Claire Gulliver #06 - Carnage Goes Coastal (26 page)

Unfortunately, he wasn’t available.

Kay then explained about his wife, Claire Gulliver, and how she had actually rescued her when she first fled from New York. She was the one who diverted the attention of the men following Kay from the L.A. Airport and then spirited her away while her pursuers followed that other van. And subsequently, she was the one who saved her and Jamie when those assassins showed up at her house in Bayside, looking for Kay.

Claire had actually killed one of them to protect Karen and baby Jack.

And tonight when she found her dad wasn’t available she turned to Claire for help. They had talked through the situation. Claire had helped her come up with a plan to resolve her situation. Claire was on her way to Washington D.C. with the intention of confronting Scott. She was going to apprise Scott of the enormous risk he would be facing if anything happened to Kay and Jamie.

Chuck nodded, seeming to understand their plan.

Kay leaned forward grabbing Chuck’s hand as if that would make him hear her better. “I know this was my fault. I let them find me by breaking security. But I just don’t understand how that guy had the time to trace my call and then get here so soon after I hung up. I mean, was he here in town just waiting for me to break security?”

“A better question might be, when were you going to call me?” His question had a slightly sardonic tone.

Kay let go of his hand, sitting back in her chair as if she had been slapped. She knew she had really screwed this up. “I really was going to call you today and tell you everything. I was going to call you the first thing I did when I got up. Claire told me I breached security. That really shocked me because I realized I should have called you first. After all, I’m the one who knows how much you have done for me. You’ve kept me safe all this time. There’s no doubt the danger was still there, just waiting for a chance to get at me. But by that time I had already done the damage, so I thought we should go ahead and try to resolve this while we could.”

Chuck sighed. He looked at her intently, a sad look on his face. Kay felt really bad. She knew he was disappointed.

“Well, it’s not like you are the first person I was guarding who blew the whole program. I’ll just have to see what I can do to fix it. Meanwhile, just sit here while I talk to the policemen.”

Kay nodded, and offered one last tidbit. “The policeman in charge is a Detective named Steve. He knows me. He’s in my karate class and he was one of the ones at Mulrooney’s earlier tonight when I saw Scott on the television. He is leading the investigation so I told him I was on the Witness Protection Program, but nothing else.” She held up two fingers. “Scouts’ honor.”

So Kay waited. She wasn’t feeling quite so exhausted now. Perhaps telling the story gave her a second wind or maybe the confession perked her up. She didn’t know what Chuck was going to do, but somehow she felt he would come up with something. Meanwhile, she organized her mind around the tasks she still had to complete to put together the packages she intended to mail out as soon as the day got started. And she wondered what Claire was doing.

When Chuck finally returned, he stunned her with his announcement. “You’ll have to gather up some clothes and your personal things, you and Jamie will be moving this afternoon. Meanwhile, your friend, Steve, is going to assign two patrolmen to guard the house. A repairman will be here soon to fix the back door and I’ll be back here about two o’clock to move you out.”

He looked at her gaping face, and said sternly, “And do not, I repeat, do not contact anyone. Do not tell anyone you’re leaving or attempt to get in touch with your stepmother.”

She nodded her head mutely then muttered, “My work...?”

“Pack up the computer and your files, we’ll take them. You can work from your next place.”

“But, the documents I need to send out...?”

“Not necessary. I’ll take the package and headquarters will monitor it. It will have the same impact as you sending it to several places. When I get you settled and safe I’ll contact the FBI and discuss the situation with them.”

He turned to leave and then paused. “Maybe you should tell Jamie you’re all going on vacation for a little while. That will alleviate any stress this sudden move might cause him. And of course, Harley is going to have to go with you.”

Claire followed behind David and MiMi Lickman feeling totally intimidated by the grandeur of this affair. There were hundreds of people, dressed beautifully, and having a wonderful time. It seemed every few feet they moved through the crowd someone stopped the Lickmans to greet them, and then of course, David or MiMi would introduce her. Many of these people had faces she had seen before in the newspapers, on television, and plastered on the popular magazine covers. And while each of them smiled politely when they met her, none of them was the least interested in her. She was certainly grateful MiMi had told her to bring a long gown, so at least she felt she was dressed appropriately.

