Chapter 28: The Evidence Is in

I’ve got to get out of here. These people are insane. Or worse. I don’t know where to start. I’ve got to send this info to Tom but it has to come from Peg. Will he respond?

As seen on TV

I decided to watch TV that night. It was the first time I’d actually turned on the big screen with everything else going on. So, it was the first time I noticed what a rats’ nest of power cables there was plugged into the power strip that runs from the only outlet in the room. These houses weren’t designed for all the modern conveniences. I was surprised she didn’t blow circuits all the time with all the stuff she was running. And not even a surge protector on the power strip! I discovered the TIVO. With the crap on the schedule for the night, I thought maybe she would have recorded something that would be decent to watch.

I should have known better.

Once I found all the remote controls, I turned it on and began a search for decent programming. All the recorded programs were marked VIDEO IN with the date. There wasn’t a program name. I clicked on the first one and discovered it was more footage of Georgia but this time it was just her sitting with guests in the living room. She had Susan over and they drank tea or something and ate while they talked about the weather and the same kinds of things that Susan kept trying to engage me in. But this went further.

About half way through, Georgia started talking about how if Susan just followed instructions and did as she was told, everything would be fine. Susan asked about her reward.

“Suz, I am a woman of my word. I’ll put this in a safe place for you,” Georgia said in the recording. She opened the collar of her shirt slightly and showed Susan the Amethyst necklace. “I have all I want or will ever need and if you help me get rid of Rick and Deon, I will give you the necklace. I know how you’ve admired it and I told you the story. It’s probably worth a quarter of a million dollars. And really, Suz. You are so far in now that you don’t want Rick to find out about it unless we bring him down. He still doesn’t know you opened a private bank account, does he? You’ve been planning to run for months.”

“Don’t tell, Georgia. Please.”

“We want the same thing, Suz. We’ve done our time on our backs—and every other position they could think of—and it’s time to reap our rewards. But Rick and Deon aren’t going to just let us all quit. They like this life. But the games are getting too rough. We’ve got to protect ourselves and put them away.”

“You’re sure it will work?”

“Positive. I have everything we need.”

It ended pretty quickly after that with Susan getting up and leaving. I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the ledge of the TV stand. Sure enough, there was a video camera I missed before. I didn’t even realize you could plug a video camera directly into one of those recorders.

I sped through all of the recordings. Georgia had met with all the women. They were plotting to overthrow the empire. Somehow, Georgia had them convinced she had a plan that would put Deon and Rick safely out of the way—permanently. Everything seemed staged to come to a head on Christmas morning.

And that’s when I got to the last recording.

The house in the video was nothing like it was when I first walked in. It wasn’t just that the police had been there and disturbed things since then. The house was decorated for Christmas. That didn’t fit with what the police put in their report. I watched as everyone gathered with champagne to toast the holiday. It looked like any group of friends, but Georgia was planning something when she stepped up to toast the group.

“We’ve had a good run,” she said. “It’s time to pack our tents and steal away into the night.”

“What are you talking about?” Deon asked.

“We’re quitting,” Georgia said. “I’ve turned all the cameras off. We’re not doing the orgy broadcast today. In fact, we’re not ever doing it again.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Rick said. “We’ve got a good thing going here. No one can touch us. There’s no reason to quit.”

“Remember the old TV show The Untouchables? Al Capone couldn’t be brought down. It was foolproof. Except one little thing. He didn’t pay his income taxes,” Georgia said. “Do you know how much unreported income you had in the past four years, Rick? I do. To the penny. All the information is available to me whenever I want it and it’s enough for the Feds to put you away for five to life. Add enslavement, kidnapping, drug dealing, and money laundering and they’ll throw away the keys. You can take what you’ve got and spend it on a desert island somewhere or lose it all and spend your life in prison.”

“You filthy little whore! Rick swore. “I really didn’t think you had the brains or the balls to do this.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Deon said. His voice was as smooth and persuasive as I remembered. “I want to hear what she thinks she’s got on me. I’m clean.”

“Aside from being a convicted felon who lied in order to get a private investigator license and carries a gun without a permit?” Georgia asked. “That would only get you six months to two years and I don’t ever want to see you again. You out-clevered yourself. All that stuff you wanted me to cosign for and the house you bought with my money? I’m pulling the plug on it. No revenue, no car, no house, no TV. I’ve already transferred title to myself exclusively. On everything except the car. Here’s your key. There’s a hundred grand in the glovebox. Just get in and drive away or kiss it all goodbye.” I thought that last was a little weak but Georgia obviously had Deon’s hot button. Except ... How did I get the key to the Mercedes out of the safe deposit box if she gave the key to Deon? It didn’t make much difference. The action was developing more quickly than I could keep up with it.