Runaway Mistress (36 page)

She even began to envy the fishermen in the simple boats that she could see from the beach. She envied their industry, the fact that they had to work for the very food they fed their families.

As she looked back at the house from the water’s edge, she saw that there was a man on the third-story veranda. Was someone always posted there? She had never noticed before. But the thing that really got her excited was a telescope, mounted on a tripod on the highest veranda. She went back to the house. At least there was something new to do.

It was Frank, one of Nick’s employees from Florida, on the veranda. He was comfortable in his flowered shirt and silk shorts, enjoying the afternoon on his rattan chair, playing his Game Boy, his rifle and telescope nearby. Having an armed guard at the house was something completely new. Despite the fact that Nick always had at least two big guys at hand, there had always been an obvious absence of weapons. The Game Boy beeped as he played his game and he looked out from the veranda occasionally. “I certainly hope you’re not planning to shoot anyone,” she said.

He smiled and said, “Very doubtful.”

“No one’s going anyplace, you know,” she said. “He has the passports.”

“He’s just being cautious.” He went back to beeping on the Game Boy.

If Nick were hiding out, there were much better locations around the islands to do so. St. Martin was an island shared by the French and Dutch, known as the Friendly Island, a mere thirty-six square miles. This shared government was very American-friendly—American authorities would be treated with grave deference. This was not some shady little Caribbean Island where police or officials could be bought. Aside from the fact that he’d had this house here for ten years or more, Nick must be very confident that his affairs would soon be in order.

“Most people try to escape
to
places like this.”

“I hear ya,” he said.

“I saw the telescope from the beach. Can I look?”

“Help yourself.”

She needed a little help to learn how to focus and sharpen the images, but she quickly found it easy to maneuver. It was amazing. She could not only see the little fishing boat offshore, she could almost count the bristles on the little old fisherman’s chin. Over the wall of a neighboring house was a nude sunbather; a yacht slowly passed by and she zeroed in on the people on the deck, having a party. There were frequent speedboats roaring past. She could see the road over the wall on the far west side of the house, the continuation of that same road on the far east side. The old fisherman gathered up his net and started his motor to leave, while another fisherman was just coming around the bend.

“You have the best job in the house,” she said.

“I do,” he said. “Want to let me have a look for a minute?”

“Sure,” she said, stepping back.

He took possession of the telescope, swerved left, then right, examined the water and various watercrafts, the neighbors, the side yards, the roads. “Looks good,” he said, letting her look again.

“I’m assuming you have infrared lenses so this can be used at night.”

“’Course.”

“Have you looked at the stars?”

“Yep. And satellites.”

She saw several different spots around the side of the property that were mostly out of sight. This place was not so secure, even with Frank up here. But then Jennifer was here because her friends had been threatened, and Barbara? Maybe Barbara was exactly where she wanted to be.

Then she saw them. A colorful speedboat out in the water with a couple lying on the front deck, making out. But not making out—pretending to make out while they also used cameras and binoculars to study the property. The woman lifted her head and the man turned his face toward the house. It was
them!
Alex and Paula! But what did they think they were going to do? A counter kidnapping? What good would that do? She couldn’t take the chance that Nick would retaliate.

Then it came to her that if Nick were arrested, taken into custody, and it had nothing whatever to do with Jennifer, there would be nothing to fear.

She straightened slowly, arching her back as though bending to the telescope had given her a backache. “If I come back up here tonight, will you let me try looking at some stars?”

“Sure. But I think tonight it might be Lou up here.”

“He’s a good guy,” she said, taking her leave.

She tried to keep from scrambling down the stairs in excitement. She went looking for Barbara, but the house was big and madam was obviously busy with something. “Have you seen Mrs. Noble?” she asked a maid. Head-shaking answered her. “Have you seen Mrs. Noble?” she asked a houseboy, and again, head-shaking. From the looks on their faces, they didn’t want to see her.

She knocked on Barbara’s door.

“What is it?” she demanded sharply.

