Chapter Fourteen

Cleo

Lily was waiting by the car when we came out.

I rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulder, impulsively pulling her close in a quick one-armed hug. “Why’d you do that?” I demanded. “Didn’t you think I’d be worried about you? Why’d you sneak out on us like that?”

“Look at me, Cleo. I don’t belong in there. You know it…I know it…and so did everyone else in the restaurant. If it wasn’t illegal for her to do so, that seating hostess would’ve barred me from coming in there in the first place.”

I couldn’t argue with her so I dropped the subject, handing her a doggie bag containing the food she’d ordered before her escape. “Here’s your food, at least.”

She immediately opened the bag, releasing the wonderful aroma of its contents. Garlic-rosemary fries were a Moon River specialty and I had to admit they were pretty darn terrific. By the next morning they made your breath smell like a troll had slept under your tongue overnight, but it was worth it. She retrieved a fry and popped it into her mouth. “Thank you,” she breathed, closing her eyes in apparent ecstasy.

Jonas beeped the car doors open and smiled. “My pleasure.”

“So, where are we going now?” Lily asked around another mouthful of fries. “What’s the plan?”

I turned around as much as the seatbelt would allow. “Jonas and I think we should hide out in the alley again. That seems to be where most of the action is—or has been so far. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a clue that can help us find Raymond.”

Lily nodded, sending the bells jingling again. “When nothing goes right, go left.”

Jonas looked confused. I cut my eyes at him and shook my head slightly. “Lily has an arsenal of famous—and infamous—quotes she likes to fit into her conversations. Sometimes they’re a perfect illustration, but sometimes it takes time to figure out how it fits.” I looked back at her. “I don’t understand this one.”

“You will.”

Hmmm.

We were quiet then, each lost in his or her thoughts. My own kept wondering who this Jill person was. Maybe it was a sister. He’d mentioned a sister earlier, right? No, her name hadn’t been Jill. It was Samantha, and they call her, Sam. Shoot! I wished now that I hadn’t seen the stupid name on his stupid phone. Ugh! I forced myself to focus on the sound of Lily, chomping in the back seat. I hoped Jonas didn’t mind people eating in his car.

We reached the spot to turn into the alley and I sprang to attention. “Oh, I get it!” I exclaimed, making them both jump. “When nothing goes right, go left. This is a one-way alley with a one-way road approaching it. You can only go left. That’s it, isn’t it?”

She cocked her eyebrow at me. “Told you.”

I laughed. “Yes, you did.”

We pulled into a slot reserved for a realty business on the corner, inching forward into the deep shadows as far as we could go. The headlights went off, followed by the engine. The sudden silence seemed very loud to me. I stared straight ahead where Lily’s building hulked in the darkness. No lights shone from any of the five floors. A shiver travelled down my spine.

“You have any other wise sayings before we start this stake-out?” I whispered.

“Experience is what you get when you don’t stop trying.”

I blew out a breath. “Okay, then…Let’s go get some experience.”

****

For the second night in a row, I found myself crowded behind a line of garbage cans in the dark. My nose wrinkled at the smell emanating from our hiding place. Evidently, the city sanitation crew hadn’t made it by this morning, after all. I leaned away from the cans as far as I could—which wasn’t far enough—and breathed through my mouth to keep from inhaling the stench. Great! Now I could taste it! I ordered my gag reflex to take a hike, and tried to think about something else, while grape ivy leaves tickled my ears, and sharp stems dug into my back and neck. Thank goodness it wasn’t poison ivy. I hoped this reconnaissance mission was worth all this.

The alley was as black as my mood ever since seeing that name on his phone. Maybe I should just ask him who this Jill was…get it over with. No! It wasn’t my business. If he wanted me to know, he’d say something. It didn’t matter anyway. He was just a reporter, doing a story. Once he completed it, I’d probably never see him again.

That thought hurt me more than it should. I needed to snap out of it.

Why was it so dark in this alley? The rest of town wasn’t like this. Okay, so there wasn’t a streetlight here. You’d think there would be some sort of illumination…perhaps a faint glow from a nearby window, or maybe some reflected luminance from the many other streetlights posted at regular intervals around the city.

