by Edwin Dasso
Where is Agent Williams. I saw him just before I was taken. Her heart leaped with hope. Perhaps the handsome FBI agent was hot on her trail. Maybe she would make it out alive. At least she had hope.
The sound of a ship’s horn frightened her. A moment later the entire area was illuminated with bright lights. Her confidence waned as she ducked under the water. She paddled is hard as she possibly could to get out of the circle of light. Her heart was about to burst and the pain in her arm and legs was excruciating. She was out of breath and fatigued. She raised her head above the water and looked around. She saw a pier ahead and decided to hide under it. Thank goodness the clouds had covered the moon. She decided to rest and plan what to do next.
It was dark. Maybe they didn’t see me. Maybe I have a chance. These thoughts gave her a renewed sense of purpose. She had hope. Her energy level escalated. She paddled as quickly as she could, keeping most of her body underwater as she moved under the pier. She was soaking wet and her hair was plastered to her head. She didn't care. She wanted to live and get away from the Minelli family. Her thoughts drifted to Agent Hollister and Thad Williams. Where were they? She had seen Williams when she and Kat were talking outside of the restroom. He knew she'd been crying. He’d been near an ornate wooden column sipping a drink at the Magnolia. Lida prayed he’d noticed she didn’t return from the restroom.
Lida also knew Kat, Joe, and Mike would try to find her. She wondered about Joey, but she feared for Joey's life. She shook her head. Poor Joey. Sure. She loved him, but he’d never escape his family. He lived a life in terror around his brother. He'd even told her his father had killed his mother and that Lenny had told him all the horrific details like how his mother’s body had bounced off the vehicle they’d run her over with. Lenny had even told Joe about the blood all over his mother face and head. Lenny is a vile, despicable man.
Her heart fell when the clouds slipped past the moon. She was in full sight again and anyone looking for her could see her. She left her hiding place and began to paddle again. She immersed her body underwater. When she came up, she saw the shoreline. It was so close. She paddled frantically. I’m almost there. I’m gonna make it. When she came up for air she felt something rough in the water. She looked around just as Bruno and Lenny Minelli threw a huge fishing net over her body. They caught her. She felt herself being pulled into a small rowboat. She’d been caught in a net like a fish. She wondered briefly if it was the same boat they’d found Valerie Taylor's body in earlier that day.
Lenny tossed her down like a bag of rubbish into the bottom of the boat. He stared down at her, his mouth covered with drool and spittle. His eyes gleamed maliciously in the moonlight. He was furious.
"You think you're a smart little bitch, don’t you? You won’t be much longer." He stared down at her. His angry, crazed face glinted with evil in the moonlight. “You’re gonna pay for bringing us on this wild goose chase.”
Lida lay quietly. Lenny looked like a monster, a fiend as he ogled her in the moonlight. Terror spun through her brain and her body quivered with cold and dread. She’d been so close. She’d almost escaped. Her eyes spotted something that glittered in the moonlight. She studied it. It was a shoe. Was Valerie Taylor in this boat? Will I die like she did. Tears filled her eyes. Another few minutes and I’d have gotten away.
But almost didn’t count with Lenny Minelli.
16
Mike and Joe raced through the casino bar game room as they looked for Lida. Kat returned to the bar to search for her. She asked their friends if they’d seen her. No one had. She was frantic. Where was Lida? Where had they taken her? Was she dead? Would they find her? It was like she disappeared. Where were Mike and Joe. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t cry. She sat alone at their table where Allison snored peacefully.
The two men returned to the bar. They gawked at Kat who shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t have anything. No one has seen her.”
“Anything? Did you find out anything?” Mike stared at Kat who shook her head. Then he turned and grabbed Joe by the shoulder. He was livid. His face was red with frustration and anger. "Where is she? Where would they take her? Where would Lenny take Lida if he planned to hurt her?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders. He shook his head. "I don’t know for sure. He could take her anywhere. We have two hundred rooms here at the hotel. He has a Penthouse suite on the top floor. He owns a couple of condos on the coast, we have a four cabin cruiser and boats. The yacht, Magnolia II is moored in the Pass Christian harbor.” He wrung his hands. “He could take her anywhere, Mike. I have no idea." Joe's voice was quiet. He was a broken man.
