Life In A Four Cornered Room

I looked around at my surroundings.... In addition to Bonnie Shay, there were three other people in this bare room with me...Ginger Stevens- Connally, the wife of Dr. Micheal Connally, the famed Psychologist and author who was also missing and surprisingly, not here....Her lover and fellow grifter,Lance Flintlock...Two people Bonnie had been investigating in relation to Dr. Connally's being leveraged with a one million dollar life insurance policy...

 

I looked over to the left of me....

There was a flat screen monitor on the wall....That showed the five of us...Apparently...We were being watched by somebody....but who? What was this really about??

I whispered to Bonnie Shay...

"I know all about those two and your investigation.....but I have a feeling us being here has nothing to do with it?" I said.

"No it doesn't...and you can imagine my surprise...Waking up and finding myself in this room with these three.." she said.

"I take it ,they know who you are?" I asked.

"Oh yes...they know....They said that they don't know where Dr. Connally is either."said Bonnie..

"You believe em?" I asked..

"For the time being..Yes...I have no idea, why all of us wound up here..." she said..

"You've been missing going on four days now....What have you done for food?" I asked..

Bonnie pointed to a small refrigerator....It was filled with Protein Shakes...

"That's what we've all been surviving off of..." she said.

"You trust what was in that refrigerator? You all could be being drugged..." I said.

"We have been falling asleep a lot..You could be right....How did you get mixed up in this anyway?" she asked...

"Your Ex-Husband....Ronald.....He's been worried sick about you....The guy was nearly in tears yesterday when we found your car and purse....It was one block down the street from your house.." I said.

"Awwwww....He is sooo sweet....If we get out of this..I'll pay you whatever you were charging him.."she said.

"Bonnie...I didn't charge him anything...You're like family now...I just started looking for you...I found out about your case and I followed all of the known clues...which led me to a dead end...Then I got a phone call from you...which led me here..."I said.

"This guy or whoever is good...He spliffed our phone numbers and he took voice samples and imitated us enough to fool the other...Flintlock and Stevens both got a call from the other that led them here."said Bonnie...

Lance Flintlock and Ginger Stevens-Connally were on the other side of the room kissing passionately on the floor...oblivious to Bonnie and me...

I looked at Bonnie...

"So much for the grieving and faithful wife."I said..

Bonnie giggled and passed me a Protein shake...

"Drink up....it may be the only nourishment we have for awhile...."she said.

We both drank one and sat back.....

"Bonnie ,who is the other guy?" I said looking at Riley Queen , who kept pacing back and forth...

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders...

"I don't know...He was the first one here....Flintlock and Stevens told me he was here on the floor,when they got here...They went missing the day before I did...So he's been here the longest....He's a Priest...He has no idea why he was lured here..." she said.

"He has nothing to do with your investigation?" I asked..

"Nothing....Not a thing...He doesn't know Stevens or Flintlock...They said they never saw him before in their lives and he said he's never heard of Dr. Micheal Connally..." said Bonnie...

"This doesn't make any sense.."I said...

"Who you tellin? That monitor over there...sends us messages....

There is a restroom over there and we learned that the protein shakes were in the refrigerator for us to eat...all from the monitor.."said Bonnie..

"This all seems like some sick movie I saw as well as some sick adventure I've already had...but I'm certain ,Mr. Tickle...the only person I know to be diabolical enough to put something like this together is safely behind bars...so who could this be?" I said.

''Whoever it is...We've got to figure a way out of here...I'm going stir crazy...I don't know why I'm here..and I don't know the rest of you...You all seem to know each other.."said Riley Queen..

"I'm Kevin Morris...I was hired by her ex-husband to find her....This is Bonnie Shay...She's an insurance investigator....She and I worked two cases together...My wife,who is a realtor..sold her her house...So I do know her....I don't know the other two..."I said.

"I was investigating those two over in the corner for insurance fraud..."said Bonnie Shay.....

 ''What have you got to do with all this Queen?" I asked.

"I don't know...I've never seen any of you before .."he said.

Lance Flintlock and Ginger Stevens were sound asleep in the corner....Snoring...

"Those two don't seem to care about this predicament...They haven't been able to take their hands off of each other since we all got locked up.."said Riley Queen with disgust...

"We've got to figure a way out of here..."I said.

II-

I don't quite remember when I drifted off to sleep...or how long I had been asleep...but I woke up lying on top of Bonnie Shay ,who was sleeping soundly....

Her body was so nice and soft and comfortable...I almost wanted to stay in that position...I know I didn't purposely position myself on top of her..

I immediately jumped up...She was still sleeping soundly, So was Riley Queen and Flintlock and Stevens..

I crawled over to Flintlock and shook him...He woke up slowly...

"Huh? What?  What?" he said.

''Okay lover boy spill it..Where is Dr. Micheal Connally?" I asked.

"How the hell should I know?" he asked..

''Do you know about your little girlfriend there? Six marriages...at least four fatalities?" I asked..

"Heyyy, you sound like her with your questions...I was never charged with anything..All of those deaths were uh unfortunate accidents." she said.

''Dr. Connally hasn't been seen in a week...Did he have an uh unfortunate accident?" I asked..

"You and her workin together? You a cop?" she asked.

"I'm a private investigator and a friend...I was hired to find her..So naturally,I had to look into what she was working on.."I said.

''And so you've found her!!She already grilled us..We told her that we didn't do anything to Dr. Connally...Which is the truth...Yeah we have been fooling around...but they had an arrangement..."said Lance Flintlock.

