Chapter 16
Judd throws on his T-shirt, underwear, and jeans. He then opens the drawer of his nightstand, removes a pistol, and gets out of bed. He calls out through the open bedroom door, “I’m armed. If you’re in this house I advise you to get out. Now.”
“Judd,” says Mei. “What’s happening?”
Judd doesn’t seem to hear her. He peeks out the bedroom and into the hallway.
He stops to listen and hears nothing. Two hands on the pistol, he crouches into the hallway and starts toward the living room.
Three steps, then he stops to listen again.
The house is dead quiet. Two more steps and then he sees it.
The front door’s sidelight window is shattered. Broken glass litters the small foyer, along with a softball-sized rock that has an envelope taped to it. Judd returns to the bedroom.
“Is everything okay?” says Mei.
“Someone threw a rock through a window. I don’t think there’s anyone in the house, but I’m going to make sure.” He grabs a pair of running shoes from the closet, sits on the bed, and puts them on. “Stay here until I give you the all clear.”
It takes five minutes for Judd to make sure no intruders are in the house, then he calls for Mei to come out with shoes on and lights off.
The next thing Judd does is retrieve some cardboard from the garage, which he cuts to size and tapes over the frame of the former window using only the light from the front porch lamp.
Turning on an interior light would attract flying insects into the house.
When he’s done sealing the window, he gets a broom and dustpan and sweeps up the broken glass.
Then he gets a pair of rubber gloves from under the kitchen sink, picks up the rock, and carries it to the kitchen table.
“We might be able to pull fingerprints off the envelope or the tape used to secure it to the rock,” says Judd.
Mei boils water for tea. “Will you be able to read what’s inside?”
“I think so,” says Judd. “Just want to be careful removing the envelope.”
Judd pulls a paring knife from the knife block and uses it to wedge the tape off the rock.
He then flips over the envelope, exposing the tape’s sticky side and sticks Post-its to it so the envelope doesn’t stick to anything else.
The envelope is also sealed by tape. Judd removes it, careful not to tear it, and sticks that piece onto another Post-it.
He then lifts the envelope and peers inside.
“What’s wrong?” says Mei. “Why are you making that face?”
Clay’s cell phone rings on his nightstand.
It’s an old habit, leaving his ringer on at night.
He started doing so while on the road with his team when Braedon was home with the nanny.
He looks at the screen. It’s 11:57 PM, and the caller ID says JUDD HAWKINS.
In Braedon’s phone, Clay is listed as Dad. Clay picks up his phone.
“Hey,” he says.
“Can you come over?”
“Anything new with Teddy?”
“Just please get over here. I’ll explain then.”
“Be there in fifteen,” says Clay.
Clay gets dressed, brushes his teeth, and softly knocks on Braedon’s bedroom door. When he gets no response, he cracks the door open, peers inside, and sees nothing but dark. “Brae,” whispers Clay. “Brae, sorry to wake you up.”
“Huh…” says Braedon.
Clay opens the door and a wedge of light from the hall shines across Braedon’s bedroom floor and wall. “Grandpa just called. He wants me to come over. I don’t know why yet, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Uncle Teddy. You want to come with me or stay here?”
“Stay here,” says Braedon, his voice dry and raspy.
“Okay. I’m going to lock up behind me. You need anything, just call.”
When Clay gets there, Mei has already left.
She has to be at work at the Mayo Clinic at seven AM and didn’t feel she could get back to sleep anytime soon.
Better to use the next half hour for travel time.
Clay finds his father sitting at the kitchen table with a rock, an envelope, and a letter. He’s wearing rubber gloves.
“This arrived through my window about forty-five minutes ago,” says Judd. He lifts the letter from the table and then looks at what is underneath it.
Clay’s eyes follow Judd’s. “Is that Teddy’s earring?”
“Yep. And read this. But put on these gloves first.” Judd hands Clay an extra set of nitrile gloves.
Clay takes the gloves from his father and snaps them on like he’s done it a hundred times before. He then takes the letter. It appears to have been printed on an inkjet printer.
IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE TEDDY HAWKINS ALIVE AGAIN, PUT $45,000 IN A BEAR CANISTER AND SEAL IT TIGHT.
DROP IT IN THE ROOT RIVER AT MOEN’S brIDGE AT 12:01 A.M. TUESDAY MORNING.
