Scarlet Guard (House of Scarlet #2)

"Time!" The guard's call stopped Paul from responding.

"We must go. Now." Karen tamped down the fire in her eyes, holding out her hand to Callie at the same time. "Please?"

"By the Domna's standing order; If we have to carry you, we will." The guard spoke to Karen again. Domna? What's a Domna?

Karen nodded. She dropped her outstretched hand. "I am sorry. I have no more time I can spend here to convince you. You must choose to come or not. I can not, and will not, force you. However, I must leave. They have orders to literally pick me up and put me into the car if I don't. It's an experience I don't care to repeat." Karen apologized to Callie. Karen took three backward steps before she turned to begin walking back to her car.

T Rose quickly hugged Callie. "Go. I can feel the tension here. We'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Just go already."

Callie saw Poppy grip Violet's hand tighter as she looked at the crowd that was now only barely being restrained by the perimeter guards. It would take an argument to get her away from Violet now. There wasn't any time for that!

"Go." Violet told Callie. "We can just get in my car. We'll be fine if you go. Otherwise things are going to get ugly fast."

Making up her mind Callie trotted after Karen, who stopped when she heard Callie's footsteps come up behind her. Callie grasped Karen's outstretched hand. Together they walked toward the limo.

The guard at the door stepped out of the way when Karen stopped. Calmly she looked at Callie. Callie took the hint. She ducked into the interior of the limo. Seating herself in a rear facing jump seat, Callie watched as the guard started to enter the car. In a flash Karen stepped between him and the car interior.

"Mine!"

The single word was so softly spoken that Callie wasn't sure it was vocalized at all. It might have been Karen's body posture. Whichever it was, it was enough to cause the door guard to backpedal. Fast.

It looked to Callie as if he almost went down on his knees as he stumbled backward. Before she could be sure, Karen ducked into the car, primly seated herself across from Callie. Karen smoothed her dress while the driver gently closed the door sealing them inside.

Callie looked out the heavily tinted windows. She watched Violet herding her sisters into the back of the other limousine. The perimeter guards stepped backward until the perimeter grew small enough that every other guard was able to break off to head for the front SUV. They all piled into the car in what looked like a haphazard way though Callie was positive it wasn't. It went too smoothly to be haphazard.

Once everyone was inside, the doors on the SUV slammed closed. The SUV began pulling away from the curb; their car smoothly following. Callie's last look out the window showed Violet's limo pulling away in the other direction while the rest of the guards trotted toward the remaining SUV.

"Where are we going?" Callie was surprised to hear that her voice sounded calm despite the whirlwind of events.

"GreenWood Country Club. I have an office there. My other friend is waiting there for us also."

The mall? "And my sisters? Will they be there too?"

"Of course. I'm pretty sure that Violet is going to stop at an ice cream parlor first. She had that look in her eye. She's good with kids and is going to make a great mom. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Callie refocused her attention to the woman across from her.

"When did Paul first call you sister?"

"Yesterday. After three guys tried to wreck my shop. Why?"

"Because he left that tidbit out of the report."

Report? What report? "Huh?" Callie's response showed her confusion.

"Any time our security staff have an incident they write a report. They give it to my other friend. The one we're going to meet with. She gives it to me to read so I know what's going on."

"And? Why does it matter if he left that out of the report? I get called sister by lots of people. It's just a label."

"It's not just a label. It means something to us."

"What's it mean?"

"It means someone is going to spend two hours a day for the next week cleaning trash cans. On his knees. With a toilet brush and a bucket of soapy water. Cold soapy water!"

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry. It's an internal matter and discipline is part of my job description."

Eleven

When they arrived at the mall, the driver turned off onto a gated graveled path that lead to an underground garage. The car stopped in front of a pair of elevator doors. Their driver got out to open the car door for them. Karen lead Callie by the hand into the elevator punching the button for the second floor.

After the ride up, they exited the elevator. Karen towed Callie into the second floor lobby turning left immediately outside the elevator doors. A cross corridor appeared where they turned right. The corridor ended at a single door with chairs set on either side. As they approached the door, the pair of guards, who had met them at the elevator lobby, split off to sit in the chairs. Karen twisted the door knob opening the door. Callie, hand still clasped in Karen's, had no choice but to follow her inside.

