“Yes it’ll be a leg cast, but he should be able to walk for the most part. The surgery’s on his hip, but they cast the leg to make him use the other leg more and not rotate the leg while it heals. I’ll bring a leash, his bed, food, and his toys to have while I’m gone. You sure you’re okay with this?”
“Really it’s no problem, and if your daughter wants to come over after school to visit she can, whenever she wants to. Give her my phone number and have her call me. I’ll be back and forth between Nisswa and the Cities, but I’ll make sure Pepper’s comfortable and with me at all times. And if it works out, she can stop by when I’m there.”
“Sara, I can’t thank you enough. This is a huge help. I have so many burdens, and there’s only one of me. I just can’t keep up. Then you throw a divorce in there too … some days I just feel like giving up, ya know?” she said, sounding like she was on the edge of tears.
“Trust me, Kerry, I know! Really it’s not a big deal at all to me. Pepper will be in good hands, and it’ll be one less thing for you to worry about. Faith’s appointment is at 8:30 on Saturday. I’ll meet you at the vet’s then and we can work out the rest of the details. Okay?”
“Perfect. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll see you Saturday.”
“You’re very welcome. Bye,” I said and hung up.
Well, then, it looks like I’ll be having a house guest next week. I plugged my phone in to charge, and went back to the bathroom to finish my hair and makeup. Then I grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and glass of water. Just as I was turning off the lights and putting my phone in my bag, it rang. I looked at the screen: Miss Kitty.
“Hello?”
“Hello, darling? How are you?” she asked, not giving me the chance to answer before she started talking again. “I got to thinking, the other day that you don’t usually do this, so you may be a bit unprepared. So after Smoochie Poo’s play date, I went back to Morning Glory with my laptop and used their Internet. I didn’t want to get caught doing it at home. I ordered you a bunch of stuff. I paid for overnight delivery and it came this morning! Meet me at Morning Glory at 10:00, and I’ll give you the stuff. Okay, love? See you then. Bye!”
She hung up before I said even one word. The nerve! What if I was busy and couldn’t meet her? What if I had another meeting at that time? Huh? Does she think I have no life of my own and I’m at her beck and call?
Truly, I had no life and was at her beck and call, so I turned on the TV and sat and waited. I watched the news and Live with Kelly. At 9:40 a.m. I hauled myself into the Jeep and drove to Morning Glory. Miss Kitty was there with a big box on the table.
“Hey, girl!” Tannya sang when I opened the door.
She came running over and walked with me to Miss Kitty’s table. “Ooh, girl, she got you some nice stuff! I helped her pick out what you needed when she was in the other night. I’m so glad you’re on board with this. Ya know if you need help, I’m your girl!”
“Tannya, you leave her alone,” laughed Miss Kitty. “I’m sure she can handle this. But if she can’t, well, I did order lots!” Miss Kitty held up two black items that looked like binoculars. “I got extras just in case you wanted to share in the fun.”
“What is all this?” I asked sitting down in the booth across from her.
“Well, it’s just some items to aid your little investigation. The more stuff I get on him, the better job my lawyers can do to get me a fair settlement,” she said nodding and smiling.
She didn’t look sad like she did on Monday. Now she was greedy and vengeful.
We looked through the box. There were multiple sets of binoculars, some with night vision, and one pair with infrared capabilities. There was a hidden wire set with a receiver and recorder, black face masks, a pen that worked as both a recorder and a camera, a few tiny video cameras that could clip to almost anything, and a flower pin that was also a video camera. There was also a six pack of bugs the size of watch batteries, four walkie-talkies, and black stretch pants and jackets for three people. Two were small sets and one bigger.
“Just in case you need assistance,” Miss Kitty said
Tannya stood by the table smiling and nodding.
“Yeah, she said I could be your wing man!” Tannya said, smiling like a kid at Christmas.
“Um, okay. Wow, I guess I didn’t know how close you wanted me to get,” I told her.
“Oh, close. Yes! I need hard proof of anything and everything and this stuff will help us get that,” Miss Kitty said.
