Echoes In The Mist

by Rifi Strawn

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Stanley looked out the farm house’s kitchen window. Neil’s Toyota Land Cruiser was coming up the driveway. Mr. Reed’s red Cadillac sedan was behind him. Mixed emotions of excitement and fear churned her stomach as she looked at the For Sale sign.

  “Hello again.” She held the front door open for the two men.

  Mr. Reed gave her a tight, friendly hug and kissed her cheek. “I’m so happy to see you, princess.”

  “I’m happy to see you, too.” She looked past Mr. Reed at Neil’s shocked face. She couldn’t wait to find out why he had her house for sale. She laughed nervously from Neil’s smothering hug. “Easy there.”

  Neil teared up. “It’s really you.”

  She gave the two men a discreet skeptical glance as they stood back and looked her up and down. “Is my skin shriveling up or something? Did I get fat? You two act as if you weren’t expecting me. You knew I was coming back soon.”

  “We really missed you, that’s all,” Mr. Reed said.

  She pointed to the For Sale sign outside. “What’s up with that?”

  “We have a lot of catching up to do.” Mr. Reed gestured to the kitchen table where he’d always conducted business with Aunt Zoie. He dabbed his clean, white handkerchief on his sweaty forehead and sat across from her. Neil took the chair next to her as usual.

  Crossing her arms, she looked at Mr. Reed. “Why is this house for sale? I haven’t broken any rules in fulfilling my obligation.”

  Mr. Reed gulped. “We thought you were dead and unable to fulfill the conditions of Zoie’s will.”

  Stanley laughed nervously. “As you can see, I’m alive and well. What kind of joke is this? I did what I was told. Aunt Zoie’s ashes are spread in Devil’s Pool at Victoria Falls, in the Zambezi River, and in a vineyard in South Africa. One of those jars was supposed to be my choice, and I chose the vineyard for her ashes because Aunt Zoie loved gardening and her red wine.”

  Mr. Reed touched her arm. “You were in South Africa, princess?”

  “Yes.” She sneered. “I tried to call you twice from Zambia on my prepaid phone, but you never returned my calls.”

  He dabbed his forehead again. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize the number. It was different than the number of the prepaid phone I gave you.”

  Neil looked her in the eye. “The man who held you hostage must’ve switched phones.”

  Her heart sank to her stomach. “Hostage?”

  “Stanley, we thought you were dead,” Neil said.

  “As you can see, I’m very alive and well. What is it?”

  Mr. Reed handed her a death certificate. Her name and description were on it. The date showed the day after she left for Zambia. “Where did you get this?”

  “We received it two days after you left for Zambia,” Mr. Reed choked.

  Hand on her chest, she stared at them. “Obviously, this certificate is fake.”

  The ground fell beneath her feet. Tears in her eyes, she looked at the signature on the death certificate again. Jeremy also crossed his t’s low and made large loops with his y’s and g’s. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions too fast. He wouldn’t do this to her. “There has to be a good reason for this.”

  Neil glanced at Mr. Reed before speaking again. “Stanley, you’ve been held hostage all this time. How did you manage to get away?”

  She sniffled. “I bought an airline ticket with the cash cards Mr. Reed gave me.

  Mr. Reed sighed with relief. “Thank God, you got away in one piece.”

  Sick to her stomach, she relived the last two days of her trip. Jeremy’s protests before her departure started to make sense. Perhaps her last-minute change of plans had saved her life. She’d left for the airport with Lucky instead of Jeremy. The tight airport security didn’t permit visitors in the secured passenger areas. He would’ve come after her if he could.

  She fought back the tears and looked at Mr. Reed. Do you still have the money from Aunt Zoie’s estate?”

  Mr. Reed’s shook his head sadly side-to-side. “It’s all been transferred to the charities listed on your aunt’s will.”

  “My inheritance is gone?”

  “The cash is gone.” Mr. Reed gave her the recent bank statements. “You still have the house, farm, cosmetic company, and oil rights.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve lost half of your wealth—not all of it. Your great grandfather ensured the oil rights went to family members only. We were in the process of interviewing the relatives to pass on the inheritance.” He smirked. “There are some greedy Howards out there. You better watch out for them.”

