“Were we just snubbed?” Thaddeus wanted to know.
“Apparently we are boring them,” Kenny laughed.
“Note to self,” I quipped. “Next time, bring plenty of squid.”
For me, being in a wheelchair was an eye-opening experience. Most things, including the railings, were at an awkward height, too high for me to easily reach on my own. I felt like I was six years old again, in need of a boost. So, this is what Laurel goes through every day. It’s so different than walking on two feet. How has she managed all these years?
Our next stop was the Natural History Museum in a handsome adjacent building. Large displays showed museum visitors the vast differences in the variety of environments found in the island nation.
“I didn’t even know Bermuda has an upland forest,” I confessed. “I always think of it as a set of rocky islands that are pretty much at sea level.”
“Well, Scarlet, I don’t think you’re all that far off,” Thaddeus remarked. “I believe the highest point here is Town Hill, and that’s not even a third of White Oak Hill’s height.”
“Oh. That helps me to put it into context.” I had grown up playing in the woods behind the Four Acorns Inn, spending days and nights going up and down White Oak Hill. Some people called it a small mountain, others a very big hill. Either way, it was three times higher than the tallest spot on Bermuda.
We examined a vast collection of shells of every shape and size, housed in glass-and-wood boxes, and dioramas on sea plants and other related topics, going from room to room, lingering over the unusual and skipping familiar subjects.
Emerging fifteen minutes later from the cool, softly-lit building into the bright, blinding sunshine, we found ourselves on the path to the Islands of Madagascar exhibit, where we got a close-up look at the shy lemurs, with their distinctively marked faces and black-and-white ringed tails.
The fossa enclosure was next and it was a real surprise to meet the critters. Predatory members of the mongoose family, with tiny heads and big paws, the fossas looked like a weird science hybridization project that combined bits of dog, cat, and weasel. One gave me a low, menacing growl as he paced in front of me.
“Charmed, I’m sure,” I told him. That earned me a curled lip snarl. “You’re definitely not a house pet, are you?”
“It makes you wonder,” Kenny kidded, “if you put one of those beasts in with a Tasmanian devil, which one would be the victor?”
“I don’t think I’d want to stick around to find out. The result wouldn’t be pretty.” Laurel grimaced at the thought. “Can you imagine running into this guy in the wild?”
“No thanks. I’ll pass on that.” The fossa leapt into a tree and quickly climbed to the top. “He looks like he could do some damage with those teeth.”
It was soon time to move on to the birds, my mother’s main interest at the zoo. “What’s the first exhibit?”
“Flamingoes,” Kenny told her, handing her the map. I noticed he stepped back to let my mother lead the way. That’s the kind of guy he is.
A gorgeous flock of long-legged pink birds greeted us with an impressive display of their vibrant plumage.
“Wow, not at all like those plastic lawn ornaments,” I remarked. “These are the real deal.”
After stopping to watch them for a few minutes, we continued on down the meandering path, past a variety of tropical birds that lounged around amidst lush, exotic foliage. There was the occasional squawk here and the odd screech there. We found a bench for the men to sit on and pulled our wheelchairs up next to them. It gave us a chance to spend a few minutes just observing the winged wonders and chatting about them.
“Aren’t they amazing?” Laurel remarked, watching a pair of scarlet ibis peck their way along the ground in search of insects. “Look at the beaks on them.”
“Indeed,” Thaddeus agreed. “Who would ever guess they’re related to spoonbills?”
My mother was in her element, chatting with Thaddeus about birds. She seemed to come alive as she shared some of her experiences with him. I watched him watch her; his gaze never left her face. It was obvious he was enamored of her. Why shouldn’t Laurel have a companion, someone to have adventures with on life’s highway? Too bad cancer decided to come to the party. How much time would they have together -- a year or two? A lot can happen in that time. Maybe some researcher will suddenly make a breakthrough. Or maybe this time the chemotherapy worked, and they’ll live happily ever after. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Peacocks wandered freely throughout the bird enclosure, as did a family of ducks. I also spied a cedar waxwing and an indigo bunting in the trees, no doubt drawn by the opportunity to snack on an endless supply of grains and bugs found at the zoo.
