A Heart Full of Diamonds (5 page)

The men sat in the front seat, talking quietly enough Marilee
couldn’t distinguish words. They’d been traveling for fifteen or twenty minutes
in a straight line, South, Marilee thought, but wasn’t sure. Silently, she was
working at the cords binding her wrists. They hadn’t been tied especially
tight, probably because of the awkward angle from being in the back seat, and
the more she worked at them, the looser they became.

The car turned left up a freeway ramp and picked up speed. They
were headed east, toward the mountains. Was their plan to take her into those
mountains and let her die of natural causes? That would certainly be convenient
for Tony. There’d be no suspicion, only mourning for a stupid woman who spent a
late-winter’s night in the mountains with only a light jacket on.

Marilee planned to leave the car when next it slowed
significantly. Gently working to get loose so the men wouldn’t see her motions,
she let her right hand go limp. By compressing her thumb far into her palm,
like she did when washing out a jam jar, she was able to slip it free from the
loop. After that it was a simple matter to pull loops from her left hand. She
slowly moved her hands upwards towards the blindfold. Not being able to see if
they were looking in her direction, she couldn’t afford to attract any
attention to herself.

Marilee succeeded in lifting the cloth enough to uncover one
eye as the car began to decelerate slightly. She got her hands near the door,
and her pulled legs up under her so she could jump.

The car slowed to exit the freeway, turning left at the
exit. Flipping the door handle, she was surprised to find it unlocked. As the
car picked up momentum through the turn, Marilee went sliding out the door,
centrifugal force actually helping her to leave the car.

She made her body go limp as she hit the ground, having read
that limp bodies are less likely to be injured. It still hurt, but she had no
time for pain. She finished removing the blindfold as she rolled to her feet,
and ran back down the freeway’s off-ramp, away from the car.

Brakes screeched, but she knew they couldn’t follow her on
the off-ramp against traffic. She listened for the sounds of a door slamming
and running feet but heard none.

She listened for a gunshot as she ran, ready to drop and
roll sideways at the sound while praying her kidnapper’s instructions hadn’t
included shooting her. Death by a bullet would certainly cast suspicion on Tony,
and he’d want very much to avoid an investigation of his life.

Marilee raced up the side edge of the freeway, knowing they’d
be back and she had very few minutes to get away. She scrambled up the steep
bank, looking around as she ran, trying to figure a way off the freeway and
into a hiding place.

This was an older section of freeway, and hadn’t been redone
with fancy stone walls. The barrier had simply been closely planted with
bushes. She wormed her way through them, crawling behind the greenery.

A fence with more bushes on the other side blocked her way. Poking
her head up just high enough to look in both directions along the barrier, she
could see no other way off the freeway.

Taking a long breath in, she held it a moment, then released
it with a sigh. Uneasy with heights, she hated fences and ladders and such, but
there was no other choice. She scooted closer to the chain link fence
separating the freeway from the regular streets.

Climbing up one side, Marilee slung her leg over the top and
halted as the fence shook with her weight. Terrified, she held still while the
fence settled. Cautiously, she finished the climb and dropped quickly to the
ground.

She lay beneath the bushes and watched the freeway while she
caught her breath. Marilee saw a dark car slowly edge along the lip of the
freeway pavement, clearly looking for something. As the car passed her, she saw
the passenger’s head…still in a ski mask.

She lay immobile until the car was well past her, then got
up and wriggled through the scratchy vegetation on the street side of the
freeway. Looking up and down the street, she saw no movement of car or person.

Quickly she crossed the roadway and entered an alley,
keeping to the darkest side. Briskly she walked past back yards, trying to
think of a solution to her problem.

Marilee was unfamiliar with this part of town. She’d learned
the city streets were numbered by how many blocks north, south, east or west
from the center block of downtown they were. Once she reached major cross
streets, she’d know exactly where she was.

She thought of calling the police for help, but she dared
not. What would she say? Two men were trying to kill her? They’d ask why, and
Marilee couldn’t lie and say she didn’t know. Who would believe that her
husband was trying to kill her because she saw a bag of stolen diamonds in his
suitcase?

Tony had already told her that because she was his wife, the
authorities wouldn’t believe she knew nothing about the thefts. She was an
accomplice; guilt by association.

She didn’t believe everything he said, but a lawyer would
understand the law, wouldn’t he? Would he lie about that? She didn’t know; he
seemed to have lied about a lot of things. What was one more to keep his wife
in line?

