Hotline to Murder Read online

“He’s what? Black? African-American. So what? You’re white and I’m mixed and we get along. It’s all one world, remember?”

  He couldn’t do it. He drove past the driveway. Then he slammed on his brakes. He shoved the gearshift into reverse and backed up, stopping in front of the driveway. He saw the man, poised to climb into his truck, looking at him curiously. Probably thought he needed directions.

  Tony got out of the car and walked around the front of it. How did one start? “Hi,” he said to the man. That was inadequate. “Uh, I was wondering if you’d like to change cars for a few hours.”

  The man looked past him to the Porsche. If it had been an old VW beetle, the answer would have been obvious. But he looked interested.

  “What’s the deal; is it hot?” he asked.

  “No, no. I’ve got the registration inside. I’ll show you.”

  “That’s okay,” the man said, as Tony took a step back toward his car. “But I mean, are you on the level?”

  “Yeah.” He owed the man a fuller explanation. “We’re trying to find a guy, but if he sees my car, he’ll bolt.”

  “I see.” The man smiled. “I’ve always wanted to drive a Porsche. I’m leaving for work. I won’t be back until morning. And I generally sleep until noon.”

  “That’s okay. We can change back tomorrow afternoon. Do you know how to drive a stick?”

  “This is a stick.” The man indicated the truck. “If you want to do it, I’m okay with it.”

  Shahla was getting out of the Porsche. “Bring the phone and the map book,” Tony told her. “And our sweatshirts.” He walked up to the man and said, “I’m Tony.”

  “Richard.”

  They shook hands. Shahla came up the driveway.

  “This is Shahla, my, uh…friend.”

  They exchanged pleasantries. Tony and the man exchanged keys. And phone numbers. The man reached into the truck and pulled out a metal box.

  “Tools,” he said.

  He glanced at the bed of the pickup. It contained a coiled rope, a white tarpaulin and some other things.

  “Nothing there I can’t live without for one night,” he said. “Okay. It’s all yours.”

  He strode down the driveway and got into the Porsche. Tony watched apprehensively as he started it and drove away, waving as he went. He accelerated slowly, shifted smoothly, and seemed to be a good driver. Tony and Shahla climbed into the truck. It was somewhat messy inside, but appeared to be drivable. It was quite new. It had a remote for locking and unlocking the doors.

  “You need to find a better way to introduce me,” Shahla said as he backed down the driveway. “‘My, uh…friend’ doesn’t cut it.”

  “Sorry. I was going to introduce you as my sister, but then I thought there was no reason to lie.”

  “Just ‘friend’ is fine. It’s the hesitation that hurts. We are friends, aren’t we? We’ll still be friends when this is all over, won’t we?”

  “Of course.” Of course. Tony concentrated on getting to the intersection Nathan had named. Shahla watched the map and gave him directions. They approached from the south. Nathan had said the southeast corner. Tony stopped the truck a hundred yards from the corner. Nathan’s car wasn’t there. They were on a residential street with some vacant lots. The corner lot was vacant. Traffic was light. Nobody was outside.

  Tony said, “I know you haven’t driven a stick-shift before, but you’re going to have to drive this from here to the corner. You can do it in first gear. I’ll talk you through it.”

  “Where are you going to be?”

  “On the floor in front of your seat. In fact, let’s trade places right now.”

  They managed the switch with some jostling.

  “We need a plan that protects your safety,” Tony said. He was getting more and more apprehensive as the meeting time approached. “I will hide when Nathan comes into view. When he parks, drive up until you’re behind him, but not too close. We want to be able to pull out fast if we have to. Leave the engine running and the door open when you get out. I hope to hell we’re right in thinking that he doesn’t have a gun.”

  “Tina only mentioned a knife.”

  “All right, but stay behind his car. Under no circumstances are you to get in the car. Do you understand that? If he starts to get out of the car, you immediately get back in the truck.”

  “But we’ve got to get Tina out.”

