No Fault of Mine

Chapter Forty

"Ms. Stoddard, don't look so shocked," Ducain said in his whiny voice. "You surely knew that you'd eventually be the bait."

"I'm just surprised," I said, my voice shaky. "Your plan stinks."

"Hum, go on," he said

"If he has the keys, go get him," I said. "You're wasting time with this cockamamie plan." He laughed, and his laugh seemed genuine, like the delight of a child who captured a bird with a trap of his own making.

"I don't expect you to fully appreciate the dominos that I've set up," he said, leaning forward in his chair. "But you are only one domino in a chain of them now toppling each other one by one toward a delightful conclusion."

"And what is that?" I asked.

"Ah, Ms. Stoddard," he said, locking onto my eyes. "If I were to tell you, you'd miss out on the surprise."

A knot lodged in my throat. I coughed, but there was no relief.

"Get her a bottle of water," Ducain demanded. RJ pulled a plastic bottle, like those shrink-wrapped twenty-four at a time, from the cabinet and handed it to me.

I nursed several sips, and the constriction in my throat eased. I cleared my throat and said, "So, as one of your dominos, what's my role?"

"Simply call Thad and tell him that I'm going to kill you in one hour and his nephew an hour later unless he gets fifty thousand dollars cash and the box to me. You see, Ms. Stoddard, he either complies or he's about to lose most of his family. He better hurry; his bank closes in an hour."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed his number.

"If you're going to ask for help with your cockamamie plan, you're wasting your time," he said curtly.

"Your offer not to help is so family of you." I didn't expect my snide reaction to be helpful except to fit into his rationalization of me. "Listen carefully, Thad. Brant and I are being held captive by Ducain. He told me to call you with this message: He's going to kill me in one hour and your nephew an hour later unless you deliver fifty thousand dollars cash and the box." I handed the phone to Ducain.

"Thad Stoddard," Ducain began in his now familiar whiny style. "I hope you take your sister seriously. Is her life more valuable than the money you failed to get to me?"

He handed the phone back while Thad was still talking. Thad was good at talking, and Ducain was good at cutting one off. I hit the disconnect button and handed the phone back to Ducain, who took the phone with a smile.

"I expected you to plead your case if not for yourself, at least for your son," he said, looking at me with curiosity. "Why is that, Ms. Stoddard?" He placed my phone on a table next to his chair.

"Thad reserves his emotions for himself," I said. "I don't think my son or I would evoke strong enough emotion in him to do as you've demanded."

"You don't think I've already had experience with that? Huh, money is more important to him than human relationships? I'd never have guessed," he said with sarcasm. "I didn't waste my idle time in prison reading romance novels. I've thought a lot about Thad."

"You planned for my death?" I asked fearfully, not wanting to hear his answer.

"If need be," he said, "but that's not the way the next domino will fall."

"I don't feel much relief," I said. "You're good at your game, and I think the game is your emotional priority, not your game pieces."

"Ms. Stoddard, you continue to amuse me," he said with a disingenuous smile. "I admit I've used people to achieve my goals, but I've never unintentionally killed anyone. I'm very deliberate in my decisionmaking."

"This isn't about money, is it?" I asked.

"You can be quite discerning," he said. "It's about business, Ms. Stoddard. He and I had a business arrangement, and it had the potential of making us very wealthy people. He's a cleaver man, but cleaver men can only be cleaver once. We have an MO, you see. Even I do. My MO is the domino effect. I taught it to your brother, and he used it against me. I had no idea until the trap was sprung. By then, Martin was dead, and I'm accused and sought for his murder. And Marshal McFadden was the last of the dominos in my plan."

"You set it up," I exploded. "How could you possibly arrange for me to meet him in a worn-out 

gas station in the middle of the night?"

"I wish I could take credit for that, but when we found he had your phone, the pieces fell together like a hand in a glove. Ms. Stoddard, you were in a maze of our creation, and here you are."

"You sound confident. Maybe even egotistical," I said.

"Oh, I am confident," he said, "and if that makes me egotistical, so be it."

"I understand the money," I said, "but what about the keys? They seem important to you."

"As I said, I don't want to spoil the ending."

Our conversation ended at that point. I'd done what he wanted. I am a domino who just started the fall of the next. If Ducain is right, Thad's choice will tip the next domino, and thus, all will fall.