*
Annie’s phone rang again. This time it was Myra.
“Annie. I had another message from Barbara. Her perfume filled my bedroom. Charles smelled it, too. Something’s wrong. I’m worried.”
Annie held the phone away from her face and gave it a dubious look. She, too, had encountered what some would call “paranormal experiences,” especially telepathy between herself and Myra. She also knew that Myra had “visitations” from Barbara, usually in a dream.
“You are spot-on, my friend. I just got a call from Jimmy. Maggie’s gone missing.”
“Oh dear Lord!” Myra clutched her pearls. “What happened?”
Annie recounted what Jimmy had said to her a few minutes before. “Fergus is working on locating her phone, but we need the wall map.”
“Okay.” Myra knew that was the first step in finding Maggie.
“We’ll head over to you and Charles in a few minutes.” Annie pulled her shoes on and went to fetch Fergus. They climbed into the golf cart, which was their usual means of transportation between the two houses.
Annie put the pedal to the metal, causing Fergus to hang on for dear life. “Bloody hell, woman! This isn’t the Indianapolis 500!” While most carts traveled at a speed of fifteen to twenty miles per hour, Annie’s was custom built to get up to fifty. Annie ignored his comment and drove as fast as she could.
The cart swung around to the back of the farmhouse, kicking up stones and dust. Fergus staggered out of the cart and almost keeled over.
“I think you broke your own record.” Annie didn’t answer and dashed into the kitchen, leaving Fergus to fend for himself, where Myra and Charles were waiting.
When Fergus staggered in, all four stomped their way down the steps to the War Room, instinctively saluting Lady Justice.
Charles fired up the wall map while Fergus logged into their private GPS system. Within a minute, a small dot flashed on the screen. Charles increased the size of the map so they could get a closer look. “It appears that her phone is just outside the perimeter of the property. She either dropped it by accident or on purpose. Obviously, we can’t be sure which.”
“Maggie knows to ditch the burner if she gets caught.” Annie tried to keep the fear out of her voice.
“You don’t think she tried to trespass?” Myra was almost yanking at her pearls.
“It’s not like Maggie to put herself in jeopardy. According to Jimmy, she was only going to see who was getting in and out of the Escalade.”
“Where is Jimmy now?” Myra asked.
“I told him to sit tight until he either heard back from us or Maggie.” Annie was still keeping her cool, but everyone in the room was feeling anxious.
Charles took the lead. “I’ll let Jimmy know we tracked the phone but not her. Maybe he’s spotted something we can work with.”
“The woman in the car who works for Ruffing should give us some kind of lead, no?” Myra asked.
“Most definitely.” Charles nodded in agreement as he dialed Jimmy’s phone and put it on speaker.
“James, it’s Charles. We located Maggie’s phone. It’s sitting just outside the perimeter of The Haven. She obviously dropped it because she hit the DUMP button.” Their phones were equipped with a button that would erase all calls but still allow for the phone to be tracked by Charles and Fergus.
“I warned her to be careful. I could strangle her.” Jimmy was exasperated. He rarely felt helpless, and this was one of those rare occasions.
“James, I want you to stay where you are. Do you have the means to look into that woman you spotted?” Charles added.
“Yes, I have a tablet with me. Her name is Simone Jordan. She’s often seen at Daniel Ruffing’s fundraising events. She does some kind of concierge work for him. I’ll send you a photo from our archives. It’ll just take a few minutes.”
Fergus typed the name Simone Jordan into one of his Internet search engines. But this wasn’t your typical Google, Bing, or Firefox. This accessed a deep website that only the highest level of international criminal investigators could connect to. It was a little going-away present Fergus had given himself when he left Scotland Yard.
*
Maggie sat in the sterile room, waiting for something to happen. It had been almost two hours. She was glad she had stuffed a bagel in her pocket. When the security guard patted her down, that was all he could find on her, and he let her keep it. She was relieved that she had ditched the phone after hitting the DUMP button. The information on the phone could be extremely revealing if anyone outside their group got their hands on it. If they found the phone now, it would have no data on it. If nothing else, the sisters would know approximately where she was. Darned if she knew her whereabouts. The room was very uninviting and odd for a retreat. A few minutes after ruminating as to how she would be rescued or escape, the door swung open with a bang. She almost flew out of her seat.
“Who are you, and why were you snooping around?” Noah’s voice was menacing.
“My name is Melissa Logan. As I tried to explain to the gentleman who escorted me here, after some creepy guy threatened me at gunpoint while I was standing on public land, I was looking for my dog.” Maggie sounded very convincing. She figured that any ordinary citizen would be outraged at the treatment she had received and played up her annoyance. “He was getting restless in the car. I figured he wanted to go to the bathroom, so I pulled over, and he broke from his leash.”
“Oh really?” Noah wasn’t buying it. “Where’s your car?”
“About a mile down the road.” She was still confident she could convince him. “I was running after him when he took off into the woods.” There. Done. She looked up at him.
Noah peered deep into her eyes. She didn’t blink. “We haven’t seen or heard any dogs around here.” Noah wasn’t sure he was buying the story. “And where is your phone?”
Maggie pretended to check her pockets. “I ... I must have lost it when I was in the woods.”
“You seem to lose a lot of things,” Noah said sharply.
“Mr.... ?” she asked, waiting for a response but not expecting one. She was pretty sure she was dealing with Noah Westlake.
“Never mind who I am.”
“Okay. But can you please let me go? My dog has been missing for a couple of hours.” She bit the inside of her lip, hoping to draw some tears.
“Fine. We’ll have someone escort you off the property. But if we see you snooping around again, you’ll have to answer to a higher authority.” Noah wasn’t referring to a deity or the police. He knew it would be one of Ruffing’s thugs. “Follow me.”
Noah looked down the hall and saw Gabby organizing the desk for her phone duty. He did not want anyone to know about this odd encounter. He stood with his back to Gabby and led Maggie in the opposite direction, to the back stairs. Neither woman could see the other. Maggie heard the phone ringing in the distance. She strained to listen. “Good morning, how may I direct your call.” Then she froze.