by Kaye George
It sounded like these guys then killed him and took the jade back from him, planning to get it to an aquarium in Dallas where they could sell it. Fence it? An aquarium? A front for a smuggling operation? It must be, she reasoned.
Mrs. Gerg made a sound and Tally looked over at her. The woman jerked her head back, summoning Tally closer. So Tally scooted through the black dust again. She would never wear these jeans again. Mrs. Gerg threw her head in a circle and, finally, understanding dawned on Tally. She scrunched her back next to Mrs. Gerg’s back and clawed at the other woman’s bonds.
Maybe because the older woman’s skin was drier, or maybe because her skin was old and loose, or maybe because of the splints on her fingers, her tape wasn’t as tight as Tally’s. In fact, she was able to find the end of it and tug on it, pulling it off entirely. Mrs. Gerg had both hands free!
The woman peeled the tape off her mouth, left-handed, with a painful ripping sound and took a couple of deep breaths before starting on Tally’s bonds. It was awkward for her to maneuver around the two splinted fingers, but Mrs. Gerg would not give up. When they were both finally free, they stood and stretched their cramped and aching muscles in complete silence. Mrs. Gerg’s finger dressings were no longer gleaming white. They were all in place, though. The arm brace had been tan to begin with, but it looked gray and dingy. Tally’s eyes had adjusted well to the low light by now. They both kept their lips pressed together tight. It would be a disaster if the men upstairs heard them, came downstairs, and bound them again. It would no doubt be more securely this time.
Tally stepped cautiously to the place under the stairs where the scrap of plastic lay. When she picked it up, that was, indeed, exactly what it was. Her head whirred. The jade was definitely stored here at one point. She tried to peek inside the boxes. It was dark. She couldn’t tell what was inside them. When she felt inside, she didn’t feel plastic or stones. Maybe these were things Mrs. Gerg stored here.
Once more, Tally laid things out in her mind from everything that she’d overheard. At last, all the parts fit together to make the whole. The pieces of the puzzle fell together. They blended, like the ingredients of a complicated, sinister recipe.
From the factory, where it was illegally stuffed with Blood Jade, the plastic had been shipped overseas to the warehouse outside town, but addressed to an unintended destination instead of the smuggling headquarters, some aquarium shop in Dallas belonging to Arlen, maybe managed by Thet Thura. At the warehouse, the shipment was loaded onto the delivery truck driven by Mateo and bound for Yolanda’s shop. Sutton was supposed to “hijack” the shipment so it could be given to Thet and sent, or taken, to Dallas. Was Mateo in on that? The plan fell apart when Mateo fell asleep at the wheel and caused the accident that left Sawyer Sutton with a broken leg. Mateo, who also wanted in on the crime watch theft ring, and maybe was part of this scheme, too, had been waylaid while another driver was sent to get the order to Bella’s Baskets that same night. The warehouse manager was too diligent for the smugglers.
After that, the product lay in the window at Bella’s Baskets, melting in the hot sun, starting to reveal the concealed contraband, when Sawyer Sutton limped past. That night, or early morning, the window was broken and Walter Wright was badly beaten there. Someone had made away with the pieces of jade and their containers, but that someone was not Walter Wright. From what Tally had seen upstairs recently, Walter—and Thet?—were part of the ring that broke into the houses they were supposed to be guarding and robbed them. It wasn’t a stretch for Walter to break the window to try to steal the jade. But it didn’t seem he had succeeded. Whoever beat him up probably had.
Since Walter had been beaten with a crutch, a detail he probably should not have let slip, Sawyer Sutton logically had the contraband at that point. He had been the person hired to waylay them for Thet and Win. The stones were supposed to go to Arlen’s Dallas store from there, but didn’t make it. So Sutton broke the window and took the plastic, and the jade, for himself, and checked into the cheap motel at the edge of town. Hiding there?
