Fool Me Once...Final Resolution

By Mary Burton King

In the first sequel, Rebecca contemplates how to end her twenty year loveless marriage to her greedy, controlling, abusive, womanizing, but extremely wealthy husband, Marcus. Marcus, also desiring to free himself from his marriage contract, decides killing his estranged wife instead of divorcing her is a more lucrative option. Therefore, he hires a hit man, Big Al, to murder Rebecca however his attempt is unsuccessful and Marcus refuses to pay him. Consequently, Big Al, determined to collect his money, breaks into Marcus mansion and robs, mutilates, brutally assaults him, and then dumps his lifeless body in the Mexican desert. After an extensive search by the Mexican Federal Police, remains of an American male matching Marcus description are found and he is presumed dead. During an unexpected confrontation between Rebecca, Big Al, and Big Als younger crack head brother, David, Rebecca is forced to shoot and kill Big Al. David, determined to atone for his brothers death, becomes Rebeccas constant tormentor.

As the saga continues in this novel, Rebecca, believing Marcus is now deceased and she and her two children are finally free from his abuse, attempts to settle his estate and move on with her life. After putting Marcus lavish mansion up for sale, via an estate auction, she moves into a new home and while unpacking her belongings, remembers a key she found hidden in Marcus bedroom at the mansion. Rebecca discovers that the key is to a storage unit and what she finds stashed in Marcus secret storage unit is a shocking surprise.

In the final sequel, Rebeccas world comes crashing down when she discovers that the remains found in the Mexican desert were not Marcus and that he has returned toAtlantato reclaim his fortune and seek revenge. Follow the adventures of the returning cast of characters, particularly the villains, Marcus and David, in this unforgettable shock and awe climax.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479736782

Mary Burton King

Mary Burton King is a former NCIS Special Agent with over twenty years of law enforcement experience. She is also the author of NO POT, NO WINDOW or How I Changed My Life from Sour Lemons to Sweet Lemonade and is currently writing her third murder mystery, the final sequel to FOOL ME ONCE…. Ms. King lives in Pataskala, Ohio.

Book preview

Fool Me Once… Final Resolution

A Rebecca Novel

Mary Burton King

Copyright © 2012 by Mary Burton King.

Library of Congress Control Number:               2012919677

ISBN:                   Hardcover               978-1-4797-3677-5

ISBN:                   Softcover                978-1-4797-3676-8

ISBN:                   Ebook                     978-1-4797-3678-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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Contents

BOOK ONE

Chapter One Unfinished Business

Chapter Two Secrets Revealed

Chapter Three Lost Treasures

Chapter Four Unwelcome Company

Chapter Five Murphy’s Law

Chapter Six Career Moves

Chapter Seven Karma

Chapter Eight Bad Deeds

Chapter Nine Mayhem

Afterword An Unbelievable Summer

BOOK TWO

Chapter One Malicious Intent

Chapter Two Villians On The Prowl

Chapter Three Adventures Of A Dead Man

Chapter Four Trouble In Paradise

Chapter Five That Place Called Home

Chapter Six Unbridled Demons

Chapter Seven Lethal Consequenses

Chapter Eight Matters Of The Heart

Afterword Seven Years Later

ALSO BY MARY BURTON KING

Fiction:

FOOL ME ONCE…

Nonfiction:

NO POT, NO WINDOW

Coming Soon:

BEATRICE, THE CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK WIDOW

SERIAL KILLER

BOOK ONE

DEDICATION

This novel is dedicated to my loyal fans that have been waiting so patiently for this sequel. Enjoy the unforgettable saga of Rebecca, as well as the returning cast of characters, one more time!

Chapter One

Unfinished Business

IT WAS NEW YEAR’S DAY. THE BEGINNING of a new year brought the beginning of Rebecca’s new life without Marcus. Now she could stop hiding and regain her true identity. Freedom at last! Finally, the slimy rat bastard was dead and once the DNA analysis was completed the pathetic remains found in the Mexican desert will be positively identified as Marcus’. Detective Thompson said it would take two or three weeks for him to receive the results of the comparison and that was two weeks ago today. Rebecca was on pins and needles waiting for the results. Once Marcus’ remains were identified a death certificate could be issued and his estate could be settled. She couldn’t wait until Marcus’ funeral. Watching his casket being lowered into that big six foot hole in the ground will be like driving a wooden stake through the heart of a vampire. Marcus’ funeral will be finality and absolute peace of mind for Rebecca and the kids. Initially, Rebecca thought she would not attend Marcus’ funeral but has since decided she wouldn’t miss that freak show for a million dollars. Too bad it had to be a closed casket because his picked over bag of bones will be a sight for sore eyes. Exactly like something from an old Vincent Price horror flick!

