Desperate

by Evans, A. K.

  When I was at Ekko’s place not more than fifteen minutes ago and Trent called telling me another envelope had arrived, I knew I was going to find another piece to the puzzle inside. Apparently, he felt the same since he’d just said those words as he held the envelope out to me.

  Taking it from him, I bit out, “I really hope there’s a bit more than some fucking pavement to look at.”

  Sure enough, there was a puzzle piece inside. It was also a corner piece about the same size as my palm. The good thing was that it wasn’t of the pavement, but it was still useless.

  The sky.

  I was beginning to get irritated with this.

  Looking up at Trent, I announced, “It’s the sky. The fucking sky.”

  “There’s something on the back.”

  I looked back down and flipped over the piece. The word ‘You’ was printed on the back. Just underneath that was the letter ‘f’ and a sliver of another letter. Unfortunately, the way the puzzle was cut ended the letter there.

  “What is it?” Trent asked.

  I held the piece out to him. After he took it from me, I stated, “I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get the other one out of my office. I need to see if there’s anything on the back of that one.”

  I made my way back to my office and yanked open the top drawer of my desk. Pulling out the envelope I dug out the piece and flipped it over. There was nothing on the back.

  “Damn it!” I shouted.

  “What’s going on?” Pierce asked as he passed by my office.

  “I don’t know yet,” I clipped, my irritation evident. “That’s the problem.”

  Pierce was concerned and followed as I walked out of my office back toward Trent’s. “Does this have to do with the puzzle piece Michaels told me about?”

  “Yep. I just got another one.”

  “Anything on that one,” Trent asked as Pierce and I walked back into his office.

  “Nothing,” I returned as I tossed it down in front of him.

  Pierce walked over and looked at the two pieces. After inspecting them, he asked, “Didn’t you get a note delivered, too?”

  “A week ago, today.”

  “When did the first piece arrive?”

  “Thursday.”

  Pierce contemplated the pieces a minute and guessed, “With any luck this guy is methodical, and you’ll have another piece on Thursday.”

  “And if he’s not?” I challenged.

  Trent and Pierce both shrugged their shoulders.

  “How was this piece delivered?” I questioned Trent.

  “Taped to the front door. I already checked the camera. He walked right up, taped it to the door, and pushed the buzzer on the intercom.”

  I shook my head in disbelief and took a step toward him. “That’s the kind of information you lead with, Michaels. Can you pull it up so we can check it out? Do we know the guy?”

  “He’s covered,” Trent explained as he hit a couple buttons on the keyboard in front of him. “He was dressed in all black, wearing gloves, a ski mask, and a hooded sweatshirt. There’s nothing on the video that’ll help.”

  He turned his computer screen and showed us the footage. It was just as he described. There was nothing that would help.

  “So, a note that says ‘worthless’ along with two puzzle pieces, neither of which shows anything of substance,” Pierce recalled the evidence of the case. “Who did you piss off?”

  “That’s a loaded question,” I shot back. “That could be any number of people given this line of work, but nothing in particular that stands out.”

  “There’s nothing you’ve worked on over the last couple of months that someone might be feeling the sting from still?”

  “Nothing obvious. Unless…” I trailed off.

  “Unless what?”

  “Ekko’s ex. It wasn’t really a case that I worked on, but that whole situation happened not long before this started. Maybe he’s feeling the need to seek out revenge after we barged into his place the way we did.”

  As I looked back and forth between them, Trent sat back in his chair and Pierce crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Isn’t he a drug addict?” Trent asked. “Do you think he’s with it enough to pull this off?”

  “He told Ekko he only sells,” I started. “I don’t know how true it is, but if that were the case it’s certainly a possibility.”

  “I don’t know; I’m not so sure about that,” Pierce chimed in. “I was there that day and, while you certainly intimidated and embarrassed him, I don’t think that guy has it in him.”

  In an instant, the wind was out of my sails. I wasn’t going to leave anything up to chance because I really didn’t know the guy, but I had a feeling Pierce was right. Ekko’s ex-boyfriend didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d do something this methodical. And considering he didn’t really seem to be torn up over the loss of Ekko, I didn’t see any motive other than a bruised ego. It didn’t make much sense that he’d be behind this. Nevertheless, I’d still do some research and look into him.

  “Maybe you could ask her? See what she thinks about the possibility of him doing this?” Pierce suggested.

  “No,” I immediately shut him down.

  “That was definitive,” he noted.

  “She’s just gotten out from under him and started a new job today. She doesn’t need to be worried about this. She knows I’m working on a case, but she doesn’t know anything about it. I don’t want to bring this stress on her.”

  “Even if you could put an end to this faster?”

  A downward jerk of my chin indicated that going to Ekko and revealing details of the case to her was not an option, even if her ex was involved. In fact, the possibility of him being involved was even more of a reason I didn’t want her knowing. With any luck, I could solve this case on my own, and get it done quickly, without her ever knowing just how stressed I was over it.

