The pick up, p.8
The Pick-Up, page 8
“They were so mad. She told him to bring me back to their room. He said that I would scream and attract attention if they did that. She told him to knock me out and wrap me in a blanket or something. She’ll keep an eye out.
“I tried to get away from him but he punched me in the side of the head.” Kate touched her tender temple, flinched. “I woke up in their room. They taped me up. They figured that you would come back and come looking for me. I guess they were right.”
Hanna turned off 9 and followed the signs to the New Jersey Turnpike. She flashed a confused expression at the girl. Kate stared out the side window, sniffling and wiping her eyes with her bare wrist.
“They freaked me out so much,” Kate said. “Those are not normal people. They kept bickering all the time but it was weird. They mentioned people that were dead. People that they killed and if it wasn’t for one of them the jobs would have gone bad or they could have gone better. I don’t know. Whatever was wrong they were not paying attention to me and had no problem talking about it in front of me.”
“They used that word? Jobs?”
“Yeah. I thought it was strange, too.”
Hanna grunted and spat the taste of Vlad out the window again. Kate took a few deep breaths. Each one was steadier than the last.
“So what do we do now?” she asked and bit her lower lip.
“Drive far away from the good old Hudson Garden.”
“Are we going south?”
“For a bit.”
“Then where?”
A good question that Hanna had no answer to.
Chapter 19
Kate slept on the bed, curled up, and with a blanket and thick comforter over her. The air conditioner in the Howard Johnson worked too well. Compared to the Hudson Garden, the room was freezing. Hanna found that there was no middle with the unit under the window. Even the lowest setting came out cold. Maybe it was broken. But it didn’t stop Kate from falling asleep.
The room on the second floor was similar and a lot nicer than the one at the Hudson Garden. But, as Kate was cleaning herself up in the bathroom, she couldn’t find a hiding spot for the package she picked up last night. Very disappointing considering how small it was. In the end, she didn’t worry about it. Hanna kept the matchbox-sized parcel in her pants pocket. She had no plans to stay in the sleepy town of Hamilton past 12 hours. Once she had a good nap and a meal, she would head back onto 195 and cross the Delaware River.
Hanna sat with her back against the headboard on the other bed. She was sleepy from driving most of the night but her brain spun too fast to fall asleep. Kate’s words about what she heard last night were deep in her brain.
Using her phone, Hanna opened up the web browser and typed in the names Vlad and Matilda. The first few pages came up with links to the Dracula legend and a book written by Roald Dahl. On the second page, she found an article from the Florida Times.
“Oh, crap,” she whispered as her eyes read the bad news.
A few months ago, Ronald Jenkins’ body was found in a shallow grave a few yards from Route 1 in Pinecrest, Florida. The 47-year-old District Attorney had been kidnapped and missing for five days. A road crew patrolling for litter up the highway noticed him. A pack of coyotes had gathered. Knowing how the State didn’t want the animals around to scare off the tourists, the crew approached them with tools to scare them away. The coyotes ran and revealed the half dug-out body of a man.
Jenkins’ body had been hacked into pieces. His limbs and head resting on top of his torso in the shallow grave. Medical Examiners concluded that the cause of death was from a fractured skull. Based on the shattering of the bones and forensics, the killer beat the man’s head on a gray concrete surface.
From a video taken from Jenkins’ home security cameras outside his house, investigators identified the killers as Vlad and Matilda Impaler. Since the Impalers had never been arrested in Florida, investigators believe that they were hired to murder Jenkins who was not a favorite with local organized crime in Miami.
The Impalers were wanted in three states and by the FBI for eight murders of various government officials and businessmen. Despite their name, the couple never drove a stake through a victims’ heart. Each murder was varied (strangulation, exsanguination, shotgun decapitation, etc) as if trying to not call attention to authorities or leave a signature. But due to the sloppiness of being seen on surveillance cameras or leaving fingerprints behind, the couple had always been identified. Or perhaps they wanted to be revealed. Vlad seemed like a very proud man based on his balls of steel.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Hanna whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Kate asked, breaking out of her sleep.
“You don’t want to know.” Hanna placed the phone on her lap. “Go back to sleep.”
Kate closed her eyes. After a moment of silence, Hanna brought her phone back up and added Hudson Garden to her search of the couple. As the icon spun to bring up a list of links, she closed her eyes and hoped nothing would turn up.
Hanna opened her eyes. A sharp jab hit her gut and her hand tightened around the phone.
She clicked the link provided by the Jersey Journal. Last night, guests of the Hudson Garden Hotel on Route 9 reported a fight, screams, and gunshots from a room. Police arrived to find room 18 in a disarray and the mirror above the bed shattered. Room 18 was registered under Mr. and Mrs. Stoker who paid for a week in the room.
The couple had not been found. Also, the employee who ran the room hadn’t been either, Salvador Pizzo. But a camera was discovered in the ceiling behind the broken mirror. Investigators were confident that whatever had happened in the room was illegally recorded.
“Good luck with that,” Hanna said, glad she had Sonny turn that camera off.
