Authors: Arthur Hailey
It had been a quiet morning in the Larchmont police department, a small
but efficient local force. In a glass cubicle a uniformed desk officer
was sipping coffee and glancing through the local Sound View News when
the call came in-from a pay phone on the comer of Boston Post Road, a
half block from the supermarket
.
Erica McLean spoke first. After identifying herself she said, "I have a
lady here, Miss Priscilla Rhea . .
.”
"I know Miss Rhea
,”
the desk officer said
.”
Well, she thinks she may have seen something criminal, perhaps some kind
of abduction. I'd like you to speak to her
.”
"I'll do better than that
,”
the desk officer said
.”
I'll send an
officer in a patrol car and you can tell it to him. Where are you ladies
?
”
"We'll be outside the Grand Union
.”
"Stay there, please. Someone will be with you in a few minutes
.”
The desk officer spoke into a radio microphone
.”
Headquarters to car 423
.
Respond to Grand Union store. Interview Mrs. McLean and Miss Rhea waiting
outside. Code one
.”
The answer came back, "Four twenty-three to headquarters. Ten four
.”
Eleven minutes had now passed since the passenger van carrying Jessica
,
Nicholas and Angus had left the supermarket parking lot.
The young police officer, named Jensen, had listened carefully to
Priscilla Rhea who was more confident in reporting for the second time
what she had seen. She even remembered two additional details-the color
of what she continued to call the "little bus
”
light tan-and the fact
that it had dark windows. But no, she had not noticed a license number
,
or even if the license plates were New York's or out-of-state
.
The officer's first reaction, though he kept it to himself, was of
skepticism. Police forces were used to citizens who became alarmed about
matters that turned out to be harmless; such incidents happened every
day, even in a small community like Larchmont. But the officer was
conscientious and listened attentively to all that was said, making
careful notes
.
His interest began to mount when Erica McLean, who seemed a responsible
,
rational woman, told him about some splotches on the parking lot that
looked like blood. The two of them walked over to inspect. By this time
most of the liquid had dried, though there was enough that was moist to
reveal it as red to the touch. There was no proof it was human blood, of
course. But, Officer Jensen reasoned, it gave more credence to the story
,
more urgency too
.
Hurrying back to where they had left Priscilla, they found her talking
with several other people who were curious about what was going on.
One man volunteered, "Officer, I was inside and saw four people leave in
a hurry-two men, a woman and a boy. They were in such a hurry that the
woman left her shopping cart. It was full, but she just left it
.”
"I saw them too
,”
a woman said
.”
That was Mrs. Sloane, the TV anchorman's
wife. She often shops here. When she left she looked upset-like something
bad happened
.”
Another woman said
.”
That's funny. A man came to me and asked if I was Mrs
.
Sloane. He asked others, too
.”
Now several people were talking at once. The police officer raised his
voice
.”
Did anyone see what this lady"-he motioned to Priscilla-"calls a
'small bus,' color light tan
?
”
"Yes, I saw that
,”
the first man said
.”
It pulled into the lot as I was
walking to the store. It was a Nissan passenger van
.”
"Did you notice the license plate
?
”
"It was a New Jersey plate, but that's all I saw. Oh, one other thing, it
had dark windows-the kind of glass where you can see out, but can't see
in
.”
"Hold it
!”
the officer said. He addressed the growing crowd
.”
Any of you
who have more information, and those who've given me some already, please
stay. I'll be right back
.”
He jumped into the white police cruiser he had parked alongside the
supermarket and grabbed the radio mike
.”
Car 423 to headquarters. Possible kidnap at Grand Union parking lot
.
Request help. Description of suspect vehicle: Nissan passenger van, color
light tan. New Jersey plates, license unknown. Dark windows, believed
one-way glass. Three persons may have been seized by unknown occupants of
Nissan van.,
,
The officer's transmission would be heard by all Larchmont police cars as
well as those in neighboring Mamaroneck Town and Mamaroneck Village. The
headquarters desk officer, through a "hot line
”
phone, would automatically
alert all other police forces in surrounding Westchester County and the New
York State Police. The New Jersey State Police would not, at this point
,
be informed
.
