Fragrance of Revenge (4 page)

Chapter 6

His good fortune was when he was able to copy and read Doctor Adler’s files on the beautiful patient in room four.

He learned enough to be dangerous, but most importantly he learned enough to get rich.

He made more money in the last few weeks than he made all last year. Tonight he was going to add more to his bank account.

However, despite his ability to manage to pull off the extortion of Stephen Strong, which had no end in sight, his real interest was in the beautiful redheaded patient named Alexis. He also learned the good doctor was aiding her in adjusting to the real world for her future release.
I bet!

His gut told him that more was going on than what was in the file. She’s much too beautiful to ignore, and he was sure that the doctor was engaging in other activities while she was in his personal care. His plan was to find out what was really going on at the good doctor’s house.

The doctor also made another mistake. He gave him a key to his house to get some files he had left behind, which he needed for a meeting. He pulled the key copy he had made and looked at it.
Chris you are a smart lad indeed.

Recently Alexis has been giving him signs she wants more than a nightly bed check. He’s even managed to check her out while she takes her shower. Although she has a private room, he has pass keys to all the patient rooms. His nightly visits have gone on for weeks. He’s the only caregiver on duty at night so his only fear is that she will see him.

If I were the doctor, I know what I would be doing with her. Right now she’s third on the list. The money collection is first, a visit to the doctor’s house second and just maybe more details of Alexis will surface.

He is still trying to put all of the pieces together, but the most important thing is that he knows Stephen Strong is a rich real estate developer, and is quite content, it seems, to keep giving him money.
Maybe it would be best to see if he can afford ten thousand dollars. If Stephen cuts off his willingness to fork over the money some time down the line, at least his bank account will be much larger.

He was working a different shift this weekend. Today he was working noon to 9 pm. While he sat at the duty desk waiting for the doctor to sign Alexis out until Sunday night, he remembered his visit to her room last night.

The shower in her room is located to the left as you enter her room. With her bedroom door shut to the hall, she doesn’t need to shut the door to her bathroom. She should, but she doesn’t. She leaves it slightly open.
Was she doing that for him?

Last night her shower routine was very different. He closed his eyes and recalled what he observed.

When he first saw her she had already washed her hair and was rinsing the soap from it. She had her long red hair in both hands and was pulling her hands along the strands under the spray. Even her naked back was sensual. Her hips flared presenting the best ass he’s ever seen. He could only see the side of one ivory breast.

She finished rinsing her hair and soaped a face cloth and turned her back to the spray. Her long red hair reached almost to her navel, only covering one of her breasts. She closed her eyes and soaped her face, and then her arms. She was obviously in no rush to leave the comfort of the warm water.

He had committed her routine to memory. He was almost as excited as he was last night watching her display. She put her head back and rinsed her hair, the water washing over her face. Her routine was slow and was almost for his benefit. The amazing thing was that she had her eyes closed, almost like she was letting a lover wash her body. It was an incredible memory.

He looked around now to make sure he was still alone at the duty desk with no one watching him.

He closed his eyes again and picked up where he left off. She wasn’t in a rush to finish and he had the feeling that she knew he was there and was providing a show for him. At one point she even paused and looked toward the slightly open bathroom door. If she saw what he was doing it didn’t register as she resumed her washing. Within a short period of time it wasn’t just a shower any longer.

When they were both done he thought he saw a hint of a slight smile.

“Chris, are you okay?” a deep voice asked.

He opened his eyes and the doctor was standing in front of his desk with Alexis slightly behind him.

“I’m sorry doctor. I didn’t hear you approach.”

“I’m leaving now with Ms. Strong. I need to sign her out.”

“Right,” he replied. However, the doctor just stood there looking at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He opened the ‘sign out register’ and turned it towards doctor Adler.

“One other thing Chris. I forgot to lock my office door. Would you keep Ms. Strong company for a minute while I go lock it? Please help her with her coat too. Thanks.”

