Murder in Death's Door County (25 page)

“Oh yeah, right, I suppose you need me
to remove this,” he said, right before he ripped it off. I spit on him
immediately.

“Hey, what was that for?” the thug
asked, rather stupidly, in my opinion. Which prompted me to spit at him again.

Wiping his face, he uttered a horrific
curse through a soiled bandanna. He threatened me, “You do that one more time,
I’m putting that tape back on.”

I just scowled at him. While I needed to
get the upper-hand, I found myself at a distinct disadvantage. I figured a
good, scowling silence might freak him out a little.

“Now, I’m gonna repeat my question,
Annie Malone—that is your name, correct?” I curtly nodded. He continued, “Why
have you been poking your nose unnecessarily around this business of Marcos and
Harry?”

“What do you want with me anyway?”

“We know you have them. Where are they?”

“Have what?” I knew he meant the gems. I
figured if I played dumb, I could get him to talk more and stay alive a little
longer. Although, my heart sunk a little when I realized that no one knew where
I was. I didn’t even know where I was.

Suddenly, a redheaded woman walked in
the room with the agility of a cat. She actually wore a very tight leather
outfit. Kinda like Cat woman, actually. Her face looked familiar, but I didn’t
know who she was until I heard her speak. “Annie, Annie. Dear Annie. We need
you to tell us where you hid them!”

“You! Cindy Devlin!” I spit at her. She
promptly slapped me across the face. Her thug took a step backwards.

“Why oh why did you and your stupid
friend get involved with this issue? What good is in it for you?”

Remember my theory on bravery and
stupidity having a very thin line between them? I was walking that very thin as
I sat there, bound up, and wondering how anyone would even find me. With a
bravado that I certainly didn’t feel, I retorted, “What good is in it for me? I
was trying to clear my name.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid.” She
slapped me again.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“I knew what you were doing. But you got
in the way of our organization!”

“So, how does Marcos figure into this
organization?” I fully expected to see panic in her eyes at his name. Assuming
he was the kingpin, I expected to see fear. Instead, she laughed.

“Dear, dear Marcos. We made him
disappear.” She callously snapped her fingers. I tried not to flinch at this
news. Now it looked like I’d never get to meet him.

“Who do you work for then?”

“Don’t you mean to say ‘who works for
you then?’”?

“You’re the ‘kingpin’? You’re the boss?
So, if you’re the Big Bad Boss Lady, who is Tina Delvecchio? How does she
figure into this?”

“Ah, dear Tina. Yes, she has been a
thorn in our side for years.” I couldn’t figure out if she was using the royal “we”
or if there were additional people involved. Since she had said “organization,”
I decided to go with multiple people.

“But why? What is her role? If you are,
indeed, the Head Honcho?” I said as I started to laugh. I must admit, finding
out Cindy was the boss made me feel braver. She still intimidated me, but there
was a certain familiarity.

“How dare you laugh! We have been
successful in trafficking multiple things!”

“Like jewels?”

I finally got a look of surprise from
her, then a knowing gleam. “So you do have the gems. I knew it. Where are they?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find
out!”

Cindy’s thug took a step forward. She
held up her hand, “No, no Alex. Don’t hurt her yet.” Then, to me, she said, “Tsk
tsk tsk, angering me is one thing. You do not want to anger Alex.” Alex scowled
at me in response. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if he really scowled or if that
was his permanent face. She gave an exaggerated sigh, “After all, he carries
all my guns. I don’t like to ruin the line of my outfit.” She ran her hand down
her size 2 torso.

I had to admit she did have an enviable
figure. All that running in cold weather must pay off. As any woman knows, this
was my opportunity to make my biggest mark, “Oh, you don’t need a gun to ruin
your line, Cindy.”

Cindy frowned at me, and asked, “What do
you mean?”

“Well, I don’t mean to be so indelicate
as to mention it, dear. But it looks like you might you might have eaten one too
many chocolate chip muffins.”

