Scent of Gardenia (Scott Tucker Series) (33 page)

Chapter 83

Yesterday,
they planned how they were going to divide their resources to confront Margaret
and raid her house to free the hostages. They waited for Ralph to finish his
phone call with Max Gordon, who was assisting with the questioning of someone
found with one of the missing yachts. Room service allowed all four of them to
get a faster start this morning.

Ralph
hung up the phone. “Okay, here’s what Max has learned. The suspect they
questioned was threatened with being an accomplice to multiple murder charges.
He said he had no idea that anyone was going to be killed. He gave Max the name
of the people involved on this end. Margaret Orion was the brains behind all of
the kidnappings and sale of the yachts. Her accomplice is Ray Hughes, who is Chief-Inspector
Hughes’ nephew. I told Max we had determined Margaret was involved and possibly
had the hostages at her house.”

Mercedes
commented, “I wonder if the lack of progress by the police, namely inspector
Hughes, has anything to do with the fact his nephew is involved?”

Ralph
acknowledged her comment with a nod. “I told Max; we planned to confront
Margaret on her boat today. At the same time, Mike and Sam plan to raid her
home to rescue the hostages. He said he was taking a flight, but he wouldn’t be
here for several hours. His comment was to be extremely careful, and not to do
anything that might compromise the hostages’ safety. He also said he has some
ideas of his own, but needed to head to the airport and couldn’t share all of
them.”

Mike
offered, “It is too risky to involve the police and Inspector Hughes, where the
inspector’s nephew is an accomplice. There is no indication he’s involved, but
it sure makes the lack of progress on the missing men a real question mark. I
say we leave the plans the way we set them up. Does anyone have any other
thoughts?”

Sam, who
had been silent all morning, asked, “Do you think that where Margaret has an
accomplice, he could be at her house?”

No one
immediately answered his question. Finally Mercedes offered, “It does raise a
question about whether she’s planned for anyone to be at her property, at least
for today? What if Sam is right and Ray Hughes is at the property? He could
have a gun.” She paused, but no one responded. “Mike, are you still in favor of
raiding her house?”

He
thought for a moment, and then answered, “I think if we don’t do it today,
tomorrow might be even harder to raid her property. I say we go through with
our plans. However, Mercedes and Ralph, it’s really your call. If anyone has
any semblance of authority here; you’re the closest thing we have. My interest
is to rescue those people.” He paused again. “Maybe I should call Paddy and run
these plans by him.”

*.*.*

Twenty
minutes later, Mike came back from the bedroom and related his conversation
with Paddy. “Paddy said given the circumstances he thought we should carry out
our plans. He had the same concerns about the accomplice at her house, but
knowing men are being killed at a faster rate, he wasn’t willing to wait,
especially with involvement of the police given the relationship of the
accomplice to the inspector.”

They
reviewed their plans one last time. Sam and Mike headed out in Sam’s cab, and
Mercedes and Ralph grabbed a new cab for Margaret’s dive shop.

It was
just before nine, when Mercedes and Ralph pulled into the dive shop parking
area. “Ralph, remember you’re Mike Miller for this excursion. We need to be
careful not to revert to your real name.”

“I got
it…don’t you slip and call me honey…I mean Ralph.”

Mercedes
made a move like she was going to slap him, but just gritted her teeth instead.
Ralph paid the cab driver, and they headed toward the dive shop.

Ralph
came around the small building, stopped and pointed at the boat with a woman
moving things on the back deck. Mercedes nodded her head, as they continued
towards the dock and boat.

“Hello,
Margaret…I’m Mike Miller and this is my friend Mercedes Strong.”

The
woman, who was only partially covered by a white bikini, stood up, shielded her
eyes from the sun. “Good morning Mr. Miller, how are you today?” Margaret
asked.

“I’m
fine and you?”

“I’m
doing better than most, actually. We have a beautiful day today. I’m glad
you’re on time. Please, come aboard.”

They
climbed aboard and shook hands. Mercedes studied the tall red-headed, very
attractive woman. She was surprised it wasn’t her sister – Melanie. Mercedes
asked, “Is there anything Mike and I can do to help?”

Margaret
answered, heading into the cabin area, “No, I’ve got it pretty much under
control, but thanks.” She donned the Red Sox hat, which was nearby. “Now, I
have some questions for you both?” She picked up the spear gun, heading back in
their direction.

Mercedes
and Ralph had an immediate hesitant reaction. Seeing their reaction, Margaret
laid the gun down. “I’m sorry I made both of you jump…one of my questions does
involve the spear gun, but I wanted to ask—have you both been dive certified?”

Ralph
answered quickly, “I have, but I could use a refresher, Mercedes is more of a
beginner.”

“May I
call you Mike?”

