Kiss and Tell (24 page)

“Which means you are dead meat,” Annie said.

“Think of us now as your new best friends. Your
only
friends. Drink the coffee in front of you. I want you both to wake up a little more.”

“Don't drink it, Daddy, they probably doped it up, too. You're crazy. You'll go to jail when we file charges against you.”

Myra leaned over and glared at Ava Macklin. “You aren't getting it, dear. You are not leaving here. You will never go back to that wicked life you led in New York, and your father will never ever dupe another investor. You are in our hands. We are going to punish you because if we don't and leave it up to the authorities, you could stay free for a number of years with all those high-powered lawyers you both have. We can't allow that. It's not fair to all the people you've taken advantage of. They deserve to get back their money
NOW
, not years from now, if ever. Putting Bernie Madoff in jail did precious little for the people he swindled over the years. We are going to improve the odds that the same thing does not happen in your cases. The world needs to see your faces on the big screen. And they will with our help. Are you getting it now?”

Macklin got it. All of it. So did Ava. In unison, they both said, “We are not telling you anything.”

“We'll see about that,” Annie snapped.

“In away, it really doesn't matter. Your son can fill in the blanks,” Myra singsonged.

Macklin sat up straight. “My son only knows what I want him to know. No more, no less. Maybe you should be looking to him for nefarious deeds instead of me and my daughter. You can't keep us here.”

Annie threw her hands in the air. “Mr. Macklin, did you just fall out of the stupid tree and hit every stupid branch on the way down? Didn't you hear what we just said? You are not leaving here. Is that polyester you're wearing?”

“What does it matter what I'm wearing? Are you the fashion police?” Macklin's words were still slurred but not as badly as before.

“It matters because we're going to press your suit with you still in it. Polyester will stick to your body, and you'll be burned within an inch of your life. Why do you think I'm boiling all that water? We need a lot because you're a big fat guy. I really do not see what Marie and Sally ever saw in you.”

“Oh my God!” Ava yelped.

“Why are you yelping like a dog? We haven't even gotten to what we're going to do to
you
. So I'll tell you what we're going to do right now. Whoever talks first gets to walk out of here and take their chances with the Feds. You might even be able to make a getaway, depending on what kind of exit plan you have in place. Of course, I'm assuming you have an exit plan because you had to know this day was coming at some point.

“Your son was smart enough to realize it. Are you telling us he's smarter than the two of you? Or are you telling us the two of you are so greedy you actually think you're going to get away with what you've done and keep all that money you have squirreled away? Who wants to go first?” Myra asked.

Ava squirmed in her chair. “How do we know you'll keep your end of the bargain?”

“You don't, but I have to say we're a lot more reliable and dependable than the two of you. We do have a certain amount of integrity depending on the circumstances and have been known to keep our promises. Bear in mind this is not our first rodeo. Read my lips. We-are-in-control-not-you,” Annie said.

Ava licked her lips as she looked at the stove, where steam from the boiling pots of water was spiraling upward.

“Ava!” Macklin said, steel ringing in his voice. Ava ignored him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but she said nothing.

Manny Macklin continued to watch his daughter. He knew she'd crack—it was just a matter of time. There had to be a way out of this—a solution; he just had to find it. He'd gotten this far dancing on the edge and pulling out miracles at the eleventh hour. But he had to admit he had never been under lock and key before. Asa Bellamy's words echoed in his ears, the warning that this time was not like all those other times, when they'd managed to pull rabbits out of the hat for him.

Macklin looked at the Wolf range with the six big pots of water that were boiling. The kitchen felt wet and steamy. He tried for nonchalance and leaned back in his chair. The big yellow dog never took her eyes off him. He glared back, his gaze following Annie de Silva as she pulled something out of a kitchen drawer and plugged it into a wall outlet. The one named Myra reached in and pulled out a duplicate and plugged it into another outlet. Electric shears! He watched in horror as Annie whipped out a strip of plastic and yanked Ava's hands behind her. Flex cuffs. He heard the plastic snap into place just as his own arms were yanked behind him and secured by Myra.

