by R E Gauthier
Feeling confident she wasn’t being watched or listened to, Nikki made the call to Torres. Waiting for the call to connect, she realized that Torres may still be asleep. Deciding it was worth the earful, she may get, Nikki allowed the call to continue.
“Jesus, Red, do you know what time it is?” Torres’s voice sounded irritated and sleepy.
Flinching, Nikki said, “you told me to call you no matter what time it was if I really needed your help. Well, that time is now. I need to bounce a few things off you.”
Torres groaned heavily into the phone. “I did, and I will, but it’s only three in the morning here. I’ve only been sleeping for an hour or so.”
Nikki smiled and sarcastically teased, “I’m sorry to have bothered your beauty rest, do you want me to call you back when the people, threatening me have made good on their threats?”
Torres sighed and said, “no, I’m…what? Whose is threatening you? What have you got yourself into?”
“Now that you’re more awake and I have your full attention, I need you to listen to me. I’ve been threatened by people who are watching me. The thing is they appear to be helping me find information, but then warning me to be careful.”
“Who are they? What kind of information are they helping you find?” Torres sounded worried.
“I don’t know who they are, and as for the information, they found information, I never even asked anyone for.”
“What? I think I’m going to need some coffee; can you hold on a minute while I go make some?”
“I can call you back. You make some coffee, take a cold shower, do whatever you need to wake up, and this will give me some time to look into what I have learned. Then when I call you back, we can discuss everything in detail.”
“You got it. I’ll need about half an hour…no, make it an hour because I need to be really awake by the sounds of things there.”
Nikki chuckled softly. “I do have a lot to tell you, so we’ll make it an hour.” The call ended, and Nikki thought of how she would not let on she knew about the bugs. She had to make sure they didn’t see or hear what she had to do and to tell Torres. I cannot stay inside the bathroom all day. Then an idea came to her; I can book another room. Whoever was watching her had time to bug her room before her arrival, or after she left the room, but if she were to ask to have another room and give the hotel staff some excuse, the people keeping an eye on her wouldn’t have time to bug the new room. She’d have a safe space for at least as long as she stayed in the room, so no one had the opportunity to access it and plant new surveillance devices.
She made the call to the front desk on the hotel phone to make sure whoever was listening would hear her request another room. The hotel staff were quite accommodating and gave her a new room after she explained that the people next to her were too noisy for her to get any rest. It hadn’t been a complete lie, because the people next to her were loud love-makers and although they hadn’t disturbed her sleep, Nikki used their audible ecstasy to her benefit and asked the sputtering young desk clerk if he could sleep while a man and woman cried out all night long. The man didn’t answer her question but promptly told her she could pick up a new room key at the desk.
Nikki packed her belongings into her suitcase and toiletries back into her overnight bag. She grabbed her laptop and started to exit the room when there was a knock at the door. Peeking through the peephole, Nikki saw the hotel concierge standing outside her room. The woman looked concerned. Nikki opened the door with a frown. She might as well play the part of the disgruntled guest.
The concierge’s smile greeted Nikki as the door opened. “Miss Lafrombroise, I’m sorry to hear about your concerns with your room. I’m here to hand-deliver your new room keycard and help you with your bags if you need it.”
Attempting to keep up the front of being a guest, who was upset about not getting much sleep, Nikki huffed. “I suppose you think this will make me forget about losing sleep. I’m here on business, and I don’t appreciate being kept awake all night by two rutting rhinos next door.”
The woman’s face grew red, and she smiled weakly. “I’m sorry if we had known, we wouldn’t have placed you next to the newlyweds. I made certain that your new room is as far away from other guests. We’re having a convention next week, and the whole top four floors are booked for it. I’m giving you a room in the far corner and on the floor below the convention. We were going to keep that floor empty in case of overflow from the convention, but you can have this room free of charge for as long as you like to stay.”
Nikki wasn’t expecting the hotel to give her room free of charge, nor did she think they would put her up in a place with so much privacy. Feeling guilty to have duped the hotel staff and be rewarded for doing so, Nikki wanted to refuse the offer. “You don’t have to go through so much trouble. I only need a room where I can sleep; I don’t need a room away from everyone.” Reading the name tag, Nikki added, “Connie, I don’t want or need a free room, just one other than this one would be fine.”
Connie shook her head. “No, we insist. It is the least we can do for you. We want our guests to feel welcomed, and it is no way to treat a guest for you not to be able to sleep. We pride our ability to bring guests back year after year by offering a warm bed and a place to rest while in our fair city.”
Nikki knew she wouldn’t be able to convince the woman otherwise, so she said, “lead the way, Connie.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nikki’s New Hotel Room, Edinburgh, April 24, 2102
In a new room in a very private and empty area of the hotel, Nikki unpacked and then made a thorough sweep of the room, looking for electronic devices that didn’t belong. She couldn’t be too careful that whoever was watching her, may have someone on the hotel staff working for them. Finding nothing, Nikki set up her laptop and began her deep dive search into Marcel LaMontagne.
