“You loved her once.”
There was a long pause. Gabe thought he might have hung up. But then Donatti said, “Who says I don’t love her still?”
Gabe took in a deep breath and then let it out. This was a battle he knew he was going to win. “Will you help her? Yes or no?”
“Yes, I’ll go.” No hesitation. “I’m entertaining about a dozen people in my outer office right now. Give me a half hour to get rid of them, gas up the jet, and get a flight plan. If she calls you, get a phone number. Also give her my number.”
“As soon as I know something, I’ll call you.”
“And I’ll tell you this, Gabe. She’d better want my help. I don’t have a good track record with your mother. If I don’t hear from her by the time I get to Los Angeles, I’m turning around and she’ll be your problem.”
“Agreed. Let me give you Mom’s number.”
“I have it. What about your sister? Does she have a phone?”
“She does.” Gabe gave him the number. “Both of them are going to voice mail.”
“Probably they don’t want to be tracked. I’ll figure something out.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank—”
“Yeah, fine. Let me get going on this.” Donatti cut the line and pocketed his cell, running his fingers through his shoulder-length white hair, letting his conflicting emotions battle it out, not knowing what to feel now that the moment was actually here.
For over a decade, he had been formulating his delicious slap of vengeance . . . righteous justice in his mind. He had planted it, nursed it, fed it, watered it, sheltered it from the cold, and given it relief from the heat. He had watched it grow and blossom into something mean and unstoppable. It had consumed his thoughts. How he’d make her pay for what she did. And now that his chance for retribution was so close, so, so very close, all he could feel was the rapid beating of his heart, pounding not with revenge but with excitement.
He really, really wanted her back!
The thought of sex with her even after all these years was making him pant like a dog. He had had at least a thousand fantasies about it—some benign, some dark and cruel—all of them HD vivid in his brain. To see her face again . . . to feel her body. To hear her voice. It was her voice that had haunted him the most. Her voice that had kept him awake at night and dreaming through the days.
The first time she had dumped him was right after high school, after she found out he murdered people for a living. Not his idea of a career, but he had no choice, and at least he was good at what he did. Three years later, when she was at her lowest—desperate and destitute with a child—he had forced her hand, threatening to take Gabe away if she didn’t come back to him. Theirs had been a rocky ten-year relationship. Problems, sure, but he never thought she’d have the guts to leave him.
But she did, abandoning him for a second time after getting pregnant by a doctor who had worked in the same hospital as she did. His bad for not keeping a closer watch. She had managed to escape his homicidal clutches long enough to turn his boiling anger into a constant simmer. He was fully intending to kill her. He had wanted to kill her, not with a gun—too easy and too fast—but with his hands: strangling her, watching the life being sucked out, murdering her face-to-face, eyeball to eyeball.
Trouble was, he didn’t want her dead.
He had finally, finally gotten his shit together, gotten off drugs, weaned himself from cigarettes, cut down on the booze. He exercised and ate a healthy diet. He had reformed while slaving away and had built his own little fiefdom. Lord of the manor, where no one dared to get in his way. He had money, he had sex, he had respect, and, most important, he had the ultimate control over everything in his life.
Now that same everything was about to blow up in his face.
Even though he just knew it would end in disaster, he also knew that he’d take the plunge into the deep end without a second thought, idiot that he was.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me a third time, and someone’s a moronic dumbass.
He flipped his hair out of his eyes, then walked out of his inner office into the fray he was hosting.
Here we go again.
Here we fucking go again!
At six feet four . . . well, maybe now six three and a half, allowing for shrinkage, Decker had always dreaded flying, cramming his oversize body into seats unfit for someone as tall as he was. The flight to Israel was long, and after he arrived, it took him hours to unfold. This time maybe it would be different.
He beamed as he thought of his children chipping in money to buy Rina and him business-class tickets. Such a lucky man. He stowed his carry-on overhead in a space reserved for his seat alone. Then he slid into a chair with a footrest. He played with the buttons, and everything worked. He had a bigger pillow than usual, he had a thicker blanket, he had his own TV and flight attendants offering him juice, water, or champagne.
He could get used to this.
Rina came over. She was seated three rows behind him. “Pretty luxurious.”
“Unbelievable.” Decker sighed. “That was really a surprise.”
“We did good with them young’uns,” Rina said.
“We did,” Decker answered.
“How’s Gabe doing?” Rina asked him. “Any word from his mother?”
“I don’t know, but he did get hold of his dad. Chris agreed to help.”
“Nice, if he doesn’t kill her first.”
“It’s been over ten years.”
“Why do I feel that Chris is the type of person to carry a grudge?”
“And yet he agreed.” Decker shrugged. “He must feel something other than anger toward her to put himself out like that.”
“With him, you never know.” When Decker’s phone buzzed, Rina said, “Turn that off. We’re on vacation.”
“It’s Tyler.”
“It’s eleven at night. He can’t miss you that much.”
“Yeah, this isn’t good.”
“Don’t answer it.”
Decker ignored her and clicked in the call. “What’s going on?”
“Someone found a body earlier in the evening.”
“Where?”
“In the woods about three miles from the diner where Bertram Lanz disappeared. A couple who was camping out decided on a sunset walk with their pooch. The dog started digging, exposing a face and a hand. It’s our jurisdiction.”
“Where are you now?”
“I just left the scene to call you. No bars up there. I’m going back as soon as I hang up.”
Decker’s heart sank. “You need me in Greenbury?”
“Peter!” Rina said.
“No, no. We’re fine,” McAdams insisted. “Coroner should be here momentarily. Kevin cordoned off the area, and we have someone watching the space overnight. We’ll do all the forensics tomorrow morning. I’ll keep you posted, but I thought you should know.”
The flight attendant started making announcements. Decker stuck his finger in his ear and said, “You sure you’re okay?”
“We’re fine, boss. Enjoy your time overseas.”
Right, he thought to himself. “Any first thoughts about the body?”