Why not use the one in the room behind the security console? The one Ned said he was using that morning?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’ll tell you. Because the microwave in the lobby is broken. I bet if we ask the day porter he’ll tell us the same thing. That it’s been broken for a while.”
“So are you saying fat, stupid Ned planned all this and killed Diane?”
“He’s fat, but I’m not sure how stupid he is. And I don’t think he did any of this alone. I think he looked the other way when the Captain sneaked in the building, because he was told to.”
“Mace, we need to go to your sister and tell her all of this. I’ll meet you there.”
“And tell her what? A bunch of speculation? Because that’s all it is. We don’t have solid proof of anything.”
“So what do we do?”
“You prepare for your hearing tomorrow. I’m going to Newark. We say nothing. But we keep an eye on old Ned and he might just lead us to where we need to go.”
“I don’t want you getting your neck crushed by that guy.”
“I’d hear him coming from a mile away just by the fat sloshing.”
“Okay, but will you get back here please? At least then I’ll know you’re safe.”
“Oh, Roy, you really do care,” she said sarcastically.
“If anything happens to you, your sister will blame me. And I’d rather be dead.”
She clicked off and walked quickly over to the exit door. She closed it behind her and was turning to walk down the stairs when something hard slammed into her head.
As she hit the floor already unconscious, Ned stood over her. While he was still heavyset, he didn’t appear to be as fat as before. He was dressed all in black, was wearing gloves, and moved nimbly as he picked the woman up and slung her over his shoulder. He reentered the construction site and punched in a number on his cell phone.
The voice answered.
Ned said, “Got the bird. On the fourth.”
Jarvis Burns sat back in his armchair and put aside the file he was reading.
“Acknowledged,” he said.
“Orders?”
“Unchanged. Proceed. Copycat.”
“Roger that.”
Ned clicked off and carried Mace over to the refrigerator. He searched her and found her phone, which he tossed to the side. He cleared out all the food and shelves, wedged her inside, closed the door, and wrapped the chain around it. Then he inserted a padlock in the chain links and smacked it closed. He tried to pull the door open, but it barely budged a centimeter. A moment later he was hustling down the stairs to the lobby.
In his home on Capitol Hill, Burns picked up the file once more. “I gave you another chance, Mace. Too bad you didn’t take it.”
As he turned the pages he put Mace Perry completely out of his mind.
CHAPTER 99
WHEN MACE came to she felt like she was going to throw up. As she fought the nausea she wondered why she was having trouble breathing. She reached a hand up and touched the large knot on her head. She could feel the clotted blood there. Someone had really whacked her. She started to shiver. It was cold.
Where the hell am I?
She started to get up and then quickly realized she was in a confined space. A very cold confined space.
“Oh shit!”
She felt around in the total darkness, her hands bumping into the smooth frigid surfaces. She scrambled in her pocket, found her penlight, and turned it on. As soon as the illumination confirmed where she was, Mace groaned. She pushed hard against the door with her shoulder. It barely budged. She knew why. The chain. Just like Diane. Only she was already dead.
And I will be very soon unless I get the hell out of here.
She reached down and unbuckled the belt that she’d gotten from Binder’s weapons shop. It had a very special clasp to it. A few seconds later she’d pulled the four-inch knife free from its holder hidden in the elongated metal buckle. She angled her body around and slipped the blade in the slit where the door met the frame of the appliance. There was a molded plastic shelf unit built into the door and the supporting frame for this was right in her way. Yet she managed to work around it and finally reached the flex strip that created a vacuum seal when the door was closed. She inserted the blade in the slit between the two strips and maneuvered it around.