Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

database and see if anything comes up. What exactly are you looking for?"

  "Ah. Well, I need to prove that one or both of them were in the Cayman Islands during last June or July. We think one of them set up the account in our client's name and then transferred over a hundred thousand dollars into it without authority."

  "Where can I reach you if I find anything?"

  "I'm staying with two friends at the Sundowner Hotel."

  He wrote the name down in a tablet. "All right. Thank you and good luck with your search."

  Officer Brim left and I continued on to the next marina on my list. Several hours later I looked at my watch and saw it was 5:30 p.m. I had agreed to meet Tehra and Alice back in the lobby of our hotel at 6:00 p.m. so, I turned the car around and headed back to the hotel. Neither of them were there when I arrived. I waited until 6:30 p.m. but when they still hadn't showed up I went up to their rooms. Neither were in their rooms so I went to mine and called the front desk.

  "Have you seen my friends Alice Stover and Ms. Connolly?"

  "Yes, sir. They were in the lobby earlier, about quarter to six or so. They left with three men just before you arrived."

  “They did?” I said confused by this revelation.

  "What did the men look like?"

  "One was tall, heavy set with a beard and the other two were medium height athletic types."

  "Military, perhaps?"

  "Yes, they did look a bit stiff."

  The first thing that came to mind was Kulchz. I hadn't thought to tell him about the trip to the Caymans. Did he think we were trying to escape from him? Did he know Tehra was going to side with the Loyalists? If it was him, where would he be taking them? I went back into the lobby area where I was to meet them. They weren't there, but I did see a familiar face. I went over to him.

  "Mo, what are you doing here?"

  "I was going to ask you the same question." he replied. "Come with me. We need to talk."

  There was no use refusing. I had to go with him even though I didn't know his intentions. Presumably he was bringing me to where they were holding Tehra and Alice, but I was wrong. We got into a waiting car and drove off.

  "Where did you take Alice and Tehra?" I asked.

  "Nowhere, Kulchz has them.”

  “Why?”

  Mo didn’t respond but asked instead,“ Who removed your tracking chip?"

  I swallowed hard. "How'd you know about that?"

  "You've been seen places where you shouldn’t be according to your body sensors. Obviously, someone removed it. It was Tehra wasn't it? She's the only who'd know where to find it."

  I didn't answer. Why hadn't I put Tehra in hiding sooner? We shouldn't have waited for the civil war to officially reach Earth. How could that have been predicted? Anyway, it was pure stupidity to take such a risk. I hung my head in despair.

  "Has she told you about the civil war on Tarizon?"

  "Civil war?" I said not knowing whether I should come clean or not.

  "Yes, there's been a military coup and the civil government, the Loyalists I believe they call themselves, is in exile. Kulchz thinks Tehra may be a Loyalists sympathizer."

  "So Kulchz is part of the military coup?"

  "Yes. He's a close friend to the new military leader who's taking over. Apparently he's been recalled to Tarizon—everyone has, in fact."

  "Does that mean the Tarizon Project is over?"

  He nodded. "Yes, I think that's a safe bet."

  "So, where have they taken Alice and Tehra? They haven't taken them to Tarizon, have they?"

  "No. Not yet. I've convinced them to leave Alice here with you, but Tehra must go back home."

  I looked away. My heart was still pounding. How could this be happening? The civil war wasn't supposed to get to Earth for weeks. Damn it! I felt so helpless.

  "So, how do we get Alice back?"

  "I'm taking you to a rendezvous point right now. They'll turn her over to us there. They'll have to erase her memory. I've convinced them you wouldn't try hypnosis on her. There'd be no point to that."

  "No, Alice doesn't need to get involved in this. She's got enough of her own problems."

  We drove in silence for another thirty minutes. Mo seemed sad and dejected. I wondered if he was upset that the Tarizon project was coming to an end. I supposed he was since it had to be one of the best assignments the CIA had to offer. “Would you like to go to Tarizon now that you and Kulchz are such good buddies,” I asked

  He looked over at me and frowned. “He’s no buddy of mine.”

  “He’s not. You too seemed to get along pretty well.”

  “Just doing my job.”

  “Did he tell you his new commander wants to colonize Earth?”

  “No, but if they wanted to do that they could have decades ago.”