An elderly woman sat at a desk taking quietly on the telephone in a very well appointed room. A mountain of files and paperwork on the corner of her desk threatened to fall onto the floor at any moment. On the other side of the room a matching desk stood currently empty. From the looks of it, no one used that desk at all. On the wall behind the empty desk was a painting that Callie recognized. It was one of her mother's. Scarlet Bridges. The elderly woman looked up as the door opened pausing in what she was saying on the phone.

"She's with a petitioner. Blue petition." The woman directed her statement to Karen while holding her palm over the mouthpiece of the phone.

"Oh. Callie would you mind waiting here for a moment please? It could get messy in there while we deal with this. It won't take long. I'll come back out and get you when we're ready. Ok?"

"Sure." Callie shrugged turning toward the painting on the wall. It had sold about six months ago at a gallery in Santa Fe. The buyer had been anonymous. He'd paid nearly eight-five thousand dollars for it. Considering that it had hung on the wall of her bedroom until her mother needed something to fill space at the gallery, seeing it again was like meeting an old friend you hadn't realized that you missed with every fiber of your being.

"Do you like it?" The elderly woman had hung up her phone. Jotting notes on a pad, she directed her question to Callie. "The painting?"

"My mother painted it." Callie told her. "It's me."

"Yes. It's a Mee. Wait, Ohiro Mee is your mother?"

"Yes. But, the painting is me." Callie pointed at her chest. "My mother painted it after I was born. All the flowers are red Calla Lilies. My mother said that she saw the painting in her mind when she first looked at me when I was born. It's me. On canvas in paint."

"And she SOLD IT?" The woman bumped her desk as she suddenly stood up. The mountain of files began to slide off the desk. Callie quickly grabbed at the pile. It fell onto the floor before she could get control of it.

"Sorry." Callie told the woman. "Let me help."

"It's ok. Just leave them. I just need to get them organized and put away is all." The woman pointed at a filing cabinet in the corner.

"I can do that. I'm not doing anything anyway. Just waiting." Callie knelt to gather up the files on the floor. Placing them on the empty desk she pulled open a drawer in the tan cabinet. "Alphabetically right?" Callie asked without pausing as she began to stuff files into the cabinet without hardly looking at them.

The elderly woman just looked at her as she worked. Callie shrugged but kept putting the files in order in the cabinet.

"So, why did your mother sell the painting?" The woman was curious as she watched Callie stowing the files.

"It wasn't supposed to sell. There was space that needed to be filled at a gallery showing so she took the painting. It was marked not for sale. Someone kept coming back in every day offering her more money for it. The other artists got mad because they thought she was just pumping the price up. They complained to the gallery owner who told her that if she kept trying to artificially inflate her prices they'd pull her from the exhibition. She named a huge price thinking that the buyer wouldn't pay that much. He paid on the spot with a credit card. My mother was heartbroken."

Callie caressed the frame of the painting. "I never thought I'd see it again."

"Well, you can always come in a look at it any time you want. I won't mind." The elderly woman smiled at Callie.

"Yes. After that remarkable story how could anyone refuse such a small concession to you?" Karen's voice came from behind Callie.

Callie dropped into a long defensive stance before she realized what she'd done. Embarrassed she straightened as Karen came further into the reception area.

"Lainey. How nice to see your desk again." Karen looked at the older woman who just pointed to Callie.

"What can I say. It's a gift. I also do windows, mop floors and draw idiotic cartoon animals in my spare time. Something I think I'm going to have a lot of in the near future."

Lainey looked abashed but Karen just ignored the sarcasm.

"I'm really sorry, but that other thing is taking more time than I thought it would. I need Lainey to run and get a file for me. Would you mind waiting a bit more?

"I don't mind. I'm here with no where else to go anyway. Besides, my sisters should be getting here soon. They'll expect me to be here instead of being someplace else."

Karen looked sympathetic. She quietly told her receptionist what she needed. Lainey looked at Callie before leaving the office. Karen went back inside her inner office leaving Callie alone at the empty desk.

Within a minute the phone rang. Callie expected it to be picked up by Karen since she probably knew that Lainey wasn't back yet. The phone kept ringing. Fed up with the noise, she picked up the receiver.

