A Heart Full of Diamonds (9 page)

Karl opened the door and preceded her onto the porch,
looking around. Marilee followed. As she gained the porch, Karl took a firm
hold of her upper arm, his grasp painful. The second man, duffel bag in hand,
brought up the rear, stopping only long enough to close the door behind them,
then followed across the yard and out to the driveway.

As they walked in front of Richard’s, she took a sidelong
look, trying not to call attention to her motions but scanning the windows,
nevertheless. Marilee thought she saw the curtains twitch, but wasn’t sure. She
could only pray Derrek didn’t come out right now and become involved. Her
silent plea was answered; he stayed indoors.

Richard’s truck still wasn’t in his parking spot. Cold fear
centered in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She wasn’t going to be
rescued by others. Still, she had those pills; maybe they could help her some
way. A tiny flame of hope continued to flicker in her heart.

The men escorted Marilee down the driveway, Karl’s grip on
her arm forcing her to walk swiftly. They turned at the dead-end road and went
up the street to the corner, veered toward the left and stopped at the second
car parked there.

Parked far enough up the street, Marilee had been unable to
see it from the stairway as she’d topped the stairs on her way home.

Karl forced Marilee into the front passenger seat, closed
her door, and then climbed into the back seat behind her. The other man swiftly
tossed her duffle into the trunk, climbed into the driver’s seat, inserted the
key, and started the motor. Within moments, the car was in motion, leaving her
freedom and her heart behind. Richard, Derrek: would she ever see them again?

“Three-oh-four, pick up two; three-oh-four, please pick up
two.” The store’s code for Richard to take a phone call startled him.

This had better be an emergency or one kid will be
grounded for six weeks.
Richard’s thoughts were not charitable as he walked
toward the telephone kiosk.

He answered the call, listened to Derrek, asked a few
questions, then hung up. Getting out his wallet, he removed the card Detective
Briant had given him. Dialing the number on it, he waited impatiently for
Briant to answer. Finally connected, he gave his information, and then rang
off.

Richard called one of the men who worked for him and lived
nearby and asked him to come in and cover for him. Rogers said he could be
there in fifteen minutes.

Richard found the store manager and gained permission to
leave after letting him know Rogers would be there shortly then all but ran
from the store.

Hurrying to his truck, he quickly slid behind the wheel and
drove home, his thoughts replaying his son’s conversation.

Derrek had come onto Marilee’s porch while the men had been
talking with Marilee. They were taking her back to Tony, and she didn’t want to
go.

Derrek, smart enough to go home without being discovered,
called his dad right away; he was afraid they’d hurt her. He wasn’t alone. Detective
Briant felt the same; Richard could hear it in his voice.

His own fear for Marilee was different than what he’d
experienced as he’d faced his wife’s cancer and knew she’d lose that battle. This
fear made him realize he deeply loved Marilee. Was his discovery too late? Would
he see her again? Hold her? Kiss her? He wished the speed limit was higher!

Detective Briant received Richard’s call, asked several
questions, and then made some decisions and other phone calls. If the men had
abducted Mrs. Ferguson and were taking her back to her husband in Chicago, they
had now broken several laws. Before, there had been nothing more than hearsay
evidence to alleged crimes. Nothing they could do anything about.

Now, they had the boy’s testimony of what he’d heard through
the door and seen from his front window to prove kidnapping. Moreover,
transporting the victim across state lines elevated the kidnapping to a federal
offense. Briant could then ask federal officers for help.

He went to Marilee’s home; saw clothing strewn about the
bedroom, then spoke with Richard and Derrek. Back at the station, Briant made a
few other phone calls and, after speaking with his captain, reached into a
drawer for a sheaf of official papers.

Following procedure, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was
called and all the case particulars given. Detective Briant finished his
paperwork and looked at his watch. It had been a normal 12-hour day.

He stretched, yawned, and headed for home. He hoped the FBI
would nail Tony and set Mrs. Ferguson free. Briant had a low opinion of men who
used women like Tony seemed to.

