Bunny Elder Adventure Series: Four Complete Novels: Hollow, Vain Pursuits, Seadrift, ...and Something Blue

by J. B. Hawker

  She laid her head on her arms and closed her swollen eyes.

  She hoped she might drift off to sleep and awake to find this was all just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dream.

  

  Max was being questioned for the third or fourth time.

  He had told his story to several different people and this official was yet another new interviewer.

  “As I have told each of your people, I came to Naples from Venezuela last week as crew on the sloop, Zeemeermin, Tenny Opijnen’s boat, out of the Dutch Antilles. We are tied up here at the public dock and were scheduled to sail back to South America tomorrow. I haven’t seen Opijnen since he turned up at that warehouse and then left with the mob boss, Parma.”

  “I knew Mrs. Elder and Mrs. Brackett back in the States,” he continued. “We ran into each other here in Naples totally by accident. Until I saw them getting into a cab I had no idea they were even in Europe. We met up on the roof garden of the Royal Palace and were minding our own business when we were accosted by Parma’s men. As we tried to escape, one of the goons fell off the roof in the scuffle. At that point, they tied our hands and took us as captives to the warehouse where you found us.”

  “While we were held at the warehouse, Mrs. Elder was beaten and we were all threatened. Those thugs seemed to think we had stolen a statue and some icons from them. Mrs. Brackett told them she had purchased a figurine like the one they described in a shop in Verona. They took her away to get the statue from her hotel and we have no idea what they may have done to her. We never saw her again.”

  Max paused to take a sip of water, and then continued his narrative.

  “Mrs. Elder and I managed to get loose when we were left with only the one guard. We overpowered him and tied him up and were attempting to get out of the warehouse before the others returned when your man arrested us.”

  “That is my full statement. It hasn’t changed one iota since I was asked the first time. It won’t change because it is the truth. Please just let me sign the frickin’ thing and call the U.S. Embassy so we can get out of this God forsaken country.”

  Not a patient man at the best of times, Banks was close to the edge.

  “Surely you can see why this story of yours is so puzzling to us, signor Banks. You and signora Elder hardly appear to be capable of overpowering such a strong man as the one we found bound in the warehouse. One would naturally expect you to need help, unless the gun was in your possession from the start.”

  “Also, you keep insisting you came to Italia on a sailboat with this man, Opijnen, but there is no such boat in port and the Harbor Master has no record of it. Although, to be sure, his office was broken into last night and his papers are in some disarray, so it is always possible a record of this mystery boat may yet be found.”

  “What do you mean, Zeemeermin’s not there? All my gear’s on that boat. I'm supposed to sail back home on it!” Max blurted in astonishment.

  “I am sorry, signor Banks, but neither this boat nor your shipmate is anywhere to be found in Napoli. The U.S. consulate has been notified you and your friends are here. Perhaps when their representative arrives, he will be able to offer you some assistance with your travels. After the problem of the attempted smuggling of our nation’s art treasures is resolved, of course.”

  Max was dumbstruck.

  He felt Tenny might be untrustworthy, but never imagined he would just sail away from Italy on his own and strand Max like this.

  Opijnen would have a hard time handling the boat single-handed. He would have to find another crewman before attempting the Atlantic crossing, Max was certain.

  “If you are interested in catching up with Tenny Opijnen, you might want to alert the authorities in Ponza. He has connections there and it is where we stopped in Sardinia on the way here,” Max offered.

  The official began to make a note, then paused and said, “Yes. It is a good idea for you to list your ports of call on your voyage here. It could be helpful to our investigation. I will have paper and pencil brought to you. At the same time you are doing this you may explain how a duffel bag full of U.S. currency came to be hidden in the alleyway near where you and signora Elder were discovered.”

  Max was bewildered by the man’s last remark.

  What duffel bag full of cash? What sort of quagmire has Bunny gotten me into, this time?

  Chapter 22

  I’ve kept still for a very long time. I’ve been silent and restrained myself.

  Isaiah 42:14

  Taffy walked back into the police station in some trepidation.

  Although she was treated well in the hospital, with each shaky step she remembered more vividly what had caused her to pass out in the first place.

  She was told at the hospital it was lack of food and water, but she knew it was the shock of being a suspected smuggler that sent her reeling.

  None of the Davis sisters had ever been accused of a crime.

  They hadn’t been perfect growing up, God knows, but none of their escapades had been criminal acts.

  Oh, there was the time in high school when Bunny and her best friend, Clarissa, had pulled the prank of painting the “sacred” senior class bench in the school colors.

  The headline in the local paper called it vandalism, but the whole thing was settled in a mock trial at the school.

  The two girls had cleaned the bench and begun an annual tradition among underclassmen.

  Other than that episode of Bunny’s, the sisters’ records were squeaky clean.

  Raised to feel guilty for everything from eating the last doughnut in the bag to global warming, Taffy and her sisters lived in horror of getting into trouble of any kind.

  A run-in with the Italian police was the worst kind of trouble and beyond her ability to cope.

  The police officer escorting her from the hospital led Taffy to an interrogation room and opened the door, ushering her inside.

  “Linda! Are you all right?”

