Jennifer touched the woman’s arm and begged, “Please!”
“Get your own phone,” the woman hissed. She turned back to the receiver. “Remember the suede ones we saw? Gone! So you know what I did? I said to that clerk…”
Jennifer closed her eyes and stood there, oblivious to everything but the torment inside her. Michael must not kill Adam. She had to do whatever she could to save him.
The woman hung up and turned to Jennifer. “I should make another call, just to teach you a lesson,” she said.
As she walked away, smiling at her little victory, Jennifer made a grab for the phone. She called Adam’s office.
“I’m sorry,” his secretary said, “but Senator Warner is not in. Do you wish to leave a message?”
“It’s urgent,” Jennifer said. “Do you know where he can be reached?”
“No, I’m sorry. If you would like to—”
Jennifer hung up. She stood there a moment, thinking, then quickly dialed another number. “Robert Di Silva.”
There was an interminable wait and then: “The District Attorney’s office.”
“I have to speak to Mr. Di Silva. This is Jennifer Parker.”
“I’m sorry. Mr. Di Silva is in a conference. He can’t be dis—”
“You get him on this telephone. This is an emergency. Hurry!” Jennifer’s voice was trembling.
Di Silva’s secretary hesitated. “Just a moment.”
A minute later, Robert Di Silva was on the telephone. “Yes?” His voice was unfriendly.
“Listen, and listen carefully,” Jennifer said. “Adam Warner’s going to be killed. It’s going to happen in the next ten or fifteen minutes. They’re planning to do it at the New Canaan bridge.”
She hung up. There was nothing more she could do. A brief vision of Adam’s torn body came into her mind and she shuddered. She looked at her watch and silently prayed that Di Silva would be able to get help there in time.
Robert Di Silva replaced the receiver and looked at the halfdozen men in his office. “That was a weird call.”
“Who was it?”
“Jennifer Parker. She said they’re going to assassinate Senator Warner.”
“Why did she call you?”
“Who knows?”
“Do you think it’s on the level?”
District Attorney Di Silva said, “Hell, no.”
Jennifer walked through the office door and, in spite of himself, Michael could not help reacting to her beauty. It was the same way he felt every time he saw her. Outside, she was the loveliest woman he had ever seen. But inside she was treacherous, deadly. He looked at the lips that had kissed Adam Warner and at the body that had lain in Adam Warner’s arms.
She was walking in saying, “Michael, I’m so glad to see you. Thank you for arranging everything so quickly.”
“No problem. I’ve been waiting for you, Jennifer.” She would never know how much he meant that.
She sank into an armchair. “Michael, what in God’s name is going on? What’s happening?”
He studied her, half admiring her. She was responsible for helping to bring his empire crashing down, and she was sitting there innocently asking what was going on!
“Do you know why they brought me back?”
Sure, he thought. So you can sing some more for them. He remembered the little yellow canary with its broken neck. That would be Jennifer soon.
Jennifer looked into his black eyes. “Are you all right?”
“I’ve never been better.” He leaned back in his chair. “In a few minutes, all our problems are going to be over.”
“What do you mean?”
“Senator Warner is going to have an accident. That’ll cool off the committee pretty good.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “I should be getting a phone call any minute.”
There was something odd in Michael’s manner, something forbidding. Jennifer was filled with a sudden premonition of danger. She knew she had to get out of there.
She stood up. “I haven’t had a chance to unpack. I’ll go—”
“Sit down.” The undertone in Michael’s voice sent a chill down her back.
“Michael—”
“Sit down.”
She glanced toward the door. Gino Gallo was standing there, his back against it, watching Jennifer with no expression on his face.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Michael told her.