by Lori Woods
Charles Sears
Charles Sears. Roxie pulled out her cell phone and snapped a picture of the note. Wasn’t Charles the name of the other man in the suit? She glanced over towards where Marionette was seated – she was next to the stiff in the business suit who had seemed more than a little shocked and upset when Ralph had collapsed. During all the commotion he had announced loudly that Ralph was his business partner and had even checked in on Patricia when she had been escorted towards the cockpit to speak with the captain only moments ago. “Pat,” Roxie said, glancing back down at the note. Was Charles’s note referring to Ralph’s wife, Patricia, or was Pat the name of someone from their work?
Roxie elected to call Marionette. She knew they had been asked to stop discussing what had happened on their video chat, but she let it slide for a moment. She video called Marionette. The woman answered, her headphones in. “What’s up? Find anything?” she asked softly.
“Maybe,” Roxie said. “I found a note in Ralph’s briefcase signed Charles Sears. That’s the name of the guy you’re sitting by, right?”
“That’s right,” Marionette said, glancing the man’s way for a moment before focusing in on her phone. “What did it say?”
“He wants $1.3 million from him,” Roxie said. “Looks like we’ve got some high rollers. And he threatened to have some conversation with Pat. I don’t know if he’s talking about Ralph’s wife or what. I’m going to send you a picture of the note. Maybe see if you can get Charles to talk to you about his working relationship with Ralph? I guess they’re business partners?”
“Looks that way,” Marionette said. “I’ll talk to him.”
They hung up, and Roxie sent Marionette the picture of the note before briskly shoving everything back into the briefcase before a flight attendant spotted her rummaging through the dead man’s belongings. When she sat upright again, she saw Molly up walking down the aisle. Her seat buddy, Robyn, had gone back to the bathroom just a moment ago. Roxie watched her curiously, and sure enough Molly too went to the bathroom. Roxie raised a brow. I thought she was with that cop, Roxie thought for a moment, but frankly she didn’t know Molly well enough just yet to comment on the seriousness of her relationship. Instead of judging, Roxie gave an approving nod with a silent you go, girl – who was she to judge if Molly wanted to get a little frisky in the bathroom with a guy she had just met? She supposed the famous expression what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas would also apply to the flight in.
For the next few minutes, Roxie searched the man’s other belongings, but she came up short, so finished sipping her whiskey just as the flight marshal was making his way back with a serious look on his face. “Hey,” Roxie said, getting the man’s attention. “You find anything out about the Ralph guy? What happened, I mean?”
“Only that we are pretty sure he was poisoned,” the man said, not paying her much mind and continuing back.
Roxie rolled her eyes slightly, feeling like she was being brushed off. Her phone buzzed – a picture message from Amaya came in with the caption Looks like you are his type, Roxie. It was a rather telling picture of Ralph along with a woman in leather and tattoos. Roxie cringed, not finding Amaya’s joke funny at all. Evidently Amaya had found something interesting amongst Patricia’s abandoned belongings.
While Roxie was still cringing a bit over the picture, a voice came on over the plane’s intercom. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Just informing you all that, despite the abrupt loss of a passenger, we will be flying straight on to Vegas with no unexpected stops.”
Roxie smiled, glad that Marionette’s bachelorette party wasn’t going to have any hitches. Marionette waited for a bit, glancing back occasionally. Molly hadn’t returned from the bathroom yet, and she as starting to get a little worried. After a few minutes debating with herself, Roxie stood up to go check in on her, wondering if she might have gotten too nosy for her own good and gotten herself into some trouble.
As she was standing up from her seat, a number of things happened all once. First, she heard someone’s phone going off. Then, she felt someone’s hand grab her butt – hard. Roxie yelped, and she saw Charles, the man seated with Marionette not far from her, was grinning up at her. Without giving it a second thought, she snatched a wine bottle from the young couple who had been seated in the row between herself and Amaya and she smashed it clear over Charles’s head.