DO NOT NOTIFY THE POLICE. DO NOT GO DOWNSTREAM FROM MOEN’S brIDGE OR STATION ANYONE DOWNSTREAM.
IF YOU DO EITHER, TEDDY WILL DIE. ONCE THE MONEY IS RECEIVED, YOU WILL GET FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE.
Clay sighs and returns the letter to Judd.
“What do you make of it?” says Judd.
“First of all,” says Clay, “are we sure that’s Teddy’s earring? A small gold ring is not exactly one of a kind.”
“Pretty sure,” says Judd. He pushes the earring toward Clay with a gloved hand.
“See the backing thing that goes behind the ear? Teddy lost his in 1980. He took it off to clean the earring and misplaced that clasp thing. Your mother had an extra one laying around, but it didn’t match.
The earring is gold. The back thing she had was pink.
Teddy said he didn’t care—no one would see it anyway.
So he took it and has used it ever since.
Maybe someone else out there knows that, but I doubt it.
Teddy hardly ever took off that earring, and as far as I know, never did so in public. ”
Clay folds his arms over his chest. “So whoever threw this rock through your window plans on camping out somewhere downstream of Moen’s Bridge with a fishing net or something like that to haul it in.
Water’s still high from spring runoff. One of those bear canisters could make it all the way to the Mississippi River.
That’s over fifty miles of stream we’d have to cover. Impossible.”
“Or I could just pay it,” says Judd.
“You can’t just pay it,” says Clay. “We’re not even sure Teddy’s alive. We need some kind of proof.”
“We have the earring.”
“The earring, if it is Teddy’s, does not prove he’s alive. We need to talk to him on the phone or see a video of him or something.”
Judd shakes his head. “You’ve been watching too many cop shows. Old cop shows. You can’t make a phone call or send a video without leaving yourself vulnerable to being traced. Only an idiot wouldn’t know that.”
“Thank you,” says Clay. “Thanks very much. I know how modern technology works. But there are still camcorders and memory cards and VPNs and…” Clay wonders why Judd asked him to come over if he’s just going to belittle all of Clay’s ideas.
Same old Judd, he guesses. “I’m just saying forty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money to toss into a river if you’re not sure Teddy’s alive. ”
“I’ve been saving my pennies for decades,” says Judd. “You got a full scholarship to Dorset-Cornwall. No tuition at West Point. House was paid off a long time ago. I can risk losing forty-five grand. I’ll be just fine without it.”
Clay shakes his head, almost to himself.
“What?” says Judd.
“Forty-five thousand is an odd number. Why not fifty?”
“Maybe whoever has Teddy thinks I don’t have fifty. Maybe Teddy told them I might only be good for forty-five.”
“Does Teddy know your finances?” says Clay.
Judd shakes his head. “We don’t discuss things like that in Riverwood.”
“You don’t discuss money? With your own brother? With your twin brother?”
“Nope,” says Judd. “Decent people don’t.”
Clay pulls up a chair and sits across the table from his father. The table and chairs are of the same vintage as Judd’s bedroom furniture. All inherited from Clay’s great-grandparents on the Hawkins side.
“Listen,” says Judd, “unless the kidnapper or kidnappers contact me again, I have no way of asking for proof of Teddy’s life.
And if there’s one thing I know from forty years of law enforcement, it’s that criminals are generally stupid.
Scared criminals are even more stupid. They do stupid things.
They’ve given me a simple set of instructions.
My gut says follow them and that’ll give me the best chance of seeing my brother again.
Otherwise, I’m just putting Teddy’s life in more danger. ”
Clay wants to say if Teddy even has a life anymore but the resulting argument would be pointless.
If Judd’s socked away half a million dollars over the years and he wants to blow forty-five thousand of it on a Hail Mary to save Teddy, that’s his business.
He decides to try another tactic. “Can we at least bring the police in on this?”
“Why?” says Judd.
“Maybe the kidnapper has tried something like this before. Maybe they’ve seen a similar ransom note. Maybe—”
“No,” says Judd. “I’m leaving Mike and Andy and Zoey out of this.
Their involvement could lead to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension sticking their nose in.
Or worse, the FBI. I say let’s just get Teddy back.
If we’re going to catch whoever took him, we can work on that after he’s safe at home.
Teddy must know something that can help us.
Something about the kidnapper. The sound of his voice.
