Midnight Rambler_ A Novel Of Suspense Part 28

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Human resources. I came about your boys. They're yours, aren't they?"

She ripped the paper off the gum and shoved the stick into her mouth.

"I want to talk to a lawyer," she said, chewing vigorously.

"You mean Leonard Snook?"

"Whatever his name is, I want to talk to him."

"He's Cecil's lawyer. Is he your lawyer, too?"

"d.a.m.n straight," she said.

"Trust me, Bonnie, you don't don't want to talk to him," I said, pocketing the gum. want to talk to him," I said, pocketing the gum.

"Why the h.e.l.l not?"

"Leonard Snook won't do those boys any good. Now, whose are they?"

She crossed her arms defiantly in front of her chest. "You're violating my civil rights. I'll sue this park and Michael Eisner and Walt Disney if you don't let me talk to my lawyer. Understand that, Mr. Human Resources?"

I casually leaned against the mirror, studying her. She had a perfectly even tan that I guessed had come from a tanning salon, and her eyes were too blue to be anything but contacts. The amazing artificial woman.

"Do you know anything about Leonard Snook?" I asked.

"What's there to know?" she snapped.

"Leonard Snook is a criminal defense attorney who represents serial murderers and career criminals. Call him, and you're all but admitting that you're guilty, and those two boys will get placed in a state foster home. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

"I want to speak with my lawyer."

"I'm here for the boys' sake," I said. "If you had an ounce of compa.s.sion for their well-being, you'd answer the question."

Bonnie's face started to crack. Then, just as quickly, her icy demeanor returned.

"Go away," she said.

I slammed the door behind me. The best way to deal with sc.u.m like Bonnie Sizemore was to scream at them while threatening bodily harm. It was the only way to penetrate the callous layer of skin that had wrapped itself around their hearts. But I had promised Sally I wouldn't resort to those tactics, and I was a man of my word.

I went down the hall to the room where Cecil was being held. Sally was working him over, and through the door I could hear Cecil telling her the same things Bonnie had told me. He wanted to speak to Leonard Snook, and he wanted to speak to him now.

I leaned against the wall and listened to Cecil's verbal barrage. He had his answers down pat and didn't sound intimidated by Sally's threats of a lifetime in jail. Eventually, Sally would have to turn him and Bonnie over to the Orange County Sheriff's Department or risk ruining the police's ability to prosecute.

I tore a corner off the Disney newsletter to stick my gum in. On the newsletter's cover was a photograph of a comic/ impersonator named Brian c.o.x. c.o.x was headlining at Disney's Islands of Adventure nightclub, and the newsletter urged Disney employees to come out and see the show. It gave me an idea, and I knocked on the door. Sally opened the door with an exasperated look on her face.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"No, but I've got an idea," I said.

Sally came into the hall and shut the door. I showed her the article about Brian c.o.x.

"I once used an impersonator to crack a witness in Fort Lauderdale," I said. "Maybe I can get this guy to help me crack Bonnie. Think you can track him down?"

Sally read the article while studying c.o.x's photo. c.o.x had spiked hair, a lopsided grin, and bulging eyes.

"I don't know, Jack. He looks like a lunatic."

"The article says he does great impressions. It's worth a shot."

She handed me the newsletter. Her eyes looked tired.

"You don't give up, do you?" she said.

"Never," I said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.

Sally made a couple of phone calls and located Brian c.o.x. He was staying at a hotel on International Drive. I called the hotel, and an operator put me through to his room. c.o.x answered and sounded dead-asleep. After some gentle persuasion he agreed to help.

Twenty minutes later, c.o.x pulled into the security area and got out of his rental car. He was unshaven, skinny to the point of being unhealthy, and clad in rumpled black clothes. His spiked hair was mashed to one side of his head. We shook hands.

"Thanks for coming so fast," I said.

"I'm a comic," he said. "What else have I got to do?"

I took him into the bas.e.m.e.nt of the security building and introduced him to Sally, who'd remained outside the room Cecil Cooper was being kept in. Sally eyed c.o.x skeptically, then looked at me.

"Exactly what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I want Brian to listen to Cecil while you interrogate him," I said. "Hopefully, Brian will be able to mimic Cecil's voice, and we can trick Bonnie into confessing."

"How good are you?" Sally asked him.

Brian's face turned semiserious, and he launched into a series of famous voices, jumping from a mean Humphrey Bogart to a boisterous John Wayne to a wimpy-voiced Mike Tyson without pausing to catch his breath.

