CATalyst for Clues (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 25) Page 8

  Craig raised his eyebrows. “Oh he was, was he?”

  “Yes. Now I know that Brianna was flown to Los Angeles because I happened to see one of the other gals at the airport when I arrived with the rest of the group a few days later. She was on her way to her home in Portland. She said that the three of them had been brought to LA and she thought Brianna was going to stay for a while.”

  “They put those women in the baggage compartment?” Craig snarled.

  Rodney nodded. “Jeanie told me something that day at the airport that still troubles me.” When he noticed the others waiting, he said, “She told me that she was afraid for Brianna—that Brianna was trusting the wrong people. And I don’t know who that was, because I’d lost track of her, as I told you.”

  “Can you give us the name and contact information for the gal from Portland?” Craig asked.

  Rodney licked his lips and glanced around the room. “I may be able to get you the whole roster of those who went on this trip.”

  Craig’s face lit up. “That would be most helpful.”

  “Don’t be too sure,” he said. “Those who travel and tell with that company are not very well thought of—and might, in fact, find themselves in more trouble than they want.”

  Savannah gasped. When the men looked at her, she said, “I was just thinking, that might be what has happened to Brianna. She can be tactless and not very compliant.”

  Rodney chuckled. “Yes. That was my fear—that she was too vocal about the particulars of the adventure and someone wanted to quiet her—maybe teach her a lesson or something.”

  But why would they ask for a ransom?” Savannah asked.

  “Good question,” Craig said. “Damn good question.”

  ****

  Craig and Savannah returned to the beach house thirty minutes later and shared what they’d learned with Margaret. Savannah clenched her jaw. “Auntie, Paul Carter lied to me.” She teared up. “According to Rodney, he left the group on the same plane as Brianna did. I can’t stand that they made her ride in the baggage compartment. It sounds so uncomfortable and unsafe.”

  Craig scowled. “Indeed!”

  “The baggage compartment?” Margaret repeated. “That’s…well that’s inhumane.”

  Suddenly Savannah jumped. “It’s my phone.” After studying her screen for a moment, she said, “It’s a number I’m not familiar with.”

  “Telemarketer,” Margaret groused.

  “Yeah, probably.” Savannah started to put the phone down.

  “Wait!” Craig shouted. “Answer it. It could be…”

  “Oh yeah,” Savannah said, “the kidnapper.” She put the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

  Chapter 4

  “Hello, are you Brianna Jordan’s sister?”

  Savannah glanced at Craig, then Margaret. “Yes, this is Savannah. Who’s this?”

  “Amanda Huntington. I just spoke with Rod. He said you were looking for someone with information about Bri. I met her and Rod on the Goff Adventure last month. I hear that she’s gotten herself into a fix. She’s been kidnapped? Are you people sure? It’s hard to imagine Bri being sucked into something like that.”

  “What do you mean?” Savannah asked.

  “Well, as you know, she’s far from having a victim mentality. People don’t generally snatch someone as confident and self-assured as Brianna is.”

  “So you didn’t notice that Brianna was afraid of anyone who was on the trip with you?”

  “Uh…no. Not really.”

  “You sound hesitant.”

  “Well, there were a couple of people she didn’t like very well. No one did, actually. But they seemed to pick on Bri.”

  “Who were these people?”

  “Tori Taylor and Raif Peters. They came from one of those tiny states in the east, as I recall. I believe they’d done this sort of challenge tour before. They seemed to enjoy picking on those of us who hadn’t.”

  “I thought you said Bri wasn’t flustered by that sort of thing.”

  “Well, she was doing okay,” Amanda said. “I mean, she seemed able to ignore their ridicule and mean-spirited teasing until those two vultures began a game of good cop/bad cop.”

  “What?” Savannah asked. “What do you mean?”

