by folding down a corner. ‘Huffman is supposed to be a bona fide businessman these days. He has his own ad right there.’

Harvey laughed. He closed down his computer and picked up the telephone directory.

‘Sometimes the old ways are the best,’ I said.

Chapter 25

‘Tell me about Joe Hunter.’

Robert Huffman had just received a status update from Little Fork, and he was surprised by what he’d heard. Hunter – as he’d already known – had been to le Cœur de la Ville. According to one of the men Huffman had sent there, Hunter had gone in with extreme prejudice. No one was left alive. Huffman’s valet, Eric Conroy, was dead. Judge Wallace was dead. Jim Aitken was dead. Even Larry Bolan was missing and presumed dead. With no one left to helm damage control, Little Fork was now swarming with state troopers and agents from the FBI field office at Frankfort. His men were getting out of there and returning to Dallas.

‘There’s more to this man than meets the eye,’ Huffman said. ‘Tell me what it is.’

Kate was no longer handcuffed, but she was still a prisoner.

She was sitting in a chair with two men watching over her. Their guns were holstered, but they were an ever-present threat. Kate knew not to stand up without their permission. She only went to the bathroom if one of them went with her. She was given food and water, but the cutlery was plastic and the plates were paper.

‘I don’t know much about him,’ she said.

Huffman was standing over her. But he wasn’t menacing her as Larry Bolan had back at the restaurant. He stood with his hands folded, peering down at her with what was supposed to be a kindly smile. Somehow that was much worse.

‘So tell me what you do know,’ Huffman said.

‘I know that you’re in serious trouble. Kidnapping a police officer is possibly the least of your crimes, but it’ll be the end of you. You’ve just attracted the attention of the FBI. They won’t rest until they find me and you’re locked away for life.’

Huffman laughed softly. He unfolded his hands and he showed her the cut-throat razor cupped in his palm. He didn’t need to move any closer; the way Kate shrank back from him was enough.

‘Who says that anyone will ever find you, Officer Piers?’ he asked. ‘No one knows you’re here. In Little Fork you weren’t acting under any jurisdiction. I’ve checked with a source in the NYPD: apparently you are on vacation, Kate. Your trip to Kentucky was off the books. If I cut you up into little chunks and scatter your remains over the plain out there, who would know where to look?’

‘I told colleagues I was visiting with my sister. When I’m not found there, they’ll start looking for me. You’re the first person that the FBI will come to.’

‘Why would they come to me?’

‘I told them my sister was having trouble with you.’

‘Ah, the unpaid bill she was complaining about?’

‘Exactly. I can’t believe that this is all a result of a goddamn unpaid bill.’

Kate was pushing for information herself, but Huffman wasn’t about to enlighten her.

‘If I’m questioned I’ll feign ignorance. I’ve been in Dallas for the last two weeks. I have a hundred people who will swear to that.’ Huffman lifted the razor and studied it. ‘Now, Kate, let’s not waste any more time. Tell me what you know about Joe Hunter.’

‘He’s just a guy I hired to help me find my sister.’

Huffman used the razor to cut an imaginary loose thread from his tie.

‘Just a guy?’ He thought of all the death and destruction that the
guy
had caused in Kentucky. ‘How did you find him?’

‘He advertises. I called him. Simple as that.’

‘Please don’t lie to me, Kate.’ Huffman cupped the razor in his palm again. He went behind her and laid the hand on her shoulder. The steel was like a sliver of ice against her flesh. Kate tried not to shiver, but he could feel the tension in her body. ‘You knew him before this.’

‘No. I’ve just met him.’

‘Where?’

‘New York.’

Huffman teased a lock of Kate’s hair with his fingers.

‘If he’s from New York, what were you doing in Florida?’ Kate slowly moved her head so that her hair was pulled from between his fingertips. ‘I’ve checked. You flew from Tampa to Little Fork. Before that you flew from New York alone. He’s not from New York, Kate, he’s from Florida, isn’t he?’

‘He met me in Florida. He had other business there.’

Huffman clucked his tongue. ‘Why are you protecting him, Kate? If he’s just some P.I. you hired, why all the lies?’ He plucked at the lock of hair again. ‘Are you lovers?’

‘No.’ She wrenched her head aside. Huffman followed with his hand, and this time he gripped her hair tighter. ‘I told you, I just met him,’ Kate said.

‘You seem angry. Is it because I’m touching you, or could I have hit a raw nerve?’

‘We’re not lovers,’ Kate spat out. ‘Why would you think that?’

‘Oh, just the impression I got when I spoke to him on the phone.’

‘You spoke to him?’ Kate’s voice was barely above a whisper. ‘What did he say?’

Huffman smiled. Kate was a police officer. She’d been trained to deal with difficult situations like this. Ordinarily he’d struggle to get anything from a cop, which was why he was appealing more to her private side. He felt a tremor flood through her. He knew that there was much more to Joe Hunter than she was admitting to.

