What Stella Wants

by Bartholomew, Nancy

  “Actually, no one sent me, Stella,” she answered. “Nina told me where you’d gone and I got worried.”

  “Well, I’m glad,” I said. “I was feeling a bit worried myself. What’s going to happen if they find out I wasn’t telling the entire truth?”

  Spike sucked in a long, slow breath before answering. “Stel, they’re going to find out. Those guys are good and let’s face it, when it comes to going up against the CIA or the FBI, we’re rank amateurs. All you can do now is damage control. First, get to Jake and make sure his story dovetails with yours.”

  I glanced at the clock on her dashboard and felt pinpricks of anxiety ripple across my skin. It was almost eleven. I pulled out my cell phone, opened it and then noticed for the first time that it wasn’t my phone. Somehow, I’d picked up Jake’s phone and he probably had mine. At least, I hoped so. I hit one on the speed dial and waited. It went straight into my voice mail. The phone was either turned off or dead.

  “Great!” I muttered.

  “What’s wrong?” Spike asked.

  “I have Jake’s phone and I think he has mine. I can’t reach him and I don’t know where he is. He was supposed to call Bitsy from a pay phone and then meet her. That was almost four hours ago and I haven’t heard a word from him.”

  Spike’s expression reflected the worry I was feeling. The people looking for Bitsy were dangerous professionals. If something had gone wrong, it had gone very wrong.

  “I’m going to pay a visit to Marygrace Llewellen,” I said. “If you talk to Nina, tell her to call Jake’s cell if she has anything to report, okay?”

  Spike nodded and laid a reassuring hand on my arm. “Try not to think the worst,” she said. “You know how Jake is. He’s as independent and impulsive as you are. Sometimes he just doesn’t think to report in.”

  It was true. Jake and I were alike in that respect, but it was little comfort to me now. I was beginning to realize what it felt like to be on the receiving end of my independent streak.

  I left Spike, climbed into my car and drove to Brookhaven Manor. If I couldn’t find Jake, I’d have to work on finding Bitsy. How hard could it be to find one person in a town the size of Glenn Ford? Okay, damned hard, but it was my only option.

  I found Marygrace in her office, staring blankly at a stack of paperwork that sat on the desk in front of her. Her normally perky appearance was markedly diminished today. Her hair hung limp on her shoulders, she slumped over her work and instead of wearing her characteristic bright colors, and she was dressed all in shades of beige.

  “Maybe it would help to talk about it,” I said softly. “Even social workers need to talk to somebody.”

  Marygrace jumped like I’d shot her. “Aw, man!” she cried weakly. “You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here?”

  “I came to check on you,” I said, stepping into the office and closing the door behind me.

  Marygrace looked uneasy. She kept looking to the door behind me, as if hoping someone would open it. She pointed to the chair next to her desk, indicating that I should sit down.

  “Baby’s all right, isn’t she?” Marygrace licked her lips, which I took to be another sign that my visit was making her uncomfortable.

  “Baby’s fine,” I assured her. “It’s Bitsy I want to talk about. Where is she?”

  Marygrace closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them she said, “I can’t tell you. I promised.”

  I nodded. “I figured you’d say that,” I said. I leaned in close to the frightened woman, looked back over my shoulder, as if I were about to tell her a secret and didn’t want to be overheard and proceeded. “Marygrace, I think Bitsy and Jake are in trouble. I think it may even be life threatening.”

  Marygrace jerked away from me. “Bitsy said people would say that and I shouldn’t—”

  I snatched the front of her oatmeal-colored, woven top and pulled her in so close to me I could count the freckles on the bridge of her nose.

  “Listen, I don’t have time to play around with you, Marygrace. If you don’t tell me where Bitsy is, I’m going to beat the skin right off your body! I can kill you twelve different ways, Marygrace, and every single one of them will cause you pain like you’ve never felt before in your life. So before you decide to play all noble and holy with me, think about what it feels like to hurt so bad you soil yourself, and then decide if you can withstand hour after hour of that kind of agony. Okay?”

