The Marquesa's Necklace (Oak Grove Mysteries Book 1)

by P. J. MacLayne

  “’Bout time you woke up,” a man’s voice said. A rough hand lifted my chin and a light was shone into my now tearful eyes, one eye at a time. I started to gag. “Promise not to scream, I’ll take that rag out of your mouth.” I nodded, and coughed as the musty air hit my lungs. Then I gasped, and swallowed hard to clear my throat.

  The flashlight was turned off again leaving the room darker than ever. I tried to see who was there with me, but could only make out the vague outline of a figure standing close by. I squirmed in the chair, and the man laughed.

  “Unless you make like Houdini, you ain’t goin’ nowhere,” he said. “And now that you’re awake, I gotta do this.” A dark cloth waved in front of my face for a moment and settled across the bridge of my nose, covering my eyes. He fumbled behind me, tying it securely. Then his hands were on my face, adjusting the material. His breath, as he leaned over me, smelled of stale cigarettes and alcohol. One hand rested on my right cheek for a second and then a sharp slap bounced my head against the back of the chair. “Just so you know I ain’t kiddin’ around. One noise out o’ you and the gag goes back in. Comprende?”

  I tasted blood on my lip where I had bit it. Tears leaked from my eyes, but were quickly absorbed by the blindfold.

  “Now be a good little girl and stay right where you are.” He chuckled, and I wanted to hit him where it would hurt the most. “I’ll be checking on you.”

  I listened as his footsteps grew muffled. Had he left? I sniffed, trying to stop the tears, and listened harder. In the distance, it sounded as if he was carrying on a one-sided conversation, but I couldn’t pick up on the actual words. That meant he would be too far away to see what I was about to do.

  Slowly, I lifted just my left hand to test the give of the plastic tie that strapped me to the chair. Not much, but with any luck I could slide my wrist down about an inch. Hopefully I could drag the binding down with it. I remembered the arm of the chair narrowed near the end.

  God, it hurt! The plastic cut into my skin as I tried to move. It didn’t give at all and each attempt made it bite deeper into my wrist. Finally, I gave up. But only on that side. Time to try my right hand. It might have been my imagination, but when I tested it, it seemed a little looser.

  I was making progress—at least I thought I was—when footsteps approached. Frustrated, I stiffened and stopped. I sensed a bright light in front of me through the blindfold.

  “You’ll be having company pretty soon.” I felt him reach out and touch my swollen lip. “Too bad about that,” he said. “Such a pretty face. No wonder Hennessey fell for you.”

  “What’s Jake have to do with this?” I whispered.

  “Not for me to tell you. But I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” He adjusted the blindfold. It had slipped and I’d hoped to be able to see soon. I wanted to scream with frustration, but that would earn me another hard slap, and the gag back in my mouth. The footsteps walked away, but didn’t go as far. “I’ll be over here if you need anything.” There was a plop and a squeak, not far enough away for me to go back to work on my right wrist.

  Time for Plan B. Who knew how long I had before someone else arrived? What excuse would convince him to untie me? Then I realized I didn’t need an excuse.

  “I need to use the bathroom.”

  He grunted. “Not going to happen.”

  I waited a minute. “Please?” I asked, trying to sound like a little girl. “I really have to go.”

  That earned me another grunt. “Toilet ain’t working. And there’s no paper.”

  I wiggled my butt in the chair. “I don’t care,” I said between artificially-clenched teeth. “It’ll air dry. Please?”

  He sighed. I think I was getting to him. But my plan was interrupted by the sound of a car nearby. He flicked off the flashlight—I knew because everything seemed even blacker than before—and I heard him stand up and move. I wished I knew where he went. This might be my chance.

  But then one of his hands was across my mouth and his lips were pressed to my ear. “Not a peep outta you,” he whispered. His hand stank as bad as his clothes, and I gritted my teeth and breathed through them to keep from gagging.

  A door opened and closed somewhere, and my captor tensed. Then all I could hear was the sound of air being pushed in and out of his lungs. It was only a moment but seemed like forever.

