CHAPTER FIVE: INTO THE NIGHT
Anne surveyed the back of than van. The vehicle was Spartan, no paneling or attempts to convert it into a passenger vehicle. She lay on what she supposed was a piece of carpet left over from somebody’s home improvement project. However, there were small openings in the van’s walls. If one of those were sharp enough, she could cut herself loose. The curtain would shield her from her captors and the sound of the radio would drown out what little noise she would make.
After searching for a bit, Anne found a sharp edge and began sawing at the bonds. She worked as quietly as she could until she felt the strands part up to the point where she could shuck the ropes off her wrists. Once her wrists were free, untying her ankles and removing the gag would be simplicity itself.
Once free, Anne was faced with the problem of escaping from the vehicle. She risked injury jumping out of the van. However, occasional stops and starts told her she was not on the freeway. That would be her best bet, jumping out while stopped for a red light.
Anne moved toward the sliding door. The vehicle slowed down. Anne waited, just in case it was stopping for a sign rather than a light. Once she was certain they had stopped for a light, she slid open the door and leaped out.
Sylvia wasn’t sure what had happened until she saw Anne in the passenger side mirror. The surprise paralyzed her long enough for Anne to start running and for the light to change. Faced with honking horns, Heather had no choice but to drive on.
Once Anne thought she was safe, she pulled out her cell phone and punched Drea’s number. “Drea, it’s Anne. I’m okay, but I’ll need a lift.” She gave the street corner.
“I ought to let you walk!” Drea seethed. “You had us worrying.”
“Relax, I’m fine.”
“One of these days you won’t be!”
After a while, Drea and Raelene showed up. Drea had calmed down somewhat, but she was still upset. “We wasted a lot of time for this,” Drea said. “We still have to get you back to your jeep because you took your keys with you.”
“Habit,” Anne said.
“Another habit is running off after suspects on your own.”
“Ladies, please, getting into an argument over this isn’t going to be very productive,” Raelene said.
Drea and Anne calmed down. “Now that we’re all relaxed, Let’s figure out what to do next,” Raelene said as they piled into Drea’s car.
After pondering things for a while, Drea spoke up, “We could try the La Toya Jones angle. See what her colleagues have to say.”
“There’s an idea,” Anne said.
“Problem is, they might be suspicious of any detective, even on private one,” Raelene said.
“Posing as streetwalkers won’t be any better,” Anne said. “I don’t think many hookers would be friendly toward their competition.”
“That leaves only one thing,” Drea said after a brief pause.
“What?” Raelene asked.
“One of us poses as a perspective client.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Anne asked rhetorically.
“She’s making some sense,” Raelene said. “Few people would expect it.”
Anne pondered for a while and said, “All right, let’s try it out. But you pose as the prospective client, Drea.”
“You’re right,” Drea said. “I should be the one, especially since it’s my idea. I can be wired while the two of you listen in.”
“This is going to a little while to set up.”
The trio brainstormed and sorted out the various ideas. Finally, they came up with a plan. Drea would wear an expensive dress and rent a fancy car and pose as a wealthy tourist with somewhat broad bedroom habits. While she looked over the area La Toya Jones was known to frequent, she would be in touch with Raelene and Anne.
For that purpose, they would employ their own van. The detective agency owned a plain blue van and had plenty of magnetic signs to disguise the vehicle. Anne and Raelene would be inside the van, listening in on and recording Drea’s conversations.
Other means were employed to enhance the disguise. Drea, with Anne’s help, raided her closet. The found a dress that would be adequate, but more would be needed. Anne suggested borrowing some of Alicia’s jewelry. Any fear of losing them gems might be offset by a desire to get back at the people who invaded her home. Next, Drea undid her usual ponytail and let her hair hang loose. Anybody who knew her would easily recognize her, but Drea thought it better not to have her hair done in a style that was virtually the Associates’ trademark.
The last piece of the disguise was the rental vehicle. The next morning, Drea selected a high end Lexus and spent some time getting the feel of the vehicle. She liked the way it handled, although she reminded herself the vehicle was strictly window dressing.
