Chapter 24
I decided to check out the care facility address Stephen had given me. The money drop wasn’t scheduled until Sunday, but I wanted to see if I could spot the guy who made the pickup the other night.
Even though it was a holiday weekend, the Saturday night traffic was lighter than a normal weekend. It was only a fifteen minute drive to Belmont. I parked across the street and up a few doors. I could see the front walk leading from the side parking area to the front door. The spot lights lit up the front of the building. It was a nice looking white Georgian Colonial with black shutters beside the windows and front door.
I soon spotted a Cadillac pull into the driveway. A man dressed in a white shirt, gray pants and a blue blazer got out of the driver’s seat and went around and opened the front passenger’s door. When they came around the back of the car I could see a tall woman beside him with long red hair. That has to be Alexis. However, I couldn’t see the woman’s face, but I saw Melanie’s.
I got a chill up my spine. To think Melanie had a twin sister was almost like my captivity wasn’t over.
The man held her arm and helped her up the front stairs. They stopped at the entrance and spoke briefly to each other. The man pulled her close to him and then opened the front door.
A minute later a light in the first window on the first floor went on. I imagined it was either an office or maybe her room. I got out of my car and went over to the parking lot. There was a gold Pontiac Tempest in the parking lot. I figured it was about a ’63. I wrote the license plate number down and decided to write the Cad’s down too.
I didn’t know if the Tempest was connected to the blackmailing, but thought it would be good to have the plate. Mike might be able to research the license plates for owner and address info.
See, I already anticipate Mike helping. I’ll cross that obstacle later.
I walked back to my car hoping no one had seen me.
About fifteen minutes later the same man came out of the building and climbed into the Cad and drove off in the opposite direction.
While I sat there I tried to think about the blackmailer. He, or she, had to be someone who knew about Alexis. The person most likely had to be someone who worked at the facility and had access to information that indicated Stephen was the father.
It could also be someone who wasn’t connected to the facility, but had access to the doctor’s files including Stephen’s address. In fact, the person wouldn’t know that this was being kept under wraps unless documentation showed that.
The image of the woman walking with long red hair hanging down the back of her jacket reminded me of Mercedes. She has no idea of what her father was keeping secret from her and her mother. Her image was replaced with the image of Stephen having an affair with another woman. The thoughts of Mercedes with Ralph in a foreign country came to mind.
Would Ralph try to seduce Mercedes?
How could he honestly resist her? From the first day we were introduced in Paddy’s office, I have been uncomfortable around her. She knows how to get me going.
The image of her in that cabin dressed in a towel too small for the task came into view.
If I was Ralph, it would be very hard to ignore her. I don’t think I could blame him for trying either.
Chapter 25
Alexis put her back to the door and took a deep breath. The image of Chris doing the things she was thinking of was getting her excited again.
The front door opened and closed and she knew the doctor was leaving. He wouldn’t be back until Monday morning.
Could she occupy Chris’s time until then? Most likely not, but she could put a dent in his time. That made her smile, because what she had seen was not anywhere close to being dented.
She heard the sound of the Cadillac’s engine.
She now had the power over the doctor, and the thought of having two men within her control caused her body to react. Then it dawned on her…
what was Chris doing in her room?
The light in the bathroom was on, but the shower is dry. She hustled over to her bed—no problem there. She opened her drawers. When she got to her bra drawer she discovered they had been moved.
The black bra was not folded the way she folded it. When she inspected the panty drawer, the black panties were also disturbed. She smiled,
that my dear Chris will cost you some pain.
Then panic set in.
She dropped to her knees and opened her bottom right drawer. She reached for her diary and quickly discovered he had indeed moved it. Those were entries she had not intended anyone to see. If he had read any of those he would know what she and the doctor had been doing, but worse, how she had been faking being hypnotized and her inner most thoughts of how she felt about what he did to her. The only thing in there is either private thoughts or things about the doctor. She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do about his snooping, but he’s gone too far now.
My dear dear Chris…at some point you are going to really regret what you just did. You have crossed a line and have no idea what I am capable of doing. The doctor also trusts me and lets me tie him up…you both have made some unfortunate mistakes.
She looked in her dresser mirror, and noticed, maybe for the first time, how beautiful she looked. She started to undress and knew what she was going to wear for Chris’ visit.
Chapter 26
Max Gordon went off with two police officers to visit where the body of the woman was found. Although Ralph was with her all day, he seemed to be focused on their investigation and didn’t give any impression he was interested in her.
The way the captain behaved looking at her in her sweaty outfit, she was very surprised Ralph wasn’t paying much attention to her. She checked and the second top button on her yellow shirt was indeed unbuttoned. She knew her shirt was sticking to her bra and left little to the imagination.
