Live in Person

by Lynda Fitzgerald

  “Well, shucks, sugar, don’t worry about me,” Ella Faye said, twitching around the coffee table and perching on the sofa. She still held Spook, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. Allie would talk to him later.

  “I’m used to roughing it,” Ella Faye said. “I can sleep right here on this couch. Look, there’s even a blanket here. Looks like someone’s been sleepin’ here already.” She batted her impossibly long lashes at Rand. “Was somebody naughty last night?”

  When Rand laughed aloud, Allie shot him a dirty look. “Look, Ella Faye, I’m really sorry, but you can’t stay here. For lots of reasons. There’s a man trying to kill me.”

  “Mom-Mom said you were always gettin’ into trouble like that.”

  Allie gritted her teeth. “And I work. I keep odd hours.”

  “That won’t bother me none, honey. I can sleep anytime.”

  Allie was seething now. Ella Faye was just like her mother, only Ella Faye did it with syrup and her mother—God, Mom-Mom?—did it with a sledgehammer. “Well, I can’t sleep anytime. It wouldn’t work. We’d be bumping into each other all the time. I’m sure you’d be more comfortable at a hotel.”

  Ella Faye’s forehead had puckered into a pretty frown at Allie’s words. Now, it cleared magically. “A hotel? I just love hotels, sugar. You got a Four Seasons around here? That’s my favorite, although the Ritz is pretty nice. Especially the one in Buckhead. I just love the spa there.”

  Allie was nearly speechless. It was that easy? Mention a hotel and poof—goodbye Ella Faye?

  “We have a Hilton. It’s very nice.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, stroking Spook’s head. “I’ve never stayed at a Hilton.”

  “They have a pool deck overlooking the ocean. And a restaurant and bar.”

  Ella Faye bounced off the sofa as if she had a spring in her butt. “That sounds real nice, Allie.” She turned to Rand. “Will you drive me there?”

  Rand had watched the whole exchange with a bemused smile plastered on his face.

  “I’ll drive you to the hotel,” Allie said, taking Rand by the hand. “I need to talk to you in the kitchen.”

  Ella Faye put Spook down on the sofa and checked her reflection in the television set. “You just go say a proper goodbye to your sugar. I’ll wait here.”

  As they stepped around the corner into the kitchen, Rand pulled her to him and kissed her until she thought she would melt from the sheer pleasure. “What was that for?” she whispered when she got her breath back.

  “You heard the woman,” Rand whispered. “She told you to give me a proper goodbye. Was that proper enough?”

  Allie grinned up at him. “Definitely proper enough.”

  “Is that woman for real?”

  Allie made a face. “I’m afraid so.”

  “You have a very interesting family. I can’t wait to meet the rest.”

  “I can wait. Let me get rid of her. Will you be around?”

  “I’m going to be in town all weekend. I need to run over to the paper,” he said in a normal voice. “I’ll be back in a few hours.” Then, he yanked her to him and gave her a kiss so noisy it was probably heard in Merritt Island.

  The whistles and catcalls that started when Ella Faye stepped out of the house died an instant death when Allie stepped out behind her and shot Frank and his crew a look. Good to know she could influence someone’s behavior.

  “So your boyfriend doesn’t live here?” Ella Faye asked when she was settled in her seat.

  “No, Rand lives in Orlando.”

  “What does he do?”

  “What? About what?”

  Ella Faye trilled a laugh. “I mean for a living.”

  “Oh, he’s an attorney.”

  “Just like Len. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  Not just like Len, but Allie didn’t say it aloud. Ella Faye chattered on all the way to the Hilton. Allie tuned her out. She doubted Ella Faye was here out of wifely concern. It was more as if she wanted a beach vacation, and Len’s disappearance provided her with a ready excuse. Why in the world had Len married her? He could have his choice of almost any woman in Atlanta. Despite his flaws, Len was handsome and successful. Ella Faye started out as Len’s secretary. When she set her cap for a promotion, she went for the gold ring—literally—and somehow managed to win the prize. Allie remembered her mother’s horror when Len announced his engagement. It was the first time her brother ever stood up to her mother. Maybe he really did love the ditz.

