Marjorie Thelen - Designer Detective

She looked at me. “Well?”

I launched in. “How do you know I was looking for you?”

“A little bird.”

“And here you are.”

She smiled. She really did look like Liz Taylor in her younger days. Alice may have been about forty, no wrinkles, dark violet eyes, black hair with not a hint of red in it. Expensive short haircut. Perfect teeth. Perfectly applied make up, lots of it.

She checked her watch. “I don’t have much time. I wanted to meet you, too.”

That was intriguing. “What do you want with me?”

She smiled again. “I don’t know how much you’ve figured out about Albert Lodge’s demise.”

“I have more questions than I have answers.”

“Yes. I assume you wanted to find me because my name came up on the radar.”

I nodded.

“Whatever it is you know about me, it doesn’t matter. I’ve found out a lot about you since you appeared on my radar screen. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with you outside of warning you to back out of your meddling and take a flight to Sydney tonight.”

“I’ve been trying to extricate myself from this family mess, but I keep getting sucked back in.”

“I’m here to take you out permanently. We don’t intend to kill you, though that is an option. Don’t look alarmed. I mean to take you out of this operation. We don’t need you mucking it up. And you are mucking it up.”

“Can I inquire as to the nature of the operation?”

“No. Suffice it to say that we are trying to break the back of a criminal operation that extends into many countries. I am not here with you. I am a figment of your imagination.”

Room service knocked and I opened the door, not sure what to expect. A little uniformed guy stood with two carry out lattes on a tray. He conveyed them to our table and left with a tip.

Alice opened hers and took a dainty sip. “I love caffeine,” she said with closed eyes.

Mine was steaming, and I set it aside, waiting for more revelations from Alice, the figment of my imagination.

“We’re prepared to give you an incentive to distance yourself from this. If you don’t take it, we may put you someplace you don’t want to be.”

Meddling was getting more and more lucrative. Of course, I was interested.

“Take the trip to Sydney and lay low for a month or so. We arrange to pay your expenses at a location of our choice in Sydney for the time you are there. We make a car available and provide a daily stipend.”

“Then you will know where I am if I need to give evidence, and you can protect me at the same time.”

She smiled. “Clever girl. You figured it out. The criminals have taken an interest in you. We are doing you a favor.”

“Sort of like a witness protection program.”

“Sort of.”

“What kind of danger am I in?”

“The criminals know that you helped Cody. That you know about the rifles. It is nothing to them to delete such a person who does not meet with their approval.”

“Delete.” I wondered if I would go to the recycle bin.

“You cannot help the Lodge family anymore. You cannot be an alibi. We will take care of all that.”

“We?”

“Let’s call it a loose confederation of agencies.”

“I see. What will happen to Jake, Hudson and Opal? If I’m not their alibi, the police could charge them with arson.”

“That’s of small consequence. We’ll work a deal with local authorities.”

“Small consequence? How did they get involved in the first place?”

“Through Albert. Cody is a bumbler. Albert should never have brought him in. Jake and Opal took matters into their own hands when they shouldn’t have.”

“You left out Hudson.”

“Hudson is one of ours. We take care of him.”

The shock waves from that pronouncement reverberated about the room and nearly knocked me flat on the floor. “One of yours? What does that mean?”

She finished her latte and sat back.

“I’ve told you enough. Don’t worry about your friends any longer.” She opened her purse and withdrew an envelope and pushed it across the table “Here. This should cover it. It’s a ticket for tonight’s flight to Sydney on Qantas and a travel voucher. Are you in?”

I wasn’t sure. I needed some time to think. She was giving me a persuasive out and protection. I had been trying to get to Sydney for days. I did not want to meet the bad guys. It made me nervous to have their interest in me confirmed. I opened the envelope. There was a one-way Quantas ticket in my name and a money order for $5,000.

“Do you think that will cover it?” she asked.

“I think so. Where am I staying?”

“One of our people will meet your flight and take you to where you’ll be staying.”

“You are assuming that I trust your people.”

“You have no choice. If you don’t leave we’ll keep everyone on the hook for arson. No deal with the locals. Jake and Opal will be in a difficult position.”

“I see.” I was being blackmailed and didn’t like the feeling. I sat back and gazed around the room.

“What’s your hesitation? It seems pretty clear to me what you need to do. We’re offering you a fabulous deal. You get to stay alive. Believe me, this isn’t easy for me to arrange. You should be grateful.”

I looked at her. “But why me? I’m of small consequence. I believe that is how you put it. You’re going to an awful lot of trouble and expense to remove me.” Maybe I didn’t know as much as they thought I did. I didn’t know who her people were. They could be any government agency. They could be a gang of your everyday criminals. Why were they so interested in getting me out of the picture?

She didn’t answer but stood and moved the curtain aside slightly. “Do you see those men across the parking lot? The ones sitting in the brown Chevy?”

I looked. I saw shadowy heads in a dark car. That was all. It gave me a creepy feeling like they were looking straight at me. I nodded.

“Those are the men I’m telling you about. I am offering you a means of escape.”

“Where are Jake and Opal? Opal wasn’t in her room when we went looking for her. Jake is looking for all of them. Have you kidnapped them?”

“Opal is with us. Jake soon will be. We’ll move them out today. We’ll make sure they get to Oregon. That is, if you play by our rules. One of our people will come to escort you. You need to sit tight here until then. We will personally deliver you to the airport and your flight.”

