Monsters
By
Karen Singer
Chapter 18 – Monster Headaches – Part 2 of 2
“What do I do about Ralphie?”
Brandy wondered aloud.
“I don’t know,” Carol replied. “That’s up to you. Send him home or…let him come with us up to
where my mother is.”
“I’ve got to do something with him
right now,” Brandy replied, her frustration evident. “Let me call him and get him here. As long as nobody minds, we’ll take him up to
your mother’s place.”
“Sure,” Carol replied.
Brandy pulled out her phone and
called Ralphie. “Ralphie. Get a cab and come to the restaurant.”
“I’ll be there in just a few
minutes Miss Brandy. I didn’t know where
else to go, so I’m in a cab and on my way there right now.”
“Perfect!” Brandy replied. “Sometimes Ralphie, you’re amazing!”
“Thank you, Miss Brandy,” Ralphie
replied happily.
“Don’t let it go to your head!”
“Of course not, Miss Brandy.”
It was only a short wait before one
of the hotel waiters ushered Ralphie back into the kitchen area, then back to
the room where Brandy and Carol were still nursing their aching heads. Ralphie was dressed in a blue dress with
matching blue stiletto heels. The purse
he was carrying looked just as out of place on the man as did everything
else. Just seeing him walk into the room
brought a big smile to Brandy’s face.
“Miss Brandy,” Ralphie said, the
concern clearly showing on his face.
“What happened?”
“What happened?” Brandy
replied. She picked up her motorcycle
helmet and handed it to him. “We got
shot. Both of us. In the head.
So I suggest you don’t try my patience right now because I’ve still got
a bad headache from it.”
Ralphie examined the helmet. The big crack and the obvious hole in the
center of the crack. He gingerly set the
helmet back on the table. “Miss Brandy,”
he said, knowing she probably didn’t want him to bring her more problems at
that point.
“What Raphie?” Brandy replied, not
wanting to hear anything from him.
“Before I left the hotel room, I
quickly searched for anything that maybe we shouldn’t leave there, and the only
thing I found that I could grab quickly, was these papers you’ve had me get
from the restaurant here every day.”
Brandy looked up at that, and so
did Carol. “You grabbed the reports?”
Carol asked.
“All that I could find,” Ralphie
replied.
Carol went over, grabbed his head,
and kissed his cheek. “Good work,
Ralphie.”
Ralphie nearly fell over in his
heels. Seeing the pleased look on both
of their faces, he found a seat at the back of the room to wait for more
orders.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“Rumor has it that those two damn
broads we’re after got themselves shot in the head this morning,” one of the
men told Beastman as he still sat in his hospital bed. “The only problem is, their bodies seemed to
have disappeared.”
“Someone else is after them?” Vince
replied. “Well, that much I can
believe. I know I’m not the only one in
town that they’ve pissed off. I know for
a fact that Allingham want’s their heads too.
Any idea what happened to them?”
“Someone said that the two military
guys they killed last night disappeared too.
Maybe someone got their bodies that fast as well.”
“Maybe,” Beastman said. “But knowing them, they’re just as likely to
have walked away.”
“What do you want us to do, call
off the little surprise we were planning for them?”
“No not unless we get confirmation
that they’re both dead. Keep it in place
for a few more days. Hopefully, we’ll
know more by then. And hopefully, I’ll
be out of this damn hospital in a few more hours! What’s taking that damn doctor so long
anyway?”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“Where is she?”
Carol’s head perked up at the
desperate voice. “Mom’s here,” she said
to Brandy as she got up from her seat.
Before she got halfway across the room, the door opened and Carol’s
mother hurried in.
“Oh Carol!” Janice cried. “You got shot! In the head!”
She ran to her daughter and enveloped her in a tight lasting hug. “My baby!”
“I’m fine, Mom. Really.
The helmets saved us.”
Brandy watched as Carol’s mother
continued to hold her and fuss over her.
What was it like to have a mother that loved you that much? What was it like to have anyone who
loved you that much? She still couldn’t
fathom it.
People got shot every day. It was a reality of life. Especially her life. Some people lived, some people died. Someday, she would most likely be
killed. But unlike Carol, she didn’t
have anyone who cared about her that much…except perhaps her Uncle Vinny. But even he didn’t have the kind of love
toward her that Carol and her mother shared.
What was it like to know someone, anyone, loved you that much? She just didn’t know. She supposed, she would never know.
Susan Wu came over to her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. My head still hurts, but the Tylenol we took
helped some.”
“We’re just glad you’re okay,”
Susan told her. Her eyes went to the
back of the room where the man in a dress sat trying to look
inconspicuous. Something that was
obviously impossible for him. She didn’t
smile, but she did nod. “Ralphie, I
presume?”