Already, at the supermarket, two sirens could be heard
rom other approaching police cruisers responding to the request for help
.
Nearly twenty minutes had elapsed since the Nissan passenger van's
departure.
Some eight miles away, the Nissan van was about to leave the 1-95 Thruway
and enter a maze of streets in the Bronx
.
From Larchmont, Luis had made good progress heading south. He had been
driving at five miles above the legal speed limit, which most motorists
did-a good speed but not fast enough to attract attention from any
cruising State Police. Now, Thruway exit 13, an intermediate objective
,
was ahead. Luis eased into a right-hand lane to take the turn. Both Luis
and Miguel had been looking behind for signs of any pursuit. There was
none
.
Just the same, as they left the 1-95 Miguel urged Luis, "Move it! Move
it
!”
Since the departure from Larchmont, Miguel had been wondering if he
had made a mistake in not letting Rafael kill the old woman on the
parking lot. She might not have believed the phony story about what she
had seen being part of a film. By now she could have spread the alarm
.
Descriptions could be circulating
.
Luis was pushing his speed, going as fast as he could on the roughly
paved Bronx streets
.
Baudelio, since leaving Larchmont, had several times checked vital signs
of their two sedated captives, and all appeared to be well. He estimated
that the drug midazolarn which he had administered would keep the woman
and boy unconscious for another hour. If it didn't he would give them
more, though he preferred not, since it might delay the much more complex
medical task needed at the end of this journey
.
He had also stanched the bleeding of the older man and applied a dressing
to his head. The old man was now stirring, slight moans escaping him as
he neared a return to consciousness. Anticipating possible trouble
,
Baudelio prepared another hypodermic of midazolam and injected it. The
stirring and moans subsided. Baudelio had no idea what would happen to
the old man. Most likely Miguel would shoot him and dispose
of the body in a safe place; during his association with the Medellin cartel, Baudelio had seen it happen often. Not that he cared one way or the other. Caring about other human beings was an emotion he had long since discarded
.
Rafael had produced some brown blankets and he and Carlos, with Baudelio
watching, wrapped the woman, boy and old man in one each, so that only
their heads protruded. In each case sufficient blanket was left folded
at the top so it could be turned back to cover the face when the three
were removed from the Nissan van. Carlos tied each rolled bundle with a
length of cord around the middle so that in transit it would resemble
nothing more than a piece of conventional cargo
.
Conner Street in the Bronx, which they had reached, was desolate, gray
and depressing. Luis knew where he was going; in rehearsals for today
they had traveled the route twice before. At a corner with a Texaco
station they turned right into a semideserted industrial area. Trucks
were parked at intervals, some looking as if they had been there a long
time. Few people were in sight
.
Luis brought the van to a halt against a long, unbroken wall of an
unoccupied warehouse. As he did, a truck that had been waiting on the
opposite side of the street pulled across and stopped slightly ahead of
the Nissan. The truck was a white GMC with a painted sign, "Superbread
,”
on either side
.
Inquiry would have shown there was no such product as Superbread. The
truck was one of a total of six vehicles obtained by Miguel soon after
his arrival, employing a fake rental agency as a front. The GMC truck had
been used occasionally for the Sloane surveillance duty and otherwise for
general use. As with other vehicles in the small fleet, the truck had
been repainted several times, the legend on its sides changed too-all of
it the handiwork of Rafael. Today the truck was being driven by the
remaining member of the group, the woman, Socorro, who jumped down from
the driver's seat and went around to open the double rear doors
.
At the same time the door of the Nissan van was opened and the rolled
bundles, with all three faces covered, were
quickly transferred by Rafael and Carlos to the GMC truck. Baudelio, having gathered up his medical equipment, followed
.