Mike turned to Kat. "Call the police, Kat. We need help to find her. We’ll never find her without help."
Joe touched Mike’s arm. "The police aren't gonna help you." Joe's voice was quiet. "My brother owns the Biloxi police -- and most every other police force on the Mississippi Gulf Coast."
"Then call the state police, dammit." Mike’s voice was loud. "Somebody needs to help us or Lida is as good as dead."
Kat nodded. "I'll call the Mississippi State police. Then I’ll check Lida’s handbag. Maybe we can get to her phone and find information we can use. Also, Mike, come with me and we’ll get a couple of the guys from the reunion to help us search for her."
Mike nodded. "Yeah. Joey, can you take two of our friends to your condos to look for Lida? I'll go to the yacht in Pass Christian harbor."
Joe nodded. "Yeah. I'll look for Bruno and see if he knows anything. Bruno is Lenny's chief of security and does a lot of stuff for my brother.” Joey paused and his face paled. “If I can find him.” He shook his head. “Unless … unless Lenny had Bruno take Lida.” Joe buried his face in his hands. “Which is very possible.”
Mike’s face turned red with outrage. He shook his head. "Go with our friends. They don’t know where your properties are. You’ll have to show them; go with them. " His voice was harsh. “Just take Adam and Josh to the condos your brother owns and whatever other properties there are and search for her.” He cursed under his breath. “Meet us outside in ten minutes.”
Kat and Mike watched Joe take off. Mike shook his head. "Lida should have never gotten mixed up with Joey Minelli. This whole family is bad news."
Kat nodded and shook her head. “I think Lida loves him, Mike. She told me they'd dated some in high school. I’m sure she knew what she was getting into. Lida’s a pretty smart girl. She must have believed she could handle it.”
Mike sighed. “Lida can’t handle the Dixie Mafia. The local police can’t even touch them. It was stupid.”
Kat nodded. “No argument here.” They walked quickly into the bar. Kat grabbed Lida’s handbag as Mike rounded up Adam and Josh to help him search for Lida. Allison was asleep on the table. Or passed out. Kat cursed under her breath. The last thing she had time to do right now was babysit Allison. She needs to grow up. She turned and signaled their waitress.
The waitress, a young woman with endless legs in stiletto heels, rushed over. Kat looked at her face. The woman was young, not much over twenty-five, but she had the eyes of an old woman. I bet she’s seen a lot of stuff working here.
"Is something wrong?" The waitress looked terrified as she stared at Kat. She’d been told Lida and her party were VIP guests.
"No. Well, yes.” Kat stammered. “Yeah, it is. My friend has run off and I need to find her because she's upset." It was a bit of a lie, but Kat didn’t care. "Can you see that my other friend,” she smiled and pointed to Allison, “gets to her room safely? She's had way too much to drink and I need to leave."
The waitress nodded and smiled brightly, relieved that she hadn’t done anything wrong. "Sure. I'll ask a couple of the guys in the restaurant to take her up in a few minutes when it clears out in here. What's her room number?"
Kat hesitated. A bad feeling came over her. She had second thoughts. "No, on second thought, I'll just get my friends over there and take her up now. That's way too much trouble for you to have t
o do." With my luck someone would take Allison and then I'd be missing two friends.
The waitress nodded. "Okay, that's fine. If you need help, just let me know." The waitress smiled and moved to another table.
Kat sat at the table and noticed Lida’s purse. She must have only had her make-up bag with her in the restroom. She reached for the purse and dumped it on the table. Lipstick, Lida’s wallet, a perfume atomizer and two cell phones rolled on the table. She was surprised to see both phones. She recognized the case of the first phone. It was Lida’s regular cell she used all the time. Kat hadn’t seen the other phone before. She picked it up and scrolled through the contacts but there was only one number. She decided to call it and pushed the button. A male voice answered.
"Are you all right?" The voice was deep with no discernible accent. “I’ve tried to call you.”
Kat’s heart thudded in her chest. "Who is this?"
