Got the Look by James Grippando Read Free Book Online

space along Biscayne Bay that was popular with everyone from triathletes to tricyclers. The parking lot was adjacent to the heart trail, so a seat on the hood of the old Rambler with their feet resting on the chrome bumper offered Jack and Theo prime jogger viewing. Unfortunately, it appeared to be geriatric Tuesday, nothing but a steady stream of power-walking blobs of jelly that had somehow taken on human form through the miracle of spandex.
    Their deal was that Jack would test-drive the laugh-out-loud-mobile if Theo would offer his street-smart, psychoanalytical take on Ernesto Salazar. For whatever reason, Theo had a knack for thinking like a dirtbag.
    It's obvious, said Theo.
    Tell me, said Jack.
    Simple. Mr. Salivar doesn't believe his wife is really kidnapped.
    Salazar, not Salivar. You make him sound like a Saint Bernard in a sausage factory.
    You want my opinion, then shut up and listen. Theo set his frozen lemonade atop the turquoise hood and ripped open a bag of chips. Here's the thing. You got a gorgeous younger woman married to a fifty-something-year-old multimillionaire. Let's assume it was no lie when Mia said she and her husband stopped having sex. Imagine how totally ripped this dude is when he finds out she's bopping a hotshot lawyer. Hubby says, Beat it, bitch, you're outta here. She's gotta be looking at the short end of a prenup if he divorces her. So she fakes her own kidnapping to con him out of some ransom money.
    You honestly think that's what happened?
    Doesn't matter. I'm telling you what must be going through Salad Bar's mind.
    Salazar, moron.
    Yeah, what you said. Anyways, he was acting way too cool at your meeting to be thinking she's really kidnapped. Nobody's got that much ice water in his veins.
    But what if Salazar does? What if he's so ticked off at his wife for cheating on him that he actually hopes the kidnapper slits her throat?
    Ah, the Journey conundrum, said Theo.
    What journey?
    Journey. Depending on who you talk to, one of the best or worst rock bands of the 1980s. One man's Sting is another man's Air Supply. Know what I mean? He started singing All Out of Love.
    Jack blinked hard, incredulous. What the hell does that have to do with anything?
    You and Salazar are both looking at the exact same situation - a married woman goes missing after cheating on her husband. You see a kidnap victim in peril. He sees a conniving bitch with a plan. The Journey conundrum.
    Sounds like a bad title for a Ludlum novel. But focus for a minute, would you please? Aren't we overlooking an obvious third possibility?
    Theo nodded. When Alcazar found out that you and his wife be doing the nasty, he killed her, and now he's trying to make it look like she got kidnapped.
    By Alcazar I assume you mean Salazar.
    Alcazar, Salazar, whoever. A man by any other name would still think with his dick.
    That was Jack's thought entirely, but hearing Theo put it to Shakespeare only drove home the point. Pretty logical way to look at it. Like you say, nobody's got that much ice water in his veins.
    Unless he's trying to cover his own ass.
    I guess that's what bugs me about Salazar's reaction to the kidnapping. When people choose not to call the cops it's usually because the kidnapper told them not to or because they're afraid that law enforcement might try to talk them out of paying a ransom. Here, Salazar is thumbing his nose at the kidnappers, and he still decided not to dial nine-one-one. That's a really dangerous situation if you're a kidnap victim.
    On the other hand, it's a nifty little tap dance if you killed your wife and want it to look like a kidnapping.
    Jack spooned out the last of his frozen lemonade. So, if you were me, you'd go to the police? Is that what you're saying?
    Depends. If you think maybe Salazar killed his wife, then yeah, go to the police.
    What if I don't think he killed her? What if she really is kidnapped and Salazar is just being a hard-ass to spite her or teach her a lesson?
    You want to