“Excuse me?”
“My money. As planned.”
“Who is this?”
“You know exactly who it is and exactly what you’re supposed to do. I’ll be in tomorrow. You’ll put two and a half million in my trunk.”
“I’m sorry,” he said in a syrupy tone that stuck to the fine hairs on the back of her neck. “You must have the wrong number.”
“I don’t think so. I’ll be in tomorrow for my money.”
“Then you’ll be in for a disappointment.”
“You don’t have it?”
There was a pause, then a patently light, “Money? I don’t have anyone’s money. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Whoisthis?”
Megan wasn’t surprised by his denial. She expected it, just as she expected the fury she still felt. She had lived with it for days.
“You don’t have my money?” she asked, her voice trembling with anger.
“No, I don’t have your money,” came the answer.
Clenching her jaw so hard that it hurt, Megan hung up the phone before she said something rash. Her breathing was shallow. Her entire body was tight. Fearing a breakdown, she remained there for another minute with her eyes closed, praying for strength. She knew he would welch on the deal. She had known it from the first time he touched her, and nothing he had done afterward had hinted otherwise. Still, she’d had to ask, just to know for sure. With certainty came an odd wave of power. It was, indeed, her turn to take command.
Returning to her car, she headed home.
***
Two hours later, shortly before noon, Megan entered Savannah’s office. Will was with her, wearing the fury on his face that she felt inside. On the outside, though, she was subdued and pale. At Will’s urging, once the door to the office had been closed, she said in an ominously quiet voice, “The man you want is Matty Stavanovich. He was the one who kidnapped me.”
Savannah was sure she had heard wrong. “Matty Stavanovich?”
Slowly and with genuine distaste, Megan nodded.
“That can’t be,” Savannah murmured, sagging back against her desk. “Matty’s a cat burglar. He’s never gone in for kidnapping, much less rape.”
“It was him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Megan wouldn’t lie about something like that,” Will said curtly.
Still, Savannah looked at Megan in bewilderment. “Are yousure?”
The look on Megan’s face answered the question even before she said in a tense monotone, “Two months ago, I took my car in for new brakes. I had to take it back a month later because the brakes didn’t feel right. One of the pads was defective. At least, that’s what he said when he replaced it.” She caught in a sudden breath. “At the time, I thought he was a disgusting man. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I swear, I had a premonition.”
Savannah put a hand to her heart, which was thudding wildly. After a minute, she reached for the phone. “Let me get some of our people in here.” She placed an emergency call to Sam, then to Mark Morgan at the local FBI office. After leaving a message for Paul, who was at a meeting, she drew up a chair close to Megan’s. “Tell me again. Are you absolutely sure it was Matty?”
“Yes.”
“You recognized him because of the work he did on your car?”
“Yes.”
Savannah took a shaky breath. She had always known they would get the Cat one day, but never in a million years had she dreamed it would be on a kidnapping rap.
Will touched Megan’s shoulder. “Tell Savannah about the other man.”
