The Chauffeur

by A. P. Hallmark

  “How’s your lunch, dear?” my mother asks Helen, seeing the uneaten sandwich on the plate. “I’ll get you another if you want, all you have to do is ask.”

  After we finish our lunch, mother noisily cleans up our dishes, and when she sees that Helen still hasn’t touched her sandwich, she moves to take the paper plate away. Helen quickly grasps my mother’s wrist, stopping her movement.

  “Get your age-spotted hand off me,” Mother seethes. When Helen doesn’t budge, Grace looks at my father over her shoulder.

  Uh-oh.

  “Get the medical kit.”

  The sound of breaking bones is something you never forget.

  As soon as my father returns, and without warning, mother pulls on Helen’s fingers, setting them. She then wraps tape around the two fingers making a brace of sorts. Helen looks as if she may faint from the pain. That must hurt!

  “Never touch my wife. She doesn’t like that,” my father says.

  “Helen,” I begin while my mother works on her injury, “when Kate and I were in Hawaii, I had the good fortune to run across the Romeoville property and bought it. Kate went ballistic. You were the first person she called to cry about it. Your time of playing dumb is over. Why is this property so necessary?”

  “I suggest you tell him while I still have your broken fingers in my hands, dear,” Mom says into her face.

  When Helen spits in my mother’s face, she gets a firm fist to the jaw. A black eye is already appearing on her face.

  “I’m done being nice. If my husband needs me to extract the information he wants, you’re going to wish you had spoken, trust me,” my mother hisses.

  “Helen,” my father begins, “are you ready to tell me why you wanted that building?”

  She cradles her injured hand close to her chest. “All you’re getting from me is that Kate made a deal and Jason fucked it up. Some backers wanted it, and now all hell has broken loose. It’s your fault, Jason,” she says vehemently through her pain. “You knew Kate was buying that property and you stole it from us. We are all suffering the consequences now. Including you,” she snarls with a shortness of breath. “My daughter is out to survive, but she’s after one thing and one thing only,” her eyes move from my father to me. “You. She wants you to drown, just like we are and trust me, you will. She has plans for you.”

  “If she touches one hair on April’s head, I will kill your daughter,” I snarl, warning her.

  “All of this over the purchase of a building?” my dad says. “Your little girl got herself into trouble, didn’t she? She’s dug herself into a hole and took you with her. Now, because my son purchased the building, she has been hounding him and April.”

  My mother stands up. “Come on, Jason, let’s go get Kathryn. Let’s see if her fingers are stronger than her mother’s.”

  “I wouldn’t touch her if I were you. She’s protected. She’s better protected than your chauffeur. Too bad, though.”

  I look at my father and get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I look to see if there’s a text from April. I quickly leave the room to call her. When my call goes straight to voicemail, I know her phone is turned off.

  Looking at my watch—it’s after two o’clock. I call Sue to see if April’s there and when I’m told she’s not, I call Rita.

  “Rita, is Garrett home yet?” I ask, feeling a shortness of breath.

  “No, he’s not. Wasn’t he supposed to drop April off at the office?” she asks, nervously.

  “Yes, but they aren’t there yet. Would you have him call me?”

  “Of course, I will, Jason,” she says before she hangs up.

  I run in to confront Helen. “Where is she?” I demand. All I get is a freakish laugh. “I told you, Helen, one hair on her head and your daughter is dead. One—fucking—hair,” I hiss the words into her face.

  When her eyes get wide, and fear crosses her face, I know then that April’s in trouble.

  “Dad, go get Mom!”

  Her eyes flit from the door to the window looking for a way to escape. As soon as Mom enters the room, Helen sneers and takes a defensive stance.

  “Jason, dear, what is it?” Mom asks, concerned.

  “I don’t give a fuck about you or your daughter, Helen,” I announce, and without taking my eyes off her, I say, “I can’t find April, Mother.”

  My mother slowly walks up to Helen and strokes her ponytail. “Wait here, Helen, dear. I’ll be right back.”

