Death under the Stone Arch Bridge Page 8

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  The plan was that the woman would come on to Nelson and try to finagle an invite back to his mansion.

  “Marcia’s good. A real class act. Looks like a supermodel, acts like royalty. If anyone can do it, that gal can,” Bear said. “If not, we go to plan B.”

  “Plan B?”

  “You’re on a need-to-know-basis now, my friend,” Bear said. “I’ll call you as soon as I learn something.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Tommy St. James’ fingers were trembling.

  She clutched the piece of paper with the address and compared it to the numbers on the barred, iron gate in front of her. The house was set back from the road with a wide expanse of manicured lawn sprawled between it and the gate. Big colonial pillars flanked the huge stone porch and a circular drive was lined with hydrangeas. Tommy took out her telephoto lens and quickly clicked it onto her camera. She peered through the lens to peek at every window and doorway. Not a sign of life.

  Come on Rafael, look out a window, she thought, hoping to see a little head poking out from the curtains. The property looked impenetrable, but she knew from looking at the Google satellite view that the back lawn stretched out to the lake where a small dock sprouted out into the water.

  If she rented a paddleboat at the kiosk, she could probably see the house from the lakeside. That might be the only way. But she wouldn’t be able to do it until sunset. Otherwise, it would be too obvious.

  AT DUSK, TOMMY SET off in the paddleboat, pumping her legs and wishing for the millionth time that she ran more and ate less. At least she’d ditched her high-heeled sandals for ballet flats today, which made the job a bit easier.

  After about twenty minutes, she stopped and lifted her camera. Through the telephoto lens, she could see the lights in the mansion glittering like diamonds in the darkness. Not far now. When she got close to the small dock, she saw it had a locked gate and fence along its sides. The rest of the property was bordered by jutting rocks.

  There was no way to anchor the boat so she could use it as an escape route. She was going to have to let it drift away. There goes her deposit. If she and Rafael were going to leave this house, it was going to have to be through the front door. Great.

  She took off her ballet flats and looped her camera strap around her neck a half dozen times, she got the camera to rest just below her chin before she took a step out of the boat. She was relieved when she found the water in front of the rocks was only up to her thighs. Only the hem of her shorts got wet. As she slowly waded toward the rocks, she surveyed her surroundings.

  The best bet would be to skirt the edge of the property, taking cover in a line of trees against the big stone fence that separated the mansion from its neighbor’s property. She’d clambered up the rocks and was just about to step foot on the lush looking lawn when something in the trees caught her eye. She crept closer, making sure to stay at the rock line. Yep.

  Her suspicions had been right, it was a small red light that indicated a laser beam crossed right in front of her and over to the other wall. An alarm would sound somewhere in the house if anyone crossed onto the lawn from the rocky shore. The laser beam, however, was only three feet above the ground, designed to hit an intruder in the knees and trigger the alarm. Tommy stepped carefully above the beam.

  Then, keeping her back to the trees, she stayed in the shadows of the property’s perimeter and slowly made her way up to the house. Just outside the back door, a giant swimming pool with a waterfall was so loud she knew it would surely disguise her footsteps. She avoided a wall of windows overlooking the pool and instead crept over to a small door on the side.

  To her surprise when she turned the handle, the door opened.

  Bingo. She thought. Now what?

  She crept inside what turned out to be a laundry room permeated with the smell of chlorine and bleach. Along with laundry detergent, a shelf held containers of chemicals for the pool. A washing machine and dryer tumbled and whooshed with their cargo. A thin band of light shone beneath a closed door on the opposite side of the room.

  Tommy gripped the handle, holding her breath and pressing her ear to the door to see if she could hear anything on the other side. The racket in the laundry room was all she could hear, so very, very slowly, she pushed the door open an inch. She crouched down, leaned over, and put her eye to the crack. For a minute, she couldn’t understand why she wasn’t seeing anything. Something black was only a few inches away. And then it blinked. Tommy realized it was an eye looking right back at her and stifled a scream.

