ReJoined Steele

Part Twelve

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Harry coughed and lifted himself off of the ground as he heard the sound of another car's engine moving away. He got a glimpse of the black vehicle, and surmised that they were more of Hepplewhite's men, with orders to delay them and give their boss enough time to get away. Brushing the dirt and ash from his clothes, he approached the spot where Tony lay. "You okay, Antony?" he asked.

Tony got up, his eyes on the burning hulk that had been his car. "My car."

Harry winced as he surveyed the wreckage. "Bit of an improvement, I'd say."

"It was a classic!" Tony insisted.

Harry shrugged, recalling the faded paint and rumpled fender. "One man's junk, I suppose," he said.

"We'd better find him, Chalmers. And fast."

"Not until we take care of something," Harry corrected as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number and called for a taxi. Hanging up, he placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Look at it this way, Antony. We could have been IN the car."

"Why weren't we? I mean, why didn't they wait 'til we were in there before blowing it up?"

"Because we're of no use to Hepplewhite dead. Not if he wants his gems back as much as I think he does."

"But he tried to kill you in there," Tony pointed out, his gaze still on the remains of his car.

"True. But I don't think that he had thought everything through at that point. He allowed his anger to cloud his judgement. I doubt he'll make that mistake again."

Tony shook his head. "And what happened to the police that were supposed to have been watching the place? The ones that were supposed to move in after you were shot?"

"Slight change in plans, I'm afraid," Harry admitted rather sheepishly. "I decided that the best way to capture Hepplewhite would be to have him arrested for possession of stolen property. After he left here, he would have walked directly into the arms of the police at his place."

"Nice of you to let me know."

"There wasn't time. When the taxi gets here, I want you to go and find Mildred, let her know what's happened and then wait at the office for me."

"What are you going to be doing?"

"Talking to Mike Jackson. And seeing a man about some gems."

"What about Laura?"

"Right now, we haven't the foggiest notion where he might have taken her. We have to wait for him to contact us with his demands."

Tony's mind was only partially on what Harry was saying as he kept looking at the car. "Demands?"

"He's going to want the gems in exchange for returning Laura," Harry told him.

"And what's to stop him from killing all of us once he's got them?" Tony asked.

"That's where Mike Jackson comes in," Harry explained as the taxi pulled up beside them. "Get in and I'll explain."

***

The house was an isolated cabin, small, nondescript, and as they entered, Laura commented, "Not exactly up to your standards, is it?"

"I keep it as a place to get away from things," Hepplewhite told her, leading her toward a room. "I had hoped to bring you here under different circumstances," he confided. "But your friends forced me to accelerate my schedule. Inside, please."

She was expecting a barely furnished, cell like room. Instead, he showed her into a well appointed, comfortable looking bedroom. After surveying the room, Laura turned back to her captor. "You'll forgive me if the charm of the room is lost on me, I hope? A cell is still a cell, even with silk pillows."

Hepplewhite's eyes glittered in the light of the lamp he'd turned on. "I'm sure you could become used to- silk pillows, my dear. If you gave yourself a chance."

Laura eyed him warily. What was he implying? "Drop the act, Hepplewhite. I made the mistake of falling for it at the airport and it got me here. I won't fall for it again."

He lifted a gnarled hand to her cheek, then dropped it as she moved back a step. "We shall see. Consider yourself my guest until your friends give me what I want."

"And when they do? You can't let any of us out alive, Hepplewhite. You and I both know that. We know too much."

He continued as though she hadn't spoken. "The windows are fastened shut, so there is no way of escape there. There is a bathroom through that door- no window there, however. And the guards have instructions to do whatever is necessary to keep you here. Until later, my dear Laura." With a bow, he left the room and Laura heard the bolt slide on the outside of the door, sealing her inside.

Laura began inspecting the room, looking for something that might help her gain her release. Opening a dresser drawer, her eyes widened at the contents, and she glanced once at the closed door in shocked surprise at what she'd found.

