Gotcha! (12 page)

“I’ve lived in this town long enough to join all the citizen groups. I’m well known, and the people here are my friends and my kids’ friends. I’m telling you that so you understand why people come to me or the kids when they find out something about Darlene. It’s that small-town stick-together thing. I keep all those little confidences in a separate book. I don’t want anything any of them tells me to get back and bite them, as Darlene is vicious. If you look at her crossways, she threatens to sue you. People do not want to get sued, and I can’t blame them.”

“Understood,” Annie said. “But we aren’t like those other people, are we, Myra?” Annie twinkled.

“No, we are not like those other people. We kick ass and take names later.”

Julie burst out laughing. “I sense we are about to get down to business. Shall I make us a fresh pot of coffee? By the way, would you like to stay here? I have a lovely cottage with two bedrooms in a loft. They aren’t actually separate bedrooms; there’s a decorative screen separating the space. I’ll even cook for you.”

“Sold!” Annie cackled as she slapped her hand on the table. “More coffee would be wonderful. I have to call my pilot and send him back home. No sense in keeping him here. He can come back for us when we wrap this up, or we can fly home commercial.”

 

 

“Myra, do you trust me to do the hacking, or should I call Abner to do it for us?”

“For this, dear, no offense, but I think we should use Abner. I think you need a little more practice.”

“No offense taken, Myra. I agree with you. Hacking isn’t like safecracking, but I do want to remind you that I excelled at that, along with the stripper pole.”

Julie’s eyes popped wide.

“Another time, dear, and we’ll tell you things that will curl your hair. For now, we need to focus on our mission and not get sidetracked,” Annie said.

“How much do you hate your daughter-in-law?”

“How deep is the ocean, how vast is the universe, how far is the desert? Combine all three, and that’s my answer.”

“That much, eh? It’ll do,” Annie said happily as she punched in numbers on her cell phone.

The plane situation was taken care of in seconds. It was the call to Abner Tookus that made the hair on the back of Julie Wyatt’s neck stand straight up. She listened to one of her new best friends, her eyes as round as saucers.

“Abner, dear, this is what I need. Tell me if you can have it done in the next few hours. Yes, yes, I know who I am talking to. We need you to erase two identities. Adam Fortune and Darlene Jimson Wyatt. We want a full court on this. I’m going to read off the credit-card numbers and give you both their Social Security numbers. I want their identities totally destroyed. I want there to be no record of them anywhere at all. Make them disappear from the face of the Earth. ASAP. There’s also a child involved, and I will give you her Social as well. I can’t be sure, but I think Adam Fortune or Darlene set up a credit line for her somehow. Ditto for Darlene’s dead husband. I have the child’s Social, too. I want her to disappear from the Social Security database and have the funds that were being deposited for her redirected elsewhere under a different name and number. So, what are we looking at here, Abner, time-wise?” Annie listened, her eyes as bright and shiny as a squirrel’s. She smiled and said, “And, as they say, the check is in the mail. Give my love to Isabelle.”

Annie powered down, then dusted her hands together. “He said he’d be done by midnight, his time. That means we’ll know it’s all been taken care of when the news comes on at eleven this evening. Tomorrow morning, the dark stuff will hit the fan for Darlene Jimson Wyatt.”

Julie was shocked speechless. “And you did all of that with
one
phone call!”

Myra laughed. “It’s not what you know, it’s
who
you know. Abner is the best of the best, and he’s been training Annie.”

“I read something in one of these papers that says Darlene practically lives at the ATM machines. That she doesn’t carry cash as a rule and uses a debit card. Even pays for her groceries with a credit card. Is that true, or did I misread something?”

“No, you read it right,” Julie said, her voice full of awe. “She even uses a debit card when she goes to Starbucks. She goes every morning for her daily fix. I used to stake her out.”

Myra and Annie burst out laughing.

“Not anymore she doesn’t. Myra and I can be there in the morning to watch firsthand if she has a certain time she goes there. She doesn’t know us, so we can follow her. She might even go to the bank, and we can follow her there and take her picture when she pitches her first fit,” Annie said.

Julie joined in the laughter. “She usually hits it around nine or a few minutes after nine.” Finally, she was going to see some action. She was so excited, she could barely talk.
Please, God, don’t make this a bad dream.

“What does Darlene do for a living?”

