Chapter 7
“
How long have you and Bill Beckner been involved? “ Helen Waite
“ I never even knew he existed until the night of my sister’s murder.
“
“ See! “ The red head demanded triumphantly. “
That’s why we don’t trust you, you know just a little too much about everything to be as innocent as you
pretend. “
“ Up yours! “ Michaela answered, pressed her fingertips
against her temple, wishing the headache of the bright sunlight would go away. In the short time they’d
been here she’d already become accustomed to the soft glow to the air the nearness of the Pacific ocean gave to the
seven mountains.
“ Of course she knows her sister was murdered, Helen. We all know that. She was murdered by her husband, wasn’t
she, My? “
“
I don’t know you well enough to be called by my first name, and you didn’t know Lee well enough to call
him a murderer! Am I in your custodial care, or am I under arrest? “
‘ That depends on you. “ He answered stiffly, anger hardening his
voice from the lulling lilt of his previous words.
“ Well, that’s nice to know! Because little else is in my life right now! “
“ Why did you let him return? You were gone once? “
“ He brought the dog for my neice. He brought a kindness to my life that I’ve lacked
for qa very long time. “
“ And that’s reason enough to sleep with a man? “
Helen challenged from behind them.
“
If you don’t believe me, check th4e sheets for seamen! “
“ In a motel? “ She demanded contemptuously, but
seeing her partner’s look, staged or real, she turned on her heel and walked out the door, slamming it shut firmly behind
her. She returned
ten minutes later with a tray of paper coffee cups, pointedly ignoring her as she passed them around.
“
Major, unless you decide to co-operate we’ll be forced to call in the local authorities and report your niece
as kidnapped. That’s going to cost you a lot of explanations and grief. Simply tell us where the girl is, and we’ll
be out of your hair. “
“ She’s with Bill Beckner, my agent. And I’ll tell the local cops the same thing.
You have no right to harass her, Agent Lopez! And what will you do when you find her? Why are you forbidding her sole living
relative the right to be with her at a time like this? “
“
Because you’re a dangerous flake, and she’s just a little girl. “ Helen Waite
said bitterly from the edge of the curtains.
“ Nothing personal. “ Michaela mocked, suddenly
more angry than afraid. “ That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
“
What had once been the punch line to a joke become terrifyingly real and for another twenty minutes they hammered at
her relentlessly until she withdrew into a shall, beyond the reach of their words. Once they left she thought she’d
have a respite from thepummeling of emotions so she could think through what had just
happened since she left the motel, but it had only begun. She’d just stepped out of the shower when a presumptive knock
on the door drew her forward. Her stomach tied up in knots. She pulled a sundress over her damp hair simply to be presentable
and send the maid away, but it was a young woman in heavy make up. Behind her stood a nondescript man with a hand held camera
balanced on his shoulder. It caught her off guard and she had difficulty getting the door shut again, ignoring
the sharp raps of knuckles on the glass as she hastily pulled the curtains shut while he angled for a view of her as the cloth
shut her in as much as it shut them out. She made a quick call to the management and was relieved when they told her to come
to the office. But instead of helping, they gave her back the remainder of the money she’d paid for the week and demanded
she vacate the room by noon. A call to Shelly Longsworth was just as chilling. The firm couldn’t risk ‘such notoriety’
in the ‘delicate stages of negotiations’ they were in, so a decision on hiring her had been postponed indefinitely.
She was actually grateful that Tony agreed to see her at his office, however unpleasant his mood as he motioned his
secretary out.
“ There won’t be any notes. Please close the door after you, Margo. “
Michaela started to sob, overcome and yet resolute at the same moment. He reached in his drawer and pulled out a slim
box of Kleenex, offering her a tissue.
“ Why do you want to see me, My? “
“ I don’t
know. Any storm in a port, I guess. “ She sobbed, hating herself for being so
openly vulnerable.
“ You were on the Noon News. You looked like you’d just got off a three-day binge. I
know better, and that’s what I thought. “
Michaela tried to appease him by telling the whole story, unaware that he’d turned on a tape recorder when he
reached into his desk drawer to be ‘sympathetic’. The story pour out of her, in simple relief
at not having to bear it alone any longer.
“ And you believed him simply because he said he was her father? “
“ Why would he lie about it? “
“ Why would anybody murder Colleen and Lee? Why would you even think anything
so low of your sister? She was a good kid! “
Belatedly realizing his total lack of sympathy, Michaela began to withdraw inside herself again. She dapped the tears
from her face and looked at her hands, grateful that they’d stopped trembling once she sensed the reasons behind his
questions.
“ You mean why did she sleep with some other guy when she kept turning you down, Tony?
“
The look on his face frightened her when she glanced up. He was purpled with rage.
“
There’s nothing more I can do for you, Michaela. I suggest you cooperate with the local authorities to get your
niece back before that mad man kills her too! “ He grapped the box of tissues from the corner of
the desk and slammed them into the drawer. “ By the way! “
He said coldly. “ My rental agent found someone else to rent the house! So don’t expect to be moving in there anytime soon! “
“ I wouldn’t have expected anything less from you, Mr. Padgett. “
She answered in the same tone of voice, and then shut the door quietly, stealing away his victory.