***

Harry had the cab drop Tony at the towers that housed the agency, then continued on to his rendezvous with Mike Jackson. The reporter had agreed to meet him at an abandoned warehouse to talk. He was waiting when Harry entered the main room of the building. "Pleased you could make it, Steele," he drawled.

"The name's Chalmers now, Mike," Harry told him. But when Jackson would have asked more, he lifted his hand. "I promise to give you the story. But what if I could promise you a REAL exclusive? Something no other reporter in the entire COUNTRY knows about? Umm?" He saw the glow in the man's eyes.

"What exclusive?" Jackson asked.

"A former Nazi SS man who's been living virtually untouched in Los Angeles for the last ten years. A man who, in order to save his own ass, testified against his friends after the war in return for the freedom to travel anywhere he pleased. And as he traveled, he amassed an amazing fortune in mostly stolen art and gemstones, as well as more legitimate concerns." Harry could see the curiosity in Jackson's face now.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Lucas Hepplewhite."

***

The moment Mildred saw a dirty and disheveled Tony, she knew something had gone wrong. Sending Clarice to get him a cup of coffee laced with some of the whiskey that Laura kept for clients, she hustled the man into her office. "What happened?"

"Nothing good," he said, running his fingers through his curly hair as he began reciting a frustrated litany of events. "He changed the plan without telling anyone. And then Laura showed up. And Hepplewhite's men showed up and started shooting-"

"Whoa!" Mildred said, waving a confused Clarice out once she'd brought the coffee. "Again. And a little slower this time so I can keep up." Tony took a sip of the whiskey-laced coffee and recounted the morning's events as Mildred's frown deepened. "So that creep has Laura?"

"Yeah. And Chalmers is talking to a reporter!" Tony confirmed. "I think we need to be looking for her."

"Where? He's got property all over the county," Mildred told him. She picked up a file that was lying on her desk. "I've been doing some research on Luca Hepplewhite."

"Why? We know all about his past."

"Do we? I mean, yeah, we know he was in the SS," Mildred agreed. "But that's only the tip of the iceberg." She turned back to her computer, bringing up a specific page. "Look at this."

Tony sighed and slowly rose from his chair to join her. "What am I looking for?" he asked, examining the grainy scanned photo of several men in Nazi SS uniforms.

"This one," Mildred indicated, pointing to a laughing, smiling young lieutenant. "According to the site, his name was Hans Lukas. He was only twenty two years old when this was taken." Tony looked closer, shaking his head.

"You think that he's Lucas Hepplewhite?"

"I did a search for further info on Lukas," she said, clicking again. "He was arrested after the war, but was never tried."

Tony nodded. "Because he turned witness against his friends."

"Yeah. He was considered a small fish- so they used him to catch the bigger ones, then after he'd helped them, they let him go. He dropped out of sight and two years later, we have our first reference to Lucas Hepplewhite," she said as she triumphantly brought up a photograph taken of Hepplewhite soon after the young entrepreneur settled in New York and donated a large amount of money to the city's museum.

Tony compared the photo of Hepplewhite with the grainy one of Lukas. "Hepplewhite's hair is darker- but that's easily done. We know about this, though. It's just details."

"I'm not finished. Hepplewhite stayed in New York for five years. Then, without warning, he picked up and moved to South America. And you'll never guess why."

"I'm not in the mood for guessing games, Mildred."

Mildred typed something else into the computer. "During that five years, four young women vanished without a trace. There was nothing to tie Hepplewhite to the disappearances, except for one person's report that one of the women was last seen getting into a limo owned by him. Before they could investigate further, he had relocated to Brazil, where he stayed until ten years ago when he moved to Los Angeles."

Tony felt cold chills down his spine. "What else?"
"The wife he told Laura about? Lisle Morgan Hepplewhite was at least twenty years younger than he was. They were only married a few months when she died- suddenly. She was buried before they could do an autopsy. Hepplewhite said it had been a lingering illness, but those who knew her insisted that she was in perfect health- unless one counted that she was terrified of her husband."

Tony stared at the computer screen. "What about since he came to Los Angeles? Any unsolved disappearances of young women?"

