Reduced Ransom! Read online

  “I hear he runs with some pretty rough crowds, uses his liquor store as a front for a lot of bad stuff.”

  “Hey, he could be the damned Godfather, for all I care. We’ll be so careful, he won’t even know we exist. Besides, Huey Evans is such a jerk they’d have to rent the damn stadium just to house all the guys he’s screwed over the years. He ain’t gonna be thinking of two kids from grade school.”

  Chapter 5

  Janice Evans McGregor was too tired to care. Working double shifts just to try and get a little ahead, and now the brakes went out on her stupid car. They’d started to make a grinding noise about two weeks ago, that’s when she’d turned up the radio. Earlier this week they were barely working. Now they had just flat out failed, and she sailed through the intersection and wrestled the car to a stop against the curb.

  Right now, she didn’t have enough money in the bank to cover the tow, let alone the repair. She didn’t know how to reach Ashley’s father, not that he’d help, and she didn’t dare call her stepfather, Huey. She hadn’t spoken to him for almost a year, hadn’t spoken to him civilly in almost five years.

  She was deep in thought, searching for a way out of this current dilemma and failed to notice the faded green El Dorado, parked just fifty feet away. Damn it, she thought, who could she call? One of the many problems with working double shifts was it left no time for a boyfriend. Boyfriend? God, it left no time for a life.

  Sometimes, Mickey thought sitting in his car, you make your own breaks and once in a while they’re made for you. He watched the woman, Huey’s kid Janice, from a discrete distance. He’d actually been following her to and from her waitressing jobs for the past week, trying to find a place and possibly a time when they could grab her. Now, it looked like she had car trouble and Mickey was suddenly thinking he might be hearing opportunity knock.

  An hour and three phone calls later and still no tow truck, Janice was beside herself, pacing back and forth on the curb. She was late picking up Ashley, who would make sure there was hell to pay. She was late for her second job, which was already hanging by a thread. She had to use a bathroom pretty soon and she didn’t know how she was going to pay for the tow, let alone the car repair.

  “Excuse me, ma’am, is there something I can do to help?” Mickey asked, as he pulled alongside her. He immediately violated three of his cardinal rules of kidnapping, showing his face, his car and letting her hear his voice.

  “No, I’ve got some help on the way, at least I think so, thanks all the same,” she said, not sounding at all sure.

  “You Huey’s little girl, Janice?”

  “I am,” she said, sounding surprised. “My stupid car broke down and I’ve been waiting for a tow for over an hour. It’s taking so long, I don’t know what to do. I’m late to pick up my daughter and still get to my job. God, I just hate cars.”

  “It’s simple,” replied Mickey, violating his fourth rule when he climbed out of the car to walk toward her, providing her with a complete physical profile should she ever be asked to identify him. “Just toss your keys on the floor, leave a note, and I’ll give you a lift home. It’s not like someone can steal it, besides, anything for Huey. I owe him. Come on, I got a pen and paper in my car. Once you’re home you can call the service station. It’s after four,” he said, pretending to check his watch, “and they aren’t gonna work on it tonight. Cars, you can’t live with ‘em, and you can’t live without ‘em. I tell my own kids, girls, keep those damn things tuned up and operating, but they never listen to me. They’re always thinking about a new pair of shoes, braces for the kids, or some damn thing. I guess I don’t have to tell you about that.”

  “You sure don’t.” Janice crossed the street, wondering how this guy knew her, grateful at the same time that her luck was about to change.

  As Janice slid into the passenger seat of his El Dorado, Mickey opened the rear door and rummaged around. “Should be a pen and paper in my glove compartment,” he said, finding a roll of duct tape beneath the bowling shoes he thought he’d returned last spring.

  “So, where do you know my stepdad from?” Janice said, focused on writing a note to leave with her car.

  “I knew your father some years back,” Mickey said, and tore off a length of duct tape. “He used to beat me up every day after school.” As he said the last few words he wrapped the length of tape over her eyes and around her head, quickly reclining the front seat and pinning her down. “Quit fighting, lady. I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said, holding her down while frantically glancing around to see if anyone was watching them.

