by Tonya Kappes
“That’s wonderful.” Perry’s voice rose. “Isn’t that great, Stephen?”
“Yes.” Stephen started to tear up. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his nose.
“Roxy. Stephen.” Spencer walked into the hospitality room. “I’m glad we are all here. Did Roxy tell you about the drop today?”
“Yes. You’ve got to get my wife back.” Stephen sobbed and looked out the window. I wasn’t sure if he was playing it up for the cameras that were outside and hoping they’d get a shot of him, but it did seem like it.
“Sheriff,” I addressed Spencer so he would know I meant business, “the ransom money is in the bag.”
“I’ll be more than happy to hold the money for you since there’s no way I’m going to let you do the drop,” Spencer informed Stephen.
“What do you mean? If the kidnapper sees a cop, they might kill her.” He picked up the bag and hugged it close to his body like a baby. “I can’t let you get her killed.”
“He has a point,” I said.
“I’m going to message the kidnapper back in hopes they will turn the phone back on. I’m going to tell them you will be there and have a plainclothes deputy with you. You won’t be going alone.” There was no negotiation in Spencer’s voice since he’d given us a little inch.
“I think that’s a good idea, Stephen.” Perry was on the side of finding Daisy.
Instantly, I liked him.
“The sheriff has way more experience in this matter than you,” Perry said. “Don’t you want Daisy’s kidnapper to be brought to justice? If you just hand over the money, they will run and maybe keep Daisy.”
“We can use my car,” I suggested. It was met with head nods.
“I only care about getting my wife.” He looked between Perry and me. “I don’t care if they run off with the money or get put in jail. I want my wife!” he yelled, making all the guests in the hospitality room stop talking and turn around to look at us.
“Stephen.” Perry spoke to him in a nice, even tone. He seemed to know how to handle Stephen. “The more you cooperate, the faster this will go, and you can move on with your life. Daisy is fine. She’s alive, and the kidnappers have made the demand.”
Spencer had taken over the conversation and backed up Perry.
Over Spencer’s shoulder, Camey was waving me over.
“I’ll be right back.” I walked around the counter and over to Camey. She was shutting the double doors between the refreshment room and the lobby.
“My guests don’t want to hear all that stuff in there.” Her words came out of her gritted teeth. “I know Daisy is the number one priority, but this is still a business. I need you to tell Spencer to find my phone books.”
“You tell him, Camey.” I tried not to lose my patience with her, but didn’t she realize finding Daisy was one hundred percent more important?
The doors of the hospitality room opened, and out walked Perry, Stephen, and Spencer.
“We can finish our legal consultation in his guest room.” Perry nodded toward the stairs. “Too many people are around here.”
I followed the men up the steps and left Camey alone with Spencer. When we reached the top, I took a step out of the way so Stephen could show us to his room. I followed him down to the big suite. I knew that room well since Camey and Walker had given Patrick and me the suite for our honeymoon.
Stephen headed over to the desk in front of the window that overlooked Lake Honey Springs. He placed the black bag on it and unzipped it, pulling open the top. I glanced down in it and noticed the stacks of one-hundred-dollar bills neatly piled on top of each other.
“Satisfied?” Stephen asked.
“I am. And I’m going to take it downstairs to Spencer for safekeeping. I’ll pick you up an hour before the drop-off. We’ll have to figure out where Spencer and his crew will be during that time, but we have to let them help get her back safe and sound.” I told him when I noticed him getting a little fidgety over me mentioning Spencer’s name.
“If they don’t show? Then what?” Stephen asked.
“We will listen to what the sheriff has to say.” Perry spoke up first.
“We will hope the kidnapper will contact us again, but I’m confident they will make the exchange. We just want to get a ping on her phone so we can try and get her before the drop.” I wasn’t sure, but it was something I had to tell him so he would continue to feel like he could trust us and not go rogue and do something that would hurt Daisy.
I realized the tale I was telling him was far-fetched, but by the look on his face and his wide eyes, he believed me.
I glanced around the room and didn’t see a phone book. “I have to ask if you’ve seen a phone book in here.”
“You need a phone book?” he asked me, looking at me with an odd expression.
“It seems like someone has stolen all the phone books here in the hotel over the past couple of days. And since your production company employees are staying here, I need to know if you used them for any part of the production and have them on set.” It seemed like a very local place for all of them to be if he had taken them. “Camey is a client.”
It shocked me how easy it was to just switch out the coffeehouse-owner hat to the lawyer hat. Almost scary, as though I’d never taken it off.
“No. We don’t need phone books and certainly didn’t take things without asking or paying for them.” He was quick to make sure I knew they didn’t have them.
“Are you sure? I mean, I know you have a lot on your plate, and maybe someone asked you about them and, without even thinking about it, you gave the okay.” It seemed like a good explanation.
“No. We didn’t take any phone book.” He ran his thick fingers through his hair. “I’m worried about my Daisy. If she doesn’t take her vitamins, she might feel sluggish and tired.”
“About those. It’s my understanding that she was doing a lot of supplements. Do you have those here?” I asked.