  The door flew open.

  Tommy cowered in the corner. She was surprised to see a small Mexican woman dressed in a black and white maid’s outfit. The woman was nonplussed. In fact, if she had more time, she probably would have yawned.

  “Meez St. James? The Big Boss is expecting you. He says you will have dinner with him. Come with me please.”

  Tommy froze, stunned. He was expecting her? Dinner? So much for her stealth work.

  “Come on now,” the woman urged. “You must go clean up. He will be here soon.”

  Tommy began to follow the woman, more out of an automatic reflex than anything else. But something told her that if she fell into the “Big Bosses” clutches, she would never find Rafael. The woman looked back at her impatiently and Tommy quickened her step.

  Think fast, St. James. They were walking through a long hallway and Tommy occasionally got glimpses of the rooms inside. They were decorated in period antiques with long, velvet curtains, and crystal everywhere. That’s when it came to her.

  She hurried and raced up beside the maid as the woman approached a side table with a gigantic spread of flowers in a lead crystal vase that probably cost more than Tommy’s apartment. Right when they were abreast of it, Tommy put her foot slightly in front of the woman and then stumbled into the table, using her arm to push the vase back toward the woman. The maid acted instinctively and reached to save the vase, but it smashed upon the floor.

  In the chaos, Tommy took off at a sprint, darting through an open door at the end of the hall, and then she kept trying doors, screaming for Rafael.

  “Rafael! Rafael!” She heard the clatter of feet and shouting not far behind her. Opening one door, she saw a dark staircase before her, she quickly slipped in and shut the door behind her. She raced down carpeted stairs. At the bottom, she had two choices, right or left. She chose left. There was only one more doorway at the end of this hall. She sprinted toward it and tried the handle. Thank God, it was unlocked. She pushed it open.

  Without closing the door behind her, she made her way into the room, trying to absorb everything she was seeing. It was a large bed with mirrors on the ceiling and walls. A sex chamber for sure. But why was it hidden in this dark basement? Tommy knew and felt sick. Warmth rushed over her face and she felt like she was going to faint.

  She heard a slight noise behind her, but when she turned to look, she was met with a burst of fireworks and then black.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Her head screamed in pain every time she moved even the slightest bit. Behind her closed eyelids, Tommy could see the pain like lightning strikes, sending silver currents across her retina. She just wanted to keep her eyes closed, but a voice kept grating on her, shouting at her that it was time to wake up. She smelled something putrid right in front of her and gagged at the scent. She couldn’t open her eyes. It seemed like too much effort.

  Then, she felt something ice cold on her stomach and her eyes flew open in pain. In front of her was a bloodshot eye and yellow teeth.

  “About time you woke up girl,” the man said. “Big Boss wants to see you.”

  The scrawny man had greasy black hair and buggy eyes. She suddenly realized the foul smell was this man’s breath in her face.

  Her body shuddered with cold as she tried to figure out where she was and what had happened. She blinked, trying to clear her gaze. Think. You are in danger. Quickly, she tried
to do an assessment of her body in its foggy state. Her head throbbed so bad that the pounding of her heart at her temple was like a drumbeat. She couldn’t move her arms or her head, but her legs seem to work. Something hard and cold was resting just underneath her chin.

  Tommy was having a hard time focusing, but suddenly remembered where she was and what she had been doing. She had been in Dewey Nelson’s home and had discovered his sick sex chamber. Looking across the room, she saw the walls were the same sandstone that she had seen in the basement hallway, so she figured she must still be somewhere in the mansion. How long had she been out?

  She tried to move her head and realized it was pinned against the wall, held in place by something metal. By trying to touch her chin to her chest she figured out a wide band circled her neck, keeping her anchored to the wall. When she pushed, she heard the clatter of a chain behind her. Her hands were in cuffs, also attached to the wall behind her.

