Found and Destroyed: The Second Sarah Martin Mystery

by Danelle Helget

“Yeah, I’m in!” Tannya said. “You are too, right, Sara?”

  They were both staring at me.

  “You have to be!” Kitty informed me. “I’m paying you for this! Now drive!” she yelled.

  I didn’t feel I had much of a choice, so I backed out and asked for directions to the airport. I didn’t even know there was an airport in Brainerd.

  We parked and grabbed our box from the back. Miss Kitty told me to go to the gift shop and buy a big bag to put it all in, while she went to the bathroom to fix her makeup, and she handed me a hundred-dollar bill. Tannya followed me to the gift shop door, then waited outside with the box.

  “Can I help you?” the lady in the store asked.

  “Yes, I need a large bag for some carry-on items.”

  “Right over here,” she said leading the way.

  I picked out a black-and-white zebra stripped one with a bright pink handle. It had Miss Kitty written all over it, and it was huge. I paid for it and walked out to the hallway. Tannya dumped the contents of the box into the bag and left the box next to the door. Miss Kitty caught up to us and looked like a million bucks again. I don’t know how she did it, but she doesn’t look like she’s been crying at all.

  We went up to the counter and booked three seats on the next flight, which was scheduled to leave seventy minutes later. It would put us in Chicago at about 8:00 p.m. The lady behind the counter asked if we needed to check luggage, and we told her no. She pointed us to the security check point and handed us the tickets.

  We got in a short line and waited until we were waved up. The security officer called us forward and Miss Kitty handed him our tickets. Then he asked for our photo IDs, too. After he looked at them, he instructed us to put our shoes in the tub and to take any electronics out of the bag. My blood pressure went up as I bent over to remove my shoes.

  “Shit, Tannya,” I whispered, “You take the bag.”

  “Oh, hell, no! That there’s your bag. This is an airport! Don’t you know you’re not supposed to let others tamper with your bag?” she said, a little too loudly.

  I squinted my eyes and shushed her. The uniformed man was looking at me with his arms folded and eyebrows pressed together.

  “Ma’am, is that your bag or not?” he asked sternly.

  “Um, uh, yes?” I answered with a nervous voice.

  I smiled at him to help matters, but he wasn’t having it. He made a loud, “Ahem,” and waved more officers over without ever taking his eyes off me. Oooh shit.

  I looked to my left. Miss Kitty was already through the metal detector and putting her shoes back on. I shot her a look. She winked at me. I watched her walk a few steps back and sit on a bench against the wall.

  “You! Come through!” A security guard yelled pointing at Tannya.

  She pushed her bin with her shoes inside the open door of the exam box and stepped through the metal detector. It was silent, so he waved her to keep going. She put her shoes on and sat down by Miss Kitty.

  “Ma’am, take any electronics out of the bag, put them in a bin and then come through the metal detector.”

  I reluctantly put my purse in one bin, then took another, reached into the bag, grabbed the video camera, and set it in the bucket. Then I reached in and grabbed a pair of binoculars and set them in the bin. I exhaled and looked up at the guard.

  He stood there with his arms crossed and asked, “Is that all?”

  I reluctantly shook my head no, and reached back into the bag and pulled out another pair of binoculars and set them in a bin, and then grabbed the recorder out.

  “What the … ?” the guard said.

  I looked at him and bit my bottom lip. He walked over and dumped the bag upside down. The bin was mounded with our equipment. He shot me a look of bewilderment. I smiled. He pieced through it and looked at me.

  “Care to explain?”

  “Um … I … uh … no.” I stammered.

  He waved me to walk through the metal detector and it beeped. I’d forgotten about my phone in my pocket. I took it out and handed it to him. Then he motioned me to walk through again. I did and passed. He squinted his eyes at me.

  “Over here,” he said. “Martha, check her!”

  A large angry woman with arms folded and lips pursed together stepped towards me.

  “Spread your legs and put your arms out,” she ordered.

