Destroyed and Detained : Sara Martin Series

by Danelle Helget

  I told the girls what I saw and no one seemed to care about her wellbeing. “We’ll send Derek out there to save her when he gets here,” I said snidely.

  We munched on some more snacks I had and drank the pot of coffee. After a bit we calmed down.

  “Maybe we should go to Wayde’s house and get my stuff. I have a bunch of clothes, my makeup, my purse and car there,” Val said.

  “We could do that now. Then we wouldn’t be here when Rex arrives. We could avoid all the questions,” I suggested.

  “Sounds good to me, I’d like to get my stuff before he gets off the ship. He won’t stay on it at night.”

  “Should we all go? What if Ocean’s Lie comes back?” Miss Kitty asked.

  “Oh, shit. I should probably get the key off the pontoon. I’m so used to just leaving it on there that I forgot. I’ll run out there now.” I bolted out the door and ran to the dock. It was quiet. No pirates in the trees, and no cannonballs flying. I looked at the ship and didn’t see any activity, but I did notice that Jodi was no longer in the raft.

  The raft was still tied there, but no Jodi. Huh. I grabbed the keys from the ignition and ran back to the house.

  “Jodi’s gone.”

  They all looked at me and followed me when I went to the window with the binoculars. I couldn’t see anyone on deck. They were either at the far side of the ship or below deck.

  “I don’t see anything!” I said.

  The girls all took turns with the two sets of binoculars but no one could see anything.

  “Hopefully she jumped overboard,” Miss Kitty said.

  “Yeah, she’s probably fish bait!” Tannya said.

  “I hope not, we left her there. We might be in trouble for that,” Val said.

  Val was usually the wild one. I guess being recently arrested calmed her down at bit.

  “We should get going if we’re going to beat Rex out of here,” I said.

  We all used the bathroom and then hauled ourselves into the Jeep. Just as I started it Miss Kitty yelled, “Wait, I have an idea.” She jumped out of the Jeep and ran to the house. I followed because I had locked it.

  “The door’s locked. What do you need?” I asked chasing her up the steps.

  “My bag, the one I brought over. It has all the surveillance equipment in it.”

  “Oh!” I said. I turned the key and she ran in and grabbed the bag. I locked the door behind her.

  On the short drive over, we decided to bug Wayde’s house and see if we could get any information on what was really going on. Miss Kitty dug through the bag and handed stuff to the others and told them to check the batteries and make sure that everything was working. We went around the lake and parked at the end of the driveway so that if they looked at the house from the ship we would be hidden well from view.

  We were pretty sure everyone was on the ship. We still wanted to make sure no one saw us go in the house. “My car is up by the house. I’ll make sure it’s unlocked. Then we can go into the house and get my stuff, and I’ll put it in my car and follow you guys back,” she said and ran to the car.

  Miss Kitty threw the things back in the bag and we all exited the vehicle, closing our doors quietly. We quickly ran along the tree line towards the house. When we got close to the open, cut area around the house, we stopped and looked through the binoculars at the ship. I couldn’t see anything on deck. The ship was closer to this side of the lake. It made it easier to see it, but harder for us to hide.

  I gave them the wave to go on and they all passed me and ran to the side of the house. I followed. We pressed up against the house and waited for Val. When she joined us she tried the side door that faced the driveway. “Shit, locked!” she whispered. “Wait here.” She went around to the front. She was visible to the ship now. I peeked around at the ship. There were people on the deck now. I could see Jodi. Her hands looked tied behind her back again. Ocean’s crew was standing there next to Jodi, and Wayde and Scooter were across from them.

  “Hurry, Val, they’re on the ship deck,” I whispered from around the corner.

  A moment later she came back around the corner. “It’s locked and the hide-a-key is gone.”

  We all looked at each other, except Tannya. She was already on her way back over the side door. She quickly took her sweatshirt off wrapped it around her right hand in a big ball and punched the window on the door. The glass broke. She removed the big pieces and reached through the door and unlocked it. Then she opened the door, stepped back and waved us in. “After you, ladies,” she said with a proud smile.

