Chapter 70
CHAPTER
Classes at washington day School formally ended at noon on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
Getting in his Saab, Gary Soneji felt grateful to be leaving the city and heading north before the traffic that would snarl the highways up and down the East Coast in the next twenty-four hours started.
He’d packed last night and put his things in the trunk this morning.
The short academic day meant Soneji had not had a chance to see Cheryl Lynn Wise before the vacation. But that was fine.
If he got too close too soon, he’d risk suspicion, and his interest in the chief of staff’s daughter might swell to uncontrollable obsession.
This was for the best. He had five free days now to not only widen his cover but thicken it to the point he’d be all but invisible to the police.
He drove north on I-95 until he reached an exit he’d circled on his map, near the Maryland-Delaware line. He drove east and then across the border, looking for the address of an abandoned farm he’d found in a real estate listing.
His experience with Bunny had made him realize how fortunate he was to have the cabin in the Pine Barrens. It had also made him aware of his remote property’s rareness and fragility. He could not make it a constant center of his quiet activities.
He had to use it as a frugal man might a treasure.
And Diggs’s grandmother’s place was out of the question. Soneji planned never to set foot on that property again. Which meant he needed a new place, one he could explore and develop before he welcomed dear Cheryl Lynn or whoever it was he decided to snatch.
When he arrived at the farm from the listing, however, he dismissed it as a possibility, given the property’s open nature. He wanted no view of the house or barns from any road or hillside.
Over the next two hours, he drove to two more farms for sale.
The first one, also in Delaware, was another disappointment.
The second was in New Jersey, fifteen miles north of the border.
Instead of heading east toward his place in the Pine Barrens, Soneji went west in search of the elusive, secluded, and abandoned farm of his fantasies.
At first glance, the third property seemed the perfect spot: one hundred and sixty acres, forty of it overgrown CRP fields, none of it tilled in three years. And the farmhouse, barn, and yard were all well shielded from the road.
Driving by the entrance to the property, he got a glimpse of the yellow farmhouse far down a lane flanked on both sides by mature ornamental spruce trees. He also saw a FOR SALE sign with a real estate agent’s picture, name, and number.
That alone made Soneji nervous. When he swung the Saab around and drove past the property again, his instincts were confirmed and then amplified.
A maroon Chevy Blazer came down the road toward him, slowed, and turned into the drive. A magnetic sign advertising the same real estate agent clung to the driver’s-side door.
Soneji considered following the car and asking to see the place, but that would be sloppy. Besides, the agent at the wheel was a big guy. And there was a client in the passenger seat.
Too risky. He went back toward the interstate, telling himself that he had to be patient. He would find the right place. He flat-out knew it.
By the time he reached his home in Wilmington, dusk was falling. Roni greeted him at the door. He swept her up in his arms and tickled and kissed her.
“Daddy home!” she cried and ran into the kitchen. “Mama, Daddy home! Gamma, Daddy home!”
Soneji followed his daughter, chuckling. She really was a ball of energy.
He went inside and found Missy, her sister, Trish, and his mother-in-law, Christiana, sitting at the kitchen table with several large open three-ring binders between them.
Trish had three kids of her own under five and looked like she could use a nap.
As always, Missy’s mother was very polished and put together.
“Trish,” Soneji said. “Get some sleep.”
“In about five years,” Missy’s sister said.
“Christiana,” Soneji said to his mother-in-law. “I love the new hairdo and nails. How are things?”
Christiana smiled at him, but it felt forced. He wondered how much Missy confided in her mother and sister and started to feel as if he were being closely observed. He hated that.
He and Christiana had not gotten off to a good start. But after her husband died and she saw just how much business he was bringing into the Atlantic Heating Company, she’d warmed to him. Somewhat.
“Gary,” his mother-in-law said, nodding. “We are as good as we can be with five weeks to plan a wedding reception.”
“Five weeks?” he said, taken aback. He’d figured the following summer at the earliest.
“Christmas Eve, hon,” Missy said.
“You want to get married on Christmas Eve?”
“Perfect timing,” Trish said. “Everyone’s in a great mood, ready to party.”
“And it’s the only time of year my entire family is guaranteed to be in the area,” Missy said, looking at him hopefully.
“And just as important,” Christiana said, “my brother, Missy’s uncle Ari, has a barn he rents out for events. It’s available on Christmas Eve and he’s agreed to let us have it.”
“It’s decided,” Trish said, nodding.
Very close to the top of all things Soneji most despised was being at the whim of others, being under someone else’s thumb. It was bad when men forced him into things. It was worse when women told him what to do or made decisions about his life.
He felt anger building like lava in his brain and he had to summon every bit of control not to blow his top.
“Christmas Eve it is, then,” Soneji said finally and made himself grin as he picked up his daughter. “We’ll have a grand old time, and Roni will be our flower girl, and Missy will make me the luckiest man alive a second time.”