You want to take your next left turn, Taggert said. Point is, I didnt want her to see that. Or the kids, if they came home the same time she did. And I thought that was the best I could do, just fix it so I could die somewhere else, because I didnt think I had a chance of getting out of this alive.
Keller waited until the oncoming traffic cleared, then took the left turn. He kept an eye on the mirror, made sure Dot had gone straight through the intersection, heading back to the motel.
Now you got me believing I might have a shot, Taggert said. Not a real good one, but I have to say its better than nothing.
I suppose you could knock out the power, Taggert had said. Find a way to take out a power line and youll do two things at once. The fence wont be electrified anymore, so all you have to do is climb over it. And, if you go in at night, youll have all the confusion of darkness going for you. No lights in the house, and everybody running around and bumping into each other.
Unless theyve got one of those generators, Dot said, that kicks in automatically if the power supplys compromised.
I wouldnt know about that. But I have to say its the kind of thing Mr. Wheeler would have.
Suppose we had you with us, Keller said. Wouldnt that get us through the gate?
Only if he knew I was coming, and he told them to let me in. Say if I called him, made up something I had to see him about.
Like what?
Well, I cant come up with anything right off the top of my head. Id have to think of something.
Youd have to think up some way to explain what I was doing in the car with you, Keller pointed out. That might be tricky.
Say youre my prisoner, Taggert said, and snapped his fingers. Thats it! Ill tell him the guy we set up in Des Moines turned up, and
I managed to subdue him and now I want to bring him over for questioning. Then I march you in there and it looks as though youre tied up securely, but you get loose and
Keller was shaking his head.
Okay, this is better yet, Taggert said. I go over to see him, I make up some story, doesnt matter what. And youre in the trunk.
Im in the trunk?
The trunk of my car. I park the car, Mr. Wheeler and I go in the house, and when the times right you open the trunk
From the inside?
They got a way to do that now, to save kidnap victims. Or small children who crawl in car trunks when they cant find an abandoned refrigerator to play in. So thats what you do, you pop out of the trunk and go to work.
Mowing the lawn?
You do what you came to do. Theyll be off guard, all you got to worry about is the dogs.
Those Rhodesian ridgebacks.
I grant you theyre vicious, Taggert said, but do you think theyre gonna bother with a parked car?
They might take an interest, Dot said, what with everybody else standing there with guns in their hands, waiting for the trunk to open. Youre driving and hes in the trunk? I dont think so.
You dont trust me, Taggert said. He sounded hurt.
I dont even trust you to drive, she said. How are you going to work the gas pedal with that leg?
I could use my other foot.
And the brake?
Same thing. I mean, its not as if Id have a clutch pedal to contend with. The Cadillacs got automatic transmission.
Youre kidding. Whatll they think of next?
Keller said, I like cutting the power line. It seems to me you dont run an auxiliary generator all the time, you just switch it on when the lights go out. So you do it in the daytime, and the only thing that goes out is the fence.
And the TV, Dot said, and the air conditioner, and everything else with a plug and a switch.
Still, its better than at night.
Then what you want is a rainy day, Taggert said. So youll have a decent shot of finding him at home. Day like today, Mr. Wheelers gonna be playing golf. What? Did I say something?
Benjamin Wheeler belonged to three country clubs, and when he played a round of golf the drill was always the same. Two of his aides would accompany him, while the other two remained at the house. One man, the driver, would stay with the car; the other, more of an all-purpose bodyguard, would walk to the first tee with Wheeler, then wait at the clubhouse while Wheeler and his playmates buzzed around in their golf carts for eighteen holes.
Rose Hill, according to Taggert, was Wheelers most likely choice, so that was the first place Dot called. Posing as the secretary of one of Wheelers fellow golfers, she said she wanted to confirm the foursomes tee time. It was scheduled for 11:15, said a young woman with a snooty English accent, and would there be four? Because she had Mr. Wheeler down as a party of three.
Yes, three, Dot said. Thats quite right, because Mr. Podston wont be able to make it after all.
She hung up and Keller said, Mr. Podston?
What I almost said, she said, was Pond Scum. Podston was the best I could do. Eleven-fifteen, thats when theyre teeing off, so theres not a lot of time to waste.
You had to pass a gate attendant and assorted other functionaries at the entrance to Rose Hill Country Club, and then a valet would turn up to park your car. Keller drove right past the entrance and followed the map from the clubs website. Dot had printed out a copy, and he studied it again and decided the best bet was the seventh hole, a 465-yard par four with a dogleg to the left and woods on the right. A slice would put Wheeler in the woods, and that was where Keller decided to wait for him.