Perfect Kisses

by Maine, Miley

  I nodded but I didn’t really believe their story. I thought they would probably know where their daughter would go, even if they didn’t want to tell me. I understood. They felt that by not knowing they were actually keeping her safer. That was incorrect thinking. I was going to have to find her myself.

  When I got home, I contacted Bill Thompson, a police detective I’d become friends with years ago. There had been a security breach in one of our corporate buildings and this detective was the man in charge of that investigation. I admired him mostly because he was such a regular guy.

  He answered cheerily enough. “What does this asshole want?

  “I want you to spit on the toilet paper this time,” I said teasing him.

  He took my joke in a good manner and said, “Wow, it has been a super long time. To what do I owe this dubious pleasure?”

  “I need your help.”

  “Shit. What did you do now?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “I need you to find some information for me.”

  “Ok, who are we looking at?”

  “A guy named Saul Bannon. He’s some low life gangster thug out of the Detroit area. I don’t know if he is still based there or not.”

  “Ok. What’s going on?” Bill asked.

  “He is threatening a good friend of mine. I think he might be stalking her with deadly intentions.”

  “Shit. Why don’t I put this in and add it to our caseload? We can get some manpower on this.”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t have time for that, and I don’t want to make a public thing out of it. I’d rather take care of it under my own radar.”

  “Ok,” he said. “I just hope you know what you are getting yourself into. These guys can be real piece of work.”

  “I’m aware,” I said. “Can you get on that? I think time is short.”

  “Ok. I can do that. I’ll get back with you shortly.”

  “Thanks, Bill.”

  I tried to sit down and relax while I waited for Bill to call me back, but it was no use. I was sure that Julie was in trouble right now and I needed to be with her. If this guy or one of his gang buddies found Julie, then I would probably never see her again. They would most likely kill her. She did put Saul away for a few years. It was a miracle the guy had gotten off so light. And now he was still pissed. What a psycho!

  About an hour later, Bill called me back with some news. “Ok, this guy Saul has been staying off the police radar and keeping a low profile for a few years, ever since his release. As of now we don’t have anything to hold him on.”

  “He is stalking my friend,” I said.

  “Do you have actual proof he is stalking her?”

  I had to think for a moment. He had a point here, but it was not easy to get out of that sort of compliance to the law. The law protected criminals sometimes with just being so damn vague about everything. It drove me nuts.

  “No,” I said. “She’s his ex-wife, the one who sent him to prison. I know he is after her. She abruptly packed up everything. She is running scared for a reason.”

  “I’d agree with that, but that alone isn’t enough to actually do anything to him.”

  I sighed. This was not getting me anywhere. “Where is he? Do you have any activity on him? Is he still in Detroit?”

  “I was able to pull up a few things,” Thompson said. “I traced some credit cards registered to him and they have activity in Los Angeles.”

  “So, he must be there.”

  “That is still too much of a coincidence. I know you want to throw the book at the guy and judging by his history that would be the way to go. But we don’t have anything as of yet. If that changes, I will let you know.”

  “Thanks, Bill,” I said.

  I ended the call feeling very helpless about things. I wanted to track this guy down and I wanted to rip his lungs out. He deserved it for hurting Julie. The prick.

  I poured myself a drink and tried to calm down a bit. I had to gather my thoughts and think of what to do. Saul was a smooth guy. He ran a criminal enterprise, and he did it quite well. Julie’s parents said that everyone in Detroit feared that guy. He was careful. He always covered his tracks. There was no way he’d been getting away with doing these horrible things for so long without knowing how to avoid detection. And he had help. He had an elite team of people helping him pull off all of the various things he was into. He wasn’t operating alone.

  Julie was all by herself. I had to find her. I sat down to think long and hard about this. I wondered if she’d called any of her friends… what were their names? I’d never actually met any of them.

  I pulled up Julie’s social media and I discovered her friends Lizzy and Nellie on there, the ones she was always talking about and hanging out with. I decided to reach out and contact them. After a fast search online, I had Lizzy’s phone number. It was far too easy to find out people’s contact information nowadays.

  “Hello?” Lizzy answered very bubbly. I was surprised she answered my number.

  “Lizzy?”

  “Yes…”

  “This is Tony Caplan. How are you?”

  “What?”

  “This is Tony Caplan. I’m Julie’s boss. How are you.”

  “Is this a joke.”

  I groaned. I didn’t have time for these games. I switched the call over to Facetime so that she could see it was actually me. It took a minute, but she eventually caught the drift of what I was doing and answered the Facetime. She was shocked to see me.

  “See? It’s really me,” I said.

  “Oh, wow…” she replied. She suddenly seemed very nervous about her hair and her hands.

  “Have you talked to Julie recently?” I asked.

  She shook her head, and I could tell immediately that she was lying.

  “It’s very imperative that you tell me the truth. I have to help Julie. You know if anyone can help her, it’s me. I know about Saul. I know he is after her. Please, did she call you today?”