They were just circulating now, seeing who was here and making their presence known. Claire was holding a glass of white wine even though she hardly ever remembered to sip it. So far none of the trays of hors d’oeuvres being circulated through the crowd even tempted her. She was so nervous she didn’t think she would be able to swallow anything, and she didn’t want to have both hands filled as she wandered around.

They had been there for more than an hour before MiMi finally spotted Scott Ellington on the far side of the room talking with a group of people. She stopped and looked at David. “You two go on your way now. I’ll bring him in as soon as possible.” She nodded at Claire and then drifted closer to their target.

David took Claire’s arm and skillfully guided her through the crowd. He held a side door open for her to slip through and then led her down the hall to an elevator. They took it up to the fourth floor of the hotel and down the hall to a beautiful suite.

“I think this will do, don’t you?”

Claire nodded. “It looks very expensive, but I imagine we won’t be interrupted here, will we?”

“Could I refresh your drink?” he asked.

“No, this is fine.” She sat down in one of the chairs trying to relax, thinking about what she wanted to accomplish. She took some papers out of her evening purse and set both the papers and the purse down on a table beside her chair. And she waited. She admitted to herself she was terrified of confronting this man. Her hands were clammy and shaking and she was having a hard time remembering just what it was she was going to say. David turned on some soft music because the silence was too distracting. Finally they heard someone at the door and both turned their heads as MiMi led Scott Ellington into the suite.

“Scott, I believe you know my husband, David. And this is our very dear friend, Claire Gulliver.”

Claire nodded her head, but didn’t seem to see the hand Scott started to extend toward her.

He adroitly pulled it back and said, “I’m very glad to meet you, Ms. Gulliver. MiMi has told me you are very anxious to talk to me and that you will most likely have a major impact on my political career.” His eyes gleamed with excitement. Claire suspected he was already counting the dollars he expected her to pledge to his cause.

This man standing before Claire was the man who was trying to kill Karen and baby Jack. That thought filled her with rage. She focused on the task at hand, forcing herself to stay in her chair, because suddenly she wanted to fly at him and gouge out his eyes.

“Yes, MiMi and David were very kind to arrange this meeting,” she managed to get out in a surprisingly calm voice and gestured to the chair next to her. Scott immediately sat down, shining the full wattage of his most sincere smile at her. Somberly Claire reached over and picked up a photo from the papers stacked under her purse. “I wanted to show you this.”

He looked at the picture with interest. Claire watched as confusion spread over his face. He looked at her. “I don’t understand. Where did you get this picture of me as a child? I don’t remember seeing it before.”

“You are mistaken, Mr. Ellington. That is a picture of my grandson. I admit he does look like you, but he would, wouldn’t he? His mother, my stepdaughter, is Karen Rallins.”

Scott leaped out of the chair, the confused look on his face was quickly replaced by one of anger. “What kind of trick is this?” He looked at MiMi, demanding, “What is going on here?”

David spoke up, his voice calm but stern. “Sit down, Scott, and be very careful what you say to my wife. You might well benefit from listening to what Claire has to say to you.”

Scott sat down, but on the edge of the chair’s seat, his body taut and waiting. He watched Claire with suspicion. Now he wasn’t bothering to use his boyish charm to score points.

Claire continued speaking. “Karen has been having some difficulty in raising her son, you see, because people seem to keep trying to murder them both.” She raised her hand cutting off Scott’s immediate attempt to protest.

“Wait, hear me out, then we will all listen to what you have to say.” She picked up the folded paper she had sitting next to her and straightened it out.

