“I have to at least make a phone call—”
“I’ll make the call. Who you want? Rose or the kid?”
She shook her head in confusion. “How do you know these things?”
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Rose it is,” he said. He pulled his cell phone out of his shirt pocket and clicked off a couple of numbers. “Not a sound,” he said to her. “Believe me, you don’t want to cross me now.”
“Nick, wait,” she said. “You better let me. She’ll never believe you. She’ll call the police.”
He seemed to think about that for a moment, then passed the phone to Jennifer. Rose answered and she said, “Rose? Hi, it’s Doris. Listen, I need a favor—I need you to take care of Alice and watch out for Hedda. I’m leaving town.” She listened as Rose responded in total disbelief. “I know it’s sudden, but my ex showed up and surprised me. Yes, in the limo. I’m going to have to go with him.” She pinched her eyes closed and fought tears. “I’m not planning to stay long—but if I don’t go back where I came from and pack up some of my things, he’s going to give everything away. Throw it away, maybe. Now, don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll explain when I get back…. I don’t know how long…a couple of days, a week. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about all of this before, but, Rose, I have this whole life back in Florida and I have business to clear up.” She listened again. “No, there’s nothing to worry about. Tell Buzz and Adolfo for me, will you, Rose? Tell them I’ll be back. And I’ll give you a call when I get where I’m going.”
She clicked off and handed him the phone.
“Nicely done,” he said. He had a rather sinister smile on his face as he pocketed the cell.
How is it he can so easily fool me? she asked herself.
He made another quick call, asked that the plane be ready when he got to the executive airport and informed the agent there would be another passenger. One Jennifer Chaise. Please, Rose, call Alex, she thought with desperation.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, Jennifer. We’re going to board the plane like it’s been planned for months, and like you couldn’t be happier about it. You behave yourself and don’t make any kind of fuss—because if you do it’ll just be one big headache. No one’s ever going to believe I forced you to come along because, see, I don’t have a gun or anything. And I’m just a nice rich guy who gets taken advantage of by bimbos all the time.”
“And then what?”
“Then you think about things. If you still want to wait tables in a crappy little diner and sleep with a cop—”
She jumped in surprise, her eyes round as silver dollars. But why should she be surprised? He knew about Rose and Hedda, why wouldn’t he know about Alex?
“But Jesus, Jennifer. A cop?”
She was all done talking. She was getting pretty nervous. Rose, call Alex, she prayed. Before the plane can leave, please call Alex.
“So when we get home you either shake off this cop or you don’t, and if you don’t, I guess you go back to that little dump and…What? Have a bunch of sweaty little kids, live in the desert, pinch pennies?” He laughed and shook his head, like the idea was very amusing. “Well. Whatever,” he said.
He was lying, of course. She knew he had absolutely no intention of letting her leave him again. But she wasn’t sure what he meant to do with her. Either keep her under lock and key or maybe he’d just use her for fish bait.
The important thing to remember is that if she didn’t balk or make trouble, he had no reason on earth to bother or hurt Hedda, Rose or Buzz. It would make no sense for him to do so.
When the limo arrived at the airport, she could run screaming from the vehicle. There were always lots of security people around airports, even small executive airports. But she did not trust that her friends would remain safe—today or sometime down the road Jennifer knew Nick would make good on his threats.
She watched out the window as they drove through the desert, back to Las Vegas. She wished it could be a longer drive so that there would be time for Rose to call Alex. She watched the rough landscape slide past and could not help the tears that rose to her eyes and coursed down her cheeks. Poor Alice, she would be so distraught to think Jennifer would leave her. And how would Hedda cope? Rose was tough, Buzz was resilient, Alex was proud and strong, but what about poor Hedda?
“I don’t know what you’re crying about,” Nick said. “It’s not like life with me was hard or anything.”
She turned back to him. “What would you know about it?”
“Hey! Watch it. You don’t want to piss me off.”