  She hesitated. “Brianna didn’t say much about it. But I observed once after one of our water maneuvers, Raif said she wasn’t pulling her weight. Tori defended Bri and said she did well. They kind of played these mind games with her. Oh, on the outside, your sister seemed tough,” Amanda explained. “But I could tell it was getting to her. I think that’s why she left. Tori actually went with her, which sure didn’t make Raif very happy. I thought it was an odd deal. I couldn’t figure out why Tori decided to go, until Rodney told me Bri was missing and then I wondered if Tori and her husband had something to do with that.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Savannah said. “So she could be on the East Coast someplace with those two? How will we ever find her?”

  “I’d say, find them and you’ll find her.”

  “Can you give me anything more that might help us find this couple—Raif and Tori? Is there someone else who might remember where they’re from or how we might contact them? Have you stayed in touch with anyone from the trip?” Savannah asked.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact. I’ll message some of those who went on the trip with us and see if anyone knows anything. Sound good?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” Savannah started to end the call when she saw Craig waving to her. “Wait, Amanda. A friend of ours would like to speak with you if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure. Put him on.”

  “Hello, Amanda is it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Detective Craig Sledge here.” He cleared his throat. “Amanda, I understand that you have someone in mind who you suspect might be holding Brianna.”

  “Well, I certainly can’t be sure. I’m just saying that their behavior toward Bri seemed odd to me and I thought I should report it in case it’s at all helpful.”

  “And we appreciate that. So it was more than one person who was, perhaps, harassing her?”

  “Yes, Tori and Raif.”

  “Can you tell me what happened when the trip was over? Were you all brought back to Los Angeles?”

  “Yes, a shuttle took us from the airport to the adventure center, where our electronic devices were returned to us. Most of us stayed in the business center for a while calling home, charging our devices...”

  “But Brianna wasn’t with you for that activity?”

  “No,” Amanda reported, “she had left the group about two—maybe three days before that.”

  “But everyone else spent time in the business center, including the couple you told Savannah about?”

  “Yes. Well, the guy, Raif, was there. Tori, his wife, had gone with Brianna.”

  “Do you have any idea where Raif went from there?”

  “No. I don’t,” Amanda said. She then added, “Oh wait. Strangely, I did notice something that day. When I left the Goff offices to get on the shuttle…”

  “The shuttle?”

  “Yeah. They were taking us to a hotel. There was a banquet that night for those who were interested, which was most of us. Well, as I got on the shuttle I noticed Raif climbing into a car with a woman. I thought at the time it looked like Tori. I mentioned this to Jay, another passenger. I said, ‘Hey, looks like his wife came back to get him,’ or something like that. Jay told me Raif and his wife were going to their Beverly Hills mansion for the rest of the summer.”

  “Their Beverly Hills mansion, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Amanda said, “who knew? Since we don’t take any personal items of any value and we all dress pretty much the same, you don’t get much of a sense of where your travel companions come from or their financial status.”

  “Now what are their names again?” Craig pulled a pad and pencil from his pocket and wrote the names as Amanda gave them to him. “Tori Taylor and Raif Peters,” he
repeated. “So they’re not a married couple?”

  “Yes, they are. That much I found out. She kept her maiden name.”

  “Amanda, you’ve been most helpful. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Please have Savannah let me know when Brianna is safe, will you?”

  “Sure will.”

  “Well?” Savannah and Margaret said in unison when Craig had ended the call and handed Savannah her phone.

  “We have a possible suspect.” He pulled out his phone and made a call. After ending it, he said, “We’ll go to Plan B once we hear back from my sources.”

  “Plan B?” Margaret quipped. “I didn’t even know we had a Plan A.”

  Craig chuckled. After a few minutes, he answered his phone and spewed a series of responses: “Uh-huh. Yeah. Is that right? Thank you.” Without drama, he pocketed the phone and reported, “Yup, they’re a married couple, have homes in Baltimore and Beverly Hills, and no record outside of a DUI for her five years ago, which she beat in court.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Savannah asked.