  “Thank God for the legal hitches,” she said with relief. “If I’d received my inheritance right away, I wouldn’t have been in such danger.”

  Mr. Reed gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I had to force Neil to put the house on the market to avoid paying the taxes.”

  “We asked my aunt to stay here to watch the house until it sold,” Neil said.

  Her headache grew worse as she rubbed her forehead. “This meeting is a continuous nightmare.” She looked at Mr. Reed in anger. “Since Aunt Zoie died, every time I’ve sat at this table with you, you’ve given me bad news. I thought the inheritance was a fluke, but my supposed death tops it all.”

  Mr. Reed’s used the table for support as he stood. He held his hand up to stop Neil from helping him. “I’m okay, kid,” he said. “I’ll call the real estate agent and take the house off the market. This is an unusual circumstance. Terminating the real estate contract should be easy.” He walked to the next room to call the realtor.

  She sat anxiously trying to make sense of things. These last three-months, Jeremy had saved her life more than once. If he’d wanted to kill her, he would’ve done it by now. Something didn’t add up here. Or maybe her unlucky streak in love hadn’t ended yet.

  Neil gave her a sympathetic look. “Did he torture or hurt you, Stanley?”

  “Who, Jeremy?”

  “Is that his name?”

  “No,” she said. “He took excellent care of me. I even had a dart gun. Why would he give me a weapon if he was kidnapping me?”

  Neil looked at her teary eyes. “He’s a slick son of a bitch if he made you think he was in love with you, and kept you as his sex slave.”

  She broke out in tears at the remote possibility.

  “The most important thing is that you’re alive and well. Material things and money can be replaced, but nothing in the world can replace you.” He gave her a paper napkin to soak her tears as his voice choked.

  “The day of your memorial service was the saddest in my life. We had a wonderful service for you at this house. Your picture sat on an easel next to your Aunt Zoie’s. I found comfort in knowing she was taking good care of you in heaven. We hired a musician to play your favorite songs on the Steinway. Everyone said how kind, sweet, and caring you were behind that spoiled diva facade.”

  She smirked. “People think I’m spoiled?”

  He smiled. “They don’t know you like I do. Most strong and powerful women are misunderstood. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. If you weren’t the way you are, you wouldn’t have escaped.”

  She kissed his cheek. “You’re the only family I have left now.”

  “I thought I lost my little sister.” Neil grabbed a napkin to wipe his moist eyes. “Every time I’d drive by the house, I’d break down in tears. Not seeing your face, hearing your voice, or working with you every day broke my heart.” He held her hand. “Even now, I can’t believe you’re here with me. Just yesterday, I was balling my eyes out at the orchards, and then you called.”

  She looked out the windows at a house at the next farm. The family was in the front enjoying the beautiful day. “How are the new neighbors working out?”

  “They’re very nice,” Neil said. “Every Saturday, they have a barbeque and invite my family and me over. Sometimes, I take Mr. Reed with me. He’s been very lonely without your Aunt Zoie.”

  She gave him a proud
smile. “You’ve done a good job of handling things in my absence. The company is in good financial health, and the house and herb garden have never looked better. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  He pointed to the baskets full of herb clippings on the shelves. “Every time I snipped the herbs in the garden, I’d think of you as a little girl, chasing me down those long rows.” He looked at her sad face. “You really fell for him, didn’t you?”

  She caressed Jeremy’s bracelet on her wrist. “Yes, I did. Jeremy would never do anything to hurt me.”

  Neil’s jaw tensed. “I’d love to find him and beat the hell out of him.”

  “I must’ve had blinders on not to see through his deception,” she choked. “I have a hard time believing he’d betray me.”

  “When Mr. Reed and I heard your voice on the phone, we couldn’t believe our ears. We both called each other in shock after your calls. I look at you and I can’t believe it’s you.”