Marilee continued walking west, going through back streets
and alleys. Lights were off in most homes, indicating the late hour. She couldn’t
knock on a stranger’s door; the questions would be the same, the dilemma also. Besides,
she couldn’t put someone else at risk. She had to get out of this alone; but
how? She walked on.

The illumination in her current alley was almost non-existent,
and she stumbled. Recovering her balance, Marilee heard the ominous sound of a
slow-moving car. Ducking behind a brace of garbage cans, she stooped low. Pressing
against the dark wood fence beside her, she pulled the black jacket over her
face, one eye looking out of a button-hole.

The car rolled slowly through the alley. The man with the
ski mask was hanging out the open car window, searching. Marilee froze, holding
her breath so the white plume of exhalation wouldn’t give her away.

The car moved slowly past her. She stayed in the alley next
to the garbage cans for perhaps 20 minutes, hoping they’d leave the area.

Stiff from sitting still in the cold, Marilee finally stood
and stretched, then began walking once more. When she reached a major street,
she could check how far south and east she was, how far north and west she’d
need to go.

A pre-dawn glow etched the sky, causing misleading shadows
to frighten Marilee. Was it a trick of the light, or was ‘Ski Mask’ hugging the
elm across the street? She wanted it to be just a shadow, but couldn’t be sure
in the meager light. Hiding behind a bush, she daren’t move until she knew
which.

While she waited for sunrise, Marilee continued to think
about her situation. Playing tag all night with the men had been scary and
exhausting. The men Tony had sent were tenacious, keeping her on the move again
and again during the night. It didn’t surprise her. Tony only went first class.
What he paid for, he made sure he got. And kept. A shiver snaked down her
spine, and Marilee squirmed to a more comfortable position behind the bush.

She hoped it wasn’t a mistake to come back to her own
neighborhood. She had nowhere else to go, though, and all her things were here.
Going to the police was still not an option. She wasn’t due for work until
Thursday, two days away. Maybe a public place would be safe during the day. The
men wouldn’t do something with witnesses around, but even the most public place
would close sometime.

Marilee definitely didn’t want to fill another long night
playing hide-and-seek. Cat-and-mouse. Bird-and-worm. Reveal-and-sequester. Geez,
she was getting silly. And tired. Once she was safe at home, her first priority
was sleep. Then food. She’d missed dinner. Her stomach growled as if on cue.

Her thoughts continued to rotate like a windmill caught in a
squall. As much as she wanted to find a solution, it seemed beyond her
immediate grasp. She needed help, but from who? Maybe Richard could offer a
suggestion. No. She didn’t want to involve him in this; couldn’t involve him. It
was too dangerous with Tony’s goons in the neighborhood and he had Derrek to
think of.

Besides, if she did go to Richard, the questions would still
be the same; she’d lose his friendship because of trusting in a husband who
didn’t merit her loyalty. Who’d believe she knew nothing about Tony’s diamond
gang? Was it a gang? Was gang the right word for his group? Who knew and cared
about right words? The bigger question was who’d know she was innocent? Nobody.
Nobody could be as ignorant as she had been for that long.

Marilee frowned. ‘For that long’. How long? She suddenly
realized she didn’t know how long it had been going on. Had it been there the
whole time they’d been married? Tony’d said so, but did she believe him? Did it
go back to before they were married? He’d traveled frequently even before their
wedding. Had he always been a crook?

Crook. There was an awful word to attach to your spouse. But
Tony was a crook. Why hadn’t she seen it? Why hadn’t she known? Who was going
to believe she was totally innocent of the whole mess? Nobody. Not the police. Certainly
not anyone with brains. Richard would probably tell her to go to the police
anyway.

She had to find her own solution. But where could she turn? Who
could help her? Her mind was reeling. She was tired. Very tired. How long
before she could rest? She changed positions again in an effort to keep awake. She
certainly couldn’t sleep under a bush by the sidewalk all day.

It was roughly 5:30 in the morning and Marilee hadn’t seen
the men for nearly an hour. Maybe they’d also realize she’d have to come home. If
so, why hadn’t they simply driven there when she’d escaped? Why had they played
hide and seek with her all night? Was that one of them under the tree or was
she so tired now she was hallucinating? She turned for another look, and still
couldn’t decide if she were chasing smoke or if it was really a man. Just one
block more and she would be home free. Hurry, dawn!

*          *          *          *          *

The sun peeped over the top of the hill over an hour later. Marilee
twisted slightly to peer through the bush, but no one was standing beneath the
tree. She looked carefully all around her. The hillside was silent. There was
no movement; no sign of the men who’d been hunting her, no sign of the dark
sedan.

