A Treasure of Their Own

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Marci noticed her hand was shaking a bit when she reached out to ring the doorbell. ‘Dear God, I’ve got to stop that,’ she thought. ‘I’ve got to keep it together if I’m going to pass this test. God, you’ve got to help me. My future depends on it.’

  The door opened and Marci was greeted by a curvy blonde with a big smile. It seemed to Marci as if it was a little bit too big. She bubbled, “You must be Marci.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  As she stepped aside to let her in she said, “Please, no sir or ma’am here. We’re just Monique and Dan. Dan’s in the living room getting the books and tables ready and I’m off to the kitchen to bring you some snacks.”

  Dan poked his head around the corner and bantered, “Marci, come on in to the living room and I’m not professor anything here at the house. Please call me Dan, I get so tired of hearing people yell out ‘Professor, Professor’ all day long.”

  Marci smiled as she stepped toward the living room and replied, “OK, if you insist. But, I’m one of those that are bound by a habit and I’ll probably slip up a time or two. Uh-h, Dan, I really appreciate you taking some time to help me get through this Chemistry exam. I’ve gotten something crossed in my mind and I can’t seem to get past it.”

  As she entered the room, she saw that he had arranged it so that two sofas faced each other with a long coffee table between them. Each sofa had its own snack tray already set up. Dan’s was closest to the foyer and Marci’s was the farthest away. Dan had his books at one end of the coffee table and it was obvious that she was to use the other end. It all looked to be on the up and up.

  Dan tried his best to calm her a little bit by saying, “I’ve helped several students and we work and work until we find one little hiccough. We get that cleared up then the rest takes care of itself. You wait and see.”

  Monique came in with a couple of bowls of chips and set them on the appropriate snack trays. She asked Marci, “Dan prefers to work with iced tea, Marci, would you care for a glass?”

  “Iced tea will be just fine with me, if it’s no trouble,” Marci replied.

  “It’ll take me a moment to make a couple of glasses,” she answered. “Now before you say ‘Don’t do it’ let me explain that Dan likes his iced tea brewed just one glass at a time. That way it’s always fresh. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

  “U-h-h, sure.”

  After Marci took her seat on the couch, she set her books on her end of the coffee table. She began to explain, “It all started somewhere in chapter four. I stumbled on some things and now by chapter six not a whole lot is making sense.”

  “OK, then let’s start at chapter four and see if we can find the glitch,” Dan started as he opened the Chemistry textbook. “Now let me ask you a few questions just to see what you know and don’t know.”

  The back and forth dialog began. It was Dan’s question and Marci’s answer for several minutes. Then as he got deeper into the fourth chapter of her Chemistry book, Marci began to falter and Dan went into his teaching mode.

  Monique was busy acting like she was making the tea when she felt her cell phone vibrate. She quietly stepped out the sliding glass doors to the deck outside. “Brian? Yeah, she’s here. I’m about to bring in the tea. The mouse has no idea that a trap is being sprung. Yeah. Yeah, that’s when I come in. I’ve got it.” She hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen but left the sliding glass doors open about two inches. Brian had everything figured out to the smallest detail.

  Dan always put the date rape drug in the tea himself. He carefully measured each of his victim’s doses depending on how long he wanted them to be out and what he wanted to film doing with them. Dan’s tea glass always had a big ‘D’ on it just to make sure there were no mistakes.

  Many, many times she wanted to switch glasses and run away after he passed out. But, he had all the money tied up. She had none. What could she do and where could she go? Until now, her hands had been tied, so to speak. Now, she had Brian, and in a few minutes, she’ll be on her way to a new life.

  She made a big deal out of stirring the tea, put the ice in the glasses, put on a big smile and served the guest first and then put the big ‘D’ glass on Dan’s tray just like always. “There we go,” she said trying to sound real perky, “and when that’s finished let me know and I’ll have a couple of more ready to make.”

  “Thanks, Hon,” Dan said as he took a sip of his.

  “Wow,” Marci said as she took her glass in her hand, “I was about ready for that. All of those potato chips I ate were beginning to dry me out.” She drank about half of the glass before she put it down. Then it was back to the questions and answers.

  Monique and Dan exchanged glances. This wasn’t going to take as long as either one figured. When Monique entered the kitchen and got out of sight from the living room, she held up her open hand to the figure at the door and mouthed, “Five minutes.”

  Dan began to throw questions at Marci to get her talking. After a few minutes her speech started slurring and her head began to hang down a little. Then she stopped talking altogether and stared at him with her mouth wide open.

  “Are you feeling OK?” he asked. “Why don’t you lie down on the couch for a moment?”

  Before he got her head on one of the sofa pillows she was out. He grabbed ahold of her legs and swung them up on the couch. He shook her and got no response. Then, he got a piece of ice from his glass of tea and put it on her cheek and she didn’t flinch.

  He chuckled as he said, “She is out, and we are on our way to a cool half a million dollars.” As he stood at her feet and looked at her for a moment, he commented, “She looks like she hasn’t spent much time in the sun. The sheik might even pay more for a tan-less American girl. I’ll see if I can put the bite on him.”

  He called out to the kitchen, “Monique, bring the camera in here for a moment. I want you to film me taking her clothes off.” He stepped from side to side looking for the best camera angle. “What we need to do is show the sheik just how white she is. He’s just got to have a white Christian American girl. We get the right shots, tantalize the old geezer and raise the price.”

  Monique picked up the camera from off the counter, nodded her head at the figure on the back porch and walked into the living room. “Where do you want me to start first?” she asked as she waited nervously for Brian’s move.

  Dan started, “Why don’t you…..”

  His sentence was interrupted by the sound of metal banging on the sliding glass door in the kitchen. It scared Dan and he almost fell over one of the snack tables. Monique yelled out, “Come in.”