  “Yes,” Lizzy said. Her eyes lit up with understanding when I mentioned Saul’s name.

  “Ok, did she tell you where she is?”

  “No. I asked her not to.”

  “Ok, that’s all I needed to know. Thanks,” I said.

  I called up Bill Thompson again.

  “Yeah?” Bill answered.

  “Hey, can you run a trace on a phone number? I need a record of all the calls dialed to that phone number and who they belonged to.”

  I prayed that Julie wasn’t using a burner phone or something.

  “Will do. Just give me a bit.” Bill said.

  I waited for about twenty minutes and Bill called back. “Ok, I’ve got a number from an unidentified number and a few from local people. None of them are the girl you’re looking for. They are all close by as well. Sorry, man.”

  “Ok,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  So, Julie was using a disposable phone. I just hoped that she eventually used her other phone at some point. There had to be a way to find her. I had to get to her before Saul did, or find Saul. I had a feeling he would be even harder to track down than Julie.

  “Can you trace where the unidentified number might have been pinging from?” I asked.

  “It will take a while, but it may lead to nothing.”

  “Ok,” I said.

  I ended the phone call and slumped down on my couch. I was starting to feel like this was going to be so much harder than I thought it was. Why wouldn’t Julie just reach out to me? I needed to know she was safe. I knew right then that tracking her down was going to be my number one priority. I would put it ahead of the business and everything else. I had to have someone working hard on this every step of the way. I’d put together a team if I had to.

  I kept hoping that she would call me. But she didn’t. She was either too scared to get me involved, or she really didn’t want to continue what we had. I could only speculate as to the result.

  I sipped my whiskey and looked out the window with a feeling of t
otal dread and uneasiness coursing through me. I missed my beautiful angel, and I would stop at nothing to get her back. I could only imagine how frightened she might be. But I knew she was a tough fighter. She would fight hard to stay free.

  But she was just all alone in this. And I had no idea how many people might be looking for her which was worrying me. Saul had a far reach, but I had that too. It was really just a matter of who was going to find her first.

  I stood up and walked around the empty front room of my silent house. It was so empty without her around. I missed her being there with me. She was so lively, so bubbly and beautiful. Her spirit shined in everything she did and everywhere she was. I felt like a dagger was thrust into my heart every single second that I was away from her.

  When would my angel return to me? When?

  12

  Julie

  “Ok, you’ve got the cash register figured out. Now, let me show you how to do our promo tags.”

  I listened to Rachel Sharp as she finished explaining the basics of the new job to me. It was all pretty menial stuff and it reminded me of some jobs I’d had the summer after my freshman year of college. It was kind of fun going back to familiar territory, but it was not what I wanted to do with my life and it also didn’t make me feel much safer about anything. But it was a job. It was some place to go to get a paycheck.

  I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be staying in the town of Medford, Arizona. But it was a quaint little place which offered the feel to that old town. I kind of imagined I was living back in the nineteen sixties and the world was a much simpler place. I wished my life was simple. But I had a feeling that it would never be until Saul was six feet under. If it came right down to it, I might have to kill him. Would I be able to do that? I… I just didn’t know. I’d have to be staring down death itself for me to make that decision, but it was very possible that I would have to do it. I was prepared.

  Or at least I thought I was.

  Billings Used Bookstore seemed like the ticket to a lifetime of boredom for a lot of people, but for a book nerd like me I believed I was actually going to have a bit of fun in the place working there. It was simple, easy work, the customers were friendly, and I could really be myself without any fear that the wrong person would somehow get the word back to Saul.

  For a while I’d actually convinced myself that Saul had moved on and stopped looking for me. But no. He still wanted me. He didn’t want me because he loved me; he wanted me because I didn’t want him. He felt he owned me. He would teach me the lesson that I would never forget, and he would make sure that I never left him again. He might even kill me. I wouldn’t put it past him to kill me. He’d killed a lot of other people. I was sure of it.

  I tried to block those thoughts out of my mind as I followed Rachel to the back of the store where she was showing me the new shipment of inventory. There were several bins full of books that were being delivered, and in the small box sitting on top of that stack of totes were a handful of stickers.

  “You look at the bin number and then you just match it,” Rachel said. “These go up every single Sunday. It’s important that we try to get to them as early as we can, but sometimes it’s tough because so many customers come in on Sundays.”

  “Ok,” I said. “I think I can manage that.”

  “Great. Stick a wad of those stickers in your pocket and grab a tote. Let’s go out back to the mystery section and start putting these ones away. We sold a lot of stuff last week since we had that big Agatha Christie sale, so now we have a lot of replenishing stock.”

  “Where do all these used books come from?” I asked. I bent down and lifted a tote. It was far heavier than I thought. I felt a catch in my back accompanied by a little bit of pain, but I engaged my legs and core and didn’t even flinch as I followed Rachel out of the storeroom towards the front.

