by Dale Mayer
He let her go, but he didn’t completely release her.
She stared down at their fingers laced together. “I have some friends here but not good ones.”
“And what about your friends in California? Do you still have them?”
“Well, there’s you,” she said with a bright smile. “And I never did thank you for coming to my rescue.”
He shook his head and placed a finger against her lips. “No thanks needed,” he whispered.
She kissed his finger and watched as his eyes deepened in color. “Are you sure we should walk down this path?” she asked hesitantly.
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “I don’t see any reason why not. Do you?”
She didn’t have any reason, except a part of her still held back because it felt wrong. “I just wonder if Blake will always be between us,” she said hesitantly. “And moving to California seems like leaving him behind.”
Understanding lit his gaze. He gathered her in his arms and cuddled her close. She didn’t fight him, just lay against his chest.
“I wouldn’t want him to be there, always between us, and I think, if we were to become more than friends, he would be,” she finally whispered.
“Blake will be wherever we put Blake,” Kanen said firmly. “He was a friend to both of us. He was your husband, but he was my best friend. And he’s not here with us now. So I understand that he’ll always be there in our memories, our thoughts, but I don’t think he has to be between us. There’s no reason he can’t sit off to the side and be a part of our lives. We don’t want to forget him. We don’t want to avoid using his name. We want to remember the good times. Some of our memories are shared. Sometimes we had the same adventures with him. The last thing we want is to be worried about not bringing up his name in a conversation. If we try to avoid having him with us, that’s what will happen. So I suggest we just let things develop naturally between us and don’t worry about it if Blake memories arise.”
She chuckled. “Is life so simple for you?”
He shrugged. “It makes it a little easier to get through everything in my world with the least amount of stress.”
She thought about that and nodded. “Okay, just so you know, there will be times when I get worried about you and your career.”
“Okay, just so you know, there’ll be times when I may get worried about you too,” he commented.
She frowned. “What would you be worried about?”
He smiled. “About the fact that you might always be comparing me to him.”
“What?” She shook her head. “I’d never do that. You’re so very different.” She thought about it and realized, “It would be subconscious if I did.”
“It would be natural if you did.” His voice was full of acceptance.
She nodded in understanding. “You’re both so very different, and I love you both,” she said quietly. “It’s hard to comprehend he’s gone. But, after almost a year, I’ve finally come to terms with it—I think.”
“Good,” he said, giving her a big hug. “Because I like what you just said.”
Startled, she looked up at him. And then realized she’d said she loved them both. She smiled. “You know I love you. I’ve told you often enough.”
“But there’s love, and then there is in love,” he said. “I’m quite happy if you go from one to the other.”
She shook her head. “Oh, no, no, no. Not unless you’ll go there too.”
“How do you know I’m not already there?” he asked with a chuckle. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“And there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” She smiled back at him.
“Well then, I suggest we keep the communication line open, and we get to know each other a little better, even though we think we’ve always known each other. This is the perfect time to see just what might be there.”
“How are we supposed to get to know each other under these circumstances and with your two friends around?”
He smirked and said, “We’ll find a way.”
*
Kanen picked her up in his arms and carried her into the kitchen. The men were there, waiting for them, big grins on their faces. With great ceremony, they pulled out a chair at the head of the table, let Kanen place her there, and Nelson said, “Madam, your meal is served.”
She laughed out loud. “Hey, I don’t know what to do with you guys spoiling me so much.”
They shrugged, and Taylor said, “Sometimes you need that.”
What followed was a meal anybody would have been proud of. Kanen’s eyebrows rose as he saw pork chops grilled to perfection with an absolutely delicious-looking hollandaise sauce draped over the top, a sautéed vegetable mix he’d never seen before and even biscuits on the side.
Nelson said, “It’s a bit of an eclectic mix, but we were working with what we had.”
She held her hands together in delight. “I don’t care what you call it or how eclectic this looks because it smells delicious. I had no idea this much food was in my apartment.”
Just then Taylor returned to the table and placed a rice dish beside her. “This one needed an extra minute.”
It was yellow and fragrant and had spices all over the top, plus dried herbs. She sniffed the air and said, “This is fantastic. You guys can cook for me anytime.”
They chuckled as everyone sat down.
Kanen was about to take his seat, when his phone rang. The others looked at him. He stepped back out to the living room to answer. “Mason, what’s up?”
“I just heard from MI6,” he said. “I understand you had a crazy afternoon.”
“We did,” Kanen said, realizing he’d forgotten to update Mason. “Did they catch him?”
“No. They put out an all-points bulletin for Bob. His vehicle was found ditched on the side of the road, with no sign of the driver.”
“Of course not,” Kanen said with a groan. “Which means he could be anywhere. The women at his store were very loyal. They would easily have lent him their vehicles, if needed.”
“The MI6 guys thought of that, and the employees’ vehicles are being watched.”
“Good,” Kanen said.
“How is Laysa holding up?”
