a bitch!” Zales yelled from inside the vehicle. He slapped the window again. “What did you do to my car?”
“I took control.” Lynch held up his phone. “A custom app I had a friend make for me. Like it?”
Zales frantically tried the door handle again. “I can’t get out of here!”
“You’re fine where you are.”
“I can’t freakin’ breathe!”
Lynch tapped the phone again, and the driver’s side window cracked open. “How’s that?”
“You bastard.” Zales jammed his foot on the brake and repeatedly punched the start button. Nothing.
“Bastard?” Lynch laughed and jerked his thumb toward Kendra. “She’s called me that once or twice. That’s why I prefer to think of it as a term of endearment.”
“It isn’t, trust me,” Kendra said reassuringly. “I feel your pain, Vince.”
“Nice vehicle you have here.” Lynch turned to admire its sleek lines. “The trouble with upscale cars these days is that they’re really computers on wheels. Are you enjoying the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth upgrades? Because that’s what’s letting me into your car’s operating system without even touching it.”
“You’ve made your point. Let me out.”
“Not yet. Listen, the same thing happened to me recently. It was no fun. I lost a Ferrari I loved very much. Just heartbreaking.”
“It’s true,” Kendra said. “We almost died, but of course that didn’t matter to him nearly as much as the loss of that car.”
“I don’t give a shit.” Zales was trying to loosen his collar. “I’m kind of claustrophobic. I’d appreciate it if I can continue this conversation outside.”
Lynch shook his head. “I remembered that phobia from the old days. But I’m afraid you’ve already violated our trust. You’re right where you need to be.”
“Okay. Fine. What do you need to know?”
“You staged a rather spectacular phony death for Justin Hayes a few years ago. Off the Maltese coast. He was a killer and all-around thug for the Cardinelli crime family.”
“Who told you I did that?”
“I have sources. I found you, didn’t I?”
“Okay. Ancient history. I may have helped him start a new life, so what of it?”
“I need to find him.”
“Now? You know guys in that line of work…He may not even be alive.”
“He is,” Kendra said. “He tried to kill me a few nights ago.”
“Damn. Sorry about that.”
“Touching,” Lynch said. “So tell me, do you think he’s still working for the Cardinellis?”
“No way. They were kind of pissed at him. They thought he’d gotten sloppy. They wanted me to stage his death so the authorities would stop looking for him. They were afraid that if he got pinched, he might somehow lead the FBI back to them.”
“Lucky man,” Lynch said. “That wasn’t like the Cardinellis to go to such extremes, especially when their own hides were on the line. Normally in circumstances like that they’d just snuff him out.”
“That’s what I thought. And that’s not a service I provide. But he’d done good work for them and I guess that was part of their severance to him.”
“A mob benefits package. I like it. So where did he go?”
“How the hell should I know? It’s not like I was married to the guy.”
“No, you just staged his death. Tell me, how did you rig the mast through his chest?”
“There was no broken mast in his chest. We piloted the boat into a cargo ship and paid a couple of college-kid tourists to act as witnesses and tell the story to the cops and coroner. I basically paid for their spring break.”
“And you have no clue who Hayes may have gone to work for later?”
“None. Can I get out of here now?”
“I don’t think you’re being entirely forthcoming with me.” Lynch tapped his phone, and the car’s engine roared to life.
Zales’s eyes widened. He grabbed the shifter, but the car wouldn’t engage. “What are you doing?”
“My Tesla-driving friends just love showing off how their car automatically pulls out of their garage and rolls down their driveway without them being in it.” Lynch swiped his finger across the phone screen, and the car suddenly went into reverse. It slowly backed out of the parking space.
“Lynch…!”
“And I have to admit, it’s a pretty neat trick. But do you want to see a neater one?”
Zales beat on the window with his fists. “Come on, Lynch. It’s not funny.”
“A neater trick is if I waited for a truck to roll down the street, and I suddenly backed you out into its path. It wouldn’t even have time to stop.”
“What more do you want from me?” Sweat was beading his forehead. “I told you everything