Missing at Christmas

by K. D. Richards

  People had always commented on how similar the West brothers looked. A half inch shorter than Shawn, Ryan was stockier and preferred to keep his face and head cleanly shaven. But compared to Gideon, he and Ryan were downright diminutive.

  Six foot six and roughly the width of a sedan, Gideon had muscles with muscles. He’d served in the military with Shawn’s oldest brother, James. Even West’s contacts and investigative powers hadn’t successfully turned out a full background check on Gideon. No doubt the missing periods in Gideon’s life would stay that way until the United States government wanted it otherwise. But James had vouched for his friend and fellow soldier, and that had been more than enough. Gideon had quickly proved himself an asset to the firm.

  “We were on our way when you called. How is Addy?” Ryan dropped a heavy hand on Shawn’s shoulder.

  Gideon, the quintessential man of few words, only nodded.

  “I don’t know. No one has told me anything.” Shawn expelled a breath. “Why were you on your way to Bentham?”

  “We got the report back on the chip you found in Ben Konstam’s office. It’s a fake.”

  “I’m not surprised. I’m sure Konstam is also behind Addy and me being shot at,” Shawn replied.

  He’d given Ryan a quick and dirty summary of the shooting in their call, but now he elaborated on the chance meeting with Ben at the diner and that he and Addy had been following Ben to the factory when they were shot at.

  “I want to know where Konstam and Arbury are now,” Shawn said, aiming a look at Gideon.

  Gideon nodded briskly, moving to the other side of the waiting room and pulling out his cell phone. Gideon had cultivated an extensive network of contacts and snitches that had come in handy on more than one West investigation. If anyone could get a bead on Konstam and Arbury, it was Gideon.

  “The fake chip alone isn’t enough to prove the bad chips weren’t manufactured by Intellus,” Ryan said. “Intellus wants us to get enough evidence to show the authorities and the public that they aren’t responsible. We need to show that Spectrum is making these chips and falsely using the Intellus logo to undermine their brand.”

  That was easier said than done. The only way to definitively show that Spectrum was behind the fraud was to get into the factory. Since they only had a couple of days, if that, to get the proof they needed, an undercover operation was out of the question. That meant they’d have to get into the factory and document the fraud without being discovered. They’d pulled off similar operations before, but the tight time frame made doing so riskier than Shawn would have liked.

  Before he could voice his concerns, Donovan strode back into the room. His step faltered for just a moment at the sight of the three men before he recovered. It wasn’t the first time the three of them together had had that effect on others.

  Shawn stepped around Ryan and spoke to Donovan. “Did they tell you anything?”

  “She wasn’t shot. A piece of glass from the broken window lodged in her side. They got it out and are stitching her up now.”

  Relief flooded through him like ice-cold water on a hundred-degree day.

  “Who are your friends?” Donovan asked, his gaze homed in on Ryan.

  Shawn introduced Ryan and Gideon to Donovan. The men shook hands, and Donovan turned back to Shawn. “Why don’t you tell me what happened out there?”

  Shawn recounted the call from Ben this morning and being ambushed on the drive to Spectrum’s factory.

  Donovan shot him a skeptical look when he got to the part where Addy shot the motorcycle driver.

  “She shot the gun out of his hand?”

  Shawn couldn’t keep a proud smile from spreading across his face. “Technically, I think she shot him in the forearm, but yes, she shot him and he dropped the gun.”

  “While the motorcycle was moving?” The question came from Ryan, who seemed just as skeptical as Donovan.

  Gideon, who’d rejoined the group of men while Shawn recited the chain of events, maintained a poker face. If Gideon was surprised or doubtful, he never showed it.

  Shawn’s smile grew wider. “It was a damn sight to behold, but it saved our lives. Teddy Arbury tried to kill us.”

  Donovan scratched something in his notebook. “How can you be sure it was Teddy?”