Bingo! I didn’t even have time to smirk
before she lunged at me. Knocking over my chair, she pinned me on the ground
and spit at me. “That is from me!” Then she spit again. “And that is for my
Mother!”

Restricted in my movements, I could only
move my head from side to side to avoid her DNA all over my face. Trying to
keep my mouth closed, I mumbled, “Who is you Mother?”

“Tina Delvecchio!” And she spit at me
again. She got in one more hard slap across my face and got up. Still tied to
the chair, I laid on the floor awaiting their next plan.

I couldn’t see Tina and Alex talking
behind me, but I heard hushed voices discussing my fate. I tried to twist my
head around to see them, but my angle was all wrong.

Alex came back and put the duct tape
back over my mouth. Still on the chair, he began to drag me across the room. I
had no idea where they were taking me, but I heard a helicopter overhead.

“Oh, good, Alex, our helicopter is
arriving. Once we get out of here, we can take Annie into Canada, and no one’s
the wiser.”

“What about the jewels, Ma’am?”

“I guess we’ll just have to cut our
losses. This region has gotten too dangerous. But we must be sure to take her.
No one will miss a little nobody failure, anyway.”

Ouch.

“I guess we can either dump her out over
Lake Michigan.” After the helicopter, we began to hear footsteps.

Suddenly, we heard shouts outside the
door. It sounded like a scuffle.

Cindy held up her hand, lightly
laughing, and said, “Well, well, Alex, it sounds like the boys are fighting
again.”

Alex began to simper in a way that can
only be described as creepy, “Can I push her out of the helicopter, Ma’am?”

“Yes, Alex. You are such a pet.” She
actually reached up and patted her toady on the head. Ugh. It was all I could
do to not throw up in my duct tape.

The door opened and a slightly disheveled
Donovan entered the room, guns a’ blazing. And he was backed by, oh, about
twenty armed officers. Stampeding into the room, they made quick work of Cindy
and Alex. I found out later that they had also quickly made work of the eight
armed guards who stood outside my prison.

Quickly untying me, Donovan checked my
pulse and my eyes to make sure I was okay.

“Pees remuv dah tabe!” After he freed my
hands, I pointed to my duct taped mouth.

Determining that I was fine, Donovan
decided to gently tease me, asking, “I’m sorry, what are you trying to say? I
can’t hear you with that tape over your mouth.” Crinkles appeared at the
corners of his eyes when he smiled down at me. “Okay, okay. Quick or slow?”

“Kik.” Riiipppp!

“Ouch!”

“You said quick,” Donovan picked me up
off the chair and held me close. “Let’s make sure we don’t have to go through
that again!”

I snuggled close to him. “My hero! How
did you ever find me?”

“Before I tell you, I’d to introduce you
to some people. Are you free for dinner tonight?”

“What is today anyway?”

“You haven’t been out that long.”

“So, today is Friday?”

“You got it!”

“I can do dinner, definitely. Is this
our first date?” I batted my eyes flirtatiously at him.

“Well, quite a few people will be
joining us. Kitty vowed that if I brought you back safely, she would kill the
fatted calf and put on a shindig the likes of which Egg Harbor has never seen.
I was hoping you’d let me escort one of the Guests of Honor.”

“Who’s the other?”

He jokingly zipped his mouth. Carrying
me to the helicopter, he strapped me into my seat and got himself comfortable. “But
I hope it’s the first of many, many dates, darling Annie.”

Swoon.

P
ROMPTLY AT SEVEN THAT
NIGHT
, Maggie and Nick’s
doorbell rang. I ran to the door before anyone could beat me to it. Seeing
Donovan at the door, I called back to the Williamses that I’d see them at the
Lighthouse shortly.