While Drea was doing that, Anne and Raelene prepared the radio and the recorder. They would talk with Drea while she was in the car, but once she left everything was strictly one way. Anne also found time to visit jack at the hospital and give him an update, as well as tell him about the plan. To her surprise, Jack got a chuckle out of the plan. He thought it was crazy enough to work.
As night fell, Anna and Raelene parked the van in an alleyway near the place where La Toya Jones was known to frequent. “Any signs of activity?” Anne asked.
“Negative,” Drea replied. “Never one around when you need one.”
“Nice to hear that about somebody other than a cop,” Raelene quipped.
Anne was the only one to hear that. “Might be too early,” she said. “But it is a Friday night.”
After about fifteen minutes of wandering, Drea finally spotted a cluster of streetwalkers. She noted the location to Anne and Alicia before setting her headset down. With a confident stride she walked up to the trio two of which looked the age to still be in high school.
“This corner is already taken,” the oldest said, with a slight Balkan accent.
“I’m not a rival, I’m looking for somebody,” Drea said “Somebody who isn’t above doing it with a lady.”
“For the right amount of money, I’d do Fat Bastard,” said one the teens, a fresh-faced blonde.
“I’m looking for someone in particular. Her name is La Toya Jones.”
There was a slight pause. “You know her?” Drea prompted.
“Sure we do,” said the last one with silky dark hair. “Just nobody’s seen her since Monday.”
“I’ll look around some more,” Drea said. “You’ll still be here when I get back?”
“Don’t bet on it,” said the first one.
Drea returned to the car and donned the radio headset, “Did you get that?” she asked.
“Every word of it,” Anne confirmed.
“I don’t know if they were being honest or just plain scared.”
Raelene was paying more attention to the street that to the conversation. “I just saw what looks like three hookers across the street,” she reported. “Ask Drea what they look like.”
Anne relayed this information to Drea. The latter gave quick descriptions of the trio she encountered. All Raelene could really tell was the hair color, which fit in with the three Drea spoke with.
“A van just went by,” Raelene reported. “Could have been the one from our friends. “It was certainly the right color.”
Since Anne had the earpiece, she wasn’t paying close attention to three. She looked up out the front window just in time to see two figures at the entrance to the alley. “Looks like we have some visitors,” she said hastily.
“I’m on my way,” Drea reported.
Anne and Raelene dismounted from the van and confronted the two newcomers. They easily recognized the pair: Sylvia Valdes and Paula Stubnick.
No time was wasted on words. The four women were locked into a struggle. It could have gone either way, until help arrived in the form of Drea. Paula and Sylvia were then subdued. A search of their pockets turned up several yards of rope and two bandanas already formed into gags.
“How very thoughtful,” Anne said. “You providing the means by which we could keep you from causing more mischief.”
The gags were secured around Paula and Sylvia’s mouths and their wrists were bound. Raelene and Drea frog marched the pair further into the alley, where they would be concealed from the light coming off the street.
“Looks like trouble across the way,” Anne said.
A familiar-looking van was across the street. “The rest of the bunch,” Drea said.
The three raced across the street. As they did, they noticed two figures running away from the van. When they finally reached the other side, the saw one of the streetwalkers fighting with Lisa Sand. Once she noticed the new arrivals, Lisa decided to make a hasty exit from the area.
The streetlight illuminated the face of the young woman. Drea recognized her as the oldest of the three she met earlier. “What is this all about?” she asked. “And who are you?”
“We’re private detectives,” Anne said. “We think what happened to you might have been related to what happened to La Toya Jones.”
“What is your name?” Drea asked.
“Mira, Mira Petrovich,” the woman replied.
“Tell us what happened.”
“We were waiting here when the van pulled up and they asked us if we wanted to spend the weekend at a beach house. It sounded good, until that horrible woman with the tattoos came out. She had this look in her eyes. Like she wanted to hurt somebody and would enjoy it. Then I remembered the last time I saw La Toya there was a van just like this one. I got scared and told the other two girls to run.”
“If she’s what we think she is, you have every reason to be scared,” Anne said,