“Or what?” she challenged.
He pressed his face close to hers and the meanness she had always really known existed glittered in his eyes. “You wanna try me out, baby?”
She lifted her chin. “Stop it, Nick.”
“I don’t know what your problem is. Just suck it up. Be a big girl. I’m not such a bad guy.”
“Sure Nick. What’s not to love,” she said, backing away from his face. “You’re irresistible. Such a sexy little guy.”
She looked back out the window. She was going to go along with this for now. There was simply no other choice.
He grabbed her arm and jerked her around to face him again. “Straighten up! And don’t you ever…ever call me a sexy little guy!”
Rose was a little confused. Doris had never indicated that the ex she was fleeing was wealthy. And even so, Doris didn’t seem the type to do this. She was so sincere in her care of Alice, her closeness to Hedda. And if she wasn’t mistaken, she was falling in love with Alex.
And Rose had begun to think of her as the daughter she had never had.
She didn’t call Alex to alert him, but to ask him. If anyone knew the details of Jennifer’s life, she thought he might.
His phone was turned off. He might be in the middle of some big important police business. “Alex, it’s Rose calling,” she said to the voice mail. “I’m a little confused. Doris just called me to say she’s leaving town. A limousine picked her up and took her away. She asked me to take care of Alice, look out for Hedda, and tell Buzz and Adolfo she had to leave. She said she’d call later. But I’m a little confused….” And then Rose hung up the phone.
It was forty-five minutes before he called her back, and he was clearly distraught. “Did she say who she was with? Where she was going? How she was getting there?”
“She said her ex came for her and that she had to go back to where she came from and take care of things. I think she said she had a life in Florida and she’d call when she got there, and that she would be back. But she gave absolutely no warning.”
“Rose, listen—did she say how she would be traveling?”
“No. She just said she’d come back in a few days or a week, when she could. What was so strange, Alex, is she never mentioned you. Everyone else, but not you. Was I completely mistaken? I thought I saw the two of you falling for each other.”
“You were not mistaken,” he said. “And you need to know—she would not do this. She did not want to leave us.”
“What should I do?” Rose asked, fear creeping into her voice.
“Do exactly as she asked. Take care of the dog and look out for Hedda. I’ll be in touch.”
It didn’t take Alex long to learn that Nick Noble had boarded the MGM’s Gulfstream with his party, bound for Fort Lauderdale. He alerted the FBI immediately that he didn’t believe Jennifer Chaise had gone with him willingly. He was pacing back and forth in front of Sergeant Monroe’s desk. “He snatched her. At the very least he tricked her. She would not have left.”
“Because of you, Nichols? Is that what you believe?”
“Not just me, but I do believe that. She was completely hooked into this old, old dog that she’s caring for and a kid, a teenager, who has a rough life at home. Not to mention the little old retired stripper next door. I’m telling you, she would not do this!”
“I agree with him,” Paula said. “I met her, I’ve seen her with
these people.”
“Turn the plane around,” Alex suggested.
“Can’t do it,” the sergeant said. “You can go over to the airport yourself, but the word is that she was perfectly calm, polite, friendly—and left completely of her free will. Lots of witnesses.”
“I don’t believe it! She was totally committed to staying here! He scared her!”
“It appears she is no longer scared. But—we’ll give this to the feds, make sure they’re aware of the situation….”
“I need a leave. A few days. Family emergency,” he said.
“You can’t get involved.”
“I won’t go as a police officer. That’s my girlfriend,” he said desperately. “Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I think she’s been abducted.”
“Don’t, Alex. Let the feds take care of this.”
“I can’t, boss. You don’t get many chances like this and I can’t let it go. Especially knowing what I know.”
“I can give you four days. Maybe five, but it’ll be tough.”
“Thanks,” he said, turning around and practically running out of the office.
“Boss,” Paula said. “I’m going to need a leave. A few days. I have a ton of vacation and comp time.”
