by CP Smith
“Devin, her apartment,” she whispered, vulnerability clouding her expression. “She’s in real trouble, isn’t she?”
Cupping both sides of her face, he waited until she looked at him. The soft purple brightened with moisture, so he replied gently, “I’ll do my best to find her. I promise. Now, tell me the last time you saw her.”
She nodded, then her eyes clouded with concentration and her brows pinched together as she searched her memory.
“Last week. Tuesday night.”
“You’re sure?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. “I saw her enter the buildin’ from the side entrance. I was leavin’, so I didn’t talk to her.”
“How do you know it was Tuesday?
“’Cause I went to the library last Tuesday. I left early that day to get there before they closed and I remember it was rainin’. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t call out to her and say hi. Maria didn’t have an umbrella. She was gettin’ drenched.”
“Is that her normal day for cleanin’?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t even think about that. It’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She told me we’re one of the only offices she cleans. Mostly, her business is residential houses.”
Devin pulled out his phone and googled the weather for the week prior. It had rained on Tuesday like Calla had said.
“Does that help?” she asked, looking at his phone.
“Yeah. Maria disappeared on Tuesday. According to Nate, she wanted to meet her mother after work. She never showed. The question is, why did she go to a job she wasn’t scheduled for and not call her mother?”
“It’s a big buildin’. Could she be hidin’ out there?”
“Good question,” he answered, impressed with her observation. “Only one way to find out. You got a key?”
“Yes. But I left my keys at home.”
“Then let’s roll,” he stated, grabbing her hand, pulling her toward the stairs.
“But Maria’s apartment is wide open,” she called out as he led her down.
“I’ll have Nate call it in after we’re gone. If I stay, I’ll get stuck answerin’ questions, and I want to check out your buildin’.”
When they reached his bike, Devin grabbed his helmet and put it back on Calla’s head. Baby powder scented the air again, causing his teeth to clench. The overwhelming desire to kiss her battled for dominance over finding Maria, and he would have breached her walls like a conquering knight if they weren’t standing in front of Maria’s apartment with her life in tatters.
“You know you should be wearin’ a helmet, too,” she replied, her body tense as he drew her closer to him instinctually.
“It’s busy coverin’ a much more valuable head.”
Calla’s breath hitched at his meaning, so he took a step closer. She needed to get used to having him in her personal space, because he wasn’t going anywhere.
“How’s that?” he asked in a husky voice once the helmet was secured.
Calla blinked twice before her cheeks turned pink.
Taking a step back to put distance between them, she rushed out, “Fine. Fine,” then turned quickly and tried to climb on his bike.
Grabbing her around the waist, he pulled her back into his chest, whispering, “Steady, sugar. I gotta climb on first.” This time, however, instead of tensing at his touch, she melted into his body, allowing him to move her back without complaint.
Brick by fuckin’ brick.
Just like the Duke, he would win over his modern-day Wallflower.
✿✿✿
I whipped out my cell phone on my way up to my apartment. I’d left Devin downstairs with his bike while I grabbed my keys. I was still shaken by the fact that sweet Maria was the missing woman Devin was looking for. What were the odds I knew the woman in a city the size of Savannah?
The ringing in my ear stopped abruptly as I opened my door.
“Did you survive the ride on the back of his bike?” Sienna chuckled as I searched for my purse.
“Forget about that. Maria is missin’!”
“Maria, who?” she asked with concern, Devin’s voodoo forgotten in the wake of my announcement.
“Maria from Happy Maids.”
“The sweet girl who cleans our buildin’?”
“The same one. Devin took me to her apartment, not that I knew it was hers when we left, and it had been tossed, her furniture slashed, and everything gone through like somethin’ out of a movie.”
“That sounds like someone was lookin’ for somethin’.”
“Exactly.”
“When was the last time she was at work?” Sienna asked.
“The last time I saw her was the day she disappeared. She was comin’ into the buildin’ as I was leavin’.”
“Does he think she was taken from our buildin’?” she gasped.
“No idea. He said she called her mother and wanted to talk to her about somethin’, but never showed. Sienna, I may have been the last person to see her.”
“What’s Devin gonna do to find her?”
“We’re headed over to Poe now to look around. We thought she might be hidin’ out there, scared to call her mother or the police for fear she’d be found.”
“I’ll call Poppy, and we’ll meet you there. Four sets of eyes are better than two. If she’s there, we’ll find her!”
“Good thinkin’,” I responded. “See you in a few.”
I found my keys in my purse and headed back downstairs. I cut through Frock You and heard my aunts talkin’ in the stock room, so I popped my head inside.
“I’m headin’ to Poe with Devin. A girl named Maria who works for the cleanin’ service we use is missin’, and I saw her on Tuesday at Poe. We’re gonna look around.”
Both were digging through a box, but paused when I started speaking.
“Are you talkin’ about Maria, Carmella’s daughter?”
“You know her?”
“Since she was knee high to a grasshopper. Her momma came here from Mexico City before she was born. We used to give them free clothes while they were gettin’ established here,” Bernice explained.
“Sister, we should go over and see if Carmella needs anything,” Eunice threw out.
