Tragedy and Desire: An Adult Romance

by Locker, Nicole R.

  “Vandergild is still here in his office,” I told her.

  Amelie and I shared a worried expression before Amelie took her cell phone out of her purse. “Let’s just call her.”

  “Good idea,” I said. I waited and watched as Amelie dialed the number. I could hear the faint sound of Perla’s voice as it went straight to her voicemail without ringing. Wherever she was, her phone was turned off.

  Amelie shrugged as she hung up her phone. I turned and ambled back to my desk, wondering what could possibly be keeping Perla. I knew there was no way she would miss today. She had been way too excited about it.

  Something didn’t sit right, so I tried to pull up Perla’s employee file from my computer to see if she had an emergency contact number listed. There wasn’t.

  I thought back to when I had looked up her ex-boyfriend, Grayson, not too long ago in my efforts to get her to leave. It might not have been appropriate, but maybe he would have had a number of someone who knew where Perla was.

  I dialed Grayson and he answered after the second ring. “Hello?”

  “Uh, hi, Grayson? It’s Lisette. You got a minute?” I asked.

  “Sure, what’s up? I haven’t heard from you in a while. I thought you might have dropped off the face of the earth, or something,” he said.

  “Yeah, uh, sorry about that. Listen, I know this might seem like a strange question, but I’m looking for a contact number of someone who could put me in touch with Perla. She hasn’t made it in to work today, but she isn’t answering her phone, and I wondered if you might know how to reach someone in her family, or someone she’s close with who might know where she is,” I explained.

  Grayson was quiet for a moment, as though he were thinking. He finally answered. “Not exactly. But I know that her sister works for Orion Technologies. I can call and see what she might know,” he offered.

  I agreed and tried to busy myself with work I wasn’t able to focus on after hanging up with Grayson. It took ten minutes before he called back with his report that her sister had last seen Perla leaving for work that morning and didn’t know where else she would be if not here.

  I walked back over to Amelie at her desk, and she watched me approach with wide-eyed anticipation.

  “Any word?” Amelie asked before I got all the way to her.

  I shook my head and recounted my efforts from the past fifteen minutes, and our worry grew exponentially. The irony wasn’t lost on me, knowing how many awful things I had done in an effort to get rid of Perla before I had gotten to know her. But now that we had put all of that behind us, I hated to think what could possibly be keeping her away now.

  “We have to find Jax Maddox. He’s the only other person I can think of who might know where she could be,” I said, and at that, we were off.

  JAX

  “Mr. Maddox, you have two young ladies here to see you,” Norma reported through the phone from outside my office.

  “I’m a little preoccupied at the moment. Can you take a message?” I told her, my attention focused on reports and numbers I needed for a meeting I was about to head into shortly.

  “They say it’s important, sir. It’s about Perla,” Norma replied, catching my attention on the last word.

  I paused for a second or two. “Send them in,” I instructed.

  After a few moments, the door to my office opened, and I saw two women I recognized as Perla’s coworkers enter my office and shut the door behind them.

  “Ladies, to what do I owe the honor?” I asked in my most charming tone, but as soon as I caught the alarm in their faces, my smile faded.

  “Mr. Maddox, we’re so sorry for the intrusion. I’m Amelie and this is Lisette. We work with Perla, and we’re a little worried-” She was cut off by another knock on my door.

  I looked up in confusion as the heads of the two women turned toward the door to see who it was. “Come in,” I called.

  When the door opened, I recognized the man who burst in as the officer I had confronted on Perla’s behalf at the charity event, Deputy Grayson Mitchell. “What the hell is going on here?” I asked, now standing.

  “I called him,” said the young girl with short, blonde hair, Lisette, with a timid expression. “Though I didn’t know he would come crashing in like this. Sir, Perla is missing. We’re hoping you might know where she is. It’s an important day for her, and no one seems to have seen or heard from her since she left for work this morning.”