‘He wants you back. Doesn’t that strike you as strange . . . seeing as you just met?’

‘I’m paying him to find my sister. I’m his meal ticket. Of course he wants me back.’

‘Oh, there’s more to it than that, Kate. It’s obvious that Hunter cares for you. I think that you care for him as well. Therefore I believe you know much more about him than you’re telling.’

Kate shook her head, but the movement was too rehearsed.

‘I’ve told you—’

‘That you only just met?’ Huffman dropped his hand to her shoulder again. He allowed the flat of his razor to trace the line of her collarbone. ‘Yes, you did tell me that. But sometimes people can’t deny the attraction. Call me an old romantic, Kate: I believe in love at first sight.’

Kate didn’t answer. Huffman allowed his blade to drift lower so it rested on the swell of her breasts. Turning the razor ever so slightly it snicked through a strap on her bra. The bra slipped, displaying the dark edge of an areola. Kate immediately moved to cover herself, but Huffman tapped her fingers with the blunt side of the blade. He turned to the two guards. They were hard-faced men, not the best of lookers. He’d picked them as Kate’s jailers for that very reason.

‘Guys,’ he said, ‘How long have you known the lovely Kate?’

‘Couple of hours, boss.’

‘Do you think she’s beautiful?’

‘I’d fuck her,’ said one. The other guffawed and added his feelings on the subject.

Huffman returned his attention to Kate. He walked round her slowly. ‘Do you see how quickly attractions can be built? Now, I know my friend, Rourke, over there was perhaps a little uncouth, but he illustrates my point.’

‘He’s a pig! And so are you.’

‘Yes. But let’s not dwell on it. Tell me about Joe Hunter.’

Kate closed her eyes.

‘He’s just a guy.’

Huffman placed the razor blade against her jaw. ‘If I sliced off your face, would he still want you back?’

The cold steel dug a furrow in her flesh, but Kate tried not to flinch. A single bead of blood welled out. ‘He wouldn’t get paid. I’m sure that would piss him off.’

Huffman finally walked away from her and she tugged her bra back into place.

‘Very noble, Kate,’ he said. ‘Protecting your man.’

‘He’s not my man.’

‘OK, we seem to have established that. So we’ll move on to the next question. Where’s Imogen?’

‘I don’t know.’

From across the room he looked at her again. He folded his hands, and stood like he was contemplating her words. ‘That’s the first time you haven’t lied to me, Kate. It looks like we could be getting somewhere, after all.’

Kate turned her face to the floor, refusing to look at him. Blood trickled from the shallow nick in her jaw, pooling in the hollow of her throat.

Huffman nodded at Rourke. ‘What you said a moment ago: if you feel the urge, just make sure she’s still breathing afterwards.’

Kate’s eyes snapped open.

Huffman shrugged.

‘If Hunter’s not your man, then you’re fair game.’

He turned his back and left the room, closing the door behind him as Kate shouted in denial. Rourke was a pig, but he would help break down the woman until she’d tell him everything. Later he’d return and if she still wasn’t forthcoming, maybe he’d reintroduce her to the sharp edge of his razor.

He was one floor up in a short vestibule that led into a large living space. He passed through both and out on to a veranda, where he leaned his elbows on the veranda rail, and looked out at his surroundings: not downtown Dallas, but flat grassland. In the distance was a line of trees that marked the perimeter fence to the ranch. The trees were almost a mile away. Anyone approaching would have to traverse the open space first. He would see Joe Hunter coming.

With Imogen Ballard or without.

He relished the idea of meeting Hunter man to man.

Even if such a distraction was probably counter-productive to his business interests, he was looking forward to taking on a man who’d proven so resourceful up until now. His life as a businessman had taken away the freedom he’d enjoyed when he was the Felitta brothers’ enforcer. Back then he could sate his need for violence whenever he desired. But, since he’d swapped his blade for a business portfolio, life had been a little boring. The challenge that Hunter presented made him feel
alive
.

His eyes skated towards the furthest outbuilding on his property. When this place had been a working ranch the building had been in regular use. Back then, beef had been the ranch’s main product. More recently, the cuts of meat coming out of that building weren’t deemed appropriate to the market and had been scattered on the plains instead. Hunter wouldn’t be the first person he’d turned into chopped liver.

Chapter 26

At Capital City Airport, Frankfort, Larry Bolan had to leave his guns behind. It angered him, but he had no valid reason for carrying the weapons on to an airplane. He didn’t have the papers. He hired a strongbox at a nearby storage facility, intending to collect them on his return. Then he took his connecting flight to Dallas Fort Worth, to pick up the trail of the man he would kill. The Magnum would be a miss, but it wasn’t an insurmountable problem. He intended killing Joe Hunter with his hands.