  I begin pacing the floor, wondering who I can call to help find April, and quickly dial Emily.

  “Emily, April went to the doctor’s this morning, and I haven’t heard from her. She was supposed to be driven back to the office. Have you heard from her?” I ask, frantic for any information she can offer.

  “No, I haven’t, but I’m sure everything’s all right. Sometimes you can wait for an hour to see the doctor,” she explains.

  “Why would she have her phone off then? She knows she’s supposed to keep it on. Her appointment was four hours ago!” Rage mixed with fear consumes me. I spin around when I hear my mother enter the room.

  “Try to find her, Emily. Tell Kyle and call me if you hear anything.” I hang up and watch my mother as enters the room toting a large basket over her arm.

  “Come with me to the chair over here, dear,” she says, taking Helen by her broken hand.

  “I think your hair needs brushing.”

  Mother methodically removes the hair tie, letting Helen’s hair fall around her shoulders and down her back. Grace slowly begins to brush it, smiling while she does it.

  Looking over at my father, he takes one of the chairs, turning it and straddles it, resting his arms on the back. He watches his wife, with pure adoration.

  “You have the most beautiful head of hair, Helen. But you know what they say, don’t you?” Mom asks, slowly brushing and stroking her hair. Helen doesn’t say a word. “That long hair on a hag makes you look like one.”

  Mom begins to neatly gather Helen’s long tresses on the very top of her head and holds it in place with the hair tie. My jaw drops when she wraps the ponytail around her fist, forcing Helen’s head backward. She then takes a pair of long-bladed shears and cuts Helen’s hair below the hair tie. Helen screams, and when my mother tells her she better keep her hands in her lap, she obeys.

  “Here, Jason. If you don’t find April in an hour, you take this to Kathryn. If she doesn’t tell you where April is, let her know that mommy’s right ear will be delivered to her at five o’clock this afternoon. And if we don’t have April home by dinner, you are free to follow through with your threat to kill Kathryn.”

  I look down at Helen as she runs her good hand over her newly shorn head. When the shock and then anger come over her, she jumps up from her chair to face my mother.

  “You … you fucking bitch. You’ll never get her back!”

  The three of us stare at her. She just admitted that April had been taken. My mother is the first to speak.

  “You fucked up, Helen, can you feel the dread that your little girl soon will be dead?”

  Helen stares into my mother’s eyes with a look of smugness. “I told you, she’s protected. No one can get to my daughter.”

  “I warned you, didn’t I?” my father says, confirming our threats. “Grace will be back to see you at three o’clock if April isn’t found."

  We hurry out of the room, and as soon as we head down the hall, Helen screams.

  I make a run for my car and drive as fast as I can toward Kathryn’s office. When I stop at a traffic signal, my phone rings and I pray it’s April.

  “Hello,” I say frantically.

  “Jason, it’s Dad. I need you to go to the office. Don’t ask questions, just go. I’ll meet you there. Go. Now.”

  I hate it when he does that shit! He knows I have questions that need answers. It takes me another thirty minutes to get to the office, and I’m lucky I didn’t get a ticket. After parking my car in the
garage, I run inside the building, taking the first available elevator.

  After the long ride to the twenty-fifth floor, the doors open, and I run straight to my father’s office where everyone has gathered. Emily is crying, so I know this isn’t good.

  “Jason, sit down, son.”

  Did my heart just stop? It must have because I can’t breathe either.

  “Just fucking tell me!” I shout.

  I look in the direction of my father and see Garrett sitting there with a bandage wrapped around his head. Rita is beside him, her eyes red and puffy. Eric, the man my father had trailing April, is staring out the window, with his hands sunk inside his pockets.

  That’s when I sit down.

  “Wh-what?” I say, tears beginning to burn my eyes.

  “They took her, Jason,” Garrett says, tears streaming down his face. “I’m so sorry. He came up behind me as I was getting in the car. The next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital and April wasn’t with me.”

  “She’s … she’s gone?” I ask Eric.