After nearly thirty minutes, Nikki was able to locate three men with the name, Marcel LaMontagne. One man was ninety-three and lived in Northern France on a family vineyard. Although it appeared this man could be influential enough, Nikki couldn’t find any connection to Saudi Arabia or the United States. Another man with the same name lived in Canada and was a college student there on a student visa studying ECommerce. The third one looked the most promising. Nikki found that this Marcel LaMontagne lived in Italy and was a CEO of an International Real Estate company. He had holdings and property all over the world, including several in the Middle East.
The real estate mogul also had dealings with several United States companies and was flagged once by the United States Homeland Security Agency for what they called questionable business practices. Deciding that this Marcel LaMontagne was the most likely candidate for being the man the documents referred to, Nikki grabbed the burner phone to call Torres. She still didn’t know why someone sent her information on this man or what he may have to do with her searches for Mack, but she now knew the man did exist.
Torres answered the phone on the first ring. “Hey, I’ve been sitting here on pins and needles wondering when you were going to call.”
Nikki looked at the time. “It’s not even been the full hour yet. I finished up sooner than I thought I would and couldn’t wait to call you.”
“Well, I’m glad you did. What did you find out? You said you received information you never asked for and that someone is threatening you. Please elaborate; what have you gotten yourself into?”
Nikki wasn’t sure where to begin. Deciding it was best to start with Mack contacting her and asking her to find the man, known as the Ghost, Nikki began to tell Torres when she remembered Mack’s words to not tell even Torres about what she was doing for Mack. Stopping before she said the man’s name, Nikki simply said, “I cannot tell you the man’s name, but when I began my search for him, I was contacted by someone who said they had the information I was looking for.”
“Why can you not say his name?”
Nikki could imagine Torres’s annoyed look. “
Mack told me not to include anyone in on this search. The man sounds like a very dangerous man.” Nikki felt guilty because she had told Willow about the Ghost. What harm could befall Torres if she too knew the man’s name? “They call him the Ghost. I shouldn’t have told you, but I have already told Willow, and she’s helping me find whatever she can on him.”
“You’ve told Willow, and she’s helping you, but you cannot trust me?”
“Torres, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t know who may be watching you. There were plenty of people who knew you were working with us on the Washburg case, and they might have tabs on you. I don’t want you endangered by me telling you too much about what we’re doing here in Scotland.”
“So, you’ve seen Mack, how is she? Is she there with you now?”
Nikki frowned. Of course, Torres would want to talk to Mack; she wanted to also. “I’ve not seen her yet, but I’ve been in contact with her, and she’s safe, and as far as I know, she’s with her cousin and aunt.”
“You haven’t seen her, so, you must have talked to her on the phone. Is there a number where she can be reached? I’d love to phone her.”
Nikki shook her head, even though she knew Torres couldn’t see her. Torres knew about Mack’s gift but wasn’t sure how much the PI knew about Mack’s ability to contact a person through their mind. “I didn’t talk to her over the phone, either.” Nikki knew Torres would be confused, so she explained the logistics of how Mack could communicate to someone who's thinking about her.
“What the…you’re telling me that Mack can talk to people through their dreams now?”
Nikki giggled. “Yes and no. She can reach out to someone close to her who is thinking about her when she’s concentrating on them. Mack came to me first on the plane while I dozed and then again when I slept last night.”
“So, you can talk to her as if she were there with you. Do you see her in your dream?”
“Yes, I can see her, talk to her, and I can almost feel her. She hugged me in my first dream, and I’m sure I felt her arms around me.”
“That’s kind of creepy if you ask me. So, Mack asked you to look for this man, they call the Ghost, and what did you find?”
Leave it to Torres to jump right to the point of her calling the PI. The woman had been a great FBI agent because of her way of getting to the heart of a case quickly and ascertaining the motives of the suspects before anyone else. Nikki hoped she could count on Torres to decipher what she had learned so far. “Torres, this man is dangerous and is linked to hundreds of murders over thirty years. His last known location is Turkey, and when I reached out to some of your CI’s I got a message about the person I was looking for is in the UK. The thing is, if he’s here, no other agencies know about it. Then Mack came to me last night and asked me to look for a Marina Carlotti, who is a woman connected to Mack’s cousin. The woman is also the person who shot Mack last month at the Heathrow Airport.”
“Okay, Mack found out this Carlotti woman tried to kill her, and she has you looking into her; it sounds dangerous, and you should have back-up.”
Nikki nodded and laughed. “Yeah, it is, and apparently I have people watching my every move too,” Nikki explained how she found the bugs and video surveillance equipment. She also told Torres about the incident outside the museum and the Scottish Police officer. “They included a document about Marina Carlotti with the stuff on Marcel LaMontagne before I had even started searching for the woman. I must have been talking in my sleep, and they wanted to tell me something about the woman. Whomever these people are they’re helping me, but to what end?”
Torres whistled. “You stepped into some serious shit there; are you sure you don’t need me to come and help you?”
