The Case of the Stolen Art Work

by Karen Stillwagon

  Footsteps sounded on the old wood floor, then faded away before the slam of a door brought Lorelei to action. She didn’t know how much time she had to get out of there. She pulled and twisted then stopped. She moved her legs, they weren’t tied to the chair. She rocked the chair back and forth until it tipped over. She smashed her head on the wood floor and laid there, weak with fear but she needed to get out of there, wherever there was.

  Lorelei moved and found she was not tied to the chair, her hand were still bound but she wiggled until the back of the chair was no longer between her hands and her back. She curled into a ball and pulled her hands down and pulled until she could pull her legs through. With her hands in front of her, she pushed up her blindfold off her head and looked around. She could see the street lights’ glow under the door. Using her teeth, she pulled on the knots, untying her wrists. She rubbed the stiffness out of her shoulders, got up and went to the door. Slowly, she opened it and heard voices near. She quickly pulled herself back in the dark room. She felt around until she found something heavy she could use as a weapon. Whispering voices entered the pawnshop. She pushed herself against the boxes near the door and waited. The door to the back room opened and she swung her club high, as hard as she could as the body came into the room. She heard the crunch as it connected with the person’s face. She ran out the door but was grabbed from behind.

  “Let me go!” she screamed as she struggled against the bear hug that held her tight.

  “Lorelei! It’s me!”

  Lorelei shook in Michael’s arms as a sob escaped her. He turned her around, keeping his arms around her

  “They are coming back,” she cried, “they plan to kill me!”

  Michael held her tight, stroking her hair. “You’re safe now, no one is going to hurt you, I’ve got you.”

  Her knees buckled. Michael caught her and helped her into the chair that sat behind the counter. He knelt down in front of her, pushing her hair out of her face. She looked at him, blood spilled out of the cut above his eye.

  “I though you were one of them, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she sobbed

  “That’s okay, I’ll survive,” he said as he reached for her hands.

  His partner was at his side with a towel for his head.

  “How did you find me?” she asked, looking from Michael to Amy.

  “We came here hoping to find answers to where they took you,” Amy said as she placed a hand on Lorelei’s shoulder.

  “I was so stupid, I should have sent you the guy’s picture, I shouldn’t have gotten so angry,” she said, her body still shaking.

  “It’s over,” Michael said as two men in uniform came in the building. “We’ve got her, she’s okay.”

  Michael pulled his cell phone out, then dug in his back pocket for his business card. He dialed the number on the back.

  “Hello?” answered a familiar voice.

  “Ms. Brown? I have someone here who wants to talk to you.” Michael said. He handed the phone to Lorelei.

  “Hello?” Lorelei said.

  “Oh my god, you’re safe!” Dee said through tears.

  “I’m safe,” Lorelei said. “Is Bindi with you?”

  “Oh, Honey, I’ve been so worried!” Dee answered.

  “I’m okay, I’m just worried about Bindi, is she there with you?”

  “Bindi and Lily are curled up in Lily’s bed. Took a little bit to settle her down, but she’s sleeping now.”

  “I don’t know when I’ll be there. Can she stay with you tonight?”

  “Of course she can. Just come home safe and sound. I’ll be staying up for a while, so if the lights are on, please come see me,” Dee said.

  “I’ll see you when I get there.” Lorelei handed the phone back to Michael.

  “Ms. Brown, we have her and she’s safe. We will be taking her to the hospital to get checked out, and if she’s up to it, to the station to go over her statement while it’s still fresh in her mind. We will have her home in the morning,” he told Dee.

  “Okay, she has a key, she can just come here, I’ll have the couch made up for her.”

  “When are they coming back?” Michael asked Lorelei as he put the phone away.

  “They said they would meet back here at midnight, but I don’t know what time it is. There are three of them. It’s the woman who wants me dead. She said she doesn’t want to leave anyone behind who can identify them.”

  “A woman?” Amy asked.