“I’m not sure this kind of evidence can be used in court, but I do have some news for you,” I said. Tannya gasped and slid into the booth next to me.
“You do? What is it?” asked Tannya.
“Yeah, what?” Miss Kitty repeated.
I held back my smile at their enthusiasm. “Yesterday I went to check out this Alexa girl in Brainerd, and I learned a few things.” I went on and told them every detail of my time in Brainerd, finishing the story with the blinds being pulled shut. Then I sat back and waited for their mouths to close.
“TANNNNYA! Get off your butt and get this food out!” yelled the cook.
“Dang it, Marv! I’m coming!” she got up and went to the kitchen.
She got the food and set it in front of the two men on the bar stools, then she grabbed the pot of coffee and topped off their cups.
Quickly sliding back into the booth, she asked, “Did I miss anything?”
“Nope, that’s all I know for now,” I said. Miss Kitty sat staring off over my left shoulder.
“I’m going to ask him about it,” she said. “I’m going to his office and I’m going to ask him.”
“We’ll be right there with you!” Tannya offered. My eyes darted open and I shot my head over to look at her. “Right? I mean I think she should wear the wire, and we should wait in the getaway car for her, and record everything that’s said.”
“Perfect!” Miss Kitty said. “Vincent leaves this afternoon for a meeting in Chicago and won’t be back until late tomorrow, so Dave will be in the office alone. I’ll go there wearing a wire and confront him on it. Yes! It’s settled then.”
With that Miss Kitty reached in the box and handed me and Tannya the black wind jackets and the black cotton/spandex pants, in our respective sizes.
“Change into these, and we will meet back here at 3:00 p.m. Vincent’s flight is at three, so he’ll be gone by two for sure. Then we’ll go to the office and see what Dave has to say for himself. Sara, you can keep these in your Jeep in case we need them later. We’ll take that tonight,” she said and got up from the table. “I’ll see you soon, darlings.”
She reached back into the booth and grabbed her big purse off the seat. I assumed it still contained a dog. She carefully placed it on her shoulder and sashayed out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ooooh girl, am I excited! This is going to be so much fun! We’re gonna catch a bad guy and make Miss Kitty richer than she is! How much is she paying you?” Tannya asked.
“Too much. And by the sounds of it, I’m not working alone,” I told her. “If you are helping, then I’ll give you a cut.” I didn’t need the money, but I didn’t feel the need to tell Tannya my life’s story either.
“Sounds good to me! I never have enough to make ends meet. In my world, when it comes to money, the more the merrier. Before I met my ex-husband, I had a nice savings and, well, he smoked all that up in a matter of months while I was out working. The no good piece of shit! And now I gotta mortgage that owns me and an old house that needs more repair than it’s worth.”
“Well, I’ll fix it soon enough! What time are you off work?” I asked her.
“I opened this morning so I’m off at 2:00 p.m. I can change here and be ready at 3:00.”
“I think I’ll run over to Lost and Found and take care of some things and meet you back here later.”
I walked over to Lost and Found and talked to Maureen for a while. She was excited for the new schedule to start and said sh
e really liked working for me. That was good to hear. We talked about her idea to rearrange a few things in the store, and I gave her the go ahead. I liked her idea. I though it would add space to the store for the crowded holiday items.
After that I went into the office and worked on filing and tax preparations. There was a lot to get done and I didn’t want to wait until the last minute. A couple hours of later, I got changed into my black outfit, which looked really good on me. The pants and jacket were very slimming, and they were a really nice quality. My hunger kicked in and I thought I’d better grab something to eat first.
I went across the street to get a barbeque sandwich this time. When I was done eating I walked over to Morning Glory. Tannya and Miss Kitty were inside waiting for me. They were both dressed in the same outfit and I suddenly felt like a total dork. I must say though, Tannya looked good. The pants were a straight seam instead of tight to the ankles and they flattered her in that style.
“Ready?” I asked them.
“Lets roll!” Tannya yelled as she threw her fist in the air.
