by Naomi West
Hawk rushed to the door, but paused before entering to listen. Nothing came from inside the house but the usual hum and buzz of things. He pushed open the door and looked around. He stepped inside, still listening. He wanted to call for her so badly, but if someone was in the house, he didn’t want to alert them that he was there.
As he came to each room, he put his back to the wall and peered around the corner. After getting a full view of the empty room, he moved on. He came to the living room and when he poked his head around the side of the wall to look in his heart dropped.
Alexa lay on the couch, a big red splotch on her forehead. He rushed to her.
“Alexa? Alexa!” He gently shook her shoulders. She was out.
He took her pulse and it felt strong. Someone must’ve come in and knocked her out. The next thought made him go cold. Where was Damian?
He tore through the house, careless now in his searching. Every room, every closet and nook and cranny. After two sweeps, he had to admit the truth. Damian was gone. He went back to Alexa to check on her. She hadn’t moved. He considered calling an ambulance, but that would send the cops here, and he didn’t want to deal with all that just yet. He took a washcloth and wet it with cold water, then laid it on her forehead. After a moment, she stirred.
He called her name and put his hand to her cheek. “Can you hear me?”
She nodded slowly and muttered something he couldn’t make out. He sat her up and gave her a glass of water. She sipped it, then tried again to speak.
“Damian,” she said in a croak. “Where is he?”
Hawk shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s not here. What happened? Do you know who took him?”
She took another sip of water. “Jessica. She came back.”
Hawk sucked in a breath. “Was she alone?”
“Yes, but she barged in and hit me on the head. I didn’t expect it. I should’ve been ready for her, I should have—”
“Stop.” He pressed his lips to hers. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I wouldn’t expect you to fight off an attacker like that.”
“No, I should have, you don’t understand. It’s my job.”
“I know you did your best to protect Damian. It’s not your job to fight someone like that.”
“Hawk, no, I—”
“All we need to do now is find her and figure out why she took him.”
“At one point, I started to come to. She admitted to me that she’s not his mother.”
“I knew it. I didn’t think she was.” His hands balled into fists. He didn’t care if she was a woman, he would knock her cold when he got his hands on her. “If she’s not his mother, then what could her motive possibly be? Sell him on the black market?”
“I don’t think so. She kept asking about the diaper bag. Did you see it?”
Hawk pulled his eyebrows together. “I didn’t, but I wasn’t really looking.”
He got up and helped Alexa to her feet. She held his arm, but was walking fine on her own after a few steps. They searched through the nursery and the rest of the house but there was no sign of the diaper bag.
“It sounded like it was really important for some reason. But then she hit me again before I could find out more. And that must’ve been when she took him and left. And the diaper bag, too, apparently.”
“If the bag was so important, why wouldn’t she just have taken it and not him? I don’t get it,” Hawk said.
“I don’t know, but we have to get the police on this before she can get any farther. It’s already been far too long. She wanted the bag for a reason, and she took Damian for reason. Whatever those reasons are, we need him found and brought back, and the cops are the best ones equipped to handle that.”
Hawk shook his head. “No way. I am not calling them. I’ll do this my way. I’ll start with that car and that Rucker Marshall guy. If he’s not involved, fine, but I need to know.”
“This is out of your league. You can’t go chasing after criminals like that. Let the cops do their job.”
“Oh right. Like they did their job when it came to finding Hugh’s killer? I don’t think so.”
“They’re your best chance at finding him.”
“I don’t believe that for a second. I don’t need them, and I don’t want them involved.”
Chapter 19
Alexa knew she couldn’t wait any longer. He had a thing against the police and it was understandable, but she needed help from her connections on the force. Even if they were going to do this alone, she needed their help. She’d already planned to tell him the truth, and it couldn’t wait any longer.
“Hawk…” She closed her eyes for a moment, then took a breath. “I think you should sit down. There’s something I have to tell you.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Do you know something about this?”
“Not any more than you do. But I know people who can help. Please sit.”
He kept his eyes on her, but pulled out a chair at the dining room table and sat in a defensive stance. “Let’s hear it.”
“I’m telling you this now because finding Damian is the most important thing. I want you to remember that. I had planned to tell you before, but then Jessica showed up and all this mess-”
“Alexa. Let’s hear it already.”
She took in a deep breath and blew it out. “I used to be a cop. In fact, I was the detective who worked on Hugh’s case.”
She paused for a moment. His jaw tightened and his eye twitched slightly. She decided to continue.
