Chapter 7
The restaurant was one of those small, unobtrusive spots that boasted of excellent service and employees who could keep their mouths shut. It was on those two things that El Torro Blanco had built its reputation for catering to those people who wanted someplace where they could dine occasionally without having to constantly worry that they were going to be bothered and/or recognized. The booths were separated, bathed in so little light as to be called no light at all.
Coming in from the glaring afternoon sun, Linda was so plunged into the apparently absolute blackness that she followed the maitre d' mainly by instinct. She was right on top of the booth containing Talbot McKnight before she saw either the booth or the man sitting in it.
"Your eyes will adjust in a moment, Miss . . . "
"Ralston," Linda filled in for Talbot.
"Yes.. . Miss Ralston," Talbot said, having known her name all along. He had merely been testing to see if the woman had made some kind of monstrous faux pas over the telephone when she had correctly identified herself. Talbot had, after the call, immediately had Linda Ralston checked out. He had been exceedingly surprised to find that such a woman did exist. A picture, supplied by Talbot's people-God only knowing where they had so quickly managed to get it-did indeed show that this woman now opposite him was Linda Ralston, albeit a decidedly older one than the photograph had portrayed.
Talbot eyed his companion carefully, surprised that she certainly didn't look the part of a coal miner's daughter or a coal miner's wife-the latter role which she had apparently played twice. She had even had the good sense to wear a simple black dress which was nothing like the hausfrau day dress Talbot had been expecting. As a matter-of-fact, after Talbot had chosen this restaurant as their meeting place, he had been a bit worried that maybe it would turn out to be a might too class-y for the woman who was scheduled to meet him. He was pleased to see that he had been wrong on that count.
While Linda had obviously had less than an easy time of it during the course of her life, she had nothing that a few sessions of plastic surgery wouldn't take care of. Talbot wondered if that was something Linda had in mind to do with a bit of the money she obviously had hopes of extorting from him.
"I've taken the liberty of ordering us both martinis," Talbot said, his eyes-still more adjusted to the darkness than were Linda's-remaining focused on the woman. "If you'd rather have something a little stronger, that can easily be arranged."
"No, martinis are fine."
Talbot watched Linda glancing nervously around the room. And, the woman had every reason in the world to be nervous. Kidnapping was a serious offense. Talbot might very well have brought along the police. As a matter-of-fact, he had originally thought that Linda's allowing him to pick the spot of their meeting had been another inept blunder by a novice, like the giving of her real name. Talbot, though, suddenly wasn't quite so sure anymore. If Linda had been honest on all those points, then maybe she was who she really said she was: someone who truly wanted to help Talbot get his daughter back safe and unharmed.
"You know, Miss Ralston, my lawyer said I should have never agreed to this meeting," Talbot said, watching to make sure that the drinks didn't arrive at the table in the middle of any private conversation.
"I told you explicitly not to tell.. . "
"The police," Talbot said in interruption. "It would have only caused more talk if Talbot McKnight had simply disappeared from view without telling anybody, especially if it got out his daughter was missing."
"But you didn't tell the police?" Linda asked nervously.
"I'm hoping that my not having done so doesn't turn out to be a big mistake. I.. . " Talbot stopped, raising a hand for temporary silence.
A waiter, so quiet he startled Linda when he put her drink on the table, had appeared suddenly out of nowhere. Just as suddenly, his task completed, he was gone.
"I'm sincerely hoping that you've come prepared to be equally honest and truthful with me," Talbot said. "You said you know where my daughter is being held captive?"
"Yes."
"But you haven't yet told me how much you think your information is worth."
"I'd gladly give it to you free of charge if I thought my life would be worth a plug nickel after you or the police turned up suddenly to rescue your daughter,"
Linda said. It was no problem acting nervous. She was nervous. "But I've at least got to get enough money out of this so that I can move somewhere else and get a new start. The Union has a long arm."
'The Miners' Union?" Talbot asked curiously. He had talked already with Charles Jacobs, the Union boss. He had known Charles for years; and, while it was only natural that their positions brought them continually into vehement face-to-face confrontations, Talbot had always known Charles to be as honest a man as the Union position allowed him to be. Talbot knew that power corrupted; but, when Charles had told him straight to his face that the Union had nothing whatsoever to do with Susie's kidnapping, Talbot had believed him.
"Who else would want your daughter as a bargaining tool?" Linda asked, sipping her drink and appreciating the strong taste of the gin as it burned its way down to her stomach.
"Charles Jacobs-you do know Charles Jacobs?-says the Union isn't responsible. And, except for conjecture and your say so-the, latter which has me wondering about your information source-I've no real proof to verify Union involvement."
"If the kidnappers aren't Union-connected, then why would their demands call for you to concede to all the Union demands and settle the strike immediately?"
"If you have seen such demands, you have seen more than I have," Talbot said, fingering the martini glass-but not taking a drink from it. "All I've gotten is a short note telling me that Susie has been kidnapped and to stand by for further instructions without notifying the police."
"You're scheduled to receive their more detailed demands later today," Linda said, feeling a bit more confident now that her drink was almost gone.
"You seem exceptionally well informed on the matter," Talbot said, taking his olive and its toothpick from his glass and eating the former.
'They trust me," Linda said. "If they knew I was here now, they'd kill me. If they ever find out I was the one who betrayed them, even after you have your daughter back safely, they, or their friends, would hurt me bad. That reason-and only that reason-is why I'm forced to make an exchange of information for cash in this matter."
"Just how much cash are we talking about, Miss Ralston?" Talbot asked. He knew Linda would soon be bringing the conversation back to the money-and she had.
"I don't really know," Linda said, acting as if she really hadn't given the matter long hours of thought. "I was thinking that maybe you would be the best one to come up with a suggested figure."