  “Yes, I think it’s the pawn shop owner’s wife and they said to meet back here after they get all their money, and then they would take me with them when they leave town.” Lorelei couldn’t calm herself, talking a mile a minute.

  “Cheri Hastings, Alex’s wife,” Michale said.

  Amy picked up a small purse that sat on the counter. “Is this yours?” she asked Lorelei.

  “Yes,” she said as Amy handed her the purse. She opened it and saw her wallet and cell phone still inside. “They didn’t take anything.”

  “We need to leave it there,” Amy said, taking the purse back from Lorelei.

  “Why?” Lorelei asked.

  Michael looked at Amy and the officers, then back down to Lorelei.

  “Would you like to help us catch them?” he asked her.

  She rocked back and forth, hugging herself, and said, “I don’t know how I can help. I don’t know where they went and I didn’t see her. Just heard her talking, yelling and screaming at them. One of them is named Daryl, I didn’t hear any other names.”

  Michael explained to her what they were going to do, and it meant that Lorelei had to go back to the chair, in the back room, in the dark.

  “I won’t tie you back up, but we need to put the blindfold back on. I’ll have the ropes around your hands, but they won’t be tied. We will be in the room here with you, Amy and I, and the officers will be waiting outside, out of sight. Do you think you can do that?”

  “And you will be here with me the whole time?” Lorelei asked.

  “Yes. I’ll take your spot behind the door where you were hiding. And Amy will find a spot on the other side. We won’t let anything happen to you. But we need to get set up now since they could be here anytime.”

  Amy walked over to talk to the other cops. Michael stood and helped Lorelei to her feet before taking her back to the room where she had been held. After the door was closed, Michael felt around for a light, turned it on. A single lightbulb hung from the ceiling casting faint shadows in its dim light. He surveyed the back room. He grabbed the overturned chair and sat it back in the middle of the room. Lorelei tentatively took her seat. She placed her arms around the back of the chair as Michael loosely wrapped the rope. She had to hold the rope to keep it from slipping off. He knelt in front of her again, holding the blindfold.

  “I’m going to be standing right over there, and Amy will be behind those boxes.” He pointed to a stack of boxes next to the far wall. “They will not touch you, ever again, I promise.”

  “Okay,” Lorelei whispered.

  “I need to put this back on,” he said as he slipped the blindfold back over her head. He felt her body tense as he covered her eyes. “Bindi is safe at home with Dee, focus on that, and we will get you there as soon as this is over.”

  “Thank you.” Lorelei broke down crying again.

  “It’s because of Bindi we are here. We heard the call about an abandoned dog, left in a purple Sidekick, as we were leaving the station. And I knew it was you.” Michael wiped the tears streaming down Lorelei’s checks with the cuff of his jacket. It was rough on her face. “I’m sorry I don’t have a handkerchief of something.”

  “That’s okay.” It came out as a sob. “Guess I know what to get you for Christmas.”

  Michael leaned in and kissed her cheek, then gently brushed his lips across hers, tasting the salt from her tears. “I’m going to leave you now, but I will only be a few feet away. And we need to stay quiet, can you do that for me?”

  “I think so.” Sh
e took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

  Amy came back into the back room, turned out the light and made her way behind the boxes as Michael took up his spot behind the door. They could hear Lorelei’s quiet sobs as they waited.

  After fifteen minutes, voices sounded outside the door in the pawn shop.

  “Have you got what we need?” a male voice asked.

  “Everything but the woman,” another male voice answered.

  “Why can’t we just leave her here?” the first voice asked.

  “Because Cheri will have your head on a platter if you don’t do as she says,” said the second voice. “She told us, no witnesses. We’ll take care of her on our way out of town.”

  The door to the back room opened. A tall figure approached Lorelei as she sat in her chair. He didn’t bother with the light. Lorelei felt someone tugging at the ropes behind her.

  “Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone what happened.”

  “Sorry,” the male voice said, “we can’t leave any witnesses behind.”

  “But I didn’t see anything!” Lorelei cried.