  She pulled on gloves and gave me a pat down. I glanced over at Tannya and Miss Kitty, who were smiling and quietly giggling. I stuck my tongue out at them. After I passed the pat down, I got to put my shoes back on, that is after they were thoroughly inspected. Then they dumped everything out of my purse on to a table, handed it back to me empty, and told me I could go.

  It took me about five minutes to get my purse and the shoulder bag put back together. I hiked both on to my shoulder and met up with Tannya and Miss Kitty, who were now standing against the far wall.

  “Well, thanks for that, ladies!” I said.

  They laughed.

  I heard the angry pat-down lady’s voice, “Excuse me, ma’am!”

  Crap! I slowly turned to look at her.

  “You forgot your cell phone,” she said and handed it to me with one eyebrow up and her lips still tightly pursed together.

  “Oh, ha ha. Thanks!” I said and smiled.

  “Un huh,” she said snidely, still giving me the stink eye.

  We stopped at the Starbuck’s and got three strong coffees. It was going to be a long night. Then we sat at the gate and made phone calls. Tannya called her work and told them she wouldn’t be in until Friday. Miss Kitty called her mom and told her she was going on a short trip and made arrangements for Smoochie Poo. I called Rex.

  “Hello?” he answered

  “Hi, how are you?” I asked.

  “I’m great. And my lunch was great. So was the dessert, thanks! How are you?”

  “I’m pretty good. I have a favor to ask …”

  “Already! Wow, how quickly the tables turn,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Yes, I know. I’m wondering if you can stop by my house and feed my cat tonight and give her her medicine, and leave her enough food for tomorrow morning, too. I’m kinda going on a last-minute trip and, well, I can’t make it back to feed her first.”

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you so much! I have a hide-a-key under the mat on the back patio door.”

  “Wow, how secure. Very original, Sara.” he scolded.

  “I know, sorry. I’ll fix that when I get back.”

  “So where are you going?” he asked.

  “Um,” I said, stepping away from the two ladies. “You know that thing I was helping the friend you know with? It’s for that. We need to go check on a few things … in Chicago.”

  “Chicago? Is this for Miss Kitty? Who’s we?”

  “Um, yeah. It’s us and Tannya.”

  “I don’t like … this has trouble written all over it,” he said.

  “We’ll be back tomorrow sometime. It’s just a quick trip,” I tried to reassure him.

  “Hmm, what’s your boyfriend say about this?” he asked.

  “Derek? He doesn’t know. And it doesn’t matter. I’ll be back by Friday.” Geez, now I feel like I’ve called my dad. “Can you just feed the cat, please?”

  “Okay. But call me when you’re on your way home.”

  “Okay, I will. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said and disconnected.

  I hung up and heard the boarding call for our plane.

  “You ready to do this?” Tannya asked.

  She sounded like a boxing coach, and I was stepping into a ring. I could tell she was looking forward to this. Her mundane life was getting exciting, and she was enjoying every second.

  Me, I could do without the drama, but there I went again.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  After we landed and were off the plane, we went straight to the taxi zone of the airport. We piled into the first one available a
nd looked to Miss Kitty for instructions. She told the driver to take us to the Ritz Carlton Hotel, then was on her smart phone the whole way there. Tannya was telling me how she’d never been to a fancy hotel, just a Motel 6 a couple of times when she was a kid. I’d been to some nice hotels, but never stayed at a Ritz Carlton.

  When we arrived, Miss Kitty paid the cab driver and led us inside. She walked us to the lounge, gave us a fifty, and told us to order drinks, so we did. She went to the front desk to get us a room. For as spoiled as she was, she impressed me at how independent she was too. She handled things well, like she’d done it all before. I’d thought I’d have to babysit her, but that was not the case at all. And, now that she was in a serious mood minus her sashay and accent, I kind of liked her. We ordered three long islands and sat down at a table to wait.

  “Do you think she’ll take us shopping for new clothes?” Tannya asked me with wide eyes.

  “I don’t know, maybe. I hope she does. I feel kinda silly, all of us being dressed alike.”