It had been an exhausting ride to Chicago. The men switched
off driving. Both had watched Marilee closely. She’d been unable to sneak the
sleeping pills into their soft drinks or coffee, and because they’d been warned,
she’d been unable to use the restroom trick. Their pit stops were always at
out-of-city rest stops.

At gasoline stops they kept her in her seat, one of them
staying in the car with her. Fast food places provided their meals. If she
never saw another bucket of chicken, or bell-ringing place with Mexican food,
or a double arches location it would be too soon!

Driving into the outskirts of her home town, Marilee’s
stomach was roiling with nerves. How angry was Tony? How long would he let her
live? What was going to happen?

Questions tumbled through her mind as they neared his
neighborhood. She was frantic as they pulled into her old driveway and she saw
Tony standing there, a triumphant look on his evil face.

Marilee wanted to scream as he reached for the door handle,
but her voice died in her throat as she looked through the window and into his
eyes. She knew then she’d not live to see another morning.

Tony looked at his watch. Where were they? Karl had called
as they entered the city. It wasn’t a long drive here; they should have driven
up twenty minutes ago.

To keep calm, Tony went out onto the porch of his beautiful,
spacious home and flung himself into the swing. He ran through his plans for
making his errant wife pay for all the things she’d cost him either in time or
money since the day she’d left, nearly five months ago.

In money alone he’d had to pay out nearly fifty thousand
dollars. The cost to repair his corvette had been more than he’d expected
because of the water damage to the leather interior.

Client rescheduling didn’t even figure into the equation,
but the money she’d stolen from their joint account definitely added pain she’d
experience in her repayment to him.

 There was the cost of sending Karl and Benny to Utah to
collect her, plus the extra when they’d screwed up the first capture and then
had to hang around for another three weeks until they could try again.

Craig Oberdorff’s expenses and fees didn’t come cheap, but
he was the best, so every penny was worth it. Tony couldn’t believe she’d had
the brains to put together a plan that elaborate for disappearing from him.

He looked at his watch again. A whole three minutes had
elapsed. He shook his head. He was going to extract a bit of satisfaction from
Karl and Benny for their clumsiness in the capture and in making him wait so
long since they’d entered the city. Where were the dunces? He didn’t have all
day to wait!

A dark sedan finally turned the corner onto Tony’s street.
He held his breath a moment then realized it wasn’t them. Blast their butts!

He watched the wrong car drive leisurely up the street. He
didn’t recognize it, but since it didn’t concern him, he dismissed it from his
mind as soon as it passed his home.

A white panel truck drove down the street, parking two doors
down. He idly watched as two workmen in deep green overalls got out of the
truck, got tool boxes from the back, and walked up the driveway of his
neighbor’s house.

He smirked. That neighbor had seen Tony’s new home theater
surround-sound set-up and was now in the process of trying to best him…as if he
could! Hah!

Tony was always ahead of the game. His possessions were the
best and the newest, and he made sure everyone knew it.

That’s one of the reasons his wife’s perfidy was so
treacherous, damn her hide! He’d slipped a notch on his upward trek in the
social world because of her.

People didn’t believe the story he’d put out that she had
gone to take care of her gravely ill mother. Nobody in his world knew Marilee’s
parents were dead; he’d never be caught in the lie. 

Aside from her knowing about the diamonds, the social hiccup
was the biggest reason he’d gone after her for revenge.

He scowled, glancing at his watch yet again. Another five
minutes had crawled by. He took his cell phone from the holder on his belt and
viciously punched the redial button, but before the call went through, another
dark sedan turned the corner onto his street.

He paused a moment, scrutinizing the car. It was the right
one. At last! He severed the connection just as he heard the first ring and put
the phone back in its case on his belt.

He stood up. Benny pulled the car into his driveway and Tony
could see a woman sitting in the front seat, but she had dark hair. What the
crap? After all this, they’d grabbed the wrong woman.