“Bob left her an I’ll be back note in her apartment. First she was scared. Then she got mad. She recognized him in the store, even though he wore a balaclava while holding her. He has very distinctive wrists and forearms,” Kanen said. “And that made a big difference to her. She could easily identify him and recognized his voice. Once he realized the gig was up, he bolted.”
“Which always makes a guilty man look guiltier,” Mason said with a chuckle.
“Exactly.”
“Makes MI6 more cooperative too.”
“We’re just about to sit down to a hot meal. Then we’ll get back to it.”
“MI6 is tracking down everybody in the blackmail photos. They’ve identified and found the last two previously unknown men, both who admitted to being blackmailed but said the blackmail is of no value now because their circumstances have changed.”
“So, if the photos are no longer of any value,” Kanen said, “why the devil does Bob care?”
“We’ll ask him when we find the man and hopefully get answers to end this mystery.”
“True enough.” Kanen pocketed the phone and went back into the kitchen, where everybody dug into the food. “I hope you left me some,” he protested.
Laysa chuckled. “Those who come late to the dinner table will have whatever dregs are left,” she misquoted with a grin.
He protested again loudly.
She quite happily handed him whatever was left on the platters. There wasn’t much. Still, it was a full plate by the time he had dished up servings of everything. Then he told them what Mason had said.
The conversation dimmed from laughter to the looming specter over their world.
She nodded. “We need to figure out why he’s doing this, and everything else will come toget
her.”
“Money, sex or power,” Kanen said. “Those are generally the reasons we do things.”
She stared at him. “Surely not. There has to be a lot of other reasons.”
“You mean, like jealousy?” Nelson asked with a smirk. “That could go under sex or power.”
Her face wrinkled up. “I don’t think you guys have a very good attitude.”
They chuckled.
“We do have a fairly balanced one,” Kanen said. “The problem is, we’ve seen an awful lot that you haven’t. You’re just now being touched by it, realizing how absolutely twisted many people are. But, to the bad guys, their motives are always reasonable. To them anyway.”
“So it’s reasonable, to Bob, to hold me captive. To beat me up.”
“If he needed those pictures and had left them with Blake, absolutely. He thinks it’s the means to the end. That it’s totally justified.”
“At least he didn’t kill me,” she said. “So, from that perspective, the damage to me is minimal.”
“True,” Kanen said. But for how long?
They finished eating and were doing the dishes when a knock came at the door. Everyone froze. Kanen motioned Nelson to take her to another room, and Kanen stepped up to the door. There was no peephole, and he hated that. He opened the door to see a stranger. “Yes? May I help you?”
The man frowned. “Where is Laysa?”
From the bedroom Laysa called out, “Carl, I’m here.”
Kanen recognized his name, the man who she’d stayed with that first night. Kanen motioned to the living room. “I’m a friend of hers. Come on in.”
But Carl didn’t appear to want to step inside. He looked at Kanen suspiciously. “When did you arrive?”
“A couple days ago,” Kanen said. “Right after she contacted me, I came running. But then long-term friends are like that.”
Carl looked at him and said, “How long have you been friends?”
“Long before Blake passed away,” Kanen said.
Laysa suddenly appeared at Kanen’s side. She smiled up at Carl. “Hey, how are you?”
He looked at her with relief on his face. “Are you okay? I came down yesterday, and, when you didn’t answer, I got worried.”
She reached out a hand and grasped his. “I’m sorry. I should have let you know we flew to Spain and back. I have been out with the guys quite a bit, trying to find my assailant. This is Kanen, the friend I told you about. He’s been looking after me.”
She turned to Kanen. “Carl is my neighbor and a policeman, who opened his home to me when I escaped and kept me safe until you arrived.”
Kanen reached out a hand with a smile. “Thank you for watching over her. She went through a terrible ordeal.”
Carl nodded and shook Kanen’s hand but still looked suspiciously at Kanen. Carl motioned down the hallway for Laysa to come out there to talk to him. It was all Kanen could do not to yank her back to his side. He waited at the doorway with his head cocked, trying hard to hear their conversation. But he didn’t hear much, just whispered voices.
Then she smiled at Carl and said, “It’s all right. Everything’s good.” And she headed back toward Kanen. With her apartment door closed, she said, “Carl was afraid you looked a little too dangerous to be on my side. He wanted to make sure I was safe and not being held captive again.”
Nelson snorted. “Yeah, that’s our Kanen. Dangerous to look at.”
“At least he had your well-being in mind,” Kanen said. “He seems like he cares.”
She nodded. “He’s been a good neighbor. He lives just one floor above me.”
As far as Kanen could tell, anybody close to Laysa deserved a second look. Just to make sure Carl really was a good guy and not involved in this mess. And that brought up something else Kanen should have considered. No one had ever questioned if Bob could be working with a partner. Kanen caught Taylor’s eye, who appeared to be thinking the same thing.
Taylor walked back into the living room, sat down with his laptop and opened it up.
In a casual conversational tone, Kanen asked her, “How long has Carl lived here?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. A few years before Blake and I moved here.”
