by Keene, Susan
“I’m surprised you bought another just like it.” I was testing my theory that preferences don’t change much.
“It’s my dream car. I couldn’t resist. I’m much more careful now. I always lock it.”
“So it wasn’t locked the night it was stolen?”
“No. I was in a meeting. There were dozens of cars there. I knew everyone there, and it wasn’t a place you would stumble upon. Do I know your missing friend?”
“You tell me,” Ryan said. “Do you know Lizzy Smith?”
Madison turned pale and sat down. “Why, yes I do, and I read in the paper that she was missing, How horrible.”
“How well did you know her?” I felt her reaction was real concern.
“I thought I knew her well. She was friends with another artist friend of mine from high school, Jasmine Wu. I only saw her once after the car went missing, and Jasmine dropped out of sight too.”
“What kind of meeting were you attending?”
“Oh, a Wiccan festival. I don’t go to everything but some of the rituals resonate with me. I couldn’t get pregnant, and this was a fertility gathering, so I joined in.”
“Do you know if Lizzy went to any meetings after that night?”
“No, I don’t. If it wasn’t specifically about fertility, I didn’t attend. I knew about the Coven because I lease them the land. It was an old girl scout camp I bought some years ago,” she explained.
Ryan crossed his legs. “When’s the last time you saw Jasmine Wu.”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think she had anything to do with the Coven. If I remember correctly, the connection between Jasmine and Lizzy began as student and teacher and became a friendship. Are they both missing?”
“We really don’t know much about Jasmine Wu. We’re looking for Lizzy. She is a close personal friend to both of us.”
Madison looked at her watch. “I hate to bail on this, but I have to show a property.”
Ryan and I both stood. “Not a problem, we were hoping you would know more. Thanks for your time.”
“My pleasure.” She shook both of our hands. “If you ever need any property on the East side, give me a call.” She reached down, picked up a card, and handed it to him.
“By the way,” Ryan asked. “Did the Wiccan festival help you?”
She had a twinkle in her eye. “Why, yes, it did. We have a two year old and one on the way.”
“That’s great!” I said. “Thanks for your time.”
Once we were in the car, I couldn’t help but raze Ryan about Miss Daily. “Well, The Ryan Meade, what did you think of that?”
He laughed and started the truck. “I don’t even blink at that stuff anymore. People love money and the fact that I didn’t do anything to earn mine doesn’t seem to make a difference.”
“Ryan.” I touched his arm. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You inherited the money at an early age. Look at all you’ve accomplished.”
He looked over at me. “Do you ever wonder how I’d be without the money?”
“I know exactly what you’d be, the same loving, gentle, sweet, generous, kind man you are now.”
We drove a few miles in silence, and then he took one hand off the steering wheel and put it on top of mine.
He turned down a country road, instead of getting on Highway 111 and heading toward St. Louis. “This area is known as Pogue. Around here’s where our real estate friend said the car was spotted.”
“Can we look around a little?”
“Sure. I’m just not sure what we’re looking for. Sure would be nice if the Mercedes pulled out in front of us and we could just follow it home,” Ryan joked.
“Things don’t work out that way, at least not in my world. However, I was thinking. Just how many men do you have at this new company of yours?”
“Several hundred, why?”
“Could you have a few cars drive around this area and see if the Mercedes shows up. We know it’s around.”
He pulled over and faced me. “Do you know how slim the chances of us ever seeing that car again are?”
“Yes, I do, but I’m at a dead end.”
He took out his phone. “So am I. We’ll try it.”
My phone rang. It was Amy. “Someone just tried to kill me.” She was breathless.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“Jake wanted to go for a run so I went to the grocery store. Derrick waited out front. I got what we needed and, as I walked back to the car, someone in a blue Mercedes came all the way up on the curb to try to run me down. Derrick shot out the back window, but they kept driving. Had it not been for a brick curb I tripped over and fell down a hill, they would have run over me.”
