by Dale Mayer
“And he didn’t say anything else? He didn’t give the name of the girl?” Miles asked.
Tristan thought about it for a moment and said, “I don’t think so, but he might have said Beth. I can’t remember.”
“Thanks. If you think of anything else, let me know,” Miles said.
“Yeah, well,” he said, worried now, “I’m not in any danger, am I?”
“I don’t think so,” Vanessa said. “But this guy is still on the loose, so, if you see him, let us know.”
“And stay away from him,” Miles reiterated.
“Will do.” Tristan suddenly hung up.
When the phone went dead, Miles looked over at her. “Do you trust your cousin?”
“I have no reason not to,” she said.
“So you think he really has a modeling gig?”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” she said. “When you see him up close, he’s got really high cheekbones and super-flaxen skin. The camera will love him,” she said.
“Interesting. Well, okay then,” he said. “We’ll knock him down the list a little bit.”
At that, she groaned. “Is everybody in my world suspect?”
“Until this nightmare is over, everybody is suspect.”
“Fine,” she said. “So now what?”
Just then the door opened, and the doctor walked in. “There we go,” he said. “You’re looking better already.”
Miles excused himself as the doctor did a very thorough physical, standing at the doorway to the bathroom with his back turned.
When she was finally covered up again, she winced from the pain. “What about it, Doctor? Do I get to go home?”
“Well, I can’t say I’d be unhappy to get the security guard out of here,” he said. “But I only want you to go home if you’ll be careful when you’re there. We don’t want you coming back here even more injured.”
“Believe me. I’m not trying to,” she said with a smile. “And I’ll have bodyguards coming with me too.”
“Perfect,” he said. “In that case, I’ll give you clearance to go home.” Then he smiled, shook her hand and took his leave.
When Miles turned around, he had a big grin on his face. “Well, now you should be happy.”
“Absolutely,” she said. “But I don’t have any clothes.”
“Well,” he said. “We’re not far from your place. I’ll head over. You need to have breakfast and some coffee anyway, and you probably need to wait on the final paperwork and have the nurses do their final rounds. So, I can be back in what? Half an hour? Forty minutes?”
She nodded. “A shower would be good too, before I leave. Or maybe one at home?” She was undecided.
He lifted a hand and said, “I’ll get Nico to come in and sit with you.”
“Is Nico around?”
He nodded. “He was on watch at the hospital, just in case.”
She shook her head. “But you guys didn’t get any sleep?”
“We did,” he said. “In four-hour shifts.”
She watched as Miles made a phone call, and then, within a few minutes, Nico walked in with a big grin on his face. “So you are getting out of here, are you?”
She smiled and said, “Yeah. Are you okay to sit and watch over me while Miles gets me some clothes?”
“I can do that easily enough,” he said, “especially if we’ll get coffee delivered.” He looked over at the Miles. “Why don’t you bring up that chat box and order us some real food for breakfast?”
Miles rolled his eyes. “Fine. I can do that. And then I’ll be back real fast.”
He sent the text and then headed out, and it wasn’t ten minutes before another knock came on Vanessa’s hospital room door. Nico immediately hopped up and answered the door and then brought in a trolley. He smiled and led it over to the bed. And while she watched, he lifted the lids and uncovered coffee and fresh bagels and what looked like scrambled eggs.
She grinned. “Okay, at least we can eat while he’s gone.” And then he grabbed the first plate and placed it on a small table for her and brought her some coffee.
“The second plate’s for me,” he said. “Unless you’re super-hungry?”
“Go on and eat,” she said. “I can’t believe you guys stayed up all night.”
He shrugged and moved the trolley back out into the hallway, then took a look. She could see his gaze going up and down the hallway before he closed the door. “Nobody there?”
He shook his head. “Nobody is there.” An odd note was in his voice, and he typed something on his phone.
“Then what about that bothers you?” She picked up a piece of toasted bagel, melted butter dripping all down the side, and took a big bite. She moaned. “Oh, my gosh, this is so good.”
He nodded, but his face was troubled.
She realized he hadn’t answered her question. “What’s the matter?”
“The guard’s not there,” he said briefly. “I’ve notified hospital security.”
She frowned at that and shrugged, then said, “I imagine they need a shift change too.”
“I know,” he said. “He was there when I came in though.”
“So then Miles said something to him,” she said, ignoring it. She trusted these guys to keep her safe. She munched happily on her bagel for a few moments, finishing that off, and then dug into her scrambled eggs. By the time she was done with all the food, she was stunned that her plate was empty. “Okay,” she said. “I was hungrier than I expected to be.”
“It’s all good,” he said. “Do you want some of mine?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine now. But I’ll have my coffee.”
He nodded and handed it to her. She leaned back and sipped it, then said, “Are you coming to the apartment with me too?”
“In between helping look after you and trying to track down this guy, we’ll be switching off on a regular basis.”
She nodded. “Good, because I certainly don’t want to be alone right now.”
“No,” he said. “Of course you don’t.” He picked up his phone and sent a text.
