Brainstorm

by Margaret Belle

  “The last thing I need is a couple of bucks from you!” she whispered, as I came back out. “Weren’t you listening to me before? I have all the money we will ever need. Come outside. I want to tell you my plans.” She led me through the sliders and we walked down the deserted beach, but stopped dead in our tracks, as from inside the house came a loud bang! And thundering voices yelled, “Get on the ground! Get on the ground now!”

  “Come on!” she whispered. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along at a dead run, and I wondered how she thought she could avoid being seen, without so much as a beach umbrella to hide behind.

  “What are you doing?” I yelled. “They’re going to see us! Harley! Stop! This is no good!”

  “We can’t stop,” she said, “they’re still in the house! Ferdy won’t even tell them I was here. He loves me!”

  A police cruiser started up and headed toward us, its wheels throwing sand in all directions. “Oh, God,” Harley cried. “This can’t be how it ends; not after all my planning, all my work.” She turned and ran toward the ocean.

  “Harley, no!” I yelled, as I ran after her, but visions of the dream I’d had of being pulled into the water stopped me; I could feel salt water rising in my throat, as my mind screamed, don’t go in! I fell to the sand and watched as she continued on - now knee deep in the water, now waist deep, and then, toppled by a breaking wave, she disappeared. The officer stopped his patrol car, jumped out, and ran into the ocean after her.

  He pulled her up and they scuffled, flailed in the water, and I heard Harley choking, heard the officer yell for her to stop fighting him, and finally, finally, he dragged her out. She collapsed on the sand, coughing, vomiting up seawater. Two other officers approached on the run. One assisted his dripping brother-in-blue get Harley into the back of his vehicle. The other approached me. “Audrey Dory?” I nodded. “Come with me, please.”

  “Gladly.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I guess.” I looked up the beach to where Ferdy was standing next to one of the other patrol cars; the one carrying Harley pulled up to it and parked alongside. By the looks of it, the officer standing with Ferdy was reading him his rights.

  When I reached the house, both Harley and Ferdy were watching me, and I was sure, wondering why I hadn’t been cuffed, as they had been. But then I saw reality hit in Harley’s eyes, and she yelled from inside the car, “Audrey? What did you do?”

  I wiped tears from my face and turned to the police officer. “I know where the money from the bank robbery is.”

  “Show me.”

  “Harley said it was in three suitcases. You just have to find those.”

  As the patrol cars pulled away, I followed the officer into the beautiful beach house and watched, as he pulled on Latex gloves and began rooting through closets and looking under beds. He carefully moved furniture and opened doors until he found the three pieces in the fourth bedroom. He put them on the bed and tried to open them, but they were locked, and the locks had keypads for which he had no codes. “Well,” he said, “we’ll get the prints off the bags and then have someone break the locks. Until then, we can’t be sure what’s inside.”

  “Try 5-0-9-5.” I said. “Those are the last four digits of my agency’s phone number. We used it for everything – our security system, passwords, literally everything, because Harley’s so bad with numbers, she could never remember more than one.”

  He turned the suitcase on its side, punched in the numbers, and the lock popped.

  “Well,” he smiled, “you called that one.”

  Inside the bag was money. Bundles and bundles of money. “Bingo,” he said. He closed it back up and pulled out his phone. “I need to get a crime scene unit over here. And tell the Feds the money’s here. Tell ‘em to come get it.” Then he turned to me. “A helicopter will be landing shortly to take you to the airport. You don’t need another 8-hour drive back to LAX before you start your trip home. Now if you’ll excuse me.” I listened, as he instructed two officers to start “bagging” as soon as the ETs had done their work. “There’s a lot more than money to confiscate,” he told them.

  That’s right, I thought. Ferdy had disguises here that would tie him to this place, and in turn to the robbery, and maybe even Tony’s plane crash. I called Jack on my Mata Hari phone, and he picked up right away. “Audrey?”

  “It’s me – I am so glad to hear your voice.” I started to cry, as the tension began to leave my body. “It’s all over. Harley and Ferdy are in custody and Jack – we have the money!”

  “The money!” he shouted. “Now it’s my turn to cry. Are you kidding me? They had it with them? All of it?”

  “Not they – Harley – she’s the one who took it from my office. Can you believe that?”

  “How? When?”

  “Didn’t have time to ask her.”

  “Wait ‘til Carl hears that,” he laughed.

  “And Ferdy!” I said. “He’s been driving all over the country with it, and probably still has no idea!”

  “Come home to me,” Jack said, suddenly serious.

  “A helicopter is on its way to take me to LAX. Not sure yet how long it will take me to get home.”

  “I’ll be waiting for my punk rocker,” he laughed.

  “I’m hoping Lisa can fix me.”

  The helicopter I’d heard in the distance rapidly drew near and landed, its rotors blowing sand with a mighty force. The pilot helped me board and I stowed my duffle behind my seat. “Buckle up,” he said, and I watched the beach house, which was now surrounded by flashing lights, disappear as we flew away.

  I thanked the officer who escorted me from the airport helipad to the security line; he handed me a ticket, just as Jack said he would.

