Felicity
followed Alex Porter all the way to Central Park and the statues of literary
giants.
At first, Alex
had walked fast, purposefully, and angrily.
Then the pace lessened as the anger subsided.
It seemed
prophetic that Argeter was waiting on a seat near William Shakespeare.
"That was
quick," he said after she sat down
"She
doesn't have it."
"How can
you tell?"
"I came
at her very hard. She didn't have time
to collect her thoughts and lie."
"What
about Richards? Given the number of
times he and Walthenson met in the golf course, Walthenson might have given it
to him for safekeeping. It wouldn't be
the first time."
"The
silly bugger can't keep a secret. He'd
have told me, besides, I'm the only one who can open the safe."
"Unless
he put it somewhere else. I mean, he
acts like he's dumb, but I rather think he isn't."
"Oh, he
is, believe me. Pretends he's the great
family man but doesn't realize everyone knows her trawls the dark corners of
the city for young men. It disgusts me,
but if there wasn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. “
"Appearances
can be deceptive, remember that."
End of the conversation, she left.
Felicity
didn't see the point of following her anymore, a more interesting target was
Argeter. She would have to be more
careful with him given how dangerous he and his known associates were.
When she
looked over, Argeter was on the phone, and couldn't quite make out was he was
saying.
"No ...
problem is ... scoundrel ... Walthenson doesn't ... Alicia tried to find out
but she ... no, no closer ...."
Argeter was staring at the phone because it appeared the caller hung up mid-call. It was obvious whoever he was speaking to wasn't happy with what he had to report. And whatever it was about this piece of land, it was worth killing for, and a lot, lot more.
Argeter's phone
rang again.
Felicity could
see his face as he turned to look one way and then the other as if looking for
someone
Then,
"You're joking. After all I've done
for them?"
The call
ended, and Argeter leaped to his feet, again looking both ways before heading
back the way Alex Porter had come.
Almost
running.
He was a man
in fear for his life.
He reached the
first cross street and had to wait a moment, along with a group of tourists.
Felicity kept
her eyes on Argeter, except for a few seconds when there was a loud bang from
behind them, and everyone cringed, a reaction most people had in the
expectation of another attack, and when she turned back Argeter was on the
ground.
She quickly
walked towards him, then saw the blood pooling beside the body. He'd been attacked in that brief moment her
attention had been diverted. The others
in the group who had just recovered realized what had happened, and one of the
women screamed.
Felicity had
Sykes on speed dial.
"Argeter
just got stabbed in Central Park, at the top of Literary Lane."
"Did you
see who did it?"
"No, but
I'll keep an eye out in case anyone runs.
They have to be still here."
"Be
careful. I'll be there as soon as I
can."
Not one minute
after the scream an ambulance came quickly up the road, stopped opposite the
body, and cleared a path through the onlookers, two of w2ho were hunched over the
body, either trying to save him, or taking ghoulish photographs, bringing out a
gurney put Argeter on it, got back in the ambulance, and left.
The whole
operation took less than 90 seconds,
After another minute or a little more, the first police car stopped next to what was not a
doubly stunned crowd.
The ambulance
was gone, but not before Felicity had taken several photographs of the men
taking the body, and the ambulance itself.
She was
uploading the photos to send to Sykes when she noticed the ambulance people had
flesh-colored balaclavas on, and the registration of the ambulance was just a
blur.
No easy
identification of the body snatchers, and no identification of the
ambulance. This was a very well-organized assassination.
© Charles Heath 2020-2022