  For good measure, I slid my hand down her arm and let my thumb slide over the pressure point at the edge of her wrist. As I squeezed, Marygrace’s eyes widened and tears sprang to her eyes.

  “Okay! I’ll tell you!” she gasped.

  I eased up but didn’t release Marygrace’s hand. She was just the type to suddenly scream out and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

  “Bitsy came back to my house last night. I didn’t know she was coming. She was just suddenly there, in my bedroom. I don’t know how she did it! One minute I was watching a Law and Order rerun and the next, there she was!”

  “Go on,” I coaxed.

  “She said something went wrong at your office and people were after her. She wanted to see her grandmother.”

  “What?”

  Marygrace attempted to jerk her hand away and I let it go as a sign of good faith. While she rubbed her wrist, she talked in a rapid, almost unintelligible, stream of words.

  “Yeah, she said she had to get out of town, but she couldn’t go without seeing Baby. She said it was all her fault that Baby was having such a hard time. Bitsy said she just needed to see Baby for a few minutes. Bitsy wanted to be sure her grandmother was all right. I know, it’s crazy and that’s what I told her, but she insisted. Finally I had to tell her that Baby was really safe and that you had taken Baby someplace where no one would hurt her. Well, as soon as I told her that, Bitsy just went off!”

  Marygrace paused for breath and I broke in. “You mean she was upset that I had Baby hidden away?”

  Marygrace nodded; her eyes wide. “Oh, hell yes! She wanted to know why and who’d approved it and then she wanted me to send an ambulance to bring Baby back over here. Well, I told her we just didn’t do stuff like that and besides, I didn’t know where you’d taken her. I told her it was for Baby’s protection.”

  Marygrace shuddered. “Bitsy got so mad I was almost afraid she’d have a heart attack or something! But really, even if I’d known where Baby was I couldn’t have sent for her. We don’t do that sort of thing. For one thing, we don’t have the staff. Even if we did, we don’t have a fleet of ambulances standing by. Come on, man, we’re a nursing home not a private foundation! Finally, I told her she should call you and arrange to go see Baby. I said I was sure it was fine but Bitsy said she couldn’t take a risk like that on account of how the people looking for her were probably watching your house 24/7.”

  I remembered the white panel van old Mrs. Talluchi had discovered parked in front of her house and realized Bitsy was probably right about that. Then I wondered why Bitsy thought visiting Baby in the nursing home would be any safer.

  “So then what happened?” I asked.

  Marygrace shook her head. “That’s when she had me call Jake.”

  All throughout our talk Marygrace’s phone had been ringing. When she didn’t answer it the people trying to reach her must’ve decided to come looking for her. They knocked on her office door repeatedly. They called her name. Some even opened the door and peeked inside the room, but all of them left when they saw Marygrace talking to me.

  Marygrace, having decided that I wasn’t dangerous, waved them all off like errant children. “It’s like they can’t read the Do Not Disturb sign on the door or something!” she said. “Now, where were we? Oh, yeah, I called Jake but he didn’t answer. Then Bitsy left. She said it wasn’t safe to stay with me. She said she had a good place to hide and she was going there.”

  “Do you have any idea where that might be?” I asked.

  Marygrace shook her h
ead. “Who knows? I mean, she hasn’t lived around here in years and the place has changed a lot. I mean, most of the places we used to hang out are gone now, or they’ve been turned into subdivisions. She could be anywhere!”

  She was right again. The Glenn Ford we’d known as kids was slowly succumbing to urban sprawl. Our farms and pastureland were now filled with fancy brick houses and swim-tennis communities. Bitsy must’ve found herself a new hiding place.

  Marygrace leaned forward, studying my face anxiously. “Okay, I’ve gotta ask you this—are people really after her or is she nuts? I mean, we grew up in Glenn Ford, for God’s sake! Superspies and government agents just don’t come around here that often. What’s going on with her? Is Bitsy a spy?”

  It was time to leave. Marygrace had told me everything she knew and I couldn’t tell her anything.

