Scent of Gardenia (Scott Tucker Series) (14 page)

Chapter
32

Mercedes
and Ralph were on the plane, headed home. They were again separated on the flight,
which was good for several reasons. One, Ralph might take their having dinner
and dancing as a date. It was far from it, but it was nice to have someone she
knew keep her company. The other reason was it gave her some time to think
about what they had learned on this trip.

She put the
earphones on and closed her eyes, blocking out things around her. She wanted to
think without being disturbed. Previously, she told her father about who might
be kidnapping and killing men. The profile was identical to her sister. For
some strange reason she mentioned this to her dad. He was not happy to think
that Melanie could be doing this, but also that she might still be alive. She
created enough of a problem the first time.

Unfortunately,
she knew her sister well enough that if she was alive, she would regret Scott
getting away. She needed to keep him away from Bermuda at all costs. She
couldn’t afford to lose him. As much as she tried to digest and focus on the
new information, she kept thinking about Scott and being with him again. She
felt herself recoil, thinking about crashing into her sister to save Scott. She
was unsuccessful, unable to stop what her sister was doing to Scott’s body,
since Melanie had her tied up.

She
pictured this woman with the remaining three men, or maybe only two now. Based
on what Melanie was doing with Scott, she could see a woman keeping these men
as sexual objects. Her breathing quickened. She opened her eyes to see if the
woman beside her noticed anything. She looked like she was asleep.
Unfortunately, the picture of the woman with the men took on the image of her
sister. When she tired of them, or they could no longer perform to her urgings,
she would get rid of them.

Assuming
Melanie had survived her jump into the ocean that cold winter’s day, what were
all of the ways she could have done that? She considered two possible
scenarios. She would have to investigate those when she got back to FBI
headquarters.

She
considered what Max Gordon shared with them about his limited investigation. He
was the lead investigator, but got sick during his stay in Bermuda. She
wondered if his absence was to see how Ralph and Mercedes performed on their
own. Their performance reviews were due soon. He shared that the men’s
financial accounts were never touched after they went missing. Only one of the
men actually stayed in a hotel while in Bermuda. The rest had stayed on their
yachts. One man went missing immediately after arriving in port. That was Roger
Elliot, the first guy to disappear and the first found murdered.

She
considered a woman, or Melanie, getting tired of one of her kept toys. It would
seem likely it would be the first man. She pulled the pictures of the men from
her travel bag and examined them. They were all attractive, single and very
rich. Roger Elliot’s picture was taken when he departed Manchester-by-the Sea, Massachusetts. He was dressed only in cut-offs. She viewed him as being a target, even
before he was tanned by the trip.

The only
thing significant that she and Ralph learned was that Roger Elliot ate dinner
at the Pier Restaurant, right near where the “Roger that’ was first seen. The
people at the restaurant remembered him because he wore a Boston Red Sox hat
and an attractive woman had joined him. They ate dinner at the bar. The woman
was a tall redhead. It was believed they left together, or about the same time.
That was one of the reasons she kept thinking about the profile and her sister.
She looked at the picture of the shirtless man and thought to herself—
I
really need to call Scott as soon as I get home.

Chapter
33

Margaret’s
phone was ringing. It might be someone booking an excursion. “Hello.”

“You
asked me to call you if I heard or saw anybody asking questions about the
missing men. I expect you will leave the reward in the usual place…is that correct?”

“Yes, I
will. Thank you for calling me. What do you have?”

“It
appears there are three different groups of people asking questions. There was
an older guy, possibly with the FBI, but I never saw him. I heard he wasn’t
feeling well. There were two FBI folks asking questions at the Pier Restaurant.
The last person was a young redheaded woman who appeared to be alone, asking
questions about the missing yachts at the Hamilton Harbor refueling dock.”

“What
did the redheaded woman look like?”

“She
wore sun glasses, and was attractive. Not too tall, about five-five.”

That
ruled out who she was thinking about. “Are you sure about the height of the
woman?”

“Yes.
I’m sure. My friend was right beside her.”