"Lainey, I got those measurements you wanted." The voice on the phone was filled with static. "You ready?"

"Excuse me?"

"Who is this?"

"Callie M. I'm filling in for Lainey while she does some errands. Can I help you?"

"Listen, Lainey called me about some measurements. I have them. Get something to write them down on. Ready?"

"Go ahead." Callie just rolled her eyes.

The static filled voice on the line gave her a list of numbers that made no sense to Callie. Dutifully she jotted them down in her mind so that she could repeat them to Lainey when she returned.

"That's the list." The voice told her.

"Who are you? So I can tell her who gave me this information?" Callie questioned the voice.

"Tell her Tim. She'll know who I am."

"Ok. Will do."

"Thanks."

"My pleasure." Callie hung up the phone and sat back in the chair. Still no Lainey or Karen. Honestly, if she'd tried to run her little tattoo shop like this, she'd be in trouble in no time.

Twenty minutes later still no Lainey or Karen. Half a dozen phone calls where she explained each time that she was just helping out while Lainey was out of the office before each caller would give her any information. She had just hung up again when the door opened spilling her sisters into the room. They were followed by Violet.

"Here we are!" Violet announced to the girls as she shut the door behind her.

"Callie!" Poppy called gayly as she climbed into Callie's lap. "Aunt Violet took us for ice cream."

"Aunt Violet?" Callie looked at the little girl in her lap. The face paint was wearing off and she definitely had the remains of chocolate ice cream on her cheeks.

"It was easier to explain them that way. I hope you don't mind."

Callie shook her head as the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Yes. Callie M. I'm filling in for Lainey while she's out of the office temporarily. Is there something I can do for you?"

As Callie talked on the phone Violet turned to look upward at the black plastic bubble on the ceiling.

"How long have you been answering the phone?" Violet asked when Callie finished with the latest call. "Where is everyone else?"

"Oh, maybe half an hour. Karen asked Lainey to run an errand. I don't think it was supposed to take this long. She's not back yet."

"So, why are you answering the phone?"

"I got tired of it ringing. I can take messages and give them to Lainey when she gets back. Was that wrong?"

"You're not writing anything down."

"Oh. I don't need to. I can just tell Lainey what each caller said."

"She has perfect recall." T Rose told Violet.

"We all have it." Tulip chimed in.

"Even me!" Poppy proclaimed proudly just before she screamed in Callie's ear. "Callie! We found you! You're on the wall!" Poppy climbed to her feet pointing at the wall behind Callie. Jumping up and down on Callie's lap she stepped onto the desk continuing to dance around. "Poppy Mee! You get off the furniture or I will spank you! You hear me? This instant! Where are your manners?"

Poppy stopped her squealing jumping off the desk to land on the floor. "I'm sorry Callie."

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Violet. It's her furniture."

"I'm sorry Aunt Violet." Poppy's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at the floor. "Please don't hate me."

Callie saw the emotion that caused Violet to choke for a moment before she got herself under control. Something serious must have happened to Violet in the past to cause that strong of a reaction. With a small grunt Violet knelt down on the floor in front of Poppy.

"Sweety. I'm not mad at you. I could never hate you. Never ever ever. Ok?"

Poppy nodded but kept looking at the floor.

"Hey. Don't I get a hug?" Violet tipped Poppy's face up to look at her. "The best 'I'm sorry's' always come with a hug at the end."

Poppy threw her arms around Violet. Violet gave her a kiss on her grimy cheek.

"Ugh. I think that fairy spell is wearing off. You taste like chocolate ice cream. Let's go see if we can wash off the spell. Girls? Anyone else for the bathroom?"

Violet levered herself off the floor, grasping Poppy's hand once she was erect. Tulip nodded in response to Violet's question.

"Well, then let's go. It's right down the hall. Now, what's all this about Callie being on the wall that made Poppy dance on the desk?"

Violet's voice faded as the door closed behind them. T Rose sighed as she sat on the corner of the desk.

"Who are these people? I mean, I like Violet. She's sweet and lovely and you can tell she's totally honest. Karen is, you know, knock you dead gorgeous. Tulip is absolutely bewitched by that strut she does. But, I don't know who these people are."

