Beautiful No More

by MJ Nightingale

  She wasn’t tied up, so that was good. She had at least that on her side. She began to move. Quietly. It was pitch black inside the trunk. She felt around with her hands for something to use as a weapon. Anything she could use to catch him off guard. A tire iron would have been perfect, but she didn’t feel anything large or bulky. Not even a flashlight. The trunk appeared to be empty.

  But she didn’t let that deter her. She didn’t know how much time she had left or how long she’d been out. She needed something. Anything.

  If only she had her purse. She had been carrying it, but he must have taken it. She had a set of brass knuckles. A gift to herself when she had gotten the job in this part of Tampa. It wasn’t the best part of town by any means, but the neighborhood was their bread and butter. Most of it anyway. She also had a small can of mace. A gift from her son.

  She continued to feel around, but so far she only felt the carpet. It was definitely soiled, and the car, an older model from what she remembered, had definitely seen better days. She rolled over and began to feel behind her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and the fear was making her perspire. She felt the car begin to slow and rolled back, but kept her body from making any noise. Her heart beat wildly now at the thought of him stopping before she had a chance to think of a plan or surprise him. Think. Search. She willed herself to keep looking. Not to give up and to push back the fear. Whatever he has in mind is not good she kept repeating to herself.

  She needed the element of surprise. Her fingers roamed the top corner, and then she felt along the back wall focusing her efforts on the corner in the bottom praying she could find something in the seam. Her finger snagged. The carpet was loose there. Maybe there was something behind it. She pulled and the carpet began to tear. It made a ripping noise that permeated the quiet of the trunk. God, she hoped he hadn’t heard it, but she dared to pull a bit more. Again it tore. But it didn’t seem as loud this time. She gave one more small pull, and the carpet came away in her hands. It was the piece of fabric on the rear wall that had come off. It was about two feet wide, and three feet long. She pushed it behind her, and began to feel again. Nothing. Shit!

  The car was slowing now. Much slower. She felt the turn, and then the jolting begin. The patch of road or whatever they were on was bumpy. They must be close and her time was running out. Just then she felt something thin and long. In the crease. Please let it be something. Please be something, she prayed. The car stopped. She plucked the object out with her fingernails. Clutched it to her and let out her breath slowly. She heard his door open. Slowly, she rolled back over. Closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. Calm herself. She slipped the object into her pants pocket and prayed. She hoped she wasn’t sweating too much. She dashed at her face with the sleeve on her shirt, and hoped he couldn’t sense her fear. She had only this one chance and she didn’t know if it would be enough. She just hoped she recognized the area, could get away, and get help.

  She heard footsteps. She heard the man unlock a door. Then there was silence.

  * * *

  Sal found the keys to the office in Angela’s purse. He had dumped the contents out onto the seat beside him, and was surprised by what he found. Not that he was shocked because of whom she worked for and who her son was after all, but it was a wakeup call to be careful with this one. She might try something stupid. Someone who was ready for danger could be risky. But he knew he could over power her. He slipped the gun he had into the back waist of his jeans just in case.

  His first look around told him there didn’t appear to be any security cameras out back. He thought about getting the woman out of the trunk first, but she might be more of a hindrance then a help. He looked at the back door. He saw nothing to indicate an alarm of some sort, but he could not be sure. He would have to risk going to the front and peering through the glass.

  He walked around to the front and the street was quiet. Hurrying over to the window, glad it was the corner one; he pressed his face to the glass. No tell-tale sign of any alarm system. No small green or red lights. But that did not mean there was not something in the back. He would have to chance going in. If he saw one when he entered he would split. He’d leave her in the trunk until he was sure.

  He walked back around to the back of the building cautiously. So far so good.

  He reached the back entrance once more and jiggled the handle. It was locked. He examined the three keys on her key ring. He knew which one it was by process of elimination. The car key was easy. The older looking one, her house key. He picked the shiny silver one and inserted it into the lock. He heard the click and pulled.