“Shall we move on?” Kenny asked after a long lull in the conversation. My mother gave him a satisfied smile.
“We shall. What’s next?”
“We’ve got the Galápagos tortoises. If you behave yourself, Miz Scarlet, we might be able to get your photo with one of the big boys.”
“As long as he doesn’t bite off my big toe,” I quipped. “Although I do believe, if I remember correctly, they are vegetarians.”
After snapping some photos with the giants, we moved on to the Islands of the Caribbean exhibit, where strange, squirrel-like acouchis and sweet-faced golden lion tamarins roamed freely. We were almost to the coastal walkway when a blood-curdling scream disrupted the peace of the day, sending shivers up the back of my neck.
“What was that?” Laurel demanded, suddenly apprehensive.
“Help! Help!” It sounded like a frightened woman.
“Stay here!” Kenny ordered us, as he took off, his feet flying down the path towards Harrington Sound.
“Stop that man! He stole my purse!” the unseen woman screamed again. A great commotion ensued in the distance. We could hear voices shouting as the thief fled through the zoo grounds.
“There he is!”
“He’s going for the birds!” a man hollered.
“I see him!” yelled another. “Cut him off by the pond!”
It sounded like the thief was headed in our direction. I glanced at Laurel and Thaddeus. There was no mistaking their concern.
“Got him. Closing in,” I heard that familiar voice. I hoped Kenny was able to intercept the thief before he drew closer.
And then, unexpectedly, a big, burly man in a royal blue tee shirt and jeans crashed through the bushes and ran straight at us. Thaddeus, desperately trying to protect Laurel, confronted the purse-carrying man, but it was hardly a fair fight. Still trying to regain his fighting weight after treatment for cancer, Thaddeus was hit with a hand the size of a baseball mitt and went down hard onto the walkway. Laurel screamed. I tried to rise from my wheelchair, but it suddenly swiveled and I found myself being pushed along the path. Straining to turn and catch a glimpse of my abductor, I found my efforts thwarted as my head was covered with a hood.
“What are you doing?” I sputtered, my hands desperately clawing at the fabric. I felt the chair abruptly stop. Seconds later, hands grabbed my right wrist and tied it to the arm rest. A moment later, the same thing happened to my left wrist. Frantic, I tried to get up, but a hand shoved me back down. What in God’s name is going on? Am I being kidnapped?
“Let me go, you bastard!” I hollered, but my voice was drowned out by the roar of the enthusiastic crowd still chasing the pocketbook-toting thief. “I demand you release me this instant!”
“Scarlet!” I heard Laurel call my name, even as my wheelchair suddenly took off again. I felt every crazy twist and turn as I was pushed through the zoo grounds by someone breathing hard in my left ear.
“Scarlet!” This time it was Kenny calling my name.
“Help!” I hollered. A moment of panic hit me as I tilted forward in the chair, but with my wrists bound to the arms, there was no way I could fall on my face. I think they call this a blessing in disguise. To me, though, it’s still a nightmare.
“Scarlet!” His v
oice was closer now.
“Kenny, help me!”
I could hear other people yelling and felt cool air hit my skin as my kidnapper rushed me through the natural history museum, and then, seconds later, felt the summer heat as we hurried past the harbor seals on the way to the main building. A startled seal let out a bellow. And then the doors were flung open, there was more screaming, and I realized I was being transported out of the front entrance and into the parking lot. What if my assailant succeeds in tossing me into a car? I could disappear forever. That realization hit me like a bucket of ice water, chilling me to the bone.
“Scarlet?” This time it was a confused Cedric who called my name. I tried to follow the sound of his voice, but my enforced blindness left me clueless. How far away was he?