“Aw, Jesus criminole, don’t do this to me,” he said, resting his forehead in his hand.
“Family emergency.”
“My hairy ass!”
“Someone’s gotta watch him. He’s wacko for this girl. Who, by the way, I think wouldn’t leave him—or her other friends. She happens to be a real nice person.”
“Who thought it was cool to hook up with an underworld slimeball like Noble.”
“Hey,” she said, leaning forward, “they haven’t been able to get him in all these years. If the feds can’t nail him, how’s Jennifer supposed to know?”
“They always know.”
“Boss. Come on. I’ll be useless here. You know he needs me. I have a clear head.”
“All right, all right. But this is not official police business, this is clearly personal, and you are not licensed to carry in Florida.”
“Right,” she said. “Thanks, boss.”
She left the sergeant’s office and found Alex on the computer, his fingers racing along the keys as he tried to book a flight to Fort Lauderdale. She looked over his shoulder and saw an airline timetable on the screen.
“Book two. I’m going with you.”
He looked back at her in surprise. “No,” he said, going back to the computer.
“Sarge gave me the time to go with you.”
“What about John?”
She laughed. “What? You think he’ll be jealous?”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Don’t you. You’re all hot. You need a partner.”
He turned around in his chair and looked at her hard, right in the eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I am sure. Annoyed, but sure.”
“We don’t have time to pack a lot. You have to be fast.”
“Just book two,” she said again.
The sergeant’s door opened. “Hey, you two. Thought you might want to know, they changed destinations. They’re not going to Florida. They’re going to St. Martin.”
“Shit,” the detectives said in unison.
Sixteen
Jennifer had a brief moment of satisfaction when she came face-to-face with Lou and his eyes widened in shock. Yes, she wanted to say, it’s me. Fooled ya.
She was warned, very sternly, that if she made any trouble at the airport, she would deeply regret it. In fact, Nick said, “You’d better act like this was an answer to your prayers—that you’re so happy to see me, you’re beside yourself, or there’s gonna be hell to pay.”
So she laughed at his attempts at humor, smiled when he asked her if there was anything she needed, held his hand and hid the surprise from her face when she recognized the very suitcase and hang-up bag she had brought to Las Vegas three months earlier.
But the biggest shock of all waited on the jet. “Oh, my God,” Barbara Noble shrieked. “You did not bring your chippy on this plane!”
“This is a nightmare,” Jennifer said, rubbing her forehead between her thumb and forefinger.
“Tell me about it,” said Nick.
“Only you, Nick,” Jennifer said. Talk about major balls in a minor body.
“I swear to God, Nick, you’re going to pay for this!” Barbara shouted.
He took long, hard strides with those short, thick little legs and whispered something in her ear that made her smile and say, “Ooh,” with a great deal of satisfaction. And Jennifer thought, Swell. He’s going to push me out over New Mexico.
She watched out the window in vain, hoping to see police cars or unmarked federal vehicles roaring up to the plane, though she didn’t know what in the world she would do if they did. She’d have to pretend this was what she wanted, or her friends might pay the ultimate price. So she sat in her seat, put on her seat belt and did as she was told. Barbara Noble, with a superior smirk, just kept staring at her from the other side of the cabin.
As they taxied out and took off, Jennifer felt her eyes well with tears. She had been so close! She had almost believed there was a happy ending for her after all! She kept her eyes focused out the window; it was one thing to let Nick see her cry, she’d be damned if Barbara would.
She had no one to blame but herself. This is what happens when you get involved with someone like Nick Noble; when you get involved for all the wrong reasons. She looked at Barbara and wondered, what were her reasons? Had she loved him once? Was it affection or possessiveness that caused her jealous rages? Or just plain greed?