“Sure no problem.” He felt uncomfortable coming around the desk to be that close to her. He smelled her fragrance as he held the coat for her arms. She put her long hair over the back of her coat and turned quickly.

She looked right into his eyes like she was searching his brain. Then she looked down to his pants. “I see you are as excited as you were last night. Thank you for my coat and for your
visit
last night.” She looked over in the direction of the doctor’s office. “Now unless you want to lose your job, you will keep your visits between us, and you will do as I say next time.”

He didn’t say a word. He was still trying to process what he just heard.

“Are we all set here?” Doctor Adler asked.

“Yes doctor. Chris is an excellent caregiver. We’re all set now.”

“We’ll return Sunday evening. See you then?” Doctor Adler said and grabbed Alexis’ arm and guided her away.

“Have a nice holiday weekend Chris, and I’ll see you Sunday night too,” Alexis said, looking over her shoulder and winking at him.

“Enjoy the holiday weekend both of you.” He watched them leave through the front door.
Now, who is blackmailing whom?

Chapter 7

She couldn’t hold back the smile. The look on Chris’ face was priceless. He had no idea she knew he was there last night. Now she has power over him. He’s not bad looking and has some other special gifts. However, Sunday is a long way off.

She felt the pressure of Dr. Adler’s hand on her arm guiding her down the walk. She learned that he was twice her age. He was never married and lives alone in a very large home. She’s learned the routine well.

He signs her out for whatever time he has available. They go to his house mostly, but every once in a while he takes her out to a nice restaurant. The last time was very nice as it was a seaside restaurant. They sat outside and watched the activity in the small harbor.

She stopped and looked back at the care facility. The bright-spot lights lit up both the sign in the front yard and the house itself. She thought of it as a house, since it’s been her home for all of her life. ‘Lighthouse Manor’ still has a nice ring. ‘We care when you need us to’ was printed below the name. The white columns on either side of the front porch gave the Georgian colonial an impressive and inviting entry.

“Alexis, what are you looking at?” Doctor Adler asked.

“I’ve spent so many years looking at the inside of this home; I just wanted to commit the outside to memory.”

They silently stood on the brick walk looking at the building. Alexis knew the inside like the back of her hand. There were ten patient rooms; four on the first floor and six upstairs. Off the front entry was a nurses’ station which was open to the main entry hall that had double doors to the main living area and dining room beyond.

At the end of the main hall was the library which doubled as Dr. Adler’s office. There were rest rooms to the left of his office. The kitchen was across the back of the building out of sight. Patient rooms were along the left of the hall; hers was across from the nurses’ station.

“Alexis, are you alright?”

“Doctor Adler, you’ve shared much with me for over twenty years, and you’re almost like a father to me, but you’ve never told me about my parents.” She looked at him. “Why haven’t you told me the rest of my story?”

*.*.*

She no longer rode in the back of the Cadillac, but now sat in the passenger seat. However, the front seat could easily seat three people comfortably. He never answered her question, but had nodded his head and quickly ushered her to the car.

Someone had to be paying for her care, which she knew had to be expensive. There were seldom ten patients at the home. Even if the building were paid for, there were considerable expenses involved running the facility. She decided to find out more about her parents and who was paying for her care, especially since he avoided answering her.
He’s been out of character since she asked the question.

She could tell he knew she was staring at him. There was something about him that interested her. His hair was black without any sign of gray. His hair was full and was always well groomed. She wondered if he went to the same hair stylist that came to the facility.
Maybe she went to his home and did more than style his hair. She sensed some jealousy.

He usually wore gray slacks like now, with a dark-blue blazer over a white shirt. Most of the time he would wear a tie, but usually when he was picking her up, he did not have one.

His chin was long and square and when she had the chance to fix on his eyes they were a deep brown and reminded her of maple syrup. He was what she considered handsome. She thought of the hair stylist, and now wanted to run her fingers through his hair and make him more like a human than a statue.

