Fragrance of Revenge (23 page)

Chapter 68

He came running out the back door
to see the Pontiac barreling backwards out the driveway. He could see a man
driving and the woman in the passenger seat. He ran around the back of the
house and Scott was not at the window. In less than a minute he realized they
had taken Scott.

He looked in the cellar window and
realized the man was beyond any help. He considered running to his car to give
pursuit but it was parked too far away. He quickly ran in the house.
He
thought about the new 911 system and wished it was implemented, but no such
luck.
He dialed Paddy’s number instead.

“Hello.”

“Paddy, its Mike. We have a big
problem.”

*.*.*

Paul Brosque was one of the early
police officers to arrive. He had called and specifically asked for Paul to
explain what happened. Ten minutes after his conversation with Paul the area
was swarming with police cars and officers.

He spotted Paddy flashing his
identification and went over to him.

“Paddy this is not a pretty scene.
Like I said we have Doctor Adler dead downstairs and Scott kidnapped.”

“Any word on the vehicle they took
off in?” Paddy asked.

“No there’s no sign of the car.
They have the full description along with the plate number. The police have
gone to the care facility in Belmont and have Chris Sullivan’s apartment in
Jamaica Plain under surveillance. However, they don’t think he will be stupid
enough to go to either location. Alexis Strong attacked Doctor Adler with a
straight razor and then sliced him ear to ear.”

“What about Scott?”

“The doctor’s house was searched
as a precaution, but they took him with them when they left.”

“What else can you tell me Mike?”

“Well, Scott and I staked out
Dudley Street Station after Scott left the money for the blackmailer. After the
guy, Chris Sullivan, picked up the money, we lost him, but came here on a
possibility he would come here. When we checked out the property we witnessed
Alexis Strong and Doctor Adler having sex while he was tied up. They spotted us
and that’s when all hell broke loose and the doctor was subsequently killed.”

“Any other concerns?”

“You bet. Scott has a revolver
with him and there’s no sign of the murder weapon. Paddy, this is Melanie
Strong’s twin and we know how Melanie was hell bent on keeping Scott prisoner
and almost killing him twice. This is the worst possible scenario for Scott.”

“This has certainly gotten out of
hand.”

“Paddy, before she killed Dr.
Adler, Alexis took his manhood and held it up for us to see.”

“Maybe, but maybe she was holding
it up for Scott to see.” He watched Paddy thinking about things. “Mike, have
you called Stephen Strong?”

“No.”

“You better call him and tell him
what has happened and what he can expect the newspapers will do with this. His
secret is no longer going to be under wraps, but will surely be front page
fodder. You might want to tell him to make his twin daughter public information
before it comes out another way.” Paddy looked at Mike. “Is something bothering
you about calling him?”

“No, that’s not what is concerning
me. I saw what Alexis did to the doctor. Her twin sister was Melanie and we
know how focused she was on Scott…I just hope she doesn’t have the same infatuation.”

“Well, she has the other guy
Sullivan with her.”

“Sure she does, and she had the
doctor with her too. Did you hear anything about the status of Mercedes’
kidnapping?”

“Good question. I better try to
reach Robert Damelio. He might have been trying to reach me. I think we better
say a prayer for both of them.”

Chapter 69

I could feel my body being tossed
around. I took stock of my senses. My head hurt something fierce. The last
memory I had was the rock being swung at my head. I opened my eyes and realized
I was lying on the back seat of a car. It hurt to open my eyes but I saw the
long red hair hanging over the passenger seat and the blackmailer driving the
car very fast on a highway.

I reached for the gun in the front
of my pants and it was missing. I could smell the scent of Gardenia and without
any question it was Melanie’s twin Alexis. Then I remembered what I witnessed
and my thoughts quickly went to my own captivity. It’s happening again.

“Slow down Chris. The last thing
we need is to attract attention.” She turned and looked at me. “Our guest is
awake. She kneeled in the seat and waved the razor near my nose. “Don’t try
anything funny or it will be the last thing you do. Now stay down and don’t
stick your head up.”

I noticed they were both dressed.
My head continued to throb.

“Do you have a headache Scott?”

I didn’t answer and I was
surprised she knew my name.

“Yes Mr. Tucker I know who you
are, who you love, and what my sister did to you…not once, but twice. Welcome.”

“Alexis we have to decide where
we’re going. They will obviously be looking for this car.”

“You know what is around. I don’t
even know how to drive. You pick it.”

“We need to get this car into a
parking garage with a hotel nearby. I know where we can go.”

“Chris, don’t go too far from the
city. I need to pay my parents a visit and you’re going to have to drive me.”

I heard what she said and wondered
what they were going to do with me.
I didn’t like those thoughts.