  Bunny jumped up and hugged her sister enthusiastically, then immediately recoiled in pain.

  “Oh, Bunny, your poor face. Are you okay?”

  “You will please to be seated,” the policeman instructed.

  When both women had obeyed he left the room.

  “Tell me what’s been happening to you since that horrible man took you to get the figurine. How did you end up with the police?” Bunny queried.

  “Oh, it’s a long story. None of it seems real. Apparently, our dear Luigi suspected something bad was happening when I took that gangster to my room, so he called the police. When they arrived on the scene they arrested all of us. Even me. Oh Bunny, they think I’m a smuggler!”

  “Because of the statue, you mean? Just because you didn’t get a receipt?”

  “No. It was because those icons that were stolen in Venice were hidden inside the shepherd. That silly man in the Verona shop must have mistaken us for his criminal contacts. I suppose that’s why he was acting so strangely.”

  “Didn’t you explain all that to the police?”

  “Of course, I did! They won’t believe me. For one thing, they can’t accept a ‘little old lady’ was able to get away from that goon at the hotel like I did. It’s as if they think I was part of the gang, or something.”

  “It’s how they are treating me, too. Maybe when someone from the consulate gets here we can get this mess straightened out. But, we missed our flight this morning. Once we are free to go, how will we ever get home?”

  “Don’t worry about that. It will cost a bit more than I’d planned, but I am sure I will be able to get us tickets on a flight home, as soon as they let us leave. I am willing to go into debt, if necessary, just to get us out of this awful country and back home to the good old USA.”

  “Will you be able to get a refund for the flight we missed? I mean, under the circumstances, it really wasn’t our fault.”

  “I’m not sure being arrested is one of the refundable excuses, but I’m sure going to try, even
though it will be pretty embarrassing.”

  Taffy had napped and been fed and rehydrated in the hospital, but Bunny was still feeling the effects of their adventure and her deprivation.

  She yawned widely at the same time her stomach growled.

  “I guess if you want to get some food or rest around here you need to faint dead away, Sis. Do you want to lie on the floor while I call the guards?” Taffy asked wryly.

  “I think if I were to lie down, I would be out for hours. I’m so tired I’m not really hungry, despite what my stomach just implied.”

  

  Felice Parma and his legal representative were leaving the police station.

  His soldiers had been charged with disorderly conduct, fined and released earlier in the day.

  Parma was questioned extensively, but, upon legal advice, refused to answer in any detail.

  Since the police had only the accusations of the three Americans and no real proof, the officer in charge had apologized for inconveniencing Parma and let him go.

  It was so much easier to deal with the organized crime families in this way.

  Handling the legate from the U.S. consulate would be just a bit trickier.

  The officer knew an American consular officer will visit any U.S. citizen in jail, as soon as possible after learning of an arrest.

  A consular officer’s responsibility is to ensure the accused is receiving the same treatment accorded to anyone facing a similar charge, is receiving due process under Italian law and is not being mistreated or being discriminated against for being American.

  The consular officer will provide the accused with a list of English speaking attorneys from which to select representation.

  Consular officers cannot obtain a prisoner’s release.

  However, legal processes aside, the consular officer has many ways of applying political pressure to bear and could make the police officers’ lives miserable if he chose.

  The consular official in question, a tall distinguished looking man with silver hair and an impeccably tailored suit, was at that moment being introduced to Max Banks in his interrogation room.

  “I’m William Jennings, Mr. Banks. How may I help you?”

  “Good to meet you, at last, Jennings. My friends and I have been cooling our heels here for hours, and I just learned from one of our guards that the mobsters who kidnapped us have already been set free. I can’t say that I am too impressed with the Italian justice system, so far. You can help by getting us released and on our way back home.”

  “It does sound like you are in a pretty unpleasant situation, all right, Mr. Banks. You had better give me the details and let me see what we can do to straighten this out.”

  The two men took their seats at the table and Max proceeded to tell the consulate official what had transpired since his arrival in Naples.

  After talking with Banks, Jennings spoke briefly to the police duty officer, making notes of the official version of events.

  He was left with a good many questions as he prepared to interview the two ladies.

  After the policeman on guard admitted Jennings to the detention room, he introduced himself to the women.

  “Mrs. Elder, Mrs. Brackett, I am William Jennings from the American Consulate in Naples. May I join you?”

  “At last! Are we ever happy to see you! It’s about time. We’ve been kept in this room forever,” Taffy snapped.

  “Please, sit down, Mr. Jennings,” Bunny offered.

  Jennings was shocked to see the injuries to Bunny’s face. As a diplomat, he was trained to hide his reactions, but it took an effort to keep his composure.

  “Are you going to get these police to let us go home, now?”

  “Well, Mrs. Brackett, I will certainly do what I can to assure you are treated fairly. First, I need to ascertain all the facts.”

  “Mrs. Elder, do you mind telling me how you received your injuries? Did the police do that?”

  “Oh, no. They haven’t hurt us, not physically, anyway. Anthony Parma’s nephew caused my bumps and bruises. He was trying to get me to tell him where the icons were. I didn’t know what he was talking about, so he kept hitting me.”