  “Oooh, girl, you’s in trouble!” I sang.

  “Thank you kindly!” Val said.

  “Nice!” Miss Kitty said and fist bumped her.

  “Candee Barre and Sara Narra, you set up the equipment. Me and Gun Powder Gertie will get her things together. Be quick, we don’t know when they’ll be back,” Tannya ordered, shaking out her sweatshirt in case any glass had become lodged in the fabric.

  Miss Kitty dumped the bag on the living room floor. We looked around the house. It was a very simple rambler with an open floorplan. Where we entered brought us in the middle of the house. The entire house was decorated in pirate stuff—posters, framed prints, and small trinkets everywhere had something to do with pirates. To the right was a simple kitchen. Cabinets, sink, fridge and stove were all in an L shape. At the end of the L was the other door. A small island counter and a small dinette set stood to the right as well. Straight ahead was a living room area—a couch, chair with a large coffee table. The TV was an older model sitting on an old end table.

  Further to the left was a hallway. After a quick peek, we figured out there were two bedrooms and one bathroom. Aunt Val and Tannya were in the first one, gathering stuff into a big garbage bag. The other was a bit messy and had pirate clothing and posters of Pirates of the Caribbean movies on every wall. There were a lot of ships in bottles everywhere too. The house was overdecorated, but it was fairly clean and not overly cluttered. It was better than I’d thought it would be.

  Miss Kitty and I decided to put the small pen camera behind the TV. There were a few trinkets sitting next to the TV so we taped the pen on to one of them. Then we hid a bug, that sent sound instantly to a handheld radio thingy, under the kitchen cabinet.

  “Where does he hang out the most?” I asked Val.

  “Well, it used to be in the shed, working on the ship, but since that’s been launched it’s been on the ship or in the living room area.” We moved it to the cabinet closest to the living room.

  Val and Tannya went into the bathroom and got her toiletries and then the hall closet for her shoes and jackets. I looked out the window facing the lake and could see Ocean’s Lie loading back into the raft with Jodi. Scooter and Wayde were watching them from on the deck. I quickly went to the hall and flipped off the light we had turned on and told them what I saw.

  After we all got out of the side door we stayed there until Val peeked and gave us the all clear. She and Tannya ran to her car and Miss Kitty and I ran to the Jeep. We jumped in and drove to my house.

  I pulled into my driveway and saw a Nisswa police car and noticed Rex standing on my dock.

  22

  After Val and I parked, we all got out. Val was still in her pirate outfit and the rest of us had on our matching sweatshirts and bandanas. The girls went into the house, and I walked to over to meet Rex. He’d seen us come up the driveway and was walking towards me.

  “Hi!” I said like any other day.

  “Hey,” he said back with raised eyebrows.

  “So what brings you out this way?” I asked.

  “Nothing in particular.” He was looking around the property as he talked. He was not here on a social call. That was evident.

  “What’s going on with the pontoon?” He asked. “Ella Vashow?”

  “Oh, that’s just Miss Kitty being funny. She thought she’d jazz it up a bit,” I told him.

  It was getting darker by the minute. I was sure h
e’d noticed the raft over by the ship. I could see people but no details about them so I wasn’t sure what he’d figured out.

  “So did she also jazz it up with a cannon, too?”

  “Oh, ah, that? Yes. She thought it would be fun.”

  “And did you fire it?” he asked.

  I looked at him, studied his eyes. I couldn’t tell if he’d blow it off, give me a warning or cuff me. “Ah … yeah, we wanted to try it out.”

  “Where did she get it?”

  “The internet.” I studied his eyes again. He looked disappointed. “You’re not putting cannonballs into it, are you?”

  “Meeee?” I asked pointing at my chest. I thought about it for a minute. “No, I don’t think I did.”

  “Did anyone put cannonballs into it?” he asked with a little more pressure in his voice.

  “Um,” I started. Then the front door swung open and Tannya yelled from across the yard.

