Stacy Matthews - Dear Mary 01 - Think Twice Before You Order (8 page)

June
13
^th

Dear
Mary,             
             

  Charlie picked me up around six o’clock this morning.
He was waiting a block down the street for me. I was able to sneak out of the
house without waking either of them. We drove to the house where we were
knocked out, and parked four houses up the street. I had brought coffee and
some rolls. My head was feeling just fine, and the rolls were going to make it
feel even better. I’m not a doctor but that’s my professional opinion.

Charlie and Mark hadn’t been able to come up with any more
information on the list of names we had gotten from Dr. Niemeyer’s office. I
guess Mark had run every kind of search on them he could. None of those people
had so much as a ticket. Mark checked to see if any of them had any family or
had ever been married before. There were two that had been divorced and the
rest were widowers with no family. They all seemed to be well off, but by no
means millionaires. The only two that would be considered middle class were
Grandpa and Mr. Clark. Grandpa and Mr. Clark also seem to be the only ones that
have any kind of friends or social life. From the sound of it, these other men
were practically invisible.

Charlie and I thought it was more than a little strange that
not one person (that was supposed to be there) at any of the four houses we had
gone to yesterday was home. We watched the house where we had been knocked out,
then went to three other houses. Three hours had passed without a sign of
anyone. Charlie really wanted to go back into the house where we had our little
run-in. Everything seemed to be the same, from what little I remember. We went
upstairs to see if anyone had been staying there. If anyone was staying there,
they did a great job of cleaning up and making it look like no one had been
there. We looked around to make sure the house hadn’t been burglarized, it
hadn’t. That was the only house we went in, the rest we just sat a few houses
away, watched and waited for someone to come get the mail. We spent all day
doing this. No one showed up to take in the mail at any of the houses, and no
one came home, at all. Not for lunch or at the end of the day. This was the
second day that none of these people were home, not one of them. I could tell
by the look on Charlie’s face that this was somehow adding up to something in the
theory he and Mark had. I knew better than to ask what he was thinking, and
wasn’t sure I wanted to know at that point.

We went back to Charlie’s house. We sat at the kitchen table
looking at the list. Charlie decided it was too much of a coincidence that none
of the people were home two days in a row. I could tell by his face he was
trying to figure out a way to get rid of me and let
himself
into some of the houses. I knew he was afraid of me getting hurt again, but I
headed him off at the pass and told him I want to be with him every step of the
way on this. He said that was fine but he didn’t know what we might find.
Meaning he wanted to know if I was going to lose it if we came across any bad
information about Grandpa.

I had to think about that for a little bit. Grandpa and I
aren’t as close as I would like us to be, but we were on our way. He is the
only family I have left. I decided I wanted to be in on every aspect of this,
good or bad. Charlie said he was all right with that, so then we had some pizza
delivered. While we were eating, Charlie took the list and put the houses in
order of the last date they had an appointment with Dr. Niemeyer. The first
house on the new list hadn’t been to Dr. Niemeyer since early April. The
second’s last appointment had been in mid-April. Charlie took me back to Mrs.
Houtz and Edmonds’s, and said he would be over early in the morning to pick me
up; should be an interesting day.

When I walked into the house the ladies were sitting in the
living room watching one of their programs. Mrs. Edmonds turned the TV down,
and they both turned towards me. They asked how I was feeling and I told them
fine. Then came the surprising part. Both of them said they knew Charlie and I
were looking into something, and knew he had most likely told me not to fill
them in on any of it. They would agree not to ask any questions if I promised
to fill them in on everything once we were finished.

I thought this was very considerate of them, knowing how much
farther they were in the art of interrogating people than I was, and would have
most likely gotten the entire story out of me. I promised I would tell them
everything the minute I could. They accepted my promise and asked if I wanted
anything to eat. I thanked them for their understanding and said Charlie and I
had grabbed a bite to eat earlier. I excused myself and came into my room to
catch you up on everything.

Boy that pizza didn’t match up to the home cooking I’ve had these
past few days. I need to make sure I either get out for a walk or make sure I
don’t eat fast food anymore. This thing is setting on my stomach like a
paperweight. I’m leaning towards no fast food anymore.

Mrs. Houtz knocked on my door wanting to let me know the
Edmonds family were coming in early, and would be here tomorrow. She said she
found the key to Grandpa’s house and had gone over and made sure everything was
ready to go.

