“I’m not really sure.” She was walking toward Jessie. “Just away from here.”
* * *
“You’re too quiet.” Jessie glanced at Kendra’s face when they were almost back to her house. “You haven’t spoken more than two sentences since we got on the road. No one is blaming us. We did the best we could.”
“That’s what Kelland said. It wasn’t good enough.”
“And there was no way you could have kept that promise to Adrian. So stop blaming yourself. If you want to blame anyone, I’m here and I’m the one who was forcing Adrian into going to the FBI.”
“Which is what you should have done,” she said wearily. “And I realize that everything you said about what Adrian did was true. I was angry with him, too. But for that little while, I thought we could turn it around. I thought that maybe all this horror surrounding Dee could be erased. That if I gave him my word, Adrian would miraculously remember how much he cared about Dee and do whatever he could to save her. I wanted that so much, Jessie.”
“I know you did,” Jessie said gently. “But miracles are few and far between.”
“And those people who took Dee are damn smart. Look how they found Adrian and twisted his life to suit their purpose. Nothing we could do to stop that from happening. They seem to know what they’re doing every minute and plug up every hole we find.”
“We’ll find others. Tomorrow we’ll go down to the FBI office and make our statements, and Kelland might already have a breakthrough.”
Kendra nodded. “Lord, I hope he does. But those bastards sure aren’t in any hurry. They have to see we’re pulling out all the stops to find them. Why wouldn’t they want to negotiate quickly so that they could get away with the loot?”
“Maybe they will after what happened today. We didn’t make it easy for them.” They’d reached her house, and she pulled into the driveway and turned off the FBI van. She added grimly, “Until then all we can do is to keep on searching and hope for a break that will stir them to move their asses.”
* * *
Next Day
9:45 A.M.
Kendra’s phone rang just as she and Jessie were leaving the house to go to the FBI field office.
“Have you left yet or are you near a TV?” Kelland asked when she picked up.
“We were walking out the door.” She tensed. “Why? Something to do with Dee? Is it bad?”
“It depends on how you look at it. As far as I’m concerned, it might be a nightmare. Hell, but I’m probably scaring you. It’s about Dee, but it’s not about her being hurt or killed. Just turn on the TV and see what’s all over the news. I’ll talk to you later about what it might mean to the case.” He cut the connection.
“TV news,” she said over her shoulder to Jessie as she ran over to the set and grabbed the remote. “Something about Dee.”
“Of course I’m sincere,” a good-looking young man who looked to be somewhere in his twenties was saying to the group of reporters and TV journalists surrounding him. Kendra saw the name NOAH CALDERON—SILICON VALLEY below the shot. “Why would I have called you all here to my headquarters if I didn’t want to spread the word so that I could bring my good friend Delilah safely back home?”
He was staring directly into the cameras. “I’ve been in touch with law enforcement, and I’m worried that they don’t seem to have any clues. I thought it might be better to go to the people who love her most to see what they can do to help her. That’s why I’m offering five million dollars to anyone who can secure the safe return of Delilah Winter. I’m also offering the services of my own company for the search.”
His expression was sober, but his voice was intent and very persuasive as he said softly, “Come on, all of you out there, I’m offering you a lot of money. But what I’m really offering you is the opportunity to save Delilah whose music has meant so much to all of us over the years. Who could resist that? My phone lines will be staffed twenty-four hours a day. Now let me hear from you.”
Kendra was aware that Jessie was muttering a curse as the rest of the interview was drowned by the journalists’ onslaught of questions. She pressed the MUTE button. “You’re not pleased. Neither was Kelland. Why not?” She frowned. “Noah Calderon…I’ve heard of him.”
“Of course you have. Everyone’s heard of Calderon.” Jessie made a face. “Or maybe not you. You may be the only one on the planet who isn’t involved with social networking.”
“I don’t have the time.” She looked back at the face of the man on the screen. “But I’ve heard he’s some kind of billionaire, isn’t he?”
“He made his first billion at the age of twenty-one creating Hookup, which is still the most popular dating site in the world. He followed up with Friendz, the social network now used by a fifth of the world’s population including almost everyone you’ve ever known.”
“He seems very appealing. Why did he make you so angry?”
“Because he could be getting set to cause us a big headache. Look, Calderon can be appealing, and that little speech he gave, coupled with the millions he’s tossing out, will make everyone want to run out and save Dee.”
“And that’s what they should be wanting to do. Even if they don’t find her, this might be the way we get those kidnappers’ attention.”
“Possibly. But when you turn hundreds or thousands of detectives and wannabe investigators from all over the world loose on a single case with that much money and notoriety involved, they’ll get in the way. From accidentally destroying evidence to interfering with a ransom delivery, it will increase the threat. I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t think about that.” But Kendra could see the difficulties now. “Could you explain to Calderon and get him to cancel the reward?”
“Not a chance. He’s probably liking the idea of being a hero who saves the day. He’s made his decision and he won’t back down. Noah Calderon believes he’s smarter and knows better than almost anyone who walks the earth. Why else would he be a billionaire with the whole world fawning over him?”
“But he’s a friend of Dee’s?”
“They were an item a few years ago. They were both superstars in their own fields, but evidently there wasn’t much else there to hold them together. They came from completely different backgrounds, and that probably initially attracted them to each other.” She shrugged. “Dee spent most of her childhood in a mobile home or on a TV soundstage. Noah was a trust-fund baby whose parents traveled the world and left him in the hands of servants most of the time. He went to school in England for a few years and then quit when his website took off. The only thing they had in common was the fact that they barely knew their parents and were both aware that’s the way their parents wanted it.”
“That could be a strong bond.”
Jessie nodded. “Evidently not strong enough. But Dee told me when they broke up it was amicable, and he was dating some Parisian supermodel two weeks later. He even still sends flowers to Dee’s concerts.”