  “Yeah, today didn’t go how I thought it would,” Tannya told me. “I was hoping for sneaking around outside of buildings and peeking through windows and following his vehicle from three cars back, ya know? This is nice, but not as fun as I’d thought. Still, this is a great hotel. I can’t wait to see the room!”

  We looked around. Even the lounge was state of the art. The entry area was breathtaking and had a crystal chandelier the size of a car. The floor was marble and the counter tops granite. There were enormous fresh flower arrangements the size of my recliner, and probably cost more than most people made in a month. Miss Kitty walked over and plopped down in a chair.

  “All right we got the last suite. And I double-checked, Vincent’s not registered here and doesn’t have a reservation for tonight either,” she told us. “What are we drinking?”

  She picked up her glass and slammed it.

  “Ah …” I watched as the last swallow disappeared. “It was a long island tea.”

  “Mmm, pretty good.”

  She threw her hand up in the air and snapped her fingers. When the bartender looked at her, she drew a circle in the air above us and pointed down to the table. He nodded and grabbed three glasses.

  “Get done, girls, there’s more coming.”

  We sat there and finished our drinks and talked about the plan for the night. Miss Kitty knew which hotel the business meeting was being held. It was about a five-minute cab ride from where we were. She also knew from texting and threatening Vincent’s limo driver, that the club he would frequent was called Spice. We needed new clothes to fit in and get in to a club like that, so she planned to take us out shopping for a bit, and then we’d grab dinner. She had the hotel call the club and get her on the VIP list with a reserved section for us. It was $1,500 for the night and included drinks. That was a ton of money, but she didn’t want to risk us not getting in. I wondered if we would have gotten in without it. I wondered if Tannya and I would have made the cut. I didn’t have fake hair or fingernails, so I doubted it.

  We went up to the room and looked around. It was huge! It was bigger than my apartment was, and had a hot tub in the corner of the living room. A seventy-inch flat screen TV hung on the wall with every gaming system ever made below it. The furniture was gorgeous and the beds were super soft. There was a menu on the pillow and chilled champagne in an ice bucket stand, filled with ice. There was also a man standing there wearing a black tuxedo and white gloves. Apparently, we get our own butler too. Miss Kitty dismissed him, and he walked out. She informed us that we just had to press a button and he’d come back when we needed him. I knew this worked too because, of course, Tannya had to test it. Twice. She couldn’t stop giggling after she excused him the second time and shut the door. Miss Kitty asked her not to do it again.

  We left for shopping, and an hour later we all had new outfits for the night, along with new shoes, a collection of makeup and hair products, and pajamas for later. Our bill was over a thousand dollars. And Miss Kitty never blinked an eye. It was kinda of hard for me. It seemed so wasteful. There were starving children out there that could eat for a year on what she spent on a three-quarter-ounce jar of eye cream.

  When we got back to the hotel, we took about forty-five minutes to get dolled up, then headed out on the town. We stopped at a restaurant right on the Magnificent Mile. The food was good. I wasn’t really sure what I ate, but it tasted great. Then we headed to the club. Miss Kitty had her hair pulled back in a tight, low pony tail and had a big floppy hat on. She didn’t want Vincent to recognize her.

  We checked in with the bouncer. He opened the door for us and another person led us to our reserved area. It was a round couch against a back wall with a big circle-shaped ottoman in front of it. The area could seat about eight people. There was a hole in the middle of the ottoman with a stripper pole coming out of it. The entire area was surrounded by red mesh netting that hung from the ceiling and draped all the way to the floor. It was pulled back but could be closed at any time. We also had a large silver drink cooler with a few bottles of wine and beer. As soon as we sat down, a half-dressed man introduced himself as Alfonso.

  “I’m your personal server for the evening, ladies. Just let me know when you’d like a drink, and I’ll get it for you. Would you like your dancers now?”

  My mouth hit the floor, and Tannya gasped then covered her mouth to hide the laugh coming out of it. “Personal dancers?” she asked.

