Tommy St. James’ fingers were trembling.
She clutched the piece of paper with the address and compared it to the numbers on the barred, iron gate in front of her. The house was set back from the road with a wide expanse of manicured lawn sprawled between it and the gate. Big colonial pillars flanked the huge stone porch and a circular drive was lined with hydrangeas. Tommy took out her telephoto lens and quickly clicked it onto her camera. She peered through the lens to peek at every window and doorway. Not a sign of life.
Come on Rafael, look out a window, she thought, hoping to see a little head poking out from the curtains. The property looked impenetrable, but she knew from looking at the Google satellite view that the back lawn stretched out to the lake where a small dock sprouted out into the water.
If she rented a paddleboat at the kiosk, she could probably see the house from the lakeside. That might be the only way. But she wouldn’t be able to do it until sunset. Otherwise, it would be too obvious.
At dusk, Tommy set off in the paddleboat, pumping her legs and wishing for the millionth time that she ran more and ate less. At least she’d ditched her high-heeled sandals for ballet flats today, which made the job a bit easier.
After about twenty minutes, she stopped and lifted her camera. Through the telephoto lens, she could see the lights in the mansion glittering like diamonds in the darkness. Not far now. When she got close to the small dock, she saw it had a locked gate and fence along its sides. The rest of the property was bordered by jutting rocks.
There was no way to anchor the boat so she could use it as an escape route. She was going to have to let it drift away. There goes her deposit. If she and Rafael were going to leave this house, it was going to have to be through the front door. Great.
She took off her ballet flats and looped her camera strap around her neck a half dozen times, she got the camera to rest just below her chin before she took a step out of the boat. She was relieved when she found the water in front of the rocks was only up to her thighs. Only the hem of her shorts got wet. As she slowly waded toward the rocks, she surveyed her surroundings.
The best bet would be to skirt the edge of the property, taking cover in a line of trees against the big stone fence that separated the mansion from its neighbor’s property. She’d clambered up the rocks and was just about to step foot on the lush looking lawn when something in the trees caught her eye. She crept closer, making sure to stay at the rock line. Yep.
Her suspicions had been right, it was a small red light that indicated a laser beam crossed right in front of her and over to the other wall. An alarm would sound somewhere in the house if anyone crossed onto the lawn from the rocky shore. The laser beam, however, was only three feet above the ground, designed to hit an intruder in the knees and trigger the alarm. Tommy crawled carefully under the beam.
Then, keeping her back to the trees, she stayed in the shadows of the property’s perimeter and slowly made her way up to the house. Just outside the back door, a giant swimming pool with a waterfall was so loud she knew it would surely disguise her footsteps. She avoided a wall of windows overlooking the pool and instead crept over to a small door on the side.
To her surprise when she turned the handle, the door opened.
Bingo. She thought. Now what?
She crept inside what turned out to be a laundry room permeated with the smell of chlorine and bleach. Along with laundry detergent, a shelf held containers of chemicals for the pool. A washing machine and dryer tumbled and whooshed with their cargo. A thin band of light shone beneath a closed door on the opposite side of the room.
Tommy gripped the handle, holding her breath and pressing her ear to the door to see if she could hear anything on the other side. The racket in the laundry room was all she could hear, so very, very slowly, she pushed the door open an inch. She crouched down, leaned over, and put her eye to the crack. For a minute, she couldn’t understand why she wasn’t seeing anything. Something black was only a few inches away. And then it blinked. Tommy realized it was an eye looking right back at her and stifled a scream.
The door flew open.
Tommy cowered in the corner. She was surprised to see a small Mexican woman dressed in a black and white maid’s outfit. The woman was nonplussed. In fact, if she had more time, she probably would have yawned.
“Meez St. James? The Big Boss is expecting you. He says you will have dinner with him. Come with me please.”
Tommy froze, stunned. He was expecting her? Dinner? So much for her stealth work.
“Come on now,” the woman urged. “You must go clean up. He will be here soon.”
Tommy began to follow the woman, more out of an automatic reflex than anything else. But something told her that if she fell into the “Big Bosses” clutches, she would never find Rafael. The woman looked back at her impatiently and Tommy quickened her step.
Think fast, St. James. They were walking through a long hallway and Tommy occasionally got glimpses of the rooms inside. They were decorated in period antiques with long, velvet curtains, and crystal everywhere. That’s when it came to her.
She hurried and raced up beside the maid as the woman approached a side table with a gigantic spread of flowers in a lead crystal vase that probably cost more than Tommy’s apartment. Right when they were abreast of it, Tommy put her foot slightly in front of the woman and then stumbled into the table, using her arm to push the vase back toward the woman. The maid acted instinctively and reached to save the vase, but it smashed upon the floor.
In the chaos, Tommy took off at a sprint, darting through an open door at the end of the hall, and then she kept trying doors, screaming for Rafael.
“Rafael! Rafael!” She heard the clatter of feet and shouting not far behind her. Opening one door, she saw a dark staircase before her, she quickly slipped in and shut the door behind her. She raced down carpeted stairs. At the bottom, she had two choices, right or left. She chose left. There was only one more doorway at the end of this hall. She sprinted toward it and tried the handle. Thank God, it was unlocked. She pushed it open.
Without closing the door behind her, she made her way into the room, trying to absorb everything she was seeing. It was a large bed with mirrors on the ceiling and walls. A sex chamber for sure. But why was it hidden in this dark basement? Tommy knew and felt sick. Warmth rushed over her face and she felt like she was going to faint.
She heard a slight noise behind her, but when she turned to look, she was met with a burst of fireworks and then black.