Christmas had come and gone rather quickly. Christine and Marcus Jr. came home for the holidays and the three of them shopped for gifts for each other, ate tons of fantastic holiday food, went to the movies as well as a mystery dinner theater and spent plenty of quality time together. Rebecca intended to visit Little Nannie in Memphis over the holidays but unfortunately couldn’t make the trip and instead gave her a phone call on Christmas day. She did not know how much longer her grandmother’s health would hold up which has allowed her to live by herself in her old country house she loves so much. Christmas week was awesome however all good things must eventually come to an end.

The following week, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, was spent moving into the duplex Rebecca had recently purchased for herself and Christine. Even though she was more than ready to move out of that creepy mansion that Marcus had called his castle and into their new home nobody likes moving. Their new abode was perfect. Rebecca was thrilled with the fact that Christine was living next door where she could keep an eye on her but on the other hand realized her daughter was a young woman now and needed her space.

The duplex is slightly over 2800 square feet (total) and each unit has three bedrooms, one and a half baths, a small deck and an attached single car garage. The hot tub Rebecca wanted would be added later. The renovations to the bathrooms and kitchens had been completed shortly before Christmas so with the help of Marcus Jr. and a couple of hired moving men, Rebecca and Christine managed to get their furniture and personal belongings moved into the duplex. The next couple of weeks would be spent unpacking, hanging curtains, arranging furniture, and decorating. And the best part about moving into the duplex was the fact that it was in a nice, quite neighborhood only a couple of miles from Emory University where Christine would be enrolling in the spring. Rebecca was thrilled that Christine had decided to come home and attend a local college.

After getting somewhat settled into her duplex, Christine hinted she wanted a puppy to keep her company so Rebecca decided to surprise her with a trip to the local animal shelter and let her adopt one. While they were there Rebecca saw a darling two year old male German Sheppard Husky with green eyes that she just had to take home. She named him Foxfire and knew he would be a fantastic companion as well as a dedicated guard dog. Christine ultimately selected a one year old blonde female Pomeranian mix she named Chichi, the perfect lap dog. Foxfire and Chichi didn’t know it yet but they had just won the doggy lottery because they would be pampered and spoiled rotten the rest of their lives. Going to the animal shelter and adopting two pups was a real treat because Marcus had never allowed Rebecca or the kids to have a dog, cats but never a dog. Rebecca never understood why but guessed it was another one of his control mechanisms. He was such an ass!

Rebecca’s real estate agent, Shelia, scheduled an estate auction for the middle of February in which the mansion, its remaining contents and Marcus’ pretentious, very expensive Mercedes would be sold to the highest bidder. As it turned out the dealership where Marcus bought the Mercedes didn’t want it back, they wanted payment. So, hopefully someone in the city of Atlanta will bid on Marcus’ status symbol seventy thousand dollar Mercedes. Even though Rebecca had never seen Marcus’ boat, LIFE’S SO GOOD, docked in Tampa she decided to keep it, pay it off and have her name added to the title. As much as she would have liked to completely remove his name from the title, she couldn’t because she didn’t have a death certificate. This forty five foot luxury boat seemed like the perfect accessory for a fabulous Florida summer vacation for her and the kids.

Since Marcus’ will was never located and his estate was destined to be settled in probate court, all the proceeds from the auction would be held in escrow and used to pay off the rat bastard’s debts. As far as Rebecca could tell he didn’t actually own anything, it was all financed. His lavish lifestyle was simply smoke and mirrors. Rebecca realized that the only true asset Marcus had was the millions of dollars he tried so desperately to hide from her. She counted her lucky stars that she had managed to find Marcus’ huge nest egg and scam him out of most of it before he was murdered. Karma kicked his butt! All these years the rat bastard had been secretly squirreling away millions of dollars for himself. Ironically he was killed by the very same hit man he hired to kill her and would never be able to spend a dime of his hidden money.