It was now early evening and they had skipped lunch. The captain had given them three areas where they might want to investigate. Their police officers had questioned people, but nobody provided any information. The captain insinuated the locals would certainly want to spend time with her, and in the process might divulge some guarded information.
The police officer pulled the unmarked car into a parking spot. “Would you please give us a few minutes to discuss something in private?” Mercedes leaned over to the officer.
He nodded and left them alone.
Mercedes turned to Ralph. “You seem very distant today. Is it because of our discussion about what you did at my apartment?”
“You made it clear I was out of line. I’m giving you the space you want.”
“Thank you.” She wanted to say more to him, but hesitated.
“Are you worried that I didn’t notice how beautiful you look and also how sexy you look in that damp outfit. And, if I might ask…why a black bra?”
“There’s my Ralph.” She thought about those words for a moment too long. “Max thought wearing an outfit to get the authorities’ interest would be in our best interest. It worked. The captain was about to cop a feel if we spent any additional time together. In fact, he suggested he come to my hotel to work on the case some more. I know what he had in mind.”
“
Your Ralph, huh?”
“That was a bad choice of words. I wasn’t used to your not paying attention to me.”
“So, are you saying you like my attention?”
“Let’s just say I am used to it.”
He turned in the seat to face her. “Do you know how hard it is to work close to a beautiful woman like you? You move in a certain way, and it takes my breath away.”
“I think we better stop this discussion right now.”
“No, you brought this up, and you have to know my side of the story. It was all I could do not to make love to you the night you had too much to drink and didn’t remember what had happened. The next morning your expression was priceless when you thought we had indeed shared each other. But, we didn’t. Mercy, its hard working with you, but it would be worse if we weren’t together.”
“Thank you for respecting me that night.”
“Now you know why I sabotaged your apartment. I had hoped it would open the door for us, but I’m sorry. It was stupid of me. I also never thanked you for not filing paperwork of my harassment…so thank you again.”
“Wow. I didn’t expect all of that. I can tell how much you like me. I think you’re an excellent agent and I enjoy working with you. I’ll try to make it easier on you to work with me.” She pulled at the front of her shirt, and buttoned the second button.
“Mercy, we’re still trying to do our investigation here.” He reached over and undid her shirt button. “Like I said its hard working with you, but you’re right about how we need to get information from these locals. Leave the buttons the way they need to be, and I’ll just try not to get hard…I mean, deal with it.”
“I guess now we understand each other, and it’s nice to know how you feel. However, my heart is with Scott.” She smiled and closed her fist over her heart. She watched his eyes and his expression and knew what he was thinking without him saying it. She pushed him. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
It was plain as the nose on her face that when they approached their driver he had only seen her walking his way.
I guess the outfit will do the trick.
*.*.*
“Miss, it is not good you go into cantina. Mr. Ralph and I go, and you stay in car,” the police driver advised.
Mercedes studied the man, and knew he was just trying to be helpful and to protect her. He was dressed in civilian clothes to hide his identity. However, anyone looking at Ralph or her would know they were not from this country. Especially, since Jose was their interpreter.
“That’s okay. I appreciate your advice, but I have to participate.”
“Mercedes, maybe he is making a good point. If we find someone who wants to share information with us, then we can get you…to keep his interest.”
“No. I don’t think that makes any sense. I’ll go with you.”
“Then we’re not going to go in there. Jose has told me privately that several women have gone missing in these three joints. They have never been seen again. Why don’t we do this? I’ll go in with Jose and if things look promising, I will come get you to join us. I promise.”
“Okay, but you promised.” She said the words, but she didn’t feel comfortable about saying them. She grabbed the keys to the car and headed back.
It was an hour later when Ralph and Jose returned to the car. The broken glass next to the car immediately gave Ralph a feeling that something terrible had happened.
They both ran to the car and found it empty and Mercedes gone. There was no sign of any struggle, but obviously she hadn’t left on her own.
Chapter 27
It wasn’t a cold night, but a chill went up my spine. I checked the car mirrors to make sure I wasn’t in danger. There was nothing, but I still had the strange feeling.
Despite my concern about Ralph, I couldn’t help thinking about Mercedes doing a murder investigation in a dangerous place. I hope he’s keeping an eye on her, but not too close an eye.
Mercedes would make a perfect target for a slave trade scenario. She would command a very high price and given the fact she might have had only one lover, she would be the cream of the crop.
Why the hell am I even considering this scenario? If something awful were to happen to her I would never get over it. Do your job Ralph, and just your job. Have I been her only lover?
I know I had to get used to her being in dangerous investigations…that’s her job and she’s good at it.