She thought about Chris’ frequent visits and liked putting on a show, while she secretly watched his. She even caught Dr. Adler in the shower one morning and watched for several minutes.
She wondered if all men did what they did.
She felt a strange sensation between her legs and wished she could touch herself.
Would she be able to get Chris to touch her body now that she shared that she knew he was watching her?

“A penny for your thoughts?” Dr. Adler broke the silence, and looked at her.

She could feel the heat on her face, and knew he couldn’t tell she was blushing because of the dark car interior. Despite her condition she smiled at him. “Maybe I should share what I was thinking.” She weighed the risks. “Do you think I’m pretty Dr. Adler?”

“Alexis, we’ve discussed your looks many times. You still deny what I keep telling you. You are no longer the ugly child who came to live at the home. I’ve shown you the pictures of how pretty…no, how beautiful you are. You need to understand what a beautiful butterfly you’ve turned into.” He looked over again briefly, and she turned towards the side window.

“If I’m as beautiful as you say I am, then why am I still at the home, and how come…no never mind.”

“Alexis, maybe riding in the car like this…you can share what you resist sharing when we’re talking in my office. Tell me what you were thinking, please.”

She wanted to tell him what she was going to ask, but she liked what she had, and didn’t want to jeopardize it.

“Alexis, we’ve spent years together. You must know by now that you can say anything, or ask me anything. Please tell me what you were really going to ask me.”

She turned quickly to face him. “So, if you think I’m so beautiful how come you can ignore it so well?”

Chapter 8

Mike was not in favor of my doing the investigation. I wasn’t at all surprised. Mike knew about those other times I could have lost my life. The idea of Mike doing the investigation was appealing. However, I had made the commitment to Stephen and had to at least attempt to identify the blackmailer.

I headed to my apartment to change into some darker clothes. I had decided to go to the drop location to see if I could spot who was picking up the blackmail money. Stephen told me he was going through with the drop, but indicated he was losing his patience.

I called Stephen hoping to catch him at his office.

He answered the phone, which didn’t surprise me. “Hi Stephen, Scott.”

“Hi Scott. Have you decided to help?”

“Let’s just say that I’m going to go to the drop location tonight to see if I can learn anything. We’ll discuss things later. Are you still going through with the drop?”

“I don’t have any choice at this point in time, but putting all those green hundreds in the bag…well, as I said, I’m losing my willingness to continue this. At some point, one of us has to stop, or be stopped.”

“Okay. I’m willing to help tonight, but…let’s just see how tonight goes.”

“Thanks Scott.”

“Now, let me see if I got the details correct. You go to the Dudley Street station and as you enter, there’s a column with the street name sign on it. It’s the only column someone would see leaving the station. In front of it is a metal bench. You stand on the bench and put the bag of money behind it on the metal cross rail. Is that correct?”

“That’s correct Scott. The station is not in the most desirable section of Roxbury, and is normally pretty deserted at night. However, you need to be careful that nobody sees what you’re doing.”

“Do you have any suggestion as to where I can watch who picks the money up?”

Stephen didn’t immediately answer. “Good question. Let me think about that for a second.”

I was getting concerned Stephen hadn’t thought about that.

“Well Scott, you need to be close enough to spot someone standing on the bench to get the money and close enough to see if you can identify the person. However, you need to be far enough away not to be seen yourself, or be seen hanging out in the area.”

I immediately thought about the Mission Hill gang that was involved in kidnapping men, and some women, for the torso killers. I recalled being held captive by one of the women and got a chill up my spine. That was one of the reasons Mercedes wanted me to stay away from investigations.

The choice of a location so near the gang’s area raised my suspicion as to whether this gang was involved and seeking some revenge.

“Okay Scott, here’s what I suggest. The station closes at 9 pm, which is why I’m to make the drop at 10 pm, which means the main station is locked, but the entry area still has access to the flyers and other schedules. If you wait in your car across the street you can see who comes and goes. Near midnight there shouldn’t be anyone coming and going except the blackmailer. You should be close enough to see who it is.”