  “Tell him that Tina has to get out before you get in. But as soon as Tina is out, you yell for me, and I’ll get out of the truck. Then both of you hightail it to the truck.”

  “What if he comes at you with his knife?”

  Tony had been rummaging in the glove compartment of the truck. He pulled out a box cutter. “I’ll use this. It’s what the terrorists used on 9/11.”

  “It won’t do any good against a knife.”

  “Let’s see what else we’ve got.” There were some items behind the seats. Tony found a large flashlight and a crowbar, among other things. “I’ll use the crowbar as a weapon. Maybe I should get out of the truck when you do.”

  “But seeing you will be like seeing the police for him. He might kill Tina before you can do anything.”

  There was no safe way to do this. The discussion continued. Tony showed Shahla how to use the clutch to shift into first gear and neutral. That’s all she would have to be able to do, like the terrorists who had to be able to fly a plane but not land it. They were talking, and when the car came up behind them, Tony almost didn’t hear it, even though the truck windows were wide open.

  Shahla glanced in the rearview mirror and said, “It’s him.”

  Tony ducked, hopefully before Nathan could see him through the rear window of the truck, and hunched down on the floor in front of the passenger seat. The position was painful to his knee. He heard the car drive slowly past them.

  “Tina is in the front seat,” Shahla said, sounding relieved, but without moving her lips. “She looks okay. I think Nathan saw me. He’s stopping. Now he’s parked at the corner.”

  “All right, drive up behind him.” Tony’s heart was hammering. He wished he could play a more active part in this. He was afraid for both Shahla and Tina.

  Shahla started the engine all right, but when she shifted into first gear and released the clutch the truck stalled.

  “A little more gas, and then release the clutch very slowly.”

  She tried again. This time the engine roared as the truck crept forward. Then suddenly it lurched ahead.

  “Foot off the gas,” Tony yelled over the noise of the engine. “Depress the clutch and coast.”

  Shahla got the truck under control and coasted slowly to a stop. She put it in neutral and set the parking brake. She made a move to open the door.

  “Wait,” Tony said, softly. “What’s he doing?”

  “Nothing,” Shahla whispered, speaking like a ventriloquist. Just sitting in the car.”

  “Open the door, but don’t get out yet.”

  Shahla did that. After a few seconds, she carefully stepped down to the pavement, moved around the open door, and was out of Tony’s sight. He gripped the crowbar hard with one hand and put his other hand on the handle of the passenger door, ready to open it and jump out of the truck. He strained his ears, trying to hear over the idling of the truck engine.

  Tony heard engine noise from the other car. It was starting up. Did Nathan have Shahla? In a panic, he raised his head and looked through the windshield. No, Shahla was standing right in front of the truck. Something had spooked Nathan, and he had taken off.

  Tony scrambled over to the driver’s seat and sat down. Shahla ran around to the passenger side and jumped in. Tony slammed the gearshift into first gear and took off after the silver car. It had immediately turned the corner and was heading back toward La Cienega.

  “Call the Bonita Beach Police,” Tony said. “They can coordinate the chase. We’ve got to try to keep him in sight and give the police an opportunity to stop him.”

  “W
hat about Tina?”

  “We’ll have to take the chance. As long as he’s driving, he won’t hurt her—unless he cracks up. And we won’t get too close to him”

  Shahla got the Bonita Beach station on the line. She gave reports on Nathan, which were passed on to other units. “He’s heading north on La Cienega…he’s turned left…he’s turned left again…he’s disappeared.”

  Nathan had lost them again, through a series of risky but clever left turns. When he was sure Nathan was long gone, Tony parked the truck, despondent. He and Shahla sat slumped in their seats, not speaking. A police car rolled by a few minutes later, but aimlessly, without direction.

  CHAPTER 38

  “He knows you’re with me,” Shahla finally said. “I’m sure he won’t speak to me again.”

  “It’s time for the faithful to gather,” Tony said. The sun had set. “Let’s go back to the park. That’s where we’ll find Nathan.” He said it with more confidence than he felt. Even if that was the gathering place, had they scared Nathan so much that he wouldn’t show up?