  “I’m sorry, Jason,” he says, speaking up. “I wasn’t far from Garrett and April. I was almost there when they pushed her into the van and took off with her in it.”

  “Did you get the plates?” I ask, hopeful.

  “There weren’t any on the vehicle.”

  I jump out of my seat and walk over to the window looking out over the city. April is out there somewhere. Is she being treated well? Is she crying? Are they hurting her? Is she alive?

  “Kyle, start the trace on the bracelet. Let me know as soon as you have anything,” my dad says, “I want you girls to stay put until you hear from me, do you understand?”

  “Dad, come to my office,” I say, as I walk away from the window to the door.

  As soon as my father shuts the door behind us, he sits in front of my desk. I pull Helen’s hair out of my inside breast pocket, lay it on the leather blotter and take a picture of it. After saving it into my phone, I look at my father who is patiently waiting for me.

  “Jason,” my dad begins, “keep her on the phone.” I nod, and pick up the receiver to my desk phone, I dial, placing the call on speaker.

  “Jason, to what do I owe this pleasure?” she says tonelessly.

  “Take a guess,” I say, angrily. “Where the fuck is April?”

  I hear my dad on his cell phone arranging for a man to go to Kathryn’s office.

  “How would I know?” she asks sweetly. “What? You can’t keep track of your little princess?”

  “I don’t know, Kathryn. How’s your mother?”

  She pauses. “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is, how is your fucking mother?”

  “Jason, what have you done?” she asks, her voice wavering.

  “How would I know?” I say, mocking her.

  “Where is she, Jason?” she demands, anger setting in.

  “I know … let’s play a game. You tell me where April is, and I’ll tell you where your mother is,” I suggest, hoping I can bargain a swap. I pick up my cell phone, select the picture of the chopped-off ponytail, and email it to her.

  “I just sent you a present, darling,” I say, waiting for her response. She doesn’t let me down.

  “You … you motherfucker. Is that my mother’s hair?” she screams.

  Over the phone, I hear the shuffling of feet and the slamming of a door.

  “What do you want? What are you doing here? Get out of my office at once!” she yells regally. I know then that my father’s men have entered her office.

  “Kathryn, I suggest you go quietly with the nice men.”

  “Jason, what the fuck are you doing? Have you sent these men here?”

  “Here’s the deal. You have something I want, and we have something you want. I would play nice if I were you. Do you know why?” I ask, waiting for her reply, but none comes. “My mother has a message for you. If she doesn’t hear from me by three o’clock, you will receive a present in the form of one of your mother’s body parts.

  “Jason, you piece of shit … your girl is dead!”

  Fear overwhelms me at hearing this threat. Bile rises into my throat, and I swallow hard to prevent myself from throwing up.

  “Do you think we’ll stop at your mother’s ear, Kathryn? We’re not fucking around here. You want to play hardball with the big boys? Well toughen up, sweetheart, I’m about to teach you how to play the game.”

  “Your April is in a lot more trouble than you think, and if you touch my mother, you will never find her. Ever.” The sound of the dial tone at the other end gives me a feeling of finality.

  “Dad?”

  “I know, son. Kate will be taken to the same location as her mother. She won’t see a telephone.”

  “I-I don’t know what to do,” I say more to myself than to my father. After looking out the window pensively, I get up and scan the skyline.

  Her first outing without me, and she’s taken. I should have known not to let her go alone. I lean my forehead against the window and feel the coolness of the glass when the tears begin to burn the back of my eyes.

  Think, Jason. Think. Who has April? No doubt, the one in the hoodie is with her. He’s the one who put the knife in the door. Did he come that night to kill her? Will he try again? No, they want something else. But what?

  “Let’s go talk to her. She can’t be left alone,” I say, wiping the tears off my face.

  “All right, Son, but I think you have forgotten one important thing here,” he says, walking up to place a consoling arm around my shoulder. I look at him questioningly.

  “The bracelet.”

  Fuck! I forgot the bracelet! It’s the first ray of hope since this ordeal began.