  Then a light struck my eyes through the blindfold. “She give you any problems?” asked the new voice. My stomach churned. I recognized that voice. Eric Wolff.

  “Eric?” I asked tentatively.

  “That name is as good as any,” he said.

  I should have trusted my instincts. “What’s going on?”

  He didn’t answer right away. The scent of his aftershave alerted me to his closeness, and then the blindfold was yanked off. I blinked and tried to see his face. All I could see was his chest. “What happened to her lip?” he asked.

  “Just a little love tap. Let her know who was in charge,” the first man told him.

  “Huh.” Eric squatted down in front of me. I caught my breath as he pulled out a large knife and waved it in front of my face. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have too. Now behave yourself.”

  The knife slashed downward, and the plastic strap around my right wrist fell away. He moved a few inches, and the left one hit the floor. He grabbed my left hand and pushed up the sleeve of my sweater, and shook his head.

  None of my self-defense training prepared me for this kind of situation. As Eric knelt down to cut the straps from my ankles, I imagined how good it would feel for my foot to make contact with his face. But there was the issue of the knife, the cord pulled tight around my chest, and the other man. I wasn’t that good.

  So I sat quietly, shaking my arms to get the blood flowing. With a sinister grin, Eric put the tip of the knife to my throat and stared at me. He caught my chin with his other hand so I couldn’t look away from him as he drew the knife down between my breasts. I wasn’t expecting him to lean over and push his mouth against mine, and when he did, it hurt my already-injured lip.

  Instinctively, I tried to pull back and push him away. Because I was still tied to the chair, my efforts were ineffective. “Damn, not the usual reaction to my kisses,” Eric said. “Perhaps I should try again.” The knife was back at my throat. “Maybe this time you’ll play along.”

  “It hurt,” I whined. I trembled as he ran the blade of the knife over my bottom lip. The cold blade felt good against the heat of the wound.

  “Excuses, excuses.” He seemed to consider the situation, and cut the rope holding me upright in the chair. I slumped forward and my head bumped against his stomach. As I sat back up, he laughed and slipped the knife back into its sheath on his belt.

  “They never like it rough until you train ’em right,” the first man said.

  Eric looked annoyed. “Shut up.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, which he tossed to the other man. “Go get the camera out of the car. It’s in the trunk.” As the man left, Eric crouched down in front of me. “It’s like this,” he said. “Your boyfriend has something that belongs to my boss, and my boss wants it back real bad. Now, if you can’t tell me where it is, we’ll just make sure Hennessey has a reason to give it back.” He reached out and stroked my cheek. “As long as he plays along you won’t get hurt.”

  My thoughts jumbled together but I managed to put together a couple of coherent sentences. “In case you haven’t heard, Jake Hennessey isn’t my boyfriend anymore. What makes you think he’ll do anything for me?”

  “That’s a risk we’ll have to take.” He stood, and yanked me up with him. My legs still weren’t steady, and if he hadn’t held on to me, I would have ended up in a pile on the floor. He pulled me tight against him. “I almost hope he doesn’t take the bait. That would give me an excuse to do a little playing of my own.”

  I wasn’t having any of it. I raised my leg to drive my heel into his foot. When the arch of my foot met his shoe lea
ther, I realized I was barefooted. Frustrated, I pounded my fists on his chest. He grabbed both of my hands and shoved them behind my back.

  For a moment, I thought he was going to hit me. Instead, he smiled. “You keep that up, and I won’t be waiting.” I think he was going to kiss me again, but was interrupted when the other man came back in the room.

  “Found it,” the man said, holding up the camera. “It was in the back seat, not in the trunk.”

  “Saved by the bell,” Eric said as he released me. I stumbled back and fell into the chair. It almost tipped over, but he caught it by its arms. “Playtime is over and now it’s time to take care of business.”

  I decided to try Plan B again. “I need to go to the bathroom.” I said.

  The first man said “She asked about it before you got here.” I needed a name for him since no one had told me yet what it was. Rufus. With his rough features and old clothes, it fit.