If we got married would she continue working for the FBI? Would she alter her assignments if we had children? Would we even have children?
I thought of our conversation about my seeing Maggie dance, and what she might have thought happened between us. She did hang up on me. Maybe that would give her an excuse to be with Ralph. No, she would be mad at him too. What if they separated and did their own investigations. As much as I didn’t like the thoughts of them working closely together, I didn’t like the thoughts of her doing her own investigation.
Speaking of investigations…what the hell am I doing?
The bright headlights shining on my rearview mirror and racing up behind my parked car made me wonder if this was the blackmailer. The car stopped right behind my car and the blue lights lit up the neighborhood.
*.*.*
They didn’t buy my story that I pulled over to rest for a minute. I should have thought about my answer before I said I just pulled over. Someone in the neighborhood spotted my white convertible and my checking out the care facility. I just hoped nobody at the care facility noticed the police action.
In a way, I was glad the Belmont neighborhood is where my car was left. If it was Roxbury who knows what would be left of it. I had never been in a police station before, so I was very uncomfortable. The metal chair in the small office was uncomfortable, and nobody has come in to talk with me for over an hour.
I gave them my license and registration, which they have not yet returned. My trump card was Mike Miller. I heard a key in the lock and turned to see a familiar face. It was one of the detectives on the task force.
“Well, Scott, what a surprise to have you in our precinct. What the fuck were you doing?” He threw the door shut and took a seat in the swivel chair.
“Hi Paul. I didn’t expect to see you.” Paul was our receptionist’s boyfriend, Paul Brosque.
“You stole my line. Scott, you have to level with me. You were seen parked for almost two hours and at one point you were spotted in the parking lot of the…Lighthouse Manor. There have been some burglaries in that neighborhood and you are the first candidate we’ve seen. I know you’re not up to something bad, what’s going on?”
I was happy it was Paul. “I really can’t say.”
He smiled at my answer. “Okay, you give me no choice. I guess we’re going to keep you for a lineup in the morning. We have a few witnesses to one of the break-ins and we’ll get them down here to see if they can pick you out.” He let that scenario sink in.
“Can I call Mike Miller?”
“Sure. Come on Scott, you can tell me what’s going on. I know you’re not a second-story man. Talk to me. Besides, Colleen will kill me if she knows I hassled you. It’s a good thing I overheard your name and told the Captain I knew you and could vouch for you. I’m out on a limb here and you have to help me.”
“I can’t really say…that’s why I would like to talk with Mike.”
“Scott, let’s play twenty questions.”
I remember my ride up to Waterville with Lisa. That’s the last time I played twenty questions and what followed that game was a lot of fun. “Okay, but can I ask that what I’m going to tell you be kept a secret?”
“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best. Are you doing an investigation?” I immediately reacted to his question. “Okay, so now that we have determined that, what does it involve?”
“I’m always impressed with how you detectives quickly put pieces together.” He smiled at my comment. “Mike knows I’m doing an investigation. Someone I know is being extorted. That person wants me to find out who is doing it.”
“Extortion is a serious felony. Maybe we need to know more about this.”
“Paul, if this gets out…well it needs to be kept under wraps. Can you help me out here, please?”
“Scott, your butt was saved twice already. Haven’t you learned to focus on other things? Why do you keep getting yourself involved where you don’t belong?” He closed the folder on the desk. “Do you have Mike’s number?”
“Do you want it?”
“Give me the number and maybe Mike can help me where you can’t.”
*.*.*
An hour later Paul came back into the room. “Okay Mr. Tucker,” he said with a wink. “You’re free to go. My Captain knows Mike very well, and I shared with him that you were doing some undercover work for Mike.”
I wondered what Mike had shared with him, but I was happy I could leave.
“A piece of personal advice to you. I would let Mike take over this investigation. It sounds like this could be life threatening, and unless you’re a cat with nine lives, I would keep your distance.”
“Thanks Paul. I appreciate the input.” I stood to leave. “Can I get a ride to my car?”
“What car?”
*.*.*
It took Paul a few phone calls, but they located my car. I hadn’t realized I parked it in a no parking after 10 PM zone and found out the car was towed.
Since Belmont contracts with private towing companies, there’s an incentive for the towing companies to actively seek violators. Once they find them, they call the police and they issue a ticket and away the vehicle goes. Everyone wins, except the car owner.
It was midnight and I was tired, but glad I wasn’t being held any longer, and found my car.
It cost me $75 for the tow, and the cost of the ticket another $40. I was lucky someone was at the impound lot to take my money, or I would have had to wait until 7 the next morning.
I was just leaving when I spotted Mike’s car pulling into the entry area.