  ■ ■ ■

  “What do you mean the credit card’s no good?”

  The desk clerk glanced around. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “When the police were here asking about him, we ran through his charges to date. They were denied.”

  “Do you know anything about this?” Allie asked Ella Faye.

  Ella Faye shrugged. “I know Len is always short of money.”

  Allie was stunned. Len, short of money? He easily cleared in the high six figures a year. Maybe seven in a good year. What was he doing with all that money?

  “So, I’m sorry, ma’am,” the desk clerk said. “We’ll have to release his room as soon as the police remove his personal effects.”

  Allie winced at the words. She winced again at the thought of taking Ella Faye back home with her. After only a brief hesitation, she pulled out her wallet and extracted her American Express card. “Put it on here. Put what Len owes too. Keep the room in his name. His wife is going to be using it.”

  The desk clerk looked from the card back at Allie. “I’ll have to run the charges through now, you understand. Just in case…”

  Allie almost laughed, but this was no laughing matter. “By all means. Run each charge through as it comes up. Carte blanche. Anything she wants.”

  Ella Faye beamed. “Room service and everything?”

  “And everything,” Allie said, nodding, handing the clerk her credit card.

  Ella Faye was looking around with interest. “Is that a gift shop over there?”

  Allie signed the charge slip the desk clerk handed her and took her receipt without looking at it. Whatever the cost, it was a bargain.

  She went with the bellhop to retrieve Ella Faye’s luggage from her Jeep. The monstrous suitcase was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Ella Faye had another suitcase, a carry-on bag, and a garment bag. How much room did it take to pack two bikinis and a cocktail dress? Maybe the rest was makeup.

  Once Ella Faye was settled—but not without complaints about no ocean view—Allie returned downstairs. She almost headed back to her car, but at the last minute, veered into the bar.

  It was early—not quite ten o’clock—and the bar was empty. The bartender, a young man who looked like a student earning his way through college, was polishing the bottles behind the bar. Ella Faye would be in heaven. Allie didn’t know the woman was a slut; it was just an aura Ella Faye gave off like bad cologne. She pitied her brother, and not for the first time.

  The bartender looked startled when he saw Allie. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We’re not open. Not until eleven.”

  Allie smiled and sat down on a stool. “I’m not here for a drink. I wondered if I could ask you a few questions. About a customer.”

  An equal blend of wariness and confusion distorted the bartender’s boyish face. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask the manager. I mean, no one ever…” His voice trailed off as he looked at the bar entrance.

  Allie didn’t want to be blown off by a child. “Why don’t I ask the questions, and if you need to call the manager, you can? What do you think?” She gave the boy what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

  He took two steps toward her. Was he afraid she’d bite him? “OK. I think.”

  Allie maintained her smile. If she had to keep this up for too long, her face was going to hurt. “My brother was staying here. He’s tall with dark hair. Very handsome.” Now, what could she say? He was kidnapped? “He’s not answering his cell phone, and Mom and I
are worried about him. I wondered if you remembered someone like that.”

  The boy walked closer. “We get lots of people in here who look like that.”

  Allie searched her mind. “He would have been wearing a suit.”

  The child laughed. “Almost all our customers are in suits. They’re businessmen. Usually at lunch or something. Do you have a picture of him?”

  Allie cursed herself for not thinking of it. “I don’t, but I have some at home. Could I bring one in? Maybe you’d recognize him.”

  “Sure,” the kid said. “I work Saturday through Wednesday. Ten to five.”

  Allie spent a few more minutes cementing their relationship—Jeff was majoring in Business and Environmental Studies at Florida Tech. He was twenty, and he had two brothers and a sister. Jeff desperately needed someone to talk to.

  Allie had lied. She didn’t have a picture of Len. Why would she? Then, a thought struck her. She took the elevator up to the third floor and knocked.