"Me?" Talbot asked curiously. The woman certainly had a strange way of going about her extortion plan. Or, was it merely all a clever charade to make her appear as if she-like Talbot's daughter-was really nothing more than a victim of the particular circumstances?
"How much is your daughter worth to you, back safe and sound?" Linda asked. She finished off the last of her drink and wondered what the odds were in favor of her getting another one. Almost simultaneous with those thoughts, she decided she needed a clear head and even the one martini had probably been one too many.
Talbot looked at Linda with even greater respect for her having gotten him in a position of having to place a dollar value on his daughter's life. Too high a price, and he was only robbing his own bankroll. Too low, and he would look as if his daughter really didn't mean much to him after all.
"I would, of course, be willing to part with all I have to get Susie back safely," Talbot said, rushing on before Linda could assume he was actually prepared to do just that. "However, we must be practical. I'm sure you, out to do a good deed, certainly wouldn't expect me to have to file bankruptcy because of it. And any huge sums of cash are almost impossible to come up with on such short notice. And, I am assuming that we're not talking about weeks and months here. After all, every day my daughter is under the adverse conditions she is now under is obviously going to be detrimentally and physically-to her health. I am, by the way, assuming that my daughter is safe and has been harmed in . . . NO . . . way."
"You mean, you hope she hasn't been sexually molested?" Linda asked, thanking her lucky stars she could answer truthfully that Susie hadn't been raped.
"Exactly. I'm afraid if she has been harmed in that or any other way, I would have very little alternative but to bring the police in on the matter."
"No, she hasn't been raped. I personally vouch for that."
"I can have her examined by a physician when she is safe," Talbot said, rolling his martini glass between his open palms. "If I find you've been lying, it will be an easy matter to trace you. And what I could have done to you would make the Union boys' vengeance look like mere child's play."
"Your daughter is perfectly safe," Linda said, feeling the chills racing up and down her spine.
"Then, what would you say to twenty-five thousand? Cash. Any time after tomorrow morning when the banks open for business."
Linda bit her lower lip. Twenty-five thousand was an awful lot; but, she had really been hoping for more. After all, kidnappers nowadays demanded millions and got them. However, after they got the money, they were branded fugitives for life. If Linda played her cards right, she could take this money and live free and clear, no one to hassle her.
"I'm afraid I'm a little embarrassed," Linda said, deciding to try and up the ante if she could. If she couldn't, then twenty-five thousand would simply have to do. "My situation makes it my moral responsibility not to ask for more than I need. But, as I've already told you, I have to make a completely new start on what you give me, and . . . "
"Does fifty thousand sound better?" Talbot asked. He could almost see Linda eyes light up with greed. Still, even fifty thousand was peanuts to what Talbot had been expecting to have to put out.
"Yes, that does sound quite fair," Linda said. Talbot had upped his offer so quickly, Linda was really tempted to get him to go even higher. But, she decided not to. It was imperative for her later enjoyment of the money that Talbot think she was no way involved in the kidnapping itself. "There is, though, one other little matter."
"Ah?" Talbot said, knowing he wasn't going to get off quite as easily as he had been led to believe up until this moment.
"If the kidnappers are taken, and if you should decide to hand them over to the police instead of-ah-handling the matter yourself, they're liable to try and implicate me in this whole nasty affair."
"And you'd like me to assure you immunity from any prosecution?"
'They would be lying, of course; but, they're very vindictive people. If they even had the vaguest notion that I had betrayed them, they'd implicate me just to get back at me."
"If that's your second and last request, then I see no problem," Talbot said, breathing a secret sigh of relief. He had been expecting something much worse.
"I have your word on that?"
"If I get my daughter back safely for the fifty-thousand dollars, without other demands cropping up suddenly along the way that you haven't yet told me about, then yes you have my word."
"Shall we meet again tomorrow afternoon, say around six? You did say there would be no problem in getting the money by then?"
"You couldn't tell me where my daughter is now and let me pay you tomorrow?" Talbot asked slyly.
But Linda was hardly stupid enough to rise for that bait. As a matter-of-fact, she didn't even deign answer it at all. She merely scooted out of the booth and turned back to Talbot who had remained seated.
'Tomorrow then?" Linda asked, hardly believing that she was successfully going to pull this all off yet.
"Yes, at six," Talbot said. He watched Linda head for the door. He motioned to the waiter to bring him another drink, draining the martini glass in front of him.
Linda exited through the revolving doors, turned right, and headed toward the lot where she had parked her car. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She could feel the thump, thump, thump of a vein in her forehead. Her skin was cold and clammy; yet, she felt rivulets of sweat running beneath her arms and within the cleavage separating her full-blown breasts.
Fifty-thousand dollars. All hers! Free and clear. And, she would get so far away with it that neither Chris nor Ken would ever be able to find her-even when they both got out of jail. If they ewer got as far as jail; since, Linda had no doubts but that Talbot's money could buy him more permanent vengeance on Chris and Ken than a jail sentence that had a chance of parole offered. And, Linda could only wish that Talbot would opt for the latter alternative. It would certainly have solved the last of Linda's problems, sewing everything up in a nice little bow.
Linda had been so engrossed in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed the car that had moved over to the curb and was moving up fast behind her. There was no missing, though, the man who suddenly stepped out in front of her and showed her the gun he had in his pocket.
"Get into the car, Miss Ralston, and nobody will get hurt."
The car pulled up beside them, stopped; and, the back door came open.
"The bastard, McKnight!" Linda exclaimed vindictively.
"I wouldn't blame him," the man with the gun said, crawling in beside Linda and pulling the door shut behind him. "It's Charles Jacobs who wants to see you."
Oh, my God; and, what did the Miners' Union boss want with her?