Jennifer slowly pushed open the door and found the woman reclining on the bed with a fashion magazine in her lap. “Barbara? Put on your sandals and come for a little walk on the beach with me.”

“Hah. In your dreams. The beach is full of sand and bugs and
sun!
”

Jennifer would be disappointed in Nick if he didn’t have at least a couple of listening devices in the house, if he was serious about keeping these women under watch twenty-four seven. So she made the expression on her face urgent and tilted her head several times toward the beach. But her voice she kept cajoling. “Come on, Barbara. You’ve been cooped up too long. You’re going to get cabin fever!”

“Too bad,” she said.

Jennifer pointed urgently at the beach. “Look, if we’re going to be kept in this place for an unknown length of time, let’s at least try to get along.”

She made a face, looking back at her magazine.

Jennifer jumped up and down, waved her arms, pointed to the beach and then said, as calmly as possible, “Come on. You’ll love it. Five minutes, and if you don’t love it, you can have me punished.”

Finally, Barbara had a look on her face that she might be catching on. “Oh, that is too tempting to pass up. I love a good punishment.”

“And you know how Nick loves it when his ‘girls’ are getting along,” Jennifer said.

“Don’t push your luck,” said Barbara.

Jennifer tried to make small talk on the way out of the house and down the wooden stairs to the beach, but it was hard. And Barbara, wondering what was up, wasn’t very responsive. Finally they reached the beach. “Come closer to the water,” Jennifer urged. “In case these thugs who work for your husband have those long-distance listening devices.”

“They probably do,” she said. “Nick gives them free rein with their toys.”

“Walk along the water’s edge with me. So, you want to get out of here?”

“If I really wanted to go, I could go. It’s not like we’re locked in.”

“Listen to me, Barbara, because this is your only chance. Whatever you know about his illegal dealings, he’s having cleaned up as best he can while he’s got you under lock and key. As soon as the coast is clear, he’ll unlock the door and then you know what? He’s going to drop you like a hot potato, take his prenup to court and cut you off without a dime. And it will be too late for you to leverage anything.”

She turned in a huff, hands on hips, and stared at Jennifer. “And you know this
how?
”

Jennifer grabbed one of her arms at the elbow and pulled her along the waterline. “Well, for starters, he told me. You know, you’re so damn busy fighting with him all the time, you’ve forgotten how to use your feminine wiles to get what you want. I can’t believe you were a mistress!”

“So what are you saying?”

“You have to make a choice. Either you’re going to give him up, or you’re going to be given up. I’m only here because he threatened my friends. I don’t know anything about his work.”

Her mouth twisted in a wry smile. “Sometimes life just isn’t fair,” she said. “You know, one of the things he was always throwing in my face was that you
amused
him. You were
smart,
he said.”

“Well, obviously not
that
smart.”

“No kidding. You were doing the actual work, you know. It’s the business property. The office space. He has five or six different property managers collecting rent for the same investment properties. You were just one of them.”

As the facts became clear, so did Jennifer’s eyes. Money laundering. Pouring money into those business accounts for business that wasn’t actually taking place.

Barbara began to laugh. “That was just one of his schemes. I can’t believe you never caught on. Smart.
Humph.
”

“Okay, look. You’re obviously the smart one. The only one who knows where the bodies are buried. You have to decide. You going to give him up and salvage at least some of your lifestyle, or are you going to let him, as he so eloquently put it, shit-can you?”

Funny how that was the term that got Barbara’s attention. She recognized it. From the look in her eyes, she now believed that Nick had told Jennifer that was his plan. She’d heard him use the term before and it never failed to bring the desired results.

“I can get you out of here,” Jennifer said. “If you leave this house and get hooked up with the FBI, you can tell them what you know before he’s done cleaning up his mess. And then he gets arrested, and instead of getting dumped with nothing, you can at least have whatever is left after they seize all of his ill-gotten gains.”

“I don’t have a
passport,
you dumb bunny!”

“Oh, Barbara, I’m pretty sure they’ll come to you,” she said with a smile.