  The news set a shot of worry coursing through me and I grabbed my phone, beginning to calculate what next moves I needed to take. I didn’t trust Deputy Mitchell, and thought it was suspicious he had inserted himself into the middle of the situation.

  “I assume you’ve tried to call her?” I asked as I dialed her number and brought the phone to my ear. It went straight to her voicemail, so I hung up and immediately dialed another number.

  “Yes, we’ve tried with no luck,” Amelie answered.

  Deputy Mitchell stood behind the women and stared at me expectantly. He opened his mouth as though he were about to speak, but I held up a finger motioning for him to wait.

  Holden answered my call immediately. “McBain.”

  “Holden, I need you to check the building surveillance, both inside and outside, to see if Perla Fae ever arrived today. Now,” I ordered, relaying the urgency of the situation.

  “Yes sir,” Holden assented before hanging up.

  As soon as I tucked my phone back into my inner coat pocket, Deputy Mitchell decided that was his cue to speak.

  “Can you tell me the last time you spoke with Perla? Ms. Fae?” he corrected.

  “Are you here on official police business?” I asked him without acknowledging his question.

  He eyed me for a moment before answering. “Officially… no, not yet. At this time, it’s too soon to file a missing person report, but something doesn’t sit right, and I’m concerned.”

  “What doesn’t sit right to me, is that you seem to be involved in some way every time questionable things start happening in Perla’s life,” I accused, unwilling to back down.

  “Look, you may not like me, but I haven’t done anything wrong here,” he said in defense. “Not since she and I broke up,” he added. His back was stiff and his chest protruded to indicate he wasn’t backing down.

  I felt my phone vibrate before I heard it ring from my pocket and I quickly retrieved it to answer. “Holden, what can you tell me?”

  “Sir, you’re not going to like this. I’m sending you a file. It appears Perla was abducted by a white male, about six foot, medium build, right outside the building at just after oh-seven-hundred this morning. We need to call the authorities,” Holden reported. His tone was not as business-like as usual, further adding to the dire nature of the situation.

  I opened the file as I listened and watched the scene unfold. I had to control the fear and panic that began taking over. I looked up at Detective Mitchell who was staring at me in anticipation. “The police are already here. I need you up here, now.” I ended the call and turned my computer screen to where the others could see it.

  “Can any of you identify this man?” I asked as the footage replayed to the group now huddled around to watch. I heard Amelie and Lisette gasp in disbelief as three sets of eyes went wide, but didn’t have the time or the desire to quell their fears. It was time to take action, and I needed them to cooperate quickly.

  Lisette’s hands flew up to cover her mouth. “Oh my God, that’s Richard Sullivan. He’s the husband of one of our divorce clients!”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “It’s a little hard to tell with the hood and the sunglasses, but I’m pretty sure.”

  I looked up at Deputy Mitchell with a silent order to do his job.

  He looked toward Amelie and Lisette and asked, “Do you have a contact number for the wife? We need to call her and see if she might know her husband’s whereabouts.”

  “We have her number in our files. We’ll go get it now,”
Amelie answered, and then both women rushed out the door to retrieve it.

  Deputy Mitchel and I both followed in the interest of time, and we all rode the elevator down to the seventeenth floor. The time it took felt like an eternity, knowing that the woman I had grown to have feelings for was in grave danger. I couldn’t allow myself to think the worst. I needed to protect her, and letting my emotions overrule me now could have dire consequences. This was no time to falter.

  I used the time spent riding the elevator down to let Holden know where we were headed. He was standing outside the doors as soon as we arrived to the floor.

  Lisette rushed to the reception desk and began typing into her computer to locate the number for Mrs. Sullivan. She read it aloud and Deputy Mitchell called her right away.

  LISETTE

  As Grayson dialed Mrs. Aurora Sullivan from his phone, we all stood around as silent as possible, afraid to even breathe, trying to listen in to hear what she would say.