  Eric stared at me. “Shit,” he said eventually. How appropriate, I thought. “I knew I forgot something.”

  “I’ve been heading out into the back yard,” Rufus suggested. For a moment I glimpsed a ray of hope. “No one anywhere around here to see me.” So much for the ray. “Should work for her, too.”

  “Not without one of us to keep an eye on her.” Eric countered.

  “You’re seriously not going to watch me while I go?” I sputtered.

  Rufus chuckled behind me and a slow grin spread across Eric’s face. “Tempting, but no. But we will need to tie you up. And one of us will need to stay with you.”

  “And how is that going to work?” Blood rushed to my cheeks. “I need to spread my legs apart to squat down.”

  The smile got bigger. My face got hotter.

  They finally figured out a solution. By then I really had to go. So with one rope tied to my ankles, with about a foot of slack, and another tying my wrists together, I waddled outside. Eric followed behind, shining a flashlight in front of me. When I chose my spot, I demanded he turn around and turn off the light. Then I turned my back to him and took care of business.

  My mind worked furiously, trying to figure out how to use the opportunity to my advantage, but between my bare feet and the rope, running was impossible. I considered wrapping my tied wrists around Eric’s neck and trying to strangle him, but he was taller and stronger. As I stood and pulled up my pants, I looked around in the dim light provided by the half-moon and hunted for a weapon of some sort. A board, a brick, anything. But it was too dark and the grass too long for the yard to give up any treasures. There weren’t even lights from any other houses. A cow mooed in the distance and a whippoorwill called for its mate, but no sound of human activity reached my ears. “I’m done,” I muttered, and Eric turned on the flashlight. Miserable, I led the way back inside.

  “Time to go to work,” he said, slamming the door behind us. He put his hands on my shoulders, and squeezed, bringing tears to my eyes. “If you don’t do exactly as I say, I can hurt you more than that. Understood?” He didn’t let go until I nodded. “Good.” He gave me a little push, and I re-entered the little room that was my prison.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I wouldn’t call what I had to do “work” but some people don’t consider what I do to make a living work either. All Eric wanted me to do was hold up the day’s newspaper while he took pictures of me. I didn’t have to take my clothes off or pose or anything. Rufus held the flashlight, shining it in my eyes to make me squint, while Eric worked the camera. All I had to do was face the men and try not to blink. Most were close-ups, but Eric made sure to include a couple of shots that showed the rope around my wrists and the cuts from where the plastic strap broke the skin. He even showed me the pictures on the camera display. I looked terrible, but that’s what he aimed for.

  “Will Hennessey cave when he sees these?” Rufus took his turn scrolling through the camera display. I wondered the same thing. Would he even care?

  “If not, we’ll take things up a notch.” Eric stroked my hair. He’d taken the bun out for the last batch of pictures. I wanted to jump out of the chair and get as far away as possible, but forced myself to hold still. “The boss said to give Hennessey a couple of days to supply the info.”

  A couple of days? There was that sick feeling in my stomach again. How long did Eric plan to keep me here? And what would happen after they got what they wanted from Jake?

  I cleared my throat and hoped that they wouldn’t hear the shakiness in my voice. “What are you guys looking for, anyway? You haven’t told me.” Maybe if I told them what they wanted to hear, they would let me go. Or, they might kill me. I had the impression that Eric didn’t look forward to hurting me, so it was a chance I was willing to take.

  In the long silence that followed, I wondered if I had made a mistake. With the flashlight aimed at me, their facial expressions were masked by the darkness.

  “We already know it’s not in your apartment,” Eric said about the time I started to drum my fingers on the arm of the chair. With my hands tied up, it was proving difficult. “But Hennessey may have told you where he stashed it.”

  “Stashed what?” I asked. Why did he keep talking in circles?

  Another long pause. “A necklace. A ruby and diamond necklace,” Eric said eventually. I sat in stunned silence. This was bad. This was very bad.

  Eric couldn’t stand the silence that followed. “Hennessey acquired the necklace the same time as my boss’s wife decided she wanted it. And when she decides she wants something, she puts the boss through hell until she gets it.”

