Southern Greed Read online

  He hesitated and I knew that sometimes little boys kept a stash of things they didn’t want grownups to see.

  “I’m not going to take them from you, but I need to see them.”

  He got up and took my hand. He led me to his room and crawled under the bed. He pulled out a cigar box and opened it. I caught sight of a few marbles, rubber bands, an Indian arrowhead, a few baseball cards, the kind of things that little boys tend to collect. He rummaged into the box and brought out a stack of notes bound together with a rubber band.

  He took the rubber band off and handed the notes to me saying, “I didn’t understand some of them but I think the pirates wanted to smooch with the ladies who lived here.

  He was right. They were love notes. These men were from all over the world, apparently. One said, “Sorry I missed you, lassie. Here is a token of my esteem, just a little trinket. Hope it fits your pinkie.”

  Some were sexually explicit and I was glad Ronnie didn’t understand them. Did I now have prostitution to add to the sins of my ancestors? I wondered what else, there was and if my grandmother knew about them.

  I could see that Ronnie was getting antsy and I told him to go back out and swim and went to find Eugene. I needed to read my grandmother’s memoirs. I found him talking to one of the employees who worked the front desk. Her name was Patty and we had hired here right out of high school. She thought she knew everything and we had talked about getting rid of her.

  As I walked up, I heard Eugene saying, “I don’t care if you are right. Let the guests believe they are right. It’s not that important to be right all the time, Patty. You’ll understand this as you get older.”

  She walked off in a huff and he saw me and smiled, shaking his head.

  “I need to read my grandmother’s memoirs.”

  He shook his head, “I don’t let anyone read my manuscript until it is finished. Wait a little while. I don’t have much more to go.”

  I felt frustrated, “Could you just tell me this? Did she talk about how her grandfather made his fortune?”

  He got a twinkle in his eyes, “Boy did she ever!”

  “If I guess it, would you tell me if I’m right?”

  He hesitated and the said, “Well, all right but don’t tell anyone else.”

  “Did her family make their fortune through piracy and prostitution?”

  He laughed, “Among other things. By the way, I decided to let Ronnie stay home from school today.”

  “I know, I already talked to him.” As I walked off, I threw over my shoulder, “Ask him to show you his treasures, especially the notes.”

  So I came from a bunch of criminals and now I was enjoying the profits from all that. And now my daughter had been kidnapped because of the money. That fat producer was going to exploit my life for money and even the woman I thought was my mama was going to cash in.

  I was getting angry. A simple life looked inviting. A life where you could work, save up to buy things you wanted and have children without the fear of them getting kidnapped.

  CHAPTER 38

  By two o’clock in the afternoon, we still hadn’t heard from Adam. I figured he was making us wait just to put our nerves on edge. But I was glad he had waited. It gave the police time to, hopefully, set up a trap. I had warned of secret passages in the note I had slipped to the banker, Mr. Fogarty.

  I had no way of knowing which passageway he would be coming in and I didn’t know which staff member would let him in. I was hoping the police were guarding the only entrance leading up from the beach. I had included that in my note also. I doubted they would arrest him right then and there but would follow him so he would lead them to Jeannie.

  I was a nervous wreck. All I could think about was my little girl and how she was so innocent and trusting of everyone. I was trying to hold it together but every time Eugene looked at me with sympathy and tears in his eyes, I would break down.

  He held me and we cried together. Once, when Ronnie found us like that, he hugged us both and cried as well.

  We waited all day and Adam never showed up. That night we had supper brought to our apartment but we only picked at it. We were quiet but then I thought of something I had been meaning to ask Eugene.

  “Eugene, where did you find Regina, anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

  He had the coffee cup halfway to his lips, but put it back into the saucer. He looked totally confused. “You didn’t hire her?”

  When I slowly shook my head, he said, “Oh, no. I should have checked with you to make sure. I’m so sorry, Kathy. It was just before the grand opening. She came to the desk and said that you had hired her and told her to see me when she got here.

  “It was just before the grand opening and you know how hectic everything was. I didn’t see you around, so I set her up in the nanny’s quarters…” His voice trailed off.

  I took his hand to try and reassure him as I told the rest of the story from where I came in, “I found her in the nursery later in the day and she introduced herself to me. She said you had hired her but that if I wanted to continue to look around, she would understand.

  “The kids seemed to like her already so I trusted your judgment. It’s not your fault, Eugene. It’s no one’s fault.”

  Ronnie spoke up, “She played good games with us but sometimes she pinched us.”

  “She pinched you, son? Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “She told me you said for her to do that if we misbehaved, dad.”

  Eugene sighed, “Never let anyone hurt you again, son. You tell me or Kathy right away. I would never tell anyone to pinch you or hit you or be mean to you in any way.” He looked at me and shook his head, “I can’t believe we let that tiny scrap of a girl fool us like that.”

  I was silent for a longtime and they didn’t speak either. It was as if they were waiting for me to speak. “When this is over, I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t want someone else taking care of our kids. I don’t want someone taking our kids for money.”