  I told him what Tehra had explained to me about the civil war and what she thought would happen if the Loyalist lost. He looked at me and shrugged. “I’ll be sure to put that in my final report. That should shake up Pentagon.”

  “Do you think your superiors will pass your report on to them.”

  He laughed. “No, probably not,” he said and began slowing down. "Here's the spot. The exchange is to take place where the road goes over the seawall. See the lights up ahead? That's got to be them."

  It was dark now and there was a lone set of headlights glaring at us. We stopped about a hundred yards from it and got out of the car. The street was wet and I felt the spray from the waves hitting the seawall. We walked slowly toward the lights. Suddenly two men emerged. They were carrying Alice who was limp in their arms. When we reached them, we took her and carried her back to our car. During the exchange I tried to look into their car, but the lights were too intense to see anything. I wondered if Tehra was also in there. If she was, this might be as close as I'd ever get to her. If only I had a weapon.

  On the way back to the hotel Alice woke up and asked where she was. I made up the best story I could think of to explain what had happened.

  "We're taking you to the emergency room. You must have eaten some bad fish or something."

  "I don't remember eating anything," she mumbled.

  "It made you very sick. You've been unconscious for several hours."

  "Where's Tehra? Did she get sick too?"

  "No, she's on her way back to Texas. There's been some kind of family emergency. Don't you remember her telling us about it? She wanted to have dinner with us, but had to run to catch her flight."

  "God. I don't remember anything. What kind of fish did I eat?"

  "Oysters, I think."

  "Oh, God. Bad oysters can kill you. Am I going to die?"

  "No. You're going to be okay. We're going to the emergency room just as a precaution. I'm sure you'll be fine."

  At the emergency room the doctors examined Alice but could find nothing wrong with her. They were perplexed by her loss of memory, but finally discharged her anyway attributing it to the number of rum and Cokes she'd consumed while she was checking out hotel bars. When we got back to the hotel she went straight to bed and didn't stir until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. Although I could barely think with worry over Tehra and the baby, we continued our search for witnesses or evidence of Ike and Ralph's presence on the Island. Unfortunately, our luck didn't change and we returned to our hotel room depressed and dejected. Our only hope now was our meeting Monday morning at the Royal Bank. I just prayed someone there would recognize Ike or Ralph.

 

  44

  Progress Report

  Paula Waters

  The trial reconvened the next morning with Barbara Hines taking the stand. She testified she was the Brown's neighbor and was well versed on the feud between Chester Brown and Walter Stanley. She explained how the feud began with the Brown's dog barking incessantly.

  "Did you ever complain about the dog barking?" Francis asked.

  "No, I live to the east of Mr. Brown and there's a driveway and garage between his backyard and our house. I can hear
the barking but it's not all that loud. The Stanley house is directly behind the Brown home and there is just a narrow alley between the two backyards. There is nothing to buffer the noise."

  "Have you ever been in the Stanley house when the dog was barking?"

  "Oh, yes. It was very annoying. I couldn't have lived with it."

  "So, what did Mrs. Stanley do about the noise?"

  "She and Mr. Stanley complained a lot to Mr. Brown and when that didn't work they called the police and complained to Animal Control."

  "And did that do any good?"

  "The police cited the Browns, but they didn't really do anything other than keep the dog inside for a couple of days."

  "Are Mr. & Mrs. Stanley still married?"

  "No, they're divorced," Mrs. Hines replied.

  "Do you know what the cause of their divorce was?"

  "It was due to the dog and Stanley's inability to effectively deal with the problem."

  "How do you know that?"

  "Mrs. Stanley told me her husband was spineless and let people walk all over him. She said she couldn't live in the house with that dog always barking so she had no choice but to move out."

  "Why didn't they just both move?" Francis asked.

  "Pride, I think. He wouldn't let someone drive him out of his own home. At least that's what I heard him tell Barbara during one of their arguments."

  "So, you've testified there was great animosity between Walter Stanley and Chester Brown even before the chain-link fence went up, right."

  "Yes."

  "So, what happened when Chester Brown defied the architectural control committee and board of directors over the fence?"

  "Stanley along with many others were livid."

  Hines continued to testify about the board's refusal to grant Brown a variance and the confrontations between Brown