  Janice pulled at the tape, but not too hard, seemingly resigned to what was about to happen.

  “You better behave if you ever want to see that kid again.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, you’ll be fine. Just let me put this on your wrists, it’s just some tape,” he said quickly wrapping a length around her wrists. “Now slip into the back seat here and stay on the floor,” he said, and hoisted her over and out of the reclined passenger seat and into the back seat. He helped her roll onto the floor of the car as gently as he could. “Careful, now. Watch your head, ma’am, just stay there, quiet like, long as there’s no trouble from you, I won’t have to call my partners. The ones who are watching your daughter.”

  “Ashley, you’ve got Ashley?” she screamed, suddenly kicking the inside of the door from the floor of the back seat.

  “Hey, take it easy. She’s fine, they’re just watching her. But if I get any trouble from you, any trouble at all, then they might have to grab her, too. Now, I’m sure you don’t want that to happen. So, you just lay real quiet like and we’ll all get along just fine.” As he slid behind the wheel he spotted a bright red tow truck heading in their direction.

  Janice lay on the floor of the back seat, moving slightly, trying to get a bit more comfortable. There was a moldy smell, not too strong, subtle, but there just the same. Something was on the floor, beneath her, pushing the small of her back. Strangely, she wasn’t frightened, thinking this had to be the worst day of her life.

  “You know, Janice,” Mickey said, trying to sound calm as he passed the tow truck. “We all appreciate your help here. And, I want you to know, right from the beginning, that you won’t be hurt, won’t be harmed in any way. We want to get you back with your family just as soon as possible,” he said, hoping he sounded sincere.

  “Of course, that will all be up to your old man now, just how soon you can go home, I mean. But we’ll let you talk to him. Let him know you’re okay and that your daughter is at home, so she’s not alone and all. You don’t want her throwing any parties.”

  “No offense, but I haven’t been married for six years. So, if you think you’re gonna get anything from my ex, you can save yourself the cost of the phone call. Because he would probably pay you to keep me. He’s eighteen months behind in child support, and to tell the truth, I’m not even sure where you would find him."

  “Not your husband . . . I meant your old man, Huey, your father.”

  Things just got worse, thought Janice, and banged her head on the floor of the car in pure frustration.

  Chapter 6

  Dell’s house had a hundred and twenty foot long drive from the county road to the tuck under garage. Mickey didn’t see Dell’s van, which meant Dell was most likely still on his way home from work.

  “You just sit tight for a minute, let me tell these guys everything is okay, so they can get the other guys away from your daughter,” Mickey said. He stood just outside the car for a couple of minutes, carrying on three sides of a conversation, attempting to make it sound as if there were other people around. Eventually he climbed back into the car and pulled into the eternally open garage.

  He pulled the big overhead door closed, struggling the last few feet to keep the weight from slamming onto the concrete pad. The first thing he planned to do with Dell’s share of the ransom was buy a garage door opener.

&nb
sp; “You just follow me,” he said, carefully helping Janice out of the car. “We’ll get you settled in. No one’s going to hurt you.”

  He led her into the basement bedroom and over to the bed. “You can sit down here. I’m gonna take this tape off your wrists, and then, when you hear the door close you can go ahead and pull it from your eyes. There’s a bathroom that’s private for you, with clean towels and there’s clean sheets on the bed,” he said, on his way out of the room. He locked the door, then stood very still and watched her through the peephole.

  She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her wrists. She could still smell something unpleasant on her clothes from that junky car. With the tape still across her eyes, she listened for any telltale sign she wasn’t alone. Strangely, she wasn’t frightened.

  She bit her tongue and pinched the tip of her index finger just to see if this could possibly be some dreadful dream. Failing that test, she sat a moment or two before cautiously removing the tape, then blinked with the sudden brightness from the overhead light.