“Whoa!” a voice yelped, and she looked up to see that the flight marshal had seen what she had done and had started towards her, except a woman behind him had bumped into him as he had lunged forward. The flight marshal fell into her quicker than he had planned, and the two of them fell to the floorboard.
Chapter 10
Marionette’s phone began to buzz. She saw that Roxie was attempting to do a video chat with her, so she promptly put in her headphones before answering – not wanting Charles to be able to completely eavesdrop in on their conversation. Not that he would; the man was once again half asleep beside her. He had seemed rather upset before when Ralph had first toppled over, but it seemed the shocked of his business partner dying rather abruptly had already faded.
“What’s up? Find anything?” Marionette asked in a soft whisper so as not to awaken Charles from his oncoming slumber.
“Maybe,” Roxie said, looking rather nervous. Roxie was seated across the row from her and Charles – not far from them at all, so she could hear her own voice echoing slightly, so whatever Roxie had found she assumed she didn’t want Charles to hear otherwise they would just be talking over the man. Roxie waved a slip of paper in her hand. “I found a note in Ralph’s briefcase signed Charles Sears. That’s the name of the guy you’re sitting by, right?”
“That’s right,” Marionette said, and she glanced over at Charles, who let out a slight, dreary snort in his sleep. She glanced back at her phone where Roxie’s face was staring back at her. “What did it say?” Marionette asked.
“He wants $1.3 million from him,” Roxie said, and Marionette raised a concerned brow. Roxie continued. “Looks like we got some high rollers. And, he threatened to have some conversation with Pat. I don’t know if he’s talking about Ralph’s wife or what. I’m going to send you a picture of the note. Maybe see if you can get Charles to talk to you about his working relationship with Ralph? I guess they’re business partners?”
“Looks that way,” Marionette said, eyeing Charles again. He had just snorted himself awake again. “I’ll talk to him,” she said, and Roxie nodded approvingly and hung up.
Her phone immediately buzzed. Roxie had sent a picture of the note that she had found, evidently in Ralph’s briefcase.
Ralph,
The Begatta Account was a complete disaster. Your reckless decision-making is costing this company fortunes. If you think I’m going to let this latest catastrophe go, you have officially lost your mind. I might just have to have that conversation with Pat after all. That, or you can forward me the $1.3 million your poor judgment has lost me.
Charles Sears
Marionette again glanced at Charles from the corner of her eye. It quite certainly looked as though Charles had been threatening Ralph – could Charles have killed Ralph because he had lost them money? How long ago had he sent this note? “So,” Marionette said, turning to look at Charles who was rubbing his sleepy eyes. “You and Ralph Beard… you two worked together? Pretty sure I heard you say that when they were moving him…”
Charles nodded. “Business partners.”
“How long?” Marionette asked.“I mean, how long have you two worked together?”
“Been working together for nearly forty years,” Charles said. “The firm we started up about fifteen years ago, though. We both came out of the same agency before starting out on our own. Worked together really close.”
“Is that a Rolex?” Marionette asked, pointing towards his wrist.
The man turned his wrist slightly. “Yes, actually. Ralph and I each got ourselves one when we celebrated our ten
-year anniversary in business.”
“Sounds like you do fairly well for yourselves, then,” Marionette said.
“Oh, yeah, business is good,” he said.
“You must have some pretty serious accounts you work for,” Marionette said. As she was saying this, Marionette noticed Molly making her way back towards the bathrooms. She had on a look of determination, and Marionette glanced back to see Robyn poking his head out of the bathrooms after her. This was rather curious behavior, but she knew by now that Molly nearly always knew what she was doing. Marionette turned her attention back on Charles.
“Yes, we deal with high-end clients,” Charles said.
“Has anything ever happened… like mishandling of your client’s money?” Marionette asked, and Charles’s face turned red.
“All right, Frenchie,” he said with a scowl. “You’re prying. Why? What do you know? I am a numbers guy. Time is money, so I don’t like wasting time. What do you really want to ask me?”