“I tried my best to find his killer. Please, believe that. I didn’t give up. Closing the case was not my call. In fact, it was the reason I left the force. My chief made me close it. He didn’t think a lowly drug informant was worth-”
“Informant?”
“Hugh was my informant. He gave me information about Rucker Marshall. I’d been watching him for months, waiting to have enough evidence to bring him to trial. My chief made me call it a gang crime and close the case. I fought against it. And in the end, I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t stop thinking about Hugh, and I couldn’t rest until I found justice for him. I quit the force and started my PI business so I would have a cover and connections and the time I needed to do my real research. I moved here to be close to you. Because you’re Hugh’s brother, and I hoped you’d give me the information I needed to find his killer. I never planned to get so close to you. I certainly never planned to fall for you, but I have.”
Hawk glared back at her, and said nothing.
“I’m still looking. I’m sure it was Rucker Marshall who killed Hugh, but I need solid evidence to put him away. Your testimony of seeing him there only provides circumstantial evidence and it’s not enough. Especially in a case like this where there were so many false leads and so many twists and turns. I’m sorry I lied to you. I thought if you knew who I really was from the beginning, you wouldn’t tell me anything and you’d just be pissed. And you have every right to be pissed. I would be, too. But right now, I want to focus on getting Damian back. That’s all I want. I’m not asking for your forgiveness, but I am asking you to let me make some calls. I still have tons of connections on the force, and I can get the right people in place and get the information we need to find him.”
Hawk still said nothing. She waited, giving him time to process and respond. After several long minutes with neither of them speaking, she finally had to do something.
“Do you have nothing to say to all this?” she asked.
“Do whatever you have to do to find him.” He stood up, slid the chair hard into place. “You should probably go to the hospital. Your head looks really bad.”
He turned to face her, his arms crossed and his face blank.
“I’m fine. I have a little headache, but it’s nothing some Ibuprofen can’t fix. Time is critical right now. I need to get started right away if we’re going to have any chance.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“Do you have a notebook?”
She pulled out her phone while he went into his office. She took a moment to gather her thoughts. She couldn’t read him, he’d gone back to that static and placid expression of coolness. She could hardly blame him. In his position, she’d probably have done worse.
Refocusing on the task at hand she started with her old informants. They weren’t required to tell her anything now that she was off the force, but she hoped they would do her a favor since she’d been good to them.
“Have you heard anything on the street about a kidnapping or a ransom, anything like that?” she asked them both.
Neither had heard anything. She asked about Rucker, too. Nothing. She called to her former partner, who was still on the force.
“I know this is a favor, but we were partners for years. This could lead to solving two cases. And I’d let you get all the credit,” she promised.
Joe laughed. “Yeah, sure. I don’t need credit. It’d be nice to have my partner back, though.”
“I don’t think that will happen. But it would be nice to solve this one last case with you. I need everything you got on Marshall since I left. And I need you to keep your ears open about a baby. He was stolen today. He might end up with a ‘for sale’ sticker somewhere. We’re not sure why he was taken.”
Joe sucked in a breath. “You do get into your cases, that’s for sure. Did you report this stolen baby?”
“Well, I just told you, didn’t I?”
“Alexa, come on.”
“We don’t have time for all that. I need answers now.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
She hung up and looked at Hawk, who had an expectant expression.
“Let me guess,” he said, “they don’t know anything.”
“Well, not yet. He’s getting me info on Marshall, and he’s going to check around about any news on a baby.”
“So, they know nothing, and Damian is out there somewhere.”
“He’ll call back soon. This is our best chance.”
Hawk got up and started pacing. “I have to get out there and start looking for him.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere. I don’t know, but I can’t just sit here.” He looked down at his phone. “What the hell?”
“What is it?”
“Blocked number.”
She scrambled to her feet. “Answer it!”
“I never answer blocked calls.”
“You do today, when your child is missing. Answer it.”
He pressed the button and held the phone to his ear. “Hawk.” Then he hit the speakerphone button so she could hear, too.
“Just the man I wanted to talk to.”
“Who’s this?”
“This is your new best friend, Rucker Marshall.”
Alexa watched Hawk’s face fall into a mask of rage.
“What do you want?” he growled through clenched teeth.
“It’s more about what you want. I’m guessing you’d like this ankle biter of yours back?”
“You have Damian?”