But there wasn’t. All the walls facing this narrow street were just as black as the rest of the alley. For some reason, being tucked between these rows of multi-storied nineteenth century buildings made it as inky as the inside of a coal mine; so shadowy that it was impossible to distinguish one shape from another, everything seemed to merge together. I peered up at the strip of sky above our heads. There were a few weak stars up there, intermittent pinpoints of light, but their dim glow was simply unable to penetrate the gloom down here.

Dark was good, though, I reminded myself. In our present predicament, lighting the alleyway kind of defeated the purpose, and would be detrimental to our health if any visitors showed up since they’d be able to see us. Complete darkness made it much easier to remain incognito, which was the status we were after.

But what were we hiding from? There was nothing here, and it looked like that wasn’t going to change. Although last night we’d heard Mark Spencer say the work would begin tonight, apparently, the nabbing of Raymond had caused a change of plans. We’d been here nearly an hour with nary a hint of movement anywhere, other than some rustlings in one of the trashcans.

I tried to convince myself it was just a cat.

My legs were asleep, as was my butt. The rest of my body wanted to follow suit, but I didn’t think that now was the time or place to mention it. And if that wasn’t enough, I was cold. I was trying my best not to think of how warm it had been snuggled up next to Jonas in the restaurant. The stark contrast between then and now was just too painful.

Wah, wah, wah! Stop being such a cry-baby! My mental order helped, but if something didn’t happen soon, the effect would be short-lived.

I leaned toward Jonas and whispered, “How much longer do you think we should stay?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered back. “I thought they’d be here by now. Maybe they’re waiting a day or two before starting things back up. I knew it was a long shot, coming back here tonight, but I was kind of hoping—”

I was about to ask him why he stopped, when I heard the smooth purr of an engine. From this angle, the only thing I could see was that the car was large and wide, taking up nearly the width of the alley. A Lincoln or Cadillac, maybe? They were both big cars. The color looked dark—black or navy blue—blending in with the shadows except for the faint, twin beams of orange cast by its parking lights. But then again, everything looked the same in this alley. That car could probably be white and still look dark in here.

It pulled forward until it was directly in front of our shield of trashcans, and then stopped. The engine turned off and there was silence. After a minute or two, I caught a whiff of cigarette smoke.

Perfect. Here we sit, in the dark, in the cold, wedged like paperbacks crammed in a cardboard box, while this joker sneaks a smoke.

That’s when I heard a second car.

It moved just as stealthily, but when its engine cut off, there was the sound of two car doors opening, then closing. Footsteps, and the sound of a trunk popping open were followed by a bit of a scuffle, a grunt, and then more footsteps that were accompanied by the sound of something dragging. After they faded away, a door on the first car opened, then closed. Heel clicked against pavement, then nothing.

Silence stretched to the breaking point in this narrow slice of space and my nerves felt just as stretched. I leaned toward Jonas again and whispered, “What now? Sounds like there are at least three of them. Do we make a run for that window again?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “What if there are four? What if someone stayed behind in the car as a lookout? We can’t see anything from here so we don’t know for sure.”

“Yeah, but we can’t just keep sitting here either. We need to hear what’s being said in that basement. They were dragging something. What if it was Raymond? Maybe there’s a chance we can save him. We have to try.”

I felt a slight movement to my left where Lily was hiding. I reached toward her and my hand hit nothing but air. “Lily,” I hissed. My hand waved about frantically, trying to find her in the inky blackness. “No!”

But she was gone.

For a very long minute, we sat in frozen silence, tensed, listening for a shout, a scuffle, something to indicate that she’d been discovered, but heard nothing.

As I waited, it finally sank into my fear-frozen brain, that her exit had been silent, in other words: no bells. She must’ve taken off her hat. The absence of the familiar jingling that was so much a part of Lily, felt so odd to me that it was hard to concentrate on anything else.

I jumped and barely kept from shrieking out loud, when she touched my arm. “C’mon! The coast is clear. There’s no one in the cars.”

With the lower half of my body numb and lifeless, scrambling from our hiding place was easier said than done. I took a couple of stumbling steps before collapsing in a heap.

