A Twist of Fate

by Donna Raider

  “How do I know Richie is okay?” Leah continued to follow Detective Carlyle’s instructions. “I want to talk to my son. Put him on face time.”

  The man turned the phone toward Richie. The boy was tied and gagged. A blindfold covered his eyes. He was on a dirty blanket in a shadowy corner. He appeared drugged.

  “That’s not my son,” Leah exclaimed, buying more time.

  “Of course, it is,” the man yelled.

  “I can’t tell,” she insisted. “It is too dark. I don’t think that is Richie.”

  In exasperation, the man dragged Richie into the light and hauled him to his feet. “Can you see him, now?” he barked.

  Stanley nodded. They had a trace on the call.

  “Where do you want me to bring the money?” Leah continued. “How will we exchange the money for my son?”

  “I will text you the place to drop the money. If it is there and no one tries to stop me, I will text you the location of your son.” The man explained.

  “You expect me to hand you five million dollars, so you have the money and my son?” Leah said incredulously. “I don’t think so.

  “I will come alone,” she promised. “I will hand you the money when you hand me, my son.”

  “I will call you back in fifteen minutes,” the man growled and hung up the phone.

  “Did you get an address?” Leah asked the detective.

  “Yes. We have cars in route now,” the detective answered proudly. “We will get your son, mayor.”

  “May I know the address?” Leah smiled thankfully.

  “Of course,” Carlyle shoved the notepad in front of the woman.

  “If you will forgive me,” Leah said shakily. “I need to freshen up a bit.” She walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

  ##

  Richie felt his mother’s presence in the room long before he saw her. She stood in the darkest corner of the warehouse, taking in the layout and number of people in the building. There were three men and two women.

  Leah listened as they planned how they would spend their money. “That’s a million for each of us.” She recognized the voice of the man she had been speaking with on the phone. “It doesn’t have to stop there. The occupy scam may be the best thing we have ever encountered. We can get filthy rich, pretending to be occupying to make a political statement, while we run this gig. No one will ever be able to tie it to us.”

  “She won’t just let us walk away,” a woman said.

  “Of course, she will,” the man, snorted. “What’s she going to do? She’s a little thing. Not much taller than her boy and she’s scared.”

  “The boy can identify us,” another man declared, as he kicked Richie in the stomach. Leah flinched at the sound of her son’s muffled cry.

  “That is the beauty of it,” the first man laughed. “This little vial of liquid will guarantee his death within fifteen minutes. Within minutes of turning him over to his mother, he will die.”

  Almost as if possessed, the man uncapped the vial and drank it. “What the…?” he gasped as he swallowed all the liquid.

  “Man, you just poisoned yourself,” another man said. “Is this your idea of a joke?”

  “It’s not funny,” the woman’s shrill voice filled the air.

  “I believe you have my son,” a voice straight from hell echoed throughout the warehouse.

  The ruffians turned to face the sound of the voice.

  “Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to a child to be bound, so it can’t move?” The witch moved her hand slightly, and the five culprits found themselves unable to move.

  “Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to a child to be gagged, so it can’t talk?” The witch nodded, and four criminals discovered they had no tongue in their mouths.

  “The most terrifying thing of all is to be blindfolded so one can’t see what is going on around them.” The witch smiled slightly.

  Simultaneously, the four criminals went completely and irreversibly blind. She released her holding spell on the four. They began to thrash about as they tried to figure out what was happening to them. The man who had drank the poison gazed in amazement at the sight before him. He tried to run, to get to a hospital but found his legs wouldn’t move.

  “I have spared you the fate of your friends,” Leah growled because you will be dead in exactly seven minutes.”

  “Help us,” the leader cried. “We didn’t mean any harm. We weren’t going to hurt him. We just wanted the money.”

  “If you weren’t going to hurt him, then the poison you drank won’t kill you. Listen to me, all of you,” she commanded in a low, dangerous voice that shook the warehouse. “The biggest mistake you ever made in your miserable lives was kidnapping my son.”