  Shawn explained seeing Teddy on his motorcycle outside the diner not long before the attack. “It looked like the same bike.”

  Donovan frowned. “But you’re not sure? You didn’t see the face of the shooter?”

  “No.” Shawn scowled. “I didn’t. But Addy did.”

  Donovan scratched a note on his pad. “And how do you know Edward Arbury?”

  “I don’t. The first time I met him, Addy and I were at the diner and Teddy cornered her coming out of the ladies’ room. He made a veiled threat about backing off investigating Cassie’s disappearance, and I stepped in. It didn’t go any further than that, mostly because the waitress put Teddy in his place, and Addy and I left right after.”

  “And you have no idea why Teddy would have approached Ms. Williams?”

  “I didn’t then. Did you get my message about the chat Addy and I had with Suri Bedingfield?”

  This time Donovan frowned. “I got it. Want to explain what you were doing in Garwin?”

  Shawn checked his temper and walked Donovan through his and Addy’s questioning of Suri, leaving out his mad dash to get to Addy and her assault of Suri.

  “So Miss Bedingfield just admitted to you two that she lied?” Donovan’s eyebrows rose until they nearly touched his hairline.

  “We asked some very pointed questions. Ms. Bedingfield correctly deemed it to be in her best interest to answer truthfully. I might be more skeptical of Suri’s story if Ben Konstam hadn’t just set us up.”

  Donovan narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, set you up?”

  “We were following Ben from the diner to the factory.”

  “So Edward Arbury and Ben Konstam are working together to get Ms. Williams to give up the search for her sister. Why?”

  Shawn felt, rather than saw, Ryan tense beside him. He knew how Ryan felt about keeping the client’s confidence, but it was time to bring Donovan in on his real reason for being in town.

  Shawn explained Intellus’s discovery of fraudulent chips marked with their logo and how they’d hired West to root out the source.

  Donovan’s lips puckered with irritation. “You should have told me what you were up to—”

  Ryan interrupted before Donovan could continue his dressing-down. “You have your obligations, and we have ours.”

  The two men stared at each other with twin scowls.

  “Ben made a call before we left the diner. I’d bet good money if you pull his phone records you’ll find that call was to Arbury.”

  They didn’t have time for posturing or hurt egos. It was becoming increasingly clear to Shawn that Ben Konstam was the key to whatever was going on.

  “Your suspicion isn’t enough to pull Konstam’s phone records,” Donovan said dismissively.

  Shawn felt a vein along the side of his neck throb in annoyance. “Did your office get an emergency call from Ben about the shooting? He had to have seen us getting shot at.”

  Donovan’s brow furrowed. “No. The only call we got was from you.”

  First Cassie disappeared and now he and Addy were shot at. Not to mention the attempted mugging the night Addy got to town. He was convinced the events were related. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the attacker’s face, but his size and weight were similar to Teddy’s. The situation had escalated, and they still had no concrete idea why. It seemed unlikely that the chip fraud he was investigating and Cassie’s disappearance weren’t connected somehow. But if Cassie was a participant in the fraud, why had she disappeared? The obvious answer was one none of them wanted to think about, but with every passing
day, it became harder and harder to overlook.

  “I think Ben and Teddy had something to do with Cassie Williams’s disappearance and the fraud and are trying to hide it now.”

  Donovan exhaled loudly. “Yeah, it’s looking more and more like that.”

  Some of the tension that had built up inside him evaporated. At least Donovan was considering the possibility.

  “Addy’s convinced Cassie is alive.”

  Donovan shook his head. “I’m sure you know how hard it is for family members to accept these things. Especially if there isn’t a body.”

  “I know, but Addy is a reasonable person. If she believes Cassie could still be alive, we’ll keep looking.”

  Out of the side of his eye, he saw Ryan frown.

  Donovan ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t stop you, as you well know, but whatever is going on here is dangerous. Think about that.” Donovan directed a pointed look at Shawn. “In the meantime, I’ve put an all-points bulletin out on Teddy Arbury, and I’ve got a deputy on the way to Garwin to see if Suri Bedingfield will come in to give a statement.”