  “Hey, Sara, where do you keep the crackers?”

  “I’ll be right in!” I yelled back. I looked at Rex. “I better get back before they tear the place apart.”

  “We can head in. I may have some questions for them, too,” he said and motioned for me to lead the way.

  Shit, shit, shit. “Sure come on in,” I said turning on my heels.

  When we got inside, the girls were bellied up to the island countertop. I glanced over to the dining room table and saw two pairs of binoculars on it. I wished I’d put those away.

  When we stepped in, everyone looked over to us. I slipped my shoes off and walked to the kitchen. “Come on in, Rex. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, thank you,” he told me and then walked up to the counter and greeted my friends. “Hello, ladies.”

  They all said hi back. After that there was some uncomfortable silence.

  “So, what’s the occasion? Everyone’s over here. Are we celebrating something?” he asked.

  “Oh no, just a few girls having a nice afternoon together,” Miss Kitty said.

  Rex turned his eyes to her. “Yes, I see that. I noticed that the pontoon got a few upgrades? Or shall I say downgrades. I noticed the sun cover was broken. Did you have the boat out today?”

  We all looked at each other. Tannya was finally the first to answer. “We went for a little cruise around the lake and the dang thing caught some wind and got all twisted, so we took it off.”

  “Wind? Today?” Rex said, knowing perfectly well that there was no wind at all today. “Interesting,” he said, holding her stare. “Looks like the boat got some new decorations, too. And it seems to match your outfits,” he said, moving his eyes across each of us. “Are you a LARP team now?

  “What? Nah,” Tannya said. He squinted his eyes at her.

  “Ladies, be straight with me. Don’t make me be all official and take you down to the station to have this conversation.” His voice changed tone a bit. It was still friendly, but he was letting us know he was done with the games. “There’s a cannon on your pontoon,” he said looking at me.

  “Yeah, that’s new!” I said.

  “And have you used it?”

  “Why do you ask?” Val interrupted just as I was about to answer.

  “Well, for one thing there’s a car sitting on the road again. The car that belongs to Jodi Vagerna.”

  “What? Where? I didn’t see it when we came home a second ago,” I told him.

  “It’s on County Road 12, about a quarter-mile down.”

  That road was to the left of the field across from my driveway approach, so I guess I wouldn’t have noticed. “What the heck is she doing back here?” Miss Kitty asked.

  He looked around at all of us again. We all shrugged. “So then I guess you have no idea how the hole got in her roof or the cannonball got in her passenger-side seat …” he said.

  Tannya gave out a huff of laughter, and then put her drink to her mouth. Miss Kitty’s eyes got really round, and Val covered her mouth.

  “Nope,” I said, “didn’t even know she was in the area.”

  “Captain Wayde’s been firing all morning. Maybe one went too far,” Val suggested.

  “Is that what you saw?” Rex asked.

  She looked unsure. “Are we on the record right now or just friends having a conversation?” He just stared at her. I saw the hint of a smile.

  “Please tell me you didn’t intentionally fire a cannon at Jodi’s car,” he said looking at me.

  I put my hands up in defense. “I did not intentionally fire a cannon at Jodi’s car. I had no idea she was even trespassing again. Although, I thought I saw someone who looked like her hanging out with Ocean’s Lie, the other LARP group that’s been hanging around here. They, too, have been trespassing a lot lately,” I said and folded my arms across my chest.

  “Are those the guys who were out here late the other night?”

  “Yes.”

  His eyes studied me. “You have a strange life, Sara,” he said.

  I just looked at him and shrugged. It was pretty strange lately but also a lot of fun.

  “So why do you have a cannon and a crate that says it contains six cannonballs that’s empty on your dock?”

  “Oh, pffft! That’s just for fun,” I told him with a hand flick.

  “Did you fire it?”

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked at the caller ID, and gave Rex the “one second” finger. “Hello,” I answered to Derek.

  “Hey, I’m just coming into town. Do you need anything? I’m at the gas station.”