  She nodded and sent the four blind mutes to Juarez, Mexico. She knew their lifespan would be less than twenty-four hours in the drug cartel stronghold.

  Leah walked to Richie. She bent down and kissed his forehead. “I will stay with you until the police arrive, then I will have to meet you back at the apartment.”

  He nodded his understanding. As the police broke down the door and entered the warehouse, his mother disappeared.

  ##

  Leah opened the bathroom door and rejoined Detective Carlyle and Mika. Carlyle’s phone rang. He listened and then breathed a sigh of relief. “They have your son. He is safe.” He watched as the mayor collapsed against her wife.

  Within half an hour, the police delivered Richie to his mother’s arms. “How will we ever thank you, Detective?” Leah exhaled as if she had been holding her breath forever.

  The responding officers motioned Carlyle to the hallway. They talked for several minutes as Leah checked Richie for any bruises or cuts.

  “Richie,” Detective Carlyle bent over so he was eye level with the boy. “How many people were involved in this?”

  “Five,” the boy declared, “but four of them just left. They said they were part of the Occupy movement. They were going to continue doing this to other people visiting New York.”

  “Did you catch them all?” Leah asked innocently.

  “We only have one, and he apparently poisoned himself,” Carlyle frowned. “He was passed out on the floor when my team arrived and was DOA at the hospital.”

  “May we put Ritchie to bed?” the priest asked. “This has been very difficult for my family.”

  “Yes,” Carlyle nodded. “I have your phone numbers if I need to ask you anything else.”

  The detective and his team left the family alone. Leah caught her son’s hand and the hand of her wife. They materialized in the family room of their mansion in New Judah.

  “Wow, Mom,” Richie exclaimed. “You should be a judge. You truly know how to dispense justice fairly. You are as wise as King Solomon in the Bible .”

  “I have a little justice for Emily,” Leah scowled.

  “No,” Richie placed his hand on her arm. “You are too fine. Don’t lower yourself.”

  Richie held his mother’s gaze for several moments then she nodded and hugged him tightly. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

  “I’m fine, Mom,” he reassured her. “Right now, all I want is a shower and something to eat. Any chance of ordering in pizza?”

  Mika called Samson and let him know they were home with Richie, unharmed. “Tell Emily to stay away from her,” the priest cautioned. “She is furious.”

  “That is understandable,” Samson sighed.

  “I am going to take a shower, darling,” Leah kissed Mika softly. “Will you order pizza?”

  ##

  The witch locked the door to the en suite then turned on the shower. By the time the water was hot, she had transported herself to an empty room with a window overlooking the occupiers in the financial district of New York. Her eyes darted from one end of the trashed park to the other. A tremendous wind howled thru the park carrying the tents, trash and occupiers into the bay. She smiled as she returned the park
to its original glory. She hoped that the city officials had learned their lesson about letting lazy, transients camp on public property. In her realm, she would have simply set fire to all of them. Being married to an angel was making her soft.

  ##

  “Honey, watch this,” Mika called her wife as Leah descended the stairs. “This is incredible.”

  She rewound the scenes she had just witnessed, then observed her wife’s beautiful face as she watched hurricane- force winds sweep across the occupiers, dumping them, their makeshift housing and their garbage into the bay. A slight, knowing smile touched Mika’s lips.

  ##

  “It’s good to be home,” Leah snuggled into her wife’s arms. She slipped her arm across Mika’s abdomen and hugged her tightly. Mika lay still in their bed.

  Mika had been uncharacteristically quiet during the entire episode with Richie’s kidnappers. She had stepped back and let Leah handle the situation. She knew Mika was there if she needed her, but Mika hadn’t interfered. She had known the kidnapper’s biggest mistake was insisting on dealing only with Leah. If he had dealt with the priest, he and his partners would still be alive.

  “Want to tell me what you did to the kidnappers?” Mika asked softly.

  “No,” Leah sighed.

  After a long silence, Leah inhaled deeply and began to speak. “None of them died at my hands,” she said begrudgingly. “I simply returned to them the evil they perpetrated on our son.”