  “It’s all we can do.” Shahla was really in the dumps.

  They took the exit from La Cienega that led to the park. As they drove toward the entrance, they saw a police car parked across the road, completely blocking it. Two uniformed officers, one male and one female, were leaning against the car, shining flashlights at Tony’s truck to make sure he stopped. He did.

  “Don’t get out,” Tony said to Shahla. He didn’t want them making any moves that might look suspicious to the police.

  The female officer came to Tony’s window and said, “The park is closed.”

  Tony said, “I’m Tony and this is Shahla. We’re the ones who spotted the kidnapper a little while ago. He’s with the group that believes they’re going to ascend into heaven tonight. We think they might come here.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” the officer said. “We cleared everybody out at sunset. That’s when it closes, anyway. There’s nobody in the park. If anybody shows up, they have to go through us.”

  “When we were here this afternoon, we found a couple of gates leading from the ridge into residential areas. Somebody must have keys to those gates.”

  “We have units stationed at all the gates.” The officer spoke with finality.

  “Have you found this Reverend Hodgkins? He’s the leader of the church group.”

  “We know who he is. We’re on the lookout for him.”

  The fact that they hadn’t found him wasn’t comforting. In fact, Tony felt uncomfortable about the whole situation, but he had run out of possibilities. If the parishioners couldn’t come here, where would they go? And more important, what would Nathan do with Tina?

  After more conversation, during which the officer tried to convince Tony and Shahla that the police had the situation completely under control and there was nothing the pair could do to help, Tony turned the truck around and headed back toward La Cienega.

  “Their uniforms look different than those of the Bonita Beach Police,” Shahla said.

  And LAPD, which Tony had initially assumed they were. The uniforms were tan, not blue. “They must be sheriff’s deputies,” Tony said. “Which means that the park isn’t within the city limits of Los Angeles.”

  “Police are police. If there is a way to screw it up, they’ll do it.”

  “We won’t stop looking. If we can spot some of the church people, we might be able to find out what they’re going to do. And they may lead us to Nathan.”

  It was unsatisfactory, but it was their only hope. Tony followed a route that went around the large park. Occasionally, a patrol car went by them. He didn’t spend much time in the residential area north of the park because he felt that was fruitless. They did investigate some open spaces on the other sides. Sometimes they had to get out of the truck and walk over the mostly bare ground, which was populated with the ubiquitous grasshoppers pumping oil. This took valuable time and didn’t produce any results.

  Periodically, they called the Bonita Beach Police Station and asked whether Nathan had been spotted. The answer was always negative. They asked the officer on duty to call them with any new developments. By 11:00 they were sitting in the parked truck, waiting for the phone to ring, having run out of ideas. The gloom inside the cab of the truck was so thick that Tony was sure he could spread it on bread.

  Then Tony’s cell phone did ring. Shahla grabbed it before Tony could move and said hello. She handed it to Tony. “It’s Detective Croyden. He wants to speak to you.”

  Croyden? He had the day off. “Hello.”

  “Schmidt, this is Croyden.”

  “I didn’t think you were working today.”

  “I was fishing, but I had to come in because of this mess. I got the word that you spotted Nathan earlier. We’ve had cars crisscrossing the area, but we haven’t seen him. We’ve got all entrances to the Hahn Recreation Area covered. Maybe he’s flown. What are you doing now?”

  “Looking for the spot where this Ascension into heaven is supposed to take place. Have you found Hodgkins or any of his flock?”

  “We’ve got units working on that too. LAPD and the sheriff’s office have been working together, but they haven’t been able to find this guy, Hodgkins. If you’re right about him, maybe he’s already taken off with the loot.”

  “Except that the website said to bring cash tonight. But if there’s nothing happening tonight, maybe he’s gone.”

  “And by the time he gets to Phoenix, the folks who trusted him will be crying. Anyway, we’re drawing a blank. Don’t do anything stupid, but if you find anything, call me immediately on this number.”