“She was selling real estate after Larry died. Then she moved Adam and his kids into the house. When the townspeople got wind of that, no one would list or buy through her. I heard she worked in Huntsville in a department store for a while but got fired. The rumor around town, mostly beauty-parlor gossip, is that she’s a sociopath. I don’t think she does anything now except bail Adam’s kids out of jail. Or Adam does. She dyes her own hair these days, too. Seems Betsy Kenyon mixed the wrong colors, then Darlene’s hair started falling out. Darlene tried to sue Betsy, but no lawyer would take the case.”

“They sound like pariahs,” Myra said.

“I guess you could say that. Among other things.”

“I have an idea,” Annie said. “Let’s go sit on your front porch, Julie. I want to hear everything there is to know about Larry, your other children, and, of course, Olivia. Will it bother you to talk to us about them?”

“No. I love talking about Larry, but everyone is tired of hearing me, so I don’t do it anymore. I suppose in some ways, I’m obsessed.”

“I was like that for a long time,” Myra said, picking up her coffee cup.

“Me, too, but longer than Myra was,” Annie said.

“Will you tell me about your children when I’m done?” Julie asked.

“Just try and stop us,” Annie said, reaching for Julie’s hand to pull her to her feet. “Just you try and stop us.”

“I don’t know how to thank you both.”

“Glad to help,” Myra said, leading the small parade out to the veranda. The dogs looked up and decided it wasn’t worth the effort to get up and go out on the veranda in the hot weather.

“Watch the house,” Julie said. Gracie barked in response. It was something she always said to the dogs when she went out the door, even if it was just to take the trash out.

A
long with the dogs, Julie walked her guests over to the little cottage and opened the door. “Everything you need is already in there. You can make coffee when you get up, then walk over to the house for breakfast. I’ll send the dogs to get you. Gracie knows how to ring the doorbell. I usually make breakfast around seven. Or is that too early for you?”

“No, that’s fine. Myra and I don’t sleep much, especially when we’re planning a mission. We’re going to spend most of what’s left of this night reading through your legal papers. Do you want us to call you when our . . .
source
calls us later on?”

“I would dearly love that. Falling asleep knowing that evil bitch is finally going to get her due should make for a good night’s sleep. Do you still want to go to Starbucks in the morning? She goes at nine. If you beat her to the shop, there is a wonderful spot where you can park and observe her going through the drive-through. She has her windows tinted very dark, so the only way to actually see her is head-on. You need to see what you’re going to be dealing with.”

“We’ll do it as soon as breakfast is over. Annie and I are good at stakeouts. You’re sure, now, that this is what you want?”

“I’m sure. No second thoughts at all. I think you’ll be more than comfortable over here. I’ll say good night now and thank you again for coming, and for believing in me.”

The three women hugged one another, then Myra and Annie proceeded to settle down in their new digs.

Annie turned on lights while Myra dropped the bags she’d been carrying at the top of the steps. Annie, who had two boxes in her arms, placed them side by side.

“This is very pretty,” Myra said, walking around. “I really like the oak floors and the ceiling-to-floor windows. I bet it’s nice and sunny in here during the day. I just love all this wood. The kitchen is perfect—not too big, not too small. I could see how Julie’s son Larry would have been happy in here with his little daughter. Yes, any young person would be happy here, don’t you agree, Annie? And the little girl would be just across the yard from her grandma. This is just so sad.”

“I do agree. I’m going to take a shower and change into my nightclothes. You make the coffee and get the stuff ready to read; then, when you hit the shower, I’ll parcel it out to what I think we need to deal with first. I like Julie, Myra. I really like her. I’m wondering if maybe she wouldn’t be an asset to our second string. I saw the way you were looking at her, and I’m thinking you are of the same mind-set.”

“You’re right, but how would that work for us when she lives here in Alabama? We can worry about that later. Take your shower, and I’ll have the coffee ready when you get out. Just think, Annie, two more hours, and if Abner wasn’t being overly optimistic, Ms. Darlene Wyatt will be floating down the tubes by early light. I can’t wait!”

Annie laughed all the way into the bathroom and was still smiling when she stood under the warm water. She was chuckling to herself when she donned one of her old flannel nightgowns. She found true comfort in familiarity. She just loved it when things were on a roll. Just loved, loved, loved it! She sniffed at the fresh scent of coffee. It was going to be a very long evening.

Ninety minutes later, their coffee cups empty, their eyes on their watches, Myra looked up and over at Annie. “I never met this woman, and I already hate her guts!”

“Whoa there, Myra!” Annie said, rearing back.

“What kind of mother would put her boyfriend and
his children
ahead of her own, even if her own is adopted? What kind of mother would spend her adopted child’s money on her boyfriend and
his
children? What kind of mother would allow her boyfriend to slap, browbeat, and verbally abuse her child?”