  Another chill coursed through her body. She’d never been so cold in her life. She shivered so violently her teeth chattered.

  Meanwhile, Tommy could see out of the corner of her eye, the man with the foul breath was still there. He had been busy at a corner table, rolling and lighting a cigarette. He took a big puff from the cigarette and exhaled it in her face. Her eyes teared up and she coughed.

  The man walked over to her.

  “You know, you coulda just had a nice steak dinner with the Big Boss and then been on your merry way, but you decided to get cute. Now you seen the boss’ playroom, you ain’t going nowhere.” Tommy gagged from smelling the man’s breath close up. He was so close that his bulgy eyes and rotten teeth seemed disembodied from the human who possessed them. Then the man laughed and drew back. Tommy, who had been holding her breath so she didn’t throw up from the smell, took a big gulp of air.

  The man reached for her and she instinctively kicked her foot hard, catching him right in the crotch. He swore and doubled over.

  He came back at her swinging. A punch to her stomach knocked the wind out of her. She gasped in pain, trying to breathe. Her primal instinct was to bend over from the pain, but her neck was suspended in the air by the wide, metal band.

  The man wasn’t done with her yet.

  “You think you can hurt me? Let’s see how tough you are now, girl.” He took his cigarette and pressed it to her belly. She screamed and then mercifully, blacked out from the pain.

  When she came to, another man stood before her.

  Instinctively, she knew who he was. The Big Boss. Dewey Nelson.

  He stared at her with dead eyes.

  “What am I going to do with you?” he asked, squinting his eyes at her.

  “Let me go.” It was worth a try.

  “You break into my house and then don’t think you’ll be punished.”

  “I didn’t break in,” she said, meeting his cold eyes. “I opened the door and walked in. I was looking for Rafael. Bring him to me and we’ll leave and you never have to think of us again.”

  It was a lie. He knew it. She knew it.

  He laughed and shook his head. “I wish it was that easy.”

  She swallowed. “What are you going to do with me?”

  He bit his lip and tilted his head, staring at her. “How much did the kid tell you?”

  “You wanted to adopt him?”

  “What else?” He narrowed his eyes.

  “I don’t understand why someone with your money wouldn’t do it legally. You have the money to pay for a regular adoption.” She was hoping he’d buy her story.

  He spit on the ground. “Enough bullshit. Jack said he found you in my special bedroom down here.”

  “So?” She met his eyes.

  “So, you aren’t stupid.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Enough games. Here’s what’s going to happen. Jack is going to come in here and give you a little something to drink. It will be easy. It will be fast. You won’t feel any pain.” He scratched his head. “I’m sorry, but it’s got to be this way. I can’t have you going around telling other people what my particular predilections are. It just wouldn’t go over well in this town. So, I feel real bad, but you’re the price that’s got to be paid.”

  Tommy sighed. “Okay,” she said. “No bullshit. I think I know what’s going on here. But I have a question for you. You seem like you don’t want to get your hands dirty. You don’t really want to kill me, do you?”

  “No, scout’s honor. I don’t.” He held up a meaty palm.

  “Then my question is, what do you do with the boys when you’re done.”

  “Done?” He tilted his head again. “I am not some heartless monster. I am never done with them. My oldest is nineteen. He helped me break in the two younger ones. Carmelo is seventeen and Danny is fourteen. I only adopt a new kid every few years. When Jose turns twenty-one, I’ll hire him in my department at work. Same with the other two boys. They are my sons now. They are all bright boys. I make sure of that. They all have futures with my company. I’ll make sure they never want for food or shelter again. In fact, they’ll be very wealthy. I’m saving them, don’t you understand?”

  He looked at Tommy like she was dense.

  “Saving them? You’re crazy.”

  He ran his fingers through his thick hair. “What you don’t understand is that’s it’s family, but it’s also business. I rescue them from the squalor of their poor life in Mexico, feed them, house them, prepare them for a lucrative career in America. I give them what they would never ever have without me.”