“Well…”

She turned Barbara around, heading back toward the house. “It’s your only chance.”

“I have a feeling you just want him for yourself,” Barbara said.

“Oh, Barbara, I wondered. You love him.”

“No. No, I hate him. But I didn’t want my marriage to be over.”

“I don’t want him,” Jennifer said. And then came the lie that would send Barbara to the feds. “But he wants me. And he’s not going to let me go.”

They were at the water’s edge, in front of the house. She faced the house and waved at Frank. Frank waved back.

“I’m going to go up there tonight, and whoever is on watch is going to let me use that telescope to see the stars. I’ll distract him. You go around the house to the road out front. Someone will pick you up.”

“Who?”

“Just trust me, they’re watching. What’s a good time? Eleven?”

“Sure. Fine. But how are you going to—”

“Now we’re going to do some exercises. Okay? Watch me.” She spread her legs out, bent at the waist and stretched her arm left, then right. She did this again and again, pointing at the sides of the house. “Come on,” she told Barbara.

“Jesus, I think you’re a nutcase,” the woman said, but she complied.

After about ten of the right-left stretches, Jennifer straightened and said, “Okay, eleven jumping jacks. Exactly. Ready? One, two, three…”

They stopped, still facing the house, and did more right-left stretches. Then stopped and did exactly eleven jumping jacks. Jennifer looked up and saw that Frank was quite enjoying the exercises.

“Have you lost your mind?” Barbara asked her.

“If this doesn’t work, I have given someone way too much credit,” she said, finally determining that if they didn’t get it by now, they weren’t going to.

“Tonight, at eleven, I’ll be on the veranda. Leave. Go either left or right around the house and out to the road in front and start walking toward town. And good luck, Barbara.”

“Yeah,” she said, heading toward the house.

“Really. I mean it.”

Barbara turned around, walking backward for a moment as she looked at Jennifer. There were tears in her eyes.

Jennifer did her part, going to the veranda and using a little of her flirtatious skills to get Lou to let her look through the telescope, but she wasn’t up there long, and although she tried to look at the sides of the house as well, she never saw Barbara. It occurred to her that the woman could have gone straight to Nick and sold her out.

At eleven-thirty she went to bed, but it seemed like hours before she slept, and when she did, she dreamt of the bighorns and the lambs. She was up at dawn, but stayed in her room, where breakfast was brought to her. She ate on the veranda, watching the sea. There were the fishermen and the occasional pleasure boat, but no sign of the boat that had carried Paula and Alex the day before.

At nine-twenty all hell broke loose. There was shouting, running through the halls, doors slamming. Jennifer opened her bedroom door. It was the household staff and Nick’s men doing the running and door slamming, but downstairs she could hear the booming, angry voice of Nick.

“Where the hell is she? You better find her or all youse asses is grass, you hear that? I mean it.”

The voice was getting closer as he was coming up the stairs. He saw Jennifer standing in her opened door. “Where the hell is she?” he demanded.

“Who?”

“Your new best friend, Barbara? I wondered what the two of youse was up to, out there on the beach! I guess we know now!”

Years of being under complete control, knowing what to say and when to say it, didn’t fail her now. She feigned confusion. “Nick, what are you talking about?”

“She’s
gone!
” he shouted.

“Did you check the pool house? The beach?”

He grabbed the front of her peignoir and scrunched it up in his hands, bringing her nose to nose with him. “If this is your doing, you’re gonna be so sorry, baby.”

“Nick,” she said, “if it were my doing,
I’d
be gone. Not Barbara.”

He shook her off. “Pack your things,” he demanded.

It was four hours before Nick had himself convinced that Barbara was not somewhere on the property, but really gone. He secured a private jet to take them off St. Martin and they were soon on their way to the airport. He handed Jennifer her passport and said, “You know how to act.”

“I know,” she said with a sinking heart. No way the FBI could act fast enough to turn Barbara’s information into an arrest in a few hours. “Where are we going now?” she asked.