  “That was really fast,” Ella Faye said as she swung the door open. She was dressed in a robe that Allie was certain covered a bikini. “Oh, you aren’t room service.”

  Room service already? “No, I need a picture of Len. Do you have one?”

  “Of Len?”

  Why had she bothered? “Never mind. I’ll call Mother.”

  Twenty-two

  Allie dreaded it, but she had to do it.

  When she arrived home, the locksmith’s van was in her driveway. She’d forgotten she asked them to be there by ten. She parked on the street and hurried across the yard. The man—fiftyish and forty pounds overweight—lumbered out of his van in no particular rush. Was she paying him by the hour?

  “I’m so sorry I’m late. I had an unex­pected —situation.”

  “No sweat, lady. I was late myself. Damn cruise traffic.”

  Allie couldn’t agree more. “I want you to change all the locks. Front and back.”

  “Only the two?”

  He made it sound so paltry. “And install another deadbolt in each.”

  “You expecting trouble, lady? If you are, I have a brother in the security system business.”

  Allie smiled. She just bet he did. “No, I think the new locks will be adequate.”

  She led the way inside and left him to it. After several deep breaths, she dialed her mother’s number.

  Vivian answered on the first ring. “I assume Ella Faye arrived.”

  “With her twenty suitcases.”

  Vivian barked what might have been a laugh. “I called last night to warn you, but you never called back.”

  “I had… company last night.” There was no way she was going to tell her mother about being hung in effigy. “I was going to call this morning.”

  “I’m sorry she came, but she insisted. I’m handling both my client load and Len’s. If things… change… I’ll be down there. But for now… I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Allie said. “I put her at the Hilton in Len’s room.” She paused, but she had to ask. “Did you know his credit card was no good?”

  There was a long silence on the line. “I know Len was having some financial difficulties, which is why—”

  Allie cut her off before she could get started. “But why? He makes good money. He and Ella Faye don’t have the expense of children. What’s he spending his money on?”

  A longer silence. Then, a sigh. “I asked him the same thing. I know he’s been stretched lately, so I had to ask. It appears that Ella Faye is very high maintenance. Her spa treatments and breast enhancements—”

  “She enhanced that?”

  Vivian ignored the interruption. “Apparently, she’s had some minor plastic surgery done lately. Len said it cost thirty-five thousand—”

  Allie choked. “That’s not minor. That’s a whole body makeover.”

  Her mother made a strangled sound. Was that a laugh? “I’m sorry,” Vivian said, “but those were my words exactly. I couldn’t understand how someone who looks like Ella Faye could require such extensive… enhancements. You brother had no answer.”

  “But what does she expect to do here? I mean, why did she come?”

  A long sigh. “She was furious when Len wouldn’t take her with him. I think she saw it as some kind of impromptu vacation. When Len vanished…” A long pause. “…I imagine she thought she might help.”

  “No, she didn’t.”

  Another sigh. “No, she didn’t. She seized an opportunity.”

  “Do you know she calls you Mom-Mom?”

  This time it was definitely a laugh. “I know. I gag every time I hear it. I’ve asked her to call me Vivian or Mother or something normal, but she won’t.”

  “She’s a flake,” Allie blurted out without thinking.

  “An expensive flake who is going to drive your brother to ruin. I warned him before he married her.”

  “Why does he put up with it?”

  “What can he do? If he cuts off the funds, Ella Faye will leave him. She’s threatened enough times.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “According to you or me? No. It would be a gift from the gods. But it would kill Len.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “He loves her, Allie. God knows why. She doesn’t deserve it. She’s a cheap moneygrubber and a social climber, not to mention a bit loose with her… favors. Or at least, I suspect she is, but Len can’t see beyond the surface. I don’t know why not. Otherwise, he’s a very intelligent and perceptive man. He’s—” Her mother broke off, and Allie thought she heard a muffled sob.

  “I’ll find him, Mom. I swear I’ll find him. He’ll be OK. But I need pictures of him. All the pictures you can find. You can fax them to me.” She rattled off her fax number. “Send them as soon as you can.”