Panic engulfed him when he saw Annie yank at his daughter's perfectly coiffed hair. The shears made a low, humming sound. Ava's screams were unearthly as the shears in Annie's hand took on a life of their own. When he felt his own head being pulled back, he tried to struggle. He roared his outrage at what was happening. Lady didn't like all the noise and made it known. She pounced and sunk her teeth into his fat thigh.

“Good girl, sweetie. You just hold him right there, and if he moves again, you have my permission to go for the jewels,” Myra said happily. Lady's tail wagged furiously.

Frustrated with Ava's screams, Annie reached for a dish towel and gagged her. “You ready to give it up yet?” Tears rolled out of Ava's eyes like a waterfall as her long, dyed-blond thick hair carpeted the tile floor. “Done!” she chortled happily. “You are now officially bald. Shoot, I forgot the eyebrows!” Zip, zip, and Ava was browless. Annie stood back to view her handiwork. “What do you think, Myra?”

“Not even one little bit pretty. Not that she was pretty before. Perhaps you should show Ms. Macklin a mirror so she can see what she looks like, then explain the boiling water.”

“That makes sense,” Annie drawled as she headed off to the downstairs lavatory to return with a large, handheld mirror.

Ava Macklin fainted.

Macklin looked down at the dog holding on to his leg and decided to remain quiet. His head felt cold. These women were monsters. Evil monsters.

Annie prodded Ava with a spatula from the kitchen counter. “Wake up, Ava. You need to hear what's coming next.” She turned to Myra, who was now buzzing Macklin's snow-white Santa beard. She looked down at the floor. The man had as much hair as a sheep. He looked like a bowling ball without all his hair. She also noticed that he had a weak chin and thin lips. He definitely looked better with all his hair.

“We could make a pillow with what you have and what I have,” Myra said, pointing to the floor. “But then, who would want to sleep on such a pillow?”

“Not anyone I know. Okay, Goldilocks here is waking up.” Annie dropped to her haunches till she was eye level with Ava. “Listen carefully. I have the feeling you're a very vain woman and care a great deal about your appearance. Here's what we have planned for you if you don't tell us what we want to know. We are going to pour the boiling water all over you. That means you will be one
HUGE
blister. Your head will scar. Same for your eyebrows. That means you will never grow hair on your head; nor will you have those well-defined eyebrows ever again. I'm not sure about your eyelashes, but I think it's safe to say they'll go the way of your hair and eyebrows. Same goes for you, Macklin. Now, who wants to tell us what we want to know?”

Macklin could no longer contain himself. He knew Ava was going to give it up any minute. “Ava, stop and think. You can always wear a wig. You paint your eyebrows on anyway. You told me yourself you have false eyelashes and wear them all the time. You give these people what they want, and it's all over. Once we get out of here, our lawyers can fight this. Are you listening to me, Ava?”

“You bastard! Adam was right about you. I should have listened to him. Oh no, I fell for your bullshit again. No more!”

Macklin forgot he was tethered to the chair he was sitting on. He tried to lunge. Lady released her hold on Macklin's leg and followed Myra's earlier instructions, her tail swishing a mile a minute. Macklin's roar of pain and outrage ricocheted off the kitchen walls.

“Did you say I could wear a wig? Is that what you said? I should wear a damn wig? I'm not wearing a wig. Not now, not ever!” Ava turned to Myra and Annie and tried to focus her gaze. “Tell me exactly what my brother told you. I'll tell you if he's lying or not. He'd do anything to save his own skin, even throwing me and my father under the bus.”

“It doesn't work that way,” Myra said. “We are not here to give you answers. We're here to ask the questions. You either answer and answer truthfully, or you suffer—and I do mean suffer—the consequences.” Myra pointed to the boiling, steaming pots of water on the stove. “Remember now, the FBI did not arrest your brother. He's walking around free as the breeze and enjoying his mother's company, which he was denied for so many years. I think the FBI is giving him immunity for testifying against you and your father. What that means to you is that while you languish in prison, he'll be walking around scot free.”

“Not when we tell them what his role was in the company,” Ava blustered. She couldn't take her eyes off the boiling pots of water on the stove.

“Ava, you obviously have a hearing problem. Your brother cut his deal with the aid of a lawyer. Everyone signed off on it. It's a done deal. No one is going to renege now. Your brother got a free go-past-Go card. He's already collected the five hundred dollars. You and your father are the ones who are going to go to jail. You missed the deadline. Adam asked you to go with him and you decided not to.

