“Your daughter sent herself tumbling off that balcony. And if you lay one hand on Maggie, I’ll….”
“Silence!” Andy roared. “Or I’ll blow the bitch’s brains out right now.”
Preston stopped talking, his heart pounding harder than a freight train. The man was insane. “Okay,” he said. “Just calm down. No one wants to do anything here they might regret later.”
“What makes you think I’d regret it?”
Preston paused and glanced around the dark room, only then noticing the open window. That had to be how the bastard had dragged her off unnoticed. The window was wide and set low to the ground. Preston hoisted himself up and through it, coming out of the building just to the side of the parking lot. He looked around, but saw only empty parked cars. Wherever Andy was, it wasn’t here. “Andy, listen to me.”
“No, Tyler. You listen to me. I’m driving out of Key West right now, to a cabin I’ve rented on Big Pine Key, two miles off the highway, facing the Florida Bay and set back away from the road. The driveway’s flanked by two tall, pine trees and there’s a yellow mailbox beside one of them. And do you know what I’m going to do when I get there?”
Preston remained quiet, not sure what response might set the man off.
“Well, don’t you want to know?” Andy screamed at him.
“Of course, Andy. What are you going to do?”
“I want you to know exactly how I felt when Taralynn died, Tyler. So I’m going to hurt dear, sweet Maggie. Strangle her with my bare hands. Or maybe I’ll just feed her to the gators. What do you say, Tyler? Do you think the gators would enjoy eating her flesh as much as you do? Oh, and Preston?”
“What?”
“I’m sure you’ll be tempted to call the cops. But if you do, if I hear anything at all on the police scanner I’m listening to, I’ll just pop a bullet in her sweet little head right away instead of waiting around for you to join us and watch me do it.”
Preston saw a red haze in front of him. His total, absolute anger took over. He knew he should probably call the cops, tell someone where he was going, but he wasn’t about to waste even a second. Or chance that Andy really was listening to some sort of police scanner. As long as Andy wanted to kill Maggie in front of him, she was still alive. And as long as she was still alive, there was still a chance he could save her.
“Andy,” he spit out. “I’m coming after you. And when I get to that cabin on Big Pine Key, if Maggie isn’t safe and sound and completely unmolested, I’ll be the one feeding you to the gators.”
Chapter 76
Feelings of fear and anger had passed and now Maggie felt only numb. Except for an acid glob that seemed to rise in her throat whenever Andy Clarke stopped his pacing and stared at her. Reason no longer resided in his eyes. Just a cold stare that flickered with excitement whenever she gasped or tried to move away from him.
He’d surprised her in the bathroom. Put a gun to her head. She had no doubt he would have shot her had she not gone quietly with him. The tone in his voice alone gave away the madness eating at him. She had thought she’d be able to escape from the car once they were on the road by jumping out while he was driving. That thought had been abandoned, however, as soon as she’d gotten inside the car and realized he’d torn off the inside door knob on the passenger side.
He’d tied her up as soon as he’d gotten her inside the cabin. Her situation wasn’t looking too good, and she was starting to run out of ideas. She leaned back against the wall. It was a wood wall. Old and scarred from time. And it smelled like smoke. The bed he’d tossed her onto was old, too. A twin bed with a lumpy mattress that had been worn unevenly in places.
It was dark in the cabin except for a small candle Andy had burning on the dresser across the room. The flickering light lit up his face in a way that made him look, not just insane, but wicked and sinister. Or maybe that was just the real Andy shining through.
She tried uselessly to squirm free from her bindings. Her wrists felt as frayed as the rope that tied them together, and she was suffocating from the stagnant heat of the night. The least he could have done was turn on the ceiling fan hanging overhead.
He’d drugged her, too. Made her drink down some kind of pills. She wasn’t sure what they were, but she was starting to feel their effects. Numb, heavy limbs and distorted vision.