  “Neither of us knew the icons were hidden in my shepherd statue. If that thug hadn’t blown his head off trying to get into my room, we would have never known,” Taffy offered.

  “Someone’s head was blown off?” Jennings asked incredulously.

  “No, no, the shepherd’s head. He was on my bed and it got shot off in the spray of bullets. I was in the bathtub, so the shots never hit me. That Lucca guy was so mad when I got away from him and locked him out of my room. I don’t think he was even aiming, really. He was just trying to blow the door apart with bullets.”

  “Well, he might have still been mad at you for throwing his buddy off the roof of the palace, Taffy,” Bunny interjected.

  “I suppose you could be right. He didn’t have a chance to get revenge for that accident after old Mr. Parma fainted and insisted I hold his hand while he died.”

  Jennings seemed bemused.

  “Perhaps I had better hear your story from the beginning.”

  Chapter 23

  And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts. Genesis 18:5

  Sometime after Jennings left them, a young policewoman entered the room where Bunny and Taffy were being held. She placed pen and paper on the table and smiled.

  “We are so sorry for all of the delay and inconvenience, signore. You may be aware there was much confusion and incomplete information in this happening. We only realized at this time that before now you are not able to tell friends or family of your situation or to tell of the delay in your return to the United States. If you will be pleased to write down the names and contact numbers on this paper, your people will be notified.”

  Taffy immediately took the paper and pen and began rapidly writing the contact information for their sister, Jean.

  She hesitated only a moment and then added her grown son, Timothy, with his address and phone number in Australia.

  Relations with her son and his family were strained. Tim’s wife, Sharon, had never liked Taffy and seemed to do all she could to alienate mother and son.

  Taffy had never even met her two grandchildren, Loman and Ellery, who were now young adults.

  When Walt fell ill, Timothy was asked to come home, but the expense, plus responsibilities of the sheep station, prevented it. Taffy suspected Sharon of discouraging the trip, as well.

  Bunny watched her sister writing and felt a pang of loneliness because she had no names to add to the sheet of paper.

  She wasn’t blessed with children and was never close to her in-laws.

  Taffy and Jean were all she had, and this sudden realization, on top of the horrific events of the past couple of days, was like a chill wind blowing through her.

  “I think you covered it,” she said, shaking her head when Taffy pushed the paper across to her.

  “Did I notice you putting Tim’s information down? Do you think he will get in touch with you, or will that controlling wife of his stop him?”

  “Try not to be too hard on him, Bunny. He loves Sharon, and she’s been a good mother to the kids. They seem to have turned out beautifully, from what I hear.”

  “From what you hear. Yeah. That’s exactly what I mean. She never let you be a part of those kids’ lives.”

  “They live in Australia, Bunny. I could hardly babysit the kids after school! And they grew up before the wonders of video conferencing, like we have today. Cards, letters and pictures were all we had,” Taffy sighed.

  “Tim is a good son. I know he loves me. He’s just not able to stand up to Sharon, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, dear. Forget I said anything.”

  After the policewoman left with the names and numbers, Bunny was overcome by a tsunami of fatigue. As it washed over her she lowered her head onto her arms and her eyes closed immediately, like those of an old-
fashioned baby doll.

  Within seconds she was asleep.

  

  Angry voices rang out from the superintendent’s office down the hall.

  The consular attaché was expressing his displeasure with the way the Americans were being treated.

  He took strong exception to the mafia members being coddled and released.

  In comparison, it appeared the U.S. citizens were being discriminated against. This was providing the leverage he needed to exert pressure on the Italian police.

  “But, be reasonable, Jennings, these women were found with the stolen goods! They were in Venice on the night of the robbery. Their male companion came here on a smuggler’s boat from South America! We must consider them suspects in the thefts of our religious art treasures. Surely you can see that? The only whisper of wrong-doing against signor Parma and his companions was the word of our suspects and is therefore not to be trusted.”

  “Parma is a known member of the Camorra mob, actually the new head of it, if rumors are to be believed. He personally beat a small, fragile, defenseless, widowed American tourist, while his men terrorized all three of these obviously harmless visitors to your country. Have you seen that poor woman’s face? You have only to look at her to see she is telling the truth! And her sister was hospitalized as a result of your mistreatment. When word of this gets out, what will it do to your city’s image and tourist income, eh? Had you thought of that? I can imagine the travel posters now: Come to dirty, dangerous Naples, get beaten up by real Italian mobsters and arrested and mistreated by unfeeling Polizia!”

  Jennings threw up his hands dramatically. He was enjoying this rare instance of holding the upper hand.

  “But the stolen icons? Would you have us ignore the theft?”

  “Thanks to these three heroic Americans, you now have your icons back, do you not? And we both know the real thieves were probably Parma and his minions. If these innocent tourists had not stumbled into the middle of it, you would never have seen your treasures, again. Thanks to the Americans’ involvement, you not only recovered the icons which were hidden in the statue, but the rest of your stolen goods were found in that warehouse. Am I right? If I were in your shoes, I would celebrate the recovery of your sacred objects and provide your hostages with a reward.”