Chapter 31
Maybe I want to get caught
Scarlett
A black leather duffel bag on the table in the dungeon catches my eye. I peek inside it. Bundles of dollars, pounds, and other currencies. Passports. Weapons. Knives. A criminal go bag. Who is traveling?
The two cots inside the dungeon cell are neatly made as if it’s a military bunker. Stored under one of them is Marquis’s deep green luxury leather suitcase. I can see Philip buying a nice piece like this for his husband. This duffel, though? This one is different.
I sniff. Not Endo’s. I know that man’s cologne.
I think this might be Declan’s, and I’m disappointed it’s not Endo’s.
I’m so angry with him for manipulating me this morning after eating me out last night that I want to snoop all over this creepy, glorious house.
I wish to uncover all the dark corners where Endo hides.
I want to know all his dark secrets. I want to claw them out!
And I don’t care if he catches me down here in the dungeons, digging through his nephew’s criminal go bag.
I’m sure I’ll be punished if I get caught.
Maybe I want to get caught.
Maybe then, he’ll really shoot me. Do I want to get shot? No. Heck no. But I’m so furious that I can’t help but snoop around. Knowing they’re all outside and I’m down here in the space where I shouldn’t be gives me perverse pleasure.
If Endo can fake shooting me so my dad gives in to his demands, I can explore the spaces Endo told me not to. Tit for tat, asshole.
I push aside the money and the pistols only to uncover a dagger and several burner phones.
Seven phones, to be exact. I glance up the stairs.
Nobody. I climb back up and check to make sure everyone is where I left them by the river.
I’m alone in the house. The housekeeping staff is light on the weekends, which presents an opportunity.
I rush back into the dungeon and swipe a phone, then sit on the chair.
Ouch. I sat on something. I lean over and pull a large red die from under my bottom. I hold the die in one hand and the phone in the other. Is this some sort of cosmic sign that I’m gambling with my life? Should I roll?
Okay, I’ll roll. But rules first. If I get a six, I’ll make a phone call. If I get a one, I’ll put the phone back where I found it and run upstairs.
I roll.
It’s a four.
Not helpful.
I dial my sister.
I wonder if Charlotte will pick up a call from an unknown number. I find out after a few rings when the call goes to voicemail. I roll the die to see if I should call back. One is a no. Six is a yes. I get a two.
I dial again.
“Hello,” Beatrice answers.
I should hang up. I really should. I don’t want my niece involved in this mess in any way.
“Hello?” she says again.
Hearing her voice breaks my resolve like a twig. “Hi, Beatrice,” I say. A rock gets stuck in my throat. I miss this little girl so much.
“Hi,” she says.
“It’s me, Scarlett.”
“I know who you are, silly.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. How is Sicily?”
What? My sister must’ve made up a story for Beatrice. “It’s great. Very pretty.”
“Mommy said there’s an ocean. Can I come visit?”
“Not this month. It’s too hot. Maybe early in the fall.”
“School starts in September, and I want to go to the beach this summer.”
“You will go to the beach.”
“Who are you speaking with?” I hear my sister ask.
“Aunt Scarlett.” I hear shuffling. “Hey, I’m not done!” Beatrice protests.
“Scarlett?” my sister says, sounding suspicious.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh my God, Scarlett. What… Where… Just a minute. Beatrice, can you get dressed by yourself and go downstairs and tell Daddy to take you to tennis today?”
“But I want to talk to Aunt Scarlett. We’re making plans for the summer.”
“She will call back. Won’t you, Scar?”
“Yes, of course.” Ah, the lies we tell our children.
I hear the door close just as Charlotte hisses into the phone.
“I’ve called you a hundred times. Where the hell are you?
Why aren’t you answering? Daddy and Josh are trying to sell me a story about how you eloped and are on honeymoon in Sicily.
But I know they’re lying. And what happened to Daddy’s leg?
Endo Macarley? I looked him up. You’re marrying a criminal?
I’m not buying it, Scar, so tell me the truth right now, or I swear to God Almighty, I will never speak with you again! ”
I bite my lip.
“Tell me!” she hisses.
“I’m afraid for your safety if I tell you anything.”
“Oh no. It’s worse than I thought. Are you with Endo?”
“Yes.”
A pause. “You were taken?”
“Yes.”
“Endo wants something from Dad?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?” she asks.
“Um, it’s a person he wants.”
“Jesus, Scarlett.” Another pause. “How are you being treated?”
“Fine.”
“Is he holding you hostage? Like in a dark space with no windows?” I picture her biting the skin near her thumbnail.