“Were you able to see the driver?”
“No, the windows were tinted. I think there was only one person in the car. It all happened so quickly. Kate, be careful. This isn’t over, and I’m scared. We’re going to try and find Jake before someone decides to hurt him too.”
“Amy, I’m so sorry. Stay close to Derrick. We’ll be right there.”
When I hung up, Ryan was already on the phone with Derrick. He swore Amy was fine and he was going to see she remained that way. After Ryan hung up, he called the security office and arranged for six men in six different cars. They were to park in strategic spots around the Pogue area. He was now determined to find the car.
It was unnecessary. As we pulled out onto the highway heading for Amy, the blue Mercedes blew past us, doing about ninety. Ryan was already committed to turning, any other choice now would have caused an accident. By the time we turned around and headed after the car, all we could see was the dust it threw up due to the dry gravel on the road. It looked like the pictures of the Oklahoma dust bowl I’d seen at school.
We were flying after it, but between the dust it was kicking up and that of two cars coming toward us, we couldn’t see anything. Ryan had to slow down so we didn’t end up in the drainage ditch on the edge of the road. A sharp turn to the left and another immediately to the right slowed us even more. We could no longer tell where the car was. After about five miles, Ryan turned the truck around and began looking at the road as we drove. No doubt about it, we’d lost the car. The good news? We had a perimeter in which to search.
On our second pass, I wrote down the names of the roads and the numbers on all of the mailboxes. We needed to get to Amy and Derrick. I felt excited. My glass was half-full right now. Instead of knowing the car in question was somewhere in Illinois or Missouri, I could put it in a ten-square-mile area.
Amy assured us she didn’t get hurt. She also let me know she didn’t want to be targeted anymore and I should do nothing else until the case was solved.
Ryan wanted Amy to leave the city, either become a groupie and follow Jake while his team was on the road or go visit a long lost relative. I agreed. She said she’d think about it. Digger didn’t like to fly.
By eleven o’clock, we had a Google Earth search of the area. The detail was more than I hoped for. It showed the trees in the yards, cars parked outside, and even people on the decks. I narrowed it to five places.
Ryan agreed.
It was almost dark so we opted to go searching in the morning. Meantime, there were carloads of security men up and down the road in case someone decided to make a beer and pizza run during the night.
We got back to the apartment around nine. Amy called as we were going up. “I’m going with Jake. I’ll only be gone five days. Can you watch Digger? It’ll give you a chance to see if you really want to take care of a dog.”
“Sure, I’ll come get him.”
“No. We aren’t leaving until tomorrow, which gives me one more night with him.”
Jeez, even if I had a dog, I couldn’t see having to sleep with it or be upset if I went on vacation and it stayed home. I really didn’t get this pet thing. Was it my shortcoming?
“Okay, pack his jammies, food, and snacks and I’ll get him in the morning.”
“Wi
ll do. Once you get a pet of your own, you’ll understand.”
I shook my head. “If you say so.”
“We need to talk,” Ryan said.
“I don’t want to, not tonight. I’m confused enough without trying to sort out my feelings about us.”
“Okay. I accept that. But I don’t like going home with all of this going on.”
“No one’s going to hurt me.”
“Maybe it isn’t you I’m worried about.”
“You’re telling me you’re afraid?”
“Not exactly. I am telling you it is safer for both of us right here. Only one-way in and one-way out. Both vehicles can be watched at the same time.”
I fell onto the couch as if I’d just run a half marathon. “Okay, you’ve made your point. You’re welcome to stay. But you may find out I’m the most horrible person on earth. I don’t want to get close and lose anyone else.”
He sat down beside me. “Kate, you have been my choice for a very long time. I’ve never tried to date you or move past friendship with you, for fear I would mess it up and not have you in my life at all.”
I put my hand up to his lips. “No declarations.”