Chapter 70

She had the operator try to reach
Scott at his apartment, but there still wasn’t any answer. It was 2 am and
Scott was still not home. She had the operator try her apartment without any
answer.
Where are you Scott? More importantly what are you doing? She
thought of their conversation and if he is with Maggie, she is going to kill
him.

Despite her better judgment,
she needed to have the operator try another number.

“Hello.”

“Mr. Strong, your daughter
Mercedes Strong is calling from Maracaibo, Venezuela. Will you accept her
collect call?”

“Yes I will.”

“Go Ms. Strong. Your father has
accepted the call.”

“Dad, its Mercy.”

“My God, are you okay? You never
call in the middle of the night like this.”

“I’m still in Venezuela and there have been some…complications. I’m headed home later this morning.
However, we have made some progress on finding the missing people. Look, do you
have any idea where Scott is? I have tried him at his apartment, and at mine, but
I can’t reach him.”

There was dead silence on the
other end of the line. “Dad, do you know where he is?”

“No, not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t elaborate. Just a minute.
Go back to sleep honey, its Mercedes. She’s calling to tell me she’s coming
home from her Venezuela trip. Now, go back to sleep. I’m back. Where were we?”

“You were in the midst of what
sounded like you knew where Scott was, but you were covering for him.”

“You don’t stop being an
investigator, do you?”

“Please dad, I’m concerned about
him. This isn’t like him at all. I need to talk with him.”

“I understand. Let me try to track
him down and have him call you.”

“You can’t reach me here. Why do
you think you can track him down? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Mercy I will explain everything
when you get home. In the meantime I will try to track him down. Call me before
your flight leaves and I’ll either have him here, or I will let you know where
he is.”

She was trying her best to hold
her emotions back. “Dad, I’ve had a very trying day here, and I really need to
talk with Scott. If you could get him there when I call back around 9 before my
plane leaves that would be great.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks Dad. I’m sorry I was so short
with you. How is mom doing?”

“The same. Things are very fragile
here. We’ll talk when you get home. There’s much we have to talk about.”

They said their goodbyes but she
knew her dad well enough that he wasn’t telling her the whole story. She never
told him she had discovered who he was having an affair with and wondered now
if that was what he was going to share with her.

She thought about her mom. She
hasn’t been the same for several years and when the news came out about Melanie
and the other women keeping and killing men in Boston, well she had a nervous
breakdown. When Melanie’s exploits were reported in Bermuda and then when she
killed herself that caused her to have a heart attack. If she knew what her
father was doing, it might just cause another. She knew she could never tell
her mother she was kidnapped and molested twice, but knew she could share it
with her father.

Could she ever share that with
Scott?

Chapter 71

“Hello Mercy?”

“No, Stephen its Mike Miller,
Scott’s work associate. You were expecting a call from Mercedes?”

“Well she just called a minute ago
to tell me she was coming home later this morning. However, the real reason she
was calling was she couldn’t reach Scott, and wondered if I knew where to reach
him.”

“That’s why I’m calling Stephen.”

“About Scott?”

“Yes. Look, I know that Scott was
doing an investigation for you to find out who was blackmailing you.” There was
dead silence on the other end. “Here’s what has happened. Scott has been abducted.
We know it was the guy who was blackmailing you. His name is Chris Sullivan and
he works at the Lighthouse Manor where you have hidden your daughter.”

“Please hold for a minute, I need
to pick this up in my office. No honey, its Mercedes calling back and I need to
talk with her in my office. Go back to sleep.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s very early, so please go
back to sleep. Everything is okay.” There was a pause on the phone. “Mike, I’m
back. So, Scott has told you what he was doing?”

“He only told me about the blackmailing.
I went with him for the money drop tonight and Chris picked up the money but we
lost him. We located him at Doctor Adler’s house.”

“Why was he there?”

“It gets more complicated. Here’s
the bottom line…I’m calling to give you a heads up. The press will be reporting
what I’m about to tell you and I want you to do what you need to do ahead of
them. Your daughter Alexis was torturing the doctor who was tied up in his
basement. After they both discovered Scott and I observing what she was doing,
she killed the doctor. Before she did that she said something to him and took
his manly parts with a razor.”

“You have to be mistaken.”

“I wish, but I witnessed it first
hand. She held up what she cut off before she sliced his throat. All three of
them were naked.”

“Three?”

“Chris was there watching her have
sex with the doctor before she took his parts and slit his throat. Chris and
Alexis took Scott before they left in a car.”

“That’s why Mercedes couldn’t
reach Scott.”

“Look Stephen, I know Scott was
trying to help you find out who was blackmailing you, but now we know and it
has gotten a lot more serious. This was a courtesy call to tell you some of
what you might hear.”

