A FRAME OF MIND

CHAPTER SIX: SEARCH

Ralene knew of a place where Mira could be left safely and it would be unlikely their adversaries knew where she would be. All the time, one thing ran through Anne’s mind: beach house. “It would take days just to glance at the every one between Malibu and Huntington Beach,” she said.

“Let’s start by saying it would be in a geographically convenient place for our adversaries,” Raelene said.

“Do you mean close to here or Lisa Sands’ apartment?” Drea asked.

“Exactly. We’ll need a map, though.”

“Jack is big on maps,” Anne said. “So that explains our next course of action.” She glanced at her watch. “Its not even late.”

The three sleuths returned to the Mac Clarey residence and from there plotted their next move.

“I don’t see how we missed this before,” Drea said as they poured over the map. “The place where we were earlier is maybe half a mile from Lisa Sands’ apartment.”

“So if Raelene’s theory is correct, then let’s try this,” Anne said. She placed her finger next to the location of the apartment and traced a line toward the coastline, past the mark of the street corner. “That’s where we should look.”

“You’re right, and if memory serves me, there are beach houses in that area,” Raelene said.

“The house where Raelene was found isn’t far from those places, either.” Drea observed.

“I think you’ve described our course of action for tomorrow,” Raelene said. “Perhaps even for the whole weekend.”

“We still have to return the rental car.”

“True,” Anne said. “Besides, they’d have to very dense not to associate it with us right now.”

“That’s one of the things that could be a problem,” Raelene said. “They might know us by our personal vehicles.”

“Then take the minivan,” Sharon said abruptly. She had been in the room all along, but the other three women were oblivious to her presence.

“I suppose we could,” Anne said. “I don’t see why we can’t.”

“The beach will be crowded by the time we get there,” Drea observed.

“Most likely,” Raelene said.

“We still have to try,” Anne said.

Anne slept well that night. The next morning, she awoke and took a shower. As she fastened the top of a blue bikini, she decided to wear a pareau over it. The pareau was a souvenir from a case in Tahiti. When she came downstairs for breakfast, Mike was overjoyed, until Anne explained her trip to the beach was part of a case. Anne hated to disappoint her cousin, but her adversaries had already shown themselves to be ruthless.

Raalene arrived first wearing a beach wrap over a floral print bikini. A short time later, Drea arived, She simply slid a pair of shorts on over an orange bikini before she left home. “There should be no trouble finding any of you,” Sharon observed.

“We didn’t coordinate our wardrobes,” Drea said. “We each came to this conclusion independently.”

Sharon also offered them breakfast, but both had already eaten, though both took coffee. “We won’t get a chance to see Jack at the hospital,” Drea observed.

“I know he would move heaven and earth if it were any of us in that hospital,” Sharon said. Left unsaid were her memories of Jack at the time of his sister’s. He had placed all considerations, --including Sharon and Anne—aside in his single-minded pursuit of the killer.

The trio drove to the public beach nearest the group of beach houses they intended to survey. “Nice to have an ocean in you back yard,” Anne said. “Though there are people who walk by.”

“Except for the fact we’ll have to work our way through this crowd just to get near their place,” Drea said.

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At about the same time, Heather Hunter, Paula Stubnick, and Sylvia Valdes were walking along the water’s edge. Paula carried a metal detector and all listened intently for the beep. As had become their habit, Heather and Sylvia acted as lookouts. They didn’t expect to see anybody who could cause them trouble, but they realized they should get in the habit of looking out for potential problems. Indeed, the Boss Lady insisted on it.

“Trouble,” Sylvia said.

“What do you mean?” Heather asked.

“Our friends the detectives.” Sylivia had already pulled a walkie-talkie from her bag. As soon as she raised the Boss Lady, she explained the situation.

“Okay, two of your work on a diversion,” came the voice on the pother end. “I don’t care how you do it, draw them away from the beach house.”

Heather handed Paula the bag and told her to go back to the beach house. After Heather started walking toward the beach house, Paula and Sylvia started jogging in the opposite direction.

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“Why not lure them here?” Lisa Sand asked. She had visions of the three detectives writhing helplessly in bonds.

“Too risky,” her boss replied. “Besides, this house and the boat are just about the best places for you to hold up. If any of this is linked to me, then whole idea of putting Raelene Matthews away will be gone.”

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“Some familiar faces, “ Anne commented. Drea and Raelene were looking elsewhere and noted where Anne was pointing. “I didn’t get a good look at them before they went by,” Raelene said.

“I got a better look,” Drea said, “at least at one of them. Heather Hunter, right?”

“Yes,” Anne said. “Paula Stubnick was with her.”

“Let’s follow them.”

“Why not just wait here and catch them on the return trip?”

“How do we know they aren’t on their return trip? There are house on the other side of the public beach as well.”

“There’s the nearest beach house,” Raelene said. “If it’s not the one where they came from, but they came from the one of the others this way, they should at least pass it on they way back.”

Heather and Paula did return in that direction, but not on foot. Lisa was dispatched by car to the public beach’s parking lot. There she met Heather and Paula and drove them back to the beach house. Once there, they and their boss conferred. “They’re coming to us, it seems,” the Boss Lady said. “Then we do the same.” She walked to the nearest bookcase and pulled a hardcover Sharon Mac Clarey novel from the shelf. “This is what we go for,” she said as she removed the dust jacket and showed to her minions.

