"Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that."
"What's your take on all of this, Ben?"
While the guys talked, Apela crept away from the lounge entrance where he had been standing unnoticed for several minutes. He had returned to inquire about their needs; but had refrained from making his presence known upon hearing the nature of their discussion. Not only did Apela recognize the description of the man who attempted to abduct Max, but he also recognized Rika's name and wanted to talk to Max's uncle before deciding if he should share the limited information he had with Vin.
Ben set aside the laptop computer he borrowed from Vin's room the day before. He knew Vin could provide a few details that would help fill in the gaps in his developing theory. Ben also faced the fact that Vin was not going to like some of what he was about to hear. Ben didn't much care for the news himself. Nonetheless, the two of them were going to have to pool their knowledge if they expected to have any chance of helping their wives. The pair had already reviewed the list of threats to Salma; now they needed to add the imminent danger to Caeli to that list.
"Vin, before we get into this, there is something you should see. I picked this up in your room earlier. It was already open and sitting face down on Caeli's suitcase. I accidentally bumped it, knocking the envelope and its contents onto the floor. When I went to put it back, I saw the images and brought the whole lot out with me. I'm quite certain that Caeli has already seen them."
Ben handed Vin a manila envelope with Mrs. Harding handwritten on the front. When Vin looked at the three photos, he grimaced, and the wind in the room became agitated for a few moments. He had not yet told Caeli about the incident at Vicki's house. When she called to tell him about Salma's accident, he put Vicki out of his mind and rushed straight to the hospital via a detour at the police station on Ben's behalf. The topic had not made it to the front of his mind since. It went without saying that now was not the ideal time to revisit it.
Igniting Vin’s irritation, the photos in the packet looked like they might have been retrieved from a security camera near Vicki's front door, capturing both the front entrance and a portion of the living room beyond. As he considered it now, he realized that must have been why the front door was open when he arrived. The photos did not paint Vin in a good light. In fact, they presented him in the worst possible perspective. In one, he was comforting Vicki in what could easily be taken out of context and mistaken for a personal embrace. In the next, she had fallen on top of him, though it appeared much more intimate than that. In the last photo, Vicki's attempt to kiss him at the front door could clearly be misinterpreted as something more. Combining all three images could easily paint a scenario much different than the truth, which was not at all discernible from the snapshots. This could be none other than Vicki's handiwork, and she selected the most compromising images possible, making Vin appear guilty of infidelity. Of course, it wasn't true. Vin wondered how Vicki even knew that Caeli was going to be here.
"I could be wrong about this, but I believe I saw Lorrie place this envelope in Caeli's luggage when we were at the arena. She was carrying a similar envelope in her hands when she was talking to Apela. When she walked away, her hands were empty. If I had to guess, I would say that Vicki and Lorrie know each other. Given what else I've discovered about Lorrie, it seems likely. Lorrie is probably conspiring with Vicki; toward what end, I can't say," Ben began.
"Great! Vicki was ticked off because I rejected her. Now she must be trying to get even by sending these photos to Caeli. Caeli will understand, but this is the last thing she needs to think about right now." Vin ripped the photos into several pieces and dropped them into a trashcan. As Vin’s anger flared and he pounded his fist against the arm of his chair, a small spark leapt from his hand to the torn paper. The shredded images began to burn. Both Vin and Ben were startled by the unexpected fire.
"Well, that's a new development," Ben noted.
"I suppose, but it's not important. Neither are those," Vin did not want to think about the spark or the photos.
"I'm sorry. I thought you should see them since Caeli assuredly has," Ben said.
"Thanks, Ben. I know you are trying to help. I will deal with Vicki later. Caeli's trust in me will not dissolve at the sight of a few potentially compromising photos, and we have more important matters to discuss before Salma finishes her test. Let's start from the beginning. I need to grasp the big picture. I can't wrap my mind around it. What do we know about the car accident?" Vin asked, putting the photos completely out of his mind.
