Bo walked up the stairs to his apartment. He was bone tired. You can’t pull these all-nighters anymore. Nora’s going to read you the riot act. He gingerly put his key in the door and prayed she was still asleep. When he had gone out the previous night he had expected to be home within a couple of hours. As always, when Manning was involved, that proved to be an impossible task. Upon entering his apartment, he found himself checking out the time when he heard a noise behind him.
“Bo Buchanan, how dare you sneak into this house at 5:00 in the morning! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? You leave and say you’re only going to be gone a short while, then nothing!”
“Now, Red, I have a good explanation,” Bo said as he turned to face his irate wife. She stood angrily looking at him in her short light green silk robe, with her reading glasses perched in her auburn hair. He figured she had kept herself awake by doing some work. He knew from experience, she had thought the worst when he hadn’t come home. He walked to her and drew her into his arms. “I’m sorry. Look I’m fine. Let me explain. Once you hear what I have to say you’ll understand.”
Nora let him hold her for a minute and hugged him. He was alive and she was grateful, but he had done this far too many times to just let him wiggle out with an ”I’m sorry”. She pushed away and stared at him hard. “Start explaining. Where have you been and why are you all damp and dirty?”
“I got caught in that downpour we had last night. That call I got last night, that took me out of here, was an anonymous tip that someone was digging up a body at the cemetery. The caller indicated I would find the perpetrator interesting and then hung up. After what happened with Gigi’s grave, I figured I’d better look into it. I’ll give you one guess who we found.”
Nora remembered how upset Bo had been when Rex had been beside himself with grief after Gigi died. She understood now why Bo went out, but his voice had gotten serious, and only one man generated that tone from him. “You’re kidding. Are you saying Todd Manning was digging up a grave?”
Bo nodded, “By the time we got there he had the coffin opened.”
“You had him dead to rights. I hope you didn’t waste any time arresting him,” she saw Bo frown. “You did arrest him, didn’t you?”
“No. You see, that’s when everything got weird. He wasn’t alone. Blair was with him.”
“Oh, now wait a minute, I thought Blair had more sense by now. Was she helping him? Who were they digging up?”
“Victor. He didn’t try to deny anything. I mean, how could he? We caught him standing on top of the coffin. Funny thing was, he claimed he wasn’t guilty of anything more than digging a hole in the ground. I told him he was desecrating a grave and he said Victor wasn’t in the grave, so how could he have desecrated it.”
“Why that sociopath, I can’t wait to get him in the courtroom. He was obviously trying to get rid of some evidence we missed when Victor was killed. But I still don’t understand, you said he was standing on Victor’s coffin. You had all the proof you needed. Why didn’t you arrest him?”
Bo sighed and pulled Nora to the couch. “What I have to tell you right now stays in this room. Manning was right. Victor wasn’t in the grave.”
Nora sat down abruptly, “Do you mean the coffin was empty? Did Victor trick us all?”
Bo ran a hand through his hair and leaned back wearily against the back of the sofa. “That would have been something normal, but that’s not what we found. From the moment I walked into that cemetery, this night has turned into some kind of science fiction horror movie all rolled into one. The coffin wasn’t empty. What we found in there only raised more questions. On top of everything else, Manning declared that his brother is still alive, but that he’s being held hostage somewhere.”
“Bo, this is Todd Manning you’re talking about. Surely you don’t believe him.” Nora was stunned when Bo met her gaze and she realized he believed exactly that. She shook her head. “No, I must be dreaming. There’s no way you would believe him.”
Bo reached over and took her hand. “You’re not dreaming and neither am I. Tonight someone killed the coroner who declared Victor dead. We’re also trying to locate Tomas Delgado. He’s in this up to his ears.”
“But what about Todd and Blair? If you didn’t arrest them, where are they?”