“I guess I have to decide now. I don’t get to sleep on it.”

“That’s correct. I need you to sign on the dotted line right now.”

“Where’s the pen?”

An expense paid vacation to Australia was now part of the incentive package. But I wasn’t sure about the remodel job and ranchette.

My cell phone rang.

Jake said, “Fiona, you okay?”

“Alice just left. She said she’s taking care of everything.”

“Alice? You’re kidding. What did she want with you?”

“She offered me an incentive to leave the country real fast. I’m awash in incentives. I didn’t realize the criminal life could be so lucrative. I’m definitely in the wrong field.”

“Are you okay?”

“I think so. I hope so. I’m not sure. What about you?”

“I haven’t found anyone. They all seem to have disappeared. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. I’m glad you’re still here.”

“Alice says Opal is okay and that you two are going to Oregon. She said Hudson is, and I quote, ‘one of ours’. Trouble is she wasn’t forthcoming with a lot of details. Where are you?”

“I’m at the door, let me in.”

I opened the door cell phone still to my ear. Jake shut his phone and walked inside.

“Jake, the bad guys are in the parking lot, and Alice says they are after us. She’s providing us — you, me, Opal — a safe out so the bad guys don’t get us.”

“Fiona, are you sure you aren’t hallucinating? You’ve been under a big strain lately. You wouldn’t be making all this up, would you? You have a very active imagination.”

“Jake, she offered me money and a ticket to Sydney.”

“What about Hudson and the arson and all that.”

I shrugged. “She says she’ll take care of everything. Look.” I handed him the envelope she gave me. “Look inside, if you don’t believe me.”

Gingerly, like I had just handed him a bomb, he peeled open the envelope and whistled. “You’re telling the truth.” He ran his hand through the disarray of his dark curls. “I can barely think. You sure Opal is okay?”

“Alice said she was in their safe keeping.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Jake, I’m going to Sydney. I’ll lay low for a month, and then I’ll be back in touch.”

He lifted my chin with his finger. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“You have a nasty habit of eluding me.”

“I’ll reform.”

“Will you come to Oregon?”

“I have a house and job waiting there, don’t I?”

He smiled. “You bet.”

Someone banged on the door.

“Who is it?” I called through the door.

“Friends.”

“That must be my escort. Here we go,” I said. “Alice said she was sending someone to escort me to the airport.”

I opened the door a crack only to have it slam into me, forcing me backward into Jake. Two men in brown suits muscled their way into the room. One whacked Jake so hard with a hand chop he crashed to the floor. The other had his hand over my mouth and my arm up behind my back in an excruciating grip. He smelled of onions. He wasn’t tall but made up for it in width and grip. The other guy kicked the door closed.

“Listen good,” Onions said. “You will not make a fuss or we kill you. But that would be messy and hard to explain. Nod your head if you understand.”

I could barely move my head up and down.

“Good.” He eased his nasty smelling hand off my mouth and relaxed his grip. Of course, I couldn’t speak I was so scared. I looked at Jake who was crumpled on the floor. I was impressed with how fast they operated. Very impressed.

“Did you kill him?” I said, rubbing my maltreated arm. “You’ll be sorry if you did.” My brave self wanted to whack them with something, wanted to go out fighting.

Onions laughed. “Wow, I’m scared. Your boyfriend, he’ll be fine. Little headache, maybe.”

“What do you want with me?”

“We want to know what you know. We seen you at the Lodge place. We want all the information you have on Alice and Albert and Cody and their operation.”

“I’m an interior designer. I found Albert dead on the library floor and somehow got pulled into this ridiculous mess.”

Onions manhandled me into the room and shoved me down on the bed, which, unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten to use much. The other guy watched Jake.

“Girlie, you know a lot more. You been hanging with these people since Albert died.”

“Did you kill Albert?”

“We should have. Dumb bugger couldn’t do a job right if he wanted to.”

“Did he work for you?”

“We thought so, but then Alice muscled in.”

I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was sharing information with me because my life wasn’t worth much in the grand scheme of things. That was unnerving, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking more questions. Curiosity was my one weakness.

“Muscled in? What does that mean?”

“It means she wanted a cut, too.”

“Alice? She was Albert’s co-worker. She’s a good guy.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

“Nice try, girlie. She was his squeeze and the wife’s.”

“The wife? You mean Olivia?”

“I mean whoever was the broad living with Albert. Alice was doing them both. We got that on her. She was willing to pay money to keep that quiet. Trouble is she stopped paying us. You’re going to help us get our money.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “I know absolutely nothing.”

“I don’t believe you. We want to know where Cody has the rest of the rifles we paid for, and he hasn’t delivered. He shorted us.”

Missing rifles was bad enough but Alice’s convoluted involvement in this whole thing was making my head hurt. I kept glancing at Jake to see if he was coming to. I didn’t want to be in this alone, and I was worried they’d done him permanent damage.

“Don’t worry about him, girlie. He’ll be fine. But you won’t be if we don’t find them rifles and our silence money.”

It was now clear why Cody wanted our help. Why he had to talk to us. He hadn’t delivered on his part of the bargain. That’s why they wanted him. I wondered why he hadn’t delivered but now wasn’t the time to go through a bunch of scenarios, not with the ugly looking guy in front of me making menacing faces.