"Who is this?” The voice was sharp and sounded suspicious. “Where did you get this number?" Agent Chuck Hollister felt his anxiety spiral.
Kat gripped the phone. Who was this? The man sounded angry. Kat was silent at first. “Who is this? This is my friend’s phone.”
The man repeated himself. This time his voice was more friendly. "Who is this. Where is Lida?"
Kat sighed with relief. "My name is Kat. We don’t know where she is. Who are you?"
Hollister's blood pressure skyrocketed. "This is Special Agent Charles Hollister, the Special-Agent-in-Charge of the FBI New Orleans office. Do you think Lenny Minelli took her?"
“The FBI?” What the hell. What was Lida doing with an FBI phone? Tears popped into Kat’s eyes as her heart hammered in her chest. “How do I know that. How can I trust you?” Her voice was harsh. “How do I know you are who you say you are?”
“Lida works for me.” Hollister’s voice was brusque. She’s an FBI agent. She’s on an undercover assignment at the Magnolia Casino. Did Lenny Minelli get to her?”
Kat was confused, her thoughts jumbled but she took a chance. "Yes. Lenny Minelli. We think he's gonna kill her." Kat choked back a sob. “She’s frightened of him. Joey Minelli thinks he took her too.”
"How long ago?" Hollister’s voice was abrupt.
"Fifteen minutes. We're going to look for her. Joe Minelli has told us several places to look.”
“Get Joe Minelli to call me immediately. On this phone. I have a man there now. Lida’s back-up is Agent Thad Williams. He’s at the Magnolia. I'll tell him to meet you at the front door of the casino.”
"Yes sir," Kat stammered. She was confused but relieved. She clicked off the phone and ran to find Mike. She’d take care of Allison later.
17
Kat ran over a couple of tables and grabbed Mike by the arm. Adam and Josh were with him. They’d agreed to hunt for Lida. They were waiting for Joe Minelli to return from checking the Magnolia’s officers and suites. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Mike’s ear.
"I've got to talk with you. I went through Lida’s purse and found a strange phone. It had a number stored in it. The only calls she ever made or received were from the same number.” Kat stopped for a breath. “I dialed it." She paused as the reality of the situation set in.
Mike nodded. "Yeah. And? And what else?" His voice was impatient. He shuffled his feet. “Spit it out, Kat. We’ve no time to waste.”
Kat turned her body away from Josh and Adam. "It was a direct line to the FBI. The man said Lida worked undercover for him, that she was an FBI agent." Kat’s eyes were huge as she retold the story. She watched emotions flicker across Mike's face including shock, disbelief, impatience and finally resolution. He nodded and shrugged his shoulders.
"It's… That's, that's quite a story but I'm not sure I believe it. It could be part of Minelli’s plan. We still need to search for her before it's too late." He motioned towards Adams and Josh. "Let's go. There’s Minelli over there.” Mike pointed to the elevator bank at the entrance to the Magnolia.
Kat grabbed Mike's shirt. "Give me a second. There's more.”
Mike shook his head. “Kat, every minute here counts. How can we prove that phone call is true?”
Kat rolled her eyes. “Just listen for a moment. There's an FBI agent here, here right now in the Magnolia. He’s Lida’s back-up. The agent on the phone said the agent would meet us at the front door with his credentials."
Mike shrugged his shoulders. "Okay then.” His voice sounded dubious. “Where is he?”
“At the main entrance.” Kat pointed to the entrance near the elevators.
They made their way to the main entrance of the Magnolia casino with Adam and Josh in tow. Joey Minelli was near the door. Opposite him was a tall man in a dark suit with short hair. He looked like an FBI agent.
Mike shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not convinced. "You go over there and check the guy’s creds. I'm introducing Joey to these guys so they can start looking. I’ll join you in a minute."
Kat nodded. She walked the short distance to the tall stranger. He watched her carefully as she approached. “My name is Kat Benson. Do you have something to show me?"
The man nodded. Kat noticed how handsome he was. He pulled a leather wallet from his pocket and flashed her his FBI badge. Kat smiled with relief. It looked authentic to her. She looked over at Mike and gave him a thumbs up.