“The only chance you have is to talk to us and tell us what we want to know. Like now, my dear. We offered each of you a deal: whoever talks first walks out of here. And yet neither one of you is taking us up on our offer,” Myra said. “Now, why is that?”

Annie had the feeling the effects of the drug she'd put in the woman's drink were wearing off. She was becoming too smart, too fast with her responses.

Ava snorted. “We don't even know if you're telling us the truth. Let me call my brother. I want to hear him tell me what you just told me and my father.”

“And put him on speakerphone. I want to hear what my son has to say, too,” Macklin said through clenched teeth, his eyes never leaving the dog, who had her teeth locked on his groin.

Myra and Annie walked into the laundry room to confer. “What can it hurt, Myra? Let them hear it from Adam directly. It's possible they'll switch up in a heartbeat. We certainly don't have anything to lose. But I'm going to have to add some more water to those pots; a lot has evaporated.”

While Annie poured more water into the pots, Myra placed her cell phone on the table and nodded.

“Remember what I said: put him on speakerphone,” said Macklin.

“I can't very well do that, now can I? They have me tied to this chair,” Ava snarled.

“Give me the number, and I'll call for you,” Myra said. “You can lean over and speak into the phone on the table.”

Ninety miles away, Adam Macklin dried the last pot his mother handed him just as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. “I bet it's Ava!” he said to his mother. He fished the phone out of his shirt pocket, nodded to his mother, then hit

TALK. He listened as his sister started to screech in his ear. “Slow down, cut the venom, and talk to me like a normal person or I'll cut you off right now.” Either Ava didn't hear him or didn't believe her brother because she kept right on screeching at the top of her lungs. Adam pressed END and snapped his phone shut. He looked at his mother and said, “She'll call back, trust me.”

Just as he had said, the phone rang minutes later. Ava's controlled voice was arctic cold, the venom snaking out of the phone to circle Mary's pretty yellow kitchen. “Daddy and I have been kidnapped by two crazy women and some reporter from the
Post
. We're being held in someplace called Pinewood. The women are those crazy Vigilantes. Are you listening to me, Adam? You need to call the police right now so they can come here and get us. They shaved my head and my eyebrows. They shaved all Daddy's hair and his Santa beard. How cruel is that? Some damn dog just bit Daddy in the crotch and he's bleeding and they don't care. They said they're going to press Daddy into his polyester suit with boiling water. It's boiling on the stove. I can see it!” she screamed. “My God, they're crazy, they're going to pour the water on my head and Daddy's, too, and it will blister. I'll have to wear a wig for the rest of my life. Say something, you bastard; this is all your fault.”

“Not much I can do from here. Have you looked outside? The weather has turned bad again. Only emergency vehicles are permitted on the roads. All the phone lines are tied up. Guess you'll have to wing it, Ava.”

“You son of a bitch! This was undoubtedly all your idea in the first place. You're probably in cahoots with these crazy women. They said you cut a deal with the FBI. Is that true? God help you if it is.”

“It's true. I did cut a deal, and the FBI agreed to no prison time for me. I am now an official whistle-blower, and you know what, Ava, it feels damn good. I'll get some fines, some kind of punishment, which I deserve. I told them everything I know, and I did not hold anything back. Nor did I try to shield you or Pop. I handed over everything I had in my possession. I even told them about that fancy-dancy two-hundred-thousand-dollar bathroom you had built for yourself with investors' money. I told them all about Pop's secret accounts.

“You know what, Ava, maybe you got lucky after all. You wouldn't do well in prison. All you get in your cell is a stainless-steel toilet without a designer seat. Actually, I understand that the toilets don't have any kind of seat. Oh, and you get a stainless-steel sink. You have to shower with the masses. No one-of-a-kind shower curtains with eighteen-carat-gold thread woven through it. One showerhead, nothing like the twenty-seven you have in yours. Everyone will see you without all that makeup you slather on your face. I always said you need to go through a car wash to get it off. I'm thinking wherever you are has to be better than that, so maybe you need to cooperate with those . . .
ladies
.”