  Mr. Reed walked back into the room. He looked at her and nodded. “It’s done. The house and farm are officially off the market. The realtor wasn’t too happy, but she understood the situation. There are no penalties for the withdrawal.”

  “Thank God.” She glanced at Neil. “What about your Aunt Anna? Where will she live now?

  “We’ll find her another place.”

  Stanley hesitated. “She reminds me of Aunt Zoie. We need someone to take care of this place while I’m away at work in the city. She seems to respect the house and its belongings. Tell her she can continue staying here if she wants.”

  “She loves this place,” Neil said.

  “But make sure you tell her that when I come to visit here, I want my room back.”

  “She’ll be thrilled. Are you sure about it?”

  Stanley smiled. “I like the sound of an aunt living here.”

  Mr. Reed showed her the money trail for the charities. Millions of dollars had been poured into the Save the Elephant Program. She hadn’t paid attention to that charity before, but now it was a source of heartache. “Somehow, we need to get that money back.”

  “It’ll be a one in a million chance to get it all back,” Mr. Reed said. “It could’ve changed many hands by now, and been transferred to bank accounts all over the world. Crooks are smart and know what they’re doing.”

  Stanley crossed her arms. “I’m going to back to Zambia on the next flight and getting my money back.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Neil said.

  “No, you need to run the company and take care of this property.”

  “It’s not safe,” Mr. Reed said. “He might kill you this time.”

  “He’s not the only one with tricks up his sleeve.”

  “Kids, he may not be in Zambia.” Mr. Reed said. “He has plenty of money to disappear anywhere in the world. He’s probably somewhere in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, or Australia for all we know sailing on a big yacht under the sun.”

  The vision of Jeremy with another woman on a beach somewhere filled her with rage. “Would you please unfreeze my bank accounts? I’m going after him, whichever hole in the earth he’s in.” She opened her laptop to book a flight. “I don’t have a credit card.” She looked at Mr. Reed. “May I borrow yours?”

  Mr. Reed gave her a gold MasterCard. “Are you sure you want to do this alone?”

  “I know him well enough to predict what he’d do.” She crossed her arms. “I, too, paid close attention to everything he did.”

  “That man is dangerous. He might hurt you,” Mr. Reed said nervously.

  She pondered. “I got away from Jeremy once, and I can do it again.”

  “I don’t like this one bit.” Mr. Reed dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief again. “Maybe we should get the FBI or Interpol involved.”

  “Please, let me do things my way. I promise you I know what I’m doing.”

  Both men gave up trying to convince her to stay.

  Mr. Reed ended his call to the bank. “The funds are available to you now. I had to cancel your old credit cards. The manager will issue you a new one.”

  ~*~

  Stanley packed her things to leave for her home in San Francisco. A wave of sadness came over her as she looked around the house. She missed her aunt and the life she’d left behind before dealing with Jeremy. I was so damn stupid. I even helped him improve his scams with my marketing skills. She searched for the Save the Elephant Campaign on her laptop and slammed it shut. There was no mention of it anywhere. Her jaw tensed. “When I find him, I’m going to taser the hell out of him.”

  Mr. Reed held her hand. “I couldn’t bear to lose you again. To hell with the money. You’ll recoup the loss in five-years. You have pumping oil wells that will produce the rest of your life.”

  “The price of oil is down.” She zipped up her jacket. “It’s not about the money anymore…it’s personal. He took advantage of me, lied to me, and made me believe he…well, he used me.” Her fists clenched. “I’ll find him wherever the hell he’s sailing.” She looked at Mr. Reed’s sad eyes. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

  “I can’t help it,” he said. “You’re back, and we just found out, and now you’re leaving again.”

  She held his hand. “I need you to draw up papers for the cosmetics company. Neil and I are going to be fifty-fifty partners from this day forward.”

  “Stanley, you don’t have to do this,” Neil said. “I’ll help you without the partnership. You know that.”

  “I know.” She smiled. “I had Aunt Zoie to help me run the company. I need the support. You know the business from the ground up like me. We’ve got to keep my aunt’s legacy going.”

  She kissed both men on the cheek. “I’m going home to pack for Zambia.”