  “It’ll be good to get home,” I smiled. We shook hands and he went on his way.

  I woke up back in Philly, having at last slept soundly, and later, when I landed in Syracuse, I spotted Jack right away and ran to him. “Don’t ask me to wait,” he said, as he pulled the ring box out of his pocket. “Will you put this on now? Will you say yes?”

  I threw my arms around him. “Yes, yes, yes!” And I held out my left hand.

  He slipped the ring on my finger; it was more beautiful than I’d remembered. “I love it,” I said, as tears made their way down my face. “And I love you.”

  I turned at the sound of applause, and realized that our impromptu engagement had attracted a small group of spectators. I curtsied and Jack took a bow, then to cap off the performance, we kissed.

  Chapter 32

  On the ride back to my apartment, I filled Jack in on what had taken place at the airport and the beach house, and how Harley had told me that she was the one who’d taken the money.

  Jack said, “After all you did for that little shit. When I think of how she covered up for those thugs – honestly, that’s an alliance I would not have expected. It’s not how I thought this would turn out.”

  “That’s because Harley was such a pitiful figure, to me anyway, at least after I found out how badly Carl treated her. And she always made such a point of telling me how much she appreciated my friendship and the help I gave her, I mean, I never would have suspected her.”

  “Well at least your reputation is still intact in the world of advertising. Have you thought about reopening your agency?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to need some income, and fast. And honestly, the amount of billing I’ve lost will be hard to replace, especially in time to keep the agency afloat.”

  “You may have to put it off anyway,” he said. “Stearns’ trial has started. You’ll be heading to Rochester before long.”

  I felt like banging my head on the dashboard. You know, I could probably avoid the whole thing if I let Dr. Steele put me in the nut house for a while.”

  “Maybe. Or they could just postpone the trial till you got out. But I think you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for being. I think the woman I know and love would wan
t this thing behind her for all time, and not want to take even the smallest chance of Danny Stearns going free on some technicality. She’d want the tightest possible case against him.”

  “Me, right?” I smiled.

  “Of course you. And then life can go back to normal.”

  “I don’t even know what normal is any more.”

  “Well, to start your journey towards it, why not move in with me?”

  “Really?”

  “I was thinking we could go to my place; stay there for a while. Your landlord thinks you’re out of town anyway, so why not?”

  “I don’t have much with me.”

  “We can go to your place and pick up whatever you need in a couple of days. What do you say?”

  “Actually, that sounds really good. After all, we’re engaged and I’ve never even seen your place. Maybe I’ll pick up some clues to the inner you,” I teased. “You know, if your apartment is full of taxidermy, or if there’s a pool table in the living room, mirrors on the bedroom ceiling, that kind of thing.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “Actually, Jack,” I said, “the fact that I’ve never been to your home points up the fact that we haven’t known each other that long. Are we rushing into this marriage?”

  “We aren’t rushing. We’re in love.”

  We drove to Tipp Hill and pulled into the driveway of a huge brick home that looked to be a circa 1800 colonial, not far from the zoo, and across from the arboretum. “Which floor do you live on?” I asked, knowing that many older homes in this area had been converted into two-families.

  “Both,” he said, “I own it.”

  “You’re kidding,” I said. We entered through a side door and I wandered through room after room, in awe of the original pocket doors, woodwork, wide-plank hardwood floors, a butler’s pantry, two fireplaces, and high ceilings. “Jack,” I said, “this is spectacular!”

  “Thanks. I did most of the restoration myself. There’s still more to be done upstairs.”

  “I can’t wait to see the rest!” We climbed the stairs and he pointed the way to a bedroom that had been fully restored. “So stately,” I said. “Looks like a bedroom Lincoln would have slept in.” A four-poster bed dominated the room. “It’s just beautiful. So different than the tiny spaces I spend most of my time in.”

  “Reflects the inner me,” he laughed.

  “Show me your room.” He pointed again, indicating we needed to go to the other end of the hall. The room was enormous. “I didn’t realize these homes had such large bedrooms,” I said, feeling a little unsettled.

  “I knocked down a wall between two smaller ones,” he said.

  A cherry four-poster stood in the center of the space, with a chest of drawers against one wall and a highboy against another, both in the same rich wood. He’d managed to keep a sense of the bygone era, without the fussiness that can accompany that décor. Royal blues and burgundies on the bed and walls fairly screamed the fact that a man slept in this room; his service weapon, holstered and hung on a chair, fortified that.

  “My whole apartment could fit in here!” I said, “I love the color palette. I’m really impressed!”

  “So was I, when the decorator got done,” he laughed. “I did the construction, the woodworking, the windows, and all that, but I’m no good with color. I thank the Lord every day that I wear a uniform to work, so I don’t have to think about it.”

  “Do we get to sleep in here?”

  “We do. I’ll go down and lock up. Help yourself to a bath or a shower. Unwind.”

  “I’ll go with you and get a clean pair of pajamas out of my duffle.”

  “Oh,” he smiled, “you won’t be needing those tonight.”