  “Oh, mostly donations. Some of them are overstock from bookstores and they can’t get rid of the supply, or maybe there is some misprint or mistake on the cover—that happens way more often than you think-so they send them over here. That’s why sometimes you will stumble across a new book, but it has a few flaws in its printing so it is sold as used.”

  “That’s interesting,” I said. I wasn’t knowing that at all. I was starting to wonder if I had oversold this job to myself at first. I wasn’t going to be that happy here, after all. I’d be bored. Bored, but safe. That was the important thing. I just had to keep remembering that.

  We arrived at the Mystery section and sat our totes down. I observed Rachel matching the tags with the right books. She placed the small red tags on the book’s spine trying not to obscure too much of the title or the author’s name. I followed suit and Rachel smiled at me clearly pleased.

  I settled into the routine of the work. It felt good to just get my mind off things for a while. I was almost tempted to start whistling but thought better of it. The silence was good while it lasted. But Rachel was in a chatty mood.

  “So, where are you from again?” she asked me.

  “Fresno,” I lied.

  “Ah, never been there. I’ve only been to California a few times now. I went to Los Angeles to that Universal Studios place. That was so neat. It was like taking a trip inside the most famous movies I love. I love movies. I love books. But movies are amazing to see everything right there in front of you, right?”

  I sighed. I was already getting a headache. Why did she have to talk so damn much?

  But I tried to be polite to my new coworker. I had a feeling I was going to be spending a lot of time with her. And she was nice. I could tell she meant well. She was probably pretty lonely, and it was a very small boring town where nothing ever happened. I was probably considered big news in her little world. So, I tried to be understanding. An image of the town sign flashed into my head just then. I’d passed it on the way into town and thought it was interesting to note. The town’s population was only eight thousand. I’d definitely driven through smaller towns, but the town at least had the basics of life. Plus, if I really wanted to do something fun, Tucson was only about eighty miles away.

  “Yeah, it’s fun. I love movies, too. But I love books better because in a book the sky is the limit, whatever you want to think about or imagine can be in that story. In a movie you are still limited by what the technology can put together, but I do think we are encroaching on the level that they can make anything appear to happen on screen. So, maybe that isn’t true anymore. What do you think?”

  Rachel scrunched up her face and rubbed her forehead. I might have stumped her.

  “I think you’re right,” Rachel said.

  She smiled widely at me and I smiled back. She might be a good friend to have around. She was sweet.

  We put the books away for a while until we got a customer. I said I’d take it and I went up front to do that. The customer, an older woman with a big black hat bought several romance novels. She seemed almost embarrassed to be buying them for some reason. I thought it was fun that she wanted to keep romance alive at her age. I saw the wedding ring and wondered if the books gave her ideas? The thought then struck me as funny and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

  She paid and left the store. I stood there watching after her for a few seconds as I embraced my new life and wished that I had the romance back. But Tony would probably never find me. I needed to reach out to him and let him know I was ok. But I couldn’t. He’d most likely figured out by now all about Saul. He might be totally pissed that I didn’t tell him anything about it. I was avoiding that awkward conversation at all cost.

  Or maybe he was just worried and would try to find me. I hoped he did find me on his own. I was afraid of reaching out to him. He would try to get involved and possibly get himself hurt. Saul was crazy and he would gun down anyone in his way. I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to Tony.

  I loved him. I knew I did. It had been so hard for me to admit that before, but now that he was gone, and I found myself thinking ab
out him constantly I knew that he was the love of my life. I should have said it back that night. I should have kissed him and embraced him and told him that he was the one for me.

  And now it was too late.

  * * *

  Three Months Later

  I finished off my burger and then began eating my fries, marveling at the strange crunchy sound they made and how every single restaurant somehow found a way to make their French fries taste just a little bit different. How did that happen? How many different ways were there to make fucking French fries?

  I sighed. “I need help. I’ve been in this town way too long,” I said out loud.

  “You and me both,” the voice from behind me spoke up.

  I wasn’t even aware that someone was sitting that close to me. It was late and the place was mostly deserted. I was surprised they were even open this late and I hadn’t even seen anyone else come in.

  I turned around and smiled. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were there.”

  The voice belonged to a young woman about my age. She was pretty but a little tired looking with dark circles under her eyes, a pale, lightly freckled complexion, and a sweet smile that said she was just ordinary enough to get you into any trouble.

  “It’s fine. I’m grateful for the lack of silence,” she said. “I’m Skylar.”

  “Hi, I’m Julie.”

  “You must be new,” Skylar said. “I’m pretty sure I know everyone in this town.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been here just about three months. It’s a nice place, but I have to admit I’m starting to adjust way too much to small town life. I suppose I should move on, but so far, I just haven’t. I don’t know why.”

  Skyler stood up and walked around my table and slid into the booth across from me. She was bold. I could admire that in someone.