  ~*~

  Teary-eyed, she drove back to San Francisco. Jeremy’s betrayal hurt more than the money. She looked down at the prepaid phone. Now she knew why the scumbag hadn’t returned her calls.

  Half an hour later, her mind turned with ideas to make him suffer. Throwing him on a giant mound of ants topped the list. He was allergic to them and would die within half an hour without medical attention. Or even better, she could always pay someone to put a few black mambas in his house. The bite would kill him in minutes.

  She swiped her moist eyes and thought of Tutu, Luki, and Makeda. Was Jeremy lying about the elephants, too? Was he even a vet? What a fool she’d been to idolize him as her hero. The daunting task of his capture was overwhelming. Jeremy was no ordinary criminal. He was a psychopath who had no empathy for her feelings. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel. She must beat him at his own game and make him beg her for mercy.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Stanley took an overnight flight from San Francisco to Zambia. Across land and sea in transit, she planned her surprise attack on Jeremy. She prayed he wasn’t sailing across the world like Mr. Reed had suggested. Maybe the workaholic didn’t have the urge to go on vacation. The only time his busy body took a break from his schemes to betray her was to have sex with her. She hoped he’d overheat and die if he was romancing another unsuspecting wealthy woman.

  When she landed in the airport in Livingstone, she rented a dark green used Rover. She drove past the curb outside, where Jeremy had first charmed her. Without questioning him further, she’d relied on his ID at face value. He must have a dozen different ones.

  She’d bought into his beautiful wild illusion. But he was so kind to the village children, the orphan elephants, and his coworkers. Oh, God, was she falling for him again? Her yearning for him was going to be a challenge. Her body was addicted to his touch, scent, and sweet words.

  The bumpy drive to the lodge, the animals, the blooming mimosa trees, and the rugged mud huts with grass rooftops along the way were all the same, but now she felt like a stranger to it all. Her racing pulse came to a halting stop at the lodge.

  The prison where he’d held her hostage for three-months had a “No Entry” sign boarded across its rustic gate.
This forbidding cold reception seemed a warning that he’d shunned her from his heart, too.

  She dropped her head on the leather-bound steering wheel and broke out in tears. She’d traveled thousands of miles for a logical explanation for his betrayal. The fantasy of him waiting with an apology at the lodge was now dead.

  Heavy-hearted, she drove to the rehab center. She sat in the gravel parking lot staring. The animals were gone, and so was the dedicated staff. She’d spent hours here nursing the elephants in rehab. It was as if she’d dreamed it all.

  She drove to the luxury resort—the only place to stay in the area. Jeremy had avoided taking her to the charming restaurant there. After checking-in at The Rainbow Resort, she stood on the balcony of her luxurious room. The breathtaking view of the river and the animals soothed her soul, but the troubled memories of Jeremy sank her heart.

  She walked to the restaurant. No one was around. She’d come at an odd hour between lunch and dinner. A pretty hostess seated her out on the porch to enjoy the view. Stanley’s pulse raced as she looked toward the lodge where she’d been deceived. She could see glimpses of the balcony where Jeremy had held her in his arms to enjoy the rainbows and moonbeams.

  Her spirits lifted from the distinct trumpeting calls of an elephant herd. Could that be Makeda, Luki, and Tutu in the distance? Her eyes dimmed with sadness. Were those even their names? The giants walked to the river to drink and play. Jeremy was right about one thing. Watching the elephants enjoy the water chased the depression away.

  “Good evening, my lady.” The soft, sweet familiar voice surprised her.

  Excited to see Tabo, she looked at the ebony beauty, but it wasn’t Tabo. Her gaze dropped to the cold, fresh glass of lemonade on the waitress’s wooden tray. Tabo had served her lemonade in an identical glass.

  The woman smiled. “Welcome, my lady.”

  “Thank you.”

  Caught in a deja vu moment, she took refreshing sips. Fate was playing a cruel joke on her again. She looked at the texture and the floating lemon slice in her glass. Either someone had stolen Tabo’s special recipe, or she’d made it for her in the kitchen.