The Housekeeper - Chapter 34 Part 1 of 3

The Housekeeper

By Karen Singer

Chapter 34 Part 1 of 3

Carol was fighting sleep as her mother drove through the back country highway down toward Augusta, Georgia.  It was a long ride.  A very long ride.  They had already been to the cabin again that morning and deposited their luggage they had packed earlier before leaving home.  Now they were heading toward Augusta… for business.

She was about to become an accomplice to kidnapping.  Her mother would technically be the kidnapper… but her mother had made it graphically clear that as an accomplice, Carol would be held just as responsible.  Her mother had carefully explained all that to her when she had asked if she was interested in going.  But that decision was an easy one for Carol.  She trusted her mother implicitly!  And… she loved her more than anything else in the world.  If her mother was involved in it, then she wanted to be a part of it too… no matter what it was.  Besides, this guy they would be kidnapping was a man, and as her mother had taught her, she saw nothing at all wrong with destroying any man at all.  The jerk probably deserved it anyway… whoever he was.

Her part in the actual kidnapping would be easy.  She would be blocks away when it actually happened.  The most difficult part for her today was that she was going to have to drive all the way back to that cabin… and find it again – in the dark.  She had no doubt that she would manage that just fine.

It would normally be a four hour drive from the cabin to where they were going, but the ride was made even longer by the rainstorms that continued to blow through.  And after stopping for a nice lunch along the way, it took them nearly five hours to get there.  They filled the rest of their time in a Burger King until it was time to leave. 

Janice parked the car along the side of the road, a few hundred yards away from Halifax’s apartment.  Halifax would have to drive right past the car on his way home.  “Are you ready dear?” Janice asked after turning the engine off.

“Sure, Momma.  No problem.”

Janice reached out and caressed the face of her daughter… then leaned in and gave her a kiss.  “Good luck dear,” she said lovingly.

“You too, Momma.  You’ve got the hard part.”

Janice nodded.  “I’ll mange.  You just do your part and everything will work out just fine.  Okay?”

“No problem, Momma,” Carol replied.

Janice nodded and pulled the hood of her raincoat over her head before stepping out of the car into the pouring rain.  She opened the back door and grabbed her leather case and threw the strap over her shoulder.  “Love you!” she called to Carol in the front seat.

“Love you too, Momma,” Carol replied. 

A minute later, Janice was hurrying across the street and back toward Halifax’s apartment.  If everything went the way it usually did, she figured she had about half an hour before Halifax would get home.  After that, then she would just have to wait and see.  It was entirely possible that they wouldn’t be able to do this tonight.  It all depended on the situation when Halifax got home.

Carol was getting antsy.  It was five minutes past the time that Halifax should have driven past her now.  Another car approached from the distance.  A red one!  “Momma!  He’s coming!” she said anxiously into her phone the moment she saw what kind of car it was.

“Is he alone?” her mother’s whispered voice came back.

“Wait a minute,” Carol replied.  She ducked back toward the middle of the black SUV a bit so as not to be seen as easily by the driver of the red car.  The car went past and she tried to look into Halifax’s car as best as she could.  The rain made it very difficult to see though.  “Momma, he just passed me.  I don’t think he has anyone with him, but it was a little hard to tell in the rain.”

It was a moment before Janice could reply.  “Understood dear.”  She had the option of abandoning the plan now, or continuing on.  If Halifax had company, she would have to abandon it.  Carol wasn’t able to tell and there wasn’t time for her to get back down the stairs to find out.  She would just have to wait where she was and hope for the best.

Joseph Halifax was overly annoyed by the rain as he pulled his car into his driveway and then around the back of his building.  It had rained all too much this year.  He was looking forward to his evening.  One of his favorite girls would be around in a little while and he would take her out for an evening of fun.  After that, he was looking forward to an entire weekend of fun with her.  It would just be a lot more fun without all the rain!

He pushed the button to open his garage door as soon as he got close, and as usual, began pulling slowly in before the door was fully open.  A moment later, the garage door was closing behind him as he got out of his car.  He was slightly annoyed to find the elevator up on the second floor instead of down at the garage level, but that happened often.  It was only a short wait for it to come down.  He got in and pushed the button to go up to his apartment.  The elevator ascended in its usual stately manner.

Finally the elevator stopped.  Finally the doors began to open.  And… who the hell?

Janice pulled the trigger and shot Halifax the moment the elevator doors were open wide enough to give her a clear shot!  She was hunched down on the floor where it would be unlikely that he would notice her through the window in the elevator.  The Taser sent Halifax flying to the floor at the back of the elevator where his body continued to twitch and spasm until she decided he’d had enough.  Quickly she grabbed the hypodermic needle she had prepared and rushed in.  It took her only moments to administer the Rohypnol drug directly into his system. 