Jonas was right beside me. “What’s wrong?” he murmured.

“My legs are asleep. I can’t feel a thing.”

Without a word, he slung my arm over his shoulder and, with his arm around my waist, he carried me across the open space and over to the small window. By the time we settled ourselves as soundlessly as possible, light was already glowing behind the textured glass. A low voice was speaking, but I couldn’t hear it. I was too busy concentrating on staying completely motionless. Blood was finally coursing through my lower extremities and the sensations it was causing made me bite my lip to keep from screaming. I prayed that no one would accidently bump me until it was over.

It seemed like an eternity of complete focus, but it was probably no more than a minute, before I was able to take a deep breath and move a little closer to the window so I could listen.

I heard a voice—not Mark Spencer’s, but another man—speaking. “No, he didn’t actually mention the money, boss, but he was sure hinting at it. I doubt he could’ve kept from spilling the beans much longer. He was actually bragging that he wouldn’t have to work anymore.”

“Tsk, tsk…is this true? Even after I warned you about talking?”

I couldn’t make out the response, but it sounded like the person was crying. I pressed my fist to my mouth, horrified.

“I know, I know…but even if you didn’t actually say the word, money, you hinted at it. In my book, that’s just as bad.”

I strained my ears, trying my best to understand the mewling response, but couldn’t.

“I have to tell you, I’m very disappointed. I thought we had an agreement…a mutually beneficial arrangement. I thought we understood each other.”

A long pause stretched my nerves to the breaking point, then I heard a sigh. “It’s regrettable. You finally understand just how serious I am about my “no talking” rule, but now we have a problem. I don’t give second chances. You can’t stay in Savannah.”

Another whimper.

“No, you can’t come back…ever. I’m going to have to insist that you accompany these gentlemen on a little excursion. They’re going to take you out of town, and drop you off in a previously determined spot.”

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and jumped. In the light from the window, I could see Jonas motioning for me to follow him. I silently crept back a few feet before standing upright, then practically flew, like my feet had wings, along the tiny walkway. Our movement toward the front of the building was a carbon copy of the night before, only faster. When we reached Oglethorpe Street, we turned left and dashed to the corner. I was sure I was breaking all kinds of land-speed records, but Jonas was right beside me and unbelievably, Lily was breathing down my neck. I had no idea that old people could move that fast. She must’ve run track in her younger days.

We turned left again and sped the remaining few feet to the parking area behind the real estate office on the corner. I pressed myself as flat as possible against the wall, trying not to sound like an emphysema patient gasping for breath, heart hammering in my chest. When I finally got my breathing sort of back to normal, I crept into the inky shadows, hands groping ahead of me, to where I knew Jonas had parked his car. I couldn’t see a thing.

Ouch! I bit my lip to keep from exclaiming aloud.

I rubbed my knee with one hand and felt the contour of the bumper with the other. Well, at least I found the car. Keeping my hand out to guide me, I limped around to the passenger side. My hand was on the door, ready to open it, when I heard a car door slam up ahead and instantly dropped to my stomach. I knew they couldn’t see us in this black chasm, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

We couldn’t open our car doors and get inside because the interior light would give us away, so we had to wait an eternity and a half for the two sets of taillights to turn right at the end of the alley before we could move.

I don’t remember actually getting into the car, but I must have, because the very next instant we were turning right too, easing out onto the tree lined road—headlights off. I knew Jonas was trying to merge with the shadows so we wouldn’t attract their attention on this quiet, residential street. I crossed my fingers, hoping that all the city cops were busy elsewhere.

At a stop sign up ahead, the first car went on around Wright Square, but the second turned right, and stayed straight, heading for Drayton. “He’ll be in the second car. Mark Spencer won’t take a chance getting his hands dirty,” Jonas muttered, flicking on his headlights before turning right to follow the second car. There was a little more traffic now. We’d be able to blend in better. Up ahead, our quarries turned left.

“Hurry! Don’t lose them!”

“I won’t.”