  “But didn’t Jake return it to the store after I gave it back to him?” I asked.

  This provoked an outburst of laughter from the men. “You win the bet,” Rufus chortled. “You said she didn’t know.”

  “And we aren’t going to tell her,” Eric said.

  “Tell me what?” I asked.

  “Just you never mind. And no, your boyfriend didn’t return it.” I didn’t even bother to correct him. Eric knew Jake wasn’t my boyfriend. “So where is it?”

  My brain shifted into overdrive. “I suppose he might have given it to one of his other ladies.” There was no mistaking the bitterness in my voice. “Since I wasn’t the only one.”

  “I suspect not,” Eric said softly. But then his voice changed. “Okay, enough. You can’t tell us anything and I have to get these pictures to my contact.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a baggie. It contained one white pill. “Now, we can do this one of two ways. Either you can take this on your own, or I can tie you back to the chair and shove it down your throat. Your choice.”

  “What is it? Haven’t you drugged me enough already for one day?” I asked sourly. Yeah, I’d figured that out.

  “It’s a just a mild sleeping pill. You take it and crawl into the sleeping bag in the corner over there. In the morning, I’ll bring you breakfast and wake you up.”

  “How about bringing me my glasses and some books?” I grumbled. “I’m going to get awful bored.”

  “Her glasses are on the front seat,” Eric told Rufus. “And bring in a bottle of water too.” He lifted my chin with his hand. “And don’t even think about trying to fake it. I know all the tricks.”

  So much for plan C, waiting until Rufus fell asleep and then making my escape. Like a good little hostage, I swallowed the pill, and allowed Eric to zip me into the sleeping bag.

  He confused me. Sometimes he seemed so gentle and other times I had the impression he would be just as happy letting Rufus deal with me. Rufus I had figured out. From the moment he slapped me I understood exactly what to expect from him. Eric was a different story. I needed to figure out how to manipulate him. Even as I fell asleep, possibilities and plans flitted through my mind.

  For the first time, I dreamed about the library’s ghost. His face floated briefly above mine, and then disappeared into fog surrounding me. I wished I had my umbrella, because the loud noises that came next made me think that a thunderstorm was rolling i
n. Then, in a flash of lightning, he was back. Even as I enjoyed the warmth of his lips on my forehead, I realized it had to be because I’d taken the sleeping pill. It didn’t matter. And when he picked me up, sleeping bag and all, I didn’t even protest. I just snuggled deeper in his arms and let him carry me out of the house and into a car. It was a good dream. I hated that I would wake up to Eric in the morning.

  *****

  I didn’t want to wake up, but it was impossible to ignore the pounding in my head or the scent of fresh coffee. There must have been a crack in the boards covering the windows, because the sun streamed across my closed eyes. I rolled over and opened them. I was wrong, I was still dreaming. The ghost sat in a chair across the room, smiling at me.

  “Good morning, Harmony,” he said, his deep voice cheerful.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten, re-opened them and blinked rapidly, trying to focus. Damn it, I needed my glasses. He was there, even if he was blurry. So if a ghost was talking to me, did that mean I was dead too? I should have known better than to trust Eric when he told me it was a sleeping pill. But why would he want to kill me when he didn’t have the information he needed from Jake yet?

  “Do you want cream and sugar?” asked the ghost as he stood up and poured the contents of the coffee pot into another cup.

  “Sugar, no cream.” I considered sitting up, but my head was spinning. “Where are we?” The coffee smelled like heaven but my left wrist hurt like hell. I glanced at it. The ropes were gone and it had been wrapped in gauze.

  “The Towers. I should have taken you further away but you were so sedated I didn’t want to risk it.” The Towers? Oak Grove’s tallest building at five stories, if you don’t count the church steeple, and its only hotel? So we weren’t dead—at least, I wasn’t. He didn’t seem to be either. I can’t imagine a ghost drinking coffee. He sat down on the bed beside me and waved the coffee cup under my nose. “You want me to prop you up with some pillows?” His pale blue eyes looked concerned.