  I was crying hard as I continued, “Everything bad that’s happened to me these last few years was because of this damn money. I feel like it’s dirty money and I feel dirty spending it. My little girl was taken for the money, my own mama, or the lady who raised me, is trying to exploit me for money. I ended up marrying an evil man who was after the money”

  Neither one of them said anything as I stopped speaking and broke down once again. When I dried my eyes I smiled at both of them, “You two are the only good things that have come into my life as a side effect of the money.”

  Eugene paused before asking slowly, “What kind of life do you want, Kathy?”

  “I want a regular house where just the four of us can live a modest life. I don’t care about any of these things anymore.”

  “Thank God,” He said and took me into his arms.

  “Can we still have a swimming pool?” Ronnie asked and we laughed and just then Regina walked in.

  “I’m glad you can laugh about it. Adam sent me to get the money,” She said. “Oh, and by the way, your mama sends her regards.”

  I picked up the briefcase and shoved it at her and she caught it and laughed. “Oh, one more thing, we’ve decided this won’t be enough. By the time we pay for everything we need to skip the country, we’ll need more for each of us. Adam figures another 10 million will do it.”

  “I’ll tell you what, you no good piece of white trash, I’ll give you 20 million. Or will that be enough? How about 50? How much is enough?”

  Eugene put his hand on my knee and whispered in my ear, “Don’t lose your cool. Promise her anything she wants.”

  “You’ll have to wait until the bank opens again in the morning,” I told her, “and I will get you 20 million if you’ll just not hurt my baby.”

  She picked up the briefcase and as she was leaving she said, “I’ll be in touch.”

  CHAPTER 39

  We waited until after midnight and still the police didn’t call or show up
. Ronnie finally fell asleep on the sofa and Eugene picked him up and put him to bed.

  “I don’t know if we should take a chance and call the police or not,” I told Eugene when he got back. “If one of the staff is listening in or watching us, we’ll tip them off.”

  “Why don’t we start questioning the staff?”

  “Most of them have already gone to bed, Eugene. The only ones who are up are the skeleton crew on the front desk.”

  “I don’t care. We’ll wake them up. Let’s wake them up, Kathy and interrogate them.”

  We had had an intercom system put in so we could call any of the staff when we wanted them even if they were in their rooms. Eugene got on that and told everyone to meet us in the largest dining room.

  “I’m going to wake up Ronnie,” I said. “I don’t want him to be in here by himself.”

  As soon as I woke him up, he got excited, “This is just like in the movie, The Pink Panther. I saw it once on the late show on TV when you were on your honeymoon. Nanny let us stay up late but Jeannie fell asleep. I don’t think she liked it anyway.”

  Some of the staff had gotten dressed but most hadn’t bothered. Mrs. Hildebrandt had put on what looked like a man’s bathrobe. “Should I put on some coffee, Kathy?”

  I nodded and she motioned for a couple of the young girls who helped her in the kitchen to follow her.

  We let everyone talk among themselves while we waited for the coffee which didn’t take long. They also brought an assortment of pastries. I couldn’t help but smile at Mrs. Hildebrandt. She was so efficient.

  I let Eugene lead the meeting and he started off by saying, “Some of you may know what’s been going on and some of you might now. I’m going to fill you in.

  “Adam Kramer, his sister, Susan, his lover, Rachael, and his mother, Mrs. Dover has kidnapped our little girl, Jeannie.”

  I watched their reactions carefully. Most of them looked shocked and they started to talk among themselves. My eye caught Patty’s, the know-it-all and she looked away. She wasn’t talking to anyone else.

  Eugene continued, “Does anyone know anything at all about any of this? Maybe you heard something and didn’t think anything about it at time but now, looking back, it could mean something.

  “Don’t worry about speaking up and then finding out what you suspected was nothing. Or if you want to talk to us after this meeting in private, that will be fine too. We’re grasping at straws here. We can’t go to the police. They said they would kill her.”

  I heard several people gasp, but no one said anything. Eugene and I looked at each other and I could see the frustration in his eyes that I was feeling myself.

  We were getting ready to go to bed when there was a knock on the door to our suite. I put on a robe and opened the door and there stood Patty. She looked over her shoulder and I pulled her inside.

  “Thanks,” She said. “I didn’t want anyone else to see me.”

  Eugene came out of the bedroom after putting Ronnie back to bed and, when he saw Patty, he sighed, “What do you want, Patty?”

  She started crying, “I’m sorry, Mr. Murphy. I know you don’t like me and you’re probably not going to believe what I have to say. But I just had to tell you what I heard. I’m, sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

  I put my arm around her and led her to the sofa, “It’s okay, honey. Sit down here and tell us what you heard.”

  I got some Kleenex and handed to her and she dried her eyes. I sat down beside her and Eugene sat across from us on an easy chair.

  She looked down while she shredded the Kleenex. “The reason I didn’t tell you right away, Mr. Murphy was because I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know your baby was kidnapped, so I didn’t understand what I was hearing.”

  She looked at me, “Your first husband, Mr. Kramer, well when I was still in high school, me and some of my girlfriends came over to Tybee Island to the beach. We saw Adam there, and followed him. It was a stupid thing to do, I know, but we thought he was so good looking and we wanted to know who he was.