“This smelly, crying, wiggling thing? He’s here. He’s chilling with my old lady. I think she’s off showing him around town, pretending he’s hers.” He laughed. “Women. Like she don’t have three of her own. What does she want with another mouth to feed? Well, you can have him back just as soon as you give me what I want.”
“And what’s that?”
“Let’s not play these games. You know what I want.”
“I’ll give you anything. Just don’t hurt the baby.”
“It’s what Hugh gave you just before he died.”
“The only thing Hugh gave me before he died was a phone call. What is it you want?”
Rucker laughed. “So, it’s going to be like that. I get that you don’t want to give it up. It’s worth a lot. I sure as hell wouldn’t. And not for some little brat. That’s alright. If you don’t want to give it to me, I’m sure we can figure out something interesting to do with this kid.”
“Rucker!”
“Call me back when you have it and I won’t.”
There was a beep as the call was ended.
“Fuck!” Hawk slammed his fist into the table. It made a loud bang and the table rocked.
“You have no idea what it could be?” Alexa asked.
“If I did, he would have it already,” Hawk said through gritted teeth. “Do you honestly think I’d put money or drugs before Damian?”
“Of course not. But he made it sound like you’d know. He thought Hugh gave it to you for a reason. Just sit and think for a minute. Maybe it’s not something as obvious as money or drugs.”
“Hugh didn’t have anything else of value.”
“Sit and think and see what comes to mind. I’ll be right back.”
Alexa ran next door and pulled out Hugh’s file and everything she currently had on the case. She rushed back over to Hawk’s and spread it all out on his table. She combed through the pages, looking for something that might have been recovered by the police. Something unusual, something valuable. Anything that could give them information.
Chapter 20
Hawk stared across the table at Alexa. How in the world was this possible? How could she be a cop? And not only that, but the detective on Hugh’s case? It took his mind several minutes to even believe that she had really said what he thought she said.
He couldn’t fall for a cop. It went against everything he stood for. She stood for everything he hated. And after they’d failed so miserably to find Hugh’s killer? He had even less reason to trust the police than he had before. As if being wrongfully accused of murdering his father and serving time for it wasn’t enough. When Hugh died, he hoped the cops would do their job and get the killer. But they hadn’t. They were worthless as far as he was concerned.
There must have been something he missed. What hadn’t he noticed about her? What had he blocked out or chosen not to see? And the worst part was, he needed her.
Not just because she was now his best chance. That pissed him off even more. He wanted her, and at the same time, he never wanted to see her face again. On top of losing Damian he struggled to keep his anger at bay, and reminded himself he was lucky he hadn’t broken his hand punching the table. It still ached, and was growing a sickly purple.
He started pacing. Times like this, he wished he still smoked. He’d blow through a whole pack right now if he had one but he did have beer. He went to the fridge and cracked one open, then chugged it. Then downed another, but it only mixed with the cocktail of emotions in his stomach and made him want to puke.
Alexa hung up and turned to Hawk. “He’s not at his house.”
“They searched it? What about the car?”
“No one is at the house, but they’re still watching it. They’re watching for the car, too, but no one has located it yet.”
So, they’d gone over to Rucker’s and he wasn’t there. Now he had no choice but to rely on these idiot cops and hope they managed to find out something valuable this time. That’s when he knew for sure what he had to do. The idea had been there, but he hadn’t been sure he’d be able to act on it. He looked back at Alexa - how in the world had he missed how she held herself, how she spoke, how she acted? Everything about her screamed ‘police’, and he was reminded again of how he’d been let down. Focus, he thought. Rucker wanted something, something that had belonged to Hugh, but the more he thought about it the less he could come up with anything.
Sure, Hugh had been into some shady business from time to time, but nothing that would have a guy like Rucker holding a grudge like this. Was it something Jessica had done? He shook his head – there were too many variables and it paralyzed him. Only one thing was for certain. He needed Alexa right now to get Damian. After that, he couldn’t care less if he never saw her again.
Chapter 21
“I got something,” Joe said.
Alexa sighed in relief. “Give it to me.”
“I know what he’s after. Some
kind of gemstones. Diamonds I think. Looks like Hugh received them from Marshall’s guy and was supposed to deliver them, but never did.”
“Huh. Really?” That was unusual for someone with Rucker’s history. Criminals often kept in the same line of work. Gun dealers didn’t get into drugs. Goods smugglers didn’t get into drugs. And drug dealers certainly didn’t bother with smuggling goods. Maybe Rucker Marshall was into far more than she knew. “That doesn’t explain Damian though.”
