Chad nodded. “I’ve met some of them who think they’re more important than God. So. Now what?”
“Well, I guess I go on working. And waiting until Chiddy and Vess find the predators. And hoping they haven’t done anything . . . final to Bert.”
“Do you really hope so?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Which he is.” She reconsidered. “Almost.”
“Any idea how long it will take the Pistach to find them?”
“No idea. They’ll manage, sooner or later.”
“Any idea what the predators are up to?”
“Sorry, Chad. I don’t have a clue.”
It was eight in the evening when Benita returned to her apartment, and after a few moments of irresolute wavering, she decided to call Angelica. It was only five o’clock Pacific time. Angelica might not be home yet, but she might not have another chance the way things were going. She lay down on the bed, punched in the numbers and counted the rings.
The moment Angelica came on the line, however, she began talking so hurriedly that it took Benita some time to calm her down to the point she could understand what was being said.
“What do you mean, Carlos has been kidnapped?”
“It just happened. Just now!” she cried. “Over at the sports complex . . .” Angelica poured out the story of the afternoon’s disappearance, about the girl who had been called by Angelica’s name, about the police sergeant saying it looked like an attempt to get two members of the same family.
Benita gargled, “The whole family . . .”
“It’s crazy, isn’t it, Mom? I mean, who’d want to bother us. I thought of Dad, but you know, he … he isn’t … he doesn’t . . .”
“He can’t concentrate long enough to do anything like that,” Benita said for her.
“Right. And it can’t be for ransom, because we don’t have any money.”
“Was there any blood?” Benita asked with horrid foreboding.
“Blood? No. The other men weren’t hurt. Nobody found any blood.”
“Ah.”
“What do you mean, ah?”
“I mean . . .” She thought, what did she mean? “It looks like no one was hurt. Not like . . .”
“Like those killings, you mean? The ones in Oregon?”
“No, certainly not like that. Angel, didn’t the FBI contact you today?”
“Oh, Mom, yes. What’s that all about? The men came to my place kind of late this afternoon, and I took them with me to find Carlos. He disappeared right after we got there! The man who was supposed to watch him was fit to be tied, and the man who’s supposed to watch me is sitting on a chair outside in the hall right now. What’s going on?”
Benita beat her forehead with her closed fist. It was the predators.They w ere doing it, and they were doing it because they’d been put up to it! They’d come to the bookstore looking for Benita, only her place was . . . what? It would have been easy to get into if they’d really wanted to, though getting in would have made a mess. Broken windows. Splintered doors. So, maybe they didn’t want to … no, maybe they’d beentold not to leave evidence they’d done it. Perhaps they needed to make her vanish, without raising a stink. So, they’d tried using Bert as bait. Now they would no doubt use Carlos. And, supposedly, Angelica. Oh, it made a certain deadly sense!
Benita took a deep breath. “Angelica, I think it would be a really good idea for you to go outside and tell the FBI man he should take you to a motel or hotel, right now. I meannow, not an hour from now. Grab what you can grab in no more than five minutes and go. Get a place that’s air conditioned, and don’t open the windows or the curtains.”
“You’re scaring me!”
“I’m scared myself. Please, Angel. Do what I ask. Just so I don’t need to worry about you.”
“If it’s important.”
“It’s important. Tell the FBI man to let Chad Riley know where you are.”
“Who’s Chad Riley? What’s this about, Mom?”
“Trust me, please. I don’t want to talk about it now. Just do what I ask. Chad Riley works for the FBI in Washington, and I can get in touch with him without letting anyone know where I am. He’ll give me your number, and I’ll call you tomorrow when things settle down a little.”