  “Hello?” Mrs. Sullivan’s muffled voice answered.

  “Hi, I’m looking for Aurora Sullivan,” said Grayson in an official tone.

  “This is she. Who is calling?” she asked.

  “Mrs. Sullivan, my name is Deputy Grayson Mitchell from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department. Do you happen to know the current whereabouts of your husband, Richard Sullivan?”

  “Soon to be ex-husband,” she corrected. “I don’t know where he is, nor do I care. I kicked him out and changed the locks the day I filed for divorce. And what has that good-for-nothing fool done this time?”

  “He’s wanted for questioning in an ongoing investigation. I’m afraid I can’t give too much information at this time, but if you have any idea where we could find him at the moment, any information you can give us would be helpful,” he told her.

  “Well, let’s see,” she said, and paused as though she were thinking. “I have no idea where he’s staying. I’m not sure he has any friends left with all the bridges the imbecile has burned over the years. His own family can’t stand the sight of him either…. I wish I could help, but I just don’t know what hole he slithered into.”

  “Can you think of any place he might go to be alone? Some place hidden or secluded that no one would think to find him, maybe?” Grayson questioned.

  “I’m sorry. I just can’t think of any place. I wish I could be of more help. Lord knows I’d love to hand him over to the police,” she said, sounding remorseful.

  “I understand. If you happen to see him or think of anything at all, please contact me immediately.” Grayson gave her a number to call and hung up the phone.

  After the call, Grayson left to go back to the police station to see what more he could do from there while Jax went back to his office with Holden to come up with a plan of their own. Amelie and I were left to our own devices to try and go about the firm’s business as best as we could.

  * * *

  After an hour had passed, I had just about chewed through the cap of my pen, had jumped every time the phone rang, and hadn’t accomplished any real work that needed to be done. Amelie and I both pretended as best as we could to look busy, but it was impossible. I tried my best not to let my mind wander to all the terrible possibilities of what had happened or was happening to Perla, but it was hard to concentrate on anything else. Being helpless to do anything while our coworker and recently-turned friend was going through God only knew what was nerve-racking, to say the least.

  When the elevator opened and Mrs. Sullivan hurried out in a frenzy, my eyes went wide and I stood to hear what she immediately began to rant about.

  “My dear child, you simply must help me. I need to see Jonathan Vandergild right away. My lunatic husband has gone and gotten himself in trouble with the law. I can’t wait a moment longer. I need to put a rush on this divorce. I want nothing more to do with that miscreant. He’s nothing but a scoundrel and I want him out of my life. How much money will it take to waive the sixty-day waiting period to finalize this thing and be done with it? Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.” She waved her arms about as she spoke as the expensive bangles on each wrist clinked and clanked. The large bag she carried in the crook of one elbow swished about. She reached into it, digging around, and pulled out a thick wallet with several credit cards.

  “Mrs. Sullivan, I apologize, but I don’t think it’s possible to waive the-” I began before she interrupted.

  “He can have the house. I’m moving out of that place anyway. I don’t need any more reminders of this low-life bastard. He can keep one of the cars. Hell, he can even have the hunting property out in Corsicana. Not like I’ll ever use it. I don’t care what it takes, child. I just need you to make it happen. I’m not getting sucked into whatever mess the son-of-a-bitch has made for himself this time.”

  Mrs. Sullivan continued, but she lost me at hunting property. “Amelie!” I yelled across the floor as I ran around my desk and headed toward the elevator, pushing the call button, and leaving Mrs. Sullivan standing with her mouth agape as she watched me retreat.

  Amelie hurried over just in time for the doors to open and we entered the elevator car. I pushed the number 52 to take us back up to Jax’s office. When we arrived, we ran straight past Norma Johnson and barreled our way through Jax’s office door.