  Nothing, no alarm. Yet. It could be a silent one though. He poked his head inside and glanced to the left. Again, luck was on his side. No panel indicating a security system. He saw a long hallway, three doors on the left, all closed. One room on the right. A small light on inside indicated a bathroom. And all the way through he saw the front door and the large waiting room that served as the reception area.

  He went inside. He risked it. He walked the length of the hallway. No little red lights indicating an alarm. The metal bars in front of the building were enough to deter thieves, or so the Marinos must have thought. Cocky bastards. He grinned. It was time to get Angela. Time to have a little fun.

  He made his way back down the hallway. His palms began to itch. His cock began to stir.

  He took a breath of air and filled his lungs as he stood over the trunk of his car. It was time.

  * * *

  The moment Angela saw the crack of blue grey penetrate the darkness, she moaned softly, but kept her eyes closed. Better he think her groggy. If he had done this before, he would know the effects of whatever he had used would have worn off.

  “I’ve got a gun.” His statement was made succinctly. “No screaming, or it’s over.”

  She opened her eyes just a crack. “My head,” she murmured.

  “It will clear as soon as you are moving. Now get up. Come on,” he encouraged, placing one arm under her arm pit as she sat up. His other hand sported and waved the gun at her back and forth, weaving to indicate where he wanted her to go. She reached for the trunk’s edge slowly pulling herself out. “Come on. Be quick about it. No funny stuff,” he reminded her.

  She moved a bit quicker, but wanted to get her legs under her and her bearings before she tried anything. As soon as she recognized where she was she knew what to do. She had to hurt him, and then she had to run. Simple. That was her plan.

  Chapter 27

  A Pencil?

  As soon as Andreas ran up the drive, he knew something was wrong. Deadly wrong. The lights were on downstairs and the house was lit up in several of the rooms upstairs. He ran up the steps two at a time, and as soon as he reached for the door handle the door was flung wide open.

  It was Gio. “Everything is okay. But the police are on their way. The have Angela?”

  “Angela?” he queried, out of breath looking past him to see many of the other Marinos already up and about. Cat was standing at the door next to Lucas, another one of the security team members he had hired. “What the hell is going on?” he asked, waiting for someone to explain while a cold dread began to settle on him.

  Lucas was the first to report. “Sir, there was a breach at your offices down town. The alarm was triggered when no one entered the security code, and squad cars were sent immediately.”

  “My offices?’ he asked still clearly confused.

  “Yes, sir. The squad cars on approach saw a woman running down Nebraska Ave. and she was screaming. She waved them down and one of the officers stopped to pick her up while another squad car continued to your offices. But they were too late.”

  “Too late for what? What was Angela doing there?”

  “She escaped. Romeo we think. But he was gone by the time they got there,” Blaze informed him.

  “Fuck, no! He went after Angela?” The blood roared in his ears and he stomped into the house. “She’s okay?” he asked, looking abo
ut wildly.

  “Yes,” Gio assured him as he shut the front door and was pulling him along into the study. “She got away, thank God. But, Andreas, this was too fucking close. This bastard has to go down. Go down fast, and permanently.”

  Andreas saw the menace in Gio’s eyes that probably matched his own. Angela was like family. Fuck. She was family. She had been with them since they started their business, and mothered them all even though she was only ten years older.

  Nikko handed him a bottle of water and he untwisted the cap, and drank. He glanced over the top of the bottle to see Cat still standing alone, by the door he had walked through. Her eyes wouldn’t meet his. His heart twisted in his gut. This had been too close. He loved Angela. He couldn’t lose anyone else to this sick bastard.

  “Sir, Angela escaped, and we have the thumb drive you gave us last night. The police questioned her, and they wanted to have her talk to a sketch artist, but I thought since you have all these DMV photos we might get lucky.”