Miguel and Luis were busy in the Nissan van. Miguel peeled off the dark
,
thin plastic sheets from the windows; they had been useful for concealment
but were now an identifying feature to be disposed of From beneath the
driver's seat Luis took a pair of New York State license plates he had put
there earlier
.
Going outside, and after looking around to make sure he was not observed
,
Luis removed the Nissan van's New Jersey plates, replacing them with the
New York plates. The process took only a few seconds because all of the
group's vehicles had special license plate holders, with one side hinged
.
The hinged portion could be lifted upward while the original plate was slid
out and a fresh one put in. The side of the holder was then snapped back
and held in place by a spring fastener
.
Miguel, soon after his arrival in New York, had arranged through an
underworld contact to buy a series of New York and New Jersey plates from
vehicles no longer in use but on which license fees had been kept up to
date
.
The licensing systems of New York, New Jersey and most other states made
it possible to get license plates for any vehicle long after it was totally
dismantled and all of its parts discarded. All that a state registration
agency cared about was receiving a license fee along with evidence-equally
easy to obtain-that the nonexistent vehicle was insured. Neither the state
agency nor the insurance company, which would renew an old insurance policy
by mail as long as the required premium was tendered, ever required the
vehicle to be produced
.
Consequently in criminal circles a brisk business existed in such plates
which, while illegal, were not on any police "hot list
”
and were for that
reason worth many times their actual cost
.
Miguel emerged from the Nissan van with the plastic sheets, which he dumped
in an overflowing trash container nearby. Luis hurriedly brought the
discarded New Jersey plates and stuffed those in too
.
Luis then took over the wheel of the GMC truck which now
contained the unconscious Jessica, Nicholas and Angus, as wen as Miguel, Rafael, Baudelio and Socorro. After a swift U-turn they headed back to the Thruway and, within less than ten minutes after leaving it, were back on the 1-95 in the new vehicle, continuing south
.
Carlos, now driving the empty Nissan passenger van, also made a U-turn
.
He too went to 1-95, but headed north. With the van's appearance changed
by removal of the dark windows and the substitution of New York for New
Jersey license plates, it was now like thousands of others in normal use
and unlike the description circulated by the Larchmont police
.
Carlos's assignment was to dispose of the Nissan passenger van and that
,
too, had been carefully planned. After three miles he left the Thruway
,
then continued north for twelve miles on secondary roads as far as White
Plains. There he drove to a public parking garage, a four-story structure
adjoining an indoor shopping complex-Center City Mall
.
Parking on the third level, Carlos moved with apparent casualness through
his next activities. Among shoppers parking nearby and getting in or out
of cars, no one seemed remotely interested in him or the Nissan van
.
First, Carlos wiped all obvious surfaces to make fingerprint detection
difficult. That was in case the van was recovered by law authorities in
its present condition. The next step was to ensure it wasn't
.
From a locker in the van's interior Carlos withdrew a Styrofoam
container. Opened, it contained a formidable quantity of plastic
explosive, a small detonator unit with a release pin, two lengths of
pliant wire and a roll of adhesive tape. With the tape he fastened the
explosive and detonator behind the front seats, low down and out of
sight. He ran wires from the detonator release pin to the inside handles
of each front door. After fastening a wire to each handle with the door
almost closed, he shut each door carefully, then locked it. Now, opening
either door would pull the release pin from the detonator
.
Peering into the van, Carlos satisfied himself that neither the plastic
explosive nor the wires were visible from outside.
M
iguel had reasoned that several days would pass before the van was
noticed, by which time the kidnappers and their victims would be far
away. But when the van was found, a typical terrorist surprise would
emphasize that those who had been involved with the kidnap were to be
taken very seriously
,
Carlos left the parking garage through the shopping mall, then used
public transport to head for Hackensack where he would rejoin the others.