by Darcia Helle
“Are you in trouble, Ian?”
His eyes shimmered with unshed tears. He closed them for a moment, then took his mother’s hand. “Do you remember Alison?” he asked.
“Of course. She’s too good for Rob, you know. I tell her that all the time.”
“She’s missing, ma.”
“Missing?”
“And we’re hoping you can help us figure all this out.” Ian said.
“Me?” Corinne rocked back and forth. She shook her head, said, “I don’t know where Alison is. I don’t. I don’t know.”
“I know that, ma. But we think you can help us find her.”
Corinne continued to rock. She muttered a few indiscernible words under her breath, then said, “Okay. Okay. What can I do to help?”
Lucianna picked up the manila folder. She withdrew the picture, then looked to Greg. He said a few comforting words to Corinne, had her take a deep breath, then nodded to Lucianna.
The moment stretched on. One of those segments in time when everything slowed down and each movement, each word, clung to the air like thick fog. Lucianna held the picture in her lap. She met Corinne’s eyes and said, “We need to know if you recognize the man in this picture. Do you mind looking at it for us?”
Corinne’s rocking became frantic. She said, “No pictures. I can’t look. No pictures. I can’t look.”
Greg leaned forward, spoke to her softly. She calmed almost instantly. He said, “Why can’t you look at the picture, Corinne?”
“Horrible,” she muttered. “Horrible pictures.”
“No,” Greg said. “This picture isn’t horrible. It’s just a man. That’s all. Just a picture of a man.”
Corinne looked at Ian. He tried to smile but his lips only twitched. He said, “We just need to know if you remember this man. That’s all, ma. It’s not a bad picture. Honest.”
“Okay,” she said. “Okay, okay, okay. I know it’s all a mess. I know. Show me the picture. Show me.”
Lucianna turned the picture of Ben around and held it out for Corinne to see. She stopped breathing, and was sure everyone else had as well, as all eyes focused on Corinne. Her hands were trembling and she had a hard time holding the picture steady.
Corinne stared, blinked, turned away, then stared again. She opened her mouth and a strangled gasping sound escaped. “That’s Ben,” she whispered.
“And who is Ben?” Greg asked. “Is he your friend?”
Corinne nodded. “We were friends. Ben was so sweet and he made me laugh. He wanted to take me out to dinner. He was… We were… It was that night. That night he was supposed to come. But it wasn’t him at the door. Wasn’t him. Wasn’t him.”
“Who was at the door, ma?” Ian asked.
Corinne bit her lip. “No, no, no,” she muttered. She began rocking faster, shaking her head, not looking at anyone in particular as she spoke. “He gave me the baby blanket. He said… He said it was Cameron’s baby. And Holly. Oh Holly. How could she? Holly and Cameron. Cameron and Holly. He told me. He showed me. I saw. I saw what… Oh God. Oh God…”
Ian was on the floor beside his mother. He held her hands, tried to get her to look at him. “Who brought you the blanket, ma? Who was it?”
Corinne shook her head. “Ben came later. Later. Too late already. It was too late. He was here. He was here.”
Greg moved close to Corinne and began speaking in soft tones. Soon the chanting stopped and the silence was almost worse. Greg tried to reach her but Corinne had shut down. Finally he stood and said, “She needs some time. That was a lot for her to handle.”
Ian asked, “Is she going to be okay?”
“I’ll stay with her. She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
Vinnie pushed away from the wall. He motioned for Lucianna and Ian to follow him. “We have work to do,” he said.
***
“The same Ben,” Lucianna said when they’d moved into the kitchen. “We were right.”
“Indeed,” Vinnie said. “We’ll get to his part in this at a later time.”
“Someone please tell me what the hell is going on,” Ian said. “Who’s the guy tied up in my garage?”
“Dean Webb,” Vinnie replied. He pushed a wet strand of hair off his forehead. “Works for Nico and his merry morons otherwise known as K Unit.”
“Does he know anything about Alison?”