Thankfully
when I had come back from Mrs. Bartley’s in that cleaning mood, I changed the
sheets in all the bedrooms, cleaned the bathrooms and gave the house the once
over. I have to say the house looked pretty good the last time I was there.
Maybe if I had people come over to my apartment to stay I would clean it more
often. All of the kids and grandkids will be spending most of their time with
Mrs. Houtz and Mrs. Edmonds, but I still wanted Grandpa’s place to look nice,
and make them feel like they could spend as much time there as they want. I’m
just glad all the cooking is being done over here and I’ll be home for dinner
every night.     

Talk
to you later

June
17
^th

Dear Mary,

If you’ll notice it’s been four days since I last wrote you.
I’ll explain all of that in a few. First let me back up to June the 14
^th
.

I had gotten up a little early, I could tell Mrs. Houtz was
awake, I could smell the coffee and something was baking. She had some lovely
homemade biscuits with homemade berry preserves. We sat and drank coffee, ate
biscuits and talked about the family coming into town. They were both so
excited about having all of the kids in town. She and Mrs. Edmonds had planned
on having a big dinner the day before they all left and wanted to make sure I
would be there. She didn’t tell me what we would be having, but I can imagine how
much food is going to be at that table and how good it’s going to be.

It was getting close to the time Charlie was supposed to be
picking me up, so I got my things together. He was sitting in the driveway
waiting for me. He had stopped somewhere and had gotten coffee and rolls. I
couldn’t tell him I had just eaten with Mrs. Houtz that would have been rude,
so I had some more coffee and a roll. Charlie wanted to drive by all of the
houses on the list before going into any of them to make sure there were no
obvious signs of anyone being at any of the houses. I tell you what, there is a
lot of what I would consider back tracking in this spy business; but Charlie
said its not back tracking. It’s all about spy safety…those aren’t the exact
words he used but you know what I mean. By the time we had gone to each of the
houses, sat out in front for a little bit, it was lunchtime. We found a deli,
got a couple of sandwiches and went back to the last house on the list. We sat
in the car, ate our food and talked.

I told him all about Mrs. Houtz’s kids and grandkids staying
at Grandpa’s house while they were in town. He thought that was a good idea,
seeing as how that would keep them out of our hair. I could tell by the look on
his face, he was trying to figure out a way to wrangle an invite to dinner. I
told him if he showed up, it would be fine with the ladies. He said he would
think about it. I’m guessing he will be there.

Charlie had decided it was time to go in. We worked our way
back through the other homes, going inside every one being oh so careful not to
disturb anything. In each of the homes it appeared as though someone had been
taking in the mail but nothing else. They weren’t watering the plants, and they
certainly weren’t dusting. The dust had accumulated so much that you could tell
the path the person took to and from the front doors to the kitchen tables. It
didn’t look like they had gone into any of the other rooms in any of the homes.
With the exception of the dust, all of them looked to be well
cared for, everything was nice and neat and in its place.
It just
doesn’t make sense that if the homeowners were out of town that they would go
to the trouble of having someone pick up the mail but not care for the rest of
the house. More than a few of them were obviously wealthy enough to have had a
maid service if not a live in maid.

Charlie was very methodical in the way we approached each of
the houses. First we would go to the front door and knock. If no one answered
we would casually walk to the backdoor. Then we would try to find a window that
had a blind left open to try and get a look inside, but those were few and far
between
;
All the while trying not to attract attention
from the neighbors or anyone else for that matter. I don’t know how long he has
been retired but I was amazed at how easy it was for him to open the door. Once
we were inside, the way we moved was even more precise. He told me to make sure
not to touch anything. If someone did come home everything needed to be as it
had been when he or she left.

We made our way back to the first house we had gone to in
Mission Hills a few days before. He was very interested in getting into that
house; apparently he had been able to get a good look through a back window,
and thought it looked as though someone had been spending more time in that
house than the others. We parked the car again and headed up the driveway. We
rang the doorbell to make sure no one was home. No one answered so we went
around to the back of the house. We went to the guesthouse to make sure no one
was staying there. When no one answered Charlie let us in. It was empty and the
furniture was covered with sheets. All of the appliances where unplugged. From
the looks of it I don’t think anyone had been in that guesthouse for quite some
time.

We went to the back door of the house and used Charlie’s
“key” to let ourselves in. The first thing I noticed was the large amount of
mail on the kitchen table. I know what you’re thinking and no, we didn’t open
any of it; we did try looking through the envelopes. Most of it seemed to be
junk mail. There were a few bills but none of them seemed to be overdue. I went
through all the paper work I could find at the desk in the kitchen very
carefully, hoping I could find something that would have told me where these
people might have gone. We checked the rest of the house and nothing seemed to
be out of place or rummaged through. They had a wall safe in the master
bedroom; it was still locked and didn’t show any signs of being tampered with.