"I don't know either. I don't even know how we got involved with them."

"You did it. You're the one who made those two phone calls."

"Three."

"Three calls? Callie, you're even dumber than I thought."

Violet came back with Poppy and Tulip while Callie was on the phone yet again.

"Really? Still? How extraordinary." Violet looked at the black camera bulb again. "Let me go in and see what's going on. She may have forgotten about you if things have gotten this hectic.

"There's a tablet in the desk drawer. If you use the memo function to write down all the messages, Lainey can sync it to hers when she gets back. That way, if you're not here, she gets them anyway."

"I didn't look in the desk. I didn't want to snoop. Sorry."

"It's ok. I'll go see what the holdup is. I'll be right back. I promise." Violet opened the inner door disappearing inside. Callie opened the desk drawer immediately finding the electronic tablet. Poppy kicked her feet as she sat in the chair nearest the door looking at Callie's painting on the wall.

Twelve

True to her word, Violet came back out of Karen's office almost immediately. Karen was right behind her. Violet explained that the meeting with Callie was going to take longer than they thought it would. Since it was getting late, she should take the other girls home. They could stop on the way to pick up T Rose's car. T Rose looked at Callie who nodded her agreement.

Violet shepherded the girls out. Once they were gone, Karen reached over picking up the tablet from in front of Callie. Tossing it carelessly onto the top of Lainey's desk she pulled Callie to her feet. Callie was once again towed along by her hand as Karen lead her into the inner room.

"Welcome to my office." Karen sighed after letting go of Callie's hand.

Callie calmly looked around, noting all the details of her surroundings. The office decor was even more richly appointed than the reception area. Callie moved further into Karen's office. The huge window in the wall had an excellent view over what looked like parkland except for the tiny people walking or driving little white carts on it. That must be the golf course.

Karen's desk was set sideways. Neither facing out, nor facing in away from the window, it was set so that Karen would be facing a blank interior wall. Except there was no interior wall. Callie goggled as she realized that what passed for the interior wall was made of very thick glass. For some reason it was placed to cross lengthwise over the center of an oval sand and rock Zen garden. A garden set in a low depression in the floor. On the other side of the glass partition, seated at a matching desk, was another elegantly clad woman who looked to be slightly older than Karen appeared to be.

Callie caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She watched as Karen touched a sculpture on her desk. It was a white bronze sculpture that Callie knew was titled 'Silent Submission'. A pair of forearms and hands in supplication. Wrists crossed, palms upturned, rising from a base.

A soft chiming hum made the woman on the other side of the glass wall look up from her absorbed study of her computer screen. A wonderful smile appeared on her lips. A quick look showed Callie an answering smile on Karen's face. Each smile was full of love and devotion for the other. Callie's heart squeezed in remembered pain at the loving smiles passing between the pair of elegantly clad women.

The unknown woman reached out to touch an identical sculpture which sat on her desk on the other side of the wall. As soon as she touched the sculpture, the chime stopped as the center section of the glass wall began to tip. Sliding downward until it came to rest, filling the low depression in the floor over the Zen Garden. Level with the rest of the floor it made a bridge over the sand and rocks. Apparently the sculptures were touch sensitive keys to open the drawbridge. The whole effect was pretty remarkable.

"I see you found her." The older woman said as soon as the glass wall stopped moving settling into position.

"Hah, she found me. I hope." Karen replied as she swiftly walked across the bridge.

Callie looked down at her feet as a pair of identical smiles were sent her way.

"Truly?" Wolfe's question made no sense to Callie.

"I hope," Karen said again as she wrapped one arm around behind the other woman embracing her. Her actions made Callie think that these women made love together.

"May I present Calla Lily Mee." Karen announced her with her real name. "Callie, I am pleased to introduce you to Maria Wolfe. CEO of GreenWood Investment Enterprises, Inc."

"Pleased to meet you Callie. Would you please come in and sit down?"

Wolfe's voice was similar to Karens but richer with more depth. As she spoke, a tingle buzzed up Callie's spine. She sent a piercing look toward Wolfe.

"Yes, I am the one who spoke to you." Wolfe assured her. "I was the one who asked Karen here to go talk to you." She caressed Karen's cheek with her last statement.