“She was nabbed by a man by the name of Kane,” Vinnie explained. “Who is operating under the command of the mighty Nico. Both Kane and our friend Webb here in the garage are on a quest to stop the two of you from disrupting their kingdom.”
Ian’s eyes were beginning to glaze over. Lucianna decided to intervene before Vinnie strung this out any longer. She asked, “Do you know where they are, Vinnie?”
“I do.”
“Then don’t you think it would be a good idea for us to get our butts moving?”
Vinnie showed a hint of a smirk. “Have I reached the age where you believe I’ve become that incompetent? I made a phone call immediately after the information was given to me. Two men that I would trust with your life are currently with Alison. Her husband has been notified and told that we will return his wife to him as soon as possible.”
“She’s okay?” Ian asked. “She’s safe?”
“I’m waiting for confirmation,” Vinnie replied. “However, I see no reason to believe otherwise. Once you are comfortable with the situation here, we’ll go there and meet her assailant. Greg will stay with your mother until you return.”
“I don’t know how to thank you for all of this,” Ian said.
“You can thank me by taking good care of my niece.”
“Vinnie -” Lucianna started.
Vinnie waved her off. “That’s all I will say on the subject.”
Ian’s cheeks had reddened slightly. He met Vinnie’s eyes and said softly, “That’s not a problem. I should go check on my mother before we leave.”
As he turned away, he caught Lucianna’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. She smiled, thinking how odd it was to be falling in love in the midst of all this chaos.
Chapter 49
Kane stomped on a cockroach with the heel of his boot. He glared at Alison, who sat quivering on the cracked vinyl chair he’d tied her to. He wanted to kill her. Slice her throat; watch her head wobble and fall back as she bled out. That would send a message. Holding her and making threats was bullshit. A waste of his time. Confined in this rotting building where the crack whores sucked off anything with a heartbeat so they could get their next fix. The stench was piss and sweat, old sex and stale smoke.
He paced in front of her, feeling her watching him. That turned him on. In fact, she was pretty damn cute. In good shape for a broad her age with four kids. He should fuck her, then kill her. Now that would spice up the day.
He was thinking about this, feeling his erection grow and strain against his jeans. He heard the rumble of bass from a nearby car stereo and the steady patter of rain against the boarded windows. Not exactly an erotic soundtrack but it would do.
He turned to face the broad. Now rock hard, he rubbed himself while watching her. Enjoying the way she flinched. He checked his watch. Another fifteen minutes before anything would happen. Plenty of time. Too much to waste standing around squashing more roaches. He rubbed himself harder. Even if he couldn’t kill her, he could still fuck her. After all, Nico hadn’t said not to.
Moving closer, he offered his version of a smile that most often looked more like a sneer. He’d tied her hands behind her and her feet to the legs of the chair. He’d also stuck a rag in her mouth. Not that he worried about anyone hearing her scream. Or anyone caring, if they did. He just didn’t believe in taking chances.
He thought about untying her completely, letting her participate. His time was limited and he wasn’t much in the mood for the struggle, so he decided to leave her hands tied and the gag in. If things didn’t work out with McCormick, if she wasn’t going to be leaving quite so soon, he’d ha
ve plenty of playtime later.
He yanked down his zipper, took his throbbing erection into his hand, and smiled at the tears that quickly leaked from her eyes. Seeing her completely naked would have been better. Partially would do, though. For now.
He stooped down to untie her legs. He never heard anything aside from the rain. The shoe caught him in the side of the ribs. He heard the crack at the same moment that he felt the explosion in his chest. Suddenly he was sprawled on the floor, staring up at two large men with grim expressions and tailored suits. Definitely not Nico’s guys.
The one with the silver pinstripes yanked him to his feet. Air wouldn’t fill his lungs. He gasped against the pain and the absence of air. Silver Pinstripes caught him with a left-handed blow that snapped his head back, rattling teeth and brain cells.