“Yes. She has a pillbox filled with them. Let me get them.” He disappeared into the bathroom.
“Do you think she’s alive?” Perry asked me when Stephen was no longer present.
“I do,” I said with confidence. All we had was hope. “If we can make the drop-off go smooth, I know we will have her back in just a few hours.”
“Thank you. Stephen will be a mess until we find her. I’m not sure he can live without her.” Perry cleared his throat when Stephen walked out of the bathroom with a pillbox the size of a book.
“Here you go.” He handed it to me. “There’s a bag over there with the bottles too.”
“Great. I’ll take the pills, bottles, and the money,” I told him and put the pillbox along with the bottles in my bag and gripped his bag of money.
Stephen didn’t take his eyes off the bag of cash.
“It’ll be safe. You won’t have to worry or watch your back if the cash is here,” Perry said.
I could tell by Stephen’s reaction the impact that Perry had on him. “We want this done right. One shot is all you get.”
“One shot?” I asked.
“Yes,” Perry said. “As Hollywood insurance agents, we know sometimes things like this happen, rarely, but kidnapping does happen. We pay out a lot of hush money for various reasons, but something this large, we have to make sure we get it right the first time by giving the kidnapper what they want instead of constantly coming up with more money.” There was a lot of legal mumbo jumbo that I didn’t understand since I didn’t study Hollywood contracts and laws. Then Perry handed Stephen a phone. “Just exactly the model you wanted. We’ve already completed a backup from your other phone. When the cops give back your other phone, we can dispose of it.”
Stephen Lemon took the phone and immediately started to type on it.
“Do you mind if I borrow your car until we meet up this afternoon?” Stephen asked me. “I want to get out of here for a little bit. I’m going stir crazy, but the media won’t recognize me if I’m in a car th
ey don’t suspect.”
“They sure wouldn’t expect you to be in my little car.” I opened my bag and pulled the keys out. “Forgive the key ring. It’s a photo of my dog.”
He looked at the key ring photo of Pepper. I sure did love that little feller, reminding me that I’d left him downstairs.
“Here’s my home address.” I grabbed the pen and paper, provided by the inn, on the small desk and scribbled my address. “I don’t drive my car to work, so you’ll have to go get it.”
“Thank you.” He took it from me. “I’m going crazy sitting in here.”
“I’ll leave all that to you while I worry about getting Daisy back and get the necessary paperwork from the station so you can file it for the money.” I grabbed the black bag and headed back toward the door. “Stephen, be back here by three this afternoon. We can go over how the drop will take place. Also, don’t talk to the media.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He was all too agreeable now thanks to Perry.
“I’ll make sure he’s ready an hour before the drop.” Perry patted Stephen some more before I headed out the door. “Get ready, and I’ll take you to her house to get the car.”
Camey still had Spencer cornered at the front desk when I found my way to the front of the hotel.
“Here.” I held the bag out for Spencer to take. “We will be meeting here at three o’clock. We’re going to use my car.”
“We will place the bag in the trunk of your car. That way, when we go to the drop-off, Stephen will get out of the car, retrieve the bag, and play out the scene for the kidnapper.” He sounded like he’d done this before, but as far as I knew, there’d never been a real kidnapping in Honey Springs.
“Sounds good.” I looked over at Walker. “Is Pepper still back there?”
“Yep.” He smiled.
“Come on, Pepper!” I called.
“Sheriff, can I see you?” one of the crew members asked Spencer on my way out the door. “Actually, can all of us see you?”
I glanced behind me and saw about ten people walking up to Spencer.
“Sheriff, we’d like to get paid, and Stephen Lemon isn’t leaving this town until we get our last check.” The man had a stern look on his face.
I headed back to the conversation.
“If this has to do with my client, I need to know.” I let him know right up front that I wasn’t leaving.
“Last check, nothing. He owes us a couple months’ pay.” Another man’s hands were fisted next to his side. “I have a wife and kid back home in Colorado. If he thinks I’m traveling this country with him to get my name in itty-bitty writing in the credits, he can forget it. I’m a good cameraman, and I deserve my salary.”
“Are you telling me that you’ve not been paid?” Spencer asked, making sure I heard everything loud and clear.
“Not a dime in a month,” another one chimed in along with a collective round of nods.
Spencer took out his notebook and I found this very interesting.
“This isn’t the first time either. The exact same thing happened to Mickey when Mickey was on the last movie.” The cameraman turned around. “Go on, Mickey. Tell her.”
“Yeah,” Mickey said in a gruff voice. He had long hair and facial hair just as long. “Mr. Lemon didn’t pay me on the last set until the crew had pretty much mobbed him before he could skip town. He finally paid us, and that’s why I continued on to do this movie, but here we are, back in the same situation.”
That was very odd to me. From how Daisy had acted and how Stephen portrayed their life and company, everything seemed to be fine.
“It has to be a mistake. Mr. Lemon has a lot on his plate right now. Maybe he forgot,” I told the somewhat angry mob that was getting a smidgen louder. “I’m going to meet with him in the afternoon. I’ll ask him about it then. I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding.”
