by Kaye George
“I mean, just you?”
Tally took a step back, her nape prickling, her stomach feeling leaden. She should not go into that house.
In a flash, the door was flung open and Arlen grasped her wrists with an iron grip and yanked her inside, slamming the door. Walter stood just inside, looking completely able-bodied. He turned the lock in the door. There was no boot on his foot and Tally didn’t see any crutches anywhere. Had he been faking his injury? Or maybe just extending his recovery period? The older man, Thet Thura’s uncle, was on the couch next to his nephew, doing nothing. Tally felt the older man was participating, though. He watched so carefully, she thought he might be in charge of everything they were doing. Arlen glanced at him as he held Tally.
Tally tried to pull herself away from the odious man. His breath stunk of tobacco. She managed the beginnings of a scream before Thet jumped up and he and Arlen overpowered her, in a flash taping her mouth and securing her wrists behind her with thick swatches of duct tape, ripped noisily off a large roll.
Mrs. Gerg had stood frozen, watching them tie up Tally. Now it was her turn, to Tally’s horror. They grabbed both her arms and taped them together behind her. Mrs. Gerg gave a huge flinch when Walter gripped her where the brace held her broken arm together.
“Now, both of you, downstairs,” Arlen said, snarling.
Tally tried to trip him, but he nimbly avoided her outstretched foot. Arlen shook her roughly from behind and propelled her toward the door in the kitchen that led to the steep basement stairs, the ones Mrs. Gerg said she had fallen down.
Were they going to throw her down the stairs to the concrete floor? Were they going to throw both of them down there?
Tally stopped struggling on her way down so she wouldn’t fall to the hard cement. She didn’t want to land with one or two of the men on top of her. Without her hands to break a fall, she might even crack her head at the bottom.
Thet manhandled Mrs. Gerg behind her and soon all four were in the basement. There was no sign of the man who was Thet’s countryman and uncle. Walter had followed them. Now he strode, on perfectly good legs, to an old, battered wooden door and threw it open.
“In here,” Walter said to Arlen, nodding sharply to the inside of the dark room beyond the small door.
“What? You’re just gonna leave them here?” Thet answered.
“For now. We’ll do something more permanent just before we leave. We’re not ready to leave yet.”
Both women were thrown to the floor and the door was shut. Tally heard a key being turned in the lock.
The darkness in the room was flat and black at first, but there was a dull light source, a small, high window. It was nighttime outside, but some gray light made its way in eventually, as her eyes adjusted.
Tally could tell that Mrs. Gerg lay beside her. Not daring to make a sound, Tally scooted to her and held her ear to the woman’s nose. She was breathing. Had her head collided with the floor when she was pushed down? There was no blood. Mrs. Gerg’s mouth was taped, too. Walter must have done that behind her upstairs. She hadn’t seen it happening. Tiny sobs escaped from behind the tape over Mrs. Gerg’s mouth. Her broken bones were probably throbbing after that brutal treatment.
One benefit of the rough handling had been that Tally’s wrist bonds were loosened. She managed to sit up in the dim room and began to work at them.
* * * *
Yolanda started toward Mrs. Gerg’s house, feeling it was urgent that she get there. She had only gone two blocks when her phone rang. It was her father. She knew he would keep calling if she ignored him, so she resigned herself, pulled over to concentrate, and answered it.
“Papa? How are you tonight?”
“I am upset. I am furious. Can you guess why?”
Yolanda squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. In the most pleasant voice she could manage, she answered. “No, Papa. I cannot guess why. What’s the matter?”
“You know what is the matter.” If he had been in front of her, she was fairly certain she would have gotten wet from his spit. Violetta. It must be about her. She was the only person he invested that amount of emotion in. “I have talked to our priest. Now do you know why I am angry?”
“I’m sorry. You’ll have to tell me. I don’t have much time, so tell me quickly, please.” Her own anger level was rising. If he didn’t quit playing his guessing game, she would reach his own level soon.
