Page 74 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

She began to wriggle against the bonds that held the blanket around her. She dragged herself across the floor, hoping to catch the blanket on something and allow herself to wiggle out of it. A foot, a big one, landed on her middle stopping her. Her ribs cried out in protest, but she was afraid to move.

“Quit it. We’ll let you out when we’re ready and not a minute before. Understand?”

Annie nodded, but realized they couldn’t see her. “Okay,” she mumbled and spat more of the woolen fibers out of her mouth.

The voice was deep and gruff. She didn’t recognize it, but she guessed it belonged to an older man. He sounded as tough as boot leather. He sounded like a man who meant what he said.

The van slowed and turned onto a jutted drive that crunched under the wheels like gravel. Annie strained to hear any noises that would identify where she was. But the wool covering her head muffled anything beyond the sound of the tires.

The van stopped and she rolled. The door was jerked open and Annie was pulled to her feet.

“Walk,” the gruff voice ordered.

Annie didn’t hesitate, cringing with each step.

She was shoved through a doorway and pushed down onto a hard chair. The bonds around her body were loosened and the blanket was pulled off of her head. She blinked against the bright light. Squinting she looked at her captors, trying to gauge their intent. She was ready to duck and roll if they took a swing at her.

She blinked and then she blinked again. It couldn’t be. They were an older couple. They appeared to be in their early to mid fifties. The man wore a white suit and a black shirt. Annie gasped.

“You’re the man from the blackjack table,” she said. “And you, you’re the woman in purple sequins who played roulette with me.”

“Very good, Annie,” he said. “I was afraid you recognized me. But, of course you didn’t because I am a master of disguise.”

“You sure are, baby,” the woman said as she lit a cigarette.

“Who are you?” Annie asked. “What do you want?”

“Now, this ain’t personal,” the man said. “I suppose I am a bit better looking all cleaned up. Here let me give you a hint.” He launched into Henry’s song.

“Henry?” Annie felt the room spin. She looked closely. He had shaved. His hair was neatly combed back into a ponytail and what his clothes lacked in taste they made up for in cleanliness. It was his eyes that clinched it. This man’s eyes crinkled around the corners just like Henry’s and his singing voice was just as rich as Henry’s had been.

She realized that she was thinking of him as an impostor who had taken over Henry when it was probably Henry who’d been fictitious all along. Still, she felt as if her old friend was dead. Her shoulders slumped.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“Don’t you?” the man, Henry, asked.

“You used me,” she accused.

“Not on purpose,” the woman said. “Me and Eric just saw an opportunity and we took it.”

“Hush, Dotty,” Henry, or rather, Eric said. “Annie, you’re a good chef, but a terrible businesswoman. You want to save yourself some grief? Invest in a paper shredder.”

“A paper shredder?”

“I was going through your trash cans when I found it,” Eric said. “A way to get me and Dotty out of our hard times. It was easy really. You see, Dotty and I are entrepreneurs.”

“Crooks would be more like it,” Annie interrupted.

He shrugged. “If you like. What we do is take money from our investors and hide it for them so they don’t have to report it. Your business was just small enough not to attract any notice, or so we thought.”

“So you laundered money for your ‘investors’ by setting up a bogus account attached to my business. Your ‘investors’ are probably dope-dealing dirtbags. Do you even care that you’re breaking the law? I trusted you. I looked out for you. How could you do this to me?”

“What? We weren’t hurting you! Everything was fine until you let that man move in. When I broke in—”

“You broke in?” Annie gasped. “You’re the one who trashed my shop?”

“Yeah. I thought it might scare that guy off. Once I discovered the two of you were an item, I knew the gig was up. That guy’s not what he appears to be. Don’t be thinking he married you because he loves you, because he doesn’t. It’s my money he’s after. I don’t know how he figured me out, but he did. I know he’s taking money from my account.”