“Maybe this time, but what about last time?” the man asked, referring to the last movie.
“You got paid, right?” I asked to clarify what he’d told me.
“Yes, but.” His face contorted. He turned around to the group that’d gathered behind him for support. He put his hands up in the air.
Spencer put his finger up to tell them to hold on. “Roxy, I appreciate what you’re doing, but I need to question them.” His jaw was set. He wasn’t going to budge. “I hate to tell you, but your client is our number one suspect.”
“You think he had something to do with his wife’s kidnapping?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“We did uncover that the production company is in some financial struggles, and they are about to file bankruptcy if they don’t pay the four hundred thousand dollars owed.”
My jaw dropped.
“Four hundred thousand?” I asked, clarifying the exact amount the kidnapper had demanded.
NINE
They say the first forty-eight hours after someone gets kidnapped is the most precious time to find them. After that, well, let’s just say the statistics weren’t that great for finding them … alive. According to Spencer, he continued to ping Daisy’s phone every ten minutes, and Daisy’s phone was still turned off.
In light of what Spencer had told me about my client, well, I wasn’t sure just how innocent Stephen Lemon was, but I was going to remain close to the investigation and him so we could get to the truth of the matter.
“Are you Roxanne Bloom?” Someone called my name on my way back to the boardwalk. “Is it true you were the last person to talk to Daisy Lemon? Did she really drink one of your lattes? Eat meat? Are you really a lawyer and representing Stephen Lemon? Do you think he really had her kidnapped in order to get the money to pay off his own bankruptcy?”
I was littered with questions, followed up by cameras clicking and running footsteps. The louder and closer the footsteps got, the quicker my feet carried me toward the coffeehouse, where Pepper and I would hide out the rest of the day.
“Those people are nuts.” Crissy Lane was waiting by the door of the Bean Hive, watching as the crowd of reporters dispersed after I made it safely inside. She had the tabby cat nestled in her arms. The cat’s eyes were closed due to Crissy running her hand continuously over the top of the cat’s head and down her back.
“I didn’t know you were a cat person.” I gave the feline a nice little rub. Pepper jumped up on Crissy’s leg to get his own sniff.
“I’m generally not, but this little cutie followed me around until I picked her up. Isn’t that right, Callie?” She spoke to the cat like she was a baby.
Crissy had named the cat. My brows rose.
“You’ve named her?” I asked. Hearing she named her really piqued my interest.
“She needed a name, and according to the paperwork Louise left, she’s just a kitten with no name.” Crissy adjusted her arms closer to her body, Callie snuggling a little closer.
“You want me to get the adoption papers ready?” I asked, hoping this would be the quickest adoption at the Bean Hive to date.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m never home. Well, I’m gone a lot, and it wouldn’t be fair to Callie.”
“Cats don’t require the attention dogs need. At least in the going-outside-to-potty department.” I didn’t tell her how cats run the house they live in, as well as let you know when they want to be bothered, not the other way around.
“Don’t push it.” She glared at me and put Callie back down on the floor.
“Fine, but she does need a good home,” I said, shrugging as I made my way back to the counter where Bunny was helping a customer.
I removed my bag from across my body, hung it on the coatrack, and grabbed my apron. Callie batted at the dangling apron strings a couple of times before she started to bat at the space between where that part of the counter stopped and the beginning of one of the glass display cases.
“Are you hungry?” I asked and bent down to retrieve the piece of whatever tasty treat had fallen between two of the display cases. “What on earth is that?
”
The shiny object glistened, depending on the way I turned my head to see what it was. Callie continued to paw at the shiny object while I went back to the kitchen to grab the broom.
The object didn’t hold Callie’s attention for long. When I got back, she’d already run over to the fireplace, where Pepper was lying in one of his many beds. She was cuddled up next to him.
I stuck the broom handle in the space and dragged out the object.
“What is it?” Crissy stood over me.
“It’s Daisy’s purse.” I instantly recognized it from when she came into the Bean Hive.
“Open it!” Crissy said with excitement.
“I don’t know.” I pondered her request and looked at the purse intently.
“We are.” Crissy reached down to pick it up, but I stopped her.
“I’m not sure of the legality of it.” I couldn’t help but keep that lawyer hat on.
“It’s no different than if we just found it and didn’t know who it belonged to.” She made a good point.
“Perfect.” I picked it up and headed over to one of the open tables. “People leave things here all the time. I just throw them in the lost-and-found bin in the back until they come back after they’ve retraced their steps.”
My reasoning made me feel better.
“I’ll take it to the police, and if Spencer asks, then I’ll say that I had no idea who it belonged to.” Crissy was willing to take the fall for this one if legalities got in the way.
I ran my hand over the small fancy handbag and then opened the snap enclosure.
“I’m sure there’s only lipstick or an ink pen in the tiny thing.” I assured myself there was nothing worth getting all excited about in it.
I peeked inside. There was a gold fabric lining and a small tag with the designer name on it. I pulled each item out one at a time.