“Cedric, help me!” I cried out, hoping he could save me from this dangerous maniac. The wheelchair suddenly slowed for just a few moments, enough time to give me hope. But someone touched my thigh. I found myself being manhandled, but I didn’t know why. “Get your hands off me this instant!”
“Hey! Let her go!” bellowed a man nearby. “Let her go or you’ll answer to me!”
I felt the wheelchair take a hard shove from behind. It picked up speed, sending me careening, but where was I going?
“Oh no!” That was the last thing I heard just before a long, angry car horn blasted me into oblivion. The hard impact of metal bumper on my rubber wheels sent my chair flying, and that’s when physics took over for the second time in less than twenty four hours. My puny contraption met its powerful motorized match and I felt it picking up speed, going faster and faster down an incline, until the unthinkable happened. Wham! My chair abruptly came to a dead stop as my poor bandaged foot met an immovable object. Judging from the excruciating pain that began in my big toe and quickly radiated throughout the rest of my body with the intensity of a massive lightning strike, I guessed it was a street curb that did me in. Without a pause in the action, I was launched, head over wheels, into a dramatic somersault that even a Cirque de Soleil performer would envy. And now, circus goers, for our final act, Miz Scarlet will propel herself through the air with the greatest of ease.
As I finished my demented aerial ballet and prepared to stick my landing, the screams of onlookers grew even louder. That’s not a good sign. I wonder what they know that I don’t.
“Oh, sh-h-h....” That was all I managed to utter as I landed, face down, in vegetation so thick I swear I could smell the chlorophyll as I crashed my way through the greenery, leaves and all. The weight of the wheelchair seemed to drive my head further into the foliage. Stunned, I lay there for a few seconds, trying to figure out whether or not I survived my short-lived career as a human cannon ball. That’s when my body contacted my brain with the bad news. I had not come out of my ordeal unscathed. “Damn, that hurts!”
“Take it easy now, people. We’ve got to pull her out carefully,” someone said. I could hear people moving around me. Their excitement was palpable as they began the process of extracting me. Whipped by twigs and scratched by branches, I suffered as several men took hold of the wheelchair and, with me still tied to it, righted it. Well, it could be worse. I could have landed in a rose bush -- the thorns would have been torturous.
“There. Is that better?” asked a voice above me, one I didn’t recognize, as some kind soul took off that horrible hood and I could see once more. “Are you okay?”
“Oh!” I groaned. My skin felt like it was on fire as the welts began to swell. Licking my lip, I tasted blood where I had bitten myself. And then I made the mistake of trying to wiggle my toes. It felt like someone had smacked my right foot with a sledge hammer. “Ow-ow-ow!”
“I’m a doctor,” said Thaddeus, arriving on the scene with Kenny and Laurel. “Please let me through.”
Dr. Van Zandt quickly gave me a once-over in his official capacity, his gentle hands poking and prodding my battered body. “Cedric, we need an ambulance!”
“Right, Doc! I’m on it,” he promised. Scanning the crowd, our faithful driver caught sight of a familiar face and waved. “Tommy, call the EMTs!”
“Sure, mate!”
A few seconds later, the first officer from the Bermuda Police Service pulled into the parking lot in his marked sedan, his arrival announced by the blaring emergency siren.
“Make way, please. Make way.” Dressed in a crisp white shirt with epaulets on his shoulders and neat creases in his black pants, he informed us that he was responding to the report of a masked man abducting a woman tied to a wheelchair. He gazed down at me. “Shall I assume you are that woman?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s a safe bet,” I sniffed, my sarcastic side exacerbated by the pain I was in, “given the fact that I’m in a wheelchair and just had the crap kicked out of me by a bush.”
He pretended not to notice my snarky behavior, choosing instead to get right to the heart of the matter. “Is the man we’re looking for related to you, maybe a husband or boyfriend?”
“God, no!” That was a horrifying thought, considering what I had been through.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, miss. A lot of relationships go sour.”