“Did you
hear her name?”

He
thought for a moment. “Yes, now that you mention it—Holly.”

“Anything
else?”

“No,
that’s it.”

“I’ll
leave double if you promise to keep your eyes and ears open for the next few
weeks. You did well. The money will be there first thing in the morning. If you
hear of anybody asking questions in the next few days—call me immediately.
Bye.”

She put
two hundred dollar bills in a small envelope and sealed it.

*.*.*

She had
‘exercised’ all three men earlier in the day, working up an appetite. However,
she felt like taking out some hostility, not liking the fact people were asking
questions about the missing men. She went to the closet, looked around and
opened a tackle box. It was hard to pass up the four-inch polished hooks.

She
picked one up by its leader, took her wire cutters and cut the barb off. When
she held it up to the light, she could see her reflection in the shank of the
hook. With one quick move she stuck it in her arm. She felt a sudden shot of
pain, and blood started to ooze out. She closed her eyes, picturing what she
was going to do next. She was immediately excited, unable to feel the pain any
longer.

Several
minutes later she pulled out the hook, studying the blood now running down her
arm.
One way or another, either I will, or this will, get their attention.
Now, the only question is who do I want to catch first?

Chapter
34

I tossed
and turned last night. My mind was overactive considering Mercedes’ concern
about the profile she came up with. Could there be another woman like Melanie
out there committing these crimes? Stephen was concerned enough about this that
he didn’t wait for Mercedes to mention it herself. Maybe he knew Mercedes well
enough that she wouldn’t mention it to me. Why get me revved up about something
defying the odds?

I was
also having problems sleeping knowing Mercedes would be back from her trip. I
also couldn’t ignore my failure to reach her on the phone. No matter how I
tried to dismiss it, the thoughts of ‘Ralph’ kept coming to mind. It would have
been so much better never to have heard Mercedes mention his name.

My mind
wouldn’t let all of this go. I was having a real problem getting out of bed. I
looked at the clock, expecting I could close my eyes and still get some sleep.
Holy shit—I should be on my way to work already. There was no doubt I would be bringing
the doughnuts tomorrow.

I
quickly brushed my teeth, shaved and jumped in the shower. I couldn’t wait for
the hot water; the cold water successfully cleared my mind of anything else.

*.*.*

I was
indeed late. As I opened the office door, Colleen greeted me by smiling and
tapping her watch. I just nodded and hung my coat.

“Good
morning Colleen.”

“Good
morning Scott. We were wondering if you were going to call in sick this
morning. I’m glad you’re okay,” Colleen remarked.

This was
just the start of the remarks I was going to hear this morning. “I didn’t sleep
that well last night, however, better late than never.” Since I left my
apartment without anything to eat, I headed straight to the coffee area.

I was
already pouring coffee when I heard Colleen add something. “Can you make my
doughnuts tomorrow crème filled?”

Putting
two jelly doughnuts on a paper plate, I headed toward my office, past a smiling
Colleen. “I’m sure there will be other requests, but I’ll make a note of what
you want. Oh, did I get a call from Stephen Strong’s office late Friday or this
morning?”

“No, you
haven’t had any calls. When Bill was here, he asked you to call him sometime
this morning at the MIT labs. He said there is a problem and he needs your help.”

“Thanks
Colleen.”

I quickly
consumed one of the doughnuts, thinking about the second one, but left it
alone. I carried my cup into Mike’s office. “Good morning Mike.”

“Good
morning
Scott,” Mike said, with a big grin. “We’re glad you’re okay. We thought you
might be calling in sick today. Have a seat…is something on your mind?”

“I
deserve all the ribbing. Do you have any special requests for doughnuts
tomorrow?”

“No, the
honey-dipped are fine. You look tired, are you okay?”

I didn’t
know if I wanted to bring anything up. “I had a problem sleeping last night. My
mind was overactive about a lot of things. I’ll be drinking more coffee than
usual today.”

“Care to
share what’s on your mind?”