Because he’d been acting a little bit odd, she said, “What was that about?”
He looked at her and flashed her a bright smile. “What makes you think I was doing anything?”
“You were typing.”
“I was just checking to make sure Miles had spoken to the guard before he left.”
“And?”
“I haven’t heard back,” he said with a shrug. Then he picked up his coffee and studied it. “Is this hospital coffee?”
“I doubt it,” she said. “It tastes too good. So did the bagel.”
“It’s hard to mess up a toasted bagel,” he said.
She laughed at that. “I agree, but this is delicious,” she said as she took another sip. When forty-five minutes had gone by, she kept checking with Nico to see what time it was and was now checking on her phone too. “So, where is he?”
“You worried about Miles?” Nico asked curiously. “Or are you just anxious to go home?”
She flushed. “Of course I’m worried about him. A dangerous man is out there.”
“Don’t kid yourself,” he said. “Miles is up for any of those challenges. He’s probably way more dangerous than your kidnapper.”
She stared at him in surprise. “He doesn’t look the type,” she said slowly.
He smiled at her. “Remember how you thought your kidnapper could be very angry? Miles doesn’t waste effort with being angry. He just gets even.”
She smiled. “I like the sound of that. Hopefully he’s found my bloody kidnapper, and he’s beaten him to a pulp,” she said. But, when Miles didn’t show up another fifteen minutes later, she really got worried. “Where is he?” she cried out. “How do you know that he isn’t injured in a back alley somewhere?”
“I don’t,” he said. “I can send a patrol car to your apartment, if you want though.”
She nodded immediately. “Yes, please do.” He
nodded and quickly brought out his phone and sent a text. She looked at him. “Is that it? That’s all you have to do? Send a text?”
“Yes,” he said, looking at her carefully. “Why?”
“Well, why didn’t you send one to Miles earlier?”
His voice was low and hard when he answered, “I did, and I didn’t get any answer.”
Miles walked through the apartment and collected a small bag, then considered what to bring as a change of clothing for her. He wasn’t sure what she would like, but it was a warm day, so he figured that, considering she had stacks of leggings and long tunics, maybe he could get away with a simple pair of those. He grabbed some underclothes and a pair of soft ballet shoes, then had them in a bag and was just about to exit the apartment when he heard something off.
He immediately hid behind the door and waited. But there was nothing. Nobody came in. He didn’t like the sound of that because it didn’t sound so much like a door opening as much as the door opening, closing, opening and closing. He would put that down to somebody making it sound like several people had entered the apartment across from him. He didn’t know why it bugged him. It just didn’t sound right. It sounded fake, almost like a kid standing there, opening and closing the door.
With everything in the apartment as he had left it, he opened the door and stepped out, closing it immediately behind him. The hallway around was deserted. He frowned, wondering what he’d heard. He was not somebody who ignored his instincts, and, at this point in time, they prodded him that something was wrong. He stuffed her clothes into his pocket, having to shove the bag in tight to get it in there. He chose everything that was super flimsy and light, so it was pretty easy to squeeze in. And then, with his hands free, he walked down to the end of the hallway to where the exit was. He headed outside to make sure nobody was there and then stepped back inside to see if anybody was following him. A double set of doors were between the exit doors, so that he could wait in between to see if anybody came down the hallway.
After five minutes, he figured it was safe, and he peered around the corner to see a man coming out of the apartment across from hers. He walked across and tested the lock on Vanessa’s door, and, when he found it was locked and wouldn’t open, he bent to see if he could work with something in his hand to pick it open. Immediately Miles opened the double door and raced toward him, yelling, “Hey, asshole.”
The guy took one look and bolted, but Miles was already running. The guy made it out the front door but hit a wall of people heading for work. Miles grabbed him and tossed him onto the grass in the front lawn, then hit him once and knocked him down. Immediately they were surrounded by a crowd of people, protesting his behavior. He glanced at them and held up his badge. There were still a few insults, like police brutality, but he shook his head and quickly tied the guy up and called for the detective. When the detective answered the phone, Miles explained what had happened.
“The guy was trying to get into Vanessa’s apartment?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if he was just a robber or if he knew she was out of the apartment. It’s not the guy we’re looking for.”
“Of course not,” he said in that exaggerated heavy voice. “I’ll send somebody down to pick him up.”
Miles helped the guy stand up and then said, “You always break into women’s apartments?”
The guy glared at him and didn’t say anything.
“That’s fine,” he said. “That one was just kidnapped. We’re more than happy to pin you to that case.”
Immediately the guy’s eyes opened wide. “Hey, hey! I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “It’s got nothing to do with me.”
“So, what were you doing trying to break into her apartment?”
“I wasn’t,” he said. “There was just an odd design on the doorknob, and I was taking a closer look.”
“I don’t think so. I know exactly what you were doing, and so do you.”
The guy glared at him. “So what? I knew she was in the hospital. So chances were, the place was empty, and I could scope it out.”
