He didn’t know Pennington’s voice.
So far, so good.
Now the real gambling began.
“A woman tried to kill me.”
A long pause. Maybe I had made a bad move. I expected the line to go dead.
But he came back on. “Her name is Amy Morris. That’s what she goes by, anyway. She’s after the diamonds, too.”
“You should have warned me.”
A pause. Then, “We thought you were safe, out of the loop.”
“I don’t like being out of the loop,” I said. “What about Peralta?”
“Peralta is a different problem, and it’s better for you not to know. He’s our problem. Did you kill the girl?”
> “No,” I said. “She got away. She’s a fighter.”
“She’s well trained. They say she was a Mountie, you know.”
“Hell! She’s a cop?”
“Not anymore,” he said. “It may not even be true. There are many stories about her. If they sent her for you, we need to meet quickly. At the place you designated.”
“No. That’s not safe now. I don’t like this.” The agitation in my voice was easy to manufacture. “Not if this Morris woman knows about me. Makes me wonder who else knows. We need a new meet point. And what about the FBI?”
Another pause, longer this time, and I worried that I had finally stepped out of bounds.
But the voice came back yet again, a taut tone. “Mann’s window is closing.”
Mann. I thought about Peralta’s recorded warning.
I said, “How much time? This has all gone to hell. I don’t feel right about this.”
“Calm down, Mister Pennington. Let’s meet. It would be good to finally see you.”
I tamped down the flood of adrenaline in my system.
When I didn’t answer, the voice turned angry. “You’re acting pretty foolish if you’re going to let your fear of that girl keep you from the million dollars you stand to make on this deal. You came highly recommended, but we can go somewhere else if we have to.”
A million dollars? Off a million-dollar diamond robbery? How did that work out?
I said, “This is business. I want it done right.”
“That’s better.” His tone returned to normal. “So when do we meet, and where?”
“Soon. I’ll call you.” I paused. With the blocked number, I didn’t know how to reach him. I said, “Give me a new number. I don’t trust the old one.”
“You’re being paranoid. But if it will help…” and he read out ten digits.
“Thanks. I’ll call.”
Before he could protest, I hung up.
A few seconds later, the phone rang again. UNKNOWN. I didn’t pick up.