Scent of Gardenia (Scott Tucker Series) (24 page)

Chapter
59

Margaret
took out her hostility on each of them during the night. However, she did
reward Nils for his comment on her beauty. Well, the reward was mostly hers,
not his. It was strange not having Shawn here anymore, but she got over Roger,
so she would get over him as well. She had some new ‘guests’ to teach the ropes,
smiling at her pun. She looked in on Paul, but he was still recovering from his
ordeal last night. He was even tougher than she thought.

She was
learning some new things herself having the pretty redhead named Holly. If
Holly was playing along and not really enjoying things, that’s okay too. It wasn’t
really whether they liked things or not, it was the enjoyment
she received
that really mattered. Last night was incredible. She could spend all day just
repeating the process. However, she had other things to do. The sun was already
up and she wanted to work on her full body tan.

She left
them alone, heading out to prepare her surprise for Holly. It took a few
minutes. She was already starting to perspire. She went back to Holly’s suite,
studying her body without saying anything.

Leaving
her ankles shackled, she undid one of Holly’s wrists. Then she sat her up. She
put one end of the pair of handcuffs on that wrist. She could feel Holly
breathing against her body.
Don’t get distracted Margaret…you need to focus
right now.
She undid the other wrist, putting it in the other cuff behind
her back. She noticed Holly’s wrists were both chaffed. She put a new ankle
shackle onto Holly’s closest ankle. It already had a six foot anchor chain
attached to it. Then she undid the two other existing shackles.

“Are you
ready Holly?” Margaret asked. Holly looked confused. Margaret smiled, knowing Holly
had no idea what she planned next. “Well Holly, looking at how white you are, I
can tell you never have a chance to get any sun. In fact, I’m quite sure some
of these parts have never seen the light of day. Well starting today, we’re
going to change that. Margaret reached out, touching Holly’s body. She thought,
that’s enough of that, let’s not get sidetracked.
She jumped off her bed
and pulled Holly up with her. “Just follow the hall to the stairs and up.”

Soon
they were outside, as Margaret guided Holly to the chaise lounges on the lawn
looking out to the ocean. Margaret pushed her back onto one of the lounges,
attaching her chain to a shackle in a cement filled tire next to it. Margaret
stood casting her shadow on Holly. Neither said anything for several minutes.
Margaret suddenly turned, heading back towards the house.

Holly
took the opportunity to look at her surroundings. She could understand why no
one had seen what she was doing. There weren’t any houses near here. The boat
dock was the only thing between her and the ocean. Holly could see sailboats far
in the distance…too far to wave to. She heard Margaret approaching.

Margaret
sat down on the side of the chaise lounge, pushing Holly back so she was lying
down. Margaret’s hand moved fast as she sprayed Holly all over. “We can’t have
you getting a bad sunburn can we?” Then she commenced rubbing the lotion in,
taking her time along the way. When she finished with Holly, she put the suntan
lotion on herself and laid down on the other chaise lounge. “Holly, isn’t Bermuda incredible?”

Holly
didn’t respond. “Holly, do I have to remind you about the rule of answering,
and answering truthfully? You don’t want Jules to suffer any consequences of
your behavior do you? Now, isn’t Bermuda incredible?”

Holly
closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and thought of Jules and their time
together. “Yes it is.”

*.*.*

Slightly
over an hour later, Margaret was off to her excursion business. She had already
heard the reports of Shawn being found. She was glad she didn’t go to that
location to dump Paul’s body.
I have to keep one step ahead of you guys.

She
pulled into her parking area. Three young men were already standing there
waiting for her to arrive. She got out of her vehicle, played with her hair and
then went over to the men. “Sorry I’m late…I had some pressing things to take
care of this morning. Are you guys ready for some fun today?” She bent down,
picked up a rusty nail and threw it into the water.

They all
responded, but she could tell they were more interested in her body than
anything else. She was happy with her choice of a bright blue sundress and her
skimpiest underwear. As she walked to her small dive shop she could feel their eyes
staring through her dress at the silhouette of her body. She turned her head to
confirm where their eyes were and she was satisfied. “Are you all certified
divers, or do I need to spend extra time with any of you? There’s an extra
charge if I do.”

There
were smiles, but no answers.
That question always gets their libidos going.

She
also knew from past experience, that when they were all in their wet suits,
hers always created some interesting attention and reactions. It gave her an
opportunity to spot the men from the boys.

Chapter
60

Holly
waited until she was sure Margaret had left. “Jules are you okay?” Holly asked,
but there was no response. “Jules?” She waited but he didn’t answer. “Nils, are
you okay?”

“Yeah,
I’m getting to know how to take the safest route with her. I’m okay. You?” Nils
asked.

“I’m
okay, thanks. Jules?” This time she yelled his name.

He
finally acknowledged her yell. “I’m still here. However, to tell you the truth,
I would rather be on my boat. How are you doing?”

“What’s
the use of complaining? Listen, now that we know where Nils is, we need to get
him and us out of here. She took me outside and I got a look at this property.
We’re right on the ocean and there’s not another house near us. We must be on a
remote part of the island, or there may be some physical buffer between this
place and anyone else. However, the line of trees on both sides prevented me
from getting a good look beyond them. Down towards the water there’s a very
large shed and beyond that a dock. So, she has access to the ocean right from
her property, which is obviously how she disposes of the bodies.”

No one
responded, so she added, “Jules, does this give you any hint as to where we
are?”

“Did you
see anything out in the water, or hear anything?” Jules asked.

“There
weren’t any buoys out as far as I could see. There were some waves breaking
over what looked like a reef, but it was quite a distance out. I could see
sailboats beyond that, but they were way out.”

Nils
asked, “Why did she bring you outside?”