Rebecca talked to, texted or e-mailed Seth almost every day. With Skype it was like he was right here in Atlanta instead of Amsterdam. During one of their conversations last week, Seth told Rebecca that Marcus’ porn flick, ‘A RICH MAN’S SEXUAL FANTASY’, was selling like hot cakes on the internet as well as mail order, particularly in Europe. Just like Rebecca knew it would! Who wouldn’t want to watch a balding, middle aged, portly rat bastard bound in leather restraints getting his butt spanked with a fetish whip by the gorgeous Mistress Marianne dressed as a policewoman? Seth’s and Rebecca’s profit on each flick sold was roughly ten dollars which was to be paid quarterly via direct deposit into their business bank account in Liverpool. Shawn, Seth’s cousin in Liverpool, hired an accountant to oversee the transactions and perform quarterly audits of the books. After the accountant’s first quarterly audit the end of March, Seth and Rebecca would know exactly how much profit they made off of Marcus’ porn flick or as Rebecca calls it ‘his gift to his family that keeps on giving and giving’ even after his death. No more monthly allowance doled out by the rat bastard tightwad Marcus. His slightly deviant sexual obsession had ultimately made Rebecca and the kids very wealthy and would continue to do so for a very long time. Christine and Marcus Jr. would never have to worry about money during their lifetime. All’s well that ends well, right?

DAVID, KARL, AND KARL’S GIRLFRIEND Michelle or Shelley as she liked to be called were in Tampa loading Karl’s work truck, a white box truck and David’s primer gray Chevy S10 pickup truck with all their worldly possessions. Since the construction jobs in Tampa had all but dried up and Shelley had recently been fired from her home health aid position for stealing prescription narcotics from one of her elderly clients, the three had decided it was time for a change. Karl suggested that they convert his work truck into a drug smuggling vehicle by adding a fake fuel tank underneath the truck and move to Laredo, Texas to make their fortune. Karl made it sound so easy. He said that by obtaining a produce delivery contract with one of the local restaurants in Laredo they could cross the border into Mexico without passports. Karl added that after crossing the border they would pick up their produce and then make an unscheduled stop for the drugs, top quality marijuana and hashish. He then told David and Shelley that after a couple of weeks of the same delivery truck with the same driver and workers crossing the border the guards would become complacent and only conduct a cursorily check of the vehicle, therefore they should have no problem smuggling the drugs into Texas. He estimated that twenty five tightly wrapped 12 x 6 bricks would easily fit in the fake fuel tank and according to Karl each brick had a street value of roughly three thousand dollars. David and Shelley admired Karl’s ingenuity and couldn’t wait to get to Laredo and start their new business. David saw himself as a very wealthy man in the not so distance future. With the exception of Atlanta, the distribution points, Houston, Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, and Nashville, were all on interstates 35 and 40. The final distribution point, Atlanta just a stones throw from Nashville, David had reserved for himself. He had unfinished business with that bitch Marianne. When she least expected it he intended to appear out of nowhere and slowly, painfully kill her. David thought probably in the spring he would pay her a surprise visit and even the score between them. He was going to be her worst nightmare for a very long time!

MARIE’S LIFE HAD CHANGED DRAMATICALLY since the untimely death of her mother Rosie. She still couldn’t believe Big Al would kill her mother since the two of them had been lovers for seven or eight years. How could he be so selfish and cruel? After her mother’s death, Marie became severely depressed and subsequently was no longer capable of working. She found herself completely broke in less than a month and could not pay her bills. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Marie had no idea how she was going to afford a funeral for her mother. Her aunt Anna in Juarez who she barely knew suggested she come live with her for awhile and bury Rosie on her property in Mexico. Without hesitation Marie accepted her aunt’s offer and immediately began packing her clothes into suitcases and her personal belongings into green trash bags. As far as Marie knew her aunt Anna in Mexico was her only living relative. She was sad, scared, and lonely but looked forward to her new life in Juarez, her mother’s hometown. Rosie and Marie had planned on vacationing in Juarez this summer therefore at the insistence of her mother Marie applied for and obtained her passport last November. Ironically, she had received her passport on the day her mother was murdered. How bizarre is that?

