My voice trailed off as I slowly shook my head.
“There’s just so much.”
“Yeah,” Corinne agreed. “They have a lot to do now.”
“Right.”
“I have an idea,” she said, a slow smile stretching over her face that made all kinds of warning bells go off.
“What’s that?”
“Well, remember I told you the little bit of info I found in your Mom’s journal, right?”
“Yeah.”
She’d discovered Mom was seeing a therapist the last few weeks. Someone named Leo, apparently. I’d planned on telling the Gods about it, hoping they could figure out who he was. I wasn’t sure if it was important or not, and now that they’d told me a fucking missing person’s report hadn’t even been filed, it seemed even less important in the scheme of things.
“Why don’t we take over that bit of the investigation?”
“We?” I asked, raising a brow. “Don’t you need to be heading home?”
“I can stay for a while,” she shrugged. “I took a week off, actually.”
“You did? Why?”
“Because you need me, Sage,” she insisted. “I thought you had things under control, honestly, but once I got back with Maddy and saw the Gods, I realized just how much help you really needed. Of course you can’t do this on your own. I was selfish to think you could, and I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, squinting my eyes at her.
“Oh, shut up,” I laughed. “You just wanted to spend a week with the Gods.”
She laughed with me, finally nodding her head.
“Yeah, you’re right,” she said. “I mean, fuck. Can you blame me? I mean, Colt’s hot, sure, but did you check out Blade? Those eyes? That ass?!”
“I guess not, but thanks for making my previous point for me again.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, “but still. I’ve always wanted to be a private investigator.”
“I thought you always wanted to be an obstetrician?”
“P.I. was my second choice,” she shrugged. “Anyway, listen to me! Why don’t we try to figure out who Leo is ourselves? Maybe we can do a little undercover work. Who knows?”
“The Gods will never let us do that.”
“Why do they have to know?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“This isn’t a game, Corinne. This is real shit. My Mom is really missing.”
“I know, and the Gods are overloaded, obviously, you saw that,” she said. “I don’t see anything wrong in taking charge of part of this ourselves. You’ve done so much already. In fact, this only makes things move faster. The sooner we can find the therapist, the quicker we can move on any info he might have.”
I looked over at her, a bit uncomfortable about keeping info away from Colt and the others, but she was right. And I knew if I told them, they’d say no.
“Alright, I guess it can’t hurt. You’re right.”
“Yes!” she said, pulling out a pair of sunglasses from her purse nearby, slipping them on and then looking in the mirror over Mom’s dresser.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Just seeing what I look like when I go incognito. You can still be stylish while you’re undercover, you know.”
I grabbed a throw pillow from behind me and threw it at her head. She ducked just in time.
“Hey!”
“This isn’t Charlie’s Angels, you weirdo!”
“Just let me have my little fantasy, will you?”
I laughed, shaking my head.
“God, I’m glad you’re here,” I said.
“There you go,” she nodded, wiggling her glasses on her nose. “That’s much better.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
SUNNY
The table was set perfectly.
Mother’s finest china, naturally. Lace-trimmed, white linen napkins sat next to gleaming, pristinely white plates.
This was a test, of course.
I’d brought Frannie up from the basement, after making sure her hair and makeup were presentable. She’d stopped crying long enough for me to actually communicate with her, and I hoped I’d gotten through to her.
She couldn’t afford to make a mistake. It was important that she understood that.
After showing her where everything in the kitchen was located, I set her loose with my mother’s recipe. I’d picked a simple one, wanting to give Frannie a fair chance and all. But it was one of my favorites, at the same time, which was also important.
I needed to be satisfied. Well, more than that. I needed her to please me.
It was important. Did I mention that? Forgive me for repeating myself. I must admit, this whole thing has me slightly anxious.
I never expected things to get this far.
“Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since we’ve been here…”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I scoffed to myself, as I sang along to the record. I needed to put an end to things, and soon. I’d let this go on way too long.
John Lennon’s voice floated through the cabin as I watched with patience as Frannie put the finishing touches on my mother’s Beef Wellington.
I’d purchased the finest ingredients, of course. Again, I wanted to be fair.
Frannie deserved the best chance possible.
She resisted at first, of course. Luckily, I’d been able to convince her with just my words. I was grateful for her submission.
It was easier this way. For everyone. I hated using the iron on her earlier, but she’d forced my hand.
Frannie turned towards me, my mother’s rose colored crystal platter cradled in her hands. I beamed towards her, proud of her for completing her task. My eyes blurred and the smell of the Wellington took me back to my childhood, my mother presenting her prized dish to me with such pride and love.
“Here comes the sun, do do do dooo,” I sang along with the song.
“Here you go, Sunshine,” Mother said, my head swimming in the memories.
“It looks so good!” I said, beaming up at the woman I loved the most in this world. She was everything to me. Her loving eyes were my safe harbor, my home.