“She’s interested
in me getting a tan. For a redhead, she’s tanned all over. You guys didn’t’
notice that did you.”

“Holly,
I appreciate you trying to make light of our situation, but since you asked…yes
I happened to notice that. Holly, I need to warn you, but you already know this
I’m sure, you too Nils. She fluctuates between being a sex maniac, and
obviously we’ve all noticed she never seems satisfied…but worse, she takes
pleasure in dishing out pain.” Jules said.

Nils
added, “We’ve all seen her with the fish hooks. I didn’t see her with them
after she was with Paul. Judging from his screams I would have to say she
passed them on. I’ve been here too long, but I’m not ready for her to kill me
yet. I think when she gets tired of one of us; she gets rid of whoever it is.
Holly, do you have any ideas as to how we can get out of here?”

“I would
say my only chance is when she takes me outside, which I’m sure she will do
again. Maybe I can choke her with the chain attached to my ankle. It would be
tricky because I would have to get my arms from behind my back to in front of
me. I think I could do it, but she would obviously see me trying to do that.”

“Holly,
I’m sorry I didn’t protect you,” Jules offered.

“I’ve
had some time to think in here and when we get out of here I’m going to make
some changes in my life,” she proposed.

“Holly.”
Jules paused. “Can you tell me which direction the sun was?”

“Yes, it
was coming mostly from straight out to sea.”

“Well,
that means we’re somewhere on the East side of the island on a patch of land
without any houses. It sounds like we might be on the South East side. Nils,
when she kidnapped you, do you remember anything about the trip here?”

“Not
really. She managed to either spike my drink, or something. I was out cold and
never saw anything until I woke up chained to this bed.” Nils paused, and then
asked, “Are you guys naked?”

Jules
replied, “Yeah, it looks that way.”

Holly
replied, “Yeah, me too, but I’m not a
guy
.”

Chapter
61

Mike met
Sam in the lobby and they headed into the dining room area.

They
ordered quickly. “Sam, I really want to find out today where this redhead gets
her supplies. More specifically, I want to learn where we can find her. Every
hour that goes by, might just be the difference of finding them alive,” Mike
said, but he didn’t like the thoughts of not finding them.

“Mr.
Mike, I understand the situation. I too want to find Jules. I have three supply
house addresses to check out…one of them should put us closer to where she is.”

Their
breakfasts arrived. “Sam, did you hear about another man’s body being found?”

“I
certainly did, and I’m sorry to hear that, but glad it wasn’t Jules or your
associate.”

“That
makes two men found murdered, and still four people missing including Jules and
Holly. That’s not even considering the four who were seen fueling up the
‘Import-ant.’”

*.*.*

A short
time later Sam was driving the cab to the closest address on his list. It gave
Mike time to think about this whole investigation. The police seemed to be dead
in the water, and to his knowledge weren’t making any progress. Mercedes and
the FBI were also here, but he couldn’t tell how much they had learned. Holly
and Jules got too successful and are now missing and feared kidnapped with the
others, and then there’s his own investigation. He felt he was making progress,
and was hopeful there would be something beneficial this morning. He considered
talking with Charlotte Williams to see if she could shed any light on Paul’s
kidnapping. However, he wanted to check the supply companies first.

Sam
pulled the cab into a parking lot of the
Bermuda Air Gas Supply Company.
There were several men moving tanks and loading a truck. He went over and
asked, “Is there someone I can talk to about a customer?”

“Yes,
Mr. Dermot is inside.” The man pointed to the building.

Mike,
with Sam following at his heels, went inside the building. The man inside saw
them enter, and put down the large box he was carrying. “Yes, how can I help
you gentlemen?”

“Good
morning. My name is Mike Miller, and this is Sam. I’m interested in locating a
potential customer of yours. I don’t know her name, but she is a tall redheaded
woman, who might be a diver, or run a dive shop.” Mike saw the man’s eyebrows
react to his description. “I can see you might know who I’m talking about?”

“Yes,
there seems to be a lot of interest in her lately. My name is Paul Dermot.”

‘Why do
you say there’s been a lot of interest in her?” Mike asked.

“Well,
there was a redheaded woman and a man in here about three days ago asking about
her.”

Mike
immediately asked, “Was her name Holly?”

“Yes, it
was. She was with a tall black man, but I don’t remember his name.”

“Jules.”
Mike offered.

“Yes,
that was his name. What do you want to know about my customer?”

“Can you
give me her name and business address?”

“Her
name is Margaret Orion. I’ll get her address for you.” He headed to the file
cabinets behind the cash register. He pulled out a manila folder, looking at
Mike. “I’ll write down her address for you.” He handed Mike a slip with her
address. “Why, all the interest?”

“Paul,
I’m here trying to locate Holly. She disappeared along with Jules right after she
talked to you. Holly works for our office and she was down here doing a private
investigation into one of the missing men.”

“Oh, now
all the pieces are coming together. I heard about two more people reported
missing, and a new body found in another dive cage.”

“Yes,
unfortunately the two new missing people are Holly and Jules. Does Margaret
have anything to do with diving?”

“Yes, as
a matter of fact…she runs a dive excursion business from the address I gave
you.” Paul looked like he was going to say more.

“Is
there something else you want to tell me?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, I
guess,” Paul said, taking a deep breath before adding, “Margaret is a strange
duck. She is very beautiful and has a great body. I had one experience myself
and have learned that many of my drivers have benefited from making deliveries
to her. She loves to show off her body and then some. She gave me the creeps,
but my guys fight over who’s going to make her delivery.”

“I guess
that is good to know,” Mike acknowledged.

“Mike,
do you think she could have anything to do with the missing men?”

“I can’t
say, but I would like to talk with her. Thank you very much for her name and
address. One other question…have the police ever come to ask you about
Margaret?”

“No,
they haven’t.”