  Dan glared at her and shouted, “What are you doing?”

  Monique backed up against the foyer wall as a sea of blue uniforms with guns drawn filed past her and into the living room from both the front and back entrances. Dan had no opportunity whatsoever to escape.

  In desperation, he tried to bluff his way out of the situation, “What’s the meaning of this? You can’t come barging into my home like this.”

  Brian came through the sliding glass doors and strolled into the living room followed by two EMTs with medical bags in their hands. The blue sea parted as he stood behind the sofa where Marci was lying. Knowing what was expected of them; they slipped around him also and went to work on her.

  “Are you in charge of this….” Dan started.

  Brian put his hand up to stop his protest. “Sgt. Devlin, have you got the video ready?” he asked.

  A man holding a laptop came in from the kitchen and stood beside Brian. Dan’s eyes expanded to twice their size and his mouth dropped open as he saw himself on the laptop’s screen in a freeze frame. Sgt. Devlin said, “When you press enter, it will start playing from where he says, ‘Monique, bring the camera in here for a moment.”

  Brian reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. “I have a search warrant,” he stated. He reached down with his other hand and touched o
ne of the onyx-looking earrings that Marci was wearing and continued, “And, everything you said and did has been videoed for evidence. I have the paperwork for that if you would like to see it.”

  “Never mind,” Dan said dejectedly as he hung his head and put his hands behind his back. Just a few moments ago he was savoring the thought of more money than he had ever imagined having. His mind had been reeling with the half a million guarantee. Now his mind was just reeling. His future was no longer his to plan. ‘Oh, my gosh. Jail. Cell mates. I’ve heard of what they do…….’he thought in disgust.

  As the officer cuffed him and recited to him his rites, he looked at Monique as if to plead with her. “I have nothing to say to you, Dan,” she said as she folded her arms and coldly stared at him. “I don’t even want to waste my time saying good bye to you. Five years together and all you thanked me for was for being a great photographer. Oh, yeah, you must have thought that I really enjoyed filming you with those girls. And, I had to pry the words ‘I love you’ out of your mouth and even then I knew you didn’t mean it. Marriage was never an option, was it?” There was a lot more she wanted to say but she finished by telling him, “Today, I’m free from your prison sentence and you’re just beginning yours. I just hope they find every one of those girls you sold to pimps and free them, too.”

  She looked at Brian and said, “If someone will follow me, I’ll show you his computer and I’ll show you all of his hiding spots that I have found so far. You’ll find old computers, memory sticks, ledgers for the past five years and all of his banking records. You’ll find more names and addresses than you can handle for a while. This guy was meticulous in his records keeping. Now, you’ll have more work than you bargained for. The best thing to do is tear this place apart. As sneaky as he was, there’s no telling where he’s hid his stuff.”

  One of the investigators followed her around the house to write down all of her information. When she got back into the living room the EMT’s had gotten Marci on a gurney and fixed a saline solution to it. Brian was standing right next to her watching everything they were doing.

  As they started wheeling her out, the EMT told him, “We took a blood sample when we came in and we will take another one when we get to the observation room. Then, we’ll check the levels of the drug in her system and should be able to give you an approximate time as to when she will start coming around. Dr. Philmore will be the physician in charge and should give you an approximate time for her release. She’ll be groggy for a while. He’ll tell you that rest and clear liquids and good food are the best way to recover. AND….good company to help pass the time away. I’ll see you, sir.”

  Monique came into the living room just as they were wheeling her out the door and into the waiting emergency vehicle. Brian asked her, “What’s your guess, about three to four hours?”

  “That’s about right,” she answered. “Dan would only put in enough to knock them out for a couple of hours. He couldn’t have them hanging around here all night.” She looked around somewhat nervously before Brian asked the question for her.

  “What’s next?” he opened with a disarming smile.

  She nervously smiled back and admitted, “Well, yeah. Are you…..going to take me in…arrest me…”

  He put her at ease, “No, Monique, you have already given us a statement and we have made an agreement with you. In a little while, someone will take you to a safe location, although Dan will NOT be released on bond. We’ve frozen his assets and with the contacts that we know he has he will be considered as ‘likely to flee.’ For right now, I need to know some things from you.”

  “OK.”

  “Since you lived with him as man and wife for five years, there are legal footholds that would make some of the furnishings of this house as well as his liquid assets partly yours. The question right now is do you want any of the furniture and stuff?”

  She looked around and answered negatively, “Not really. It will all remind me of him. I would like to have my clothes, though. I was able to buy some nice outfits with what little bit he doled out to me. And, I have a few personal things I would like to take with me if I could.”

  “Certainly, I’ve got a policewoman coming in a few moments. She will have several suitcases and as many cardboard boxes as you might need. So far as I am concerned you can pack up anything you want as long as it’s not evidence. The only stipulation is that our officer HAS to inspect every piece of clothing and every item you take out tonight. Once it has her approval and gets out the front door, it’s yours to do with as you please. You’ll have a few days to hang around so we can ask you any question that might come up. This weekend, we will take you to your new home and you start your new job Monday morning.”

  A relaxed smile broke across her face as she said, “Thanks.” After a moment’s hesitation she looked at him and shook her head.

  “What?” he asked with a smile of his own.

  “Just how did you talk her into being the bait? What did you promise her?”

  “I didn’t,” was his surprising answer. “She is the one that talked me into letting her be the bait. She said she felt like it was something that the Lord wanted her to do. I asked her at several stages of the game if she wanted out and she always said, ‘No’. She felt as if it was something that she had to do. She said that Jesus would have done the same thing.”

  “H-m-m-m,” was Monique’s only reply.