  Craig mulled this over. He looked at Rags, then said, “My gut tells me we should…” Before he could finish, Savannah’s phone rang again.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Is this Savannah Ivey?”

  “Yes, who’s this?”

  “Never mind. Listen, I have Brianna. She’s still healthy, but she won’t be for long if you don’t get that money to me.”

  “What money?” Savannah asked, flashing Craig a look of uncertainty.

  He nodded and smiled, letting her know that she was on the right track.

  “The ransom money—twenty-thousand dollars,” the caller said.

  Savannah hoped he couldn’t detect the big gulp she had just swallowed. It then occurred to her to say, “Wait a minute. How do I know you actually have Brianna and that she hasn’t been harmed?”

  “Um…you’ll just have to take my word for it. I don’t lie. It’s the honest-to-God truth.”

  Savannah snarked, “Yeah, you don’t lie, but you have no problem with kidnapping and extortion, right?”

  Savannah was aware of the eerie silence that followed. Finally the man said, “Now, don’t confuse me. Just do as I say.”

  “First, you do as I say. I want to talk to Brianna. Is she there now?”

  “No. I’m not where she is, but I can go there and see if she wants to talk to you. Then will you bring me the money?”

  “Yes. Shall I meet you at the site where you’re keeping Brianna?”

  “Uh…no…no. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll go there now and call you when I get there, okay?”

  “Yes. I’ll be waiting.” Just as Savannah ended the call, her phone rang again. “It’s Mom,” she told the others. “Hi, Mom, is everything okay?”

  “Oh yes, just fine, dear. The children are angels. I forgot to tell you earlier that Helena was here this morning helping me out. She’s a dear woman. And she sure loves the children.” She paused. “Vannie, are you crying?”

  Savannah took a quick breath and blurted, “I miss them so much.” She attempted to collect herself. “But I have to see this through. Mom, I just got a call from the kidnapper. Craig’s with us, as you know, and we may get to speak with Brianna in a little while.” She hesitated. “Why are you calling, Mom?”

  “Just wanted to tell you that I talked to your aunt Rose just now. She said that someone called asking if she was related to Brianna. I’d talked to her just yesterday and told her that Bri was missing. So when she got that call, she thought she’d better let us know.”

  “I guess that’s how he got my cell phone number. He probably has Brianna’s address book or maybe her cell phone and she isn’t telling him who’s who.”

  “Sounds like Bri—unless…”

  “Unless what, Mom?”

  “Unless he doesn’t have her at all.” When Savannah didn’t speak, Gladys added, her voice strained, “She could be dead!”

  “No, Mom. Let’s not go there. Listen, I’ll call you as soon as I talk to Brianna this afternoon, okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you. Be careful, Vannie.”

  A while later, when Savannah’s phone rang again, she looked at the screen and nodded at Craig.

  “Thirty-eight minutes,” he said, looking at his watch.

  “Huh?”

  “Thirty-eight minutes between his calls.” He gestured to Savannah to answer it.

  “Hello.”

  “Is this Savannah?”

  “Yes. Is Brianna there?”

  “Yes.”

  She waited for a few seconds, then heard, “Savannah, it’s me. Pay him the money so he’ll let me go.”

  Before she could respond, she heard the man’s voice again. “Okay, you heard her. Do you have the money?”

  “That was not Brianna!” Savannah insisted. “Let me talk to my sister or there will be no money. In fact, that sounded like a man trying to fake a woman’s voice. Do you think I’m an idiot? Now, is she there or not?”

  The line seemed to go dead, then the man said, “Yeah, she’s here. Hold on.”

  Again, she waited. In the meantime, she listened carefully to the sounds coming through on the phone. A chicken, she thought. Goats or sheep, maybe. Suddenly, she heard a woman shout, “Let go of me! What if I don’t want to talk on the phone?”

  The man said more quietly, “It’s your sister. You want to talk to her, don’t you? She’s the one who’s going to get me the money.”