  “The police would have arrested them,” Mika noted.

  “Yes, and made a deal with the first one to squeal on the others. Then the low life occupy people would have demonstrated in front of city hall and the police station, claiming harassment. The spineless news media would have given them coverage and the fact that our son was kidnapped and beaten would never be mentioned.” Her tone was haughty and cold. “My way, they all got what they deserved.”

  “The gale that swept thru the financial district?” Mika’s words were more of a statement than a question.

  “Yes,” Leah said simply.

  Mika began gently stroking Leah’s back and shoulders. Thinking of how she saw everything in black and white. There were no gray areas in Leah’s mind; there was only right and wrong. She was of this world, an earthy witch that loved fiercely and dispensed justice fairly. Mika knew why God had given Leah to her. In many ways, Leah was much stronger than she was. Mika knew she tempered Leah’s fury, just as she expanded Mika’s understanding of love. ‘As wise as King Solomon,’ Richie had said. Richie was right. The fact that Leah hadn’t incinerated Emily was proof of her wife’s increasing tolerance of idiots.

  “Are you angry with me?” Leah asked. Her lips on Mika’s breast drove away any thoughts she was having and directed all the priest’s attention to the woman in her arms.

  “No, my love,” Mika pulled Leah on top of her, so their lips were touching. “I was just thinking how wise you are for one so lovely, wise as King Solomon.”

  “Umm,” Leah hummed against Mika’s lips. “When I’m through with you, could you tell me about King Solomon?”

  ##

  The kidnapping and subsequent rescue of Richie Cross gave Detective Stanley Carlyle’s career a tremendous boost. The priest had written a letter to the police commissioner, thanking him for the assistance of the police in locating her kidnapped son. Mika had specifically praised Detective Carlyle’s handling of the entire incident. Carlyle was quickly promoted to captain.

  Carlyle learned later that the Cross family was old money. They contributed large sums of money to the Police Association every year and underwrote scholarships for both officers and their children.

  “Who is the pretty lady, Daddy?” Stanley’s daughter was carrying the photo of Leah Cross that the detective had taken down from his crime board. As he did with all his cases, he had brought home a photo for his scrapbook.

  “That is a lady whose son was kidnapped. Daddy rescued him,” he smiled as he swung his daughter onto his lap.

  “I want to be a policeman, just like you, Daddy.” Carlie hugged her father and continued to study the photo of Leah Cross.

  CHAPTER 6 - Trouble in Paradise

  Leah was in the kitchen with music blaring, when Mika got home. She watched her dance around seductively as she prepared their evening meal. Again, Mika silently thanked her God for allowing her such a gorgeous woman. Only God knew how much Mika loved her.

  “Hi,” Leah smiled and continued her sexy dancing as she moved toward Mika, placing her arms around her neck and flattening the entire length of her body against Mika.

  Fire consumed her as Leah gyrated against her, slowly kissing her. Leah’s tongue requested entrance between Mika’s teeth. A request she gladly granted.

  Mika held Leah, caressing her, kissing her while moving her toward the sofa in the study. Leah flicked her wrist, turning off the burners on the stovetop.

  Later Leah lay naked on top of her. Mika’s gentle hands stroked her back as Leah listened to her wife’s heartbeat. “So,” Leah raised her head to look into Mika’s eyes, “did you get permission to skip the ordination ceremony?”

  “No. The Cardinal is going to attend. It’s no longer an invitation. It’s a command appearance,” Mika held her tightly, knowing she would pull away.

  Leah leaped to her feet, gathering her clothes that were strewn from the kitchen to the study. “Dinner shouldn’t take long,” she snapped.

  Leah was angry. Usually, she didn’t mind, was even proud of Mika’s devotion to her religion and the church; but to take Mika away from her for almost a week was ridiculous. They had been together for five years. The first two years just as platonic friends and the past three years as wife and wife. For over a thousand nights, she had slept in Mika’s arms. She couldn’t bear the thought of sleeping without her. From the first day, Mika barged into the diner Leah had seen her every single day in some context. She couldn’t fathom a day without Mika in it.