  “What about Ben Konstam?”

  “I’ll talk to him,” Donovan clipped out.

  A balding man in round-rimmed glasses and a hip-length white lab coat entered the waiting room. The stitching on his coat read Dr. E. Jackson.

  His eyes scanned over the four men in the room. “Shawn West?”

  “That’s me.” Shawn approached the doctor, his heart rate picking up speed.

  The nurses had been adamant about not being able to tell him anything about Addy’s condition. If the doctor was looking for him now, did that mean that the worst had happened?

  “If you’ll come with me, you can see Ms. Williams.”

  Shawn paused long enough to get the keys to the car Ryan and Gideon had driven to town and the approximate location of where they’d parked. Ryan and Gideon planned to pick up a rental and head back to the hotel.

  Shawn followed Dr. Jackson down a long, bright white hallway with signs directing them at various intervals to the ER, ICU and cardiac areas of the hospital.

  “I thought I wasn’t allowed to see Addy,” Shawn said, lengthening his stride to keep pace with the doctor. Though he was about six inches shorter and thirty years older than Shawn, Dr. Jackson moved swiftly down the hospital hallway.

  Dr. Jackson rolled his eyes. “Strictly speaking, you’re not. But Ms. Williams has been demanding to see you since she got here. I just finished her stitches, and I’m concerned she’s going to pop them trying to get out of bed and get to you, so...” He threw up his hands, stopping in front of a blue-curtained area. “I’m working on her discharge papers now. I’ll be back with them in a moment.”

  Shawn pulled the curtain back.

  His breath caught in his chest when he saw Addy lying on her back, her face ashen. She’d pulled up the green scrub top she wore and was examining the bandage on the left side of her stomach.

  She glanced up at him and smiled. “Hi.”

  “How are you feeling?” He came to a stop at the side of the bed.

  She pulled the hem of her shirt down. “Like I got stabbed in the side with a piece of glass.”

  “Don’t joke.” He smiled weakly for her sake, but he couldn’t remember ever being more afraid than he’d been when the EMTs had driven her away from the scene of the shooting. He kissed her forehead, then, as softly as he could, her lips.

  She grabbed his hand when he moved to pull away and squeezed. “You were trapped in the car. I was worried, too. How’s your arm?”

  He raised his arm over his head and rolled his shoulder. “A little sore, but nothing a few industrial-strength aspirin couldn’t handle. That was some shooting.”

  Addy’s right eyebrow rose higher than the left. “I told you I grew up on a ranch. I know how to shoot.”

  “West has employees who are ex-military who couldn’t have made that shot.”

  Addy shot him a lopsided grin. “I’ll host a class for them when we get back to New York.”

  She glanced around him at the large circular desk, where two nurses and Dr. Jackson stood. An electric menorah decorated one end, and a small Christmas tree stood on the other.

  “Did he tell you when he’s going to let me out of here?” Addy jerked her head in the doctor’s direction.

  “He’s working on the discharge papers now.”

  “Good.” Addy swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Ooh. Ah,” she grimaced, grabbing her side.

  “Take it easy.” Shawn put his arm around her and helped her up from the bed.

  He tamped down the rage that swelled at Addy’s pain. Teddy better hope Donovan found him before he did.

  Dr. Jackson returned with Addy’s discharge papers, a prescription for painkillers and instructions to have her primary care physician look at the stitches in a week.

  “Has the sheriff picked up Teddy yet?” Addy asked as they exited the hospital.

  “Donovan is looking for him.”

  “Good. Teddy must have followed us from the diner.”

  The hospital’s visitor lot wasn’t large or anywhere near full, so he spotted the dark blue SUV easily. Shawn opened the passenger door for Addy. “The question is how he knew when we would leave the diner.”