As the twitching from the Taser stopped and the hypnotic effects of the drug took over, Janice reached over and flipped the “Off” button on the elevator.  If anyone called for it now, she’d never be able to fully explain what happened.  She watched her victim carefully.  It was going to take a few minutes for the drug to get adequately into his system.

While she waited, she picked up her phone.  “I’ve got him!” she said to her daughter on the other end.

Carol was relieved.  “Great, Momma!”  She had heard nothing but a bunch of background commotion while it was happening.  She had been scared to death for her mother.

“Turn the car around now,” Janice told her.  “You know where to meet us.  I’ve got to go now.  I’ve got work to do here.”

“Okay, Momma,” Carol agreed quickly. 

Janice reeled in the wires from her Taser and set it so that it would be ready to shoot again if she needed to.  From her case, she pulled out a pair of handcuffs before going back into the elevator.  His body was no longer twitching around, he was rolling his head slightly around on the floor instead as if drunk.  The drug was working.  Kneeling down next to him, she began removing his sport jacket.  “We’re going to make you very happy,” she said softly and calmly to her victim.  “We’re going to take you somewhere where you will have lots of fun.”

With the jacket now off of him, she cuffed his hands behind his back.  She felt much safer now.  “We’re going to take you somewhere where you can meet a very pretty girl,” she told him.  She almost laughed as she saw his head, still on the floor, try to look around.

“Pretty girl,” Halifax’s slurred voice repeated as the hypnotic drug in his body took more and more control.

“Yes, a very pretty girl,” Janice said.  “Why don’t you stand up now and I’ll take you to her.”  She watched as he started struggling to get to his feet.  “Let me help you,” she suggested as she did her best to balance him so he could get up.  She slipped his sport jacket over his shoulders to hide the cuffs on his wrists in case anyone should happen to see them.

“Pretty girl,” the drugged man said again as his body swayed a bit. 

Janice did her best to lean him against the corner of the elevator while she ran out and got her case.  “Don’t fall,” she cautioned as if she was his best friend it the world.  “You want to meet the pretty girl, don’t you?”

“Pretty girl,” Halifax slurred again as his head rolled a bit to the side.

Janice started the elevator again and pushed the button for the bottom floor.  As soon as the elevator opened again, she glanced out at the darkened garage in front of her.  Dark was good.  Dark meant nobody was around.  But the dark only lasted a moment before the motion detectors switched the lights on.  As quickly as she could, she shepherded the drugged man around to the passenger side of his car, and with only a minimum of difficulty, managed to get him to sit down inside the thing.  His head was starting to roll around a bit more.  She noticed that the car only had a button to start it so she didn’t bother to go searching his pockets for the keys.  All she needed was for the key to be somewhere in the car and the thing would start… she hoped.  It took a bit of fussing to get the seatbelt wrapped all the way across his body and to fasten it.  Then she ran around to the driver’s side and got in.  The car started quickly and easily with a push of the button.  She checked her mirrors and got herself comfortable.  It was going to be a long drive.  She found the button for the garage door and opened it, a moment later, she was pulling out into the pouring rain. 

It was only a five minute drive to the parking lot where Carol was waiting for her.  The sight of her daughter waiting there made her glad.  She pulled up right next to the black SUV and opened her window despite the rain.  “All set?” she called out.

“Ready, Momma,” Carol returned.

“Let me get my cell phone out,” Janice replied.  She found her phone in her case and pulled it out so she could get at it in case it was needed.  She noticed Halifax’s head hanging limply to the side.  His eyes were closed.  He had fallen asleep.  He would most likely sleep like that most of the night.  It was actually a relief.  “Let’s go,” she yelled through the rain to her daughter.  She saw her daughter smile and roll up her window.

Roger was in his nightgown again.  He had spent all evening dressed as Candy… studying makeup videos and practicing what he knew.  He had no idea why he decided to spend the entire evening doing that, but he did.  It bothered him a little that he couldn’t find anything better to do with his time.  He supposed that Janice would be pleased with him… but he didn’t really care.

Ready for bed, he stared at the empty floor of his room.  Janice wasn’t here.  He could find nothing at all in his mental conditioning to prevent him from sleeping somewhere else.  With a small smile on his face, he went into Janice’s room… his old bedroom… and climbed into her bed.  A few minutes later, he was sound asleep… sleeping for the first time in months in an actual bed… with an actual mattress… and an actual pillow… and actual covers over top of him.  Perfect!