  She was in a small room with a black and white tile floor, the bed where she sat and an end table next to the bed were the only furniture. An open doorway led to the bathroom. She noticed there wasn’t a door to close for privacy. Two folded white towels were on the bed, along with a toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of soap. Very strange, she thought.

  Chapter 7

  “So, hey, what’s up?” Dell said.

  Mickey stood at the bedroom door with his eye against the peephole. “Shhhh, Huey’s kid, she’s in there.”

  “What the hell?” Dell pushed Mickey out of the way, pressed his face against the door and peered into the small room. “You, you grabbed Huey’s kid. How? Why? Mick, this is crazy. What are we gonna do?”

  “Settle down, I’ve got it all under control. The opportunity just presented itself and I took advantage of it. Just relax, Dell. I’ve got everything in complete control.”

  “Relax? That’s Huey Evans’s daughter in there, just for starters. And you kidnapped her and then brought her to my damn house. Do you have any idea—”

  “Stop it, Dell, get hold of yourself and listen for a minute. The opportunity presented itself. I was following her, like I told you I would. Her car broke down, I got her into my car, she doesn’t know where she is, doesn’t know where your house is, and doesn’t know you even exist. So, just relax. Now, let’s go upstairs, quietly discuss this over a couple of cold ones and move on to step two. Our plan is working perfectly. So, just stay cool.”

  Over four or five beers Mickey gave Dell the details of the abduction and kidnapping. Those weren’t exactly the terms he used. He just told Dell she got in the car, he blindfolded her and then drove in a roundabout way to Dell’s house with Janice on the floor of the back seat. He forgot to mention the tow truck, threatening her daughter’s safety, nor did he mention that she would be able to describe and identify both Mickey and his car.

  “So, how do we get paid? You gonna send Huey a note? If the idea is to get a hundred grand from him, he’s gotta know we got her.”

  “Well, yeah, we’re gonna send him instructions,” Mickey said, not having really worked out the “how” aspect of things. “You got some magazines here that we can cut up? You know, for the ransom note.”

  In short order, Dell brought a stack of hunting and fishing magazines to the kitchen table along with two more beers.

  “Great, got some glue, scissors, and some rubber gloves? And don’t touch any of this stuff,” he said, pointing to the table.

  An hour later Mickey threw down the scissors. “This really sucks. Damn letters are so small I can’t glue ‘em down with these rubber gloves on. Look at this, we’ve screwed up over a half dozen attempts at making a ransom note. No wonder they catch guys. I’ll just type the damn thing at the office when I clean tonight.”

  “Are you gonna mail the letter to him?” Dell asked, visibly calmer after his sixth beer.

  “Naw, I’ll slip it into the mail slot at his liquor store later tonight, he’ll get it when he goes in tomorrow. But before that, we gotta have Janice call him. I acquired a cell phone at a bar this noon. We’ll have her say a couple of words so he knows we aren’t kidding. Then we toss that cell phone, grab another one for our next call. That way, they can never trace us. Relax, I got all the angles covered, we just need to keep playing it smart, and not panic.”

  “Now, here’s what were gonna do. We’ll call Huey, have Janice talk, say just a few words. I’ll write it down here,” said Mickey, taking a pen and writing a note. “She can read this, she hangs up in less than a minute. Huey’ll get the message. Then we get the dough and drop Janice off somewhere safe. It’s simple.”

  Another beer later and outside the basement bedroom, Dell was suddenly feeling he might be having second thoughts. Mickey’s plan had sounded pretty solid upstairs at the kitchen table, but here, peeking in and seeing her just sitting there, well he wasn’t quite so sure right now.

  “You gotta go in, Dell. So she knows there’s more than just me. I told her other guys were here, and more guys watching her kid. So now, you gotta go in there so she can see you. And here, wear this, so she won’t see your face,” he said and handed Dell a brown paper grocery bag.

  Maybe that was part of Dell’s problem, the grocery bag, with eye holes cut in, and the big smile Mickey had drawn on the front.