  Chapter 33

  By the time Jack came back upstairs, I was soaking in the clawfoot tub. “You’ve modernized this with all the conveniences of a spa, yet still managed to make it feel like you’re stepping back in time.”

  He handed me a glass of wine, and pulled a wooden stool to the side of the tub. “You look relaxed,” he smiled, and took a sip from his own glass.

  “I am.”

  “Good. Soak. I’m going to grab a shower.” As part of Jack’s remodeling project, he’d installed a three-sided glass shower. Five water jets protruded from the walls at various levels, and a huge rain showerhead extended from the ceiling.

  I watched as he stripped the clothes from his perfect body and while he turned on the water and waited until it reached temperature. I took another sip of wine, unable to pry my eyes from the muscles of his arms and legs that flexed with every move. He seemed not to notice me staring. Men. They weren’t self-conscious about their bodies, like women were. Of course, there was no reason Jack should be worried about anyone seeing him naked. He was beautiful.

  He stepped into the shower, and the water glistened on his skin. I stayed put while he washed his hair, but a girl can only take so much. By the time he’d rinsed out the shampoo, I was standing with him under the spray, wrapped in his arms.

  Every inch of him was like granite pressed up against me; the very definition of a hard body. As he leaned down to kiss me, he slid his hands slowly down my back until he reached my bottom, where he massaged and probed, until I pleaded with him to get on with it. Obligingly, he reached further down, to the backs of my thighs, and picked me up. I wrapped myself around him, pleased that he seemed to be exerting no effort to hold me exactly where he wanted me. I stroked the back of his head, whispered to him, and in a single move, we were one.

  Later, as we snuggled under the covers, I glanced around the room, and my eyes rested on his service weapon. “Why did you become a police officer?”

  “Lots of reasons,” he said. “I was bullied in school, as a kid.”

  “You? Seriously?”

  “I was scrawny, not terribly athletic back then, and my family didn’t have much money. I was the awkward kid in old clothes the other boys made fun of to make themselves feel better.”

  “That’s awful!” I cuddled in closer.

  “Without my parents knowing it,” he said, “I stopped taking the bus and started walking to school. And before I left in the mornings, I ate as much as I could get away with, so I could skip lunch and not have my tray dumped in the cafeteria. It was a constant struggle to stay out of harm’s way.”

  “Did you tell anyone?”

  “My parents didn’t want to hear about it, and there was no way I was about to talk to a teacher, so I tried to avoid the kids that bugged me, and when I couldn’t, I suffered through it.”

  “When did things change?”

  “Not until after I graduated. But I believe that our past dictates who we become, and because I was bullied, I had this hope that one day I could be there for someone else, who felt they had no one to turn to.”

  “That’s noble,” I said, knowing that what he’d said was true: our past is responsible, at least to a large degree, for who we become.

  “That’s why a lot of people join the force,” he said. “Unfortunately, that feeling gets worked out of you pretty fast, once you see what the job really entails.”

  “Is that what drew you to me? You thought I needed someone to turn to?”

  “I didn’t know anything about you when we first met, except that at the time, you thought one of your clients had disappeared. I saw such compassion and worry in your face. I knew you were someone who cared about people. Plus,” he smiled, “you were hot.”

  “I was a mess shortly thereafter,” I said. “You’ve seen me. I can be a problem.”

  “Trying to talk me out of marrying you?”

  “Not on your life. If you’re dumb enough to ask, I’m smart enough to accept.”

  “Using that for your vows, are you?”

  “Short and sweet, right?”

  “Well, short anyway.”

  “I was thinking about making an appointment with Dr. Steele,” I said. “I’d like to try and convince her that I’m in pretty good shape, and get her of
f my back.”

  “Worth a try,” he said. “Show her the new you.” That should be easy, I thought, since she’s never met the old me. “I’ll tell you what I want,” he continued, “I want to see Harley testify against Ferdy.”

  “Do you think they’d let me see her?”

  “Harley? I don’t know. Why would you want to put yourself through that?”

  “I didn’t get to talk to her much in California. Maybe, if she’s cooled down a little, I can get more information out of her.”

  “It’s not common practice,” he said, “but I’ll see what I can do.”

  He handed me my freshly topped-off wine glass, then retrieved his own from the bedside table. “Cheers.”

  I held up my glass. “To my future husband. You know, back in the day, when this beautiful house was built, we’d never have been allowed to drink wine in bed together before we were married.”

  “Naked. Don’t forget naked.”

  “Bless the passage of time,” I said.

  He held up his glass and touched it to mine with a little clink. “To the passage of time. Know what else we wouldn’t have been allowed to do?”

  “Pray tell.”

  He put his glass back on the table and disappeared under the covers.

  “Oh,” I breathed. “That!”

  Chapter 34

  I fidgeted in my chair and waited for Harley to appear. The windowless walls in the visitor’s room were cement, and the furnishings, if you could call them that, consisted of an oblong table that was bolted to the floor, and two uncomfortable plastic chairs - one on either side of the immovable table. An officer stood outside the door.