INSPECTOR GONZALES WAS IN HIS OFFICE at his desk working on some case files when a courier from the Federal Police Headquarters in Mexico City arrived and personally handed him a sealed letter from his commanding officer. This was a first and he knew it was probably not good news. Hesitantly, Inspector Gonzales opened the letter and read it twice. It was what he later called the ‘good, bad, and ugly’ letter; good because he had been promoted to Lieutenant, bad because he was being transferred to the Monterrey City office to assist with the Zeta drug cartel problem as well as the corrupt local police, and ugly because the DNA comparison on the stiff in the cooler at the coroner’s office was inconclusive. He had hoped the DNA comparison would be matched to the reported missing attorney from Atlanta but apparently the body was so badly decomposed their lab could not make a positive identification. So now what was he going to do with that rotting corpse? Well, Inspector Gonzales decided he had better break the news to Detective Thompson in Atlanta and then begin preparing for his upcoming transfer to Monterrey City.

That department’s jurisdiction also encompassed Nuevo Laredo and the prison located there. This is the prison where 141 prisoners were allowed by the prison officials and the local police to just walk out through the vehicle entrance ramp last December. Some of the escaped prisoners have since been captured but most are still on the lamb. Inspector Gonzales knew this assignment was going to be extremely dangerous because all his predecessors had been murdered either by the cartel or the local city police who were on the take. He was well aware of the corruption in Monterrey City and Nuevo Laredo. They had a saying there – silver or lead? Silver meant you took their bribe and lead (bullet) meant if you refused you were murdered. Inspector Gonzales knew this promotion and transfer might very well be his last. To him this letter was truly ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’!

Inspector Gonzales contemplated what his deceased wife Elizabeth would tell him to do right now. She would probably say retire and leave this impossible task to someone else. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn’t do that. He missed Elizabeth immensely. She had died six years ago in a horrific automobile accident while driving from Austin, Texas to Juarez. She had gone to Austin to visit her parents for a couple of weeks during the summer and was killed on the return trip by a drunk driver. Inspector Gonzales didn’t realize that when he kissed her good bye that hot summer day and she departed for Austin that he would never see her alive again. At the time of her death, their only child, a son named Mario was barely sixteen years old and his mother’s sudden death affected him dramatically. After completing high school in Juarez, Mario enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin but in his second year of college decided to drop out and become a police officer. At first, Inspector Gonzales was disappointed that his only child did not complete his college degree but has since realized that Mario is much happier as a patrolman working for the Houston Police Department.

The inspector and his son are close and communicate either by phone, text or email several times a week. Because he knew his son would object to him accepting this transfer due to its inherent danger, Inspector Gonzales dreaded breaking the news to him but it had to be done. Well, at least by being in Houston, Mario is hopefully out of harms way from the cartel.

REBECCA HAD JUST RECEIVED THE PHONE call from Detective Thompson that she has been waiting on for weeks! He told her that unfortunately the body recovered in the Mexican desert could not be positively identified as Marcus’. Detective Thompson continued by saying that because the remains were so badly decomposed a positive DNA profile match could not be obtained and since the corpse had no teeth or fingertips, identification was impossible. He then asked Rebecca if she wanted these remains presumed to be Marcus’ shipped to Atlanta for burial. Rebecca did not know how to answer his query so she said she would get back to him after conferring with Christine and Marcus Jr. She suddenly realized that under the circumstances it may never be determined legally whether or not Marcus was actually deceased. This was ridiculous! The rat bastard Marcus just wouldn’t die. Rebecca was reminded of one of the cartoon characters on television who gets shot and should by all accounts be dead but surprisingly pops his eyes wide open, jumps up and starts running around again. She ultimately decided she would tell the kids what Detective Thompson had reported to her but as far as she was concerned the picked over bag of bones found in Mexico were those of her late rat bastard husband Marcus and he would be buried in Atlanta as soon as she received his remains and could make all the necessary arrangements. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Chapter Two