“Mack would be upset I’m even talking to you about it, but I need to pick your brain before my next move. Do you think that this cop, Emily Gray, is helping me or is working with the bad guys? I could ask her to help me. She did say I could call her if I needed any help. I’m just not sure who I can trust, and one wrong move could endanger Mack or me further. The note said: I’m closer than I think, and I could wind up being the hunted. It said I could end up missing like my friend. I’m assuming they're talking about Mack. Whoever this Emily Gray is working for or with, they know about Mack being missing, so they don’t know where she is either. I need to be careful because they could be contacting me to draw Mack out.”
“Hmmm, you’re definitely between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They do sound like they want to help you, but I don’t understand why. They’re warning you to be careful, but I don’t think they want you to stop if they’re giving you information on Marcel LaMontagne and this Carlotti chick. Is there any connection between the two of them? Do you think that Mr. LaMontagne is the Ghost, Mack has you looking for? Could Marina Carlotti be working with him?”
“Mack did think that Marina Carlotti could be the one that the CI’s were talking about who is here in the UK. It would make sense that the woman who tried to kill Mack is also the same woman who is tracking her from the US. I’m just not sure who this LaMontagne man is, or what does he have to do with it all. He’s a powerful man with connections to the Middle East and properties all over the world. Maybe this man is who is hiding the…Torres, you’ve done it again.”
Torres chuckled. “I haven’t even told you my theory yet. How have I done anything?”
Nikki saw the path through the mess of information while explaining it all to Torres. “You didn’t have to say a thing; I figured out my next course of action while talking to you. I cannot thank you enough. I have to go; I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Torres laughed and told Nikki she was welcome. “I’m glad I could help you. I only wish I could do more and be there to make sure you’re safe.”
“You’ve done more than you know, and I haven’t even endangered your life with too much information so that Mack won’t be angry with me.”
“Promise me that if you need anything, you won’t hesitate to call me. I have ways to help you that won’t entail me getting my hands dirty or endangering myself. Let me deal with the specifics on my end.”
Nikki wasn’t sure she would or could do that, but she did promise Torres that she would let her know as much as she could when she could. Being as nonspecific as possible, Nikki knew she’d make a promise to Torres, that she would partially keep, and still not betray her best friend’s confidence.
***
Nikki searched for all of Marcel LaMontagne’s properties and holdings around the world and compared those to the locations of the murders that were attributed to the Ghost. She had found a pattern that could mean that the Ghost was able to hide at these properties before, during, and after murders. Agencies were never able to locate the Ghost to capture the man. What if he had someone hiding him that was powerful and had properties all over the world? The Ghost could seemingly disappear whenever he needed to. Nikki couldn’t figure out how she had found this information, and why had no one else been able to find it and stop the Ghost? I must be missing something; who is helping me?
Again, she thought of the pretty, blonde Scottish cop who gave her a business card with the cryptic warning on the back. Should I call this Emily Gray and see what she knows?
Chapter Thirty
MacKenzie Estate, Gairloch, May 4, 2012
Kelsey woke from a pleasant dream. Sleeping at night to speak to Nikki and then taking another nap in the afternoon gave her time to contact Miranda as well. In one dream, she relayed information to Nikki, and in the other, she held and made love to her fiancée. Not getting the full rest made her tired while she was awake. Kelsey yawned and closed her eyes. Even with the lack of sleep, she wouldn’t change a thing. Being in Miranda’s arms, even in spirit, was far better than not being with her at all. During the day, Kelsey, while away doing nothing, but relaxing and taking a walk around the grounds with a bodyguard. She itched to be more active. Today, I’m going to change all that; I’m going to ask Aisling if
there is a gym where she could punch a bag, lift weights, anything that could get her blood pumping. Kelsey was never one to sit idle for long, and since her accident, subsequence trip in a cold ship, and recovery, she’d been doing just that.
Walking through the hallway in the farmhouse, Kelsey looked for any sign of where her cousin could be hiding. Since the day they had their confrontation, and Kelsey asked Aisling for some time and room, Aisling had been absent from meals, and Kelsey had only seen glimpses of her in passing. It had been almost three weeks, and Kelsey needed, no she wanted, to do more than sit and wait for Aisling to decide to move them again or tell her they had to go deeper into hiding. Kelsey’s whole life was spent doing and not waiting; she had never been one to hide but was the one hunting and attacking problems head-on. Today, Kelsey aimed to resume her life-long goal to find the justice she searched for Aisling, Aunt Cat, and her uncle. It didn’t matter that the justice was no longer for their murders but their assaults and terrorizing at the hands of the man they called the Ghost.
Approaching the large oak doors at the end of the hallway, Kelsey heard her cousin’s voice inside. Aisling spoke in a foreign language that Kelsey recognized as Middle Eastern of some sort. There wasn’t another person answering back, so Kelsey knew her cousin had to be talking on the phone. Pressing her ear to the door, Kelsey listened to hear if when she turned the knob slowly, the lock was engaged. Finding the door unlocked, Kelsey opened the door and looked for Aisling. Finding her sitting at a large, imposing desk, Kelsey closed the door behind her.