"Tons. But there are nine that are similar enough to set off an alarm for me. Not for the police, I guess, but then, they wouldn't suspect one of the wealthiest men in the city, would they?" She pulled up the reports. "Age doesn't seem to be a factor, with him," Mildred went on. "Most of these women were similar in size and coloring- which leads me back to this---" she clicked once more after showing him the photos of all the missing women, and a photograph came up of a petite woman with a sad smile. "Lisle Hepplewhite."

"Good god. He's trying to recreate his wife!"

"Apparently so. And when they don't measure up, he probably kills them and buries them somewhere." Tony picked up the phone. "I gotta call Chalmers. What's his cell phone number?"

Mildred shrugged. "I don't have it. He was going to give it to me, but we got sidetracked."

Tony stared at her, recalling Laura saying that she'd gotten the number from Mildred. Or maybe she'd gotten it from Chalmers himself. He hung up the phone, only to jump as it rang. Clarice called in a moment later. "Miss Krebs, it's Mr. Chalmers. Line one."

"Thanks," Mildred called back, picking up the phone and pressing the flashing button. "Harry. Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Mildred. Look, is Antony there?"

"Yeah. We were just talking about Hepplewhite. I found out some things about him that make it imperative that we find Laura ASAP."

He must have heard the concern in her voice. "You did?"

"Loads of it. You're not gonna believe it."

"I probably will- could you come down to Parker Street?"

"Why?"

"I need your inimitable talents to get through to a reluctant appraiser. I've tried for an hour to talk to Lloyd Davis. I think he recognized me from the paper this morning."

Mildred picked up a pen. "What's the address?"

***

Harry remained outside as Mildred entered the tiny shop and asked the clerk to tell Davis that she needed to have something appraised. She saw the curtain in the doorway that led to the rear of the shop move slightly, then a nervous little man came out, his eyes darting around as if looking for someone. "Can-Can I help you, ma'am?" he asked after the clerk told him goodbye for the day and left.

"I hope so," she said, placing a velvet box on the counter between them. "I just got this from my grandmother's estate. The last appraisal seemed a little low- I want a second opinion."

"Well, let's see what we have here," Davis said, relaxing a bit as he opened the case to reveal the pearl necklace. "Lovely. Do you have any idea how old these are?"

"They were a gift to my grandmother from her father on her sixteenth birthday," Mildred lied. In truth, the pearls were Laura's- stashed in the office safe, since it was the most secure place that Laura had for such things. Mildred saw Harry enter the shop via the curtained doorway and come up behind the little man.

"Mmmm," Davis said, examining the luminescent orbs. "Lovely." He gasped as Harry spoke.

"Yes, they are, aren't they?"

"What-what are you doing here?" Davis asked, his eyes wide as they looked up at Harry. "Mr. Steele, I don't need any trouble, okay? I just want to run my shop, that's all."

"And a fine shop it is, too," Harry agreed, lifting the pearls from Davis' hands and returning them to their satin bed. "But I wonder what will happen when the authorities find out that you've been authenticating stolen goods for Lucas Hepplewhite?"

Davis paled even more. "I-I didn't know those things were stolen. And the-the Lavulite wasn't even real."

"No. But you're going to tell him that THESE are," Harry said, placing five blue stones on the counter atop a velvet swatch.

Davis picked up a blue stone and fished for his loupe. After a moment, he swallowed. "They're glass. Blue glass. I can't tell him that they're the Royal Lavulite. He'll kill me when he finds out."

"He won't be in any position to kill anyone," Harry assured the man. "But the life of my former partner depends on your authenticating these stones as the Real McCoy when Hepplewhite brings them to you." He placed a companionable arm around Davis' narrow shoulders. "Now, what do you say to our little arrangement? You help us, and we'll make sure your name stays out of the papers as having helped him."

Davis swallowed heavily. "What do I have to do?"

 

"That's the beauty of it," Harry said with a conspiratorial smile. "All you have to do- is your job."

To Be Continued>>>

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Original content ©1999 by Nancy Eddy