I
thought about everything that was bothering me, offering the safest thing. “Has
Holly reported anything about her Bermuda investigation?”

“No. Her
only call was to let Paddy know she arrived. She’s due back later today. We
should hear then if she discovered anything,” Mike answered.

I could
tell he was sizing up my demeanor. I couldn’t get the thoughts of Melanie out
of my mind. “Mike, if Holly needs any help down there, I would be glad to help
her.”

“Yeah,
you and me both…we’ll have to see what her input is later today. How are your
Wang and Realty projects coming along?”

I took a
long gulp of coffee, thinking about my answer. “Wang is reviewing the flows, trying
to decide if they are going to fund the improvement project. Stephen’s project
and demo was a real hit. However, I need to call Bill, as he said there’s some
sort of problem.”

“I guess
that sounds good. Wasn’t Mercedes due back yesterday? Did you hear from her, or
better—see her?” Mike asked.

“No such
luck. I was hoping to, but I didn’t hear from her.” I answered, thinking about
whether she spent additional time with Ralph when she got back.
That was
another thing that kept me from getting any sleep last night.

*.*.*

Paddy
came in and sat down in Mike’s office. “Good morning Scott. Glad you’re okay.
We were concerned you might have been feeling poorly this morning. Did you get
everyone’s doughnut order?”

As he
started to laugh, Mike and I joined him. “I’ve got everyone but yours. It’s
amazing to me how much my bringing doughnuts means to this office.” I looked at
Paddy, who was still wearing a big grin on his face. “Do you have a special request?”

“As a
matter of fact I do…I have a special desire for the raised, with chocolate
frosting. Mike doesn’t seem to bring them when he’s in charge of the doughnuts.
I think he’s worried about my heart, but I think I’m over those problems now.
Victor Young isn’t on my back about one of our strangling cases, which takes a
lot of pressure off me.”

Paddy
held up his hands. “Let’s talk business now. I just heard from Holly and I
agreed to let her stay in Bermuda. She’s making progress in several directions.
One of them is unrelated to the case. It turns out she can stay without the
expense of the hotel. I’m not going into any more detail than that, but that
does allow her to continue her investigation. She says she has several
investigative leads she wants to follow up on.”

Mike
asked, “How does she like Bermuda?”

Paddy
smiled, looking at both of us. “I sense she’s fallen in love with the place.”

Colleen
came into Mike’s office announcing, “Paddy, I’m sorry to break this meeting up,
but Victor Young is on the phone for you…and he doesn’t sound happy. Can you
take the call?”

Paddy’s
expression changed as he got up and headed to his office.

*.*.*

I was
still in Mike’s office when Paddy returned five minutes later. Paddy sat down
like the weight of the world was now resting on his shoulders. “Victor learned
from Mr. Nielsen that we were doing a separate investigation for the family. He
wanted to know the status of things. I’m glad I extended Holly’s stay.”

Mike
looked over at Paddy, asking, “So Paddy, why is he getting himself involved
with this case? It’s not like it involves the state of Massachusetts.” He
looked at Paddy, wishing he hadn’t added to his burden.

Paddy
was slow to respond. “I guess that’s what happens when you have friends in high
places. Scott, you better bring a half dozen of those chocolate covered
doughnuts tomorrow. Victor wants me to call him every morning with an update.”

This
time Mike was the one turning red. “Why don’t you tell him to get lost?”

Paddy
took a deep breath before replying. “Unfortunately, he’s in the unique position
to impact our future investigations. You have to remember, he did assign me the
responsibility to manage those two high-profile serial killer task forces.
Those two investigations have given this office a sound financial foundation
that covers adding resources sitting right in this room. Who knows what lies
ahead for us, but his influence could make or break this office. I just can’t
risk jeopardizing our future by pissing him off. God knows, my tongue is much
shorter than it used to be.”

He
added, “Without his support to our office, we wouldn’t be involved in the Bermuda ‘missing men’ investigation. You both need to keep this in mind—should Nils Nielsen
turn up dead, it could directly impact this office’s survival.”