As I was about to open the door, Donovan
had his hand primed to knock on it. Had I been made taller, he would have
knocked my forehead; he knocked air instead. I stifled a nervous giggle as I walked
with him out to his Jeep. Beneath my serviceable old barn jacket, I had changed
into the peacock blue sweater he had seen me modeling at Janie’s shop and a
black pencil skirt. I thought my black peek-a-boo toe shoes really completed
the outfit.

Donovan wore a navy blue shirt and blue
jeans, with a grey sports jacket. And he held out a bouquet of pink tulips.

“Oh, aren’t those beautiful!” I
exclaimed, taking his offered arm. “No one has ever gotten me flowers before! I
love them!”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope. Well, I take that back. I got a
bouquet of roses for a school dance once. But all of the heads popped off by
the time the night was over. I think I kept catching the flowers on door
frames.”

I caught Donovan looking at me fondly.
Blushing, I said, “What?”

“Nothing. You must be really happy, though.
You are practically vibrating from excitement.”

“I know,” I said, my blush deepening. “I’ve
always had a tough time restraining my joy. I’m really looking forward to this.”

—
–

When we arrived at the Lighthouse,
almost everyone I’d met in the past few weeks was in the bar and restaurant.
Kitty had set up an amazing buffet. And she wasn’t kidding about the “fatted
calf.” She had enough beef tenderloin available to feed an army.

“So, ahem, here’s dessert too.”

“French silk pie! My favorite! How did Kitty
know?”

“Kitty didn’t, it was my suggestion,”
Donovan winked. “It’s my favorite, too.”

Donovan escorted me around the room
where people kept slapping me on the back and congratulating me.

Out of the side of my mouth, I said to
Donovan, “Why do they keep congratulating me? I know I survived a trauma, but I
hardly deserve congratulations.”

Donovan looked at me in shock, “You don’t
know, do you?”

“Donovan!” A strange man approached
Donovan. His voice was definitely familiar… and looking closely, I detected a
strong resemblance to a young Abe Vigoda. Abe Vigoda! The proverbial light went
off in my head. “How the heck are you? I finally made it! Wow! This is quite a
party.”

Donovan grabbed the hand the man
offered, and turned to me, “Annie, I’d like you to meet the other Guest of
Honor, Marcos Landrostassis. Marcos, this is Annie Malone.”

A smile broke out over Marcos’ face, “Annie!
So good to meet you in person!”

I had almost convinced myself that
Marcos didn’t exist, yet here the man stood in front of me. “You are real! You
have no idea how nice it is to meet you! But what is this? Why are you here,
too?”

“Annie, Marcos was my partner for a few
years. Several years ago, he went deep undercover and infiltrated Cindy’s
organization.”

“But Cindy’s so young, she can’t have
been the head of it for very long.” I scrunched up my face trying to do math in
my head.

“She wasn’t. You know her mother is Tina
Delvecchio. What you don’t know is her father was the infamous Dmitri Tasios.”

“He was her father? So, being an outlaw
is in her genes?”

Marcos laughed at my little joke while
Donovan smile indulgently. “You could say that.”

“Oh, Annie! You are a treasure. Donovan,
hold on to this one. She has the patience of a saint. Even when I yelled at her
over the phone, she put up with me.” He slapped me on the back so hard, I
almost fell down. Donovan steadied me, saying, “Easy there, Marcos. She’s not
used our rougher ways.”

I smiled up at the men, “Oh, I’m fine.
Hey, there’s that blonde woman we saw at the haunted house! What’s she doing
here?”

“Oh, that’s right, Annie, you haven’t
met Diana yet,” Marcos exclaimed and briefly left us to bring Diana to meet me.

“You must be Annie,” Diana said with a
sweetly soft voice. “It is so nice to meet you. I have so wanted to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too! But why didn’t
you introduce yourself earlier? We saw you at that house across from Effie,
didn’t we?”

She nodded, “Yes, you did. I’m so sorry
about that. I’m also sorry about Lizzy falling into that pit. And breaking her
arm. I was so relieved when you escaped that exploding house, though. If I had
known they had swapped out your phone…”