  “Honey, I’m trying,” Mika spoke over dinner. “I don’t want to be away from you anymore than you want me to. I thought I could beg off when the Bishop was performing the ceremony, but the Cardinal has decided to attend. I must be there. It is the rules.”

  “I hate your damn rules,” Leah snapped. “I am going to bed. Leave the dishes. I’ll clean up in the morning.”

  Mika cleared the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, giving it one last check over before turning out the light and heading upstairs to hold Leah.

  Leah was asleep, so she quietly closed the bathroom door and brushed her teeth. Mika shed her clothes and stepped into the hot shower letting the steamy water wash away the worries of her day. Leah’s beautiful face flashed across her mind; the sultry smile Leah had teased her with as she danced toward her today. Tradition be damned , Mika thought, no way was she spending a night away from Leah. She couldn’t . Mika had an overwhelming desire to hold Leah and tell her how important she was to her.

  Mika drew back the covers and slid into bed behind Leah. Leah had on her pajamas—the top and the bottoms. She had never done this to her before. Mika moaned and put her arm around Leah’s waist, pressing her back against her breasts. Leah was stiff and unreceptive to her hug. The bed couldn’t have been any colder if Leah had been an iceberg.

  After laying beside her for what seemed like hours, Mika slipped on her slacks and went downstairs. She paced the floor. She was hurt. Leah was treating her like a child, withholding her affections to punish Mika.

  Mika’s cell phone rang. As she answered it, she prayed for the answer she needed. “Yes, sir, tomorrow will be fine. No, I understand. I sincerely appreciate your call.” She pressed the button to end the call then tossed her phone onto her desk.

  Mika threw herself into her chair and tried to work on the papers on her desk. She tried to take her mind off the woman upstairs. She tried reading, but nothing made sense. She tried to work on her sermon for Sunday but could find no inspiration. She walked the floor; feeling like her entire body would explod
e. Her hands shook with the need to hold Leah. This must be what it’s like to try to kick an addiction , she thought. There was no doubt about it, dating Leah she desired her, but after making love to her every night, Mika craved her. She was severely addicted to Leah Cross.

  Finally, the clock showed six a.m. The diner was open. Mika was in desperate need of coffee. Rummaging silently in the hall closet, she found her clergy shirts and collars Leah had picked up from the dry cleaners.

  ##

  Mika sat in their booth farthest from the door, in the shadows. She was in no mood to talk to anyone. At seven, Sheriff Carver made her usual entrance, yelling to Ruth to bring her a cup of coffee. She was leaning against the counter, visiting with the waitress when her eyes fell on Mika. She looks like hell , she thought. She knew that look well. She had worn it several times during her relationship with Leah.

  “Trouble in paradise, Priest?” Emily slid into the booth across the table from Mika.

  Mika didn’t answer her, just stared at her. She had no desire to discuss her wife with Emily Carver or anyone else for that matter.

  The door swung open, and Leah stepped into the diner, pausing to survey the room that had started to fill with other customers. Her eyes came to rest on Mika, and a relieved smile curved her gorgeous lips. She walked slowly, sensuously toward her wife. Both Mika and Emily were mesmerized by the easy, rhythmic sway of her hips. No one should be so incredibly gorgeous and so unrelentingly aware of it . Mika and Emily thought as they exhaled the breath they had been holding.

  “Emily, darling, I believe you are sitting in my seat,” Leah’s voice dripped with false sweetness.

  Emily scooted over to make room for her to sit down next to her.

  “I need to speak with my wife,” Leah leaned down into the blonde’s face and hissed, “privately!”

  Emily scurried out the other side of the booth and headed toward Ruth at the counter.

  “You left without kissing me goodbye this morning,” Leah smiled sadly. “I believe that was a first for us.”

  “Two firsts in twenty-four hours,” Mika’s voice was low and full of pain, “I guess we’re on a roll.”