  “What a bunch of crap!” the woman said. Into the phone, she asked, “Savannah? Is that you?”

  “Yes. The question is, is this you?”

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Well, that all depends on what you consider all right.”

  “Brianna, can you give me a hint about where you are?”

  “Well, I’m…”

  “No you don’t,” the man said. “That’s enough.”

  In the background, Savannah could hear some shuffling sounds and muffled voices, then she heard her sister shout, “Geronimo!”

  “Hello, hello,” she said.

  She started to end the call when the male returned to the phone. “Are you satisfied?” he asked, sounding out of breath. “Meet me with the money at Olson’s Feed Store on Canal Street. Do you know where it is?”

  “I think so. I can find it. What time?”

  “Midnight tonight.”

  “Midnight? That’s an odd time.”

  “Midnight tonight.”

  “You’d better have Brianna with you.”

  He did not respond. The phone went dead.

  “Midnight at Olson’s Feed Store,” she reported.

  “What did Brianna say?” Margaret asked.

  Savannah set her jaw. “Not much. But I know that was Brianna. She sounds like her feisty self. As he was putting her back wherever he was presumably keeping her, she shouted, ‘Geronimo!’”

  “Geronimo?” Craig repeated, frowning. “I wonder why she said that. You don’t suppose he was making her jump—people shout Geronimo before they jump out of a plane.”

  “That’s right,” Margaret said. “Is he a pilot?” Her eyes grew wide. “Maybe the guy that’s holding her is the pilot who flew them around when they were in the jungle.”

  “Or he’s planning to make her jump out of a plane or push her off a cliff. Maybe he’s holding her at the top of a cliff,” Savannah said. She faced the detective. “Craig, the voice sounded familiar.”

  “Brianna’s voice?”

  “No the man. I don’t think I know him, but I believe I’ve heard his voice before…and recently.”

  “Think, Vannie,” Margaret instructed. “Who was it?”

  She thought for a moment, then said, “I heard something else—it sounded like barnyard animals in the background. It was as if when he went to get Brianna, he walked into a barnyard or a pettin
g zoo or something.”

  “What kind of animals?” Craig asked.

  “I heard chickens for sure…goats or lambs, maybe.” She tilted her head while she tried to recall the sounds. “Wait!” she shouted. “I recorded the call.”

  “No way,” Margaret said. “How’d you think to do that?”

  “Well, I didn’t until he went to get Brianna, then I figured we might want to play it back to see if we agree that it was her.” She tapped a few times on her phone, then held it out for the others to hear.

  “Yeah, chickens,” Margaret whispered, “and geese.” She squinted. “Was that a goat or a lamb? Play it back, Vannie.”

  After listening to the recording several times, everyone agreed that it was Brianna on the phone and that she was indeed in an area where there were farm animals.

  “Did you recognize the man’s voice?” Savannah asked the others.

  They both shook their heads.

  “There was another sound.” Savannah backed up the recording. “What is that?” she asked, playing it back again and again. “I can’t put my finger on it.”

  Margaret frowned. “It’s not familiar to me—maybe a tea kettle…”

  “Or a child’s toy,” Craig suggested. “It’s kind of a whistle sound.” He laughed. “And that Geronimo at the end—she sure shouted it, didn’t she?” He became sullen. “Just wish I knew what it means.”

  “So what are we going to do, Craig?” Savannah, asked, her voice filled with emotion. “We’re so close, yet so far.”

  “I know, honey. We’ll figure it out; don’t you worry. That’s what you have me here for.”Each of the three sat with their own thoughts for a few minutes, when Rags walked up to Savannah. She petted him and scratched him behind one ear, then suddenly she shouted, “Bruce!”

  “What?” Margaret asked.

  More energized now, she explained, “I think it was Bruce on the phone. He has this odd way of speaking—you probably noticed it, Auntie. That’s what was familiar to me. Oh my gosh, Bruce has Brianna.”