Marionette wasn’t sure whether or not she appreciated him getting straight to the point or not; she supposed this made it easier. “My friend found a note,” Marionette said. “One signed by you to Ralph asking for money. Saying you were going to have a conversation with Pat if he didn’t pay up.”
Charles grumbled. “Yeah, I wrote that. He owed me big time. He dropped the ball on a multimillion-dollar client – one of the biggest deals we’ve ever struck. And he just tried to laugh it off. Ticked me off. Told him if he didn’t get me what was owed to me, I was going to make things difficult for him, but I sure didn’t have anything to do with what happened today. Think about it, darling. How would I have gotten the million he owed me if he collapsed?”
Marionette glared at him for a moment. “What’s really going on here, Charles? That man you spoke to earlier, how did you know him? He seemed pretty uncomfortable to see you.”
“Yeah, probably didn’t want me pointing him out to Ralph,” Charles said, amused. “That fellow was Robyn. Wasn’t expecting to see him on this flight. He probably realized he was on the plane with Ralph and didn’t want to get seen. After Ralph lost us that client, I hired Robyn to get some dirt on him for me.”
“You hired Robyn? For what?” Marionette asked.
“I just told you. To get some dirt on my so-called partner,” Charles said. “I needed to make sure Ralph paid me what he owed me. So I hired a private investigator to look into him for me. Try to find something I could use to persuade him into cooperating.”
“You were looking for something to use to blackmail him with,” Marionette said. “What did you find?”
“None of your business,” Charles said.
“I’m assuming it involves Pat,” Marionette said. “I don’t suppose by Pat you meant Ralph’s wife, Patricia?”
Charles huffed, and as he was doing so, Marionette’s phone buzzed again. She had just received a picture from Amaya. According to the message text, Amaya had found the picture on Patricia’s phone. It was a photo of Ralph along with a half-dressed woman in leather pants and tattoos. It seemed like the picture had answered Marionette’s question without her having to worry about getting a response from Charles. She smirked, feeling as though the pieces to the puzzle were starting to come together.
Just when she thought things were starting to make sense, however, Charles snatched her phone clear out of her hand. He wailed slightly. “This! Where did you get this picture?” he snapped, having seen it by looking over her shoulder.
Marionette snatched her phone right back. She supposed that Charles had been mostly honest with her, so she wasn’t going to beat around the bush with him. “My friend, Amaya, the one who had been sitting next to Ralph’s wife, she found it. It was saved in Patricia’s phone. I’m guessing I was right about Pat referring to Patricia, oui?”
“Oui,” he said in a mock tone. “But Patricia shouldn’t have this.”
“What do you mean?” Marionette questioned.
“I found out about the affair through Robyn,” Charles said, looking flustered. “Like I said, I hired him to find dirt on Ralph. I told Ralph what I had found out – about the affair. I sent the note warning him Patricia would find out if I didn’t get my money, but I never sent this picture to Patricia. Patricia shouldn’t know about the affair.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Just informing you all that, despite the abrupt loss of a passenger, we will be flying straight on to Vegas with no unexpected stops,” came a sudden voice from the loudspeaker above their heads. A few people clapped happily.
“Well, I’m not sure how Patricia got the picture,” Marionette said. “But I do know she had it on her phone. I can ask Amaya who sent it to her.”
“Yes, do that, please,” Charles said. “She shouldn’t have had that picture. I suppose… I bet it was the girl in the picture. Women like that, they like breaking up marriages.”
“Women like that? What does that mean?” Marionette questioned.
“Oh, you know the type, I’m sure,” Charles said and glanced over to his side. Marionette could see that Roxie was now standing, seeming like she was trying to walk back towards the bathrooms as well. Charles smirked, evidently unable to help himself. “You know – women like this.” He reached out and grabbed Roxie right on her rear. Marionette covered her mouth in surprise, knowing that this was not going to end well for Charles.