“You knew all about Violetta and Eden, didn’t you?”
“Papa, all y’all knew, too. You and Mom. She told you. Just before y’all disowned her and kicked her out.” Yolanda’s words were not kind. It was not a kind thing he had done to his beloved daughter.
“But this is going too far. It’s an abomination. Our priest told me what they are intending to do. Vi talked to him about it. Not only is our family disgraced, they are disgracing the sacrament of marriage, pretending they can have a wedding. Get married. No priest should perform a ceremony like that. I hope they are not going through with this. You will talk to them. They cannot do this.”
“Papa, there are plenty of clergy who will marry them. They are getting married. My turn now. Can y’all guess why no one told you?”
She screamed her last words and cut off the call. The man was impossible. But now he knew for sure that they were getting married. He wouldn’t feel completely disgraced, maybe, since they were doing it in Dallas, where no one knew their family. Her angry words seemed to echo in her car.
She nearly screamed again when her phone rang in her hand before she could set it down. She had pulled into traffic and knew she wasn’t supposed to be on her phone while driving, so she let it go and proceeded to East College Street, Mrs. Gerg’s street. She turned toward where she thought her house was.
Yolanda drove down the street, slowly, not sure which house was Mrs. Gerg’s. She knew she was on the right block, though. Tally’s car wasn’t there. That was a relief. She hadn’t come here alone. She’d been afraid she would do that. Yolanda tried to call her, but no one answered. Stopping in the middle of the block, she pondered her options. First, she could go to the door and talk to Mrs. Gerg once she figured out which house it was. If she could figure out which one it was. Second, she could leave and see if Tally was home or at her shop. Third, she could try the detective once more.
She decided on number three and picked up the phone to call him but noticed that the call she hadn’t answered while driving was from her sister. No doubt her father had called and harassed her. She needed to call Vi in case she was awfully upset by their insensitive, intolerant father.
“Vi, are you okay?” she said when Vi answered immediately.
“I am. But remind me again why I tell you anything.”
She shouldn’t have talked to their father about the wedding at all. If she could have kicked herself, seated in her car, she would have. The way she remembered it was that Vi didn’t care if she told him, but that Vi herself wasn’t going to.
“The priest told him. I just verified it. He was going to find out eventually. Don’t you think he has to know?”
“I told you that. No. He never needs to know. I never need to talk to him again.”
Yolanda composed herself for a second. “I see that I shouldn’t have talked to him. I won’t do that again. You and he can handle your relationship. I’ll keep out of it.”
Vi gave a bitter laugh. “Relationship. There is no relationship. I’ve disowned him.”
“Are you…disowning me, too?”
This laugh was gentle. “Never, sister. I’ll never disown you. I love you. But please do stay out from between us, okay?”
Yolanda finished the call, relieved that Vi wasn’t as angry with her at the end of it. Then she dialed Jackson Rogers, hoping that he would answer this time.
* * * *
Tally didn’t have a way to
tell time in the dark cellar. Her cell phone was in her purse, which, the last time she saw it, was on the floor just inside Mrs. Gerg’s front door, where she’d dropped it when she was grabbed.
She was worried about Mrs. Gerg. She hadn’t moved in a while. Tally was relieved when the woman finally gave a groan, muffled by the duct tape, and started moving her legs. Tally puffed out a sigh of relief that the woman was reviving. Mrs. Gerg seemed to be trying to sit up. Tally couldn’t help her with her own hands bound behind her. They sought each other’s eyes through the murkiness and wordlessly gave each other encouragement. It wouldn’t do to make noise and have the men come down to the basement. Tally had already been working at her own loosened bonds for what seemed like a long time and she renewed her efforts, feeling a tiny amount of give, bit by bit.