Then Sawyer, who hadn’t hidden well enough, was killed and, it was again assumed, the jade taken from him. Strangled, according to what Jackson let slip accidently. Did his killer come here, to Mrs. Gerg’s basement, from the murder scene? One of them killed Sawyer. Which one? Walter had been faking it, pretending his leg injury was worse than it was, but he had been injured. Tally didn’t think he could have killed Sutton. His leg was genuinely too bad at that time. Thet seemed to be saying that he killed Sutton and Tally believed him.
Police hadn’t found any stolen goods here when they searched Mrs. Gerg’s house. Meanwhile, Yolanda had remembered she put some of the pieces in her shop, in a cupboard. The pieces they hadn’t put into the window yet. Who else knew they were there?
Then, Dorella’s boyfriend, Ira Mann, had been caught with goods stolen from houses while he made crime watch rounds, so he was part of the housebreaking ring. Which was maybe not the same group of thieves doing the smuggling.
Mateo may or may not have been a part of the crime watch ring, but he had some of the stolen goods. Given to him by Ira, he said. Maybe. Maybe not.
Why was Jackson here just now? Did he get another tip? He hadn’t searched the house. Was he looking for her? Had Dorella called him as she’d asked? Was he searching for the stolen household items? Or for the jade?
She couldn’t put all the pieces together from here. About the only thing she could do from here was wait for these men to murder her and Mrs. Gerg. She had to get out of this cold, dark cellar.
24
Yolanda had just parked two blocks from what she thought was Mrs. Gerg’s house when Raul called her. Since Mateo was in custody, he wanted to get everything off his chest and she was the lucky recipient. She listened intently while he spilled out everything he knew from Mateo. He was breathless by the time he finished. And Yolanda was fuming.
She got out and slammed her car door extra-hard in her anger. What was Raul thinking? She was glad he decided he had to confess to someone, anyway, and glad that the someone was her. At least he wasn’t the one Detective Rogers had in custody. But the information was late. She wished she had known all of this information much earlier.
Mateo was a wannabe in the crime watch ring, but he was a full participant in the much more serious crime, the smuggling of what he called Blood Jade. It was mined in Myanmar by impoverished people to enrich a few already wealthy, exploitative ones, much as blood diamonds were in Africa. He was deep into that, while he made everyone, including the police, believe he was on the edges. He was ignorant of what was going on for most of the time, of what was being smuggled, but went along with what he was told, like he usually did.
He had messed up the fake hijacking by falling asleep at the wheel and Sutton was left with a broken leg. And eventually, someone had found out where the treasure was and killed Sutton. Mateo didn’t know who. How had they ever expected to double-cross international criminals?
When Mateo delivered the pizza to Sutton and found him dead, he hadn’t even known where Sutton was staying or who that pizza was going to. Sutton hadn’t even known Mateo was working that job. It was completely a coincidence. But not one the authorities were likely to believe.
What a mess! Yolanda had to tell all of this to the police. But first, she had to find out where Tally was.
Yolanda started to head for Mrs. Gerg’s block on foot. Tally wasn’t anywhere else. She must be there, Yolanda reasoned. She would do a careful search for her friend’s car before the police got there. Maybe she could give them some information that might help locate Tally.
She turned around, after having thought this out. She would take her car rather than approach on foot. If she found Tally, they might have to get away quickly. Tally’s car probably didn’t have the keys inside if it had been moved and hidden.
* * * *
Mrs. Gerg was stronger
than Tally thought. She bent over to let Tally climb onto her back, then onto her shoulders so Tally could reach the window. Tally put her palms flat on the cool cement wall to help her to balance. It didn’t make her a lighter burden for Mrs. Gerg, but at least she didn’t topple off of her back onto the hard floor. She reached up with one hand. She could feel the older woman’s body trembling beneath her feet while she fumbled with the latch, managing to open the window. It only made a slight creaking noise. Tally wondered how many years it had been since it had been opened.
Clawing a grip on the lower sash with both hands, Tally pulled herself up until she was sprawling across the edge of the window on her stomach. She scrambled the rest of the way out and lay for a few seconds, composing herself. Her heart pounding. Her ears pulsing in time to her heartbeat. She looked back through the window. How had she done that? Lots of adrenaline, was her guess.