“Yes…ma’am,” Ralphie replied
nervously.
“Would you mind if he comes with
us?” Brandy asked. “I’m sure the police
are probably searching our rooms and I want him away from there.”
“Of course. No problem,” Susan told her. She went to the table and started examining
the two motorcycle helmets.
“I want two more, just like them,”
Carol told her. “They saved our lives.”
“They certainly did that,” Susan
agreed.
“Just like them!” Carol
insisted. “I don’t care what they cost.”
“Like them…or better,” Susan
replied. “I get messages once in a while
from the company that made them and your riding suits. They keep trying to improve their products.”
“I’d consider better,” Carol
agreed.
“Let’s get you out of here
then. We can talk about it later.”
They all headed outside where they
found Susan’s limo waiting along with two other black cars. Ralphie was sent to one of the other cars,
while Carol and Brandy joined Susan and Janice in the limo. Two hours later, they arrived at the mansion. Susan’s father and the entire female staff
met them on the front steps.
Janice started issuing orders the
moment she got out of the car.
“Susannah, you have Carol of course,” she said to one of the maids. “Natalia, take care of Brandy. Showers and fresh clothes for both of
them. She turned to one of the other
women. “We’ll have lunch in the dining
room in one hour.” She quickly disappeared
into the mansion, her own personal maid following right behind.
Natalia was the same maid who had
attended to Brandy the last time she had been there. She led Brandy up to the same bedroom
again. Brandy noted that Carol and one
of the other maids were heading to another bedroom further down the hall. She got the feeling that Carol and the other
maid were well acquainted.
“Would you like me to help you?”
Natalia offered as she stopped just outside the room. “Or shall I wait here again?”
Surprisingly, Brandy’s first
thoughts turned to Ralphie and further training for him. “If you come in, what can you do for me?”
“Why don’t you let me take charge
and find out, Miss. It’s what I’ve been
trained to do.”
“Trained? Now you’ve got me curious.”
Natalia gestured for Brandy to
enter the room ahead of her. On the bed
was another dress and another pair of shoes to go with it, just like last time.
“We have an hour until lunch,
Miss. Let me draw your bath water first,
then I’ll help you get out of that suit.
It must be very uncomfortable.”
“Not as bad as you might think,
especially after it saved my life,” Brandy told her.
Natalia smiled and headed for the
bathroom. She was soon back, and she
helped Brandy out of her riding suit.
The bath was nice. It was just
strange having someone washing your back and other parts of her body with the
big soft sponge. The part that Brandy
really liked was the attention Natalia gave to her hair. “Do you do this for everyone?” Brandy asked
as Natalia rubbed the shampoo into her head.”
“Any I’m asked to serve and that
allow it, Miss,” Natalia replied.
“Can you teach this to Ralphie?”
“Ralphie, Miss?”
“The weirdo downstairs in the
dress,” Brandy told her.
Natalia chuckled, but didn’t answer
the question.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Downstairs, Ralphie stood in the
entrance foyer and tried to remain out of the way and out of sight. Everyone else had disappeared. He was happier with nobody around to laugh at
him. After waiting a while, he finally
found an out of the way place to sit.
The chair was comfortable. The
room was beautiful. He could just stay
there forever and cease to exist. If
only he could.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“Carol.”
“Yeah, Susannah?” Carol replied to
the woman who served as her personal maid whenever she was back at the island.
“I hate to ask, but do you think
there’s any chance that your friend Brandy will let Natalia serve her better
this time?”
“I don’t know,” Carol replied. “What do you mean?”
“Natalia still thinks she has to
prove herself. She’s still trying to
prove she can do a better job of serving than anyone else. She just never gets a chance.”
“I don’t know,” Carol replied as
she stepped into the bathtub. “Brandy is
pretty damn independent, which is one of the things I like about her. But I’ll talk to her about it if you like.”
“Would you please?” Susannah asked.
“No problem,” Carol sighed as she sat
back in the tub and allowed Susannah to start scrubbing her body. Sometimes, being very rich, had its
advantages. And this was one of
them. Susannah had been her personal
maid for the last three years now. The
two of them had grown somewhat close. Since
they were nearly the same age, Susannah had become one of the few friends she
had. She knew Natalia of course, but she
didn’t know her as well since Natalia was younger and wasn’t her personal maid. Her mother had hired Natalia to be one of the
servants to take care of any of the guests that came to the island. Since Natalia had been around for a few years
now, Carol had no doubt that her mother had to be pleased with her.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“You look…beautiful, Miss,” Natalia
told her as Brandy looked at herself in the mirror. Natalia had done some curling to her hair,
and now parts of it were twirled gracefully around in beautiful spirals.
“Thank you,” Brandy replied
happily. “Do I look okay this time for
lunch?”
Natalia smiled. “More than okay, Miss.”
