WEDDING BELLE BLUES

By Historian

   It would be the last day Anne Thorne would wake up in this bedroom.

   Not that Anne was an old woman. At twenty-five, she was young, in perfect health, and in good physical condition. She picked up her watch and looked at the time. A little before eight, which meant twelve hours from now, her wedding reception would be well under way.

   Actually, Anne had been awake since around six, her normal weekday wake up time, but she had spent much of this time lying in bed contemplating her past and future. Nearly half her life had been spent in this house, and she stopped to consider a child doesn't really become cognizant of his or her surroundings until the age of three or four, most of her memories of home were in this house.

   The room was less crowded. The clothes (minus the ones she planned to take on her honeymoon) and other belongings she planned to take with her into married life were already packed away. Her wedding gown was on a dress form. It would form part of the something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue she would wear.

   There was little sense in dawdling. She showered, dressed, and made her way downstairs. 'Where are Jack and Mike?" she asked the three people in the kitchen.

   John Henry Mac Clarey, Senior raised an eye his granddaughter's use of her uncle's first name. "They're in the pool," Sharon said. "I'll get you some pancakes."

   "I'd like some coffee too," Anne said. She looked up at the third woman in the room. "It's your way of making it, Grandma."

   Liz Mac Clarey smiled. "Have you shown Jason how to do it?"

   Anne nodded. "He's shown his whole shift at the firehouse how to do it."

   "That's good to hear."

   "What do you suppose Bonnie is up to?" John asked.

   "Good question," Anne said. Anne's cousin Bonnie Mac Clarey, little more than a year out of college was already a software engineer with a firm out of Pasedena. She'd recently bought a house and was taking in her parents and brother for the wedding. She was also one of the bridesmaids. "I suppose I could find out after I eat."

    As soon as Anne put away the last forkful of pancakes, she stood up and went to the phone. She punched up Bonnie's number and heard Bonnie's father instead. "Bonnie said something about a bridesmaid's meeting," Charles Thomas Mac Clarey (also a senior) said.

   "At Drea's, by any chance?"

   "That's the name she mentioned."

   "Okay, thanks Uncle Charlie?"

   "Charlie rates an 'uncle' and Jack doesn't?" John said.

   "I have Jack's okay," Anne said. "Besides, clients might be put of if they know one of the associates is the boss' niece."

   "Drea's your maid of honor, isn't she?"

   "That's right."

   "I'll be glad to finally meet her. Curiosity, really, considering all of the things you've told us about her."

   Anne punched up Drea's phone number, but got no answer. "That's funny," Anne said. She made a dash for her keys and sprinted out of the house. "I'll be back as soon as I can," she said on the way out.   

   Drea's domestic life was a bit contemplated. Estranged from her father, and with her mother having opted out of Drea's life years ago, Drea had the good fortune for his second marriage to fail at about the same time. Alicia had never tied to be a mother to Drea, but the two had always been friendly, so Drea lived with Alicia. On driving up to Alicia's house, Anne wondered if the arrangement was the reason Drea --two years older than Anne-- wasn't seriously considering marriage. Or perhaps seeing two marriages go sour at close range had put Drea off.

   Anne parked her Jeep behind the line of vehicles, all of which she recognized as she walked up to the door. She knocked on the door and waited for Lana to answer. Anne knew Alicia's housekeeper to be efficient, so the lack of an answer puzzled Anne. Suspicious, she opened the door and crept inside.

    "Drea? Alicia?" Anne called as she crept through the front room. For a response, she got a chorus of garbled and muffled outcries. They seemed to be coming from the dining room. On arrival at the dining room, Anne saw three figures tied to chair and gagged. She raced to the nearest one and undid the gag. "Sandy, what happened?"

   Sandra Parsons, Jason's married sister gasped and said, "I don't know. I was grabbed as I came in."

   "Think you slip out the rest of the way?" Anne asked her soon-to-be sister-in-law.

   "Sure."

   Anne then went to work on Alicia, starting with the gag. By the time Alicia was free, Anne had a pretty good idea what had happened. Lana had answered a knock on the door, as usual. By the time Drea and Alicia had showed up, a woman and two men had bound Lana's wrists and gagged her. They pulled guns and bound and gagged Alicia and Drea. Drea was blindfolded and taken outside. Alicia hadn't seen much, but assumed the rest of the bridesmaids: Bonnie, police contact Raelene Matthews, and Jack's secretary Cindy Lee were seized and taken.

   "Their cars were outside," Anne confirmed. "Who could have done this?" she asked rhetorically.

   "An enemy of yours, most likely," Alicia said. "The woman said you could find them at the Ace Auto Repair."