  “He pulled into the parking lot of that little crab shack down on the beach and we went in and got some cokes and French fries and sat and watched him. He didn’t even notice us. Another man came in and joined him at the table he was sitting at and they started talking.

  “We couldn’t hear what they were talking about but I did hear the other man say, ‘just don’t hurt her.’ I thought maybe Adam was dating the other man’s sister and he wanted to make sure Adam treated her right.

  “When you were arrested for your grandmother’s murder, there was a picture in the paper of you being taken out of this house in handcuffs by two men. One of those men was the man with Adam that night. It wasn’t the one who came to the grand opening of the resort. It was the other one.”

  Eugene frowned and I looked at him, “Detective Phillips came to the opening, Detective North didn’t. So it’s Detective North.”

  He nodded, “That means we’re in trouble. If your banker talked to Detective Phillips and he told his partner, then Adam knows we notified the police.”

  I have never been so scared in all my life. Adam knew we had called the police and now he was demanding more money and my baby might already be dead.

  “We’ve got to somehow or other talk to Detective Phillips without his partner. This can’t be handled like before. Patty, neither detective knows you. There were so many people at the opening, I doubt he noticed you.”

  She interrupted me, “What if I go to the police station and ask to talk to Detective Phillips and try to get him alone. Then I can explain everything to him.”

  I looked at Eugene, “What do you think?”

  He shook his head, “I just don’t know. It sounds kind of risky. I believe Detective Phillips gets off at around 5:30. Patty, do you think you could be there and follow him until you can get him alone and talk to him? Adam doesn’t know you and I doubt he is watching Detective Phillips. Follow him home at a discreet distance, park around the corner from his house, and go knock on the back door.”

  “Yes, I think I can do that. Y’all just leave it to me. I really think I can do this.”

  She went back to her room and we finally went to bed. It was after four in the morning and I passed out from exhaustion.

  CHAPTER 40

  There was a loud pounding and I thought someone was nailing my coffin shut,. The knocking fit into the nightmare I was having. But then realized someone was knocking on the door.

  I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 7:34 a.m. Eugene was already pulling on a pair of jeans. I jumped up and threw on my robe and we went to the door together.

  It was Patty, “Both the detectives are here. They came in the back door. They want to talk to y’all. I didn’t let them see me. Mrs. Hildebrandt let them in.”

  They were sitting in the kitchen and Mrs. Hildebrandt was pouring them coffee. When she saw us, she got two more cups down.

  Detective Phillips added three heaping spoonfuls of sugar and blew on it and then took a sip, “I’m sorry to say we lost them. When the nanny left here we followed her car and she drove across the bridge and down to the docks.

  “She parked her car and took the briefcase and started running. She ran into one of the warehouses and since all those buildings have back doors, we didn’t know which way she was headed. Some of those buildings are interconnected and go up and down on several levels. It’s very complicated. Have you ever been down there?”

  We both shook our heads and he continued, “My partner and I decided to split up and we lost her. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. We called for backup and we all combed that area with a fine toothed comb but we couldn’t find hide nor hair of her. We’ve been out all night looking.

  “I’m going to go home and get some sleep. I suggest you do the same thing, partner.”

  I looked at Patty who had been listening from the kitchen but with her back to us. I don’t think either of them had noticed her. She nodded like
she knew I was looking at her, even though her back was turned to me, and left. I assumed she would wait in her car for them to leave and then follow them.

  After they were gone I told Mrs. Hildebrandt to let her assistants handle breakfast and for her to go take a nap. She looked tired. Eugene and I went back to bed also.

  I was up at a quarter to nine and left for the bank. I had to keep up the appearance that I was following instructions. I let Eugene sleep.

  I went directly into Mr. Fogarty’s office and told him what was going on. He gave me another briefcase filled with money in case we had to carry the charade that far. I was hoping Detective Phillips would arrest his partner and maybe get him to talk, but he might have wanted to catch him red-handed.

  When I got back, I locked the briefcase in the safe in our bedroom. Eugene was still sleeping and I didn’t wake him. I went into my studio and tried to design clothes but I couldn’t concentrate.

  I put my head on my desk and cried. I felt so helpless and everything seemed so hopeless. I thought I was done and then a fresh wave of grief overtook me and I cried still harder until I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I looked up and saw Eugene I tried to quit crying but I just couldn’t. He held me until I was cried out.

  I had gotten his tee shirt soaking wet. I laughed as I tried to dry it with my hands. I noticed he had his manuscript under his arm and when I looked up at him with a question in my eyes, he put it on my desk.

  “I’ve been selfish, Kathy. Jeannie is more important than this manuscript. I want us to read this together and maybe we can find something to help us.”

  “You can still publish it even if I read it, Eugene. It’s not one thing or the other.”

  “All right, let’s just do one thing at a time.”

  I started reading out loud and what struck me first was that Eugene was a wonderful writer. The way he put words together was unlike anything I had ever seen. I thought to myself that he was going to be a best-selling author and he would be able to support us just fine after I gave all the dirty money to charity.