“Thanks for the call Mike. I hope
Scott is going to be okay.”

“You know Stephen, if Melanie
tried to kill Scott twice, and did some other horrible things while he was in
captivity, her twin might just pick up where she left off. You better pray for
his safety. Do you have any idea where she or Chris might go?”

He heard a click. “Did you hang up
the phone in the bedroom?”

“Shit,” Stephen answered.

He heard the dial tone next.

Chapter 72

He slowed the car down realizing
Alexis was right about drawing attention. It was hard to believe what Alexis
did to the doctor. Not the part about torturing him and then making love to
him. It was cutting his manhood off and then slitting his throat. All while she
knew he was watching her and while she knew there were others outside the
window.

He stole a glance at Alexis who
was sitting back in the passenger seat. She seemed to be in a trance and very
quiet. She was staring at the straight razor blade which he noticed was still
covered in blood. He looked back at the road and then saw something out of the
corner of his eye. It couldn’t have been what he saw. He confirmed what he
saw—she actually licked the blade.

“What?” Alexis asked.

“Are you okay?”

“Why…because I wanted to taste his
blood?”

“Yeah. Don’t you feel bad about
what you just did?”

“Should I? He treated me like a
slave for years. It was a good thing I enjoyed what he was doing, but that
doesn’t forgive him for how he took advantage of me. Speaking of what I did…you
didn’t take pictures did you?”

He didn’t like where this was
going. “No, you did everything so fast I never had a chance.”

“Are you sorry about what I did to
the doctor?” He didn’t respond. “Be thankful it wasn’t you.” He saw her turn to
look in the backseat. When she turned back around she turned the razor over and
licked the other side.

He thought about how casually
she took killing the doctor. He wasn’t a stranger to her at all, but she
doesn’t seem to be regretting what she did. He remembered being tied up and it
could have been him that she parted. He was glad they had company who she might
focus her attention on. He remembered she wants to go to her father’s house.
That doesn’t sound good, but the good news is that she needs him to drive her
there. He had planned to kill her parents at some point. Maybe she was going to
do it for him. That would leave her other sister Mercedes…what about her?

*.*.*

He pulled into the Burlington mall covered parking area. He noticed a few cars parked on the third level and
backed his up against the wall.

“Nicely done Chris. This is just
what you were looking for.”

“There’s a hotel right next door.
We just need to get Scott into a room without attracting attention. It is early
in the morning and checkout time is in just a few hours.”

“Just tell them you’re from out of
state and staying more than one night. You need to check in, you know I can’t.”

“Are you going to be okay alone
with him?”

“You have got to be kidding. I
have a razor that is still very sharp despite its recent use, and I have his
gun. He wouldn’t dare try anything…would you Scott?”

There wasn’t any response.

“Cat got your tongue?”

Still no response.

“That gives me an interesting
idea. I wonder what he values more, his tongue or his…”

“Should I go now?” Chris asked.

“Yes, and Chris…relax a little.
You look like you were the one who would be using the ladies room today.”

“What name should I give them?”

“If you were with a girlfriend, or
somebody’s wife, what name would you use? Oh, and Chris…we need two double
beds, one for our guest. In your travels see if you can find something to tie
him up with.”

“At least he doesn’t have a door
to get out since this is a two door.”

“That gives me another idea.” He
watched her climb over the seat still with the razor blade exposed. “We’ll be
getting acquainted while you’re gone. There are some things I’m curious about.”

He looked in the rear view mirror.
She was seated way over on his side of the car, and Scott was still lying down
on the seat. He could feel a tinge of jealousy.

“Well, the quicker you get us a
room, the quicker we can get settled in. Hi Scott, we haven’t been properly
introduced yet, I’m Alexis. You’ve seen me before, but I had a different name.
Aren’t you going to welcome me back? Didn’t you miss my attention, or was
Mercedes satisfying all your needs?”

“Alexis, don’t kill him in my
car.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, giving orders again
are we? Scott won’t be much use to me dead. You can leave now. I have some
research to do.”

The light came on in the car as he
opened the door. He heard her ask, “So when you were watching the good doctor
and me, what part did you like most?”

There was no answer.

“Cat still got your tongue, huh?
Fine, stick out your tongue.”

He was still standing by the car
and saw her hit him in the groin, fortunately with the hand without the razor.
He heard Scott yell.

“Okay Chris, the shows postponed
for you. You were going to get us a room.” He watched her turn back to Scott. “Now
stick out your tongue.”

He walked away from the car, but
wondered even more what she was capable of. He could also feel some jealousy
forming, but knew he shouldn’t show it to her.