"Well, for starters, the car accident was not the beginning. It goes further back. It started with Caeli's friend, Lara. The one she visited with during her trip to New York. The same one who recommended the energy bars."
"What does Lara have to do with this?" Vin did not immediately follow Ben's logic.
"I know we originally thought otherwise, Vin, but those bars were not poisoned by accident."
"Someone poisoned Caeli intentionally?" Vin was shocked.
"You remember that Salma asked me to do some research before she could report the incident? I found no product recall. There was no registered business license for the company and no such product approved for sale. It was a false company. Once I discovered that bit of news, I did some additional digging and asked one of my men run it down even further. The address provided on the website was legitimate, but the mail was forwarded to a marketing company in California. It turned out to be the company where Lara was working at the time."
Vin furrowed his brow and sat forward in his chair. He placed both elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands.
"That doesn't make any sense. Caeli and Lara have known each other for years. Sure, they competed against each other in school, but I always thought it was friendly competition. They were never antagonistic toward each other. Why would Lara want to hurt Caeli? Why now? I would be more inclined to believe that Chief Matthews, if anyone, would be responsible."
"That's not a bad thought, but I don't think so. I don't see how he could be involved. And I don't think Lara wants to hurt Caeli, at least, not directly. I believe it was Lorrie who wanted to hurt Salma."
"What? I'm not following you, Ben."
"I know it sounds crazy, but you're going to have to bear with me on this. It will make sense when we reach the end. Do you remember the letters I told you Salma was receiving?"
"Do you mean the letters from the government? Yes. And I suppose there was also something important about the letter you showed Maku in the elevator, but I don't know anything more than what I overheard at the table."
"Forget the government letters. I am satisfied that they came from Dr. Jacobs. No, the letters I'm referring to were personal. They started with the letter that Maku sent Salma several months ago, requesting help for his father. She did not respond because of the guidelines for the drug trials. His father died soon thereafter. Maku was forced to abandon his own pursuits so that he could focus on taking care of his younger brother. In fact, they are both here at the hotel now."
"I know. They arrived when I first came out. Apela is down the hall with them now.
"If you remember, I invited them to dinner before all the mayhem started," Ben explained.
"Maku seems like a good man. Do you think he is involved?"
"No. After Maku's father died, Salma received several threatening letters. They were typical threats, but more than mere angry words. Whoever wrote the letters made it clear that they intended to follow through on the promise that Salma would watch those she loved suffer and die without being able to help them. I know the difference between a lot of hot air and a real threat. Trust me, these were real. I tried everything to track down the source."
"What did you find?"
"Not as much as I would have liked. I determined that the letters were written by a female, but they were obviously never signed. I always lost the trail at a marketing company in California. I'm sure you can guess which one. At the time, I figured
the person was merely using that company's mailbox. I even enlisted the aid of a few friends at that local FBI office, but they didn't have any more luck than I did. Then the threats stopped about a month ago, right around the time that Caeli was introduced to those bars."
"I still don't get it, Ben. What do the two ladies and the two incidents have to do with each other?"
"Here, look at this. This will clear it up. Max showed me some old photos earlier, and he happened to point this one out. This is one of Lorrie's high school yearbooks. Look familiar?"
"Yes, it's the same as mine and Caeli's," Vin confirmed with a perplexed look on his face. He still didn't understand.
"Believe it or not, Lorrie went to school with you for a while. I talked briefly with Apela about Lorrie’s visit to our table this morning. Several things that she said made it obvious that you two had met before," Ben continued.
"That much I figured out for myself, but I couldn't place where or when," Vin confirmed.
"I was hoping Apela could tell me that. He confirmed that Lorrie spent her last year of high school and then college in Washington. Apela knew that you and Caeli were from there because of that photo Caeli let Max borrow on the plane. Caeli also told him that was where she met you. Apela easily put two and two together," Ben explained.
