The Mysterious Women Series:Blackmail

by Paramita Choudhury

  Chapter 18

  "Laney, what are you doing up there?" Zack called out, while Laney was fixing a glass in the tree house. From the NYPD he drove them to Brooklyn towards the Ranch. She needed to relax after the attack, the way she shrunk last night in the car made him feel guilty I shouldn’t have taken her there, he had thought. So today he had decided to take the day off and visit the ranch."Making Willy a tree house, the kid has been insisting on it since his last birthday", Laney shouted out loud."Am I here to get a neck sprain today?" Zack asked with a tone of humor in his voice."Wait a moment; let me fix this screw first". They waited till he got down through the ladder, as he walked towards them he noticed a small brunette standing close to Zack; he hadn’t seen her earlier due to her size which seemed to be smaller than Lucie. This must be Sara, he thought "Finally you got hooked, huh?" he asked his friend. Zack smiled sheepishly "Couldn't help myself." Laney laughed out loud. "Let's get inside Willy has been waiting a long time to show off his toy Robocop," Lucie informed them.

  Sure the boy had been waiting for them, just as they were about to enter the living room Sara noticed a young kid of about 9 playing with a toy, this must be the Robocop, both of them thought at the same time. Willy turned to see them, ran and immediately leapt at Zack. She was amazed at how swiftly the man could hold Willy, who was a plump little one. "Uncle Zacky I have been waiting for you too long", he said, still maintaining firm hold in Zack's shoulder. The latter's expression turned immediately to an 'only business' mode, he slowly put the kid down and kneeled in front of him to maintain eye contact "Do you remember the last time we met you told me, you wanted to meet an angel", Willy looked quizzically at him "Did I?"."Yes, you did and so I brought one with me, "the older man said without a single trace of muse in his face, pointing towards her. Willy's eyes twinkled as he took in her features "She does look like an angel." Sara could feel her pressure rising the way this kid is staring at my face; he makes me feel like an edible ice cream, I've never been too good with kids, couldn't even manage little Em and this kid, he looks like an autistic patient, she kept on mumbling on her own "Hie angel," Willy said while shaking hands with her "Hello", she replied in a shaky voice. "Can I call you angel "? The kid's innocent question melted her heart "off course you can", she replied with a smile to make the child comfortable."Can we please sit? You are too tall and my neck will get sprained if I keep on staring at you," without waiting for a response he held her hand with his tiny fingers he must be Zack's godson she thought and pulled her along to the couch, it was placed near one of the window's letting plenty of sunlight to reach them. Now that she was sitting close to him, she noticed teeth marks on the child's forehead, when she asked him how he got the marks he replied" one day while playing in the community football field I bumped with one of the big boys, his tooth was loose and it got stuck on my forehead, coach took me to the doc and he pulled it out and stitched it, I got three here", he said pointing to his forehead " Zacky said you relieved him of his pain, can you do it for me too?" the child pleaded , did he really say that? She didn't have the courage to say him no "Yes, I will”. He kept her busy for the next half an hour with his amusing stories and probably would say more if his mother wouldn't summon everyone for lunch. He held her hand all this while, even while going to lunch he held her and sat close to her at the table. Until now, Sara hadn't noticed that Willy had only four fingers in his right hand and the little finger looked too little as if it had been cut off. She wanted to ask Zack about this but didn't get any chance since kid sat in between them.

  Where is the girl now? Ryan thought in utter annoyance, he had called Sara for the fifth time now and she hadn't received it even once. His last resort was to call her friend. Michelle was preparing a report on the employee's performance, when her cell phone rang; she glanced at the number before receiving it what happened to this pig-head now? Hello its Ryan speaking do you know where is Sara?" He demanded, "Enjoying a sun bath outside the office," she replied, "Pardon, what did you say?" he said unable to paraphrase her words."She's pole dancing in skylit", she replied muffling her laughter with a cough. "Excuse me", before he could complete his questionnaire she said "your sister is enjoying the best moments of her life and I don't want you to bother her." He didn't reply for a moment, perhaps she is right "If you happen to hear from her, ask her to receive my calls," he said. No, doubt you messed with her this time, Mr. Scumbag. "Have you checked the venue?" she asked her voice professional. "Yes but it is a bit congested," he said "I mean in a grand party with more than five hundred guests hovering over the place, we need a bigger complex, something like Patisserie Opera house". "But the guests have already been invited, I think we can talk to the owner of Elite club", she replied while going through the Google map checking out the areas close to the club. He didn't answer immediately perhaps he is checking out the possibilities. "We can do that," he replied after a while, "I'll make the arrangements as soon as possible". "Great idea," Mr. Scumbag she thought out loud. "I'm not much of a frothy person Miss Michelle ", he said before ending the call. She couldn't understand for a while the meaning of his last sentence, finally when she stretched on the word "frothy" a smile crossed her face, she had thought too loud for him to hear. Hope he doesn’t mess up everything. Now she had to sit and complete making arrangements for the caterers' services, flowers, and orchestra, rest would be taken care of by Ryan after he fixes the place.

