“I should tell you I was notified that none of the ransom drops we made yesterday were picked up.”
“Which means there’s no question they were a decoy.”
She nodded. “If we hadn’t figured it out yesterday, this would clinch it.” She hesitated. “I should also tell you RMM plans to retrieve the ransom packages today...assuming they’re still there.”
“Assuming? I thought you said they weren’t picked up.”
“The package at the Peak is still there. The one at the museum wasn’t picked up by the time it closed, and someone from RMM will be there as soon as the museum opens today, but...” She shrugged her shoulders. “Could a guard or a cleaning person have found and kept it? That’s possible. We won’t know until the museum opens.”
Mei-li balled up the paper wrapper from the breakfast sandwich she’d just finished and placed it in the bag. “As for the package left at the Tian Tan Buddha, they close that exhibit nightly, and the ransom hadn’t been picked up by closing time. But again, a guard or cleaning crew could have found it even though it was tucked away, out of sight. RMM operatives have been watching since last night, and they don’t think the bag was removed. But...”
“But it might have been.”
“Yes. The last package, the one we left by the harbor, was still there as of six this morning. If the kidnappers were going to retrieve any of the ransom, they would have done so by now. They wouldn’t risk having someone else find the money. So they never intended to retrieve it, they just wanted you occupied. RMM will retrieve the four ransom packages if they can and return the money to you.”
“You think I care about recovering the money?” Dirk shook his head. “I know I told you I’m frugal, but I honestly don’t care about that money—all I want is my daughters. You tell your contact with RMM to keep it. Use it to pay for everything they’ve done so far, and everything they’re going to do to help me rescue Linden and Laurel.”
Mei-li’s smile warmed him. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. He knew what she was thinking, knew she approved his decision about yesterday’s ransom.
When Dirk was finished, she gathered up all the trash and carried it into the kitchen along with her coffee mug. When she came back, she retrieved her laptop from her computer bag and said, “If we can’t leave the suite, that means we have time to do something I mentioned yesterday—map all the locations where the pictures were taken. Remember? It might be meaningless, but we might spot a pattern.” She tapped her laptop. “I’ve got special map software,” she told him. “Let’s see what we can figure out.”
Chapter 18
“That’s interesting,” Mei-li said just as the doorbell rang.
Dirk cursed under his breath. “Patrick,” he muttered. “Or Rafe, or...”
“It’s okay,” she reassured him. “It’s better to have them all where we can keep an eye on them. You go let whoever it is in...but don’t say anything. Might as well wait around until they all arrive. I’ll keep going here.”
Mei-li watched as Dirk strode out of the study, carefully closing the doors behind him. She spent a moment thinking about what a decent man he was, despite his confession last night. What other man would let his conscience torment him the way he had? What other man would feel it necessary to tell a woman his darkest secret before he slept with her...especially when the woman in question made the first move? And what other man would think it important to admit he’d only ever slept with one other woman in his entire life?
She’d meant what she’d told him last night. She didn’t know...and neither did he...what he would have done if Lyon hadn’t tried to kill him. Yes, in that one instant he’d been furiously angry and determined that the woman he loved would never have to face her would-be rapist in court. But she honestly believed there was a strong possibility Dirk wouldn’t have killed Lyon...if Lyon had dropped the knife. “Give yourself the benefit of the doubt, tim sum,” she whispered, even though he wasn’t there to hear her.
She sighed and shook off those thoughts, then returned to the task at hand. In addition to mapping the GPS coordinates embedded in the pictures, she laid out a grid, a timeline of sorts for the two kidnappers—the one staying with the girls, as well as the one who’d been calling Dirk from the beginning and tracking them yesterday.