The Begonia Bribe (22 page)

“You know what?” Annie said. “If we sort by price, I bet we can eliminate any of these in-town options that couldn’t work. Cheap and in town means near neighbors and little privacy.”

“Do it,” Cam said as she set up her computer.

“Leaves eight in town, a dozen out, but it eliminated half the list.”

“Are we just going place by place, then?” Cam asked.

“You have a better idea?”

“I hoped maybe
you
did.”

Annie frowned in concentration. “Where did Dylan get taken from?”

Benny stepped closer and pointed at Annie’s screen. “About there.” Cam walked around to look at where the location was against the dots. It was a west-side neighborhood Cam wasn’t familiar with.

“Okay, so these four are pretty darned inconvenient—heavy traffic to reach them. I think those go at the bottom,” Annie said.

“That helps.”

“But honestly, think like someone who doesn’t do this regularly. Would you want to worry about every detail? I think it’s most likely one of these remote ones.”

“See,” Cam said, “that’s why we pay you the big bucks.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Again with the promises.”

They split up the eight properties on the same side of town, but focused first on ones outside the city limits. Three were eliminated right away, as they were in new developments with a dozen or more houses each.

“That’s it,” Benny said. He was watching over Annie’s shoulder.

Cam walked around the table to look. “Why do you think so?”

“Look at all the trees.” Annie had pulled the address up under satellite view. “Even if there were neighbors out, they wouldn’t see. And then it’s got that shop in back—seems like that might have handy stuff to keep him imprisoned.”

“You may be right. I’ll write it down, but I don’t want to stop checking just because we found one that fits,” Cam said.

Benny shrugged. Cam went back to her computer. The real estate listings all had the standard square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms, but Cam was keeping a special eye out for bonus features—details like “secluded” or “fully fenced yard.” It seemed the most likely way to spot whatever it was they were looking for. In the end, they had three properties that looked possible.

“What now?” Benny asked.

“I guess we go house shopping,” Annie said.

T
he first place they checked was off Electric Road. It hadn’t been a favorite, as trees for blocking the view were quite a ways from the house itself, so it seemed more open than they thought they were looking for. But it was on the way, so there was no harm checking.

When they got near, Cam shook her head. “We’re not far from Brambleton. I don’t think he’d want to be near two main thoroughfares, even if they are both clear out here.”

“Let’s just drive up and look,” Benny said. “We’re here anyway.”

They did, Cam noting that the trees were not only distant from the house, but ornamental, rather than privacy oriented. Their answer was confirmed in the driveway: a pair of cars, one with a car seat, the other with
FOR SALE
signs in the back. The house was being shown—unlikely to be hiding any secrets. Cam thought perhaps one of the family members had been to an open house that afternoon and made an appointment to come back as a family.

Benny pulled back out. “Okay, where now, hot stuff?”

Annie snorted. “You know, nicknames like that make Cam blush.”

Benny grinned. “I know.”

“We head south on Jae Valley Road,” Cam said, trying to ignore them. She was annoyed with herself that she was, in fact, blushing.

The sky was yielding to darkness, purple coloring the east, as they made their turn onto Jae Valley Road. Cam didn’t like the idea of doing this in the dark. They definitely looked a lot less legitimate as home buyers—who went shopping for a house when they couldn’t see it?

A wrong turn and two correct ones later, they found the long driveway with the
FOR SALE
sign hung from a tree. Benny edged the pickup onto the narrow drive.

“Turn the lights off!” Annie said, reaching over like she’d do it herself if Benny didn’t comply.

“I won’t be able to see,” Benny complained.

“We’ll go slow. If this is it and somebody’s there . . .” Cam began.

“Then a car in the driveway can’t hide very well. We should act like we turned in by mistake, pull back out, and then walk in,” Annie said, changing her assessment.

Benny looked at Annie and complied without waiting for Cam, though Cam agreed. “Yeah. Does seem smarter, though last time I crept around somebody’s property at night was a little more adventure than I bargained for,” Cam said.

“Yeah, but you saved me—that’s what we’re doing, right?” Annie asked.

“Yeah . . . with no backup.”

“So call backup. See if it works any better this time.”

“Point taken.” It really hadn’t worked very well the last time.

“And it isn’t possible you trust Rob as backup more than me,” Annie continued.

“He’s faster,” Cam said.

“Define fast,” Annie joked. “Besides, think about overall style.”

Cam laughed. It definitely broke the tension. Benny looked relieved, and they parked up the road by a barn, then returned on foot and started up the driveway, single file, Annie in the lead.

“What if someone comes up the driveway behind us?” Benny asked from the rear.

“We dive into the trees,” Annie said.

“They will have seen us already.”