  “Come on, here,” Mickey said. He opened up the grocery bag and placed it over Dell’s head, one paper handle hung down on his chest, the other down his back.

  “Okay, here are the notes, hand her this one first with the directions. Once she reads it, you just press the button to dial the phone. Give me that beer,” he said taking Dell’s beer and handing him the cell phone. “Then, as soon as Huey’s on the line she can read this second note. Once she’s done, you grab the phone and hang it up. Then give her this note.” He handed Dell a third note. “It tells her dinner’ll be in about forty minutes, hope she likes pizza. You gotta do this, man. I know you can. You’re only in there for a minute, then out. Don’t say a word to her, just hand her the notes. Okay, lets do it,” Mickey said and knocked on the door to get Janice’s attention.

  She slowly looked up toward the door, but made no effort to get off the bed.

  Mickey pulled the door open and pushed Dell into the room. With the paper bag over his head he half stumbled as he attempted to see through the eye holes.

  Now what? Janice thought, and watched the idiot slowly approaching with a paper bag on his head. It figured, the way the day had gone, and now this. She had been kidnapped by morons.

  Dell handed her the first note. She had to hold it out at arm’s length to read. “You’re going to call my stepfather? This should be fun, I’m not sure he’ll even take the damn call. Okay, go ahead,” she said.

  Dell pressed the send button on the phone and handed it to Janice, with the bag on his head there was no point in trying to hear it ring.

  “Yeah, hi, Marty, Janice. Let me talk to him. Look, Marty, no, you can’t help. Just put him on, okay. No, Marty. Marty!” Janice yelled. “Will you just put him on the damn phone, God.”

  Chapter 8

  “I understand we’re way past 90 days on this invoice, but I pay for professional work and the counter tops you put in are not professional. So, I’m not paying, it’s as simple as that,” Huey Evans said. He ignored the beep on the line indicating a call waiting. He had no intention of paying the man he was talking to. He never had intended to pay. It was the way he operated. It was how things worked. You want to get ahead, figure it out.

  “Go ahead, take me to small claims court, I don’t care. No, I’m not interested in finding a middle ground. I got another call coming in, go do your substandard work for someone else and bother them,” he said and hung up. He pressed the call waiting button. “Yeah.”

  “Hello, this is your daughter,” Janice read. “Do not attempt to contact the police. I’m being held, instructions will follow. Pick up my d
aughter at home, I will be released as soon as you follow the instructions.”

  “Who the hell is this, Arlene?” Huey said.

  “No, damn it, it’s not Arlene, it’s me, Janice. I’ve been kidnapped, they’re going to give you instructions or directions, I don’t know, just do as they say, okay.”

  Come on, Dell, Mickey screamed to himself watching through the peephole as his hand squeezed the door knob. Grab the damn phone.

  “No, I’m not drunk and I’m not kidding, will you just listen, please?”

  Dell pointed to the note he’d handed her, encouraging her to reread the message that Mickey had written.

  Janice picked up on the hint and looked at the note, holding it again at arm’s length. “It’s says here you’re supposed to follow the directions that will came. Is that came?” she asked Dell, pointing to a word on the note. “Shouldn’t it be come? Directions that will come.”

  “For Christ’s sake!” Mickey screamed through the door.

  “Jesus, what’s that guy’s problem?" Janice said, then screamed back at the door. “Hey, if I could read your lousy handwriting it would be a hell of a lot easier. You,” she said to Dell. “Is this came or come? Ahh, God, directions will come later, I guess. I don’t know. It could be come later or come in a letter, the damn writing’s so bad I can’t tell. Look, just do what they want and get me out of here, I’m gonna lose my job if I don’t get back.”

  She paused, listened to a response then said, “No! I’m not fucking kidding. How do I know who the hell it is? One of them’s kinda fat, another one has a paper bag over his head. I don’t know about the others. Oh, and get Ashley, she’s got a dentist appointment tomorrow.”