“Thanks. Lead the way.”
Downstairs, they ran into
Susan. “Brandy,” Susan said. “Your…friend…Ralphie. What about him? I’m sure that Janice wouldn’t want him in the
dining room with us. She barely
tolerates my father.”
Ralphie isn’t a friend. He’s my servant. He can eat with…wherever and whenever the
servants eat…if they don’t mind. Or,
just find him something to eat and stick him somewhere out of the way. I’m sure he’ll be much happier where he’s out
of everyone’s sight and left alone.
“As you wish,” Susan replied,
nodding at Natalia.
“I’ll see to it, Miss Susan,”
Natalia offered.
Brandy followed Susan into the
dining room. She saw Mr. Wu, her father,
entering from another door. “Ah, Miss
Savatori,” he said as he walked over to greet Brandy. “We are so glad you suffered no further
problems from this morning’s attack.”
“Trust me,” Brandy replied. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a
miracle. That had to have been the
hardest hit to my head I could ever imagine.”
“Yes. A high-powered bullet. We think from the rooftop across the
street. I’ve been examining those
helmets you brought with you. They did
as remarkable job of stopping the bullets.
No ordinary helmet could have done that.”
“You have no idea how grateful I am
for it,” Brandy replied.
“Hi guys,” Carol said as she strode
into the dining room.
“Ah. Miss Carol,” Wu said with a bow. “We were just discussing how lucky you both
were to survive that attack. Your
helmets certainly did their job.”
“Yeah. I want two more, just like them. Put them on my bill.”
“Susan,” he said, nodding toward
his daughter, “has already spoken of it.”
“Oh Carol,” Janice Stokely’s voice
came pleasantly as she strode into the room.
“You look so pretty again.” She
went over and hugged her daughter. “I
really wish I could see you like this more often.” She turned to Brandy. “And you, my dear. It looks like you’ve turned out extra-nice as
well. Come ladies. Lunch is ready.”
As she sat through Janice Stokley
saying grace before the meal, Brandy again wondered about the strange
woman. A monster? How?
What kind of monster would insist on saying grace before every
meal? It didn’t make sense.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Las Vegas. Only in Las Vegas. Detective Corbin shook his head. Two women evidently got shot in front of
their hotel, only to have both bodies disappear. From what little they had pieced together,
the two women had somehow survived, panicked, and ran for it. There was no sign of blood anywhere to be
found, but they did find the two bullets that hit them. Military grade. High powered.
Both those women should have been dead.
And now this little annoying
thing. They had briefly searched their
hotel suites earlier, right after the shooting, but when the forensics team had
gone up later, both suites had been emptied out. Strange.
And even stranger still, forensics hadn’t found a single fingerprint in
either of their suites.
It was the worst months for
criminal activity that he could remember.
Dead bodies all over the place…most of which were criminals that he
couldn’t care less about. And now two
more shootings. But by the way things
were looking, he now suspected that those two women weren’t exactly on the up
and up either.
Something was going on in his city,
and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
All he lacked, was information…and where to find it. Every time he turned around, he found himself
stumped.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“We managed to break into your
hotel rooms and retrieve everything you had,” Susan told Carol and Brandy after
lunch as they all sat outside in comfortable chairs on the beautiful patio
behind the house. The barn and horse
fields in the distance made the scenery inviting and relaxing. “The police did go in before we could get
there, but as soon as they left, we moved all your things. We’re pretty sure that nobody knows we did
it. The police have launched a small
manhunt for you, but nothing much. They
have no dead bodies to deal with, so they’re not as concerned.”
“How about our bikes?” Carol asked.
“In police custody, I’m
afraid. We won’t touch them. Fortunately, there’s no way they can trace
them.”
“Good. But if the police have them, then we’re going
to need new ones as soon as possible.
And like I said, I want to order two more of those helmets.”
“I’ve already looked into it, but
they have to be shipped from China so it’s going to take a day or two. Also, since you want them right away, they
won’t be able to do a custom paint job on them.
They’re shipping them as they are, solid black.”
“Sounds fine,” Carol replied. “Where can we get some new bikes?”
“If you can wait until tomorrow, we
have a dealership in Las Angeles. We’d
prefer to have them shipped from there so your bikes can’t be traced. Otherwise, we can take you somewhere in Las
Vegas. To be honest Carol, after what
happened this morning, we feel both of you should spend the rest of the day and
tonight right here. This afternoon, you
and I can look at what motor bikes the company has available, and we can have
registration papers and licenses for them made up by our people tonight. That way, when your new motorcycles get here
tomorrow, you can get back to business.”
Carol sighed. “Okay.
You’re right. We’ll spend the
night. But tomorrow, we’ve got to get
back to work. I’ve got to find someone
to kill!”
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