  JAX

  Holden sat at my desk, accessing whatever he needed from my computer to try to get the last pings from Perla’s cell phone. Unfortunately, it appeared the phone had remained in her purse that had fallen on the sidewalk in front of my building before she was forced into Sullivan’s SUV.

  Damn it! We had to find her.

  I paced the floor, clutching my cell phone in my left hand and worrying my right hand through my hair as I waited for Holden to earn his salary.

  It wasn’t just that I had grown to care so much for her in the preceding weeks. It was this overwhelming need that had developed inside me from nearly day one to protect her. If she ever needed protecting, it was now, and even with little to go on, I wasn’t about to let that deter me. I was a man who made things happen, and with the resources I had at my disposal, this should have been easy.

  Richard Sullivan had covered his tracks, that was for damn sure. The SUV he’d taken her in had bogus plates, and whatever cell phone was registered in his name certainly wasn’t on him at the moment. Holden was at the computer in the process of hacking into the various public surveillance cameras to see in what direction he’d gone, and in another window was pulling up anything he could find to see what relational ties he had that we could contact for any possible information on his whereabouts.

  When Lisette and Amelie came bursting through my office door, I swung around to see the looks of urgency on their faces as they spewed out incoherent strings of words a mile a minute.

  “Slow down! One at a time, what is going on?” I ordered.

  Lisette took a breath and answered. “They have a hunting lease in Corsicana,” was all she had to say.

  I turned to make eye contact with Holden, and he went to work looking up where the property was.

  “This has got to be it,” Holden stated and turned the screen to show a Google-Earth map of the secluded property out in the middle of nowhere.

  “Let’s go,” I said without wasting any time.

  Before we could get out the door, I heard Norma buzz my desk phone. “Sir, you have a call on line one.”

  “Norma, take a message. I can’t deal with it right now. Cancel any appointments I have for the rest of the day,” I spat out with impatience.

  “I looked up who the guy calling was claiming to be. You’re going to want to take this, sir,” she urged, undeterred.

  SEVENTEEN

  A Hefty Ransom

  Richard Sullivan

  It was time to initiate Plan B. After having seen Perla getting cozy with her billionaire boyfriend at the Rangers game on Saturday, the idea had hit me. I had seen the way he looked at her, like the fucker had stars in his eyes. Damn fool.

  I was
about to find out just how far Jax Maddox would go for Perla Fae.

  With my mother now lying on her deathbed and apparently little to no chance of ever seeing that necklace again, the idea of her writing me back into her will was futile. With Aurora’s pre-nup, I knew I wouldn’t see a dime from that tight-pursed hag, and with the hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt I’d be stuck with in the next month and a half, I needed money.

  If I wasn’t getting it from my good-for-nothing family or my bitch of a soon-to-be-ex-wife, I had to get it from somewhere. I wasn’t about to let go of the luxuries I was accustomed to, and after all of this, a change of scenery to a country with no extradition laws would be in order.

  Just like the stake-out I had done before breaking into Perla’s apartment, my planning had to be meticulous. I’d gone this far without being caught, even after murdering Martin and Esther Fae. I was brilliant and fucking untouchable. I knew I could pull this off, even if I was on a short timeline to get it all into place.

  I parked at my planned location to make a call before heading back in the direction of the property I’d be hiding Little Miss Fae in, who was still knocked out in the back seat. I pulled out the burner phone I had purchased with cash from a Walgreens the day prior and dialed a number I had researched Saturday evening after the baseball game.

  “Good morning, you’ve reached Maddox Tower. How may I direct your call?” said a woman’s nasal voice.

  “Maddox Industries, please,” I requested, as politely and professionally as I could muster.

  “One moment,” the woman responded before the routine elevator music came on, indicating she had placed me on hold.

  I only had to wait a few seconds before another woman answered. “Maddox Industries, this is Norma speaking.”

  “Hi Norma, this is Steve Reagor with Reagor Financial,” I lied in my most charming, deepened voice. “Can you put me through to Jax Maddox?”