  Tommy narrowed her eyes. “But at what price?”

  Nelson scowled for a second, but then smiled. “They don’t complain. Not after a while, at least.”

  “You are sick. A predator. These boys have no choice.”

  “There is always a choice.”

  “What choice do they have?”

  “Live a life of luxury with me, following my rules. Or not live at all.”

  Tommy shook her head in disgust. “That’s no choice.”

  “Just like you have a choice. Drink what Jack gives you or your death will be painful. There’s your choice.”

  He whistled and the yellow-toothed man appeared.

  Those same bloodshot eyes and yellow teeth were again in front of her.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” she said, trying to stall. Even to her ears, it sounded weak, lame, and a pity excuse. “Number two. I have to go number two.”

  To her surprise, Nelson agreed. He nodded at the other man. “Let her do it. It will save us a big mess when it’s over.”

  He turned to Tommy. “Did you know that people piss and crap themselves when they die? No? I didn’t either until my uncle died in front of me. Or rather, I should say, on top of me.”

  He said it in a low voice. Tommy examined his face for any sign of emotion, but there was none.

  The man named Jack took a small key and undid her wrists and the band around her neck. She rubbed at her neck. He shoved her toward a door in the corner and grunted.

  “Don’t pull anything hinky.” He shoved her through the bathroom and closed the door. She heard the door lock. “Don’t take all day, either.”

  Tommy was a tiny room with a shower stall, toilet, sink. No window. Her eyes frantically searched the bathroom but there wasn’t even some cleaning supplies she could try to spray in their eyes. There was nothing but the bare, rusted, filthy fixtures.

  Then she spotted it. The rusty curtain rod was metal.

  The man knocked on the door. “Hurry up in there.”

  Quietly slipping the shower curtain off the rod, she compressed it, so it was thicker and shorter.

  “Okay, I’m almost done.”

  She hefted the rod. It still was light. She needed something stronger. She eyed the towel rack. She grabbed it. Much better. Using the curtain rod, she stuck it under the towel rack and gave it a fierce tug. It loosened the rack a little, but nothing came loose.

  Damn.r />
  She moaned loudly.

  “You okay?”

  “No. I’m really sick. I think I need a doctor.”

  There was silence on the other side of the door. “I’m coming in. The Big Boss is ready for you. He’s tired of waiting. Sick or not.”

  Tommy’s eyes darted around frantically. That’s when she spotted the lid to the toilet tank. It would have to do.

  “Okay. I can barely stand up.”

  Grabbing the lid, she waited behind the door. She stared at the handle as the doorknob twisted. Raising the lid of the tank above her head, she waited until she saw the man peek his head around the door. Behind him, she saw Nelson watching them.

  His eyes grew wide as he watched her bring down the heavy porcelain lid on the other man’s head. At the last minute, realizing she could kill him, she’d drawn back a little, so her blow was only glancing.

  “Oh, my God, I’m sorry,” she said, as the man crumbled to the ground. Still holding the lid of the toilet tank, she looked over at Nelson, getting ready to hit him with the hunk of porcelain. But he was gone.

  She glanced down at the man on the floor. He groaned and relief filled her. The last thing she wanted was a murder on her conscience. Even if the guy had been about to kill her.

  Rushing out of the bathroom, she ran up the stairs and flung the door open.

  To her surprise, Detective Kelly was standing in the hall.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “He was right in front of me,” she said, nearly out of breath. “Did you see him? Dewey Nelson? He ran up right before me.”

  Kelly’s eyebrow arched. “No. I’ve been standing here for five minutes. Nobody came up these stairs and out this door.”

  Tommy looked behind her. “There must be a secret passage or doorway down there. There has to be. He just disappeared.”

  Kelly shouted and what seemed like an army of men with beards and black leather jackets rushed over. A large bearded man stopped in front of them.