I do not think I need to remind you what I am capable of.

No, he didn’t, I thought. He was right about that.

AS OUR TECHS got busy tracing the e-mail, I caught Emily’s attention.

“Could I talk to you out on the aloha deck?” I said, motioning for the salon’s exit.

On our way outside, through an open doorway I spotted a dining room set with crystal and silver for twenty. I found the sight of it, for some reason, the most lonesome thing.

No wonder Hastings had gone over the edge. Even with eight hundred million dollars, life had rammed him completely through the wringer. Despite his drunken melodrama, I truly felt sorry for him.

“I don’t like this, Parker,” I said as we stood outside, watching yuppies hit golf balls on the converted dock beside us. “Something smells. On the one hand, switching to e-mail is in keeping with our guy’s pattern of changing methods. But on the other hand, our guy loves the sound of his voice too much to send an e-mail. He loves talking to me, crying on my shoulder. I’m not convinced this is the same guy.”

Ramirez suddenly stuck his head outside.

“Mike, get in here quick. And I thought Columbia was bad. Now this is really getting nuts.”

Back inside, I saw a large, bald gentleman in a pinstripe suit collecting the laptops off the desks.

“Sic ’em, Vin,” Hastings yelled from a couch with a laugh. He lit a cigar. “Tell them their services are no longer required.”

“Vinny Carbone,” the new arrival said, offering his hand. “I’m Mr. Hastings’s attorney. I’m going to be representing Mr. Hastings in this matter here.”

I stared at Parker, baffled.

“I wasn’t aware this was a court proceeding,” I said.

“The bottom line is, you don’t need to be putting any kind of trace software or spyware or anything else on Mr. Hastings’s computers,” the lawyer continued. “He’s had a little trouble with you guys, especially the IRS, and, well, we’re sorry, but we can’t cooperate. In fact, you can get off his phones, too. He wants to handle things on his own from here. And if you’ve left any bugs, you should take them with you. We will be sweeping the whole boat after you leave.”

Spyware and bugs? I thought. These people really were worse than the nuts at Columbia.

“Mr. Carbone,” I said, putting up my palms. “This is a kidnapping. Dan Hastings is a citizen. We can’t just walk away.”

“Tell him to get the fuck off my boat, Vinny,” the father yelled, pointing his stogie for emphasis. “Tell him we’ll do it the right way. By ourselves. I let these assholes handle it, Dan comes back in a plastic bag.”

“You heard it from the horse’s mouth, kid,” the lawyer said in his Brooklyn accent. “You gotta go.”

More like the other end of the horse, I thought.

“Yeah, in a second, Pop,” I said to Carbone, stepping past him.

“This might not even be the same kidnapper,” I said to the father, trying not to lose my cool.

Emily, following me, seemed to have lost hers.

“You think you can buy your kid back?” she said loudly. “You’re going to get him killed.”

“Piss off, cop,” Hastings said. “You’re oh for two! You fools have no idea what you’re doing.”

He waved his cigar at us dismissively. He suddenly sounded a lot less upper crust than at our initial meeting.

“Oh, don’t worry. I am pissed off, Mr. Hastings,” Emily yelled at him as we left. “I’ve been pissed off pretty much since the second I met you.”

VINNY CARBONE, ESQUIRE, followed Emily and me back outside to the observation deck.

“Are you as insane as that guy? This is a federal investigation,” Parker said to the lawyer.

“Hold on a second, Agent Parker,” I said, pulling her back. “I think I can work this out.

“Listen, Vinny. You want subpoenas, you got ’em. But I guarantee you, I’ll be going over his computers and phone records with a fine-tooth comb now. I’ll lock his ass up for obstruction of justice-or shit, maybe I’ll make him my main suspect. You gonna muzzle him, or do I take his rich drunken ass up to Harlem for questioning?”

Vin didn’t think about my offer for too long. For all his blue-collar demeanor, he definitely seemed on the ball.

“I’ll talk to him,” Vin said. “Gimme a sec.”

As we waited, Parker and I stared at the cars on the West Side Highway, trying to brainstorm.

“We need to piece this thing together before this idiot really does get his son killed,” Emily said.

“Okay, Parker,” I said. “For the moment, let’s assume it’s the same guy. How does Dan Hastings fit in?”

“He’s rich, obviously,” Parker said. “One of the other two was a college freshman, too. He’s an only child.”

“No, he isn’t,” I pointed out. “He has two new half siblings, remember?”

“You’re right,” she said. “Is that important?”

“I don’t know. It’s a difference. Also, this guy’s going through a divorce. The other two families were happily married.”

“Good point. But doesn’t that indicate another kidnapper?”

“Or that there’s another connection we haven’t made.”

“Yeah, well, we better make it quick,” Parker said as we watched an armored car pull into the pier’s parking lot.

Two armed uniformed guards got out of the car, went around to the back, and removed two very large currency bags.

“Because this ship of fools looks like it’s about to set sail.”

WE WERE ALLOWED back on board with the stipulation that our technicians be closely monitored by Gordon Hastings’s staff. Hastings ’s IT adviser actually stood over the shoulder of our FBI techie as he installed a Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier.

The petty squabbling was still going on when the next “You’ve got mail” came at three o’clock on the button. Hastings himself opened up the e-mail.

The following instructions will be followed to the letter.

The five million dollars will be placed in a black rolling suitcase.

You and you alone will bring the money to the south playground of the Polo Grounds projects at 155th Street in Harlem at 4:45 PM.

When you are there and when we are convinced you have not been followed or brought the police, you will be given more instructions.

Take note:

If there is any evidence of ground or air police surveillance, you will never see your son again.

The first two were to prove what I am capable of. You alone have been given the chance to save your precious flesh and blood. Do not blow it.

Hastings and his lawyer disappeared into the stateroom for a quick powwow. Carbone emerged five minutes later alone.

“Mr. Hastings will be paying the money and delivering it himself. That’s nonnegotiable. He’ll wear a wire so he can be kept track of, but that’s it. Otherwise, follow the kidnapper’s instructions. No air surveillance. Hear me, Bennett?”

I knew at some point in this case I’d be required to apply the skills I’d learned as a hostage negotiator. I just never thought I’d have to use them in dealing with the victim’s father.

We reluctantly had to agree. It really was up to Hastings how he wanted to play things, especially with the ransom. But that didn’t mean we would shirk our responsibility and not use everything within our power to get his son back alive.

Emily and I quickly made calls to our respective agencies to relate how badly things were stacking up. My boss, Carol Fleming, told me she’d heard of Hastings ’s mouthpiece, Carbone. The lawyer was known to represent mob types.

Could that fit into this? I didn’t know. But we didn’t really have the time to check it out. We had a deadline in less than two hours, and we needed our people in place yesterday.

Standing by the bar, Mr. Hastings was drinking coffee now as our techs wired him up. His corporate people were busy packing the money. I understood the instructions for it to be in a rolling suitcase, because even in hundred-dollar bills, the ransom would weigh almost ninety pounds.