"I'm impressed," Sally said. "Okay, let's give it a try."

Sally went into the room where Cecil was being kept, along with a guard who was watching him. She left the door ajar and began to question Cecil. Before she could finish her first sentence, Cecil exploded.

"I want to speak to my f.u.c.king attorney, and I want to speak to him right now," Cecil shouted. "You f.u.c.king people don't scare me. You think because you're rich you can push everyday folks around. Well, I ain't being pushed!"

Brian stood by the door, listening hard.

"Piece of cake," he said.

A few minutes later I entered the interrogation room where Bonnie Sizemore was sitting, and left the door open. I looked at Bonnie while sadly shaking my head.

"What do you want?" Bonnie asked.

"You had your chance, and you blew it," I said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I told you to come clean, didn't I? Now you and your boys are screwed."

"Screwed how? What are you talking about?"

"Cecil sold you down the river."

The blood drained from her tanned face, leaving the skin a sickly caramel color. "Cecil wouldn't do that. You're lying, mister."

"I just heard him," I said. "Put a pair of mouse ears on him, and he'd look like a giant rat. Come here and listen if you don't believe me."

Bonnie joined me at the door. I glanced down the hallway at Sally, who stood inside the doorway to a vacant room where Brian was hiding. Cecil was gone, having been taken upstairs. I gave Sally the high sign.

"Listen," I told Bonnie.

"It was Bonnie's idea to grab the kid inside the park," Brian said in Cecil's rough voice. "I told her it was a big mistake, but she always wanted a little girl. She can be mighty demanding when she wants stuff. f.u.c.king-A, sometimes I can't control her. So I just went along, you know what I'm saying? She grabbed the kid and cut her hair and spray-painted her sneakers blue. It was all her idea. I was just along for the ride."

"That's a f.u.c.king lie!" Bonnie screamed.

I shut the door and pointed at the chair. "Sit down."

"Cecil's lying. He talked me into it. You've got to believe me, mister."

"Are those boys your sons?" I asked.

Bonnie backed into the wall. Her hands had balled into fists and she was breathing hard, her conscience cras.h.i.+ng down upon her like a suffocating wall of sand. I took out my pack of gum and put a stick into her hand. She unwrapped the stick and shoved it into her mouth. Her mouth worked the gum hard, and she calmed down. I repeated my question.

"Yeah, they're my kids," she said softly.

"They didn't know what was going on, did they?"

"No, sir."

"How about you?"

"Cecil told me it was a custody thing. He said the little girl's mother wanted her back and was paying Cecil five thousand dollars to s.n.a.t.c.h her inside the Magic Kingdom theme park. Cecil said the mother got screwed in a divorce, and that we'd be doing her a big favor."

"When did Cecil tell you this?"

"This morning. He called me from a motel in Kissimmee, asked me to drive over with my boys. I said sure."

"Did Cecil pay you, Bonnie?"

Shamed by the question, Bonnie looked up at the ceiling. "He was going to give me five hundred dollars. I ain't worked in a while and needed the money to buy clothes for my boys. I thought I was doing the mother a favor. I been divorced. I know what it's like to fight for your kids."

Bonnie started to cry. The tears were left to run their course, her hands pressed against the wall for support. I stepped back and cracked the door. Sally stood in the hallway with Brian. I gave her a thumbs-up. Sally and Brian exchanged jubilant high-fives, and I shut the door.

"Mister, will you answer a question for me?" Bonnie asked.

I already knew what the question was, and simply nodded.

"Am I going away? You know. To prison."

The answer was yes. Her attorney might convince a judge that Bonnie was lied to and manipulated by Cecil, and if the attorney was any good, he'd get the most serious charges against her dropped. But in the end, Bonnie would do hard time.

But I wasn't going to tell Bonnie that. I was not her friend, and was every bit as cunning and deceptive as she was. It was the only way justice could be served.

"It all depends on how cooperative you are," I said.

"I'll do whatever you want," she said.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

"Jack Carpenter, I can't believe you talked me into doing this," Sally scolded me a half hour later.

"Believe it," I replied, my eyes glued to the road.

"But this is wrong. We're breaking the law."

"What law is that?" I asked. "I just want to look inside Cecil Cooper's motel room before the police do. I won't touch anything or remove anything. I just want to see what the guy was up to. How is that breaking the law?"