An Insignificant Case

Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Gretchen didn’t speak during the drive home because she was trying to figure out who had ransacked Guido’s house and barn. She didn’t think Leon had sent anyone. He’d have no reason to, because he thought Gretchen was going to retrieve the flash drive with the list and the movie. Did Leon tell someone where Sabatini lived? That was a possibility, and she was determined to ask him as soon as she was alone.

When she was almost at her house, her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number.

“Yeah?” she said.

“If you want the flash drive, meet me in Tryon Creek state park at eleven o’clock tonight with fifty thousand dollars.”

“Who is this?”

“I’m the person who can bring your world crashing down.”

Gretchen took a deep breath to calm herself. “The park is big,” she said. “Where should I meet you?”

The caller gave Hall directions and disconnected.

“Who was that?” Makarov asked.

Hall told Yuri Makarov what had just happened.

“Did you recognize the voice?”

“The caller was using a device that made it impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman.”

“You think the caller has the flash drive?”

“Sabatini might have an accomplice.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I have to go.”

“Can you get the money?”

“We’ll go to my bank. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Are you just going to walk into the park?” Makarov asked.

“Of course not. I want you out there as soon as you drop me at home. We’re supposed to meet on the other side of a bridge, a short distance from one of the roadside parking lots. Find a good vantage point to watch the place where I’m supposed to bring the money.”

“Then what?”

“Grab the son of a bitch, but don’t kill him. We need him alive so we can get the drive back.”

Gretchen parked and sat in her car for a minute to gather her courage. A sliver of a moon was hidden behind dark clouds, and it was pitch black in the park. In a few minutes, she was going into that park with $50,000 to meet someone who might try to kill her. Gretchen had never done anything remotely like this, and she was sick to her stomach. She took a quick look at her cell phone. They had agreed that Makarov would call her if he had the blackmailer, but Makarov had not called.

Gretchen did some deep breathing to calm herself, grabbed the suitcase with the money, and got out of the car. She switched on a flashlight and cast its beam on the trail that led into the park from the lot. A cold breeze swept through the trees, and she started every time leaves rustled or a nocturnal animal slithered through the underbrush.

Shortly after leaving the lot, she saw the bridge. She swung the beam of her flashlight back and forth, but all she saw were trees and bushes. When she was at the meeting point, she turned off the light so she wouldn’t be a target. She knew Makarov was lurking somewhere in the dark, and she hoped he would protect her.

Gretchen looked at her watch. It was just past eleven. She turned in a circle, looking for the person she was supposed to meet. She had just faced the bridge when she heard a branch snap behind her.