Now what? Should she try to haul Mrs. Gerg out, too? She poked her head back through the opening and whispered, “Give me your hand. I’ll try to pull you out.”
Mrs. Gerg shook her head violently. “No,” she whispered back. “You go ahead. You can’t lift me.”
Tally thought she was probably right. The woman only had full use of one hand. It was unlikely she would be able to hoist herself out, even with Tally pulling her up. If she could pull her up. That would take another mighty adrenaline burst.
She stood, making sure she wasn’t in front of a window. Now would have been a great time to have a phone to call 911. But she didn’t have it. She stole to the back of the house, ducking under the windows, looking for her car. She knew it wasn’t on the street in front, since Jackson hadn’t seen it there. If he had, he would have known she was inside.
As she came to the corner of the house, ready to enter the backyard, she heard voices—and stopped. They were the voices of Arlen and Walter, she was sure. She had heard Walter often enough recently and Arlen’s rasp was distinctive. She didn’t dare peek around the corner. They might see her. She stood perfectly still and listened. They hadn’t heard her yet.
“No, I’m not your friend,” Arlen said, chuckling. The sound of it gave Tally chills. It wasn’t a friendly, happy sound.
“Come on, Arlen, there’s enough for both of us.” That was Walter. He sounded hoarse.
“You weren’t going to share, though, were you? You were going to take them all for yourself, just like that Sutton fellow.”
They must be fighting over the jade, Tally thought.
“No, no! I just wanted to get them. I didn’t know they were there until after the window was broken.”
“I don’t believe you.” Arlen’s rasp was quiet, and cold. It gave Tally a hollow, empty feeling behind her breastbone.
Tally heard a smack and a low “Oof!” Arlen had hit Walter somewhere that hurt. She was confused. Those two weren’t in cahoots?
“That jade belongs to Thet’s family and goes to my shop,” Arlen growled. “None of it belongs to you. I know some is still missing. Where is it? I had the basket shop checked tonight and it’s not there.”
Tally heard another blow connecting with a body and another grunt of pain.
“But you have all of it now.” Walter was almost sobbing. Or maybe he was sobbing. “There is no more. I put it in the basement. All of it. And we hauled it up. You and Thet counted it.”
Another blow and another sound of pain.
“No, it’s not all there. Thet and Win say some of it is missing. If you’re not going to tell me, I’ll have to find it for myself. We know exactly how much there was. You must think we’re stupid. We’re not.”
“You should be careful, Arlen,” Walter was choking. “Thet killed Sutton.”
“I killed Sawyer Sutton. It was easy, since he’s my second cousin. He never thought a thing of showing me what he had. And I’m not afraid to get rid of you. Goodbye, Walter Wright. It wasn’t nice knowing you.”
Tally heard sounds of scuffling. Struggling. Gurgling. Then silence. She held her breath, desperately afraid that Arlen would come around the house and find her. When she heard his boots clomping up a couple of wooden steps, then the back door open and close, then silence, she started to draw small breaths.
Dare she look now? She poked one eye around the corner. There was a shed in the small yard, not far from the back door of the house. Light from the kitchen window of the house clearly showed the form of Walter slumped against it, his head lolling at an unnatural angle.
Was he dead? She shivered at the thought. Had she just heard someone being killed? Strangled? Like Sawyer Sutton was strangled? She wanted to cry, but dared not make a noise.
She avoided looking at him too closely, crept around the back of the shed, and headed for the side street. She had to find her car. She had to drive away from here and get help, and get back before something happened to Mrs. Gerg.
There it was. On the side street, parked in back of that white van she had seen in front. She hurried to her car, but it was locked. That would have been too easy, being able to get into her car, find the keys there, and drive for help.
She would have to walk and fetch someone to get Mrs. Gerg out of that house before the remaining thieves discovered that Tally was gone.
A familiar car turned onto the street from the corner and inched past. It was a Nissan Rogue, just like Yolanda’s. Was it her? She stayed out of sight behind her car. The Rogue stopped in the middle of the street.