My hands were clamped so tightly on the edge of the seat beside my legs, I was afraid that I might break off chunks of it, but I couldn’t seem to loosen my grip. I was too busy trying to figure out what we were going to do; how we were going to pull this off. These men were going to drop Raymond “at a previously determined spot.” Sounded innocent enough, right? He might not even realize what that meant. Spencer hadn’t really spelled it out. If I didn’t know better, I could even believe that he was giving Raymond a second chance. There were, however, three problems with that line of thinking…the three bloated bodies discovered floating in the river. When I looked at the situation in light of the statistics…well, Raymond’s chances of surviving this nighttime joy ride, didn’t look so hot.

But what could we do? We had no weapons; nothing to fight with, and I was sure that wasn’t the case for those goons two cars ahead of us. We couldn’t hope to save him…maybe not even ourselves! If it came down to it, I’m sure they wouldn’t hesitate to give us a dose of the same medicine they were planning on giving Raymond.

But we couldn’t just ignore the situation and let them get away with it, not without at least trying to stop them. I didn’t know about Jonas or Lily, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Granted, I may not be able to live, period, but at least I’d know I’d tried. I think there was some famous quote that somebody said about tyranny and good men doing nothing. I was sure Lily probably knew what it was. I’d have to ask her later…if there was a “later.” Now wasn’t the right time.

I glanced at Jonas. His handsome face looked grim in the light reflected from the dashboard; both of his hands held the steering wheel in a death-grip. “Uh…you have any idea what our next step is?” I asked.

“Not a clue. I’m sort of making this up as I go.”

I winced. That was my line. Up ahead, the dark car turned right on busy Bay Street. “Where are they going?” I wondered aloud, not really expecting an answer—Jonas was busy trying to avoid getting caught by red lights; Lily was busy being silent—but I couldn’t seem to keep from asking it anyway.

We’d just crossed the Wilmington River drawbridge and were headed out Highway 80. I started getting a queasy feeling in my stomach. Right now, there were still several roads our target might choose to turn-off on, but for the most part, this road had one destination: the islands…Oakland, Whitemarsh, Tybee…no farther. Each of them, small slices of coastal real estate, surrounded by nothing but marshes and creeks, a haven for mosquitoes most of the year, but beautiful in a desolate sort of way. One way in; one way out. Raymond’s future wasn’t looking too good.

But wait! Hadn’t all the other bodies shown up in the Savannah River? This was the wrong direction. Anything dumped out here would only head to the Atlantic, so maybe I was wrong, and there was another reason that dark car was going this way. Without thinking, I blurted, “Ha! I just realized that none of the creeks out here lead in the right direction, so they can’t be planning a body-du—” I broke off when I glanced over my shoulder and saw Lily’s tense face.

Good move, Cleo! It took all my self-control to keep from banging my forehead against the dashboard.

There was no need to finish the sentence. The unsaid words hung in the air. They might as well be written in glow-in-the-dark paint. Everybody in the car knew exactly what I had been going to say. On top of that, my logic was flawed. That dark sedan could still be heading somewhere to dispose of a body. Spencer had probably decided to vary his dump-sites to avoid raising suspicions; head them straight to sea rather than through town where they’d be more likely to be discovered. I squirmed a little in my seat, staring blindly at the red tail-lights ahead of us, noting the silver cradle of the new moon suspended in the sky above them. I was desperate for something to erase those invisible—yet very visible—words. “Oh!” I gasped in relief. “They’re getting off on this exit.”

“Yeah,” Jonas agreed, coming to my aide. “It’s going to be harder to stay inconspicuous from here on out. I better hang back some. The trick will be keeping the right distance between us. Not so far back that I can’t tell where they turn, but not so close that they’ll realize they’re being followed. This “tailing” routine is harder than it looks on T.V.”

He slowed down so that his car was barely rolling down the exit ramp. I kept my eyes on the dark car ahead of us. It turned right, but instead of picking up speed, the right turn signal stayed on and it turned into the parking lot of a truck-stop. From the end of the ramp, I watched as two men got out of the car and headed into the restaurant part of the station. “Are you kidding me? They’re going to eat? How can they think about food at a time like this?” I demanded. “They have a man locked in their trunk, for heaven’s sakes! And they’re stopping for a late supper?!”