We were standing there in the master bedroom trying to figure
out what was going on with these people when we heard someone come in the back
door. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. Of course Charlie was
calm. I wanted to hide, there’s no shame in hiding, but before I could get to a
good hiding spot Charlie grabbed my arm and we were sneaking back down the hall
towards the kitchen. I was in a crouching position on one side of the hallway
and Charlie the other. I swear I have never had an adrenalin rush like that
before. My heart was beating so fast I couldn’t hear a thing; it was like being
in a silent movie. He was doing little hand signals and I still have no idea
what they meant but I was actually moving and quietly at that! We got to the
kitchen door and were crouched down on either side. Charlie was doing some of
those little head moves you see cops on TV doing, trying to get a look at the
person in the kitchen. I thought since I had only ever seen this on TV it would
be best to leave it to him to do. I didn’t want to take the chance of bobbing
when I should have been weaving and bang heads.

Now this is the part gets a little hazy, so I’m not entirely
sure this is the way everything happened but it’s the way I remember it. All of
the sudden Charlie jumped up, ran into the kitchen yelling “Tatiana?” She
turned around, saw it was Charlie and tried to run. He caught her before she
could make it to the door. There she was. The mail order bride my Grandpa had
married. She was screaming and crying trying to get away from him. I’ve never
seen anyone that hysterical. Charlie got her to a chair, and she calmed down a
little. She just kept saying over and over “I’m so sorry, I tried to get him
out of it. If they find me they will kill me.” Well that got my attention, and
of course I was starting to become a little worked up myself and started
yelling, “Where is grandpa?”  You should have seen the look on her face.
Mary, she had absolutely no idea who I was or that Grandpa had a granddaughter.
She started crying even harder. The next thing I knew I woke up in the
hospital. I have to go for some more x-rays but I’ll be back later and tell you
the rest.

Talk to you later

June 18
^th

Dear Mary,

  I have to tell you I’m getting tired of all these x-rays.
Let’s see it looks like I stopped at me waking up in the hospital. When I woke
up I turned my head and saw Charlie sitting in the chair next to my bed just
staring at me. I asked him how long I had been out, and with a straight face he
said twenty years, then he smiled and in his usual smart-ass yet caring way
said, “Okay three days.” Of course I tried to ask questions, but my voice was a
little weak since I hadn’t spoken for three days. I think that’s a record! He
told me to quiet down and went to get the nurse.

She came in and took all my vitals. She said Charlie had been
with me the entire time. They had tried to get him to go home and get some rest
but he refused, saying he wanted to be here when I woke up. The doctor came in
and checked me over and once I got the ok, they let Charlie back in. As Charlie
put it I went down like a ton of bricks. Once he got the other girl under
control he called the ambulance for me and then called Mark to pick up Tatiana
and the other girl. Other girl? What other girl? Not only had Tatiana been
staying at that house, one of the other “Brides” that had been trying to get
out of the situation was staying there as well. When the other girl heard
Tatiana scream she ran down from the attic and was trying to help Tatiana. She
hit me in the head with some kind of vase.

Mark and Charlie agreed the less attention they brought to
this entire situation the better. They agreed that Charlie would go with me to
the hospital and make sure I was taken care of.  Mark would take Tatiana
and the other woman to Charlie’s house. They both felt they would get more
information from them at the house, than interrogating them at the office
downtown. Charlie said their theory had turned out to be correct and it’s now a
Federal matter. Of course I asked where Grandpa was. In my heart I already knew
the answer. If he had been alive he would have been at my bedside. I needed to
hear it out loud. I don’t know why, somehow it made it real for me. He took my
hand and said, “I’m really sorry to have to tell you this but he died.” I
started crying. I wanted to know if they had found him and if Charlie knew
where he was now? Charlie said they had found him and he was at the funeral
home. The people there had taken care of everything. The funeral would be held
when the doctor discharged me from the hospital.

I was numb, and this wasn’t the scared numb I’m used to. It
felt like my whole world had been knocked out from underneath me and there
wasn’t a thing I could do about it. Family wise I was alone. I have no family
left anywhere. Charlie had left out the details of where they had found Grandpa
and I didn’t ask. I guess when it came right down to it I didn’t want or need
to know the details of his death. In some strange way it was enough that they
had found him.