  He watched realization spread across Addy’s face. “Ben set us up.”

  “It looks that way.”

  Addy edged into the SUV slowly.

  Shawn gritted his teeth, watching her breathe through the pain.

  “Suri would have told them we talked to her. We need to find Ben now. If he and Teddy are desperate enough to try to kill us, there’s no telling...” Addy’s voice trailed off.

  He stepped into the space between the car and the open door. “I know you believe Cassie is alive, but, sweetheart, it may already be too late.”

  Addy put her hand on his arm. “I’m not in denial. I can’t explain it. I know she’s alive, and I have to keep looking until I find her.”

  Her expression was equal parts earnestness, determination and fear.

  The knowledge that she could be wrong, that it could already be too late for Cassie and to avoid Addy’s heart breaking, made his chest tighten. He wanted desperately to protect her from the possible pain, but he knew he couldn’t.

  Shawn leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips before backing up and closing the door.

  As he drove them to the hotel, he thought about the fact that Addy would never be able to move on without knowing what happened to Cassie, one way or the other. And if that’s the closure she needed, he’d make sure she got it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Shawn exited the pharmacy with the painkillers Dr. Jackson had prescribed for Addy, a bottle of water and plastic wrap.

  He could see Addy through the car’s windshield as he approached the SUV. Her head rested against the seat, and her eyes were closed.

  He felt a slap of anger. He’d get Addy settled in the suite, and then he planned to find Ben Konstam.

  His phone beeped as he got into the car. A text from Jorge, the Spectrum employee he’d spoken to at the bar the night before.

  We need a guy to help load the trucks. 6pm. You in?

  It was after three, which didn’t leave him, Ryan and Gideon much time to figure out strategy, but this was their best chance for getting the evidence Intellus needed to prove their innocence.

  Shawn sent back a single word. In.

  Jorge texted Shawn an address he recognized as the Spectrum factory.

  “Something important?”

  He looked up from the phone and into Addy’s eyes.

  Even banged up, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  “A possible break in the other case I’m working on.” He popped the top on the pain pill bottle, hande
d her one and then opened the bottled water and gave that to her as well.

  She swallowed the pill and half the bottle of water before speaking again. “I know I’ve taken up most of your time, and I haven’t said thank you. Thank you.”

  He swept a lock of hair from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. “Finding Cassie is my priority, I promise you.”

  His heart raced when she leaned her cheek into his palm.

  “I doubt your brother feels the same way,” she said, looking at him from beneath long lashes.

  “Let me handle Ryan.”

  She pressed a kiss to his palm. He leaned forward, dipped his head and caught her mouth in a sweet, gentle kiss. He could have sat there forever kissing Addy, but his phone rang.

  “You on your way back?” Ryan spoke without preamble.

  Shawn put the car in gear, backing out of the parking space. “Yeah. I had to stop by the pharmacy first, but we’re about ten minutes out. Got a text from a guy who may be able to help on our case.”

  He glanced across the car at Addy, but her eyes were closed. He still hadn’t told her about his suspicion that Cassie might be involved with the ring producing fraudulent computer chips.

  With each passing moment, keeping that information from Addy felt increasingly wrong.

  “We can talk about it when I get back,” Shawn said, ending the call.

  He navigated the streets of Bentham back to the hotel. Addy hadn’t stirred. He hated to wake her, but carrying her was out of the question. Not only because he was sure the gesture would mortify her, but his shoulder, while nowhere near as bad as her injury was, still throbbed. He’d bought a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol when he’d picked up Addy’s prescription and planned to take one as soon as he got to the suite.

  Hopefully, the pain medication would keep most of the pain at bay, because he’d be loading who knows how many trucks come six this afternoon.

  “Addy. Addy, sweetheart, wake up. We’re at the hotel.”

  She woke slowly, which he assumed was partly a result of the pain medication she’d taken. The pharmacist had warned that it could leave her drowsy.