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34
In the Air
SATURDAY
“Emmie, where’s Mama? Why isn’t she here with us on Grandpa’s airplane?” Emma touched her fingers to Gage’s little face. She wanted to cry, but knew she couldn’t. Her voice was steady and calm. “She went on ahead, Gage. She didn’t want to, but she didn’t have a choice. She told me to give you and Cal big kisses. You’ll see her soon.” She was surprised the lie didn’t stick in her throat. It was so hard to keep her voice matter-of-fact, to stay steady for her little brothers. When they’d boarded, she’d seen her father’s set face, seen the unspoken fear in his eyes, and told him she’d settle the twins on the plane herself. At first Cal and Gage were fascinated, touching every plush light gray seat, climbing on the two padded benches, staring at the galley with its high-tech appliances, opening the small wine cooler. Cal saw juice boxes and Emma gave one to each of them. They marveled at the bathroom to each other in twin talk. Gage had to flush the toilet, and both twins laughed when the water got sucked down with a big whoosh. The bathroom amazed Emma, too. It was special order, nearly as large as her own bathroom at home. She tucked the boys in together on one of the large plush seats, smoothed a soft blanket over them. Emma looked up to see her dad was sitting alone, stiff and silent, staring out the window of Grandpa’s plane, his hands fisted in his lap. Uncle Dillon was on his cell phone. Grandpa and Elizabeth Beatrice—Emma wasn’t ready to call the gorgeous woman her grandma—sat close together, her hand in his resting on his leg.
A small hand clutched hers. She smiled down at Cal. “Emmie, sing the song Mama always sings.”
She sang “Soft Kitty” from The Big Bang Theory, watched both little faces go lax, saw both sets of beautiful blue eyes slowly close. She sang it three times. It soothed her as much as it did the twins.
Finally, they were down for the count. Emma leaned down and kissed their little faces. She whispered, “I promise we’ll find Mom. She’ll be with us again soon.” She felt overwhelmed with guilt, just couldn’t help it, even though she knew it wasn’t logical. But it didn’t seem to matter. They’d wanted to take her, not Aunt Sherlock, not her mother.
She looked over at her grandfather’s two bodyguards, Linc from Omaha and Toulouse from Haiti. He’d assigned them to stay in the rear of the plane and keep an eye on the little boys. They’d first eyed the twins with some alarm, obviously not used to children. Emma said to them now, “I think they’ll sleep until we land in Las Vegas. If they wake up, call me. They’ll want a snack.” She dredged up a smile. “Then maybe you and Toulouse can play Punk the Weasel with them. There’s only one page of rules, tucked in the seat pocket. It’s pretty simple.” She looked over to see Cal sucking his fingers. He hadn’t done that in a long time and she knew why.
Emma made her way along the wide aisle and sat next to her father, took his tense hand, smoothed out his fingers. His hand was cold. Ramsey squeezed hers, leaned over and kissed her cheek, and tried his best to smile at her. “Thank you for seeing to the twins.”
“They know something’s wrong,” Emma said.
He said nothing, there were simply no words. Emma leaned into him and he hugged her close. “Linc and Toulouse are grateful the twins are asleep.”
Ramsey nodded. He’d worried about taking the twins and Emma to Las Vegas with them, but Mason was right, this was an emergency and when they landed, both Linc and Toulouse would stay on the plane with the twins and Emma. He knew they’d be fine. He glanced over at Savich who was looking at nothing in particular. He said, “Savich, I never told you I met Rule Shaker only once, the time when Molly and I went to Las Vegas to show him copies of the evidence Molly had collected against him and his daughter, Eve, that put an end to the war between the Shakers and Mason. I have to say Shaker in person surprised me. I expected someone like Mason, I guess, not a small dark man who looked like a Hollywood gangster.” Ramsey was aware he had his father-in-law’s attention, too, and he continued louder, “His world was all about unspoken power and control, he wore them like a mantle, like you do, Mason. I found him highly intelligent. I remember watching him silently calculate the odds when Molly showed him what she had. I saw the moment he realized he had no choice but to do what Molly wanted from him. He nodded to his daughter, Eve. She studied his face a moment, nodded back, and both of them agreed. Molly had an audiotape of Eve, essentially confessing she’d killed Molly’s ex-husband, Louey, and she’d written out everything she knew about how they’d kidnapped Emma and tried to kill Mason. Molly told them she’d sent the originals to her lawyers to be sure the war would really be over. I remember how Eve looked at Molly and me when it was done. She looked fierce, that’s what I thought. She didn’t say anything at all to us, simply turned and walked out of the room. It was like we no longer existed.”