Oh, boy. We all climbed into my Jeep, Tannya in the back, Miss Kitty riding shotgun. Miss Kitty gave us directions to Vincent’s office, which she told us was in Brainerd right off of highway 371, in a strip mall running parallel to the highway. When we got there, Dave’s car was out front, and we could see lights on inside through the window. The glass door leading to their section of the building read “Aburgus Enterprises.” Instead of parking in front of the office I drove past it down a few doors and parked out of sight. I didn’t want Dave to look out his office window and see my Jeep in case I needed to do more spying later, plus Miss Kitty wasn’t wired yet.
“All right, we’ll park here. Let’s get you wired up and you can go in and confront him,” I said, again sounding all professional as if I’d done this before.
Tannya dug around in the box and handed her a small box with a wire and a tiny mic on the end.
“Is there tape in there?” I asked Tannya.
“Should be. I ordered some,” Miss Kitty said.
Tannya found it and passed it up. I handed her the equipment and she taped the mic between her breasts, and pulled her jacket down again. Then she pulled it back up, taped the little box to her lower right stomach area, and turned it on.
“All right. I’m all set,” she said and exited the vehicle.
We watched her walk through the door.
When she disappeared I said, “Shit, wait! Tannya, what do we listen with? Quick! Look in the box. There has to be an audio device of some sort so we can hear her. Tannya dug through it and found what might be what we were looking for. She jumped into the front seat with me. We ripped the package apart and tried, as fast as we could, to get it up and running. Thank goodness there were batteries in the box. When we finally turned it on, we could hear what they were saying and the red record light was lit where it said Record, so I hoped it was on right.
“Shhh!” Tannya said and turned the volume up.
Geez, I thought, this is not the job for us! What a bunch of amateurs.
We heard a man’s voice. “He should be on his plane by now. Is there … something I can … do for you … Miss Elenore?”
He sounded really dumb.
“Yes, there is. You can give me some answers! You can start with telling me why you’re drunk at four in the afternoon!” Miss Kitty snapped.
“Fuck you! I don’t have to tell you shit! I don’t work for you! I work for your stupid asshole husband. Yeah, I work for that son of a bitch. He makes me a very wealthy man and fucks with my life. Ya know why?” he slurred. “’Cause the son of a bitch thinks he can.”
“What the hell are you so upset about?” Miss Kitty asked.
“Look at you,” he paused and made some snorting noises. “You’re gorgeous, and as far as we can tell faithful, and he still pulls his high and mighty shit.”
“What do you mean ‘as far as we can tell’? Are you two spying on me?”
“Us two? No. I do the dirty work around here. Your husband does whatever the hell he wants, and sends me to clean up the messes. He thinks if he pays me enough he has control over me. Well that shit’s gonna stop.”
I looked at Tannya with raised eyebrows and she returned the same look. This guy is beyond mad.
“What dirty work? Are you talking about the business?”
“Ha! Yeah there’s that, too! Ha ha!” he added with a laugh.
I could hear some noises in the background.
“Yeah, mix another drink! That’s perfect, that’ll solve all your problems! Who’s Alexa?” she finally demanded.
“Alexa?”
“Yes, moron! Alexa! I know about the Gold Digger website that Vincent’s been on, and I know they’ve been chatting with each other. Did he sleep with her?” she blatantly asked.
“Ha! Oh, yes, Alexa. She’s another one. Thinks she can play people and get away with it,” he said.
“Is he sleeping with her, Dave? Has my husband cheated on me?” She demanded.
“Ha ha ha ha!” he laughed really hard. “Um, no, he hasn’t slept with Alexa from the website. He’s slept with many women, but not Alexa.” He laughed some more.
“What?” Miss Kitty gasped with shock in her voice. “Who? When?”
“Oh honey … Little … Miss … Kitty Cat,” he mocked. “You’re such a gem. So pretty, so spoiled, so STUPID! Your husband fucks some new girl about twice a week. I can’t keep up!”
“What are you talking about, Dave? If you’re lying, I’ll make sure you’re fired!” Miss Kitty threatened.