“That’s true,” Cam said. “We’ll need to listen. If someone approaches on the outer road, we hit the trees. It may give us some false starts, but at least we don’t get caught. And watch for the holly,” she added as she looked around. There was some growing in the undergrowth, and holly in the shade tended to be fairly dense, so the sharp leaves would be hard to avoid if they got stuck in it.

“Yeah. Good idea,” Benny said.

The problem wasn’t the idea itself, but the hyper-arousal of listening for cars while half watching for the safe spots to dive. It was stressful. Twice, as they approached the house, they had to jump back into the trees. Cam reassessed how she felt about it getting dark—the dim lighting meant they didn’t have to get back too far to be out of sight, which was definitely a redeeming feature, though the potential for tripping on something had increased.

Finally the road opened up to a wide driveway, large enough for at least three cars.

“I think we should still skirt it,” Annie said, but as she said it a car actually turned up the driveway.

They dived for the trees . . . in separate directions.

Cam was alone on her side of the driveway. She wished she’d had time to think, as she’d far rather be near enough to talk to Annie and Benny, but her instinct had been opposite of theirs.

An SUV drove into the driveway and triggered the garage door. Cam tried to get a look—there was only one person in the car; all she could tell was that it was a large man. That was enough to suggest this was the right place. The garage door closed again, and Cam darted across the road to where Benny and Annie were.

“I’m pretty sure that was one of the guys who talked to Barry earlier. I mean, all I have is size, but that’s something. That means the other is probably inside—two big, dangerous people. What should we do? Call Jake?”

“Jake can’t do anything unless we have something more solid. I’m not even sure he has jurisdiction out here. It’s county, not city. He could come, but all he could do would be knock on the door and ask questions,” Annie said.

“That won’t work! Dylan’s in there. I’m sure of it,” Benny complained.

Cam had figured that would be how it worked. She decided having Rob on the way was better than nothing, so she called him.

“Hey, Cam.”

“How close are you on deadline?”

“Basic story’s in; I’m working on another. Why?”

“Dylan was grabbed by two thugs who are working for Barry Blankenship. We’ve found the house.”

“
We?
Please don’t tell me you and Annie are on some insane rescue mission.”

“Okay. I won’t. But if anything happens, we need someone to know. And besides, Benny is with us.”

“Benny? That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“I hoped it would.” She relayed the address.

“Look. I’m on my way. Don’t do anything.”

Cam sighed. “Thank you.” She knew they wouldn’t wait for him, but she was glad he was on the way.

* * *

T
hey crept around the side of the house, darting between weigela, which was easy to hide behind, and the smaller bluebeard. A couple of windows were lit, but they definitely weren’t using the whole house. Paper covered the basement windows. The house was quiet, other than the hum of an air conditioner, which was loud enough to drown out any other noise. Thankfully, it would also cover any noise they made.

They went along one side then the back of the house, pushing on windows, testing to see if any would yield.

On the third side they checked, as she ducked behind yet another weigela, this one with white flowers, Cam spotted a window that was open a crack. It wasn’t to the basement, though that was just as well. She didn’t think any of them could fit through one of those, certainly not without a lot of commotion.

She ducked under it, then flagged Benny, who joined her.

He wasn’t so cautious. He slid a pocketknife along the screen and pushed his fingers through, edging the window up a little higher and peeking.

“It’s a bathroom,” he whispered.

He eased the window up and listened.

“No one near that I can tell.”

“You going in?” Cam asked.

“I would, but I think it will be a lot quieter for you; I can lift you in. You okay with that?”

“I guess.” She really wasn’t, but she had to try. She didn’t think, even together, that she and Annie could lift Benny quietly.

“You get in there. Annie will go back for the pickup. She will drive up and honk, create a huge racket. While they are distracted, you let me in the back door, then we’ll go get Dylan.”

Cam looked at the house and it suddenly seemed huge. “Where? He could be anywhere.”

“You’re the one who said they probably don’t do this often. I bet he’s somewhere that seems least visible and where he won’t ruin anything in this house—it’s for sale, so they won’t want him putting a foot through a wall. He’s probably in the basement. Try to find something to use as a weapon.”

While that was impressive logic, especially given it was Benny, it didn’t seem like much of a plan. But Rob was on his way, and they didn’t have a better one. She let Benny hoist her through the window and managed to silently slide the window back down and climb into the shower, catching her breath behind the dark curtain. She’d listen and try to get her bearings from there.

It took a minute or two before she finally felt like her own heartbeat in her ears wasn’t drowning out all other sound. She could hear a television—the air-conditioner buzz was quieter than outside, but still present. She couldn’t hear any voices or movement, though, which somehow seemed worse. If she could hear them, she would know where they were. Without hearing them, they could be anywhere. Her knees shook at the thought.