“Maybe we could get Raymond out while they’re inside.”

It was the first time I’d heard Lily’s voice since we’d gotten back in the car. It sounded low, but determined. “They parked on the side, not in the front with the rest of the cars. That’s both good and bad for them. Good…to keep from arousing suspicion in case Raymond makes any noise, and bad…because they can’t see the car from inside the restaurant. Maybe we could get the trunk open, get him out, and get away without them even realizing it.”

Jonas immediately turned right. “Sounds like a plan to me. Let’s go.”

My heart was in my throat again, hammering wildly, causing my breath to come in short, shallow gasps. I hadn’t fully grasped the magnitude of what we were about to do, but I knew enough to realize that we were putting ourselves in a very dangerous situation.

Jonas wheeled into the spot beside the dark car, and popped his trunk before hopping out. I wasn’t sure my legs could hold me up, but I tried it anyway and managed to wobble around to the back of his car. He was rummaging in a toolbox and withdrew a long screwdriver. “Maybe this’ll work,” he muttered, then turned to me, “Run to the corner of the building and keep a look out for them. Try to be as inconspicuous as possible.”

“Right! Look-out. Inconspicuous. Got it.” My rubbery legs somehow carried me to the corner and I peered around it. The instant I gave him a thumbs-up, he rammed the screwdriver into the lock. I winced; waiting for a car-alarm, but amazingly, there wasn’t one. I could see Lily, still in the back seat. Her eyes were closed and her lips were moving. It almost looked like she was praying. I shrugged, remembering the Bible with her name on it. Nothing she did surprised me anymore.

I gave another glance around the corner.

Still clear.

Back to Jonas. He was shoving the screwdriver, first one way, then another, finally down…with all his strength. I could see how much effort he was putting into it by the look on his face in the glow of the lights around the diesel pumps for the eighteen wheelers.

The latch suddenly gave way and the trunk popped open slightly.

Jonas hurriedly stuck the screwdriver into his back pocket before swinging the trunk all the way open. My heart was about to explode. I peered around the corner again.

Still clear.

Jonas reached into the trunk, grabbed and heaved. When he pulled up the limp form, my heart nearly stopped. Was Raymond already dead? Oh, please no!

I left my post and raced back to help Jonas. It was like lifting a huge bag of wet cement! Though Raymond wasn’t a big man, his dead-weight was heavier than expected and very unwieldy. We heaved and struggled, awkwardly dragging the body out of the trunk, somehow managing to get it over to Jonas’ car’s back door, which swung open at our approach. Lily reached out to help us, pulling as we pushed, and we stuffed Raymond inside. I rushed around to my door and wrenched it open, expecting Jonas to be doing the same with his. When I didn’t see him, I panicked. Where did he go?!

Before I could work myself into a tizzy, his head popped up on the other side of his car. “Get in!” he barked, as he tossed the screwdriver into the back and slammed the trunk closed. “Let’s get out of here!”

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

I jumped in and our doors banged shut simultaneously. He turned his key and the engine roared to life. I expected him to head back the way we came in, from the front of the restaurant; instead, he zoomed around the rear of the building, coming up on the far side, beside the diesel pumps. He barely paused before making a quick left out onto the road, back under the bridge toward the highway. I kept my eyes trained out the back window, watching for any headlights that appeared to be following us. Amazingly, there weren’t any. But even so, it wasn’t until we got out on Highway 80, heading back to town, that I actually took a breath.

“How is he?” Jonas asked Lily.

“He’s breathing. I think they drugged him.”

Jonas took a deep breath and blew it out. “I can’t believe we pulled that off.”

“What were you doing back there?” I demanded. “When I turned around and didn’t see you, it freaked me out!”

“I was trying to give us a little head start. I rammed my screwdriver into both right tires. I figured they had one spare, but not two.”

I stared at him, wide-eyed. Several emotions fought for first place, but admiration and amazement came out on top. “Are you sure you haven’t done this type of thing before?” I laughed.

“Nah,” he chuckled. “I just watch a lot of bad guy, suspense-type movies.”

“Well, I’m impressed.”

He grinned, then reached over and squeezed my hand. “Good.”