  How am I supposed to enjoy my meal? Can't he stop for once? Willy had asked her if she would share with him the American style wings, but before she could reply just like any other disciplined mother, his mother reminded him of his manners. Autistic or not the kid sure knows how incredible theses wings are. Willy had already licked his plate clean and as soon as he was about to attack on Sara's cheese cake, his mom passed her cake to him. Sitting near the kid made her sick how lucky I'm to have such a kid sitting beside me who is on the verge of eating the dishes, if humanly possible. No one seemed to mind anything except her. Zack was munching on his wings with the speed of a sloth bear, Laney shared a few stories about their childhood and how he met Lucie, about their time in the marine services. But all this things didn't get on her head, apart from the fact that the monster is about to attack her sweet cheese cakes and she must finish them off as soon as possible. After the boy left the table she asked Lucie if the kid is sick" You are right ," she said "Willy has been suffering from autism for the last five years", then holding Sara's hand she said " You are quite lucky you got him with you, you may think that he has got this playboy nature;" Zack tried to interrupt her but she didn't let him " Let me speak ," she said like a mother hen, where Sara was the intruder in her territory. "He has got a heart of gold; just by looking at him you could say he is smitten." Sara didn't know what to do so she simply smiled Lady Come to the real matter will you? "I'm sure he never told you but he is the savior of my child, he was the one to notice Willy's abnormalities first, otherwise it would have been too late. Sara brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, in a way to see the time. They sat for lunch at around two in the afternoon and now the watch showed four o' clock, beginning of a new episode." I remember the day clearly", Lucie spoke "it was Christmas last year and as usual Zack was here to celebrate with us, all of us were busy decorating and it was Zack who noticed that Willy was missing, he asked me I said the kid is playing near the outhouse. Extra concerned as he is always, he went there and found Willy playing quietly, to surprise the kid he went stealthily behind him." Lucie turned towards her husband who nodded as if encouraging her to speak more. From their gesture Sara could clearly read 'this is the worst part sign'. "You know the kid had a saw in his hand, blood was smeared in his face, and one of his fingers was hanging from its joint", she drank some water and continued. "I don’t know how he maintained composure; he called for ambulance and then asked me if I could manage the ranch for the day if he and my husband would be out for the day, I was totally puzzled to clear my confusion Zack explained me the case ". A
tear escaped Lucie's eyes but Sara was sitting intact all ears to everything happening around her and now she could feel all eyes were on her," What happened then?" she said adding sympathy in her voice. "Looking at your husband's blood smeared face is something totally different from looking at your son's blood smeared face, I don’t why but I got relieved only when they took him to the hospital, none of us could sleep that night." Lucie's agonized face now turned into that of a happy mother "Zack never jeopardizes with his family and friends he will keep you safe just don’t shut him out." Sara nodded now I know the reason of all this history, Mr. Hitman so you are pushing me now. You'll definitely know what you are dealing with.

  After waiting for about half an hour he was finally allowed entry into the boss's chamber. Calling it chamber will degrade its value it looked more like a den with a mini swimming pool in the centre where a dead body was maintaining its buoyancy now, a bar with every modern and old stock. Robert had been here earlier, but those days he was a petty thief, now one of the best sharp shooter travelling all around the world- sometimes smuggling offensive drugs, otherwise expanding the company, and killing people in his way, he often had to stay abroad."Robert don’t let me down this time," a man with blond hair said. He was probably in his mid thirties and as handsome as Brad Pitt. He could possibly pass on for any sort of modeling show or movies, but here he is standing and loathing on his brother. Just now he slit the throat of a poor guy, because the latter was a loyal staff of his deceased uncle and wouldn’t allow him access to a few legal documents. "You must be thinking that I'm the cousin of a billionaire yet why I endanger my family?" the boss said while cleaning his hands of the blood stain , "I want more, being the cousin of a billionaire is not enough, I want to be the billionaire myself, my uncle handed ran this business concealing it with the other one," he then rubbed his hands on a towel and poured himself and Robert some scotch from the decanter " here take it", he handed one of the glasses to Robert. "So, what was I saying, ah yes on his will my uncle he handed over the reins of this business to me and the other one to his son, he knew I could do it, but in this whole thug business I don’t want my cousin hurt, he is as close to me as my own brother, just take care of his girlfriend she is more than she looks." Robert was silent all this while but now his curiosity was at its boiling point and he couldn’t control it "Do you know her?" The mobster was quite for a while deciding whether to pass the little information to his agent or not" Well she was related to me, but not anymore, bring me the painting and our deal will be over, you'll be able to move out with your love wherever you want." He then refilled his glass" she is a cold woman, I was always interested in the other one, I loved her you know, but she remained loyal to the law, yet I didn’t hurt her not even once", his eyes had turned moist moving away from Robert he said" Get going now, if you want to finish the deal soon and send Jeremy here on your way."