“Tell her we’re on the case, and we’ll find Maria,” I shouted as I turned to find Devin.
My aunts followed me as I wound through the racks of clothes. When I got to the front door, I looked out the side window and stopped dead in my tracks. Devin was standing by his bike, looking down at his arm as Bridget Donavan, a highly endowed brunette with legs long enough to walk to Atlanta in a day, ran a finger across his forearm.
“She didn’t waste time,” Bernice stated sarcastically from behind me.
“How would she even know about Devin?” I asked as a knot tightened in my chest.
“Butterbean, you’ve had your head buried in your books so long you have no idea how this town works,” Eunice snorted. “Devin had to file for a business license, sugar. The biggest gossip in town runs that particular city office. She called me before the ink was dry to verify he was rentin’ from us. And Devin’s cousin is married to Greg Pierce, a divorce attorney with a client list as long and wide as the Savannah River, and she runs in the same circles as Bridget. I imagine when Devin told her he was movin’ here, she told all her eligible female friends, and they’ve been waitin’ by the alley hopin’ to walk past just as he came home.”
I looked back at them in disbelief. Savannah was like Peyton Place.
“Her boobs are fake,” I snipped, pushing open the door. Devin heard the bell ring signaling my exit and turned to look at me as I rounded the corner.
“I see you’ve met Bridget.” The words may have come out accusingly as I raised a brow at him in question.
He cocked his head in response and raised one back.
“If it isn’t Calla Lily Armstrong,” Bridget replied, flipping her hair for maximum effect.
Bridget and I wen
t to high school together. She was one year ahead of me, so we didn’t run in the same circles, but I’d been to enough charity events at my grandparents’ request that she knew who I was.
“Bridget Donavan. How are things hangin’?” I looked at her chest and raised my forehead in mock surprise then dropped my mouth open for that ‘wow, you’ve gone from an A to a DD cup’ look of astonishment. “Clearly not hangin’ since your trip to Atlanta.”
I heard Devin grunt, so I turned and glared at him. “Are you ready?” I asked between my teeth.
His response was to grin and throw a leg over his bike. I moved to the side, and he handed me his helmet. Bridget just stood there with her mouth pulled tightly as I shoved the helmet on and then reached out and took hold of Devin’s hand. When I climbed on, I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled in closer on purpose. When I rested my chin on his shoulder, I could feel his body quaking with a chuckle.
Yes, I just made a ninny out of myself; laugh it up.
Ignoring him, I turned to Bridget and said, because bitch or not, good manners were always in fashion, “You have a nice day now, Bridget.”
Devin burst out laughing.
Whatever.
Bridget Donavan pissed me off on a good day. I didn’t want to see her get her claws into Devin. No one deserved that misery. At least that’s what I told myself as we pulled away from the curb and I flicked a wave at her.
He drove twenty feet up the ramp then stopped and looked back at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Where’re we goin’?”
“Oh. Um. Turn left on Bay Street and then hang a right at the second light. It’s the large rock three-story building on the left about a mile up.”
He looked in his rearview before taking off, then paused and glanced back at me, jerking his head, indicating something behind me. “Interestin’ woman. Friend of yours?”
I turned around and found Bridget walking toward her car. It was parked across River Street in the city parking, so it had a clear shot of Frock You and his office. Eunice was right, she’d sat in her car and waited for Devin to arrive home and then she’d pounced.
“She’s a barracuda. You’d be wise to steer clear of her.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” he drawled.
“You can date who you want, of course,” I rushed out, not sure why I was clarifying my opinion, “but that one isn’t worth your time.”
Devin rolled his lips between his teeth, which made my stomach flip. “I know plenty of nice women I can introduce you to,” I continued like a loon, staring at his mouth. “Just say the word, and I’ll make a call.”
Oh, God. I’ve lost my mind!
“Also good to know,” he grinned. “Tell you what. I promise when I’m ready to get mixed up with a woman, you’ll be the first to know.”
My flipping stomach plunged, and I felt sick. “Can’t wait,” I grumbled, but he wasn’t finished.
“I prefer blondes, by the way. Keep that in mind while you’re lookin’ for someone.”
Yes, I’m officially an idiot.
With a deep chuckle I felt all the way down to my toes, Devin turned and gunned the engine, heading up the ramp.
I pointed out the turns as we came to them, and in less than five minutes we were pulling up outside Poe Publishing. I led Devin to the door I’d seen Maria enter and unlocked it. As we entered, I switched on the lights and looked around. It was the entrance that led to the employee break room and lockers on the first floor.
“I think they keep the cleanin’ supplies in the supply room. There are carts in there for the cleaners to use,” I explained as we made our way down the hall. “Maybe she left a note or somethin’ on the cart?”
“Your mind works like a cop’s,” Devin muttered as we navigated the long hallway. Peeking up at him, my gaze stopped on his thick, textured hair. It looked soft, and I wondered what it would feel like to run my hands through it.
I was so busy checking out his hair, in fact, that I didn’t notice the hall had terminated until Devin grabbed my arm to halt me.
“You with me?” Devin asked, his mouth pulling into a sexy half-grin.
