Page 131 of The Newcomer
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“VIKKI?”
Her eyelids were heavy from lack of sleep, but she was instantly on alert when DeCurtis called again.
“Yeah?”
“We might have a problem,” Joe said. “Looks like Rooney has been in touch with Wingfield.”
His announcement was like a splash of cold water to her face. “What makes you think that?”
“We just interviewed Maya, and she told us that while Rooney had her in that culvert, he took a video of her, saying ‘Hi, Daddy.’ Then he texted it to a number that turns out to be Wingfield’s. Or tried to. The video didn’t transmit, and right after that, Maya bit Rooney’s hand and took off running. But it was definitely Wingfield’s number.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Vikki peered out the window in the direction of the doors from baggage claim where a gaggle of tourists lugging car seats, strollers, and cranky toddlers had just emerged.
“Does Letty have any idea how Rooney could have been in contact with Wingfield?”
“No,” Joe said. “But I’m looking at the call history log in Rooney’s phone. I found two brief calls to Wingfield’s number. One was made four days after Tanya’s murder. The other was made Friday.”
Letty spoke up. “Right around the time I spotted Rooney stalking us at Publix.”
“This is not good,” Vikki said, moaning. “How long were thosecalls? Is there any way Rooney could have spilled the beans about Letty and Maya’s location?”
“I don’t see how he could have,” Joe said.
“Any way we can question Rooney about the calls?”
“Doubtful. Even if he was willing to talk, he couldn’t right now, not with his jaw and eye socket smashed all to hell. So what do you want to do?”
“I want to go lay on the beach in the sunshine and fall asleep with my face planted in a frozen margarita,” she said. “But instead, I think we just move forward. Garcia checked the Delta flight manifest. Wingfield boarded his flight at JFK, right on time. I think we proceed as planned.”
“Agreed,” DeCurtis said. “And in the meantime, I’ll send Shauna over to the ER. If Rooney wakes up and wants to talk, she knows the right questions.”
Vikki’scell phone pinged to signal an incoming text. It was from Garcia.
Your man just deplaned. Headed your way.
Wingfieldwas dressed in an open-collared pale blue dress shirt with French cuffs, black designer jeans that probably cost more than Vikki Hill’s first car, and black suede loafers. Mirrored aviator glasses pushed up into his carefully coiffed hair. Like he was headed for a weekend in Palm Beach instead of paying off a hit man and picking up his kidnapped daughter. He had a leather carry-on bag on his shoulder. Gucci? Prada? Vikki had never been good with designer names.
She tapped the horn as he emerged from baggage claim. He looked around, spotted her, and headed for the rental.
Wingfield opened the passenger door and slid into the front seat.
“How was your trip?” she asked.
He kept the carry-on at his feet, which made Vikki tense.
“I’ve had worse. How’s Maya?”
“You wanna know the truth? She’s kinda whiny. I mean, I get that her mom and her aunt are gone, but it’s been a couple days now. You’d think she’d settle down, but not so much. You wanna put your carry-on in the back seat?”
He patted the bag like it was a dog. “I’m good. Back in New York, Maya was seeing some bullshit therapist Tanya insisted on. Before all this happened. Once I get her home, Juliette, that’s my fiancée, thinks she’ll adjust. We’ll put her in a good private school. Juliette has already put in applications at Brearley and Chapin. She can make some little friends. The kid just needs normal, you know? Her mom was a whack job, which was part of the problem. Always half drunk or hopped up on pills.”
Vikki had to bite her tongue to keep from pointing out that it was always the mother’s fault. She pulled the car into traffic and headed for the airport exit, keeping an eye on the rearview mirror. Garcia told her he’d be driving a silver Volvo sedan.
Wingfield kneaded his forehead with his right hand and looked moodily out the side window.
“Something wrong?” she asked, keeping her eye on the side rearview mirror. She felt a tiny spark of relief when she spotted the Volvo two cars back.