I did however want to know everything they had learned from
Tatiana. He said they were still questioning Tatiana and the other woman. He
promised he would tell me everything, but I couldn’t be there while they were
questioning either of them. It had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t
an agent, I would have just gotten out of the hospital and that I would
probably try to get my hands around her neck, blah, blah, blah. He did say the
situation was much bigger than they had thought and they needed Tatiana’s
cooperation. Since the only people that really knew about it where Charlie, me,
and Mark they were trying to keep it as low key as they could. Mark was only
talking to the higher ups in his department. What do you do?

Besides, the hospital wasn’t going to let me out until I
could complete a series of tests. A very nice woman came by and gave me the
first shot at taking these tests. Now I’ve always been very good at tests but
this was more motor function than true or false. There were ten tests in all
and I could only do five. They won’t discharge you until you can do at least
eight of them by yourself. Most of them had to do with balance. I wanted to get
out of there more than anything, but I have to admit my balance was off more
than just a tad. It took another two days to get my score up to a nine and I
got to go home. By that time they had moved Tatiana to a safe house, and no
they weren’t just talking about getting her away from me. I told Charlie I
didn’t really care where she was I just wanted to concentrate on Grandpa’s
funeral.

When I got home I called the funeral home and went over the
arrangements. It was a lovely service. I think everyone in town showed up at
the funeral home and then back at the house. There was enough food to feed a
third world country, and enough leftovers that I won’t have to cook for a
month. After they had all left I realized I was really alone. No parents, no
other blood family, just me. That’s going to take some getting used to.

Charlie came over the day after the funeral to check on me.
After he got through the barrage of questions Mrs. Houtz and Mrs. Berger had
for him, they finally let him back to see me. I asked him if they had gotten
any more information from Tatiana. She had told them this particular “Mail
Order Bride” agency was nothing but a scam. She was from Russia but she hadn’t
been back to that country in ten years. She and some of the other women had
answered an ad in the newspaper that promised a new and better life in the
United States.

Charlie said from what Mark could understand this “company”
had told the women, about ten to fifteen, he had gotten a lucrative modeling
contract with a company in the U.S. She said looking back they were all so
anxious to get out of Russia they didn’t stop to think why this agency in
America didn’t get the models from the states. They all signed their contracts,
packed their clothes and jumped on the plane that was to take them to their
freedom. Once at the airport a man named Tyler Moran met them. She said he was
cordial to all of the women, asking each of them if they needed anything before
the flight. It was a chartered flight. Moran and the other women were they only
ones on the plane. Once they landed they were handed their luggage and got into
the waiting van. It was then he informed them the modeling company had backed
out. He told tell them they were in debt to the company to the tune of fifty
thousand dollars apiece. He said they would have to work off the debt and he
would explain how they could do that when they got to the townhouse.

Tatiana said there were ten women that came over with her.
Once they were at the townhouse and settled, Moran had everyone gather in the
living room. That’s when he lowered the boom on them. He said they owed the
company so much money they would all have to stay here and do what they were
told, and to make sure they would stay put there would be a couple of his guys
there day and night to make sure none of them tried to leave or contact any of
their family. He told them the company had come up with a way that would let
the women work off the fifty thousand and save some money. He told them about
the mail order bride scam they had come up with.

Moran would pick out a man, the target, for each of them and
they were to strike up a relationship with this man. If everything went
according to the plan they would marry him. Tatiana said each of the women had
a computer, but Moran had set it up so the only site they had access to was the
mail order bride site. From what she could tell Moran picked what he thought
were rich elderly men for them to talk to. These men would join the web site
and think the women they were talking to on-line were in Russia, when in fact
the women where all right here in the country. If everything seemed to go well
through the e-mails and the man wanted to meet his sweetheart in person, the
company would tell him they would arrange everything and have her brought over
as a courtesy to them for being such good clients. If the visits went well and
the man indicated to the woman he was interested in pursuing the matter, the
man would notify Moran and he would arrange the weddings.

When this first started, the plan was for the Brides to be
married for at least six months, and then they would reveal to their husband
that they had some kind of an addiction problem. Then they would have one of
Moran’s men pretend to be married to one of the other brides and recommend Dr.
Niemeyer. Once they started with the sessions they would steadily drain the
bank account of the husband. When it was time for the wife to come back home
they would tell the husband it was best to start slow. After a couple of days
the wife would just disappear with whatever money was left in the bank account.
If the husband called the office, they would tell him they were looking for her
too, if he didn’t call the office, they would call him and ask how everything
was going now that the wife had moved back in. The office would give the
impression that they would help the husband in any way they could to find the
wife. All the while she would be back at the townhouse.