    "That's over on Elm Street, just off Serra," Sandy said. "But they went out of business about a year ago."

   "It's a trap," Alicia said.

   "Of course it is," Anne said. "But they'll only be expecting one."

   Anne rushed to the nearest phone and punched up the number. The person she was looking for answered. "Tina, I've got a problem that concerns Drea."

   "I know she has a surprise planned for you," Tina said.

   "That's not it." Anne then went on about what had happened."

   "I'll meet you there," Tina said. "Even better, there's a supermarket a couple blocks away."

    "Okay."

    Tina Flores was waiting when Anne arrived. Her long black hair was done up in a pony tail, a virtual trademark of the young ladies of Mac Clarey and Associates. They discussed the situation and decided Anne should go in first.   

    "You're taking an awful big risk," Tina observed.

    "I know," Anne said, "but I'm banking on them being too busy with me to notice you."

    "Go. I'll follow in ten minutes."

    When Anne reached the Ace Auto Repair shop, she saw it was no different from any other repair facility. There was a small area where customers waited for their vehicles to be repaired and paid their bills and a larger area where the actual repairs were carried out. The window blinds were closed. She tried the door to the waiting area and found it to be unlocked.

   Nobody was in the waiting area, so Anne went on to the garage area. Four chairs were set in a row, each with a woman tied to a chair. Though the four were all gagged and blindfolded, Anne could identify all for them. The blonde ponytail belonged to Drea, the silky black hair was Cindy’s, Anne’s cousin Bonnie had the thick chestnut hair that came from their common grandmother, and Raelene Matthews had much shorter brown hair.

   A tall woman with shoulder length blonde hair stood behind the chairs. She said or did nothing as Anne approached. The sleuth was seized from behind by two very large men. One of the men clamped a hand over Anne’s mouth as they dragged to the waiting room.

   “So typical of you, isn’t it?” the woman said. There was something familiar about her, but Anne couldn’t put a finger on it. “Allow my into introduce myself. My name is Leslie Sand.”

   By now the hand was off Anne’s mouth, but her fingers were already numbed by the tight rope around her wrists. “Lisa Sands’ sister,” she said.

   “That’s right.”

  “Your sister’s death was an accident, and a result of her criminal activity. Had she lived, she’d be doing hard time about now. ”

    Lisa Sand’s leader and accomplices were now facing consecutive sentences for conspiracy, several counts of kidnapping, murder, and attempted murder. The last two sentences were life.

   “All immaterial,” Leslie said as she pulled a rag from her pocket. The rack already had a large knot in the center. “I hold you responsible.”

   Leslie stuffed the knot deep into Anne’s mouth then tightly secured the knot behind the sleuth’s head. “They used to take engine out of cars,” Leslie said. “What I plan to do is string you up by your ankles and drop you on your head. You might be able to turn your head before you hit the floor, but then you my only be crippled for life.”

   Anne was frog-marched into the garage area. She struggled fiercely, but her kicks did little good. Flips-flops were hardly the footwear for that. “Take it easy,” one of the men said.

    “Hey, what’s that?” said the other.

   Somebody raced toward Leslie and threw a punch. The commotion was enough to distract the two men, one of whom got Anne’s knee in the balls. Anne broke loose and saw Leslie get flipped to the concrete floor.

   Anne saw Tina approach the third person and take his feet out from underneath him with a quick roundhouse kick. That gave Tina just enough time to cut Anne partly free before being approached by the man with sore privates. A series of kicks and karate blows sent him to the floor. Tina then went to work freeing Drea. Leslie approached, but not until Drea was free and standing, though a bit stiff from her captivity. Tina picked up the chair and used it to knock Leslie down. She turned to use the chair and hesitated. “Jack!” she exclaimed.

  There were also police sirens gaining volume in the distance. Even without that, the odds were turning against Leslie and her two thugs, so they offered no further resistance. Drea and Anne removed their gags. “What exactly happened?” Jack wondered.

     Drea explained thing as she helped to release the others. “I have no idea who she is.”

   “Lisa Sand’s sister, Leslie,” Anne explained.

  “They did time together,” Raelene confirmed. Obviously, she wasn’t involved with what happened last year.”

   “How did she know about us?” Cindy wondered.

  “I’m afraid it’s my fault,” Bonnie said. “She’s my neighbor and I told about the meeting.”

   Anne walked over to her cousin and put an arm around her shoulder. “You had no way of knowing.”

    “Looks like our lunch is shot to hell,” Drea said. “That’s what the meeting was all about.”

   “It doesn’t matter,” Anne said. We’ll all make the wedding, and that’s what counts.”

       THE END