She wanted to cry. Wanted to so intensely it made her feel sick. But no way would she give the crazy bastard the satisfaction of breaking her. In Andy Clarke’s mind, her tears would be entertainment. So she remained stubborn. Quiet. Stoic. Accepting the blows he’d landed on her face and head. Tolerating his leering looks and rough handling without a peep. Though, she feared her resolve would crumble if he tried to rape her.
Andy stopped pacing and stared at her again. “Isn’t that goddamn valium working on you yet? You should be flat on your back by now.”
In truth, his face swayed in front of her now, and she felt like she might slump over at any minute, but she gritted her teeth and forced out a reply. “Is that how you get women into bed with you, Andy? Drug them first? Must be awfully boring for you.”
“Shut up!” He screamed.
He’d become agitated again, and restless, pacing back and forth in front of her. Only now it looked like someone moving under a strobe light. She tasted the acid glob again and started to slump over. “No,” she whimpered. She bit back a sob, straining to keep the world still in front of her.
“Oh yes, my darling.” Andy bent down beside her, stroking his fingers across her cheek.
His touch repulsed her. Forced that damn acid glob farther up her throat. She didn’t want him near her. Didn’t want to feel his hot breath on her face. Didn’t want to feel her stomach roil as he drew within inches of her. He licked his finger and ran it slowly over her mouth. She would not cry. She would not.
“Do you know how easy it would be for me to take you out into the Florida Bay and use you for shark bait, Maggie?”
She shook her head. His words sounded far away to her now, and slurred, as if he were speaking in slow motion. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Why?” He peeled off a high-pitched cackle. “Why do you think I’m doing this? I thought you were a smart girl. Can’t you figure it out?”
She shook her head again. “No. Tell me.”
“Fine!” He jumped up and started pacing in front of her again. “If you can’t figure it out, I will tell you. I’m going to kill you, Maggie dear.” He stopped pacing and bounced down on the bed, pushing his face nose to nose with hers.
She gagged.
“That’s right. And I’m going to make it look like Preston did it.” He started laughing, almost hysterically and shook her by the shoulders. “Can’t you just appreciate the brilliance of my plan? You’re dead and Preston’s in jail for your murder. And me? Well, I just walk away with Ty-Ken. Don’t you see? Even though Preston took Taralynn away from me, he’s still going to lose. He’s going to lose Ty-Ken. He’s going to lose his freedom. And he’s going to lose you!”
His plan made no sense. No one would ever believe Preston would kill her. Andy didn’t know Preston was selling the company to Nick. “You’re …” She tried speaking, but her tongue felt like rubber in her mouth. She couldn’t seem to get any words out. “… crazy.”
She couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. Tried hard, but couldn’t do it. Her eyelids were too heavy. She closed them and felt darkness close in around her.
Chapter 77
Chester had been on hold with the Key County Sheriff’s Department for five minutes before he finally got a deputy on the phone.
“This is Deputy Harlan Granger speaking. What seems to be the trouble?” the man asked when he answered the phone. “Lucinda tells me you think somebody’s life might be in danger.”
Chester noted the old boy had an especially pronounced southern drawl. “If I might be allowed to explain, I am the butler for J. Anderson Clarke, of Clarke Industries.”
“Y
ou mean the one whose kid dove off that building in Miami?”
“That’s correct.” Chester paused, hating the tactless way the man spoke of Taralynn’s death. He might not have personally cared for the girl, but it was still a terrible tragedy.
“So, are you saying Andy Clarke’s life is in danger now, too? You think maybe he’s going to dive off a building next?”
“No. Rather, I think Mr. Clarke is about to endanger the life of Preston Tyler.” Chester had contemplated this call heavily before making it, but the manner in which Andy Clarke had spoken on the way to the airport, about everything coming to an end for Tyler tonight, and the secrecy with which his boss had made his travel arrangements, making them himself instead of enlisting Chester’s aid, had brought suspicions to the butler’s mind. He still felt terrible about the way Elise Chambers had killed herself right after he’d helped Andy tap her phone line. And then Taralynn had followed suit. No one else needed to die over what had become one man’s greed and his daughter’s hurt feelings spun terribly out of control.