“It’s not a declaration. It’s a truth. I need to reveal it before you convince yourself how rotten you are. When you fell in love with Michael, I could see how it happened. I loved him myself. We all did. But he’s gone, and you had nothing to do with it. Once you realize that, perhaps we’ll have a future. Meanwhile, I’ll bunk in one of the guest rooms.”
I could do nothing but look at him. Once again, I felt like the short girl who couldn’t reach the top shelf of her locker. The woman who had to have the airbag disconnected in her car so, if it went off, it wouldn’t kill her. I was the woman who got her husband and friends killed because she was too selfish a person to help Jasmine Wu.
I began to cry. Ryan tried to console me, but I needed to get it out. Tears flowed for Michael, Roomy, and Andy, all the terror Lizzy must be going through, and Jasmine Wu and her lost career.
I fell asleep--exhausted, guilty, and sad. Ryan was still holding me when I woke up several hours later and went to bed.
CHAPTER 30
Q uite a sight greeted me in the morning. I stood in front of the mirror and surveyed myself. Puffy eyes, red nose, runny mascara, and unruly red hair. How could anyone love me? I was blessed. Michael was a special man and so was Ryan. I took my hand and splashed water on the image staring at me then hopped in the shower.
Ah, the miracle of hot water.
We all had our happy places, places we retreated to when things got out of hand. One of my spots was a hot shower. I loved hot showers. By the time I was done, I felt half way normal and worthy of human kindness. I stood in my closet, looking for something to wear.
The weather was chilly in the morning, hot in the afternoon, and cooled down again in the evening. A typical spring in St. Louis. I chose tan slacks, a V-neck tee shirt in teal blue, along with a brown jacket to conceal my weapon. My hair cooperated for the first time in a month so I wore it natural. Natural for me was a mass of ringlets circling my face and running down my back. It would have to do.
Ryan wasn’t in the living room or kitchen when I went in to make a cup of latte. The miracle of the Keurig allowed me to make something as good as Starbucks for less than a dollar. I wasn’t one to complain about saving money.
I walked toward the guest room. The door was half closed. Without opening it, I could hear the shower in the guest bath running so I walked back to the kitchen, made a cup of coffee, and headed back to sit it on the nightstand where he could find it when he came out. Thing was, he opened the door the same time I did and stood in the doorway in nothing more than the steam from the hot water to cover him. I didn’t look away. Before me stood a gorgeous man with the wide shoulders of a weight lifter, the narrow hips of a runner, and all the manhood of Zeus.
“Nice,” I said, put the coffee down, and walked out.
It was the most chauvinist thing I had ever done. I wondered what the word for misogynist was when things were turned around and the woman was the aggressor.
I enjoyed my latte as I laughed to myself. Maybe I got too much sleep.
If Ryan was embarrassed by my staring or remarks, he didn’t act like it. “Thanks for the coffee. Are you ready to track down the blue Mercedes?”
“You’re welcome, and I’m ready to go. We have to stop by Amy’s and pick up Digger.”
The ride to Amy’s was uneventful. I sat lost in thought as I watched the scenery fly by but didn’t really see any of it. If Ryan had anything on his mind, he didn’t share it with me.
Amy had the dog packed like a kid going to camp. She had made a list for me of when to feed him and twenty-plus things to make him more comfortable. I felt like I was babysitting for Prince George. I merely smiled and put him on my lap in the truck.
In less than an hour, we were in Granite City. Digger was happy as a clam on my leg, looking out the window. We met two cars full of Ryan’s men on Route 111. We pulled over and got out. I left Digger in the car. Ryan wanted one car at one end of Pogue Road and the other at the opposite end. We were going to go Mercedes hunting alone. Their only job was to let us know if the car came by them while we were off the road looking for it.
It was a long morning. We started out looking at the five places we targeted by satellite the night before. We left the truck on the road and hiked in the woods up to the edges of the yards. The first one looked abandoned. The yard had grass four feet high and trees hanging over the driveway so no one could have driven up it. We checked out the old barn to the right of the house but there was no car in sight. We headed back to the main road and the truck.