  “Allie, I can’t thank…” Again, her voice faltered.

  “You don’t have to thank me. Just send the pictures.”

  When they’d disconnected, Allie stared at the phone. Had she just called her mother Mom, and had her mother called her Allie? Maybe adversity actually did bring families together. But the bigger question—had she just made a promise she couldn’t keep? Then, she squared her shoulders. No, somehow, she’d keep it.

  ■ ■ ■

  “How long are you going to keep me here?”

  Sidney looked up from his calculations. He was in the living room of the trailer sitting at the makeshift dining table, a two by four slab of stained Formica. When that scumbag loser had promised him accommodations, he’d hoped for something a little nicer, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and at least, he knew Arnie wouldn’t turn him in. He couldn’t afford to—not with what Sidney had on him. A few times, Sidney had busted him for dealing. Sidney had kept quiet about it in exchange for information, but he knew all about Arnie’s supplier—who it was and where the dealer kept the dope. Arnie was a small cog in a big operation. If Sidney told the cops about him, his bosses would get rid of him on the spot.

  With a sigh, he reached over and picked up the cannibal mask. He pulled it over his head and looked around for the microphone, although why he was bothering, he didn’t know. If he took out Allie and Levine, they’d know he did it. What did it matter if this asshole saw his face? His visitor was going to perish in the Everglades, anyway. Still, it was how he’d started, and it was how he was going to finish.

  “Did you say something?” Sidney asked, stepping into the bedroom. God, the place stank of unwashed linen and sweaty body. If he were going to keep this up much longer, he’d have to shove him in the shower, restrained, and in his clothes.

  “I asked how long you were going to keep me here,” Len repeated, his voice slurring from the drugs.

  His prisoner looked bad, trussed up there in bed with his hands cuffed and pulled over his head. Sidney had installed a utility hook on the wall, and the cuffs were tied to it. The hair that had been perfect when Sidney snatched him was matted now. Not with blood. Sidney had cleaned the wound. He
didn’t want the guy to die of an infection. But the shirt was streaked with dried blood, and the oh-so-perfect suit was now a mass of wrinkles.

  “Not much longer,” Sidney said into the mike. “Pretty soon, you and me are going on a little trip.” Which meant he’d have to ditch the bike and get a car. He couldn’t drive all the way to the Everglades with a prisoner on the back.

  “Where?”

  “Don’t ask so many questions,” Sidney said. “It’s bad for your health.”

  As he started out the door, Len said, “Why are you doing this? Did you contact my mother? Is she going to pay the ransom?” When Sidney ignored him, he said, “I have to use the bathroom.”

  Christ. He knew he had to let him go. If he didn’t, the guy would pee the bed—or worse. But that meant he had to go through all the unhooking his pants and pulling them down. It made Sidney feel like a pervert every time.

  “I have to go bad.”

  Sidney reached and untied first his feet. Then, he released his hands from the hook. Len groaned as he pulled his arms down. Sidney knew it had to hurt, but it wouldn’t do any permanent damage if he didn’t struggle.

  Sidney reached into the top of the closet and pulled down the gun. He motioned Len toward the postage-stamp-sized bathroom. “Do your business, and be quick about it, or you’ll be sorry.”

  Once in the bathroom, Len turned so Sidney could undo his pants. This was the tricky part. Keeping the gun pointed on his prisoner, his eyes never leaving Len’s, Sidney reached out with his free hand to undo the trousers. That was when the jerk spun his body into Sidney, knocking his gun hand away. Sidney lost his balance, but managed not to fire the pistol. He didn’t want to bring the neighbors.

  By the time he regained his feet, Len was halfway to the trailer door. Sidney tackled him from behind, grabbing his hair and smashing his forehead against the trailer floor. Then, he pulled himself upright and kicked the cowering man in the kidneys, hard enough to do some damage, but not too much. He didn’t want to be lugging around dead weight when the time came.

  “Get up,” he snarled.

  “I can’t.”

  “Get up, or I’ll blow you away right now.” He jammed the gun into Len’s temple.