  Pierce let out a laugh and quipped, “I never thought I’d see the day.”

  “What?”

  “When you are no longer the life of the party because you’re so far gone for a girl.”

  Without a shred of doubt in my tone, I assured him, “I’m still very much the life of the party, Reynolds…it’s just a different kind of party.”

  Pierce and Trent both laughed. It was nice to have a bit of lightheartedness in the room when moments ago I was feeling very agitated about this puzzle. Even still, I couldn’t relax too much if I was going to make sure that I solved the case quickly.

  “I’m going to take a few hours and go through some of my last couple of cases,” I explained. “Maybe something will pop out.”

  “Want some help?” Trent offered.

  I shook my head. “I’m good for now, but I might need your help if I figure anything out. At this point, I think it’s going to be a needle in a haystack until I get more puzzle pieces.”

  My friends both gave me nods of acknowledgment before I picked up the puzzle pieces from Trent’s desk and walked out. I knew I was grasping at straws at this point by going back through my caseload from the last few months, but sitting around waiting for someone to make their move wasn’t my thing. Even if the time I spent wasn’t going to lead me to an explanation, I couldn’t simply sit back and do nothing.

  Three hours later, I’d been through several months’ worth of cases and I was no closer to having even the slightest clue as to what the puzzle pieces were about. It was late, and I was frustrated, so I decided to call it a night.

  I didn’t know what it was, but something about this case was really bothering me. Much more than nearly any other case I’d ever remembered working. I was almost certain the reason for it was the planning and systematic way in which the person behind it was handling it. I also had absolutely no idea where to start looking for clues and that aggravated me.

  After shutting down my computer and putting the puzzle pieces back in my desk, I snatched up my keys and left. It was relatively late. As much as I w
anted to go back to Ekko’s place to see her, I decided against it. She had just started her new job this week and I didn’t want to be the reason she showed up to work sluggish.

  By the end of the week, I had moved from being frustrated to downright pissed. I received another puzzle piece. The third corner. And it was the opposite pavement piece. The back had nothing on it, so it only served to just irritate and infuriate me. Someone was playing a game with me and I didn’t like it one bit.

  I had managed to do a bit of investigative research on Ekko’s ex-boyfriend. While I couldn’t be a hundred percent certain he wasn’t involved, my gut was telling me that he wasn’t the guy behind this. He spent too much of his time wrapped up in himself and his clients.

  This was really the only silver lining. I hadn’t wanted to think that the case was headed in this direction. There was nothing to indicate that this had anything to do with Ekko, so I tried to use that to calm myself when I started feeling frustrated about the situation. I kept telling myself that it could be worse and that she could be involved.

  At this point, it was Friday evening and I was taking the rest of the weekend off to be with my girl. We had Levi and Elle’s wedding to attend tomorrow and I wanted to be there to celebrate with them completely.

  When Ekko and I spoke earlier in the week, I had asked her how she wanted to handle the wedding weekend. I explained that I was more than happy to have her stay at my place tonight or, if she preferred, we could stay at hers. She claimed she didn’t care, but then also suggested that I’d probably be more comfortable in my own bed since it was bigger than hers. To be quite honest, I would have slept on the floor if it meant I was with her, but I took her hint to mean that she wanted to be at my place.

  I had just arrived at her place to pick her up. Other than Monday after she’d had her first day at her new job and I stopped by to visit her, I hadn’t seen Ekko all week. We’d talked on the phone at least once every day, though, and we texted frequently.

  But I had missed her.

  More than I’d ever missed a woman.

  Once she opened the door to her apartment, I took a second to let out a breath, feeling relieved finally seeing her beautiful, smiling face after so many days. But it was only a second because I needed more than just that. I stepped inside, pushing the door closed behind me, as I wrapped an arm around her waist and put one hand at her ass. After I lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around me and dropped her lips to my mouth.

  Apparently, Ekko had missed me at least just as much as I had missed her. She immediately parted her lips and allowed my tongue to invade her mouth while her hands remained planted on the beanie covering my head. We kissed each other for several long moments. Any lingering tension I felt over my case melted away with each stroke of Ekko’s tongue over mine.

  When Ekko pulled her mouth back, she wrapped her arms around my neck, rested her head on my shoulder, and shared, “I missed you so much this week, baby.”

  I gave her a gentle squeeze and returned, “Missed you too, sugar.”

  We held on to each other for a bit, truly enjoying our reunion.

  “Guess what?!” she suddenly jolted in my arms.

  “What?”

  She grinned from ear to ear and said, “I’m starting school again in January. I contacted my school and they’re letting me come back for the spring semester. I’ll be able to finish my undergraduate degree in just a few months!”

  “That’s awesome! I’m so proud of you.”

  She dropped her head to my shoulder again and hugged me.

  “Are you all packed up?” I eventually asked.

  Ekko lifted her head from my shoulder and looked at me before she responded, “I think I’ve got it all packed. Well, other than a dress for tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t mind going with me to the store tonight so I can find something?”