“So you engage in a little bit of B&E of people already struggling, is that it? You wait until somebody has a catastrophe, and you go in and clean out their place?”
“Well, what the hell,” he said. “I knew two women lived there. For all I knew, the sister was there too.”
“But then you wouldn’t have gone in, would you?”
The guy glared at him.
“Unless of course, you’re stalking the sister too.”
At that, the guy started backing away. “Hey, man, no. I don’t have anything to do with that.”
“So, how did you know the sister wasn’t here?” Something was odd about this guy’s expression. As Miles turned to glance around the crowd, he caught a glimpse of some man getting in the rear passenger side of a vehicle, staring at him sideways, sunglasses and a hat on. And Miles realized it was the kidnapper. Miles swore and shouted, but the guy’s driver gunned it and took off. He turned to look at his B&E guy and said, “He paid you, didn’t he?”
Immediately the guy froze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said hurriedly.
“That guy’ll kill you for getting caught,” Miles threatened.
“No, no, no, no,” he said. “He’s not like that.”
“Really? But he hired you to break into this woman’s apartment?”
“Well, he told me that it was a good opportunity. The place was empty. That’s all,” he said.
“Why did he do you such a favor?”
The guy shrugged and didn’t say anything.
“Speak up now before things get nasty.”
“Because I help him out every once in a while.”
“Yeah, with what?”
The guy glared at him but fell silent.
“It’s okay,” Miles said. “I’ll find out, and I’ll turn your life upside down. I’ll dig into your friends, your job, your bank accounts, … and, if there are any irregularities, we’ll nail your ass to the wall.”
“Hey, you’ve got no right to do any of that,” he said.
“Sure I do,” he said. “Where do you work?”
“I’m a programmer,” he said.
“With a steady job?”
The guy glared at him.
“So that translates to being a hacker, huh?”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t do anything wrong. I play games mostly.”
“And,” Miles said, “shut down traffic cameras when it’s convenient, huh?”
At that, the guy’s eyes widened in panic, and he backed away, but Miles wasn’t letting him take even a step.
“No, no, no,” he said. “We’ll have a nice little talk with you.”
“Hell no,” he said. “You want that guy. Go after him.”
“I already know what vehicle he’s driving,” Miles said. “And the traffic cameras, without you erasing them right now, will give us exactly where he went.”
The guy panicked. “I don’t know anything about that,” he cried out.
“Yeah, you do. You know an awful lot, and I need to know everything you know.”
“There’s nothing to say,” he said.
“You better talk. Otherwise we’ll just nail your ass for seventeen kidnappings over seventeen years.”
At that, the guy started to blubber. “Hey, I don’t have anything to do with that.”
“So, what’s your deal with this guy who just took off?”
His hacker thief fell silent, and then he shrugged and said, “He pays me every once a while. I kind of need it for rent.”
“And what is he paying you to do?”
“Sometimes to pick up food. Sometimes to shut down traffic cameras. Sometimes, you know, I don’t know,” he said. “Just odd jobs.”
“And how does he pay you?”
“Cash,” he said.
“How does he contact you?”
“On my phone,” he said. “It’s in my pocket.”
>
Miles fished it from his pocket and unlocked it as per the guy’s instructions and then said, “Which one’s him?”
And he scrolled through the contacts. “There, the unknown one.”
“And you never called him?”
“I have a couple times, when I couldn’t pick up whatever it was that he really wanted.”
“Well, that’s helpful,” he said. “What number?”
He hesitated, and Miles just gave him a hard shake. “The cops are on the way, but you need to tell me exactly what’s going on here because this guy kidnapped another woman, and I want to know where he lives.”
“He’s close,” he said.
“Where do you deliver the food to?”
“Just around the corner.”
Miles swore at that. “Just around what corner?”
And this time, he pointed across the block. “In those apartments over there.”
He stared at him in shock and looked back to where he pointed. “Show me,” and he dragged him across the street, following his instructions. “And what’s your name?”
“Ross. Ross McMurray,” he said. “Look. I couldn’t get a full-time job, so I do odd jobs for him. That’s all I do.”
“Keep walking. I want to know exactly where you deliver that food to.”
They were now at the corner. Turning right led to Ambrose’s apartment where they’d found Vanessa, but instead Ross led Miles in the opposite direction. They stopped in front of an old brick building, of which there are a million just like it in London. And Ross said, “In here.” He led the way inside. “Up on the second floor.” And they went up to the second floor, and then he pointed out the door.
Immediately Miles called for backup.
The detective said, “My guys are looking for you. Where the hell are you?”
Miles answered, “I’ve got the kidnapper’s delivery boy here. We’re at apartment number two forty two,” and he gave the street address. “I want backup right now because we’re going in and taking a look.”
“Give me five,” the detective said. “I’m only a couple blocks away.”
He leaned Ross up against the wall and said, “What else do you know about this guy?”
“Nothing,” he said. “He’s an oddity, that’s all. Does weird things and I don’t really understand it.”