“I hope you like it,” Frannie’s broken voice ripped through my memory and my eyes shot up, my vision clearing instantly, my mother disappearing and a tearful Frannie appearing in her place, her eyes a streaked mess of mascara.
Irritably, I looked down at the mess plopped on Mother’s fine crystal serving platter and my lip curled.
“What is this?” I snarled, inspecting it from every angle.
“I followed the recipe, but there were many steps,” she muttered. “I don’t know if I had everything.”
My heart rate sped up and I took a deep breath, biting the inside of my cheek. Slowly, I nodded, fuming.
“I provided every ingredient you needed,” I said, my voice much more calm that I felt.
“I did my best,” she shrugged.
“Your best,” I nodded, the words sliding off my tongue. “I see.”
I grabbed a fork and cut into it, determined to at least taste it before I judged it completely. I could already tell the consistency of the duxelles was all wrong.
I brought the fork to my mouth, taking a deep breath before biting into the atrocity she’d created. It tasted just as badly as it looked.
Just as I’d suspected.
I swallowed it down and took a drink of water before pushing my chair back and standing up next to her, turning to face her.
“Well?” she asked, although it was obvious her heart wasn’t in it. I could tell she didn’t care if I liked it or not, which meant she didn’t understand what was at stake here. Not at all.
Slowly, I shook my head.
“Frannie, it’s horrible,” I said. “This is very unfortunate.”
“Well, I’ve never made that before,” she defended herself. “In fact, I’m not the best cook. Ask my kids.”
“Your kids
.”
At the mention of her daughters, she started to cry again. I rolled my eyes, bored with her woe-is-me act.
She’d failed the test, pure and simple.
There was only one way to move forward.
“Take off my Mother’s dress now, please.”
“Here?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Here. Now,” I nodded.
With trembling hands, she reached down and pulled at the hem, lifting it over her head until she stood naked in front of me, Mother’s dress held in front of her to cover herself.
“I want you to know, Frannie, I take no pleasure in what happens next.” I took a deep breath and started singing along with John again.
“Sun, sun, sun, here it comes…”
CHAPTER THIRTY
COLT
I hate to say it, but my patience is wearing thin.
I feel Sage distancing herself from me, and once she came out of the bedroom with Corinne, it felt even stronger.
Something was up. I felt it. I wasn’t sure what. But something wasn’t right.
Still, I kept my mouth shut. I figured I’d keep my head down and keep working and things would either work themselves out or they wouldn’t.
I just needed to stay busy. Forcing things with her was pointless.
The fact that we were getting absolutely nowhere didn’t help, though.
“Riot, I’m thinking a visit to the police personally might be in order,” I told him, interrupting whatever he was doing on his laptop.
“Is that so?” he said, calling Ryder over. “What do you think, boss? Maybe if we nudge them, we’ll get some movement somewhere.”
“Worth a try,” Ryder shrugged.
“Great,” I said. “I can handle this. I’ll head over to the precinct and see what I can find out.”
“Leave your cut here,” Ryder said. “Best not to draw too much attention to the club right now.”
“Will do,” I said, taking off my cut and leaving it on the couch. “Be back soon.”
“Don’t expect too much,” Ryder said.
“Got it,” I replied, heading out the door.
It didn’t take long to find the precinct, considering it was smack dab in the middle of the little downtown area of Astoria. I parked my bike and made my way up to the front door, passing a few cops with curious eyes along the way.
The lady at the front desk ignored me for a few minutes before finally asking how she could help me.
“I’m looking for Officer Murphy.”
“Mac? I think he’s in his office. I’ll check.”
She came back a few minutes later with a bald, stocky guy that could have been ripped right out of the casting office for the corrupt cop in an episode of SVU.
“Officer Murphy, how can I help you?” he asked, shaking my hand as he introduced himself.
“Colt Evans,” I said, shaking his hand back firmly. “I was hoping I could have a few minutes of your time, Officer Murphy.”
“You can call me Mac,” he said. “What’s this about?”
“Do you have somewhere we could have a word privately?”
He looked around and nodded.
“Sure, come this way.” He led me to a small conference room and shut the door after I walked in. Right away, I didn’t like the guy. Something about the way his eyes kept darting around, like he was just waiting to get caught doing something, just rubbed me the wrong way.
His smug smile that he flashed me didn’t help matters any.
“So, what’s up?”
“I’m friends with Sage. A few of my buddies and I are trying to help her find her Mom, Frannie. I was told you were the officer that took the report.”
“Oh, Frannie, right. Yeah, what a shame. It’s been a few weeks and still no word,” he shook his head. “So sad.”
“Yeah, sad,” I repeated, holding his gaze. “It’s weird, though, Mac. Turns out, that report you took was never filed properly. I was wondering if you could tell me why not?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, playing dumb. A slight blush crept up his neck and washed over his face.