“What’s his last name?”
That was one question too many. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s a good guy. A cop. You be nice.”
He opened his eyes wide and gave her an innocent look. “Anyone connected to you is someone I will take a second look at,” he said. “So I get that you don’t want me prying into people’s lives who may have nothing to do with this, but I won’t know they have nothing to do with this until I pry.”
He waited for her answer. He could see the younger version of the woman in front of him. As a child, she would have stomped her foot several times in frustration. Right now all she did was glare at him.
Then she turned to face Taylor, narrowed her gaze. “Are you in on this?”
He turned a bland face in her direction. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She raised both hands, palms up, in mock surrender. “Fine. Whatever. His name is Carl McMaster.” She spun around and sat on the couch with more force than necessary. “His wife’s name is Sicily. She’s lovely too. They are good people.”
The men busily tapped away on their keyboards.
Kanen sat beside her and said, “Remember that, whatever we do, we’re doing for your sake.”
She released a heavy sigh and nodded. “I get that. But it’s still very intrusive. Not to mention the fact no one wants to contemplate that Carl could be involved.”
“A lot of people could be involved on a peripheral level,” Kanen said. “That’s why we do these checks and balances.” Once again Kanen’s phone rang. It was Mark, the gym manager. Kanen answered it quietly, keeping an eye on her. He was a little worried about how this all affected her.
“Hey, should have called you earlier. We had a break-in last night.”
“Oh?” Kanen straightened and stood, walking to the living room window. “What was taken?”
“Nothing was taken, but Blake’s locker was broken into.”
Half under his breath, he whispered, “Shit.”
“Exactly. So I presume whatever you took out of that locker …”
“I’ll make the same assumption,” Kanen said. “Do you have video feed from last night?”
“I do, but the guy wore a black mask and kept his face away from the camera.”
“What about outside in the parking lot? Any idea what vehicle he was driving?”
“No, I don’t. The camera angle stops at the front door.”
“Have you called the cops?”
“Should I? Nothing else was damaged, and I don’t really want the added aggravation. Once people see the cops hanging around, all hell breaks loose.”
“How about a quiet pair of MI6 agents coming through, looking for fingerprints?”
“Good idea. The guy on tape didn’t wear gloves. So, if there are fingerprints, they would be around the locker.”
“I’ll call you right back.” Kanen hung up and called his MI6 contact. “There was a break-in at Gold’s gym last night. Somebody breaking into Blake’s locker, presumably to find the bag of blackmail photographs.”
MI6 arranged for a small team to go in and to take fingerprints after-hours.
“I’ll call Mark back and warn him. I’ll tell him to make sure nobody else touches the locker.”
“You do that,” the MI6 contact said. “But chances are it’s already too late.”
“I know.” Kanen hung up and redialed Mark. Once he explained about MI6, he said, “I know it’s probably too much to ask, but, if you could make sure nobody touches the locker or the door frame, lock, etc., it would be appreciated.”
Mark gave a half laugh. “As you saw, it’s the last locker in a bank of lockers. I have no idea how many million fingerprints would be on it, espec
ially since men often grab on to it as they swing around the corner.”
“Understood.” Kanen hung up, turned to look at the others and said, “Our photographer guy is getting closer. He broke into Blake’s locker at the gym last night.”
“He obviously had the same idea we did,” Nelson said. “And maybe he even saw us go into the gym and had to check for himself.”
“He’ll either assume we have it or he will keep looking for it,” Kanen said.
“We didn’t check the storage unit though,” Taylor reminded them.
“No,” Laysa said, frowning at them. “I completely forgot about it.”
The men checked their watches.
Kanen said, “I suggest we go now. We have several hours of daylight. Let’s make good use of this time. Even though we think we have what this guy is looking for, maybe we can draw him out, see if we can set him up and take him down at the storage facility.”
She brightened. “Particularly if he sees us leave here.”
Kanen smiled. “Exactly.” He met Nelson’s gaze over her head and knew they were both thinking the same thing. There had to be some way to set a trap for this guy. But how?
Chapter 13
Laysa led the way to the storage unit. They’d parked farther down on the street, so nobody would know easily where they went.
Kanen came up to her side, reached gently for her hand and whispered in your ear, “Give us the number. Let us take a look and make sure nobody’s here or anywhere around.”
She shot him a look, then shrugged. With Nelson once again standing at her side, Kanen and Taylor took off. She faced Nelson and asked, “How come you’re on babysitting duty?”
“Because I love looking after babies,” he said with a smirk.
She shot him a sideways look.
He grinned and said in a more gallant one, “It’s an honor to look after the lady.”
“Don’t you miss out on the action?”
“I get plenty of action,” he said.
Something in his tone made her think he was talking about a completely different kind of action. They waited on the spot in silence. She glanced around and realized Kanen had left her in a rather unique area, a path leading to the back of the storage units. They’d already gone through the gate, but they were surrounded by tall cedar trees and were out of everybody’s view.