I look around the dark, windowless dungeon. “No.” Ah, the lies we tell our family.
“Josh has secret contacts in the police. They can help you.”
I pace in front of the dungeon cell. “I don’t want you to get involved.”
“But I can’t just sit here while I’m afraid for your life.”
Charlotte’s words sound familiar. Endo would say something like this about his brother.
“Dad would’ve called the cops already,” I tell her. “He didn’t. If the police get involved, my situation will turn from bad to worse. Don’t tell anyone I called.”
“I won’t. Are you in Couldermouth?”
“How do you know about it?”
“I researched Endo. You’re in Widow’s Keep, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Lenny is from Couldermouth,” she says.
I frown, trying to remember who she’s talking about. “Lenny? Lenny, your high school sweetheart?”
“Yeah.”
I always wondered if she was heartbroken when Lenny left.
He did so without a word, so that must’ve hurt, but I’d already gone to college, so I don’t know as much as I’d like to about him.
All I remember is that when he left our town, she called me crying, but that’s to be expected from a teenage breakup.
We said nothing about the man (then boy) for years.
In the dressing room, right as I was pinning the tiara on her pretty head so it would stay in place when she danced during her wedding reception, Charlotte mentioned Lenny.
It was so out of left field that I wondered why she brought it up. Cold feet? Something more?
I pretended I didn’t notice and that the question didn’t matter, but I wondered about it for a while.
“You can’t stay with Endo, Scarlett.”
“I know.”
“If you get out, he can’t do anything because he needs information from Dad. Endo’s taken you to force compliance from our father. If he doesn’t have you, Endo has no leverage. Nothing that Dad would care about, at least.”
“He has you.”
“I’m too complicated to take. I’ve got a husband and child. He won’t come near us.”
“The perks of being a single woman, huh?”
“Not funny, Scar. Hold on, a plan is brewing in my head.”
“Charlotte,” I warn. “Don’t.”
Footsteps sound upstairs. I remain quiet down here, which my sister takes as a go-ahead to brainstorm.
“Facts,” she starts. “There’s a psycho who shot Dad and has taken you hostage. He’s keeping you in a fortress surrounded by a small army of his people in a coastal town he basically owns.”
When I don’t pitch in, she prompts, “Scarlett?”
I remain quiet. The footsteps move away, and I hear a door closing.
“Lenny told me about that town,” she says. “Kingpins bought homes there because it’s sovereign territory and the laws are made by the Macarley family. They’ve got ports only they’re allowed to use. Some countrywide laws apply, but not many.”
When I don’t hear anyone upstairs again, I say, “You guys talked about kingpins in high school?”
“Yeah. But only when we weren’t making out.”
Huh. “I studied organic chemistry and sang in a church choir.”
“Which is why you went to med school and I didn’t.”
“Thanks, but I missed out on dating.”
“But we’re talking about the time before your skin cleared of a severe case of teenage acne.”
The reason boys avoided looking at me. “That’s right.”
“Can we focus on your impending death now?” she asks.
“Sorry. Had to be said. Go on.”
“In Couldermouth, Lenny used to work at the docks. Lenny mentioned Jamie Macarley, and I bet that was Endo’s dad or a relative. Lenny said they would unload crates late at night under the supervision of men with rifles. If you didn’t ask questions, they paid well, so Lenny worked there for years.”
“Did he say what kind of merchandise was in those crates?”
“No, but we speculated that it was something illegal.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if those were weapons. I remain quiet.
“Endo is a kingpin,” my sister says. “He’s a dangerous man.”
“What we should be talking about is his connection to Dad.”
Charlotte pauses. “I’ll find out what it is.”
“Out of the question,” I hiss.
“I’m doing it, Scar.”
“Stay out of this mess.”
“I can’t. I’m afraid he’ll bury you and I won’t even have a grave to visit.” Charlotte starts to cry. “It’s so much worse than I thought it was.”
“It’s fine. It really is. He won’t hurt me. He likes having me around.”
“How do you mean?”
“I’m a doctor. There’s violence here. He needs what I can provide for him.”
“That’s bad. It is worse than worse. It’s the worstest.”
“That’s not a word.”
“I know, but it works with what I want to say. Which is, if you make yourself useful, he’ll keep you.”
“I should make myself useless?”
“Exactly. Be like my cat. Sit regally by the window all day and wait to be fed.”
“Then he’ll shoot me.”
“Jesus, Scar. I’m coming to get you.”
Damn it. I eye the latex gloves. “I have a plan.”