  “I already have Sector working on it. But, I should tell you, for some reason, there’s no signal,” my father says, the hope I just had has been replaced with dread.

  “Let’s go fill everyone in and formulate a plan.” I wrap Helen’s hair in a sheet of paper and place it in my pocket before we head back down the hall.

  When we enter my father’s office, I notice that Emily is near frantic and Kyle is trying hard to console her.

  “Eric, would you drive Garrett and Rita home? Then report back to headquarters,” Dad instructs before taking his side by Grace.

  “Yes, sir.” I have a feeling Eric wants his five minutes with Kathryn, as well.

  After Garrett and Eric leave, Adam comes barreling into the room, startling us all when the door slams against the wall.

  “Where is she, Jason?” he asks, angrily. “I knew something like this was going to happen.” He walks up to face my parents straight on, and I can hear the fear mixed with pain in his voice.

  “All April wanted was to drive for you, and somehow you people have gotten her mixed up in this bullshit. She’s one of the best people I know and a very, very close friend of mine, not to mention to Emily. If anything happens to her—”

  “Adam,” I begin, walking up to his side. “Trust me when I say I am so sorry for this. When I bought that building, I had no idea whatsoever that this would happen. Believe me when I tell you that I love April more than my life and I will do everything possible to find her.” Suddenly, I feel the loss of April around me. I’m going to throw up.

  I spin around, double over and empty the contents of my stomach into a garbage can.

  “All right, let’s go get her. Nicole … Kyle, you know what to do,” Dad says. I know he wants Kyle to start a trace on Kathryn’s phone. Nicole is to do a reading on Kathryn’s car and trace her routes, investigating each stop.

  “Grace … Jason, let’s go. Emily, I want you to go home for the day. If you receive any news, or if you can think of anything that might help, let Kyle know, all right?” Dad says, taking her into a hug. “We’ll find her, Emily. I promise you that.”

  I need April. This situation is going to kill me. My mother passes me a cold, damp cloth.

  “Jason, what about April’s parents? They need to know,
” Emily suggests.

  Fuck! Her parents. I don’t want to involve them in this. Not yet.

  “You’re right. I’ll call them this evening. But Emily, let me call them. I know they’ll have questions that you won’t have answers to, okay?” When I am convinced that she won’t hastily call the Sanders, I look at Kyle to let him know to keep her busy. When I receive his nod of understanding, my parents and I move to mother’s office to plan our attack.

  “Mom?” I ask, seeing a look on her face that has even me concerned. When her jaw juts out, she closes her eyes and shakes her head. She doesn’t want to talk right now, and I almost feel sorry for Kathryn.

  Almost.

  “Clay, would you hold all my calls and cancel all my appointments for the rest of the week?” my father instructs as we exit his office. “I’ll be out of the office for the next few days, so if you need help with anything, ask Sue, all right?” I know that Clay will learn eventually what Carl Rowe is about, but until then, he’ll have to go through Sue.

  Mom sits gracefully in the over-stuffed chair in the conference area of the office. When she gets like this, it’s eerie. I keep an eye on her as my father makes several phone calls from his untraceable and secure phone—the ‘Bat Phone’ as I call it. I quickly call Sue and ask her to retrieve my phone and necessary items out of the safe in my office and bring them to me.

  It’s not long before we hear a faint knock, I open the door and find Sue holding the leather bag that contains a secure cell phone, a backup battery, and charger, my Sector identification and other necessary items.

  This is indeed a special assignment.

  “Come in, Sue.” I take her by her arm, escort her into the office, and gently shut the door behind her. “I’m going to be away for a few days. It appears that Kathryn has taken April.” She gasps and covers her mouth as tears quickly well in her eyes.

  “Why her? Why would they do that to her?” she asks through her tears. “First Roger and now April.”

  “They’re trying to get to me—to hurt me because I took the building from Kathryn. This is going to get ugly, Sue. I need you to cover for me here at the office as usual. Can you do that?”