“I, uh, I can’t stop thinkin’ about Maria and her apartment,” I rushed out to cover my blunder.
His grin pulled further across his mouth.
Shit! He knows I’m lying.
Turning my back to avoid his knowing eyes, I looked around. The storage room was five feet behind me, so I rushed over. It was locked, so I tried the keys on my ring.
None of them worked.
“I got this,” he mumbled, then moved me out of the way and kneeled to his haunches, pulling out a square, black, zippered lock-pick kit from his back pocket. Moments later, he had two long instruments shoved inside the lock. Thirty seconds after that, the lock clicked and he opened the door.
“That’s a handy skill,” I mumbled as he flipped on the light and walked in.
“Which one is hers?” he asked, staring at the three carts parked inside the large, cluttered room.
“Maria’s in charge, so she usually has a clipboard hangin’ off hers.” A cart in the far back corner had a hook on the side, so I pointed toward it. “That one, I think.”
Devin made his way over and began pulling the supplies from the cart, digging around the edges as he went. Once the cart was empty, he flipped it on its top and began searching the bottom.
“You think she came here to hide somethin’?”
“I don’t know what I’m thinkin’ other than someone flipped her apartment lookin’ for somethin’ they want back. My gut tells me she stumbled across somethin’ while she was cleanin’. Somethin’ that sent her into hidin’. I’ll know more once I interview her clients.”
“So you’re hopin’ she taped it to her cart for safekeepin’?”
“Brains and beauty,” he drawled, winking at me.
I bit my lip to keep from grinning like a ninny, but the heat rising up my throat at his compliment would soon flush my face, so I stood and moved to another cart to hide my reaction and began searching.
When Devin finished with Maria’s cart, he helped me search the other two.
Nothing.
He scanned the room when we finished, frustration etched on his face.
“What were you doin’ here?” he asked the room.
“Should we check the buildin’ to see if she’s still here?”
Devin nodded then grabbed my hand and led me out of the room and down the hall. Each room we came to, we flipped on the lights, and looked for any sign that Maria had been there.
“Most of the staff’s offices, along with mine, are on the second and third floors. Other than a kitchen, there’s no place to hide that we wouldn’t see her. But we do have a basement, where we store old manuscripts from years past. Everything is on computer now, so no one ventures down there anymore, but it would be the perfect place to hide,” I said as we shut a door.
“Show me,” Devin ordered, so I led him to the elevators at the end of the hall. Before I could push the down button, the lights on the elevator indicated the car was heading down.
“Someone’s on the elevator.”
Devin pushed me behind him, and we waited to see where the car would stop. When the doors opened on our floor, I peeked around his shoulder and sighed.
“I forgot you two were comin’.”
Poppy and Sienna rushed out of the elevator followed, incidentally, by Eunice and Bernice.
“Did you find her?” Bernice asked.
“Why are you two here? I thought you were goin’ over to see Maria’s momma?”
“She wasn’t home, so we came here to help,” Bernice replied. “Did you find her yet?”
“Not yet,” I answered.
“I take it you know Maria as well,” Devin sighed.
Four voices talked over each other, leveling question after question at Devin.
He turned and glared at me.
I shrugged. “They wanted to he
lp.”
Devin dropped his head back on his shoulders and looked at the ceiling like he was waiting for patience. When he righted his head and muttered “Christ,” then pushed the down button on the elevator, I looked at my aunts and bugged out my eyes.
The door opened immediately, and he stepped back, his arm sweeping wide for all of us to enter first.
“Ladies,” he gritted out.
“Such a gentleman,” Bernice said, looking back at me.
I rolled my eyes and tried to keep from sighing.
Once we were all in the elevator, Sienna leaned in close and mumbled low, “Has he cast his voodoo spell yet?”
If I had luck, it was only bad luck. Poppy somehow heard Sienna.
“Who casts voodoo spells?” Poppy inquired loudly.
My eyes shot to Devin in horror, and he looked down at me and raised a brow.
“Uh. Old man Murphy,” I stupidly said.
“Mr. Murphy doesn’t cast voodoo spells,” Eunice stated instead of letting it lie.
Devin’s other brow joined the first, and he crossed his arms.
“He threatened to cast one on me if I rode my bike in his garden again,” I lied.
He rolled his lips between his teeth, his eyes gleaming with hilarity, then leaned over and hit the button for the basement.
“Somebody kill me now,” I mouthed to Sienna.
“Calla Lily, why would you ride your bike through his garden? You know how particular he is about his flowers,” Eunice admonished, not letting the subject go.
I groaned.
“Moment of insanity,” I mumbled. “It seems to be happenin’ a lot lately.”
We reached the basement, and the doors slid open, saving me from further humiliation. We started to move to exit when a smell so putrid, so overwhelmingly rank, filled the elevator. Devin pulled me back and growled, “Don’t move,” then exited the elevator, disappearing into the gloom as he drew his gun.
Blood rushed from my face and ice replaced it, chilling my veins. I froze. Everyone froze. Death had a certain smell that was unmistakable.
Bernice whispered, “No.”
Eunice gasped, “Not sweet Maria.”
And I closed my eyes and prayed.