The broad was sobbing while Black Suit untied her. He spit out blood and a piece of tooth. Silver Pinstripes shoved him to the floor. He cracked his head against the wall. As the world faded to black, he thought how obscene it was to die with his now limp dick dangling from his open zipper.
***
Questions tumbled around Lucianna’s mind. She opened her mouth to start quizzing Vinnie when his cell phone chirped. He pulled it from his pocket. Instead of a greeting, he asked, “Are you inside?”
His expression remained impassive as he listened to whoever was on the other end. After a few moments, he said, “We’ll be there shortly,” and clicked the phone off. To Lucianna he said, “Alison is safe.”
Lucianna let out a long breath. “Thank God.”
“I’m not sure God had any say in it.” He waited a beat, then said, “Mr. Webb was taking pictures of you.”
“I figured that,” she said.
“Do you know why?”
“No. But I have a feeling that you’re about to tell me.”
Vinnie frowned at that. He said, “We can discuss this at a later time. We need to speak with this Kane character to see what further information we can ascertain. Then we must deal with Detective Sterling.”
“You don’t want to tell me why I was being photographed?”
“Not at this time. No.”
Lucianna let out an exasperated sigh. “I appreciate you trying to protect me. But this is my job.”
Vinnie met her eyes and held them. He said, “They planned on killing you.”
“Oh.” Lucianna thought about that for a minute. Not a huge shock. She was, after all, digging in their terrain. She said, “But why the pictures?”
“Setting someone else up to take the fall,” Vinnie replied. “I’ve had no time for details on that topic as of yet. Who do you think came here with the baby blanket that day?”
Lucianna shrugged. “Cameron McCormick maybe? Although I don’t know why he’d do it. Could have been one of the guys from the K Unit.”
“They’re looking for the girl,” Vinnie said. “This is most certainly about her.”
Ian stepped into the room. His gaze flickered between the two as he asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Alison is safe,” Vinnie said. He recited an address out by the factory district in the city. “It’s an old apartment building,” he explained. “Officially unoccupied, although undoubtedly a variety of addicts call it home. You’ll find Alison on the first floor. Kane is there as well, being babysat by two of my very close friends. I’ll take Mr. Webb with me and meet you there.”
***
Ian switched his cell phone over to his other ear. Rob had been rattling on for five minutes straight in a frantic, rather high-pitched voice. Not that Ian could blame him.
“I want to meet you there,” Rob was saying. “There is no way in hell that I’m waiting until you bring her home to me.”
“You spoke to her, right?” Ian asked again.
“I told you I did. She said she was okay but she was crying. Christ, the woman was kidnapped. She needs me there.”
“I can’t argue that.” Ian glanced at Lucianna. She was weaving through traffic, driving as fast as possible through the congested streets. She had told him that it would be better if Rob waited at home. The situation was messy enough without bringing more people into it. That seemed logical. However, human emotion was not logical.
He recited the address into the phone. Then he turned away from Lucianna’s quick gaze as he said, “Don’t bring the kids. And, Rob, you really need to stay calm. She’s okay. Let Lucianna and Vinnie handle things.”
“Tell Ali I’m on my way,” Rob said.
Their connection broke. Ian stabbed the off button and tucked the phone back into his pocket. “I had to tell him,” he said. “I’d expect the same of him if the situation was reversed.”
“I understand.” Lucianna swung around a UPS truck that had double parked. “But please try to keep him under control. I don’t want him killing the guy before we get the chance to talk to him.”
“He won’t kill anyone.”
Lucianna arched an eyebrow. “You’re sure? Would you, if the situation was reversed?”
Ian thought about that. He’d never been married. Wasn’t sure he could put himself in that place. But knowing his feelings for Lucianna, even in this short period of time, he didn’t doubt that he’d be more than capable of killing anyone who tried to hurt her. His heart thundered against his chest as he said, “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
***
“Do you have some idea where we’re going?” Sam asked.