  “Good thinking.” Lucas was top notch. “We should all look at them; see if any of the pictures triggers something.” Again, he glanced at Cat. She stood silently taking it all in. He could feel her fear clear across the room. He wanted to soothe that worried expression off her face, but first he needed to hear more. He needed to know what the hell happened to Angela.

  “Please, tell me all you know,” he asked.

  “We got the call about fifteen minutes ago. We were about to send one of the security detail to get you, when Cat saw you come up the drive.” Again, he glanced at Cat. She stood like stone.

  Gio continued. “When the alarm went off at 4:05, the police dispatched two cars. They called us around five thirty. You were already running. Lucas came upstairs and alerted us. I talked to one of the men downtown. I was going to go downtown, but the police told me Angela was being questioned, and they were waiting on a sketch artist when Lucas came up with his idea. I talked to Morrissey; he told us what he knew which wasn’t much. Apparently, the perp grabbed Angela outside her home when she arrived from babysitting at about three am in the morning. He knocked her out, drove to our office, and she stabbed him in the arm that was holding a gun with a pencil.” A fucking pencil? “He was walking her in through the back of the building, and Angela knew he wouldn’t know about the alarm system being hooked up out of sight in your office. So she knew the police were on the way. Apparently she took a chance and got lucky.”

  “Fuck yeah.” He was pacing. Once more out of the corner of his eye he could see Cat looking so small, so scared, by the door. Lisa approached her and tried to pull her in, but she just shirked her shoulders and remained rooted to the spot. “She could have been killed.”

  “I know,” Gio sighed, letting out his fear and frustration. “Fucking Angela. She is one of us. Lucky. Thank God.”

  Just then they saw the blue and red lights flashing. The police had arrived. Andreas walked right past Cat to get to the door first. He had to see Angela for himself. Had to make sure she was all right.

  She was climbing out of the back of a squad car, shirking off the policeman’s offer to assist her. She ran up the stairs. “I stabbed the fucker, Andreas, with a pencil. I got away.” Then she was crying as she launched herself into his arms. He held her, and closed his eyes, trying to give her what comfort he could. He knew Ang was tough. One of the strongest women he knew, but even she was allowed to fall apart when something like this happened. He hoped she wasn’t hurt.

  “Hush, you’re okay. You’re safe. You are safe now. We are going to get this bastard. I’m putting a security team on you, Ang. I should have done it earlier. You’ll be safe.”

  “I’m going on vacation.” She cried and laughed at the same time. “And you are paying for it.”

  “Whatever you need. Whatever you say, Boss.” That was his Angela. A spitfire. He knew she would be okay and she hadn’t been harmed if she could still break his balls. His fear for what she had been through began to subside.

  The police officer behind her, interrupted. “Sir, we brought our sketch artist, in case the photos you have are not the perp. I hate to rush, but it’s important. My superiors want this done ASAP.”

  “Of course,” he murmured breaking away from Angela who was still holding on to him. He looked down into her brown eyes. “He didn’t hurt you? Are you going to be okay?”

  She nodded, sniffled, and used her small fist to wipe back the few remaining tears. “No. I’m not hurt. And yes, I’ll be fine. Let’s do this. Let’s catch this bastard.”

  Chapter 28

  Release

  “Take your time, Angela. If it’s too much, and you need a break, just let us know.” Lucas pulled up the file Tony Alvarez created for them on the thumb drive.

  Angela nodded. She was seated behind Andreas’ desk and he stood behind her with the lead detective. Sitting next to her, Lucas began to scroll through the pictures waiting for her to shake her head yes or no. The others waited on the periphery craning to see the photos themselves to see if they recognized any of them.

  Only Cat held back. She would look at them later. Her guilt was consuming her. Her relationship with Andreas had brought Spiro into Andreas’ home once more.

  The minutes seemed like hours. They had 200+ photos to look through and Angela was taking her time. It had been dark, and she wanted to be sure, so she examined them closely. Thirty minutes passed, and they were half way through the possible suspects.

  “Do you need a break?” Lucas asked, sensing the tension in the room.