They were in a dank-smelling room, not very large. The walls seemed blackened. Tally looked around and glanced up at the small, high window, the only source of light—dim, nighttime light. Trying to squirm closer to Mrs. Gerg, she realized she was disturbing a layer of black dust on the floor. Coal. This room had to have been a coal bin back when people had coal furnaces in Fredericksburg. If she could get free, she might be able to get out through that window. The ceiling was low, so the window wouldn’t be that high when she stood up. If she ever got that far. She knew she could fit through it. She would have to.
She could hear the men upstairs perfectly. The sound between the main floor and the basement carried well. She would have to stay quiet. Walter and Thet were talking in hushed voices, probably in the kitchen. Arlen’s boots thumped back and forth somewhere, like he was pacing. She didn’t hear any other voices.
The peal of the doorbell cut through the whispers and the silence. A chair scraped on the wooden floor above and footsteps crossed the kitchen, toward the front door. Did the older man ever speak? She didn’t remember hearing his voice.
Tally doubled, tripled her efforts to free her hands. Bending her fingers and scratching at the tape with her nails.
She heard the door open. Two pair of footsteps came into the kitchen. They were followed by a third, Arlen’s, Tally thought, by the clomping of his cowboy boots.
“Do you know where they went?” A familiar voice! That was Jackson! He was here, looking for her!
She pounded her feet on the cement floor a few times, to no avail. It didn’t make any sound and it hurt her heels. She wrenched her shoulders and squirmed, pulling at the tape. She had to scream and let him know they were down here. She tried to lower her hands and bring them in front of her so she could rip the tape off her mouth. The bonds were still too tight.
Walter answered Jackson. “They went shopping. Candy needed some groceries and Ms. Holt took her.”
“Here’s my card. Call me as soon as they get back.” Tally heard Jackson’s footsteps in his sturdy shoes heading for the front door.
Her desperate screams were tiny, muted squeaks that carried about halfway to the stairs.
The front door opened and closed and one man came back to the kitchen.
“You were right,” Thet said. “It’s a good thing we moved both the cars.”
A third, deeper voice joined in. “This was never a good plan, Thet.” Though she had never heard his voice, she knew that was the uncle. Win. He gave her the creeps even more than Thet and Arlen did.
Tally quit struggling and grew still so she could listen. What plan were they talking about? The plan to kill her and Mrs. Gerg?
The deep voice went on. “If you and your idiot cousins hadn’t put the goods into the wrong shipment, we would have gotten it, sold it, and be back home by now.”
“We realized it right away, though, Uncle Win.” Thet sounded subservient, a high, wheedling tone in his voice. Trying to convince his uncle? Groveling? “We tried to get the shipment derailed so it wouldn’t get to the shop here in Fredericksburg. I hired two men to intercept everything, carry out a fake hijacking, and get the goods to me. We couldn’t have predicted the hijacking would go wrong and the shipment would actually get to the wrong destination.”
Tally would have gasped if her mouth hadn’t been covered in duct tape. He arranged the hijacking. He had to be the person who somehow contacted Mateo and Sutton, too. And hired them to steal his smuggled stones off the truck. How crazy, Tally thought.
“Or that the pieces would melt and expose the jade, Uncle Win. If Mateo and Sawyer had pulled off the fake hijacking, the jade would be in Dallas right now, in the aquarium shop, where it’s supposed to be.”
“I didn’t travel all the way to Texas to cry over what went wrong.” Tally shivered at the sound of that deep, cold, accusing tone. “I’m here to make things right. Now we just have to clean up.”
Clean up? Tally didn’t like the sound of that.
Walter’s voice joined them. “How are you going to do that, Mr. Win?”
“We have most of the jade back,” the older man said, his voice softening a bit. “You did good, Thet, and you too, Arlen, finding out where it was and eliminating that threat.”
“Sawyer, you mean,” Walter said. “Sawyer Sutton. I think I’m the one who figured out he had it.”
“You did,” Thet said. “That was good.” It sounded like he was talking to a small child. Tally wondered if he was patting him on the head. She thought Walter might be out of his depth with these men. In over his head.