Cameron pressed harder on the accelerator as he passed yet another SUV. “Damn things are taking over the country,” he muttered. Then to Sam he said, “New York City.”
“Yeah, well I know that,” Sam said. “What then? Are we going to sift through the millions of people there, looking for a woman you wouldn’t even recognize if she stepped in front of you?”
“I’d recognize her.”
The tone and set of Cameron’s jaw left no room for debate. Sam found himself craving a pint of bourbon. Hell, make that a quart. But he’d been sober for nearly five years now, so he sipped on his Pepsi and watched the scenery flash by.
“I’ve got a name,” Cameron said after a few minutes. “Sara Wright. I think she’s calling herself Sara Wright.”
“That’s a good start.”
“I’ve got an address as well. I pulled it up on one of those Internet phone directories.”
Sam tapped his Pepsi bottle against his leg. “What do you want to do when we find her? You can’t just tell her… well, you know. You don’t want to be telling her what happened to her as a baby. Do you?”
“She knows.”
“About you… ?”
“You can say it. About me selling her. Yeah. She knows.”
“You’re sure?”
Cameron glanced at him with hard eyes. “I’m sure. She’s got someone after me. To kill me.”
Sam nodded, as if this made perfect sense. Then the weight of Cameron’s words began to sink in and he suddenly felt sick. “What’s going on, Cam? What haven’t you told me?”
“Sara. My daughter,” Cameron said softly, “is out for revenge. Ace was killed three months ago. Shot twice in the head. Once in the balls. That night Nico received a message. A letter. The gist of the message was that his life would soon be over. You see, Nico handled the babies back then. He sold her to the bastard that turned her into a child whore.”
Sam tasted the bile that rose in his throat. “And you think she sent that message? That she had Ace killed?”
“I know she did,” Cameron replied. “I got hold of a copy. A hit list, in a way, complete with explanation. I’m on that list. So is Corinne. I imagine she believes Corinne is her mother. A logical assumption.”
Cameron fell silent as they passed a line of eighteen-wheelers. His face had grown pale. He had the look of a man about to make his final walk along death row. Sam was finding it difficult to absorb all that was happening. He didn’t know what to say. So he said nothing.
Finally Cameron continued in a dull, steady to
ne. “Chapman, the creep who bought her, was on the list. But I got to the bastard first. At any rate, I think she’s probably the one who delivered the blanket to Corinne. Or she had it delivered. You see, she likes to torment those on her list prior to their deaths. That’s part of her game. Part of her revenge.”
Sam closed his eyes against the pounding in his temples. When he opened his eyes again, he kept them focused straight out the windshield. He said, “What do you plan to do when you find her?”
For a long moment Cameron stared out at the highway. He didn’t reply and the silence floated around them like a fragile balloon. Sam found himself praying that Cameron didn’t intend to kill his daughter. Even if she had become a killer herself. Maybe her reasons were justified. At least in her mind they were. And so far only scum had been killed. In Sam’s book, that didn’t count.
Finally Cameron said, “I want to make sure she knows that Corinne is not her mother. I need her to know that. Corinne has been hurt enough. Too much. She shouldn’t be part of this.”
“And then?” Sam asked.
“She’s in trouble,” Cameron said. “Sara is. Nico’s after her. The cops want her. Not for murder. They don’t know about that. The cops want her for information. Nico wants her dead. I want her to be able to go on with her life. I want her to be at peace. Be happy.”
Cameron let out a long breath, then said, “I’ve got fifty grand in the trunk. For her. Not that I expect money to be a magical cure. I certainly don’t expect to be able to buy her forgiveness. But the money should help her get a good start. College or something. You know?”
“Yeah,” Sam said softly. “I know.”
“I won’t tell her about Holly. I can’t do that.”
“She’s going to ask about her mother.”
Cameron nodded. “I’ll tell her it was an affair, that her mother took off right after the birth and I never knew her last name. Holly, she was just a kid. She would’ve done anything to make me happy back then. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if I told Sara about her.”