Savich said, “Since I’ve never met Shaker, your impressions will help when we meet with him.”
Elizabeth Beatrice said, “Ah, the infamous truce.”
Mason said, “How on earth do you know about that?”
“While Emma and I were waiting for you in the suite, I asked her to tell me about this Rule Shaker, the man you believe is behind Molly and Sherlock’s kidnapping. I believe I understand what happened now.”
Mason said, “But, Emma, how did you know? You were a little kid. Neither your mother nor I said a word around you.”
Emma shrugged. “I’m a first-class eavesdropper, Grandpa. I knew about the war between you and Rule Shaker.” She paused. “I was one of the casualties, wasn’t I?”
“I’ve told you how very sorry I am about that, Emma,” Mason said. “Believe me, when I found out what happened to you, I was ready to bomb his casinos in Las Vegas for what he did to you.”
Elizabeth Beatrice said, “What Emma didn’t know was exactly what her mother used as a threat to get you and Shaker to make peace.”
Mason said matter-of-factly, “She threatened Eve Shaker with prison for murder, and for attempted murder, namely of me. And Molly’s threat to me? That I’d never be allowed to see Emma again. I guess you could say she had both Shaker and me in her hands. We both had to trust she’d keep what she knew hidden.”
Savich marveled at Mason’s new wife. He wondered if she’d get an honest accounting out of her husband about everything that had happened six years ago, if she’d ever find out most of what he called his business interests were against state and federal law. If he had to bet, he’d say, yes, she’d find out whatever she wanted to know.
Emma said slowly to her grandfather, never letting go of her father’s hand, “I remember before that awful time, you looked right through me. I wondered what I was doing wrong. Then after, you changed. You smiled at me, hugged me. You gave me great gifts. You flew out to see me. I started to think you liked me.”
“Of course I liked you, Emma,” he said, his voice austere. “I just had no idea what to do with you, a little girl. I didn’t learn that with your mother, but I did with you. I’ve always loved you. I hope you believe me.”
“Yes, Grandpa, I do.”
“And I love your mother. Maybe she came to believe that too.”
Emma smiled. “I love you, too. I always have.” She squeezed her father’s hand. “Mama thinks you’re a powerhouse, that’s what I heard her call you. I think she knows you love her now, but you should ask her.” She turned in her chair. “Dad, Mama and Aunt Sherlock will figure out how to get away, you’ll see. They’re very brave.”
Ramsey said, “And if they can’t, we’ll be there soon to help them.” But deep inside where despair hunkered down, he saw shadows, only shadows.
Savich looked out the window into thick clouds, their shapes fantastic. He started to tell Sherlock he saw a bearded lion and a leaping goat, caught himself. He’d never expected to be on the family’s side of a kidnapping. He felt their fear now, their feeling of helplessness, their tug of guilt, even if that didn’t make any sense. Their only lifeline had been to pray, and to hope the people in charge knew what they were doing. Now he was both the family and the one in charge of finding them. Savich closed his eyes. I’m sorry, Sean, I failed her. Your mother isn’t coming home. He got hold of himself. He had to keep everything he felt at a distance, he had to stay objective, hard as that was. It was the only way he’d find Sherlock, and he couldn’t deal with the alternative. And it was Sherlock they were dealing with. She was smart and strong, devious and endlessly inventive. She wasn’t a helpless victim. His cell phone belted out “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple. It was Agent Ollie Hamish from the CAU, checking back with him. Savich had called him earlier to tell him they hadn’t seen the limo at the airport. “Savich, Metro officers spotted the limo two blocks from the private jet facilities. There was some blood on the back-facing seat. Not much, and it looked like they tried to wipe it off. And someone vomited.”
“It’s not Sherlock’s or Molly’s blood, Ollie. They were both seen boarding a plane so it means the blood belongs to one of the kidnappers.” What had happened? Had Sherlock managed to get to her ankle pistol and shoot one of them?