He was
briefly stunned by her question. “Yes, I’m sorry…I should have said that.”

“Well,
I’ll go over some procedures and give you both a refresher. As we talked
yesterday, I will be diving with you both today. Now about the fees…”

Ralph
reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. I said there would be three
of us, but our friend had an emergency that required his attention. I’m still
going to pay you the five-hundred anyway. I hope just the two of us is not
going to be a problem?”

“That’s
very generous of you, and two of you are not going to be any problem…unless you
want it to be?”

Mercedes
looked around at the spear gun. She thought she recognized something familiar
in Margaret’s voice. “We don’t want any problems. I’m from Boston Massachusetts, have you ever been there?”

Margaret
smiled, placing her hands on her hips. “Well, I haven’t parked my car in Harvard
Yard, if that’s your question. However, I was there years ago.” Margaret knew
Mercedes was her sister, and was thrilled Mercedes hadn’t recognized her.

Mercedes
replied, “That’s cute.” She was close enough to look into Margaret’s eyes,
again thinking she recognized this woman could indeed be her sister. She was
prettier, with a more perfect figure, but could also tell she had undergone
breast augmentation surgery. They looked stretched to their limit. Ralph seemed
quite interested.

Margaret
smiled, asking another question, as she picked up the spear gun, “Do either of
you know how to use one of these?”

Margaret
pointed the spear gun at Ralph for just a second, and then shot the gun with
the spear anchoring itself in the closest dock post. “That’s how you shoot it,
but let me show you both how to load it. We will be carrying these on our dive,
just in case you want to have some fresh dinner, or we see something, or
someone, getting too close for comfort.”

She did
a quick demonstration, and could feel Ralph’s eyes staring at her assets. She
quickly turned to look up at Ralph. “Now, do you think you could handle that on
your own?”

“I don’t
think that will present any problem.” Ralph answered, knowing she caught him
looking.

Margaret
smiled at him. “You have to be careful with these things, and they can go off
when you’re least expecting it. Shall we get started?”

Ralph
had a questioning look on his face.

“The
boat…let’s get this show on the road. Mercedes, why don’t you get the bow
rope?” Margaret went to the helm area, starting the first engine, followed
quickly by the second.

Mercedes
climbed out of the boat, heading down the dock to the bow.

Margaret
came up beside Ralph to get the stern rope. The engines were really rumbling
under them. “Did you like what you were looking at?” Her thigh touched his as
she threw the rope onto the dock. She looked to check where Mercedes was and
added, “I’ll leave the door open when I change into my wet suit, so you won’t
have to strain so much to see things. Is that okay?” She smiled at him, walking
to the cabin area, not waiting for his impossible answer.

Mercedes
pushed the boat away from the dock, climbing over the boat rail onto the boat.
She was standing beside Ralph and noticed how red his face was. “What the hell
happened to you? This is not the time to let your dick get in the way of what
we came to do.” She turned to see Margaret looking at them, smiled at her, and
headed to the helm.
She thought if she could get Margaret to talk some more
she might be able to confirm her suspicions.

Chapter
84

Mike and
Sam were headed to Margaret’s house. They were both quiet. Mike was busy
developing scenarios for what they might be faced with. If the hostages were
not alone, what was he going to do?

What
Mike didn’t know was that Ray Hughes was looking out Margaret’s bedroom window
for anybody approaching the house. He arrived at Margaret’s house early and had
more than one preview of what to expect when they had their weekend together.
However, he felt sleepy from that tryst, along with not getting much sleep
thinking about today’s possibilities. Margaret was like a dynamite factory and
he was innocently lighting matches. He was somewhat glad she had left…he felt
like a sponge being wrung out—there wasn’t anything more to give.

He knelt
to look out the window, feeling like he was falling asleep. He looked once more,
and didn’t see anything. He walked around her bedroom picking up things. He
found a pair of men’s boat shoes, thinking of the men Margaret might have
kidnapped. He checked the window again, but there wasn’t anyone coming.
Curiosity got the best of him. He decided to see where that guy he brought
might be kept. She mentioned not to go downstairs, but she was going to be gone
for hours.

He found
the door in the kitchen that led downstairs. He thought about the dangers of
going down there, but headed down anyway. There was a hall with a sand floor. He
could see light shining in the distance. He slowly and silently made his way
down the hall. The first room was a cell with full height bars at the entrance.
There was a man chained to a bed, but he didn’t recognize him and appeared to
be asleep. He went to the next room on the right and saw the man who he brought
to the house the other day. That man saw him but didn’t say anything. He was
jealous of Margaret’s attention.

The next
cell on the right shocked him. There was a beautiful redhead on the bed, also
naked like the others. He studied her and she looked scared. He tried the cell
door and it was locked. She started to react to his trying to get in. He looked
around for a key, but couldn’t find one. He wanted to get into her cell now
more than anything. He rushed to the last cell, and saw Jules dwarfing the bed.
He looked for a key there, but couldn’t find one there either.

