Smugglers 1: Nikki (27 page)

CHAPTER 30

Chuck was at 30,000 feet, headed to Dallas, Texas, and Isabelle was in her apartment asleep in preparation for work that night. By the time Nikki got Tim moved out, did some cleaning and worked on the dock, half the day was gone.

As Chuck’s plane started to descend into Dallas and traveled below 10,000 feet, he heard a click coming from his overnight bag. In a split second he knew what the click was and thought of Isabelle coming on his boat just before he left. Had she been alone at all with his bag?

Just then the Lear jet blew apart from the explosion at nine thousand feet, scattering debris and Chuck’s body over miles of sky and even further at ground level. The bomb was set to go past 10,000 feet once, then the second time it went past 10,000 feet it would go off. Chuck knew as he died that it was Isabelle.

Later that night Nikki took a shower and then made everything just right for Isabelle’s arrival. She was full of excitement and anticipation of the night of lovemaking and drugs that lay ahead. She was hot thinking about Isabelle’s naked body lying next to her in her bed. Nikki got out the cocaine, but didn’t do any, had a drink instead and fell asleep on the loveseat. She woke up at one to a knock at the door, and when she opened it she was surprised to see Isabelle standing there.

“Did you get off work early?”

“I took off early so I could be with you,” Isabelle said.

Nikki made Isabelle a drink and freshened up her own. She pulled Isabelle close and kissed her. “I’ve been thinking about you all day and night.”

“Me too,” Isabelle said. They kissed again and this time it was a long, deep kiss, full of sexual feelings. They spent the longest time standing in an embrace and looking into each other’s eyes, before heading into Nikki’s bedroom.

After putting down their drinks, Isabelle gently pushed Nikki back onto the bed, kissing her over and over as she unbuttoned Nikki’s top and exposed her ample breasts to her hands and lips. As she kissed Nikki’s belly, she unbuttoned her jeans shorts, exposing Nikki’s womanly parts to her mouth. Nikki had no underwear on in anticipation, and soon her shorts joined her top on the floor next to her bed where she now lay naked. Isabelle stood up and took off all her own clothes and then went over to the dresser and got the mirror which had several lines on it. She brought it over to Nikki who did some lines, and as she took the mirror back to the dresser she did several lines herself. Isabelle took a large gulp of her drink, knelt on the floor and returned to business between Nikki’s more than willing legs.

By the time four o’clock arrived, they had both come several times and had spent a long time in each other’s arms, kissing and feeling the warmth of their lovemaking. Before Isabelle left for her apartment she called for Nikki to come outside for a look at the clear sky.

As they embraced and shared one last kiss, Nikki felt a sting in her ear, but she could not move. She watched Isabelle step back. As she did this, she gave Nikki a step over side kick that put Nikki between the houseboat and the dock. She landed on the chain holding the houseboat to the dock.

What was Isabelle doing, Nikki wondered in panic. Hadn’t they just made love, professed their love for each other and vowed that they would be together forever? What was Isabelle doing?

Then Isabelle bent over and pulled the pain from Nikki’s ear; it was an ice pick. In her other hand, she held a straight razor which she used to cut Nikki’s throat from ear to ear. It opened a gaping hole in her throat which opened up, letting blood pour out like a fire hose.

Nikki could not move or make a noise and of course could not fight back.

Isabelle picked up a cement block that was on the dock and threw it on Nikki’s head, knocking her from the chain and into the water. As her body sank out of sight, Isabelle just stood there staring at the water. She had to hide Nikki’s body before daybreak.

She went to her apartment and changed into her swim suit. She came out carrying a mask and an underwater flashlight She put the mask on and slipped into the water between the dock and the houseboat. After taking several breaths, she went to the bottom to find Nikki. She saw her lying face up at the bottom with her arms outstretched as if she were reaching to her for help. As the light hit her neck Isabelle could see the huge gap in her neck.

She went to the surface, took several breaths and dove again, this time grabbing Nikki’s body. As she was bringing the body to the surface, her light hit three bodies tied to the pilings. She let go of Nikki, and all her air escaped as she screamed at the sight of the three half eaten bodies tied to the post, one on top of the other.

Isabelle hit the surface, choking and spitting as she caught her breath. She put her face down in the water again, checking to make sure what she had seen was real. She took more breaths, diving down again and this time she saw the black bags. She partially unzipped one, revealing cash. She cut one bag loose and took it to the surface and then went to her apartment to check it out.

The bag was filled with cash, a lot of it. She estimated that there must be a million dollars in just the one, and the other bags were probably be full of money, too.

She got back in the water as fast as possible, going straight to the other bags and brought them up. She quietly got out of the water and carried the bags to her apartment where she cut the rest of the bags open, inspecting them one at a time. Each bag was like the first, full of money. She went back to the dock and got in the water again to secure Nikki’s body which she would take care of tomorrow night.

Isabelle returned to her apartment to find out how much money there was and spent the better part of six hours counting and rechecking and counting again. She never got above four and a half million before she lost count and would have to start over.

Finally she gave up and lay back on her bed, smiling and rubbing the money on her face, legs, and stomach. She started laughing because she knew she had found Glenn’s millions that she had known about for so long. She got busy putting the money back in the bags, and later that hour she heard a news report about a man from this area who had been killed in a plane crash.

Isabelle stopped what she was doing and listened to the newscast about Chuck. Little did the authorities know that the plane crash was only the half of it. They didn’t know about Nikki and would never know.’

She laid back on the bed but was unable to sleep, not sure if it was the bomb she planted on Chuck’s plane or the fight she had had with Nikki, but she just laid there until about 10 in the morning.

