CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“I need you to check out Tanner’s movements, Mac. Find out if he has a flight, a rented car, anything in the next few days.”
The BMW tore up into the hills, tracing along the winding roads with hairpin precision. Veronica kept rubbing the pinto bean between her fingers, her mind churning. She stepped on the gas and urged the car up toward the condo.
“What’s going on, Veronica?”
“I’ll explain everything as soon as I have a chance, I promise. For now just get me that information.”
Neptune was a glittering bracelet spread below the bluffs, every light in town on for another wild spring break night. In the condo’s parking lot Veronica killed the engine and was at the door in a flash, first ringing the doorbell, then pounding with her fist.
When Lianne opened the door, Veronica didn’t even bother to say hello.
“Where’s Tanner?” she asked, walking past her mother, darting her gaze all over the living room.
“What? He’s out.” Lianne shut the door and turned to her, eyes round. She was still dressed in the short-sleeved sweater and jeans she’d worn earlier, but she had on chenille socks and a pair of reading glasses. Dressed to stay in. “What’s wrong?”
“Out where?”
“Out for a run!” A frown creased her forehead. “Hunter’s just gone to bed. Can you please keep your voice down?”
“Out for a run after dark? At nine?”
“He always runs at night.” Lianne stared at her. “Look, we couldn’t find a meeting tonight. An AA meeting? Running helps to calm him down. When he’s upset, when he’s angry. When he’s feeling like picking up a drink. I told him to take as much time as he needs.”
Veronica tried to read Lianne’s face. Did she know? Did she suspect what her husband had done? Was she in on it? Or was she just like poor Willie Murphy—another dumb patsy in someone else’s game?
Lianne had been Veronica’s own personal villain for a long time—not because she was evil, but because her father was good. Because Keith was the hero, the one who stayed. Veronica had always known the truth about her mother, the painful, awful truth. Lianne was, like all addicts and drunks, a world-class con. But she always fell for her own trick. She was the only one, in the end, who believed her own lies.
“Mom …,” she said, not sure how to start. She closed her eyes, shook her head, opened them. Started again.
“Who hired Lee Jackson? Did you find him? Or did Tanner?”
Lianne’s frown deepened. “Tanner found him. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a kidnapping specialist. But Tanner heard about it on some TV show a few years ago.”
Veronica shook her head.
“I put in a call to the Meridian Group yesterday, and tonight I finally got a call back. Funny thing … it turns out the Lee Jackson who works for Meridian is a woman. I can see why it’d be easy to assume it’s a man’s name. Kidnapping and ransom is a pretty male-dominated profession, after all. It’d be easy to, say, pick that name off a website, print out a few cards, and run with it. Then anyone who wanted to check your credibility would be able to see a nice CV and a list of pretty heavy-duty accomplishments on the website, but not a picture—pictures are a liability in the security world. Something about blown covers. But if you’re a grieving, scared parent, desperate to find your child, that cursory glance would probably be enough to convince you to trust him.”
Lianne blinked at Veronica in confusion.
“I went to the Grand to try to confront your fake Lee Jackson, but when I got there he’d already been attacked in the alley. Someone hit him over the head. When the cops checked his wallet there were at least ten different IDs in it—driver’s licenses from different states with his picture on each, and credit cards for a handful of identities. I went back and talked to the guy at the front desk and get this—he never checked that money into the safe today. I get the feeling he might have been getting ready to make a getaway. But someone double-crossed the double-crosser. Because that money? It’s gone.”
Lianne sat down hard in one of the armchairs near the fire. “You mean we hired a … a fake?”
Veronica shook her head. “No, Mom. I don’t think so.” She put both her hands on the winged back of a chair and leaned forward. “I don’t think Tanner was taken in by some smooth-talking con man. I think Tanner’s working with the guy.”
Lianne gave a hot, forced laugh. “You’re joking, right?”
“I wish I were.”
“If Tanner was working with this guy, why would he steal the money from him?”
Veronica gave Lianne a pitying look. “You know as well as I do there’s no honor among thieves. I’m guessing Tanner decided that one hundred percent of the money was preferable to half. Maybe Lee Jackson just outlived his usefulness. Maybe Tanner was planning this the whole time. Either way, I don’t think he’s coming back.”
Her mother’s lips tugged downward, a sudden angry sneer. “Where’s your evidence, Veronica?”
“Mom, think about it for just a second. Tanner said he called Jackson, right? It wasn’t like Jackson cold-called him when news of Aurora’s disappearance hit.”
“I don’t really remember how it all happened,” Lianne said, stubborn. Veronica exhaled through closed teeth, fighting to keep her patience.
“Yes, you do. Because the Dewalts had already hired Miles Oxman, and they talked to you about consolidating the investigations and using Oxman for both ransom drops. But Tanner was adamant that he’d heard about this guy Jackson, that he’d already called to hire him. Well, if Tanner had placed the call to Meridian, he would have gotten the real Jackson. The only way this makes sense is if he’s in on it.”
Suddenly Lianne was on her feet again. “Here’s what I think. I think you just can’t stand the idea that I’ve gotten my life back on track, Veronica. I think you can’t stand the idea that I might be happy. You’re just hoping to find out I’ve made as big a mess of this marriage as I made of the last one, so you can be right about me. You want to be able to punish me.” Her voice shook, but her eyes flashed with anger. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do better for you. I’m sorry for it every day. But you can’t do this to me. You can’t just come in here and try to tell me my family is a sham.”
For the span of a breath, Veronica’s vision went bloody. She could barely see Lianne through the brilliant red. Then she blinked. Lianne’s shoulders were back, her arms clenched close to her body, like she was ready to take a swing.
So like Lianne, to make this a story about poor little her. To make everything she’d done to Veronica and Keith into another way to feel sorry for herself.
So like Lianne too to somehow make Veronica half believe the accusation. That was a drunk’s best trick, after all—spread the blame around, let everyone take part in the dysfunction. But didn’t Lianne deserve to be punished, just a little? It wasn’t fair that she could just decide to move on, easy as that. It wasn’t fair that she could build a new life, one where she didn’t have to live with what she’d done to Veronica and her father. So maybe some part of Veronica did want to believe Tanner was a crook.
But just because she wanted to believe it didn’t make it a delusion.
“I’m not trying to hurt you,” she said, fighting to control her voice. “I’m trying to warn you. If you want to keep living in denial, fine by me. It won’t be the first time.”