  “Not at all. In fact, I called in reinforcements.”

  Her brows pulled together. “Reinforcements?” she asked.

  “Jojo is good at this kind of stuff,” I explained. “When I talked to her a couple days ago and told her we were going to be going shopping today so you could get a dress for the wedding, she insisted on meeting us there. I wanted to make sure you were okay with it first before I told her it would be alright.”

  “She wants to go shopping with us?”

  I nodded and added, “She said she saw a dress there that was perfect for you and she’s dying to see it on you.”

  Ekko just stared at me in disbelief. I waited for her to respond, but she never did.

  “Ekko, what’s wrong?”

  Her eyes welled up with tears. “Your sister wants to go shopping with us and help me choose a dress.”

  “If you don’t want her to go, that’s okay. I can tell her—” I got out before Ekko held her hand up and cut me off.

  “No!” she exclaimed. “I want her to go. It’s just that…I’ve never had a girls’ shopping trip before.”

  I smiled at her. “Well, it’s just Jojo this time and I’m going to be there, so it’s not officially a girls’ shopping trip. But I think you should plan a real one soon. My sisters will definitely be up for it.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course,” I assured her.

  Ekko bit her lip, a failed attempt to tamp down her excitement over the prospect of having real friends with whom she could spend her time.

  “Are you ready to go?” I asked.

  She nodded her head furiously, no longer trying to hide how she truly felt.

  I lowered Ekko to her feet and followed her to her bedroom, where I grabbed her overnight bag for her. Once she confirmed she had everything she needed for the weekend, I made a quick call to Jojo. She told me she’d meet us in twenty minutes, so Ekko and I got in my truck and took off.

  Two hours later, Jojo was walking out of the dressing room with a huge smile on her face.

  “It is absolutely perfect on her,” she announced. “I knew it would be.”

  “Is she going to come out here so I can see it?” I wondered.

  Jojo shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. She has it on and keeps looking at it in the mirror, but she seems unsure about it. I’m not sure why because it’s absolutely perfect for her.”

  “Is it too short or too revealing? We are going to a wedding. Maybe she’s just being hesitant because she thinks the style isn’t appropriate for the occasion.”

  My little sister gave me a look that told me she was seriously beginning to question me. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I know where you two are going and the dress is perfect for it. Maybe it’s the shoes…” She trailed off.

  “Shoes?”

  Jojo looked back toward the dressing room before directing her attention to me again. “Ekko seemed to love the dress the minute she put it on. She asked my opinion on shoes and when I told her what I thought, she started questioning the dress.”

  I had a feeling I knew what was going on. “Tell her to come out here so I can see the dress,” I requested.

  I waited while my sister went back into the dressing room to get Ekko. A minute later, she walked out and I had to admit Jojo was right. The dress was perfect for Ekko.

  “It looks beautiful on you,” I said softly.

  Ekko smiled at me, but I could see the trepidation quickly wash over her face. She looked down at the ground. I didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable so I glanced over at Jojo and confirmed, “You said there were shoes you thought would look great with the dress?”

  She gave me a nod.

  “Ekko, what’s your shoe size?”

  Her eyes shot to mine. “What?”

  “What’s your shoe size?”

  “Six and a half. Why?”

  I pulled out my wallet, handed Jojo one of my credit cards, and ordered, “Go get the shoes she needs for this dress. Meet us back here.”

  Given I never handed my credit card over to my sister in a mall ever in my life, she wasted no time and took off toward the shoe depar
tment.

  I took a few steps toward Ekko and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Jojo said you loved the dress and then started acting funny about getting it. Why?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just thought maybe I’d look around and see if I could find something else that might look nicer.”

  “This dress is perfect, Ekko. I want you to get this one.”

  Her worried eyes came to mine. “I can’t,” she rasped.

  My hand reached out to the tag on the dress under Ekko’s arm. Three hundred and seventy-five dollars.

  “I’ve got it,” I told her.

  “Dom, no. This is too much.”

  “It’s a dress. One that was made for your sweet little body. And it’s one that I want you to have. The whole reason you need a dress is because I invited you to go with me to Levi and Elle’s wedding. I’m getting you the dress.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I feel like such a failure sometimes,” she whispered.

  “You’re not a failure. You’ve been working your ass off for a long time, just switched jobs, got into a new apartment, took over your cell phone bill, and just got things squared away to start school again for the spring semester. Cut yourself some slack.”

  “I hate that I can’t do this for myself.”

  I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I want to do this for you.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to come close to doing for you what you’ve done for me.”

  “I can’t even begin to tell you all that you do for me, sugar. It’s not about money.”

  Ekko gave me a small smile.

  “Go get changed. When Jojo gets back with your shoes, I’m going to take two of my favorite girls out for dinner. Then, you and I are heading back to my place.”

  Ekko’s eyes heated. She knew what was in store for her, so she scurried off and got changed.

  A couple hours later, after we’d gotten Ekko’s new dress and shoes and I had taken her and my sister out for dinner, I took my girl home.