Roxie did not even hesitate to act, and boy, did she act. She suddenly had a half-empty wine bottle in her hands, and Marionette leaned back and shrieked just as Roxie shattered the thing clear over Charles’s head. He fumbled forward – knocked out. The flight marshal went diving on top of Roxie, tackling her with much more force than intended as Molly had just bumped into him from behind.
The flight marshal and Roxie fell to the floor as the whole plane erupted in screams of surprise.
Chapter 11
Well, this is just great, Marionette thought bitterly. She was seated alone, finally, and honestly very thankful to be rid of Charles. He had been moved to the front of the plane where they had a special area for troublesome passengers. His head had been bandaged up, and he had been handcuffed to a chair where he was now swearing loudly at everyone on the plane who would dare to listen. Seated across the row from him was Roxie who had also been handcuffed to her seat – though she was taking it much better than Charles was. She was simply seated back in her chair, a magazine propped up in her lap as she skimmed through it. The flight marshal was standing over them both, shaking his head and trying to get Charles to settle down. Charles was swearing he was going to press charges against Roxie, but whenever he said something of the nature Roxie would chuckle and remind him that he technically assaulted her first and she would love to see what his clients thought about him getting slapped with a sexual harassment suit because she knew how to make a lot of noise and promised everyone he knew would find out about it.
Now that half of their seat partners had vanished, the remaining three ladies had converged a bit. Molly had moved back and was now seated in Charles’s empty seat beside Marionette, and Amaya had managed to move directly across from them after asking the still startled couple whom Roxie had stolen the wine bottle from if they wouldn’t mind switching. “So this is a big old mess, isn’t it?” Amaya said from across the aisle. “We didn’t manage to find out much except for the fact that Ralph was having an affair, now did we? And now we might have to deal with Las Vegas police when we land, thanks to Roxie.”
“Thanks to Charles,” Marionette corrected. “I wish she had hit him harder so he would have been knocked out for the duration of the flight. Second he woke up he stared swearing.” Marionette shook her head, noticing a woman who was attempting to cover up her son’s ears. The little boy found this very amusing.
“Yeah, but there’s something that’s not adding up,” Molly said.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Marionette said in agreement.
“What?” Amaya asked. “What’s not a
dding up?”
“Who hired Robyn?” Marionette questioned. “Amaya, you found texts from Robyn in Patricia’s phone. They have clearly been talking. Robyn said that Patricia hired him. But Charles said he hired him to try to find dirt on Ralph. If that was true, Robyn shouldn’t have told Patricia about the affair. That, or Charles is lying and Patricia is the one who hired Robyn. In which case, why would Charles lie about hiring a private investigator? Doesn’t that just make him look even more guilty as opposed to telling a lie to try to make himself look more innocent?”
“You’re right,” Amaya said.
“Well,” Molly said, lowering her voice. “We can find out…” She pulled out a cell phone which, Marionette noted, was not hers.
“Where did you get that?” Marionette questioned.
“Snagged it off Robyn before I came back here,” Molly said, peering around into the aisle and towards the front of the plane where Robyn was doing everything in his power to avoid eye contact with Charles who was swearing at everyone in sight. “Let’s see if we can find out who hired him.”
Marionette leaned over, and she and Molly began sifting through old text messages as well as pulling up his email history. It took a considerable amount of time, but eventually they discovered that Charles was indeed the person who had hired Robyn to spy on Ralph. “Okay, now I’m even more confused,” Amaya said. “So if Robyn was hired by Charles to find dirt on Ralph, and he found out that the man was having an affair…”
“Well, he obviously told Charles about the affair,” Marionette said. “Because Charles wrote that note to Ralph threatening him that he would tell Patricia if he didn’t pay up.”
“But from what I found in Patricia’s cell phone, Patricia already knew about the affair,” Amaya said. “And when I started calling that cell phone number in her phone, it started ringing.”
“It was Robyn’s phone that started ringing,” Molly said. “I heard it back in the bathroom where he was still at when all the commotion started.”