“According to my men, they’re both at the Manning building. We’re keeping an eye on them, don’t worry. There’s a lot more to tell you, but frankly, I’m too tired right now. Come on, honey, there are still a few hours of dark left, take pity on me and I promise I’ll fill you in on the rest of the story in the cold light of morning.” He pushed himself slowly up and off the couch, every one of his muscles protesting. Man, I’m getting old. He extended a hand to his wife, helping her up and together they made their way to bed.
****
Tomas rolled over in his bed as his cell phone woke him. Recognizing the number he answered. “You better have a good reason for calling me at this ungodly hour.”
“We encountered a problem. You need to get here, immediately! There’s a new task for you.”
“What do you mean? What happened, Claude?”
“Victor’s grave was dug up last night. Our man, at the cemetery, got there too late to stop the perpetrators from opening the casket. They found the duplicate.”
”What did he see?”
“Nothing much. He said there were two of them, but he couldn’t see the man’s face who did the digging because he was covered in mud. The second person could have been a woman but with the rain coming down so hard, he couldn’t tell for sure. He didn’t get a chance to find out anymore because the police showed up and he took the opportunity to disappear in the downpour. He didn’t want to get waylaid by them and figured he better report in. As he was slipping away, he heard the Commissioner say something but he couldn’t make it out.
“So you want me to come in. What about the people here who covered Victor’s death?”
“They‘ve already been taken care of. We have to assume the Commissioner will have checked out the remains by now. I want you here, we need to discuss our next options.”
Tomas was already out of bed and throwing things into his backpack. If the police had the replica, it wouldn’t be long before they tied it to him. “I’m out of here. I’ll be at the compound by noon.” He quickly closed the bag and grabbed his papers and money. Dani and Tea were still asleep, and he stopped long enough to write a quick note to Tea.
Sorry Pajarito, but I have to make a trip to Paris concerning my son Baz. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I promise, when I return, to up my investigation into Victor’s murder.
Love
Tomas
He signed Tea’s name on the outside of the note and left it on the entryway table for her to find. With one last look around, he opened the door and found himself face to face with John McBain. Stunned he said nothing.
“Good Morning. Going out of town?” asked John nonchalantly.
“Yes, I just got an urgent call from my son. I need to fly to Paris. Now if you’re here to see Tea, might I suggest you make it a little later in the day, She’s not sleeping too well.”
“Actually, I’m here to see you, and I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to postpone your trip. I need to ask you some questions about the night Victor died. Something new has come to light, and I think you’re just the man who can straighten things out. I need you to come down to the station. It shouldn’t take too long.”
Tomas took a long look at John. It’s early in the morning, if I kill him now, no one would even know he was here. “Of course John, after you.” John turned and started to walk away. Tomas had his weapon halfway out of his pocket when he felt a gun in his back.
“Take it out slowly, any attempt to fire, and you‘ll be dead before you pull the trigger.” Officer Fish nudged his gun against Tomas’ back to prove he meant business.
John turned back around, “Tsk, Tsk, that wasn’t very bright. I thought all CIA assassins were trained to know their surroundings. Something must have really rattled you, for you to get so careless.” He reached and relieved Tomas of his gun making sure not to touch the grip. “Interesting, a nine millimeter. I’m wondering if this is the weapon we’ve been looking for all along,” he looked at Fish as he proceeded to place the gun in an evidence bag. “Cuff him and let’s get him and this down to the station.”
Tomas hadn't said a word the whole time John had talked. Now he just glared as Fish pulled his arms behind his back and bound him. "You won't be able to hold me. My superiors will have me out before lunchtime."
John turned back and stood directly in front of Tomas. “I knew there was something about you that bothered me from the beginning, but I let everything slide when you turned on Victor at the Premier. Tea believes you’ve changed, but you’re still the same cold-blooded assassin who turned over an innocent man to his deranged mother and just walked away. Get him out of here. I’ll be down to the station shortly."
He watched as Fish took Tomas to the car. "Hey. Find out who his last call came from. I'm betting it wasn’t his son." John went back to the front door. He wasn’t looking forward to his next task.