Swearing filtered up from below her and a commotion that involved a few crashes, a slam, and some muffled shouting. Someone stomped up some stairs, she thought, and stormed into the bathroom.

Cam pressed herself against the shower wall and involuntarily held her breath. It had been hard not to gasp audibly.

“Sucker bit me!” the man shouted as he ran water from the sink.

“I’m sure you showed him who was boss.” She heard a man laugh from out in the hallway.

“Could have used your help getting that gag back on him.”

That was confirmation someone was there; Cam doubted there were multiple cases of abduction in Roanoke on a given day. She realized, though, she’d really have to do something about that soon.

“You managed,” the man in the hallway said.

“How long is this for, anyway? I didn’t sign on to babysit.”

“You signed on for what you signed on for, moron. It’s not like this is the hard part.”

“I don’t like it. Grabbing someone, teaching them a lesson, that’s one thing. But I feel like sitting ducks here, holding on to him.”

At that, there was a crash outside followed by the regular horn of a car alarm. Both men rushed that way, and Cam scrambled out of the tub. She found the back door easily and unlocked it, but Benny wasn’t waiting. It took a few doors to find the basement stairs, and she quietly slipped down, cursing Benny’s stupid plan.

Cam hoped Annie hadn’t just gotten herself in a heap of trouble. It sounded like Annie had crashed Benny’s truck into the men’s car, though she knew their car had been in the closed garage.

Cam ran through the basement, which didn’t take much time. It was mostly one room, but off the laundry room was a door with a padlock. She tugged but it didn’t give. These guys didn’t seem organized enough to share a key, though, so she felt along a high shelf that held a couple paint cans.

“Pay dirt,” she said to herself.

She wiggled the key into the lock and it clicked open. Dylan was lying on the floor in a heap. He tried to open an eye, but it looked like it had swollen shut.

“Oh, geez! This is bad. Dylan, are you okay?”

He made a muffled noise, and she managed to pull a cloth from his mouth, though the bandana that had held it in place was knotted too tightly.

She climbed into the closet behind him to work at the duct tape on his arms, and for a minute she lost herself in concentration. She wished she’d brought Benny’s knife.

“What do we have here?”

Cam sucked in a breath and looked up to see a huge form silhouetted in the doorway.

“I knew you weren’t just into that Jessica chick. You won’t mind if I just lock you back in with this tasty number?”

Cam sensed Benny before she saw him. Behind the thug came a black metallic . . . something . . . Cam remembered she’d been meant to grab a weapon, but things had gone too fast when the time arrived.

The thug fell and Cam saw it was a heavy-duty flashlight.

Benny reached in and handed Cam his pocketknife. She went to work on Dylan’s tape.

“What took you so long?” Cam asked as she cut the tape and tried to peel it off Dylan’s skin.

“That nut friend of yours. Bozo one was pretty mad, yelling and screaming. But I thought if I took the other out of circulation it would be easier. I broke a plate over his head and he went down. But the noise called this one back inside, so I had to hide. I followed him down the stairs.”

“So the other one might wake up?” Cam asked.

“Probably.”

“Tie that one, would you?” Cam said. “Dylan, can I help you sit?”

He sat with difficulty, and Cam began to cut the tape from his ankles as Dylan massaged his wrists. The uncasted leg was clamped pretty tightly to the cast. Meanwhile, Benny proved he was skilled with duct tape. He bound the thug well.

“Thanks for coming, guys. How’d you find this place?” Dylan said.

“A little genius and a lot of luck,” Cam said.

They left the man in the main room—they wanted him eventually found. The stairs were too narrow for three across, so Cam went up first and Benny helped Dylan.

She was glad to find Annie was as resourceful as ever. The second thug was tied with cooking twine and Annie was talking to Jake on speaker phone as she worked.

“No, I swear. We just stumbled across it, but when we did, we could hardly leave Dylan here.”

Benny laughed loudly, almost like the dim guy who didn’t realize Jake could hear him. Cam glared. The guy on the kitchen floor groaned, so Benny redeemed himself by reinforcing the man’s binds with duct tape while they waited for the police.

* * *

J
ake wanted all of them to go to the station together to sort out what had happened.

“So who were those men?” he asked.

“They were trying to warn me off Jessica Benchly, or so they said. But they also talked about how they’d make me disappear,” Dylan said.

“They work for Barry Blankenship,” Cam added.

“Cam, that’s an extremely serious accusation.”

“It starts with this.” Cam held up her cell phone and showed Jake the picture. “They looked like they were up to no good then—about four hours ago—so much so that I snapped a picture.”

“So he met with them.”

“And we found them by searching the properties Barry is currently leasing or selling.”