Once
she reclaimed the rental car, she sat frozen for several seconds before the rage and fear spewed out of her as she beat on
the steering wheel and sobbed as though her heart would break. She opened her purse to get a tissue when her cell phone rang.
She stared at it, feeling as though it was a bomb about to explode but before it switched to voicemail on the sixth ring,
she pressed ‘answer’ and held it gingerly to her ear.
“ Hello? “ Her voice came out as a croaking whisper.
“ Auntie My? Auntie My? Is that you? “ Mara’s voice pleaded
from the tiny instrument.
“ Mara? Mara Baby! Where are you? “
“
With Uncle Bill. Can you please come get me? I’m scared! “
“ I will, Baby. I will! “ She promised. “
Where are you? “
“ With Uncle Bill. “ The nine-year old repeated, misunderstanding
the question.
“ Someone’s coming! I’ve got to go! “
“
Mara! Mara! “ She screamed, but the dial tone never wavered.
She sat back in the seat, trying to decide what to do. Should she go to the FBI and tell them what just happened? Maybe
they could track the call back to its source? Call Lopez and Waite? What?
“ God? You know so damn much! Tell me what to do! “ She
screamed, leaning forward to force her way through the thick cloud cover. A shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, touching
down on the other side of the trees. Lacking any other real destination, she started up the car, she was a ping on somebody’s
monitoring screen but no longer caring, if it got Mara back. On her own she had no way to find or rescue the girl, the best
sh4 could hope for was to lead the authorities to her, wherever she and Bill were? Then let them sort it out.
It seemed to be a quiet neighborhood and she drove around aimlessly until her stomach began to grumble. Finding a Carl’s
Junior hamburger restaurant, she walked in and waited for her turn to give her order. It was impossible not to see
the strange looks she was being given. At the corner of the food preparation bar on the other side of the counter top of the
teenagers kept putting their heads close together while they stared holes through her. She heard the faint buzz of conversation
from a couple behind her who suddenly changed their minds and exited the line without ordering, but she pretended not to see
any of it, relieved when it came her time to order and she was handed a tray with a gold colored card with her order number
on it. She poured her own drink from the soda dispenser and took two straws because they stuck together and she felt so exposed,
she simply took them both and hastened for a relatively empty place to set her tray down and wait for her order to be brought
to her.
When the women first approached, Michaela looked up with a timid smile, thinking that it was an employee bringing her
order, but it was a middle-aged woman with an angry scowl on her face.
“ You’re
that woman on the news! The one who let that pervert run away with that precious little girl! What kind of woman are you?
How dare you just sit there looking like you haven’t done a thing wrong? “
Michaela started to cry defensively and raised her arms to ward off the woman’s furled umbrella as it came at
her.
“ You really know how to pick’m, Helen. I actually feel sorry for her. “
“ It’s what casting agents do. “
“ Excuse me, I thought we were Federal Agents. “
His wry attempt at humor soured on her and twisted her face into a mask of ugliness he’d never glimpsed before.
“ You work with somebody eight years, and you think you know them. But can anyone really know
another person? “ His soliloquy was interested by the ring tones of his pocket phone. He seemed surprised,
then annoyed as he spoke monosyllabic answers.
“ Right! We’re on our way. “
As
soon as he closed the phone, disconnecting the device, he leaned forward and started the car motor. She
reached out quickly and turned it off before he could remove his hand.
“ They couldn’t delay her papers any longer. We’re out of here. “
“ Like hell we are! “
“ When The Man tells me I’m “off the case, fly home”, I grow wings. You can come with me, or
you can get the hell out of my car and do this witch hunt on your own, Waite. It’s up to you! “
The angry redhead scratched at the nape of her neck; then ran her hand over her lips and chin. She reached for the
seat belt and fastened it, glaring at the figure on the other side of the glassed in wall.
“
This ion’s over yet! Not by a long shot! “
“ The papers went through. They couldn’t delay them any longer. It’s no longer
under our jurisdiction, Helen. What else can we do? “ Steven Lopez said with a
shrug,watching her face.
“ Drive!
“ She said curtly.
-
Michaela was so visibly shaken, the management tried to get her to stay and eat, but she simply snatched up the hamburger
and fries, spilling a trail of them as she fled out the side door, running to her car. Throwing them on
the seat, she buried her head in her hands and sobbed violently.
The knock on the car window was almost more than she could bear. Wiping one cheek clean with the deg of the hand she
looked up with an angry snarl, thinking it was the woman who’d attempted to attack her inside.
“ Mrs. Padgett? I’m Amy Lockhart? A friend of Bill’s? Can we
please talk? “
Michaela stared at her for several seconds, gap mouthed, and then she keyed the car into life and unlatched the electronic
door locks with a flick of the metallic switch. The diminutive woman waited until
the grieving woman gathered the bits of tomato and lettuce that escaped the paper wrapping. Cold air rushed in to fill the
car’s interior.
“ I can drive you there easier than I can give you direction. “ She
suggested,
Meekly Michaela nodded and slid unto the passenger’s side of the car, her hunger and the hamburger completely
forgotten.
-
-
End Chapter 7