He went
back to the woman’s cell, staring at her. “What’s your name cutie?”

“Go fuck
yourself, asshole,” she yelled. “You better tell someone we’re here, or you
will regret it when we get out.”

He went
running off to look for some keys. He even looked upstairs, but couldn’t find
any. He returned to her cell, ignoring the other two. He started digging into
the sand at the cell door, but the ground under the sand was just too hard. The
woman in the cell reminded him of Margaret, but he was still surprised Margaret
was keeping a woman here. Maybe they could work out some kind of exchange, or
better a twosome. He was getting excited, just thinking about the
possibilities.

She
flipped him the finger, stunning him. She did it again. Now he was mad. He
pulled on the cell door and it felt loose. He pulled harder on it and part of
the dirt ceiling fell down. He could see the anxiety on the face of the woman
now. He pulled and pulled at the cell door, and it was getting looser.

“Hey
idiot,” Jules called out. “I suggest you get out of here before you do something
you will regret the rest of your life.”

He was
getting desperate, but was making progress on the cell door and frame. The
woman was squirming on the bed, obviously worried about his seeming progress.
Suddenly he stopped what he was doing, realizing he would be in trouble if he
was able to get inside her cell. He also remembered Margaret’s instructions
about watching for anyone coming. He took one last look, heading back to the
front bedroom.

*.*.*

When he
got to the bedroom window he knelt down and looked up the driveway. He couldn’t
believe his eyes. There were two men stalking down the drive towards the house.
One was black and the other white. He ducked down. His heart raced even faster
than downstairs.
Shit, shit, shit, now what the fuck do I do?

He
didn’t have a gun. If these two men were cops, he was in serious trouble. He
opened the walk-in closet door, closing it and hid behind some long dresses.
His heart was beating loudly enough for him to hear it in his ears. He listened
intently for any sound.

*.*.*

Mike
noticed there was no vehicle in sight. “Sam, it gives the appearance that
there’s nobody home. I don’t see any vehicles around.” It was broad daylight
and if anybody was looking up the drive they would have seen them for sure.
Mike gave a hand signal for Sam to go down the other side of the house, and look
in the windows.

Mike
looked in the first window and it was a bedroom. The bed was a mess, but there
was nobody in it. He proceeded down the walkway, looking into the kitchen
window. There was nobody there, but there was a door open in the kitchen. It
could be a walk-in pantry, but his gut told him it would lead down to hopefully
where Scott, Holly and the others were. He heard a noise and froze in position.
Mike was ready for a confrontation, but fortunately Sam came around the back of
the house. He was shaking his head, and he returned the same gesture.

Mike
gave an indication that they needed to get inside. Sam waved for him to follow
and Mike saw the back door. Mike wished he brought some of his former tools
with him, it would make picking the lock that much easier. He tried the brass
knob and although there was some play in the handle, it wasn’t sufficient to
get inside. He gave Sam the look inside motion and when Sam got to the window,
he started working on the lock. It took a few minutes but between the play in
the hinges and door handle and his trusty credit card he was able to get the
door ajar. He looked at Sam for anyone coming and Sam shook his head.

Mike
opened the door slowly without any negative result. He stepped up to the entry
way, peeking inside the kitchen. He could see the door directly opposite him
and the stairs leading down to a lower level. He motioned for Sam to follow him.
There were stairs leading down. He pointed with two fingers at his own eyes to
let Sam know they needed to check out the other rooms.

There
was a small dining area and living room. The furniture and decorations clearly
indicated to him that a woman lived here. It was also tidy, nothing looked out
of place. The bathroom was around the corner opposite the front door. He
checked that out along with a small closet next to the bathroom. Nothing! Sam
followed him into the bedroom. The bed looked like a war had taken place, which
was notable compared to the neatness of the rest of the house. He signaled Sam
that there was another door. Mike thought this had to be a closet.

He
silently opened the door and looked inside. It was a walk-in closet and only
women’s clothes, and a lot of them, were bunched up along one side. The other
side had about ten different sundresses and evening wear. He moved some of the
bunched up clothes, but didn’t see anything out of place. They left the closet,
closing the door.

“Sam, I
think we have the upstairs to ourselves, but we need to see whether anyone is
downstairs,” Mike whispered. He gave the hush sign and headed out of the
bedroom.

Sam
didn’t reply, just followed on Mike’s heals. Mike stopped at the kitchen stairs,
listening intently for a few minutes. He shook his head indicating he hadn’t
heard anything.
Mike’s detective experience was telling him this was much
too easy…he had expected someone to be here, but maybe they were indeed
downstairs.