"Ok. I will buy that Lorrie went to school with us. That explains how she knew my name and why she seemed familiar. It still doesn’t tell me how Lorrie has anything to do with Lara."
"Look at Lorrie's photo in the yearbook. Sometimes I think young Max's instincts are better than my own. He always seems to know exactly what we are looking for or precisely the right words to say to point us in the proper direction. It is almost as if he has someone telling him the answers," Ben said with a slight smile.
Vin flipped the book to the page Ben had marked. When he came to the picture, Vin gasped in astonishment. The photo of Lorrie was also the same lady Vin vaguely remembered and who was listed in the book as none other than Caeli's friend, Lara. Having met Lorrie earlier that day, Vin was now surprised that he had not recognized her. He had seen Lara many times during school, though he never really paid her much attention. Lorrie's current hairstyle looked much different than Lara's hair in the photo. And, of course, Vin hadn't actually seen Lara in years. Caeli and Lara communicated mainly by email or phone and only met each other perhaps once a year at conferences like the one Caeli recently attended in New York. Vin now understood Lorrie's underlying reference about Vin never having asked her out. Caeli once mentioned that she thought Lara had a crush on him when they first started dating. Vin never noticed. He was already smitten.
"She changed her name. Why would she do that?"
Ben shared the little bit of information that Apela provided about the incident in Lorrie's past.
"When I looked up the information about the fraudulent energy bar company, and Caeli said her friend Lara recommended them, I knew the woman had to be involved. Additional digging revealed the rest. I never imagined it would be this complicated. I hoped, for Caeli's sake, that Lara's involvement was unintentional."
"You're right. This will hurt Caeli deeply when she finds out," Vin did not relish the idea of telling Caeli about this, though he knew it was unavoidable.
"Now that you know this part, the rest will make sense. I knew the other threatening letters were about Maku's father. One other detail I discovered on the envelopes was a misspelling in Salma's address. Maku made the original mistake on his letting requesting Salma's help for Pete, and the threatening letters repeated it. Therefore, the lady who wrote those letters also had to know Maku and have access to his address book. When we met Lorrie earlier, it was obvious in the way she spoke Maku's name that she once possessed strong feelings for him. Given that Maku and Apela have been life-long friends, Lorrie very likely knew Maku's father. I also managed to get a few details of the incident from Lorrie's youth. It turns out that Maku's father was the sheriff at the time and testified in a case on her behalf. When you put it all together, the letters must have been written by Lorrie."
Vin listened closely, following Ben's logic and making the final connection.
"You think that Lorrie found out Caeli was Salma's niece and decided to poison her to get back at Salma for not helping Maku's father? Do you believe Lorrie actually intended to kill Caeli?" Vin asked, appalled at the notion.
"I'm sorry, Vin. Yes, I do. I believe Lorrie is still suffering from that childhood trauma, and it is fueling the bad situation she is in now. I don't believe she is thinking altogether rationally or long term. I don't believe she has thought beyond the single goal of punishing Salma. And I didn't buy that line she was selling us at lunch, not for a second. I am certain that she is a threat to both Salma and Caeli. It's our luck that she hooked up with Scott, making matters worse."
Vin sat silently for several minutes. It was a lot to consider, but he found himself agreeing with Ben's conclusions. Caeli probably told Lara all about her aunt. She was very proud of Salma's accomplishments and of her newly discovered familial connection. That would easily explain how Lara/Lorrie found out about their relationship. Lara's marketing background made her fully capable of setting up a false company and website to trick Caeli. Of course, Caeli would have no reason to mistrust Lara. Given that Lorrie was a nurse, the knowledge of poison and dosage gets thrown into the mix as well. It all made crazy sense. Vin was thankful that Lara/Lorrie did not know about Caeli's gift. If she had, Caeli might not have survived long enough for Salma to find the answer. Even with the help of her gift, Caeli had still suffered tremendous pain and sickness as a result of the poisonous chemicals.