“Where does she live?” Lisa asked.

“We’ll have to discuss it with our friends in the police department.”

“Will all of us be in on it?” Sylvia asked.

“You and Lisa should be enough.”

“So we grab her at home and wait for Goodie-Two-Shoes to show up,” Lisa said.

“What the guys did with the other one,” Silvia said.

“Exactly,” the Boss Lady said. “Only this time, don’t go to the detective. We’ll let the detective come to us.”

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Sharon was not up against a deadline, but she needed to catch up on her writing, which was only moderately behind schedule as opposed to catastrophically. As soon as Mike left for school, she started wading through some of her research materials. Like many other writers, Sharon had an eccentricity. In her case she never wore shoes while she wrote. She sat at her desk in a t-shirt and shorts and leafed her way through photocopies of magazine and journal articles.

As she read, she heard a knock at the front door and she went to answer it. As soon as Sharon reached the door, Lisa Sand forced her way into the house. She held one arm around Sharon’s waist and held her other hand over Sharon’s mouth. Paula Stubnick followed. “Not bad,” Lisa said. “You’re what, forty? You’ve still got it together.”

Sharon tried to move free, but could not break Lisa’s iron grip. “Relax,” Lisa said. “We don’t want to hurt you. We’ll just tie you up and gag you while we do what we want.”

Sharon was still unsure if this was a burglary or there was something more than this. Jack was adamant about meeting prospective clients at his office or at the other party’s home or office, but never his own home. Paula secured a blue bandana around Sharon’s mouth and Lisa bound the author’s wrists. They move Sharon to the couch, where they sat her down before binding her ankles.

A captive in her own home, Sharon took a good look at Lisa and Paula. Both where well fit, as evidence by their clingy tank tops, but there was something different about Lisa. It was more than just the short hair or crude tattoo that bothered Sharon. It was the woman’s attitude. She seemed to relish Sharon’s predicament, especially when it became apparent that the two had more on their mind than a simple burglary. A tremor of fear came over the writer when she realized that these two were clearly waiting for somebody, perhaps even Anne.

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Drea and Anne weren’t happy about having spent the weekend chasing down a false lead. Nor was Christopher Thompkins. He berated them over the phone for a good fifteen minutes. A talk with the detectives Blaine and Parnell showed those two had been no more successful than the Associates. The house where Raelene had been held turned out to be owned by a company that existed only on paper. “Nothing,” Anne said bitterly. “We’re no closer to finding out who’s responsible for all this than we were when Jack entered the hospital.”

“It seems to me we’ll have to find a way to track one of them in hope she’ll lead up to that beach house,” Drea said.

“Jack keeps surveillance equipment in the basement back home. I’ll give Sharon a call.”

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Sharon’s eyes lit up when she heard the phone ring. “Do you have an answering machine?” Lisa asked. Sharon could only nod. “Then you don’t have anything to worry about.”

The tape played its message and the voice came through clearly. “Sharon, it’s Anne. Just thought I’d tell you I’ll be in for lunch.”

Lisa smiled in anticipation.

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“What’s wrong?” Drea asked as Anne hung up.

“Sharon said she’d be home to catch up on her writing, but the machine answered.”

Anne glanced at her watch. “It’s a little after eleven. I think we should leave now. Actually, there’s something we should do, then go.”

“What’s that?” Drea asked.

“Get the brunette wig, with the long hair and ponytail.”

Now Drea understood. “You want me to wear it.”

“Yes, I’ll explain on the way.”

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Lisa smiled as Anne’s Jeep pulled into the driveway. Sharon looked around for a way to warn Anne of the trap. But there were no objects nearby that she could kick or knock over with her feet to warn Anne. At least there were none that would make any substantial noise against the carpet. Odd, Sharon thought as she heard the door shut. Anne didn’t call out.

Sharon didn’t understand until she saw a figure appear in the doorway. The woman was clearly Drea in a wig. She adopted a defensive posture as soon as she saw Paula and Lisa. The two pounced on Drea and Lisa reached up to pull the ponytail, but removed a wig instead. “You!” Lisa said in surprise.

Just then, the front door opened and Anne entered. Lisa went to confront Anne. The sleuth had learned from her previous encounter with the ex-convict. Anne maneuvered before attacking making sure she struck short quick blows to keep Lisa from using her strength. More importantly, Lisa had her back to Sharon. When in became obvious Lisa backing up to avoid Anne’s blows, Sharon extended her legs into the air. Inevitably, Lisa fell onto her back, but she had the presence of mind to bring one foot up and kick Anne in the midsection.

Paula, meanwhile was getting the worse of it from Drea. With the fight too much of an even contest for her liking, Lisa called for Paula to get out and the two hurried out the door.

Anne went to the couch and quickly untied Sharon. “Who were they?”

Sharon asked as soon as she was able.

“Our nemesis,” Anne replied.

“It’s a good thing you called,” Sharon said as she embraced Anne.

“We needed some of Jack’s tracking gear.”

“They’re long gone now,” Drea observed.

“Who were they?” Sharon asked.

“Part of the problem,” Anne said. “That one I was tangling with is an ex-con named Lisa Sand.”

“She seemed to enjoy my predicament.”

“Yeah, she’s like that.”

“We’d better call this in,” Drea said.

“You’re right,” Anne said. “Only this time, we have something to nail her on.”