  “Nope, I’m good. See you in a few,” I said and disconnected. I looked at Rex again.

  “Sara, can I talk to you for a moment?” he asked and stepped towards the entryway.

  “Sure.”

  We got to the door, and Rex gave me a good stare down. “Look,” he said. “I don’t want to see anyone get in to trouble. But if you are firing actual balls from the cannon, it turns out it is illegal. So don’t. If you already have, I don’t want to know about it. This game you’re very obviously participating in is dangerous. I don’t want to see any of you get hurt. You’ve had enough going on in your life. You don’t need to get wrapped up in this.”

  “I am concerned,” he continued. “We have a cop in the office who’s been in contact with the Chicago PD. They think there’s a link to criminal activity that went on in the past. I told them about the LARP, and they’re checking into it. We all agreed a LARP would be a great cover. I don’t think this is a game being played. I’m not sure what it is, but we’re going to find out soon. Just keep your distance and stay out of it. It’s dangerous, Sara. If these are the same men, they are professionals and can’t be trusted.” He looked at me and I smiled.

  “Thank you for your concern. I’ll be careful. I’d say I’d keep my distance, but it’s all happening in kind of close proximity.” I shrugged.

  “You haven’t seen Jodi around, have you?”

  I waited a moment. “Maybe check with Wayde on that. He might have seen her.”

  “Okay,” he said with a smirk. “I’m headed over there now. Behave.”

  He rubbed my arm and went out the door.

  I returned to the kitchen and wiped my forehead. “Phew!”

  “Do you think he bought it?” Val asked.

  “No, but I think he’s too nice a guy to get angry at us,” I said. “He’s going over to Wayde’s right now.”

  We all got up and looked out the window. “I wonder what we missed,” Val said. “When we left it looked like Ocean’s Lie was getting ready to leave.” We glanced around. There was no one on the ship that we could see. The raft was gone and it didn’t look like it was anywhere near Wayde’s house or what was left of his dock. We all turned our heads towards my dock. I gasped. There was Ocean’s Lie! The raft was back in its hidden spot near the tree line. Jodi was still sitting in it, gagged and tied again. I didn’t like her but that made me nervous. Morgan and Long John were walking quickly towards my pontoon.

  “What the he
ll do they think they’re doing?” I asked.

  “They’re going to take your boat again!” Tannya said. “Let’s stop them!”

  “No,” Val said quietly. “This doesn’t feel right.”

  We watched as Morgan and Long John dug through the boat. They were flipping up seats and opening doors and coming up empty handed.

  “They’re looking for the treasure,” Miss Kitty said.

  “Well, they ain’t going to find it!” Tannya said proudly.

  “Maybe we should give it to them,” I said quietly. “Rex said that they might be criminals from Chicago. Rex thinks they may be involved in a LARP as a cover story.

  “Really?” Miss Kitty said.

  I nodded. “I don’t think we want to get wrapped up in this.”

  Val spoke up. “I agree. I have a bad feeling with all the little things that have changed in Wayde lately. I don’t doubt he loves pirates and always has, but I think there’s more to the story. We never stole anything of real value. I mean, once in a while we might find some small amounts of cash or a watch or something, but never anything of real value. People don’t just forget or not care about their bags. If you value anything in your bag you’ll go straight there and get it. You don’t leave it lying around. And the only ones we ever stole were the ones left unattended. I don’t know what’s in all those packages we got, but I don’t think I’m supposed to know. He got that stuff from somewhere. Illegally I’m sure.”

  “Where’s Flying Dutchman at?” Miss Kitty asked.

  We all jumped as the front door swung open. Flying Dutchman was suddenly standing in my entryway “Hello, ladies!” he said in a gruff voice.

  “Get out!” I yelled, half brave and half scared to death.

  “I’ll depart your company just as soon as you hand over the treasure.”

  “Bullshit! That’s my treasure! You lied to me, and took my treasure, and now I took it back!” Tannya yelled.

  “Ladies, I have orders.” He was still using his pirate voice. “I need the treasure or I take you into our custody.”