The man spoke. "I'm Agent Thad Williams and I work for Special-Agent-in-Charge Charles Hollister. I've been watching Lida for the last ten days. I saw y’all talking just before she went into the restroom. I knew she was upset. What happened since then?"
Kat shrugged her shoulders. "She… She didn't return to the table. She’s gone. I went back to look for her, but the restroom was empty." She saw Mike headed towards them. "Joey Minelli thinks Lenny has her because she won't do what he asked." Her face darkened. “Joe says Lenny will kill her.”
“Not if we can help it,” Agent Williams’ voice was tight, his face angry.
Mike interrupted. “What’s going on?” He looked at the tall man standing next to Kat. “What's going on here? Who are you?"
"This is Agent Williams. He’s spent the last ten days watching Lida."
Williams flashed his identification for Mike. "Where did Joe go with those other two guys?" His voice was terse as he sized Mike up.
"Joe’s taking them to several Minelli properties on the coast and a couple of cabin cruisers Lenny Minelli has in the area. I'm headed to the Minelli yacht that's tied up in Pass Christian."
Agent Williams nodded. "I'll go with you. My money is on the yacht. We're sure he’s killed a couple of women there over the past few months and disposed of their bodies at sea."
Kat gritted her teeth and tears popped into her eyes. “Oh no. So he is as bad as people say?”
Williams looked at her. “Lenny Minelli is a killer. He’s a sociopath who takes great pleasure in killing women. And yes, he’s every bit as bad as you imagine.”
Mike touched her arm. “Kat. Keep yourself together. We’ll find her.” Mike gave her a brief hug and nodded at Williams. "Let's go. Can you call for help for my friends and Joe? We’ve been told Minelli owns the police departments around here."
Williams offered a tense smile. "That's just about right, but I've got a couple of agents on the way and there are some good people in Pass Christian who work with us." He paused. “Special Agent Hollister has contacted them.” He nodded towards the door. “They’re outside.”
Mike sighed with relief and turned to Kat. "I want you to stay here. See if you can get Allison to bed and I'll call as soon as we know what's going on. Stay in the room with Allison. Don’t let anyone in. For all we know, Minelli may try to snatch Allison or, for that matter, any of you that are close to Lida.”
Kat opened her mouth to protest but Mike shook his head. "You just stay here with Allison and check on Barb. We don't have much time and you’d slow us down. You can spend your time putting Lida back together once we get her back."
Agent
Williams nodded. “Your friend is right. Lenny is a sociopathic serial murderer. I’d put nothing past him. I’ll send an agent in to stay with you.”
Kat nodded at Williams. “Thank you. I’d like that. Our friend Barb was poisoned today. I think now the poison was intended for Lida.”
Thad Williams nodded. “Yeah. That’d be my guess.”
She turned to Mike. She knew he was right. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a hug. She smiled at Agent Williams. "Please get her and bring her home. She's a wonderful person." Kat blinked back tears as she realized again what a desperate situation her friend was in. I can’t believe that Lida, of all people, works for the FBI.
Mike and Thad Williams raced for the door. Mike turned around and flashed her a smile and a little wave. Kat stood there motionless for a few minutes and then made her way back to the bar where Allison remained asleep at the table. She cursed to herself. She was sick of taking care of Allison. She sat at the table and several minutes later a young man approached her.
He smiled. “Thad Williams sent me. He told me to stay with you and your friend.” He pulled a wallet out of his pocket and showed her his credentials.
Kat smiled. “Thanks, can you help me get her up.”
“Yes ma’am, we’ll get her to bed.”
Twenty minutes later Kat stared at the sleeping Allison and vowed this was the last time she’d take care of her.
But, she knew it wasn’t. The FBI agent waited outside her hotel room door.
18
Lida knew she’d been dragged up the dock to the Magnolia II. She looked up into the half-crazed, maniacal face of Lenny Minelli. For the first time she realized what a dangerous man he was. Before, she’d thought of him as a pompous prick but now, as he waved his knife back in the low light of the master stateroom, she could see what a lunatic he was.