There was a pause on the deputy’s end, and what sounded to Chester like someone rummaging through paperwork.
“Okay,” the man said. “What leads you to believe Andy Clarke is going to hurt Preston Tyler? Did he tell you this?”
“No,” Chester answered. He was getting anxious now. This conversation was already taking too long. “But when I drove Mr. Clarke to the airport to catch his flight to Miami today, he spent the entire drive ranting on and on about his daughter’s suicide and how he thought Mr. Tyler was the cause of it.”
“Did he say he was going to do anything to Mr. Tyler? Did he make any threats?”
“No. Nothing specific.” Chester felt the first flickering of impatience. Why wouldn’t the daft man listen to him? “But there’s more to it than that. A short time ago, I received a call from a travel agent I have never dealt with before, not Mr. Clarke’s usual agent, but someone altogether different….”
“Sir, would you mind getting’ to the point?”
“Yes, of course.” Chester cleared his throat. Bloody ass rude wanker. “My point being I noticed Mr. Clarke’s bottle of valiums missing from his bedside table, and then I received a call from this previously unknown travel agent, telling me Mr. Clarke should be sure to shut off the water and air conditioning when he departs from the cabin on Big Pine Key.”
“Look, Sir, I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s not exactly evidence a crime is about to take place. But, if it’ll make you feel any better, it just so happens tonight is Miss McKenzie’s big charity to-do, so I’ve had my men patrolling by that place regularly. And I just saw Mr. Tyler giving an interview on live TV. So, I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about.”
“I see. Well, thank you for your time.”
Chester hung up the phone and wondered if he should let it go at that. He still felt uneasy. It occurred to him then that the phone number to Maggie’s bar would undoubtedly be easily obtained from information. Perhaps it would be best to express his concerns to Preston directly.
Chapter 78
Nick listened skeptically as Henry related the details of his telephone conversation with Chester. He shook his head as if in disagreement. “The butler’s story is just a little far-fetched,” he said. “Andy Clarke couldn’t get inside this place tonight, let alone harm Preston. You’re not seriously worried about that, are you?”
Henry shrugged. “I believe the man’s concern is genuine. As to whether it’s well founded, I don’t know. We couldn’t find Preston to take this call in the first place, could we?”
Nick had considered that as well, but didn’t find Preston’s disappearance too surprising. Maggie had disappeared as well, and Nick assumed they just wanted a little privacy. “Look,” he told Henry, “you said yourself, the last time you saw Preston he was looking for Maggie. I think it’s safe to assume he found her.”
Henry opened his mouth, but was cut off by Tracy coming up from behind and wrapping her arms around him. “Hey, lover, anybody seen Maggie? Several women have complained to me about one of the ladies rooms being out of order. They want to know when it’s going to be fixed.”
“I imagine Maggie’s with Preston somewhere,” Nick said. “Probably his place or hers. Do you really want to bother them with something like this?”
Tracy was already shaking her head. “I’ve called and left messages at both those places and on their cell phones already and I’m not getting a response from either one of them.”
Nick chuckled. “Maybe they’re just not answering the phone.”
“Have you ever known Preston to not answer his phone?” Henry asked.
“It’s true. I haven’t. But maybe he’s making an exception tonight.”
Tracy nodded then, as if finally getting his implication.
Nick was prepared to let the matter drop when a young man looking out of place in a tuxedo serving uniform and carrying a plunger, came up to Tracy and tapped her on the shoulder. He carried something else in his other hand, but in the dim lighting, Nick couldn’t quite discern what.
“Excuse me, Ms. Capelli,” he said. “I found this in the bathroom when I went to try and find out what was wrong.”
He showed Tracy a red, silk handbag. Maggie’s?
