Afton had to hand it to her. Portia was good. She wasn’t afraid to stand her ground. Or maybe she was just too dumb to know she might be in serious trouble.
Portia curled a lip. “With a two-million-dollar ransom demand, and now a possible reward in the making, you’re going to have your hands full fielding calls from all the loonies out there.”
Afton couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How did Portia know about the ransom? And the fact that Darden might offer a reward? Was the department hemorrhaging information?
“Who’d you have to bribe to get that information?” Max asked.
Portia focused a cool smile on him. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.” She tilted her head and gazed up at him. Bit her lower lip and offered a sexy smile. “C’mon,” she said, her voice a little breathier now. “Work with me on this, Max. When this case finally breaks—and I know it will—a lot of people are going to want to grab the brass ring and take credit. I can make sure the bright lights land squarely on you.”
Afton watched Max carefully. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or capitulating. Then he did something she never would have expected. He blinked and smiled at Portia. He hung his head and said, in an almost sheepish tone, “You know what? I give up.”
“What?” Afton said.
“Excuse me?” Portia asked. Even she seemed startled by his change of heart.
“I may as well tell you the whole thing.” Max gave a deferential shrug. “You’re just going to find out anyway.”
“No, Max,” Afton said. “What are you doing?”
But like a great white shark, Portia had sensed a trickle of blood in the water. Her confident smile returned and she pulled out her smartphone to record Max’s words.
Max waved his hands. “No, this has to be off the record. You didn’t hear it from me, and Detective Tangler will deny all knowledge of this conversation.” He glanced at Afton. “Correct?”
Afton stood in dumbfounded silence. She wasn’t sure what to make of this. “Correct,” she said finally. She wasn’t sure what kind of game Max was playing.
“Okay, that won’t be a problem,” Portia said. “I can cite you as an anonymous source close to the investigation.” She held up a finger. “But when this story breaks, I’ll want you to go on record to corroborate my story.”
Max appeared to consider this. Finally, he nodded his head and said, “Yeah, that works for me.”
“So what?” Portia asked, drawing closer to Max. “What’s going on? What’s the latest on the Darden kidnapping?”
“We have a very strong lead,” Max said. “But we’re being stonewalled.”
“By who?”
“Novamed.”
Portia was watching Max like a lion might eye a zebra. “Explain, please.”
“We’ve obtained information concerning a possible marital indiscretion between Richard Darden and one of their company executives, an Eleanor Winters.”
“So she’s a suspect?”
“Absolutely. Only problem is, Novamed is covering for her like crazy. They’ve got several new products coming on the market and they’d hate like hell to have any adverse publicity right now. Their stock is up and they don’t want anything to upset the delicate balance.”
Portia wasn’t convinced. “Are you saying this Eleanor Winters is the kidnapper or that she has information relating to the case?”
Max spread his hands apart, palms up, in what looked like an outright appeal. “We simply don’t know. That’s what we’ve been trying to find out.”
Portia eyed him carefully. “And you swear this is legit?”
“Absolutely,” Max said with a straight face.
Portia reached for her black mink coat, which was casually draped over the wall of one of the cubicles. “If this turns into something, I’m gonna owe you big time. But if you burn me, watch out.”
“I know,” Max said. “Hell hath no fury and all that.”
“You’d better believe it,” Portia said. She pulled on her coat, leaned forward, and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thanks, sweetie.”
“You’re welcome,” he said as she scampered away. Then he turned and gave Afton a rueful look. “What do you think?”
“I think she’s going to come back and slit your throat open with a dull letter opener is what I think.”
“Maybe so,” Max said. “But it was worth it.”
“How so?”
Max pulled his mouth into an angry snarl. “Payback.”
31
I feel like we live on this damn freeway,” Max said. They were humming along, heading for Hudson again and what would probably be a not-so-nice meeting with the local medical examiner.
“You remember when all those college kids were disappearing, maybe ten years ago?” Afton asked.
Max nodded. “Yeah, I remember. There was a fellow down in La Crosse . . .”
“One in Eau Claire,” Afton said. “And one in Minneapolis and another up in Saint Cloud. I always thought of the perp as the I-94 killer.”