“Not any mother I ever heard of. Okay, Myra, we both hate her guts! But we have a chance now to go after the evil bitch and make it right for little Ollie. She’s a cutie, isn’t she, with those blond curls and big blue eyes? So sad, though. Other than the pictures taken before her daddy died, there’s not a single one of her smiling.”

Myra’s face was grim. “We’re going to change that real quick, Annie. I can’t wait to get my hands on that woman and her boyfriend.” Myra looked down at her watch. “Ten more minutes, if Abner is on the money. You don’t think there will be any glitches, do you?”

“God, I hope not. Abner is the best of the best. If he said he could do it, and he did say he could, then I think we should just consider it done. More coffee?”

“Sure, why not? My nerves are twanging all over the place as it is. One more cup isn’t going to make a difference. You do realize we are not going to be sleeping tonight, don’t you?”

“Of course. Why else do you think I didn’t turn down the beds?”

“Then why did we put our nightgowns on?” Myra fretted.

“Because that’s what we do every night, and we’re creatures of comfort and habit,” Annie said tartly.

“I suppose that makes sense in some cockamamie way,” Myra observed, just as Annie’s cell phone chirped to life. Annie had the cell to her ear in a nanosecond. She listened, her fist shooting in the air. “Yes, yes, Abner, I realize you are three and one-half minutes ahead of schedule.” She listened again, her eyes sparkling like diamonds. When she finally broke the connection, she leaned over to hug Myra.

“He did it. The whole ball of wax. Darlene Wyatt no longer exists. Anywhere. She’s in no databases. Her Social Security number now belongs to someone who died years ago. Her credit cards have been erased. She no longer has a credit report. Her cars will be repossessed in the next twenty-four hours, all traces of ownership erased. Ollie’s monthly Social Security payments, under a different name and Social Security number—which can be changed back once this is all taken care of—have been routed to an account in a new bank. No one at the bank even knows about the account, but will at nine o’clock in the morning. All Darlene’s bank accounts are now closed, as well as Adam Fortune’s accounts, with no record that they ever existed. Both of them became paupers three and one-half minutes ago—unless they have some cash money in their pockets. I wonder how she’s going to pay for her Starbucks coffee in the morning.”

Myra clapped her hands in glee. “This is just too delicious for words. Hurry, call Julie and tell her. Ask her what she thinks Darlene will do when it hits the fan. She’s made studying that wormy woman her life’s work, so she might have an opinion as to where Darlene will go or what she will do to get money.”

Myra brewed a fresh pot of coffee and made up a plate of cheese and crackers, which she carried back to the living room. She sat down in the middle of a pile of papers and started to munch on the snacks, the moment Annie hung up the phone.

“We just made that woman one happy lady. She said she thinks she will sleep like a baby tonight. I hope she’s right.”

“What did she say about Darlene?”

“Nothing good. She said she’s been pretty much out of the loop this past year and a half and isn’t sure what she’s doing or not doing. As to where she could borrow money, she said possibly her family, who live in Upstate New York, but she said they are of modest means and don’t have the kind of money she’s going to need. Plus, according to gossip, they—the family—distanced themselves from Darlene once she moved her boyfriend and his kids into the house. She thinks that is a total dead end. There are no friends with money that she knows of. Adam was seen pawning stuff at a local pawnshop. She said Larry’s jewelry—a Rolex watch, a gold ring, and a gold chain with a cross on it—never came back to the family. She said most of the boyfriend’s friends are biker dudes who follow the road and work jobs on the fly. Darlene has no friends that Julie is aware of, because the bitch is so mean and nasty.”

“Now that is music to my ears,” Myra said, a big smile lighting up her face. “Which brings me back to what I said earlier. How is she going to pay for that Starbucks coffee in the morning?” Annie was rolling around on the floor laughing at the visual Myra had just created for her.

“We did good tonight, Myra. Let’s try and get some sleep. Right here on the floor with these pillows. We can pretend we’re having a slumber party.” When Annie punched in her pillow, she was dismayed to see that Myra was already asleep and snoring lightly.

 

 

Gracie rang the doorbell at six fifty. Myra and Annie were sitting on the steps, waiting to see if Gracie could really ring the bell. When she did, both women burst out laughing. “I guess I’m going to have to teach Lady how to do that.” They followed the beautiful dog across the lawn and up the steps and the little platforms to the main house. The scent of bacon, home-fried potatoes—the old-fashioned kind, with onions and peppers—and coffee wafted about them.