Barbara was a beautiful woman, just a few years older than Jennifer. She had dark ebony hair, pale skin and flashing green eyes. But unhappiness caused her to look hard. She took out her compact, flipped it open and ran her index finger over the rise of her cheek. She pressed her lips together, blotting them, then patted her dark, shiny hair, almost in affection, in a gesture that Jennifer recognized from her own very recent past.
Her glance moved to Nick. He was watching her.
Without asking her if she’d like anything to eat or drink, the flight attendant brought her a champagne cocktail. She looked across the cabin at Nick. “Lighten up, baby. It’s a long flight.”
She took the cocktail and thanked the attendant. She took a sip. Only the very best, but this gave her no pleasure now.
She could feel the plane level off at their cruising altitude and heard Nick’s seat belt buckle open. He went to the front of the plane where Lou and Jesse were strapped into their seats. The cabin attendant, meanwhile, opened the closet and pulled out Jennifer’s suitcase and hang-up. She brought them to her, lying the hang-up on the chaise longue beside her.
She didn’t understand. Nick, from the front of the plane, called out to her. “Find something in there to put on. Something that makes you look like a girl.”
“I’m…I’m fine,” she said, declining.
He stomped toward her. “We gonna argue about this?”
“What do you care?” she asked.
“I care because you look like a boy and you smell like a pork chop. Now, find something to wear.”
Resignedly, she got out of her seat. She opened the suitcase and knelt in front of it. She lifted the lid and the scent of her expensive perfume wafted upward. Everything was just as she had left it—neatly folded stacks of expensive, lacy thongs and bras, blouses, shells, slacks, thin silky sweaters, snugly fitting capris. She found her toiletries, makeup, jewelry case and her now perfectly useless mousse and hair dryer. She looked inside the hang-up for something comfortable and not terribly sexy and ended up with a lightweight black knit pantsuit. Under her neatly folded clothes were her shoes, all the heels much too high. One thing missing from her belongings—her cell phone. Naturally.
She took a stack of toiletries, makeup, belts, bracelets and clothes to the lavatory. At least in the private jet there wa
s plenty of room for changing. This transformation would be impossible in a commercial jet.
As she traded her shirt and jeans for this expensive, soft and silky pantsuit, she remembered too clearly the last big change she’d made, and how it had made her cry. But then it was more out of fear than disappointment that she wept. The tears that threatened now were wrought of a breaking heart. She didn’t want to be that woman again! She had grown so comfortable in her own skin.
Would Nick let her go? Would Alex be waiting? Would he believe what she’d told Rose—that she was just going home for a while, that she’d be back soon? If Alex believed that, maybe he’d just wait around. But for how long?
The top was low cut, but not the lowest she had in the suitcase. She put on silver bangles, a silver pendant that hung from a black cord just above her breasts, and a black-and-silver belt that hung low on her hips and fastened with a big silver hook. She was in no mood for makeup, or the heels for that matter, but if there was one thing she had learned, it was best not to disappoint Nick. He was as tenacious as a bulldog at getting what he wanted.
When she exited the rest room, he was standing there with a drink in his hand and a smile on his lips. “Better,” he said. “Much better.”
She held the discarded jeans and polo. He took them from her and handed them to the cabin attendant. “Get rid of these,” he told her. Then, taking Jennifer’s hand, led her back to her seat. He looked between Barbara and Jennifer. “The two of youse is pretty damn good-looking,” he said.
Barbara groaned and turned her face away, looking out the window. Jennifer just stared at him in awe. What was this? Did he think he was going to have a harem now?
The flight seemed longer than usual and they had flown over water for quite a while. They were obviously not going to Fort Lauderdale as the cabin attendant had originally announced. But this was typical of Nick, to change plans on a whim. He enjoyed watching people jump around to keep him happy.
Four hours into the flight, Nick finally went to the front of the cabin. He talked to his boys for a minute, then stood in the cockpit doorway to talk to the pilots. Jennifer crossed the cabin to Barbara’s side of the plane and sat on the end of the chaise beside her. Barbara was lazily filing a nail.