Yolanda’s familiar form got out, complete with flouncy skirt and hoop earrings, flashing in the light from a streetlamp. She walked over to Tally’s car, slowly and carefully.
“Psst!” Tally poked her head out and put a shaking finger on her lips so Yolanda wouldn’t make noise. After a brief hug, they got into Yolanda’s car. They scrunched down as they saw three shadowy figures, one carrying a large satchel, approach the van. The tallest man got into the driver’s seat. Arlen. One of the shorter ones helped the other climb into the passenger seat. The uncle and nephew. Win was older and took longer to get in. Then Thet got in back and they took off. The two women drove another block farther away from Mrs. Gerg’s house before Yolanda called the police station.
They must not have checked the basement, Tally thought. If they knew Tally had escaped, they’d be looking for her. She felt in her heart that they hadn’t had time to do away with Mrs. Gerg. She felt herself go limp. She was safe. And alive.
25
“Walter must have been trying to muscle in on the international smuggling operation,” Detective Rogers said. “He should have stuck to small-town theft, breaking and entering here in Fredericksburg. He and Ira Mann and Kyle Meyer had a neat little operation going, breaking and entering under cover of patrolling for the crime watch group.”
Tally couldn’t feel deep regret for Walter’s death, but she was horrified that he was so callously murdered—strangled, it turned out. She would never forget the sounds she had heard as he was being killed and was glad that, at least, she hadn’t been watching.
She, the detective, Yolanda, and Mrs. Gerg sat in a green-walled conference room at the police station, putting the pieces together. It was late morning, the day after she escaped, hailed Yolanda, and summoned help to go after Thet Thura, Arlen Snead, and Min Win—and rescue Mrs. Gerg. The older woman had spent the morning at the doctor’s office getting checked out and having her dressings replaced with clean ones, but, aside for the already broken bones and the bruises from the bonds—the same bruises Tally had—she was perfectly fine. Her older injuries, from her fall, were healing and wouldn’t give her problems, the nurse said. She was very healthy for her age. Tally thought it was probably from all the walking she did. Tally was glad to see gleaming white splints on the poor woman’s fingers, glad she hadn’t picked up any infection in the coal room.
The police had apprehended all three of them leaving town, at the edge of the city limits. Two shoeboxes ful
l of jade were in a duffel bag in the back of the white van. The men had been turned over to the federal authorities, who had been on their way to Fredericksburg to take over the international smuggling case, and a raid was planned later that day on the Dallas aquarium that Thet’s family owned.
Arlen Snead had lived in Dallas for about ten years, serving as the receiver of the smuggled goods more recently, goods brought into the country with bogus orders of plastic from the Win family’s fairly new factory in Myanmar. Thet Thura flew back and forth to Asia frequently to keep track of things. The aquarium did just enough legitimate business to, until now, keep the authorities away. The new plastic factory in Myanmar was also a viable company and would have given them ample profits without the smuggling. The family’s greed had not been a good thing for any of them. The factory back in Asia, Detective Rogers was told, would be raided and probably shut down.
Mr. Win, as Detective Rogers called him, turned out to be a tough customer, admitting to nothing, refusing to say more than a few words to anyone after his arrest. The FBI had asked the detective to assist while they got up to speed.
Arlen Snead clammed up completely, refusing to say a word, even when his attorney showed up.
Thet Thura was the weak link. After only an hour, he admitted that Arlen Snead killed Sawyer Sutton and Walter Wright, both. He said Arlen killed Sutton to get the jade back. There wasn’t a good reason for killing Walter, except that he knew too much, and that Mr. Win ordered it. Thet blamed one of his cousins for everything, beginning with putting the jade into the wrong shipment, which was what started the string of disasters. He didn’t want the shipping company to know what they were carrying, so he hired Mateo and Sawyer to “hijack” the shipment and bring it to him in Dallas. He kept talking about the “extra pieces.” He insisted that some of the jade was missing. He told them Mateo might have it, although he never had. The detective knew it was what Yolanda had given him, but didn’t feel like letting Thet know. He did let the FBI know, though.