Page 64 of Cougar Point

He says nothing. He’s not accustomed to being put in his place or made to face facts. He’s not accustomed to being helpless, and I can have some sympathy for how he feels. I’ve felt it a few times. But I don’t give up and that’s what he’s doing.

I soften my voice and try to look compassionate although it’s easier to be angry. “I want to help Ronnie. She’s like a sister.” That’s true. Now for a lie. “If you aren’t responsible for your wife’s disappearance—and I’m sure that’s what Lucas is thinking—then I think you know, or at least suspect, why she’s missing. Talk to me. It’s just you and me now.”

One little tear starts to fall but he catches it with a fingertip and takes a deep breath. “This is hard for me, Detective Carpenter. I don’t think you appreciate how hard. I don’t know what you might have been told about our marriage. I know Vic has been in touch with Vinnie. She’s kept in touch and doesn’t think I know. The trouble between us started a couple of months back. I’d found out she was bailing Vinnie out and sending money to her parents.”

I’m surprised and he can see it on my face. “You don’t know about Vic’s parents. My girls don’t even know. I was unaware that she was still in touch with them, but I found out she’d been selling off stock. I thought it was unusual so I had my investigator look into it. Her parents aren’t fit to be around my girls. Vic’s dad is a drunk who is in constant rehab paid for by free medical in Canada. The wife has dementia and wouldn’t know Vic if she saw her. But Vic kept bleeding money paying for an apartment for the old man, and put her mom in an assisted living home. An expensive one. Those two never did anything for their kids. Vic paid her own way through college and was dead broke when I met her. Don’t get me wrong. I admire her spirit. Ilove her more than my own life. She’s a fighter. I know the girls don’t see it, but believe me, Vic doesn’t give up if she thinks she’s right.”

I ask, “Does she keep in touch with Vinnie?”

“I was being truthful when I told you Vic kept bailing Vinnie out of trouble and I put a stop to it. It was like throwing money on a fire. I understand she felt an obligation but she was only enabling him. The only way for a man to rid himself of the devil is with his own will and maybe some sacrifice. Vinnie wasn’t even trying to straighten himself out.”

“You’re telling me Ronnie and Rebecca don’t know their grandparents? Their mom’s parents.”

“They might have heard Vic and I talking about them when they were younger, but they’ve never met them and it’s going to stay that way if I can help it.”

What a dick! If Victoria left him, I don’t blame her. “You’re still keeping secrets, Jack. I don’t like secrets. Secrets get people hurt. You’ve witnessed that.”

“Why do you keep after me? Do you think I’m behind this? You do. That’s what cops do. They badger people until someone confesses. But I want Vic back more than anyone. If you don’t believe me, I don’t really care.”

“Okay, Jack. Let’s say I don’t believe you. You know your wife better than anyone. Where would she be? Why did the kidnappers know your address and phone numbers and who is staying in your house? Why do they know Lucas is still working on this? Why haven’t you made arrangements to pay the ransom?” I look around his office and say, “Look at all this. You can’t tell me you were unable to come up with the money. And why was Lucas telling you not to pay? I want to know what’s going on.”

“No. I don’t know where my wife is. You’re wasting your time and frightening my girls.”

I put a hand up to slow him down. “One of yourgirlsis a cop. And she knows exactly how important what we’re doing is.”

He’s practically yelling now. “What you’re doing is making people mad and endangering my wife. Just leave us in peace. This isn’t your battle. You’re not family.”

He’s right. I’m not family. And he’s right about our digging alerting the kidnapper. I pray it doesn’t make things worse for Victoria. But if I believe everyone else I’ve talked to, and I do, he’s fooling himself. Lucas should have contacted the FBI. A case this big is what they eat for breakfast. I don’t like to call them because it takes them a week to make a decision. But neither Lucas, nor the FBI for that matter, will do what Ronnie and I will do to get her back safe and sound.

He seems to be a little embarrassed by losing his temper. He grimaces and sits down, shooting me a look that almost looks like one of apology. I soften my voice.

“Could it be someone from your past? Someone that you’ve hurt getting revenge.”

He waves the statement away but his calm is put on. “It’s the nature of the business we’re in. My office gets threats toward me all the time. Why didn’t Rebecca tell me about the call herself?”

“It doesn’t matter, Jack. We have to focus. Your wife is in danger.” Or already dead. “We don’t think Vinnie took her. I know there’s been issues with your marriage. Did she ask for a divorce? Is that why you called your personal attorney right before this happened?”

“Who told you I called…” He catches his mistake. “I called about a business matter. It’s none of your business. Besides, Vicki would never divorce me. The idea is ridiculous.”

“Has she ever left for days without telling you or Rebecca?”

“No. When we were first married, she had the crazy idea of moving her parents in with us. I put an end to it right then and there. She got angry and stayed with them one night but camehome the next day. She worked and put herself through school. Something none of her family had the desire to do. Moochers. That was what she had to put up with before I married her.”

“Where are her parents living?”

“White Rock. Just across the border in Canada.”

“It doesn’t bother you that your daughters never had a chance to meet their uncle or grandparents?”

“Of course it bothers me. But the decision was made a long time ago to not introduce them to that side of the family. We never told them about Vicki’s brother because I wanted my daughters to believe in themselves and not know they had relations that were criminals.

“Why are we going over this again? The note is proof her bother is involved somehow. I know for a fact she bonded Vinnie out of jail recently. Where she got the money, I don’t have a clue. She’s sold all her holdings. There’s not much in her savings.”

“Jack, if you don’t take this seriously and your wife is injured, your daughters will never forgive you. If you love her, if you love them, you’ll stop denying what’s obvious.”

He cups his head in his hands, and I can barely hear him say, “I can’t. I just can’t.” His voice rises to a whine. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen to a family like ours.”

He’s wrong. Victoria was leaving him. She was divorcing him and he knew it. Or at least he suspected it.

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