Finally, she got up and made coffee before she went out on the deck. There were a lot of people around, which made her nervous. She saw old Don beckoning to her from the back of his boat and noted that there was a group of people on board with him. She had never talked to him more than to say hi, and it was strange that here he was beckoning her to his boat.

As she approached him he asked her if she wanted to join him and his boys for morning coffee. Isabelle nodded and climbed aboard. She knew who Don was but had never met the rest. As she sat down Don said, “We have never seen you up this early before, and I must say you don’t look like you just got up. You’re as pretty as Chuck said.”

“So, you don’t know, Chuck’s plane crashed in Dallas,” she said.

“He always drank as he flew; we always knew that someday he would go in the damn air. Does Nikki know?”

“I’ve been calling her since last night,” Isabelle said. “We were supposed to get together for drinks after I got home from work, but she never answered the phone.”

“Maybe she went out,” Don said.

After about an hour Isabelle left for her apartment. She returned home to her Trac phone ringing. It was Tom, Chuck’s business partner, asking if she had heard about Texas, and if she had taken care of their other problem?

“I took care of it last night,” Isabelle said.

“Get rid of this phone today. I’ll get you a new one when I see you next week. I’m getting rid of mine today, too.”

After she concluded her conversation with Tom, Isabelle thought about how no one knew about the millions that she had found under the dock. Where should she hide the three soft side suitcases full of money? She thought about putting them back under the water, but knew they might be found there if a diver came to patch holes in the boat. She knew that she could not keep three suitcases full of cash in her apartment, and she also had to get Nikki’s body out to sea where she’d dispose of it.

She really needed to get some rest and would not have to see Tom until after work. Nothing could change at work or on the dock or she would be caught and then she’d lose the money, too.

Isabelle got up around 4, had coffee, took a shower and rubbed her body down with sun tan oil and glitter for Dominic, her regular customer.

All the usual customers were present and it was a week night. They were either young and broke or old and rich, all trying in different ways to get in her pants. She just kept dancing and shaking her ass and taking their money. She made the most money of anyone by far as she was young, tall and most of all black with only four per cent body fat. Men loved her blackness, and they dreamed of having her on their arm and showing her off.

After work she drove to meet Tom at a nice room at a hotel where he was drinking champagne half dressed. When she got into the room Tom kissed her several times and told her how good she looked and how much he loved her.

“Did you take care of our problem?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. I heard about Chuck’s plane blowing up.”  When she started to tell Tom about what she had done with Nikki, he put his finger to her mouth, stopping the flow of her speech.

“I don’t want to know any of the details. That way you’ll only have to worry about one person. Yourself.”

As he handed her his glass of champagne so he could undress her with both hands and his mouth, she wolfed down the drink, then poured another. By this time she had stepped out of her shorts and was totally naked. Tom fell to his knees in front of her while pulling and kicking his underwear off and pushing her to a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

As Isabelle drank her champagne, she ran her fingers through Tom’s hair, thinking he knew nothing about the money. She swallowed the rest of the champagne and then laid back on the bed and grabbed his head with both hands and continued to enjoy herself.

On the way back to the marina, she thought about what had to be done. She had to put her ducks in row in order to leave with the money. So much to do and only a day to do it at best, before people started to look for Nikki in earnest.

Back at the marina she asked everyone if they had heard from Nikki yet, just to cover her tracks.

At 2 a.m. when all was quiet on the dock, she dove between the houseboat and the dock. When the light hit the pole where Nikki’s body was, she could see all the damage the fish and crabs had done to it. The eyes and tongue were gone and most of the flesh from her legs and arms. All the crabs had moved off the three bodies which were now completely stripped of meat and flesh. Isabelle went to the surface for more air and then dove to Nikki’s body again and tied a rope to her feet. She cut the tether that held her to the post, and when she hit the surface she pulled Nikki’s body to the top and left her tied to the chain.

Isabelle went to Nikki’s office quickly to get the keys to her boat so she could drag her out to the deep water
trench.

About a quarter of the way there, she pulled what was left of Nikki’s body into the boat. ‘God,’ Isabelle thought, ‘she looks like something out of a horror movie, with her eyes and most of her face, arms and legs eaten away.’

After a few gags, she managed to get the body into the boat, crabs and all at half throttle so as not to raise suspicion.

Once at the trench she attached a cinder block to the body and threw the whole mess overboard. After washing down the boat she headed back to her apartment, checking as soon as she got there to make sure the suitcases were still there.

She went over her plan to escape from the marina and Tom over and over until she fell asleep.

She awakened to a knock on the door and opened it to find Chief Joe standing there.

“Have you seen or heard from Nikki?”

“It’s been a few days since I talked to her,” Isabelle said.

“Have you looked in Nikki’s apartment?”

“Not today, but her place is open. Why don’t you have a look for yourself?”

The Chief left, went across the dock to Nikki’s apartment and spent about an hour there. Before he left the marina he stopped back at Isabelle’s.

“Have Nikki call me when you see her,” he said. Isabelle noticed that he said when, not if, so he had no idea that she was really gone and was never coming back.

Isabelle went to work as usual that night, but asked to have Tuesday off, as she already had Monday off, and she’d have a three day head start. She went straight home after work, but only counted sheep, so she packed a travel bag for her escape.

The next day she had her old car checked out so she could be sure she would get wherever she was going. At work that night her Trac phone went off. It was Tom, asking to see her that night after work. He wanted to meet at the usual room, at the usual hotel.