“I don’t need to lie, bitch! Your husband’s as low as they come. You want the truth? I’ll give you the truth, but you better sit down, ’cause this shit’s gonna hurt like nothing your spoiled self has felt before.”
He paused and we could hear more liquid pouring. I looked at Tannya. Both of us were hanging over the recorder with our mouths slack from shock. She shook her head at me and I covered my mouth. This is going to be bad.
“Your husband’s limo has more DNA in it than a hospital lab! Ha ha,” Dave said with a sick laugh. “Whenever we’re out on the town, which is a lot, and by the way, it doesn’t even matter anymore if we’re in state or out, Vincent goes into a bar and scouts the place for his next victim. It’s become like a game to him now.” He hiccuped, then continued. “Late into the night he finds some young, stupid, hot girl that’s drunk and keeps feeding her drinks, the last one of course laced with a roofie. Then he invites her back to the limo. He waits for the drugs to kick in, has his way with her, then dumps her back on the curb of whatever bar he picked her up at.”
“You’re lying!” Miss Kitty snapped.
“Why? What do I care? I’m done working for him! You don’t have to believe me. I don’t give a shit. But this is the truth! Yeah, and the kicker is once in a while a girl shows up that has figured it out. That’s when I get to deal with them and have to figure out how much it’s gonna cost to shut her up. You know how much money he’s spent shutting women up lately? A lot! More than I make in a year! He’s getting stupid, and it’s costing him.”
“I can’t believe this! Why didn’t you stop him?” she asked.
“He made his bed. I’m his assistant, not his moral adviser. But I’m done. I’ve got a plan. We’ll see who gets the last laugh. We’ll just see who ends up with the money and who ends up in jail,” he said in a relaxed, evil tone.
Tannya and I exchanged glances.
“I’m leaving. I don’t know what your plan is, Dave, but if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut about this conversation. I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of this. Do you understand me?” she said very seriously.
“Yeah, whatever. Go get your shit in order because after we close the deal on this multi-million dollar manufacturing plant in the next couple days, shit’s going to hit the fan! You have until then to do what you gotta do! Then it’s my time!” he said forcefully.
&n
bsp; “I’ll be in touch,” she said and walked out.
Tannya and I both looked up and saw her march towards us. She was not happy. Tannya climbed in the back and Miss Kitty opened the door and sat down.
“Let’s go!” she said. “Let’s get out of here!”
I quickly started the Jeep and backed out. I drove back towards town and parked in the back of a large parking lot. It was sunset and getting colder by the minute. I left the motor running. Tannya was looking at me in the rear view mirror. She was very quiet. I turned to Miss Kitty and reached over and gave her a hug. She hugged back and broke down sobbing.
“I can’t believe he cheated on me!” she said through tears.
After a few moments she pulled back and wiped her tears.
“How many do you think there were? That asshole!” she screamed. “What a monster!”
She was fighting hurt and anger at the same time and kept flip-flopping back and forth.
“I love him. I’ve never cheated on him. Fuuuck! I wonder how many diseases I’ve been exposed to! And he’s paying them off? AAHHHGGRR!” She screamed at the top of her lungs and punched the dash over and over with both hands until she was exhausted.
“Let’s get him!” Tannya said from the back seat. “We need a plan!”
Miss Kitty refocused immediately. “Yeah let’s! Excellent idea, Tannya. We need a plan!”
Oh, boy.
“He’s in Chicago at a meeting right about now. We could fly there now and follow him tonight and see if it’s true. I’m sure he’s going out tonight after the meeting. Let’s go, Sara! Drive us to the airport!” she said and sat up straight and faced forward, then she ripped off her wire and stuffed it into her purse.
“Now?” I asked in shock.
“Yes, now! We’ll take the next flight out. Southwest flies to and from Chicago all day long. I’ll pay and buy what we need as we go. Come on. You guys are in, right?”
She had suddenly lost her cute flare with words, and her accent. She was in a whole new mode now. She was a determined, scorned woman on a mission!
Found and Destroyed: The Second Sarah Martin Mystery Page 24