  “Another cup of coffee, if someone wants to get it. But, I’ll keep going.”

  Ronnie got her cup, and slipped out of the room, but not before asking Cat, who still held her lone vigil at the door, if she wanted something. Andreas tried to give her a smile, but she looked away too soon to see, and he wanted to focus on the photos.

  “That’s it. That’s him.” Angela gasped. Andreas’ head whipped to the computer screen. “I’m positive,” she stated before anyone could ask if she was sure.

  Lucas did it anyway. “100%?” he asked.

  “110%,” she confirmed. And Andreas knew too. It was the eyes, the slant of them. The drooping lids, the long straight nose with the upturned tip. It was Sal Mazzelli. It was him. The color was different. Sal had blue eyes when he hunted him, this man’s were brown. But colored contacts were easy to come by. The man was also very darkly tanned, his hair a light brown, instead of the black he remembered. A box of dye could do that. He was older, and had a mustache too, which would disguise his hair lip.

  “Cat?” Andreas called. She looked up, startled. This was the first time he had spoken to her since he had come in from his run over an hour ago. “Can you come here, and see if you recognize him?” She nodded, and began to walk stiffly.

  Blaze sensing her worry, he had seen this before when a witness was asked to identify a suspect, took her arm, and helped her around the desk.

  Her eyes were fixed on Andreas though. He saw the question there. He couldn’t answer it. Are we okay? it seemed to be saying. He used his chin to indicate she should look at the screen. She did. Her hand flew up to her mouth. “It’s Spiro. It is.” She closed her eyes as reality sunk in. Spiro, the only man who had treated her kindly before Andreas. He was killing all these people because of her. Because of his obsession for her. Her heart broke. She had helped to create this monster. He had been simple, sweet, never asking for anything from her back then. To have Andreas’ suspicions confirmed that this whole nightmare started with her was too much. All those people killed because of her. Her girls. Those women in New York, she gasped. His Parents? How could he ever look at her the same way again? “It is Spiro Makas,” she confirmed turning from the photo on the computer screen and putting her mask in place. But she felt ill.

  “It’s Darryl. Honey, it’s Darryl James!” Blaze shouted and Andreas’ eyes looked to his brother who was now drawing everyone’s attention. Bella was coming forward now, her hand pressed to the
small of her back.

  “Darryl James?” she questioned, and seeing her eyes go round as she looked at the screen, Andreas knew the threat against them all had been even more real than he feared if his brother and pregnant sister-in-law knew him.

  “Who the fuck is Darryl James?” he asked Blaze.

  Blaze’s face was red with rage. “He works in my fucking apartment building. He cleans the seventh and eighth floors. Bella told me he rode up with her once in the elevator and he gave her the creeps. He is not supposed to do that. He needs to use the service elevator. So I reported it to Jeff, the building manager.”

  “Fuck, that’s how he found you, Cat. He works in your building.” Andreas glared at her.

  “B-but, I’ve never seen him there. I . . . would have recognized him.” All eyes were on her. She felt them staring at her. Accusing. The moment was awkward. She wanted to flee.

  Lisa spoke up. “I’m sure he kept out of sight. He probably saw her in the garage or something, and that’s how this whole thing started up again.”

  Andreas was nodding. He looked to the officers who were already scribbling away in their little books. One was on his cell phone just finishing up a call. “I have unmarked squad cars on the way to his apartment. We already had an All Points Bulletin out on the make and model of the car. We are still getting the tapes pulled from the red light cameras and have guys looking at them. If we can get a tag number, we will put that out there too. We’re also sending some guys round to the Trump Towers. Just hang on everybody. This could be over very soon,” the detective said hopefully as he headed towards the door. “Stay put, and we will call as soon as we know anything.”

  * * *

  One by one, each of the Marinos began to filter out of the study until it was just Andreas and the security detail. Cat had been one of the first to leave. She made her excuses, wanting to shower and dress after her workout.