The second place was a thriving farm, complete with kids, horses, goats, cows, and a garden plot. It wasn’t the sort of place we would find Lizzy.
We hit pay dirt as we walked up the fifth lane. It led to a place that looked like it was out of the old South. It’d been stately in its time. Now it was rundown and in dire need of paint and a lawn mower. There were so many trees shading it we could see lights on inside, although the sun shined brightly all around us. As soon as we saw the house, we retreated off the driveway and into the band of heavy woods surrounding it. We had plenty of cover. Ryan tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a shed about fifty yards to our left. Cautiously we ran and hid behind it. Behind the filthy window in the back, we saw the car, a blue Mercedes with no license plate.
I sneaked to the left side of the house and Ryan went to the right. We had our guns drawn. Of course, I couldn’t see in the windows. My head barely reached the sill, so I got down on my hands and knees and looked in the basement.
It was lit up like daylight down there, and Lizzy sat painting in front of one of the biggest canvases I had ever seen. She was talking to someone out of sight. I crab walked to another window and looked in. From my first vantage point, I had been able to see the back of my friend. From here, I could see her profile. Her hair looked filthy and ratted. I wished she would turn and look at me so I could signal to her that this was almost over.
She didn’t.
I could still hear voices, so I knew she wasn’t alone. I wondered what Ryan saw.
I didn’t have to wonder long. He appeared near the front of the house, crouched down, and motioning for me to come his way. I was careful so as not to be seen. I crawled away from the basement and toward him.
When I was close enough, he signaled me to move away from the house. I guessed he wanted to talk. We both ran about fifty yards toward the truck and sat down at the base of a hundred year old oak tree that, on a better day, I would have liked to climb.
I leaned back and looked toward him. “What did you see?”
“Not much. There was music playing, food on the kitchen table, and I could hear voices but I didn’t see anyone.”
I nodded. “I saw Lizzy. She’s in the basement, painting. Her hair’s matted and she’s dirty, but she appears okay. She didn’t l
ook at me so I couldn’t let her know we were about to get her out of there.”
“It’s probably for the best,” he said. “If you’d startled her, it could get her killed. These aren’t nice people we’re dealing with.”
“I know, but from what I could see, she looked awful. You know we can’t just go in there and get her, don’t you?”
“I figured as much.”
“We’re in Illinois, for one thing. If we go in, it could make everything we find inadmissible in court. I don’t want to have Michael’s killer in my hands and lose him on a technicality.”
“Not just Michael.”
“I know, I’m just saying,”
“I understand.” He squeezed my hand, gave me a smile, and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go back to the truck.”
We thought it best to move away from the house, in case someone decided to leave. At the corner, we met the men monitoring who came and went. Ryan told them to park across the highway on a grassy knoll he pointed to and watch for the car. If it left, they were to follow it. I called the guards in the car stationed at the other end of the road and asked them if they could be inconspicuous and they said yes. Ten minutes later, we were on our way to Central and Roger Simon’s office. I was giddy, nervous, and scared for my friend.
On the way to St. Louis, I thought back on all that had happened. Soon I would know if it was because I didn’t help Jasmine Wu at the Jump Club. It reminded me of Digger who had jumped back on my lap. We pulled over and I took him for a short walk, gave him a treat, and a drink of water. If he missed Amy, he didn’t act like it.
***
We waited fifteen minutes for Roger to come back from lunch. Mostly, my stomach ruled me. This was a rare occasion. Food was secondary to settling this case. Could I be growing up? I doubted it. I would be thirty-three on May first. Birthdays were not as exciting as they once were.
Roger walked in while I was deep in thought. Ryan had stepped out to make a phone call.
If he was surprised I was there, he didn’t show it. “Hi there, what’s up?”