I was considering what he offered.

“Scott, maybe we should meet and go together in your car?”

“As much as I would like the company, I think that’s too risky.”

“Scott, I’m going to put in a good word for you with Mercedes. She needs to know—“

“No, Stephen.”
I interrupted him immediately. “Please do not say anything to her about me. She would be much too interested in why you offered.”

“Scott, do I sense a problem?”

I took a deep breath. “Let’s just say she’s concerned that I should focus on business things and not things that could get me killed.”

*.*.*

I changed and was going to head over to pick up some of my things at Mercedes’ apartment. I was really hoping to run into her and try to smooth things out between us. However, I realized I should scout out the Dudley Street station to know what I was going to do, and where I needed to park.

It was a short ten minute drive from my Brookline Village apartment to Roxbury and the Dudley Street station. My white ’58 Pontiac Bonneville convertible was not very inconspicuous. Late at night, it was going to get even more questioning looks, especially since I was white too.

I drove by the station and noticed there were people entering and leaving even though it was a holiday. I turned up one side street beyond the station to come back to the station—wrong thing to do. It seemed like everyone was on the front steps or on the sidewalk and I was the afternoon chicken dinner. I didn’t care about turning around. I was headed out of there.

My heart was beating and I was thankful I managed to get back to the station without losing my car or my life. I parked the car across from the station entrance. I estimated it was about forty feet from where I was parked to the entrance.

There was a light pole with its globe still intact, so I assumed there would be some light to help me see who would be taking the money. If I backed up just a little I could see if someone stepped up on the bench near the entrance. I had a plan and wondered what it would be like near midnight tonight.

I quickly got back into traffic and headed the fastest route out of this area to Mercedes’ apartment near MIT.

*.*.*

I pulled in front of the building and the door man greeted me. “Hello Mr. Tucker. Will you be parked for the night?”

“No Harold. I’ll be leaving shortly.”

“Why don’t you use the receiving area, there’s no deliveries expected today.”

“Thank you Harold.” I discreetly handed him a folded dollar and got back in my car. I pulled around the side of the building and parked on the down slope area to the receiving docks.

I was coming around the building when I saw Mercedes looking fine as usual in one of my white shirts and a short black skirt. She was standing in front of her apartment building looking at her watch. I was about to call to her when I noticed her turn to a man exiting the front entry door with two suitcases.

I recognized Mercedes’ white luggage and the man…it was Ralph. I remember Ralph from Bermuda, and he was involved with Mercedes while they were investigating the missing men there.

Mercedes said there was nothing between them, but I could tell from his actions that he didn’t see it that way. Despite her saying that nothing happened, I could tell he at least had tried.

He came over to a waiting cab, handed keys to her, and put his arm around her while helping her into the back seat. He couldn’t help but notice that her legs went a long way up under her skirt.

“Shit…shit,” I muttered to myself. It’s a holiday weekend and she’s headed off with him. Where the hell are they going? I tried to remember our last words last night, but I couldn’t remember saying anything that would have resulted in her running off with him.

The cab pulled away along with a part of my life.

*.*.*

I entered the apartment to get what I came for. I went in the bedroom and found the bed a mess. I searched my memory and could almost swear I had made the bed before I left.
Could they have gone to bed before they left?

I sat on the bed and gave some more thought to our discussion. I felt real guilty planning to do the surveillance this evening. I’m doing what she specifically asked me not to. I love Mercedes and she said she loves me.
Now I wish I had said more things to her last night.

The thoughts of her going to bed with Ralph were absurd. I grabbed one of my suitcases in the closet and started to put some shirts and pants in it. I went over to the dresser and took out socks and underwear and added those. Then I took my shaving stuff from the bathroom. The other things I had at my own apartment, but the shaving stuff was only here. I closed the suitcase on the bed and lifted it off.

I noticed something other than crumpled sheets. I moved the top sheet and found a pair of boxers.

“Shit…shit…and triple, shit.”
I don’t wear boxers.