  “You know how it is,” I said, “I’m bound by the same confidentiality rules you are. I can’t say a word about Bitsy, wish I could,” I said, backing out of the office. When my cell phone rang, I snatched it off my waistband and tried to look apologetic. “See,” I said. “Our lives are just so alike! It’s probably another client in crisis.” I held the phone up to my ear and adopted an exasperated expression. “Hello?”

  Nina’s voice was shrill with worry. “Stella, I think you’d better come home,” she said. “Bitsy Blankenship just called on the house phone. She said you have ten minutes to come home and be here waiting by the phone. She said you can’t call the police or talk to anyone, just come home.”

  A thousand needles pricked the surface of my skin. My heart raced and Nina’s voice seemed to echo as if coming through a tunnel.

  “Because why?” I asked softly, already knowing the answer in my heart.

  “She says if you don’t she’ll kill Jake.”

  Chapter 14

  I made the trip across town to Aunt Lucy’s house in just under four minutes, courtesy of my ’98 Camaro Z28, adrenaline and a blinding desire to get to Jake. Bitsy Blankenship has crossed the line with me. Whatever she needed, whatever trouble she was in, it didn’t justify threatening me with Jake’s wellbeing. And I fully intended to tell her this, right after I kicked her scrawny little behind from here to Texas.

  I was inside Aunt Lucy’s house sitting by the phone with three minutes to spare. While we waited, Nina filled me in with every detail of her brief conversation with Bitsy.

  “I didn’t hear any background noise,” she said. “The Caller ID said the call came in from a pay phone. She didn’t sound mad or anything, either. She said she needed to leave a message for you and I said ‘okay,’ and then she told me just what I told you and hung up.”

  “Nina, did she ask for me first or just want to leave the message?”

  Nina hesitated for a moment, thinking. “No, she just said she wanted to leave a message for you.”

  So she’d known I wasn’t home. How? Had she followed me? Had she driven by the police station and seen my car? Had she driven by the house and noticed it wasn’t in the driveway? My mind raced, trying to figure it all out and be one jump ahead of Bitsy before she called but that was impossible.

  When the phone rang I snatched it off the hook before the first ring ended.

  “Where is he?” I demanded.

  Bitsy’s voice, cool and detached, floated through the line to me. “There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt, not as long as you do exactly what I say. Do you understand?”

  “Let me talk to Jake,” I said.

  “Later.”

  “Bitsy, why are you doing this? Jake and I were trying to help you.”

  Bitsy’s answering laugh was cold and angry. “Some help you two are!” she said. “I’m beginning to wonder why I ever called you. I try to come see you before things get crazy and you can’t fit me in to your busy schedule, even though I told you it was an emergency. I finally come to talk to you and the feds show up. I go to see my grandmother and you’ve taken her out of the nursing home. You just happen to be on the scene when David gets killed, too. Well, I’m not taking any more chances. I don’t trust you two and I’m not going to trust you. All you have to do is follow my instructions.”

  Bitsy had to have cracked under the strain. She was delusional if she thought we were out to do her harm.

  “Bitsy, we—”

  “Shut up!” Bitsy yelled. “Now listen to me. You have something I need and I have something you want. Tonight at 3:00 a.m., I want you to take the necklace my grandmother is wearing and go to the pay phone next to Sheeler’s garage. If you call the police, Jake’s dead. If you don’t show, Jake’s dead. In short, if you don’t do what I say exactly, I’ll kill your boyfriend bit by bit and mail you the pieces. You only have one chance to get this right, Stella. Don’t fuck it up.”

  Click. Bitsy was gone.

  I hung up the phone and turned to Nina who’d been listening on the cordless extension.

  “So Bitsy did leave something behind in Baby’s room,” I said, trying to keep my voice level and calm.

  Nina nodded. “What are we going to do?” she whispered.

  I took a deep breath. “Well, the first thing we do is call Aunt Lucy and Spike. Then we sit down here at the kitchen table and come up with some ideas. After that, we work our plan.”

  I made it sound simple, but neither of us believed that. To avoid using a phone that could possibility be tapped, Nina sent a text page to Spike telling her she was needed at home on a 911. I sought out Aunt Lucy and finally found her in Uncle Benny’s study, doing the newspaper crossword with Arnold.

