Page 145 of The Newcomer
“Okay,” Vikki said. “Let’s change the subject for a minute. Why’d you kidnap Maya? A guy like you doesn’t seem like daddy material to me.”
“I’m tired.” Rooney closed his eyes, but Vikki snapped her fingers under his nose.
“You can sleep when you’re dead, Rooney. Tell us why you took Maya.”
His eyelids fluttered open. “After I saw Tanya, I was still in New York. I had… business. I saw in the paper that Tanya was dead. And that guy, Wingfield, was offering a reward for the kid’s return. Ten thousand dollars. I thought maybe I could help.”
“In other words, you wanted to cash in. So you tried to call Wingfield? We saw his number in your phone,” Vikki said.
“I left a message, but he never called back. I was kinda between business opportunities, which was why I hunted up Tanya. But she swore she didn’t know where the merch was. Anyway, I came back down here to look for it.”
“You mean, you cameuphere to look for your loot. After Immokalee, where you killed Chuck. Did you get him to tell you where he hid the stuff? Is that why you broke into my room?” Vikki asked.
Rooney, feigning exhaustion, closed his eyes again. “My head hurts. You people need to go.”
“Let’s talk for a little while longer,” Joe said. “Why grab Maya?”
“Mistake,” Rooney murmured. “I saw her, looking for that cat, and I remembered the reward, and Wingfield. I still had his number in my phone. I figured I’d do a good deed. Reunite the kid with her father.”
“You thought you’d snatch the kid and hold her for ransom. You knew Wingfield wasn’t Maya’s father. Tanya as much as told you so, although you had to have realized it the first time you set eyes on her,” Vikki said.
Rooney snapped back to attention. “That kid could be anybody’s. Tanya? She was always working an angle. She found a rich guy and told him he was the baby daddy. That’s on her, not me.”
“Get real,” Joe guffawed. “Any idiot can tell that kid has your exact same eyes. She’s yours, all right. So, did you get Chuck to tell you where he hid all your loot before you killed him?”
“I need you people to go away,” Rooney said. “I think I got a concussion. I need some pain meds.”
“Later,” Vikki said. “Tell us what Chuck told you about the loot from your gold-and-silver-buying scam.”
Rooney looked offended. “Hey, man! We bought that stuff fair and square. All those people? They came to us. We didn’t have to twist anybody’s arm.”
“If everything was on the up-and-up, why’d you run?” Joe asked. “Why leave Tanya behind, holding the bag?”
Rooney probed his jaw with his hand. “Jesus. It’s like they wired my face together with coat hangers. I’m probably gonna be scarred for life now.”
“Don’t try and change the subject,” Joe said. “You ripped off those old people. You bought a thirty-thousand-dollar antique watch from Trudi Maples for three thousand dollars and told her that’s all the gold was worth, but you damn sure knew its true value. You, Chuck, and Tanya operated your con for a good two weeks before we shut you down. We searched your room, after we arrested Tanya, but came up with nothing. Which was why the DA eventually let her walk. You and your pal Chuck were in the wind, but the loot—you didn’t have the loot. Right?”
There was an extended quiet in the room. Vikki helped herself to another caramel and chewed loudly. “Damn, these are good. You might as well tell us the truth, Rooney. You’re looking at a longstretch of prison time. Help us out, fill in the details, and Joe here will try to help you out. Maybe he can even talk the cops in New York into believing you didn’t kill your baby mama.”
“I never touched Tanya,” Rooney repeated. “And you can’t prove I did.”
“Tell us what happened. Five years ago, after we arrested Tanya,” Joe repeated.
“That crazy old bastard Chuck! We never should’ve hooked up with him. That was all Tanya. I think she had, like, daddy issues. We were doing good with the gold and silver thing. Making some solid buys. I wanted to move on to the next town. You know, before things got complicated here in Treasure Island. Tanya, she wanted to stay.”
“You were already thinking of dumping her, right?” Vikki asked.
“It crossed my mind,” he admitted. “I don’t know why I always manage to get mixed up with chicks who are batshit crazy. That night, me and Chuck wanted to go to the dog track. Tanya was being a whiny pain in the ass, so we left her at the motel. I won a couple quinellas and a perfecta. A real winning streak. But Tanya kept calling and texting, so I just turned my phone off. Who needs that shit when you’re winning? Am I right?”
Vikki rolled her eyes. “Totally.”
“Chuck said he knew some girls who worked at a strip club over near MacDill. That’s the air force base. He wanted to have some drinks and get laid, and I thought, okay, whatever. But that’s when I turned my phone on and saw the text from Tanya. So we headed back over to the beach, to check things out. But the motel parking lot was crawling with cops. I said we should stop, but Chuck insisted we should go on back to Tampa.”
“As if,” Vikki said. “I’m sure you were super worried about Tanya.”
“I knew Tanya could handle things.”
“But the loot was back at the Surf, right?” Joe put in.