  “You saw Daryl, and that is enough,” the voice said.

  “But I don’t know who he is!”

  The lights came on as Michael and Amy came into view. “But we know who you are,” Amy said.

  At that moment, the sound of the cops coming into the pawnshop could be heard at the front of the store.

  “And it seems your partner is being confronted as we speak,” Michael said as he took Alex Hastings into custody.

  “I’’m not saying anything! I want a lawyer!” Alex yelled.

  “And we will make sure you, Daryl and your wife have one,” Michael said, close to Alex’s ear as he handcuffed him.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no woman with us,” Alex said as they took him from the room.

  Other police cars arrived at the scene. They took Alex Hastings and Daryl Miller into custody and loaded them into the awaiting cop cars outside. Lorelei stood and watched with Amy and Michael on either side of her.

  “There was a woman,” Lorelei said to both Michael and Amy. “I didn’t see her, but heard her.”

  “And her name is Cheri Hastings.” Amy pulled out her notebook and started writing. To Michael she said, “I will see what I can find out once we get back to the station.”

  “What happens now?” Lorelei asked.

  “You and Dee will be contacted by either the police or the DA and give a statement. You will need to personally identify each of them, to the best to you knowledge, and the DA will take it from there,” Michael said.

  “But neither of us can identify the woman, and now that she’s gone, what will happen?”

  “We’ll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, I want to get you to the hospital, have you checked out, then get you home, safe. After that, Amy and I are going to get started on making sure these guys go away for a long time.”

  “Dee can identify one of the men. The one she saw in the house she was watching. And I saw both men, but I didn’t see who kidnapped me or who was in the other room.”

  “You can identify them by voice. And you can corroborate Dee’s testimony by what you heard,” he responded.

  “Yes, I can. Those voices will haunt my dreams for a long time.”

  “Let’s get you to the hospital,” Amy interrupted.

  “Okay,” Lorelei said, leaning on Michael as he helped her to the front of the pawn shop.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  DEE DIDN’T LIKE waiting. She spent her time pacing, slowly, waiting to hear from Lorelei or Lorelei’s cop friend. How long did it take to bring her home? It shouldn’t take too long at the hospital, she was sure of that. And Dee couldn’t see the cops keeping Lorelei at the station too long after what she’d been through. She looked at the wall clock and saw it was getting close to two in the morning. Maybe they weren’t bringing her home, or maybe there was something wrong when they took her to the hospital.

  Dee’s pacing had both Lily and Bindi on edge. Bindi’s little body shook. Her person left her in a strange car that wasn’t theirs, then left with some strange man, leaving her stranded in the strange car. The man and woman that had brought her home had a familiar smell but Bindi didn’t trust them. Once they left her with Lily, she was a bit more relaxed, but still needed her human. She was never left overnight on her own. Her human would be here anytime. So Bindi stayed close to Dee as Dee continued to pace back and forth in front of the large bay windows.

  Lights from a car drove past Dee’s driveway, but didn’t turn in. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a small glass from the cupboard and poured herself a double shot of whiskey. She carried it back into the front room and continued her pacing, forgetting that she was holding the glass. Another set of headlights were coming down the road and she saw the turn signal come on before the car pulled into the driveway. Dee made her way carefully down the stairs, still carrying the glass of whiskey. She was sore from the tumble down the cliff as the Tylenol had worn off hours ago. As she got to the back door, she heard the gate latch and footsteps approaching the house. She opened the door, and standing on the steps was a short, round woman with black hair pulled tight in a pony tail, and in her hand was a gun. Dee didn’t know anything about guns other than they were dangerous and you never want to have one pointed at you.

  “You and I are going to have a little talk, while we wait for your roommate to come home.” The woman pushed her way into the house, keeping the gun pointed at Dee.

  “I.. I .. Uh.. I don’t have a roommate,” Dee said.

  “Then whoever it is that has that little dog,” the woman said as she motioned the gun toward Bindi.