"What kind of arrangement?" I asked..

"Look at her...She's young, attractive....He's 80 years old...He can't do for her like a younger guy can...They uh had uh what you call an open marriage....As long as she kept things uh discreet." he said.

I looked at Ginger....

"Is that true?" I asked..

"Yes..."she said..."Just like we told your friend..."she said.

Bonnie was waking up....

The four of us drank a protein shake...I passed one to Riley Queen..he was waking up and yawning..

"No thanks...I just had one.." he said.

III-

 I sat in the corner and thought hard about what had just happened to us.. We had all been lured to this building, this room by a phony phone call...All of us were linked somehow...Bonnie was investigating
both Lance Flintlock and Ginger Stevens....and I was looking for her..Which is how the four of us were linked...But how was Riley Queen involved in all of this...?

He said he didn't know any of us and that he'd never heard of Dr. Micheal Connally...He was the one piece of the puzzle that didn't fit..

I asked him again...

"You have never heard of Dr. Micheal Connally, the famous author and Psychologist?" I asked him...

"No...Never...Why? Who is he?? What has he got to do with all of this?" he asked.

"I don't know..." I said.

"Have you had any dealings with or are you insured by Cyclops Insurance?" I asked.

He looked at Bonnie and smiled weakly...

"My church is insured by Slipp,Skipp and Tripp Insurance...Your competitors..Sorry." he said.

"That's...That's perfectly alright." said Bonnie.

The monitor on the wall went blank.....

When it came back on....I saw a familiar figure..It was my wife, Sepia..

I sat up....

"Sepia.."I said.

 "You know her? She's kinda hot!" asked Lance Flintlock.

"That's my wife.."I said..

"Your wife? Ohh, I uh thought you two were uh together.." he said looking at Bonnie..

"Why would you think that?" asked Bonnie..

"No reason....Just thought so...That's all.." he said and smiled..

Sepia appeared to be on the street and in front of the building that I entered...I wondered how she found this place..Wondered if she'd gotten a mysterious call..

I saw Ronald Shay on the screen...apparently, they were together...

Bonnie gasped...

"Ronald!!!...He's with Sepia..They must be looking for us.."said Bonnie.

''Let me guess...That's your husband?" asked Ginger..

"My ex-husband.."sighed Bonnie..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,I know...It's complicated right?" said Ginger laughing...

"You might say that...It's not whatever you think...He's with Kevin's wife trying to find us."said Bonnie..

"He must still love you...If he and my man there's wifey are searching for you two..." said Ginger...

Bonnie ignored her, but smiled...

"Yeah...he really does love me..."she said...Nearly swooning..

I wondered when this film footage was taken...

"Did this monitor show me or any of the rest of you ,searching before you arrived here?" I asked..

"No...All I know is I woke up and Flintlock and Stevens were here and we were here about a day and we woke up and Ms. Shay was here and later on...You were here....This room gets more crowded by the minute."said Riley Queen..

Somehow ,I had a feeling that figuring out what Riley Queen's deal was in all of this, might be the key...but I had no phone, no laptop and no way of getting a message to the outside...

Who was behind this ? How long did they plan to keep us locked up in here?  What did they want?

Lance Flintlock was the first to start going stir crazy....

''How come no one has figured out trying to escape through that window..?" he said.

''Way ahead of you Sherlock...Did you forget that we are on the 19th floor of this building?" said Bonnie Shay...

She was right...I had come up to the 19th floor when I got here..

"So what?" asked Lance Flintlock...

''So it's 19 floors straight into the street..."I said.

"Maybe we can take that window off, break it and yell for help." he said.

"You really think whoever put this together would make it this easy?" asked Riley Queen..

"We'll never know unless we try..."he said and went to touch the window...

He was hit with a blast of electricity...

"LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..LA LA LA LA LAHHHH!" he yelled and fell to the ground... He was shaking and smoke was streaming from him...

"Woooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu." he moaned...

"Oh My God...Lance...!! WHAT THE HELL?" screamed Ginger...as  she and Bonnie hovered over him...

"Oh my God!!!!!.." said Bonnie...

 ''Oh My God...it's surrounded by an electric force field or something."said Lance...

It wasn't funny, but I wanted to laugh so bad! His suit was singed....He was shaking and blowing...It was hillarious....Almost like a cartoon...Smoke was rising off of him...

Riley Queen just shook his head...

Well...we all knew one thing...

Whoever brought us here ,meant for us to stay here for awhile...

 Bonnie peered out of the window.....We were too far up for her to see anything...

I put my arms around her...

"It's going to be alright Bonnie...We'll figure a way to get out of here."I said.

"I was thinking about Ronnie...We just hooked up around Christmas...I haven't seen him in six years...He wants to get back together again...I mean...Married..."she said..

"But you've been hesitant?" I asked..

"I was...I was wondering if he was sincere or if it was the great sex...." she mused...

I imagined the sex probably was great...She had a sexy body and the smoothest dark cocoa skin I had seen since my wife's own....

"Not that what I think is important...but this man was near tears in front of me at just the thought that something bad had happened to you...I think he loves you a great deal more than you suspect."I said thinking about Ron's state , the last time I saw him...

A man would have to be in love with a woman to be that vulnerable around another man and not care...

"I know that now." said Bonnie with a smile..."And if we get out of this...I'm going to make sure he knows how much I appreciate him." vowed Bonnie..

"We are going to get out of here...I promise." I said...

I hoped it was a promise I could keep!


(TO BE CONTINUED)