A scent. Maybe even a location. I’m fine risking the forty-five grand. Teddy’s safety is my main concern.”
“Okay,” says Clay. “If your mind is made up. Think you can get forty-five thousand in cash tomorrow?”
“Technically, it is tomorrow. And I don’t see why not,” says Judd. “Every penny I have is at F&M Community Bank.”
“Your retirement savings aren’t with a brokerage service?” says Clay.
“Hell no. Janice down at F&M takes care of all that. Sends me statements every month. Some money is in mutual funds. Some is in bonds. But the bulk of it is in cash in case an emergency comes up. And I’d call this an emergency.”
“But banks don’t have that much cash on hand.”
“I know that,” says Judd, “but I’ll call Janice first thing. Before the armored truck comes. Plus there are half a dozen other branches in our corner of the state. Janice can pull the cash together by the end of the day for a lifelong customer like me.”
Clay looks into his father’s eyes and sees there’s no room for negotiation.
He gets up, goes to the kitchen, and fills a glass with water from the tap.
He returns to the table and says, “Criminals might be stupid, but whoever wrote that note isn’t an idiot.
They were very careful not to give any hints about their identity.
They spelled received correctly. They used the word further correctly.
And the plan is smart. It’s pretty easy to station a lookout on a fixed location, but over fifty miles of river?
Almost impossible to cover that without being detected. ”
“Yep,” says Judd. “That’s why I want to keep this between us.
I don’t even want to tell Deb. She’ll get her hopes up.
And you never know what could happen in a situation like this.
We don’t know what kind of conditions Teddy’s being held in.
We don’t know how he’s handling the stress.
He and I are not young men. The physical demands could take a toll on him.
I don’t want to say anything to Deb except, Here’s your husband. ”
Clay sips his water, sets down the glass, and says, “Are you at least going to get this to the crime lab? See if they can find any prints on the rock, tape, or paper? Maybe ID the printer ink used?”
“What do you like better, CSI or Law & Order?”
“Am. I. Wrong?”
“Listen,” says Judd. “Mike and Andy are my guys. They’re good cops.
But I can’t take the chance that they’ll talk.
Even if it’s just in their sleep. I don’t want anyone else knowing about dropping that money into the river.
I don’t want anyone trying to be a hero.
Or a thief. Besides, the forensic lab for Fillmore County is up in Rochester.
They’re always backed up. Wouldn’t get any results before midnight anyway. ”
Clay leans back in his chair and says, “Why did you call me over here in the middle of the night if you were just going to shoot down all my ideas?”
“No one else I can trust,” says Judd.
“Out of all the people in town, you trust some soccer player? How is that possible?”
“Yep. Some soccer player who’s blood. Some soccer player who loves Teddy as much as I do.”
Clay can’t argue with that. “All right,” he says. “Do you want my opinion on this?”
“I bet I already know what it is,” says Judd. “You think Teddy faked his own kidnapping to milk me for forty-five grand.”
Clay half laughs. He can’t believe his father guessed correctly.
He shakes his head and says, “Maybe Teddy got himself in a jam. I’m not saying it’s a strong possibility.
But you should dust the rock, the earring, and the note for prints and compare what we find to Teddy’s fingerprints, which are all over his and Deb’s place.
If we find Teddy’s prints on this stuff, we’ll have to face the likelihood that Teddy’s behind this.
If we find someone else’s prints, even if we can’t identify them, we’ll know odds are that this is legit. ”
Judd just stares at Clay and doesn’t say a word.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” says Clay.
“That’s a good idea,” says Judd.
“Is it hard to believe I have a good idea?”
“Not if it’s about kicking a ball into a net. But I didn’t expect a good idea about investigating a crime.”
“Well,” says Clay. “I do watch TV.”
Judd almost smiles. He stands, walks to a kitchen cabinet, and pulls down a bottle of Canadian Club. He brings that and two small glasses to the table and eyeball-pours two ounces for Clay and two for himself.
Judd lifts his glass. Clay hesitates, but does the same.
Judd reaches across the table and clinks Clay’s glass.
“I don’t want to consider the possibility that Teddy’s behind his own kidnapping, but you’re right.
I’ll dust for prints in the morning. Compare them to Teddy’s.
Now drink up. We need something to quiet our brains so we can get some sleep. Big day ahead.”
Clay sips his whiskey. What the hell is happening here? he thinks. What in the bloody hell?