Other guests described the Stoker couple and authorities believe they had identified their true identity of Vlad and Matilda Impaler, a couple wanted on eight counts of murder and wanted by local and federal law enforcement. They should have forensic confirmation by morning.
Although the investigators were still putting together the pieces of what happened, they theorize, based on evidence so far, the Imaplers discovered that the hotel was recording them and confronted the front desk employee, Salvador Pizzo. A fight broke out. Since Pizzo had not been found anywhere on the premises and his car was still in the hotel parking lot, they believed the Impalers took him.
“Oh, shit,” Hanna said. “Poor Sonny.”
“Who’s Sonny?” Kate asked, making Hanna jump.
“Have you been awake the whole time?” Hanna asked.
Kate rolled onto her back and opened her eyes to the dim room.
“I can’t get to sleep,” she said. “You keep talking.”
“Sorry,” Hanna said, placing her phone on the table between them.
“Who’s Sonny?”
“He’s the worm that works at the hotel.”
“Was he the guy crying on the floor?”
“Yeah.”
More alert, Kate propped up on her elbow and threw Hanna a worried expression.
“Is he dead?” she asked, nodding to Hanna’s phone. “Did they kill him?”
“I don’t know. He’s missing and so are the Impalers. Or so the news says right now.”
“The who?”
“Vlad and Margaret.”
“Their last name is Impaler? Are you for real?”
Hanna reluctantly chuckled and rubbed her eyes.
“Unfortunately,” she said. “And they’re famous with the feds.”
Kate placed a hand over the sour swirl brewing in her stomach.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re a hit couple. They’re wanted for eight murders that they had no previous connection to.”
“What does that mean? No previous connection to.”
“It means that someone hired them. Probably organized crime or local crime czars. I don’t know.”
“Are you telling me that the psycho couple who took me, tried to take me the other night for sex, are professional killers?”
Hanna nodded.
Kate tried to cover her mouth but the puke was too fast.
Chapter 20
Kate came back from the breakfast buffet. One dish was loaded with three slices of French Toast, scrambled eggs, and home fries. The other dish hosted a pile of bacon. Hanna shook her head at the girl and picked her plate of scrambled eggs, sausage links, and a corn muffin.
“Did you steal all the bacon?” Hanna asked, sipping her coffee.
Kate placed a napkin on her lap, picked up her fork, and glanced at Hanna.
“Huh?”
“Nothing,” Hanna said. “Glad you’re feeling better.”
After Kate puked and they cleaned up the sheets, Hanna tried to take a nap. She failed. Since it was nearing eleven AM, she suggested that they grab something to eat downstairs. When they checked in, the clerk in a HJ monogrammed jacket and tie mentioned the complimentary breakfast buffet hours in their dining room. Kate started to feel better and hungry so it seemed like the next best move.
They flipped the sign on their room door for the maid to come and left a note warning her about the sheets stained with bile. Luckily not enough came out of Kate’s body that it soaked to the mattress.
“Really? A note?” Kate asked as they walked down the silent hall to the elevator. “I’ve never been so embarrassed.”
“Hey,” Hanna said, pressing the down button. “How would you like to go clean a room and pick up the sheets only to feel someone’s cold puke. The smell could stick on your hands all day no matter how many times you wash them.”
“Oh, that makes me feel better.”
As Hanna ate her breakfast, she mulled over her options. She was sure that the police would not suspect her involvement in room 18. She was supposed to check out of there today. She left the room key on the dresser, something she had done before in a hotel. Usually, the staff insists on it and the maid gathered the key when she deep-cleaned the room. Why bother going to the front desk? Her bill was paid in advance and it was not the kind of place that charged for any amenities like pay-per-view movies or snacks in a mini-refrigerator. They didn’t have any.
There was also no evidence that Kate was connected to her room. Though, if Matilda Impaler saw Kate enter Hanna’s room the other night, then someone else might have also.
Given time, as the police access the cameras in the hotel office, after they realized the crimes the hotel had been committing against their guests, the cops will discover footage of Kate being dragged into room 18, bound, and thrown on the bed. It might change the theory that the cops were holding. Maybe Sonny came to room 18 because he saw the abducted teen on the cameras. When cameras were revealed to the Impalers, a fight broke out, shots were fired, and the ceiling mirror broke. Investigators should think that the Impalers not only took Sonny but Kate, too.
That could be bad. The police may use her image on the camera to identify her, snatch a clear image of her face or one from home, and send it out the wire to all the cops to be on the lookout. Hell, there could be an Amber Alert.
“What’s with the look on your face?” Kate asked, munching away at her food as if it was her last meal.
Hanna ignored her and pulled out her phone. She opened the internet browser and searched for Kate’s name and an Amber Alert. No alerts came up but other articles did. Bios and business profiles on Philippe Eco. The founder and CEO of a tech company based out of Michigan. The company, Trident, mostly dealt with manufacturing cybersecurity software and devices. Their clients ranged from the government to some of the largest companies in the world. When they mentioned a few personal notes about him, the name Katherine Eco came up. His daughter.
“I was checking to see if the cops mentioned you yet,” Hanna said.
“You mean if my father reported me missing?”
“No, because of last night.”