They asked Tatiana how Dr. Niemeyer got involved in this
scam. What she had heard was his business hadn’t been doing very well and he
had gone to school with Moran. Niemeyer knew Moran was always up to something,
had some kind of scam going on. Apparently Moran had been a bad seed his whole
life. Moran told Niemeyer about the mail order bride idea he had been working
on. Moran was always surfing the Internet looking for some kind of get rich quick
business. Apparently he came across mail order bride information, and started
talking to a man in Russia that had an idea he thought would make them both
rich. At first Moran, Dr. Niemeyer, and the man in Russia were making money,
not a lot but enough to keep it going. Tatiana wasn’t sure when it happened or
who the first victim was, but at some point Moran and the man in Russia decided
it would be more profitable if the men they picked were not only rich but had
no family. If there were no family, there would be no one to worry about them
or look for them if they went missing. If they went missing the wife could
eventually sell any property and collect on any life insurance they may have.
Tatiana said the “brides” as they like to call themselves were never involved
with the disappearance of the men. By the time it came to that, they were back
at the townhouse waiting on another husband. All of them knew what was going
on, but they were stuck. They knew if they tried to tell anyone what was going
on the husband wouldn’t be the only one missing.

Tatiana told Charlie she really fell in love with Grandpa.
When she started the slowly moving back in portion of the scam, she told
Grandpa about the entire thing, and had convinced him they needed to leave. As
they were getting ready to head out, Moran and a couple of his hired guys
showed up. Tatiana said both she and Grandpa had been knocked out. They woke up
in a bedroom of one of the empty houses. Tatiana didn’t know which house it
was, but thought she would recognize it if she saw it again. She said the two
guys that worked for Moran came in and got Grandpa. They told her they would be
back and that she was next. She heard them open the garage door, start the car
and then the garage door close. She knew it was now or never. She got untied
and escaped out the bedroom window, then ran to the house we found her in.

When Tatiana had been back at the townhouse she and the other
bride had decided that would be the home they would hide in until they could
figure out where and how they could get help. Tatiana also told the other bride
she was going to tell Grandpa everything when she started the “move back in”
part, and Grandpa may be able to help them. Tatiana made it back to that house,
and told the other woman how everything had fallen apart. Both of them would
hide up in the attic when they heard someone coming up the drive. Neither of
them saw
who
it was that came to take care of the
mail, but could see the car, as it would pull out of the circle drive. They
both assumed it was one of Moran’s people.

Several of the brides wanted to get out of the business but
none of them could figure out how to leave, or where they could go that they
wouldn’t be caught. Tatiana tried calling one of the brides at the townhouse
but was hung up on when they recognized her voice. She knew then all of the
other brides had been told the two of them had run away. There had been several
brides before her that had tried to get out. Everyone at the townhouse was told
to call Moran or one of his people immediately if a missing bride tried
contacting any of them, and if any of the other brides tried to help the
runaways they would be killed as well.

Tatiana and the other bride were on their own; the only
people either of them knew where the other Brides, and some of Moran’s people.
She said they had no idea what they were going to do or how long they would be
able to stay at that house. Tatiana was actually relived when she saw Charlie.
She said Grandpa had never said anything about me until they were left in that
room. The only thing he got to tell her was that he had a granddaughter. She
didn’t know my name, what I looked like or how old I was, nothing.

Mark and the other people with the agency moved pretty fast
on this. They had been waiting for a break. Since none of the husbands had any
family they couldn’t prove what exactly was happening to the men. They couldn’t
even find where the Brides were being kept. They thought maybe the Brides would
change states once the husband went missing and start all over again. Mark said
if it hadn’t been for Charlie and I putting that list of patients together and
seeing what the common thread was they might never had figured out what the
good doctor had really been up to. Now that they know and have most of the people
involved in custody the only thing I can do is wait for the trial. It should
start within the month.

I have been going through all of Grandpa’s things, trying to
decide what to keep and what to get rid of. The one thing I have decided is to
stay here. I went back to New York and made arrangements to sell my apartment
and have my things moved here. What with my savings and the money from my
apartment, I’ll be able to take my time and figure out what I would like to do
for a living. In the meantime I’ll be having dinners with the Bartley’s and see
how exactly the “Golden Girls” are working out. Who knows, maybe Charlie and I
will start a business of our own.