  Tony wrote the number down and promised they would call Croyden if they spotted the believers. At least Croyden was asking for his help. Then he had a thought. He said, “Shahla and I would like permission to go into the park.”

  “Why? There’s nobody in there.”

  “Just a hunch. If nobody is there, we’ll come right back out.”

  “It could be dangerous.”

  “How could it be dangerous if nobody’s there? I don’t think we’ll be attacked by rabbits.”

  Croyden was silent for a few seconds, apparently digesting this logic. Then he said, “All right, I’ll clear it with the officers at the entrance. But be careful. I don’t want to get my ass in a sling because you fell off a cliff.”

  ***

  There was certainly nobody in the lower part of the park. The area was relatively flat and open, except for an occasional tree. A group of people would be easy to spot, even in the dark, because they would need some sort of light.

  “If all the entrances are being watched, how could anybody get in?” Shahla asked.

  Tony had been wondering the same thing to try to justify what they were doing. He said, “In a park as large as this one, there are probably ways to get in other than the official ones. Maybe Hodgkins found one.”

  “If he did find an alternate way in, it probably leads to the ridge, near where those houses are.”

  “Okay, we’ll go up the road to the east side of the ridge. It’s paved.”

  Tony drove up this road. A locked gate blocked an additional loop of paved road that doubled as the ridge trail at that point. There was a gap between the gate and a tree that stood at the edge of a large grassy area, which Tony remembered as being shown on the trail map as Janice’s Green Valley. He squeezed the truck between the gate and the tree, utilizing the four-wheel-drive feature to navigate the rough terrain, and then climbed back onto the road and drove to the other end of the loop.

  He shut off the engine, and they opened their windows. The night air was chilly, but not cold. They had put on sweatshirts earlier. Shahla was wearing one of his old sweatshirts that had shrunk with repeated washings. They could see city lights in the distance, blinking like stars. The lights were below them instead of above them, since the real stars weren’t visible. Clouds hid them. It was an upside-down universe. It was also a peaceful scene, a
s Tony had thought it would be when he had seen it that afternoon—too peaceful for the thought of murder.

  “This is as far as we can drive,” Tony said. “But we can take the flashlight and walk along the ridge trail.”

  They also carried the crowbar and box cutter as they started to walk west along the dirt path. It had some ups and downs but was fairly easy to follow, even in the dark. They had gone about a hundred yards when Shahla, who was in the lead with the flashlight, stopped. Tony stopped beside her.

  “Listen,” Shahla said.

  Tony listened. He could hear something other than the distant muffled noises of the city. “It sounds like singing.”

  “It is singing. Remember, the church website said that they would sing until the Ascension. Tony, it’s them.”

  Tony felt himself getting excited. “It sounds far away.” He looked at his watch. “We don’t have much time before midnight. I don’t know if we can get there.”

  “Remember where the trail goes up to the other end of the ridge? Can the truck make it up that trail? If so, we can probably drive right to them.”

  The western end of the trail was dirt, but it was wide enough for the truck. And the truck had four-wheel-drive. “Okay, let’s do it.”

  They turned and walked rapidly back toward the truck, being careful not to fall on the rough trail. Once there, Tony drove the truck back around the locked gate and then accelerated down the hill.

  “Should we call the police?” Shahla asked.

  “There isn’t time for them to get here before midnight,” Tony said. “And the car they have at the entrance can’t climb the hill. Wait until we see what the situation is. And I’m going to need your eyes to help me drive up that trail.”

  They arrived at the bottom of the trail shortly thereafter. Tony slowed way down as he started uphill, making sure to keep the truck in the center of the path. The trail became fairly steep, but with its four-wheel-drive, the truck didn’t have a problem with traction. He breathed a sigh of relief when it leveled off at the top of the ridge.

  Tony stopped the truck and turned off the engine. Through the open windows they could hear the singing, much louder than before. But because of the hilly terrain, they still couldn’t see anybody.