  “I’m just dog sitting for a friend, they won’t be back until the middle of next week.” Dee tried to sound strong, but it came out as a whisper.

  “You’re the lady who saw Daryl in that house over there.” Again, she waved the gun the direction she was referring to. “Don’t think I don’t know who you are. You sent your little stooge to find out who it was. And we caught her. Alex told me all about you. He and Daryl were watching your house to see if you’d call the cops and what do you know, they were here this morning. Stupid, stupid, stupid,” the woman kept repeating as she walked around the house, the gun still aimed toward Dee.

  “What do you want?” Dee asked.

  “I want you to tell the cops you didn’t see anyone in that house, and I want you to convince your little friend you didn’t see anyone either. And that she don’t know who took her from the museum.”

  “I won’t say anything, I promise,” Dee slid into a chair next to the bay windows, spilling some of the whiskey that she was still carrying around.

  “What’s in your glass?” the woman asked.

  “It’s, um, it’s whiskey.”

  The woman walked over and snatched the glass out of Dee’s hand and upended the contents into her mouth.

  “Get me another one,” she said.

  Dee stood and made her way into the kitchen and poured another drink. She drank it down, giving herself liquid courage, before filling the glass tumbler full, in the hopes of getting the woman drunk. It would allow her to escape, or maybe take the gun away? She shook her head, who was she kidding. She was in dire straits and needed to do whatever she could to get the woman out of her house.

  She brought the glass, along with the bottle, back out and handed the glass to the woman. This time the woman took a small drink before motioning Dee back to the chair.

  “You and I are going to wait together.” The woman stood at the window watching the road. After another hour passed, a set of headlights came down the road. Again, a turn signal came on and the car turned into the driveway.

  “They’re going to ask about your car,” Dee said, lifting her chin defiantly.

  “And you’re going to make up some story about it.” The woman grabbed Lily by the collar and pulled her into a room off the kitchen. “I�
�ll kill your dog if you make any mention of me being here, got it?”

  Dee’s eyes welled up with tears as she nodded.

  Time stood still. Dee heard the ticking of the old grandfather clock, counting the seconds before Lorelei and the cops were at the door. Time stopped as she waited. A full minute passed before there was a slight knock and Dee heard the it open. She realized she hadn’t lock it after the woman came in.

  “Dee? Are you here?” Michael called out from downstairs.

  “I’m up here.” It came out as a whisper, she tried again, “I’m up here.”

  “I’m here, Dee,” Lorelei called out.

  Bindi jumped up from the couch and ran down the stairs to greet her person. Lorelei snatched her up and held Bindi close to her heart as she followed Michael and Amy up the stairs.

  “I didn’t think you were going to come in,” Dee said nervously, looking at them then switching her gaze to the door the woman had gone through. She kept looking from the cops to the door, wide eyed. It was slightly ajar, but she couldn’t see inside the room.

  Michael gave a slight nod, acknowledging Dee’s glances, as he stayed at the top of the steps. Lorelei ran into Dee’s arms, with Amy following behind. Michael walked up next to Amy, who was in the middle of the front room.

  “She’s home safe and we have the men who took her. They are at the station. Michael and I have to get back to the station and take care of the paper work.” She kept eye contact with both women and gave a slight nod.

  Dee’s eyes were still wide, but she nodded back and said, “I’ll make sure to get some food in her, and I have a bed made up on the couch. She’ll be staying with me tonight.”

  “We will call in the morning and check in. And give you both an update. You two should be able to rest easy tonight.” Michael said as he and Amy headed back toward the stairs. They made it a point to be heard going down the stairs and leaving by slamming the door.

  “Are you hungry?” Dee asked as she let go of Lorelei, then she saw movement at the top of the stairs again. It was both Michael and Amy. He gave a slight wave to her, then put his finger to his lips. Dee stared at him, then looked at the room, and back at Michael. He nodded before he and his partner made their way over. The door faced the kitchen so the woman would not be able to see the cops against the wall.