“Well, we’ve got some friends down in Salem at the Capital. They did some digging and Frannie’s name doesn’t even show up in the missing person’s database.”
“Is that so?” he asked, squinting his eyes as he sat back in his chair. “Well, that’s just odd. I filed it.”
“Did you, though?”
“Are you trying to accuse me of something, mister…uh?”
“Evans. Colt Evans.”
“Mr. Evans, right.”
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Mac. Just trying to help my friend find her mother.”
“Well, like I told her daughter, Sage — if I have any new information, I’ll be in touch.”
He stood up, opening the door, a clear signal that he was done with me.
I played along, standing up slowly and walking to the door before turning around to face him. I towered over him, looking down at his short stocky frame, doing my best to be intimidating.
“Mac, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
I looked deep in his eyes, daring him to lie to me.
“Did you happen to know Frannie, by chance? Before she went missing?”
His pupils dilated, but the rest of his body froze for just a moment before he broke out in a fake ass smile.
“Me?” he asked, rubbing his neck. “Oh, no, I didn’t.”
“I see,” I said. “Well, can I assume you’ll be looking into why your report isn’t filed?”
“I’m certain it is,” he nodded.
“I think you should double check,” I insisted.
“I’ll do that,” he said, smiling again. “Nice to meet you, Colt. I’ve got a lot on my plate today, so…”
“Right.”
I walked out, leaving him looking shaken and shocked. I’d just tossed the dice with my question about him knowing Frannie on a hunch, but there it was. The answer was written on his face. Now, I was convinced he knew Frannie and there was much more to the story than he was telling.
He’d kept that report to himself for a reason and was now lying about it.
The fact that he knew I knew would most likely make him do…something. I didn’t know what just yet.
But I did know that I needed to get back to the Gods and tell them all about this asshole. They’d know the next steps to take.
They always did.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
SAGE
After spending the afternoon searching the internet, Corinne and I narrowed down our search for “Leo” to two different possible people. There were a large number of therapists available in Astoria, but with the endless grey skies, I wasn’t surprised. Constant dreary weather was enough to make anyone need a shrink.
Luckily, there weren’t many named Leo. There weren’t any, in fact. But we were hoping Leo was short for something. We found a man named Leonard Harris and another man by the name of Leovanni del Sole. We figured either of them could go by the name of Leo.
Corinne’s grand idea was to go on an old-fashioned stake out and see what we could find out. I humored her and agreed to go with her, but I wasn’t sure we’d discover anything fruitful.
After the Gods left for the night, and after we ordered a pizza for Maddy, Corinne and I took off in her Volvo. She insisted we stop at a convenience store for ‘provisions’, as she called them.
“How long are you planning on doing this?”
“Well, as long as it takes,” she said, as she filled her arms with candy, chips and enough soda to kill a camel.
“Don’t you think they’ve already left their office?” We’d picked one of our two names for tonight’s surveillance.
“Maybe, but you never know,” she shrugged.
I shook my head, following her back to the car.
We drove to the address for the office of Leovanni del Sole and parked a half a block away from the small office buildi
ng. While his name was on the sign out front, so were another half dozen other people’s.
“This is kinda pointless, don’t you think?” I said. “We don’t even know what this person looks like.”
“That’s not true,” Corinne said, pulling out her phone and showing me a google image search she’d done. “Look!”
She pulled up a picture of a man with large glasses and curly black hair. “I found a picture of him.”
I stared at the picture. Was this the man my mother chose to share her secrets with? “That’s him, huh? He looks very Italian.”
“Yep.”
I sighed, leaning back in the seat. “And we’re just going to sit here and see if he comes out?”
“Yep.”
“And then what?”
“And then we just see. We’ll know what to do at the time. Just listen to your gut.”
I nodded, biting my lip. “Okay. Pass me a Dorito.”
A big smile spread across her face as she handed me the bag of chips.
“See?” she winked. “I told you this would be fun.”
“I never thought my idea of fun would be eating chips in a car with you and watching for a stranger.”
“Life is unpredictable, Sage,” she teased.
“It is,” I said, my thoughts drifting as I stuffed chip after chip in my mouth. “God, I miss school.”
“You miss med school?”
“I really do,” I nodded. “I wouldn’t even complain about doing the gross procedures. In fact, I’d kill for an ingrown toenail right now.”
“You’re disgusting,” she said.
“I know,” I replied, licking the Dorito dust on my fingertips. “I hope you bought more of these. If we’re going to be here all —.”
“There he is!” she cried, pointing to a man walking out of the building.
“No way,” I said. “Are you sure? We just got here…”
“Don’t worry, tubby, you can keep eating your chips.”
“Hey!” I protested, punching her. “I don’t think that’s him.”
“Yes, it is,” she insisted, as we watched him head for a nearby Mercedes. Corinne started her engine and put her car in gear.
CHASING SUNSHINE: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK THIRTEEN) Page 11