Secrets Revealed

WHILE REBECCA WAS UNPACKING HER BELONGINGS in her new bedroom at the duplex, she rediscovered the mysterious storage unit key marked B017-54-0180 she had found in Marcus’ bedroom at the mansion and had placed in her jewelry box for safe keeping. With all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and moving she had forgotten all about it until now. Once again her curiosity peaked so she decided to do a little investigating and locate the rat bastard’s secret storage unit. Rebecca thought a locksmith should be able to assist her in this investigation and began calling locksmiths listed in the Yellow Pages. After numerous calls, one of the men she talked to told her the B prefixing the numbers on the key indicated that the key belonged to Bob’s Convenient Self Storage Units and was kind enough to give her the address and phone number for the main office of the storage facility. Jackpot! Now she was getting somewhere. As it turned out this particular storage facility was located about half way between Marcus’ law firm and the mansion on a street he always drove going to and from work. Bob’s Convenient Self Storage Units was certainly convenient for Marcus. Rebecca realized the rat bastard could stop by his secret storage unit on his way to or from the law firm and she would never know it. How cleaver of you Marcus. Well, it was time to find out what the deceitful bastard had been hiding from her in his storage unit for years. She put her unpacking on hold temporarily, jumped in her car and went to solve the mystery of the storage unit key.

Rebecca didn’t have any trouble locating the storage facility or Marcus’ unit. She unlocked the door to the unit, rolled it up and gasped loudly. What she saw was shocking, absolutely horrifying. There were five headless female mannequins, three dressed in a variety of provocative ladies dresses and the other two wearing nothing but extremely revealing underwear. Additionally, there were six Styrofoam heads adorned with female wigs of every color sitting on a small kidney shaped dressing table complete with an attached mirror and matching stool. There was an assortment of female makeup lying on the dressing table as well. And that wasn’t all. One complete wall of the unit was stacked with endless see through Rubbermaid storage containers that held what appeared to be more female clothing, purses and shoes. Marcus you sick, perverted, deviant, slimy rat bastard! Unbeknownst to Rebecca until now her deceased husband liked to play dress up. Rebecca wondered what Marcus did after he got dressed as a woman. Did he go out on the town as a drag queen? If so, she thought that he must have been one ugly ass female! This partially explained why he hadn’t been interested in her sexually for the last five years of their marriage but what about all of those young cutesy dimwit mistresses? All of this was just too weird for Rebecca to comprehend right now.

She was about to leave the unit when something caught her eye. Oddly, there was an old fashioned pirate’s treasure chest tucked away in the far left corner of the unit. Thank goodness the chest was unlocked because she was dying to find out what was in it. Rebecca slowly opened the lid of the chest expecting to find more ladies clothes or wigs but much to her surprise she found very old, museum type, most probably seventeenth century Spanish artifacts and coins. She could literally feel her eyes bulging out; this cache was worth a fortune. Where did the pervert Marcus find these priceless artifacts and coins? Lying next to the artifacts amongst the packing popcorn was a couple of nautical maps of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean as well as a small silver lockbox which Rebecca ripped open like a mouse on a chocolate cupcake. The only thing in the lockbox was a copy of corporation papers from the State of Florida dated slightly over five years ago registering a company by the name of Bay Area Recovery and Rentals, with an address in Tampa, Florida. The founders of the corporation were listed as Dawn Ferguson, minor son Anthony Ferguson, and Marcus who owned fifty one percent of the corporation. Now some of it was starting to make sense; these three had obviously found a sunken Spanish galleon, possibly one from the Silver Shoals. Rebecca was familiar with the tale of the Silver Shoals but always thought it was simply a myth. Spanish history reports that during the late 1600’s, several gold filled Spanish galleons sunk during a hurricane off the coast of extreme southern Florida. Were these artifacts and coins from one of those galleons and if so were there more? Rebecca suddenly realized she really didn’t know her deceased husband at all.

Obviously Marcus had a lot of secrets. According to the corporation papers in the lockbox he was part owner and operator of a recovery business in Tampa where his boat has also been moored for over five years. The rat bastard had a secret life in Florida. Who was Dawn and Anthony Ferguson and where had they recovered these priceless Spanish artifacts? Marcus certainly never mentioned Dawn, Anthony or a recovery business in Tampa but if it involved money, he wouldn’t. The navigational maps in the chest should be of some help in determining if her suspicions were correct regarding the recovery of one of the sunken Spanish galleons. Rebecca decided to make an unexpected trip to Tampa this weekend with Christine and get some answers. In the meantime she thought it best to very gingerly load the pirate’s trunk containing the artifacts, coins, maps and lockbox into her car and find a more secure location for it.

Rebecca had no intention of paying the rental on Marcus’ drag queen storage unit therefore the owner of the facility was welcome to sell all of this ridiculous crap at auction. Marcus, you sick freak. Wait until the owner opens the door to this unit and sees exactly what is in here for sale! They were going to have to try to