The women smiled at one another. “How did you sleep, Julie?”

“I didn’t sleep a wink. I was too excited. I wish I could go with you to Starbucks, but even I know that is not a wise move. But I want you to call me if you think you might need my help. How did you sleep?”

“We didn’t close our eyes, either,” Myra fibbed. “So you don’t think there’s anyplace she can borrow money, is that it?”

Julie filled both their plates with fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes. The toast was warm and buttered. Homemade strawberry jam sat on the table, along with a bowl of cut-up melon. The coffee was hot and freshly ground. “Not to my knowledge, but I guess we’ll know soon enough if we see her scrambling.”

“This looks wonderful, and it smells the way breakfast should,” Annie said. “I just had a thought. Do you have a car-rental agency here in town? I think we should rent several different cars, so if Darlene or Adam get suspicious of us, at least they won’t be sure.”

“We do, actually. Enterprise, and they will deliver. I know they open at seven because last year I had to rent a car. I can call them now. How many do we want?”

“Let’s go with three. I’ll use my credit card to pay when they deliver the cars. We should also think about some reasonable disguises. My gut is telling me Darlene is going to be way too busy to pay attention to old ladies in different cars. But you never know, so let’s be prepared.”

“And I know just the place to get everything we need. In fact, as soon as I make the arrangements for the cars to be brought here, I will scoot over to the girls’ art school and bring back what we need. Carrie and Connie have everything under the sun—wigs, hats, stuff that will change a look but not be overpowering. The kids put on a performance once a year to show off their artwork, and they do it in costume. It won’t take but twenty minutes to go, scoop it up, and get back here.”

“I just love it when a plan comes together. Remember how George Peppard used to say that on the
A-Team,
Myra?”

“He’s dead, Annie, but, yes, I do remember how he always used to say that. That was one of Charles’s favorite television shows.”

“Okay, Enterprise will have three cars here by eight thirty. A Mustang, a Taurus, and a Ford pickup. I’m going to leave you now, and I won’t be gone long. You can clean up if you want. I cooked. That’s fair, right?”

“Absolutely,” Myra said.

“I like that lady more and more each time we talk to her. She’s like us, Myra; she has grease on her sneakers. No grass is growing under her feet, that’s for sure. I also like the idea that now that she has money coming out her ears, she doesn’t want to go the legal route, and wants us to do what we do best, get justice for Larry and pound that ex-daughter-in-law of hers into the ground.”

“Have you given any thought to what will happen to us if we get caught?” Myra asked curiously.

“About as much as you have, Myra. I don’t really care, do you?”

“Not one little bit, Annie. Let’s clear the table and fill the dishwasher. Do you think these two bowls of food are for the dogs?”

“Why don’t you ask them, Myra?”

“Smart-ass! Gracie, is this your food?” Cooper barked twice. Gracie just looked at Myra as if to say,
whose food do you think it is, since my name is on the bowl?
Myra, chagrined, set the bowls on the floor. The two dogs wolfed down their breakfast, then scooted out their doggie door.

Julie was as good as her word; she was back in twenty minutes. She made fresh coffee, and while it was dripping into the pot, she showed them what she had brought back with her in a big cardboard box. “I got in and out before the girls showed up. I’m not ready to own up to what we’re doing just yet.”

“Well, this isn’t exactly Alexis’s red bag, but I think it will do. But we’ll need to pick up some latex and some stuff for padding. Maybe you can do that today, Julie. I’ll make a list. If we work in unison, we’ll make more progress,” Myra said. Annie and Julie both nodded in agreement.

Outside, a horn blew. “I think our cars are here. I have to open the gates. I’m going to have them drive around to the back so the cars can’t be seen from the street. I don’t trust anyone these days, even though the shrubbery and trees are so dense. Darlene is going to be desperate, and the first person she’s going to blame will be me. Do you want to come with me?”

The three women walked out the front door, and Julie directed the fleet of cars to the back part of the house. Annie signed her name, offered up her American Express Black Card, and accepted the receipt and keys. The drivers of the rentals climbed into the back of a fourth car as Julie explained how they were to exit the grounds. When the car was out of sight, the three women smacked their hands together as the dogs romped around, smelling the cars. Cooper lifted his leg on all three cars.

“He always does that. He has to claim everything if it’s new. Gracie couldn’t care less.”

“Let’s finish off the coffee before we get ready to leave,” Annie said.

“I’ve had enough,” Myra said. Julie agreed. Annie just shrugged as she perused the directions Julie had written out for her.