“Oh.” Worry tapped her face. “Did they mention me?”
“Not yet,” Hanna said. “And so far neither has you father which is strange considering the line of business he’s in.”
“What do you mean?”
Hanna held up her phone and shook it.
“He runs Trident. A company that deals with security. Then again, maybe this is why he doesn’t trust the cops. He thinks he can find you himself.”
“Oh.” Depression glazed her face as she went back to her food. “Yeah, maybe.”
“If the cops grab a good image of you off the hotel’s camera and identify you, then your father will have to work with the cops.”
“If that happens, I seriously doubt it. My father avoids cops. Especially in his business.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father has his finger in some other businesses,” Kate said while chewing. “Businesses that he doesn’t want cops or government to know about. Even though he’s from France he’s very patriotic. Believes in the Second Amendment more than God.”
“Businesses like?”
Kate shrugged, suddenly shy. Hanna considered searching further on the net but that depended on how sloppy Philipe Eco was with his side hustles. Did the cops or feds know what he was doing?
“Spill it,” Hanna said.
Kate placed her fork down and glanced around the dining room. Since it was late in the morning, few guests were around. The closest traveling businessman was a few tables away by the window that looked out to the pool. Staff dismantled the buffet and prepared for the lunch crowd. Kate leaned over the table anyway.
“I came to the conclusion from things that I eavesdropped on through the years and overheard outside my father’s home office. Okay? So don’t think I’m a part of what he does. But, I think he deals with weapons.”
“Guns?”
“Yeah.”
“He makes them? That’s not illegal.”
“No, he doesn’t make them. He ships them in and out of the country. Buying and selling. Smuggling. Like I said, I’m not positive because I had to piece it all together.”
“Okay, that’s illegal.”
“Yeah.”
Kate picked up her fork and returned to her food. Hanna pinched at her corn muffin.
“So what do you think I should do with you?” Hanna asked.
Kate shrugged, fearful.
“I have an idea,” she said. “But you probably won’t like it.”
Hanna smiled at the girl. She was pretty sure about the idea.
“Yeah?” Hanna asked. “Think I should drop you off with the cops. Maybe leave you here?”
Kate shrugged, focusing on her bacon.
“You could take me with you,” she said.
“I shouldn’t take you with me. I’m working. I don’t want to involve you in my work.”
“It’s something illegal, isn’t it.”
“Yeah,” Hanna whispered.
“I can keep secrets.”
“Except your father’s.”
Kate smirked and said, “That’s different. I trust you.”
“Can I trust you?”
“Try me.”
Hanna washed a bite of muffin down with coffee and sighed.
“I have to be in Oklahoma the day after tomorrow. I should make it if all goes as planned. The last thing I need is to carry a girl wanted by the cops.”
“I’m only a problem if they recognize me.”
“True. But still. It’s a risk I don’t need to take. I can’t be busted for kidnapping. I can’t be associated with what went on back at the Garden.”
“What if I promised that I can make it that I won’t be recognized if they do post my picture around?”
“Then maybe you can tag along.”
Kate smiled.
“I think we passed a mall on the way here.”
Chapter 21
Back onto Route 1 and out of Philadelphia. The radio station played rock from the last three decades and the air conditioner blasted. Hanna watched the roads for cops and minded her speed limit. 60 MPH was always a safe bet. Not under or over and definitely not faster than the other cars around her. Even with the busted driver’s side window, she shouldn’t be stopped.
Before leaving, she removed the shattered glass and taped clear plastic she bought at the mall to keep the hot air out. For added security, she used black tape to alter a letter and number on the license plates in case the cops do suspect her of something back at the Hudson Garden. Sonny wrote her car info down in his parking ledger when she checked in. The car was rented under a fake name and could never be traced back to Hanna’s life in Iowa. But the plate manipulation still made her feel safer while driving now.
She expected the rental company to bitch about the window even if she told the truth: a psycho approached the car and attacked her. He probably wanted to jack it. No, Hanna didn’t fill out a police report. She was too scared. She fled. The paperwork would be a bitch but she was sure the company would relax when she offered cash to fix the window.
A boy sat next to Hanna. A teenager with short light brown hair and a baby face that wandered into androgyny. Kate was right. She looked nothing like how she appeared before. On Hanna’s dime, Kate picked up hair clippers, hair coloring, a long bandage, a foundation that matched her skin, and some clothes from the boys’ department of JC Penny.
“Oh, wait. This is perfect,” Kate said, pointing to the ear piecing booth in the middle of the mall.
“Your ears are already pierced,” Hanna said.
“But my nose isn’t.”
“Do boys pierce their noses?” Hanna asked.
“The ones in my school do.”
“Okay,” Hanna said with reluctance. “We can also pick you up an earring. A stud.”
They brought everything back to the Howard Johnson where Kate locked herself in the bathroom and Hanna stretched out on the bed. The lack of sleep caught up with her. She fell right under. When she woke up, the sun was starting to set and a teen-aged boy was sitting on the bed next to her. It shocked her at first. She slept so deep that her head was disorientated.
“Hey, it’s me,” Kate said, smiling. Proud.