The older man went on. “Anyway, he’s gone, Sawyer. Who else do we need to take care of?”
“Besides those two in the basement?” Arlen asked.
Tally’s hopes died. Clean up. Take care of. They intended to kill the two of them. Her and poor Mrs. Gerg.
Mrs. Gerg had heard everything, too. Her frightened eyes stared upward, at the kitchen. Tally sagged and lay on the floor, hot tears falling into the coal dust beneath her.
23
Yolanda saw Jackson’s car pull into the police station parking lot, where she was waiting for him in her own car. She shot out of the driver’s seat and waved her arms to hail him. “Detective! Over here!”
He walked toward her. “Do you know where Tally is?” He looked worried.
“She told me she was going to Mrs. Gerg’s, but I drove there and didn’t see her car.”
“Did you go to the door?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t sure which house it was. Tally was afraid for Mrs. Gerg’s safety. I was afraid for Tally. I thought she might rush in there. So I didn’t want to rush in, either.”
“That’s just as well. I think you should stay away from them. We’re about to make a move on them.”
“What for, exactly?” There were so many crimes going around lately, it was hard to keep track.
“I can’t tell you everything that’s going on. I shouldn’t even be telling you this, but we have a person of interest in custody, regarding the murder at the motel, who has given us some good information. There are a few details to track down, but I don’t want you near that place when we go after them.”
“But what if Tally’s there?”
He frowned. She could tell he wasn’t sure if she was or not. Yolanda wished she knew where Tally was.
“They could have put her car somewhere else, right?” she said. “Maybe they’ve kidnapped her. Maybe she’s injured.” Yolanda realized she was waving her arms and put them down at her side. “I drove around town, to the grocery store and the drugstore she uses, and she’s not there.”
“Just you stay away, you hear? Let us handle it.”
Yolanda nodded. It didn’t look like they were going to make their move very soon, though. What if they ”made a move” too late? She would talk to Raul one more time, then try to check Mrs. Gerg’s neighborhood again, just a quick trip. She felt she was close to figuring some of this out. She wondered who was in custody and hoped that person could tell them what was going on. Mateo? Ira?
* *
* *
Tally wriggled and squirmed, feeling she was close to getting the tape off her left hand. It was exhausting work, though. She took a break from struggling with her restraints and looked around the basement, her eyes now much better adjusted to the dark. The voices in the kitchen above had grown silent. The men had either gone out or were in another part of the house. If they had the jade, was it still here? At Mrs. Gerg’s?
She stopped struggling to think. She stared at the floor. And then she saw something. The leaden-colored dust showed footprints leading to one of the corners of the room. The prints looked like they belonged to a large shoe, for a man’s foot. On closer inspection, she saw the heel and the pointy toe of a cowboy boot. She followed the prints, scooting alongside them, being careful not to disturb the dust that held them. From the dusty markings, it looked like something had been set on the floor, maybe some boxes. Three of them were still there, shoebox- size. Had the men hidden something here? She peered into the corner, hoping to see a piece of jade. She didn’t see one, but did see a tiny scrap of brown plastic. Was it her imagination, or did it look like it was from one of the failed replicas? Maybe a piece of fudge or Mary Jane?
What did that mean? The piece of the fake candy could mean that they had put the jade-filled plastic here temporarily. It obviously wasn’t here any longer. One of them had to be responsible for the death of Sawyer Sutton, the guy with the broken leg. Mateo had crashed the delivery truck into Sutton’s pickup when he had fallen asleep. Yolanda thought they had been meant to rendezvous. She had been right. For Sutton to steal the plastic. To divert the plastic from the destination of Bella’s Baskets, because it wasn’t supposed to be in that shipment. And when that didn’t happen and it arrived at the basket shop, Sutton stole it from Yolanda’s window. He was probably supposed to get it for the guys upstairs, Thet, Arlen, and Mr. Win. He must have decided to keep it himself. Maybe he didn’t know what he’d been hired to do until he saw the melting plastic.