  “Yes, man or woman? They’ll dance for you and when you want them to leave just tell them to go. They’ll wait there until you call them back,” he said and moved his hand to the right. Lined up along the wall were half-dressed men and women wiggling slightly to the music, darting their eyes from couch to couch.

  “No thanks!” I spoke up for the group. “I’ll take a diet Coke though.”

  He pressed his eyebrows together at me and then looked to Tannya. She ordered the same, and Miss Kitty asked for water.

  The place was packed, and all the couches were full of people. The club was loud with music and voices. Miss Kitty got up and pulled the red mesh almost closed.

  “Try to watch for him, but I don’t want him to see us,” she said.

  My phone was vibrating in my pants so I pulled it out. I’d accidentally hit the accept button when I did. It was Derek. I had no choice but to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Wow, where are you at? It’s very loud!” he said.

  “I’m at a club with a few friends.”

  “Okay. Which one?” he asked.

  “Spice.” I reluctantly told him.

  “Spice?” he asked. “Where’s that?”

  This was not going to go well. “Ummm, Chicago.”

  There was a long silence. “You’re in Chicago?” he finally answered.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why are you in Chicago?”

  “I’m, ah, helping a friend with a mini-investigation into her husband’s recent activities,” I told him.

  “Really? Who?”

  “I’ll talk to you about it later.” I told him.

  “Were you planning on telling me that you were going on a trip and leaving the state?”

  He sounded mad.

  “I didn’t know myself. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment type thing. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Right. Well, I just called to check in on you and make sure we, ah you, were okay.”

  I could tell he was annoyed.

  “I am!” I yelled into the phone. “I’m fine. And I’ll be back in town by tomorrow night. Thanks …”

  “Yeah, bye,” he said and hung up.

  Another hour went by, and Tannya had already hit the dance floor. I was on my third diet Coke. Miss Kitty was pretty quiet. I tried to talk to her, but she was trying not to feel anything until she knew the truth. Out of nowhere, Tannya came bursting through the curtain and sat down.

  “I think I saw him! He looked just like the picture you showed me,” she said ou
t of breath. “He’s up at the bar talking to that girl in the blue tank.”

  We turned and looked to where she was pointing, and sure as shit, there was Kitty’s husband, and he was definitely flirting with a girl at the bar. I looked at Miss Kitty. She was red with anger. He was still in a suit, sans tie, and sitting very close to her. He had a highball glass with a gold-colored liquid in it that I assumed was scotch.

  “All right, let’s just watch him and see what happens,” Miss Kitty said through a tightly clenched jaw.

  We had left the shoulder bag with all the stuff in the hotel except for a camera we threw in my purse. I took it out and took a picture. I felt like maybe I should be doing my job. We watched him for more than thirty minutes and then, in the middle of their conversation, he pointed to something to the woman’s left and when she turned to look, he poured a powder in her drink and quickly stirred it with his finger. Then he leaned close to her and pointed further saying something as she looked hard to where he was pointing.

  “Did you guys see that?” I asked.

  “Yup,” said Tannya.

  “Yes,” said Miss Kitty slowly. “I see his ring is missing, too,” she added in a pissed-off voice.

  I looked at my watch, it was 11:40 p.m. We stared at them for a while longer. She seemed to be really responsive to him. They ordered shots and took them.

  Looking all sly and sexy, a guy came over and asked Tannya if she was coming back out to the dance floor. She shooed him away.

  “Nice, Tannya,” I said. “He was good looking.”

  She winked and gave me a high five.

  “Ladies!” Miss Kitty snapped.

  We turned our attention back to Vincent and the blue tank girl. He was paying the bartender and standing up. The girl laughed and nodded at what he said, then he pulled her chair out and she stood too. I took another picture.

  “Get ready, girls. We have to follow him. If Dave was telling the truth, they’ll go to the limo.” We grabbed our purses and walked towards the door they’d gone out. “I’ll stay in here. You guys go out there and see where they go. I don’t want him to see me.”

  Tannya and I walked out the door. Sure enough there was a limo outside. They stepped into it. I snapped a picture again.