She slowly stood and made her way toward the driveway on the
far side of the grey apartments next to Mr. Brimblecom’s home. When she neared
the back of the building, the inner voice of caution she’d been obeying all
night halted her in her tracks. She ducked behind the hedge that wrapped around
the building and crept to the back corner.

Cautiously peeking between the foliage, her heart nearly
stopped beating. The black car was parked in the driveway a little in front of
Richard’s empty parking space. The two men in it were intently watching down
the driveway to the head of the stairs. They had come to wait for her at home,
just as she’d feared.

Marilee slipped quietly back toward the front of the
apartments, feeling she finally had a very small advantage. This time, she knew
exactly where they were and what they were doing. Leaving the bushy hedge at
the front corner of the building, she crossed the street where they couldn’t
see her. Quickly walking back past the bush she’d been behind for the past
hour, she continued on up the street to the next corner. Turning left, she
trotted to the top of stairs similar to those on her own street.

Turning left into the driveway there, Marilee moved quickly
and quietly through the yard. This fence wouldn’t be nearly as bad to climb
because it was much more substantial than the chain link freeway fence had
been, and the fear was more for the men in the car, now, than for climbing.

Fortunately, the supports of the tall wooden fence were on her
side, and she scrambled up the supporting wooden braces. One leg over the top,
the other followed and she dropped down the smooth face on the other side.

She made her way through the wild tumble of weeds and
undergrowth which covered the ground between her home and the yard she’d just
come through. Marilee was glad this acreage hadn’t been hers, or she’d have
tilled and planted a huge garden there and wouldn’t have anything to hide in
now.

Reaching her back chain link fence, she made her way to the
farthest corner from the parking area. Quietly climbing over the top, she
dropped onto her narrow back walk. Creeping along the back of the duplex, she
peeped around the corner. The car was still there.

Backing away from the edge of the house, she listened at
Richard’s back door, but heard nothing. Derrek must be on his way to school. With
the men this close, she couldn’t risk entering her own home. She didn’t believe
a locked front door would pose any major obstacle for them if they wanted to
search it.

She stepped through the door to the tiny communal basement,
carefully negotiating the wooden steps after locking the door behind her. Her
first priority was still sleep.

There was not much room down here, most of it consumed by
twin furnaces and double water heaters for the duplex. Marilee had spent one
entire Tuesday cleaning the snug room, and though more dust had accumulated, it
was still fairly clean. She stretched out on the floor, quickly falling asleep.

Marilee woke, not quite sure what had disturbed her. Sitting
up in the gloom of the dinky basement, she cautiously listened. A quiet sound
came; a board creaking. A familiar creak, she thought; it was the loose board
in the kitchen, right in front of the bathroom door. Someone was in her home.

She stood, knowing if they came down here, they’d have to
take time to break in the door. That would be a small diversion at the very
least. Maybe enough of a distraction she could hit them and run out the door.

Marilee already knew there was no other exit from the basement.
A surprise attack was her one chance for escape. Looking around for any asset,
she saw an old mop handle leaning against the wall behind one of the water
heaters.

Silently hefting it, this thin stick was her single weapon,
such as it was. A sudden, hard stab to their heads or faces may be more
effective than trying to hit them. The element of surprise would be on her
side; a second effective weapon which increased her defenses significantly.

Tensely she waited, ears straining to follow the scuffly,
muffled sounds above. She heard the back door open, the screen door squeak, and
then silence. She didn’t hear a step on the back walk, but couldn’t tell if the
men had left the house and were standing on the walk or not.

Suddenly, she wondered if she’d left discernable evidence of
her trek through the weeds in the lot behind the house. Her heart nearly
stopped as the paralyzing fear of capture entered her mind.

Eyes wide, Marilee watched the basement door from the
darkened corner by the furnace where she was hiding, fear nearly choking her. Her
hands tightened on the wooden shaft. After an interminable stretch of silence,
the screen closed, and then the back door thumped shut.

Footfalls crossed all the rooms, letting her know exactly
where they were. It seemed forever before the footsteps ceased. She heard the
slam of the front door as it reverberated through the duplex.

Marilee passed the next few minutes waiting in agony for
something else to happen. Nothing did. Slowly she let out a long breath, grateful
they hadn’t discovered her hiding place.

She waited an hour before she unlocked the door and peeped
out. Seeing no one, she slipped through the narrow portal and stepped softly to
the corner of the house. Marilee cautiously peered around the corner of the
duplex. The black car was now parked next to the building, facing down the
alley, the men watching the top of the stairs. She had to find a way out of
this. She returned to the basement, hungry, cold and discouraged.