Home Free - Fern Michaels [101]
“Will you just shut up already? It is so unmanly to snivel like that,” Kathryn barked.
“Did you really think you were going to get away with this?” Myra asked in a tone that she would use to discuss the weather with a friend.
“At first I did. Then, when Span started gambling more and more and demanded more money, I knew it was just a matter of time. Will it do any good to say I’m sorry? It’s all drug money, anyway, from around the world that found its way into the CIA coffers.”
“Where did you lose all that money, Mr. Orzell?” Annie asked.
“Vegas. I’m a gambling addict, but not as bad as Span was. I knew when to hold and when to fold. He didn’t.”
“Which casino did you lose all that money in?” Annie asked.
“That big one, Babylon.”
“Really!” Annie trilled. “Span, too?”
“That was his favorite casino. And now he’s dead.”
“That is just too interesting. I don’t suppose you have his bank account numbers, or do you?” Annie asked, a decided gleam in her eye.
“Stop thinking I’m some dumb schmuck. Of course I have his account numbers. How else do you think he got the money? Do you think I met him in some dark alley and handed over a check? I don’t think so! I wired the money to his banks. It’s in the file under his name. If you plan on taking it, you’d better do it quick, before a couple of his ex-wives go after it.”
“Why, Mr. Orzell, thank you for that valuable information,” Nikki said. The Sisters watched as she tapped at the keys. A blizzard of numbers rushed across the screen. “It’s all ours now!”
“I cooperated. Please let me go. I’ll quit gambling. I’ll get a job working at some fast-food joint. I’ll stay on the straight and narrow. I swear, I promise never to gamble again. I helped you. Please!” Orzell wailed.
“You need to shut up, or I’m going to knock your teeth out and stuff them down your throat. You are a gutless wonder, and we are not going to let you go. That’s the bottom line,” Yoko said sweetly.
Orzell howled his misery just as Jack returned with the quitclaim deeds. “Sign on the dotted line.” Orzell signed, his hand shaking so badly Kathryn had to threaten him again.
“You’re up, Parker! Sign here!” Kathryn said as Ted and Espinosa dragged a sputtering, kicking, panic-stricken man over to the pool of light in the living room. “Sign your name and be quick about it.”
With no other recourse available to him, Jason Parker signed his name on every piece of paper Jack handed him. Alexis squatted down and dug her notary seal out of her red bag but not before she handed the KA-BAR to Kathryn, who waved it about like a sword.
“Well, I think our work here is done,” Annie said.
“And we didn’t spill a drop of blood. We didn’t do anything violent. We acted like the civilized women we are,” Myra said. “I’m very proud of all of us tonight.”
“I really hate to bring this up, Myra, but I wanted us to go out in a blaze of glory. I really did. We didn’t even make a puff of smoke.”
Myra patted Annie’s hand. “I know, dear. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way we plan for them to. But we accomplished what we set out to do. Nikki and the girls will make all that money go where it belongs. The president will be happy that we kept our bargain.”
“I wanted that blaze of glory, Myra,” Annie said stubbornly.
“Yes, well, I want my pearls back, too, but that isn’t going to happen, since the dogs ate them. Be happy we’re all walking away in one piece, that justice is done, and we have our lives back. I have to call Mr. Snowden now to have him pick up these two men. I don’t think we should ask what’s going to happen to them. I, for one, really do not want to know.”
The Sisters agreed with that sentiment entirely.
When the downstairs door closed behind Avery Snowden and his men, the Sisters looked at one another. No one said a word as they gathered up their belongings while the boys carted all the computers out to the cars.
“We’ll have to send a letter to the tenants downstairs, telling them they have to relocate,” Isabelle said.
Nikki nodded.
“Then I guess there’s nothing more to do here. We close up