  “Um, Aunt Lucy, could I speak to you in private for a moment?”

  This clearly irritated Aunt Lucy. I could tell she thought I was being rude to Arnold.

  “You can say what you need to say here,” she said.

  “Well,” I said, giving Arnold an apologetic smile. “It’s kind of a personal issue, you know a female problem.”

  Aunt Lucy just stared at me, like I couldn’t possibly be trying a ruse that thin, but Arnold seemed to fall right for it.

  “Sure, honey,” he said. “You two go on. I’ll just work on this puzzle a while longer.”

  When I got her out in the hall, I quickly filled her in. Her expression grew more worried as I told her about Bitsy’s threats and demands.

  “What do you need me to do?” she asked quietly.

  “We’ve got to all sit down and figure out what our options are.”

  She nodded, turning back toward the office.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “To get Arnie, of course.”

  I reached out to grab her arm. “No, Aunt Lucy, we can’t. Arnold’s a nice guy, don’t get me wrong, but this is too dangerous, too risky for—”

  “Stella,” she interrupted. “Arnold is going to be with us until he dies. I trust him and I want him in on this. He’s smart and he has resources. Let him help us.”

  I started to argue with her, but stopped when she touched my shoulder and looked into my eyes. “Please,” she said.

  I gave in. After all, Aunt Lucy was a smart woman and she loved Jake. If she trusted Arnold Koslovski, I had to trust her judgment.

  However, a short while later, when she showed up with Arnold and Sylvia Talluchi, I had to question her choice in confidants. I raised a questioning eyebrow behind Sylvia’s back and Aunt Lucy immediately defended her.

  “I asked Sylvia to come because of her expertise in espionage. You remember, Sylvia was in the O.S.S. during World War II,” she said. “And she’s kept up with things.”

  I could only imagine what “things” Sylvia Talluchi kept up with, but I let it ride. It was too late now. Aunt Lucy had already told her about Jake.

  Spike was the last one to arrive. Nina, waiting for her in the driveway, hurried to the passenger side of Spike’s Landrover and hopped inside the vehicle. As I watched from the window over the kitchen sink, Nina began talking earnestly to her girlfriend. When they finally got out of the car and came inside, Spik
e came immediately to me and wrapped me in a warm embrace.

  “We’ll find him,” she whispered. “Don’t worry.”

  Less than thirty minutes after Bitsy’s call, we were all sitting down around Aunt Lucy’s kitchen table to formulate a plan of action.

  I started by giving them all a thorough overview of the situation, starting with my initial call from Bitsy and culminating with her phone call. The kitchen was pin-drop quiet when I finished as each of us thought about the seriousness of Jake’s predicament.

  Spike, a thoughtful expression on her face, spoke up first. “So if I’m hearing you correctly,” she said, “Bitsy found out her husband was a double agent. He killed a Slovenian scientist then took his plans for a biochemical weapon that targets specific populations according to their DNA and was returning to this country where he and the other agents helping him planned to sell the weapon. Bitsy found out about all of this, took the formula herself and now she is allegedly being pursued by corrupt CIA agents as well as maybe noncorrupt CIA agents and agents from Slovenia who want to recover their scientist’s work?”

  I nodded. “She told us that David might have been trying to start a bidding war, but in doing so, it sounds like he brought all kinds of hell down on himself. And then Bitsy got tagged ‘It’ when she took the microchip with the formula on it.”

  “And that’s what my patient has around her neck?” Sylvia said, her voice suddenly an octave higher than usual. “She’s wearing a formula for a weapon that could destroy entire segments of the world population?”

  “Yes. But it’s not like the necklace itself is dangerous,” I said. “She’s just got a chip somewhere in that piece of jewelry.”

  Nina, who had been listening to Spike’s rehash of the details, frowned and got up from the table and crossed the room to grab a sheaf of papers from the counter.

  “Wait a minute,” she said, the worried look on her face deepening. “Something doesn’t seem right about this.” She riffled through the pages in front of her, discarding some and pulling others. “Yeah, this is like, totally weird, okay?”