He took the first two stairs before he realized the woman
was Marilee. Damn, the lengths she’d gone to in order to escape him! Well, they
hadn’t worked, had they? A smile came to his face. Making her hurt was going to
be fun!

He continued down the steps, his smile widening in
anticipation of what was to follow. He reached the driveway just as Benny
brought the car to a halt.

Tony looked in the window and saw the fear on Marilee’s
face. His glance took in Karl in the back seat right behind her, and there was
almost the same fear in his eyes, reminding Tony he was angry with the boys for
taking so long arrive.

Benny nearly jumped out of the car, starting his
explanations of an accident on the freeway that had all the lanes blocked for
nearly twenty minutes. Tony reached down and yanked the door open. Benny’s
blathering was making Tony even angrier because it was interfering with his
enjoyment of yanking Marilee out of the car.

“Shut up, Benny!” Tony yelled, the smile leaving his face.
“I sent you to get her and you brought her to me. I’ll deal with you about
being late later. For now, I just want to give the proper welcome home to my
errant wife!”

Benny shut his mouth immediately and stood quiet. Karl
hadn’t even opened his door yet, so complete was the fear Tony saw in his face.

Marilee cowered back against the seat. He reached out and
grabbed her wrist and yanked. She didn’t move.

He leaned over her and popped her seatbelt open, then backed
out of the car, still keeping one hand clamped on her bony wrist.

He tugged a little. She still didn’t move. Her eyes were
huge with her fear of him. He could almost taste it. He smiled and yanked her
out of the car.

Like a toddler in a tantrum, she plopped onto the ground at
his feet.

Suddenly there were men yelling and three cars screeched to
a stop in front of his house. More men were piling out of the cars, screaming
and pointing guns at him.

Tony couldn’t take in what was happening. Somebody from
behind him shoved him into the car’s door and he finally understood what they
were yelling at him; FBI. What the crap?

“Down!”

“On your knees!”

“On your face!”

“On the ground!”

“Hands out to the sides!”

“Now!”

“Move!”

“Down!”

Tony, thunderstruck, obeyed. On the ground, he was aware
Karl was next to him, also on the ground.  

Hands roughly yanked first one hand and then the other
sharply behind his back and Tony felt handcuffs firmly close around his wrists.
Men on either side of him grabbed his arms and hauled him to his feet,
retaining their tight hold on him.

One of the men in the dark green overalls he’d seen at his
neighbor’s house was standing in front of him. He had an open billfold sporting
a gold badge on one side and FBI identity on the other side open in Tony’s
face. He was saying Tony was under arrest for interstate kidnapping and began
reading him his rights.

Tony clamped his mouth shut. He wasn’t going to say another
word until he could call a lawyer. He hoped Karl and Benny didn’t spill their
guts before he could get lawyers for them, too. They knew what he’d do to them
if they spilled their guts.

Karl knew a lot about his doings. He’d been Tony’s
right-hand man. Aw, crap! What if Karl took a deal? No, Karl wasn’t that
stupid. He knew what he’d get from Tony if he sang. Karl would keep his mouth
shut until the lawyer got there. And Benny, Benny didn’t know enough to be any
danger.

As the men still holding his arms began pulling him towards
one of the cars in the street, he looked over at Marilee. The stupid bitch was
just sitting on the driveway bawling like a baby. He shot her a filthy look
before he was hauled away from her.

As they reached the street, one of the agents dragging him
forward put his hand on the top of Tony’s head to protect him from hitting the
car roof on the way in. The other agent roughly shoved him into the back seat of
it without releasing the handcuffs. Sitting against his hands was painful. His
shoulders hurt. An agent got in the car next to him and both back doors slammed
shut. As two more men got in the car in front of him, he had one final look at
Marilee. Two women were beside her, helping her to stand up. The FBI car’s
engine started and he was being driven away, anger burning in every fiber of
his body.