“Karen ran into you and your wife at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City sometime in April 2003. She said she didn’t speak to you, but you saw her, and you saw she had not aborted the baby she carried, the one which was the result of her affair with you. That was the incident she thinks started the whole mess. It was less than two weeks later when someone pushed her off the platform in front of an incoming subway train. She wouldn’t have lived to report this to me except for a very alert man standing beside her, who reached out and snatched her out of mid air. Back from the brink of death, so to say.”

She saw Scott was angrily preparing to say something so she shook her head to cut him off. “Naturally, she told herself it was just a coincidence. Perhaps someone tripped and only put out their hands to prevent a fall. At that time she couldn’t really believe you, or anyone else was trying to kill her.

“So you can imagine how shocked she was when she returned from the following weekend out of town to find her whole apartment building had been destroyed by a fire. The entire third floor where she lived was gone. The newspapers reported six people died, four were hospitalized and four were still missing. We don’t know what the final count of victims was, or if the missing were ever located.”

Scott couldn’t hide the shock on his face. He swiveled his gaze from Claire to MiMi, then to David, as if seeking confirmation of the truth of this story.

“Karen may have been a little naive. After all, she fell for your line completely, but she isn’t dumb. She immediately decided to disappear. She called me and we made a plan. Later that same day she flew to Los Angeles from Philadelphia. When she arrived a man bumped into her on the airport concourse and somehow dropped an electronic bug in her pocket. He followed her to a nearby hotel where she was to meet me. She saw him, recognized him from the incident in the airport and became suspicious. We found the bug in her pocket, so I took it and dropped it in the tote bag of a woman leaving in a van full of people. That worked for us. The man looking for her raced out of the hotel and I saw him leave the hotel in a dark SUV following that van carrying the woman with the bug.”

Claire paused, the pain on her face was visible. She couldn’t quite stop the tremble in her voice as she continued. “We didn’t learn until later the van was sideswiped by a dark SUV causing it to swerve in front of a tanker truck entering the freeway. The resulting crash killed all seven passengers in the van, the truck driver and the driver of a car following the truck onto the freeway. Nine people in total, were killed in that one accident. But not Karen.”

Scott now was sitting slumped in his chair. He seemed dazed by the numbers of dead people.

“That’s not all,” Claire said softly. “Later that year after the baby was born, while Karen and the baby were living in my house in Northern California, two men arrived with guns. One of the men was the same one who was following Karen when she landed in Los Angeles. They thought no one was home, so they planted a bomb inside the house and settled in their car to wait until we got home to detonate it. What they didn’t know was we had been warned. We had seen them arrive and we were hiding in the garage. When we saw they weren’t going to leave I tried to distract them before the baby woke up and cried. I planned to get them to follow me. I drove out of the garage hoping to lead them elsewhere so Karen could escape with the baby. They cut me off so I smashed into their car, killing one of the men. The other got out of the car preparing to shoot me, but my next door neighbor stopped him with his shotgun. So, two more were added to the death toll. However, these last were not innocent victims as were the others.

“It turned out these two men worked for a security company located in New York City called Hampton Security. They were apparently sent by the firm’s owner, to eliminate Karen and the baby. Someone hired them to kill Karen. Unfortunately, before the FBI could interview Wade Hampton, the owner of the security company and the man who sent the assassins, he was murdered. His body was found in his Humvee in the parking lot of a diner here, outside Washington D.C.”

Now Claire’s voice was soft, she sounded exhausted. “Karen now is on the Witness Protection Program. We haven’t seen her or the baby since 2003. We hear from her via email occasionally, and she sometimes sends us pictures of the baby, who is now a little boy as you saw, but we have missed being a part of his life, of seeing him grow up.”

She sat up, and looked at Scott with anger. “We’re tired of all that. We want them back. We want this to stop!”

Scott shook his head. “I had no idea. Yes, I wanted Karen to abort the child. She should have never gotten pregnant. I didn’t want the responsibility of a child. I was married. It was only a stupid game I was playing, I admit that. But I am not a killer. I didn’t send someone to kill her.” He looked at each one of them anxiously. “Surely you can’t believe I would do something like that.”