“I’ve never met the man. He was wearing a mask. I can’t even tell you what the bastard looks like.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” I snapped. Every inch of my body hurt. Kenny, realizing the conversation was deteriorating badly, stepped in and took over.
“We have to contact the FBI immediately.” He handed his business card to the officer. “This is related to the murder on the cruise ship. Let me give you the contact information.”
“Oh,” he muttered, suddenly chagrined. “Sorry, miss. We deal with a lot of domestic cases on a regular basis. Some women deny they know their abusers.”
The next three hours went by in a blur. There was a bumpy ride to King Henry VII Memorial Hospital strapped to a stretcher. My mother and the others waited in the lounge while I was examined, tested, and scanned. When the results were received, Thaddeus insisted on consulting with the emergency physician.
“Despite appearances to the contrary, you’re not gravely injured. You have a number of contusions and scratches that will heal. There are no signs of concussion. That forefoot of yours is broken, though,” Dr. Armstrong announced.
“At least it’s not a compound fracture, Scarlet. You won’t need surgery, but you’ll have a walking boot for the next six weeks or so,” Thaddeus told me. “On the plus side, you won’t be so bothered by the sprain any more.”
“Great.”
“You were lucky, miss. It could have been a lot worse,” the hospital’s physician informed me.
“Worse how?” I groaned, feeling like a feeble old lady. Too bad I didn’t have a cane with me. I could have beaten the living daylights out of that demon.
“The car could have hit you directly, instead of hitting your wheelchair.”
“There is that,” I agreed reluctantly, not quite ready to look on the bright side yet.
“Or you could have ended up in Flatts Inlet, with the bottles. That’s where the killer was headed with you when he abandoned his plan and fled on foot,” Thaddeus told me. “You’re in no shape to swim in that current, Scarlet.”
“I guess not,” I shrugged, feeling every muscle in my shoulders protesting the effort.
“Think how devastated your mother would be.”
“Not to mention me,” Kenny added, stepping into the exam room. “How are you feeling?”
“How do I look?”
“Like something the cat dragged home after a long night of hunting.”
“Well, multiply that by ten and that’s how I feel.” I glanced around the exam room. “Where’s my purse?”
“Ah,” Kenny paused long enough to make eye contact with Thaddeus, who shook his head.
“My purse is gone?”
Chapter Twenty Three --
“I’m sure someone has it, Scarlet. In all the confusion....�
��
“I’ll bet that bastard took it!” I snarled. “That’s why he manhandled my thigh -- he was after my purse. Why, that low-down, dirty, rat-faced....”
“You think the guy who kidnapped you took it?
“Yes!”
“Aw, geez! He played us!” A dismayed Kenny sank down into the chair beside me.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Thaddeus asked him, taking a couple of steps closer.
“Yeah, the first purse snatcher staged the whole scene. It was all a big diversion, so the killer could get to Scarlet.”
“But why would he go to all that trouble? What does he want with me?”
“If we knew that....”
And then suddenly I had the answer. It came like a brain flash, in a nanosecond of clarity. One moment I had no clue, and the next, everything made sense.
“It was because he saw Kathleen give me that CVS bag when she was leaving the ship! He must think it contains George’s missing evidence.”
Half an hour later, Agent Leahy joined us, peppering me with questions while we waited for my royal blue cast to dry.
“Are you sure your assailant didn’t say anything to you, anything at all?”
“Positive. I just heard a lot of heavy breathing, Todd.”
“Well, that’s too bad. The guy was wearing a mask when he attacked you. We’re hoping to get lucky with the security tapes. Maybe there’s a shot of him entering the zoo without it.”
“Did you figure out his identity after he didn’t return to the ship?” I inquired.
“We tried, but as far as we could tell, all the passengers were accounted for last night. And the employees are free to come and go when they’re off duty. Not all of them stay on the ship when it’s in port.”
[Scarlet Wilson 05] - Miz Scarlet and the Perplexed Passenger Page 20
