Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #1: Books 1-4 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [classic children's novels txt] 📗

I smiled. “Come on in.” I closed the door behind her and said, “Take a seat, Emma. We have some things to discuss.”

As I said it, dos Santos stood up. He had a face that would have made a Carolina reaper wince. When he spoke, his voice was a rasp. “This is intolerable, Stone. My patience is not limitless.”

“Neither is mine, dos Santos. Shut up and sit down. We have business to transact. You don’t get the box and I don’t get the money until Emma and Tammy are safe.”

Emma stared at dos Santos, then at me, and made several false starts in trying to say something. “John, you should have… This is not… What are you…?”

“Sit down, Emma. Have a drink.”

I sat her in the chair opposite mine, put a glass in front of her, and nudged the whiskey bottle her way. “Help yourself.”

I sat and looked at them both, one after the other and back again.

“Where were we, Geronimo? Oh yes.” I turned to Emma. “Geronimo is about to transfer fifteen million bucks into a numbered account for me. Naturally, as you are my partner in crime, Emma, part of that money should go to you. Also quite naturally, Geronimo was saying that, before he makes the transfer, he wants to see the box and its contents for himself.”

She was shaking her head as I was speaking. “John, really, I want no part of this. I am not cut out for this kind of thing. I am not a criminal…”

“You saying I am?”

“You know what I mean.”

“You going to say no to half of fifteen million bucks, Emma? Seven and a half million is nothing to be sneezed at.”

“Please, John, this is not what we agreed. Just give me Tammy’s birthday present and let me go.”

I snapped my fingers. “You know what it is, dos Santos. Emma is English. Seven and a half million bucks, in pounds sterling, is chicken feed. I’ll tell you what we’ll do—you make that fifteen million pounds sterling, and then I think Emma will be happy, and I can let you see the box.”

He was shaking visibly. “I swear to God, Stone…”

“Do it.”

He tapped at his keyboard, then savagely turned it for me to look at. Over twenty million dollars. And he still hadn’t reached his limit. I smiled at Emma. Her hands were trembling.

“John, I am very frightened, and I would like to go now.”

“We are almost done, Emma. I am just trying to ensure your safety in the future. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yes, and I am very grateful.”

“Stone! Let me see the box!”

“In just a moment, dos Santos. I just have a couple of questions I need to ask Emma.”

Her eyes fixed on me. “Questions?”

I laughed. “All these years as a cop, it’s become a habit. I have to understand how things happened the way they did. You know what I mean? Like last night, when you just reached over, cool as a cucumber, picked up Ronaldo’s gun, and boom! And then you were about to pop Geronimo here, too. See? I don’t understand that. I don’t understand what made you do that.”

“I panicked.”

“You panicked? I can understand you panicking when he’s holding the gun. But after he laid it on the table, and I finally had these fucking idiots talking, then you panicked? Then you pick up the gun, and with no provocation at all, you kill him?”

She stared hard at her hands in her lap. “Yes.”

I blew out through my teeth. Dos Santos was watching me like a hawk. I said, “I have to tell you, Emma, you panic with a hell of a lot of cool. Because, you were as cold as ice. And when you went through that door after dos Santos, and you stopped and adopted that stance, you looked just like a pro. You sure you’re not CIA undercover?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“So explain it. How come you were so cold? How come the professional shooting stance?”

“Training.”

“Training? What kind of training?”

“When I moved to the States and Tammy explained to me the kind of trouble she was in, I took several firearms courses, to advanced degree. I suppose it kicked in last night.”

“Huh. That’s a good answer.”

“It happens to be the truth.”

“I believe you.”

“Can I go now?”

“Yes, Stone, enough of this stupid inquisition. Let us finalize the deal and be done with it.”

“I am almost done, dos Santos. Let’s see a little of that Christian patience.”

“It is becoming tiresome, John.”

“I know. Just bear with me. I am just curious about Tammy.”

She sighed.

“What about her? It’s a shame you didn’t bring her. She could have answered these questions herself. You know, she and Duffy got real close. He was, and still is, crazy about her. What I have never understood, from the very beginning, is why she left him? At first I thought she was in love with that loser Steve. But it turns out she hated him enough to shoot him in the heart. So if she was after the kind of money this…” I lifted up the box and waved it at her. “… this box could bring her, why didn’t she just stay with Duffy?”

“I suppose she just didn’t love him.”

“Nah.” I shook my head. “Shall I tell you what I think?”

“I suppose we can’t stop you.”

“I think she had every intention of going back to Duffy. She is too smart a cookie to pass up a chance like that. But after losing her parents, twice, and her sister, she was not about to start trusting anyone, ever again. What she needed, what she was hungry for, was a fortune of her own. Money in the bank, that is something you can trust. And the