“The light’s not working either, and the bathroom window’s wide open.”
Tracy’s reaction confirmed it.
“Oh no,” she mumbled. “I think something’s wrong.”
Henry looked at the handbag and turned to Nick. “That settles it. I’m going to check out Big Pine Key.” He gave Tracy a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry to duck out early on you, darling, but I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“Henry, what are you not telling me? What’s going on at Big Pine Key?”
“Nothing for you to worry about. I’m just going to drive up there and check things out. I’ll be back before you even have time to miss me.”
“I already miss you,” Tracy pouted. “And I don’t like the thought of you going there by yourself.”
“Don’t worry,” Nick cut in. “He’s not going out there alone. I’m going with him.”
Henry had the nerve to look offended. “You are not.”
Nick ignored the protests. “I’m coming with you, and I’m driving. I don’t need you feeling guilty about speeding.”
“Maybe you guys should call the police,” Tracy suggested.
At this point, however, Nick figured that would only take up more time. He shook his head. “Why don’t you call them and have them meet us out there? Henry, let’s go.”
Chapter 79
The valium had caused Maggie to doze off. She didn’t know for how long, but suspected from the candle still burning it hadn’t been more than a few minutes. She still felt like she was fighting off the effects of the drug. Her head felt like a rock. God, but she wanted to sit up from her slumped over position. If only she could get her body to cooperate just long enough to move. The drugs had relaxed her to the point of immobility. One beneficial side effect, however, was that they had calmed her emotional state as well. Her fear and rage were gone now, and she felt as if she was thinking more clearly. Even when she saw Andy stop and stoop in front of her.
“Feeling better?” he asked. “Dear Elise liked valium, too. Liked it so much she let me feed her twenty more after the first two.”
He grinned, and Maggie felt the prickle of alarm, hidden somewhere in the haze of her relaxed state. Andy wasn’t new to this game. He had killed Elise. God, he had murdered her. And Preston had been blaming himself all this time for a suicide that had never happened.
“You killed Elise,” she said, and was surprised at the weak whisper her voice had become. “Why?”
Andy threw his head back laughing. He sounded shrill and unstable, like a mad scientist in a B-movie. Did he really sound that way? Or had the drugs distorted her hearing?
“What did you expect me to do? Let her continue spreading my personal affairs a
ll over the city?”
“It was … your own fault,” she said.
His face turned bright red, and an instant later he slapped her hard across the face. It stung, even being drugged. She moved only enough to flinch.
“It was not my fault!” He raged. “I never told that bitch to go running her mouth about who I was sleeping with. She brought that overdose on herself. It was her fault! Hers! Not mine! I never do anything without a good reason.”
A single tear slid down her cheek, independent of her control. “You’re … sick.”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear another word out of you. Just keep your mouth shut and sign this.”
He shoved a piece of paper in front of her, but her vision was too blurred to read it. “What is it?”
In response, he whipped the gun out of his belt buckle. He pressed the barrel against her head, and pulled back on the hammer. He shoved a pen into her hand and directed it down to a spot on the paper, just above a long line. “Sign the goddamn thing,” he said. “Or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”
She scrawled her signature obediently, barely able to move her hand. Her signature looked large and run together and distorted. She could barely recognize it as her own.
“What did I sign?” she asked.
He leaned his face in closer to her, grinning. “You just sold your entire holding of Ty-Ken stock to me.”
“For how much?” she asked. Somewhere in the haze threatening to overtake her thoughts, a part of her struggled to find reason. “The sale has to be … fair market value.”
He started laughing again. “Dear, sweet, Maggie. Ever the pragmatist. But, of course, you’ve missed the point.”
What did he mean by that? What was he talking about?
“When Preston gets here and finds out you’ve sold your stock to me, sold him out, he’s going to be so angry he’s going to kill you.” He laughed wildly now. “At least, that’s what the world is going to think.”
GRATIFICATION (Desire Never Dies) Page 30