As he considered all of this, Vin clearly understood one side of the problem. However, it did not explain everything that had happened; and not the most recent events at all.
"Ok, let's assume that Lara/Lorrie poisoned Caeli to hurt Salma. I'll agree to that, but it still leaves several unanswered questions. What about all that blood the man stole from the hospital? That was not merely a coincidence. It was related to Salma's research, right? How about the explosion at the levee? Could that have been meant to hurt Salma through me? The only one I think I understand is the hotel bombing during the seminar. I think that explosion was meant to cause a minor disruption so that Dr. Jacobs could run off with Salma. Something went wrong, and it got out of hand. As a result, we now only have to deal with Lorrie and Scott. Above all, what does any of this have to do with what happened to Caeli today?" Vin asked.
"I'm not sure. Lorrie could have sent someone after Caeli again, since she survived the poisoning. As for the blood, my men did find out that the stolen units were donated by Salma. She donates regularly, and the hospital keeps detailed records. Other than that, they have not been able to get beyond the man's lawyer. If someone hired him to steal the blood, we will probably never find out who. We have to assume that someone did, and my money is on Dr. Jacobs or Scott. I think they hired him to get a sample of Salma's blood. I suspect that the thief got greedy and hauled off more than he was asked to retrieve, hoping to make some additional money selling the blood to certain clinics under the table." Ben was rubbing his chin again, clearly unsettled by the evolving mystery.
"You said your men confiscated all of the stolen blood, right? So it never reached its intended destination. Dr. Jacobs or Scott never received it."
"That's right," Ben nodded in confirmation.
"Caeli told me that Scott ran into Salma twice at the airport. On the second occurrence, he cut Salma's arm enough to draw blood. I think he was trying to get that sample without anyone knowing about it. Since the first attempt failed, Scott intervened directly. It could also explain why they would bring the plane down, though it was risky and way over-the-top; probably Scott's idea. He does seem to enjoy the drama. Scott could have used the lightning that Antonius taught him to bring the plane down in a somewhat controlled manner. Once rescued, I suspect that Scott met up with his uncle, who got himself assigned to that rescue ship as a ve
teran of the coast guard and active reservist, and gave him the blood sample. They would have had the perfect opportunity to snatch Salma anytime during the chaos of the trip to shore. She could easily have been another casualty of the crash. No one would have been the wiser if you hadn't been on that ship, Ben. They obviously didn't anticipate your arrival," Vin relayed the information he learned from Caeli and the conclusions he drew from it.
"Well, the bullet in my back was proof that they had the means to change their plans on the fly," Ben stated coldly.
"Indeed." Vin finished.
"There is one other matter. Maybe the black van was not a coincidence. Not completely. There was one person who knew about that van. It was only mentioned briefly in the police report, which was not public knowledge. Very few people could access that report. Caeli and I sent one of those people to prison, and he just escaped," Ben left an open-ended implication that Vin was quick to pick up.
"You mean Chief Matthews? You just said you didn't think he could be involved."
"Not with the poisoning, but I think there is a lot more going on than we realize. After seeing Scott at the conference, it made me wonder. Sam did have a son. I never met the kid in person, and the photos on Sam's desk were not recent. However, I do remember that his hair was red. Apela gave his last name as Matthews. I am fairly certain that Scott is Sam's son. But, I can't tell if Sam, himself, is involved. If he is, we will have to deal with him when he shows his hand."
"Caeli recognized Scott, too. Salma would not have known that Scott was part of the ordeal in Idaho, but Caeli will likely never forget it. She saw Scott with my sister when they brought the Book of Elements to Antonius," Vin explained. He already believed that Sam had to be involved. The timing of his escape was too convenient.
Vin now sat quietly again, hands clasped tightly together in front of him. Then he stood up and began pacing slowly around the lounge. At one point, Vin stopped, placed his hand over his stomach, and winced as if in pain.
Wrath of the Sea Queen Page 48
