“Where are you going?”
He glanced back at Ruby. “To find whatever hotel Gary has been put up in.”
She shook her head. “He isn’t here anymore.”
Jay turned back and quelled his impatience. “Then where is he?”
“I don’t know. I just saw Mr. Haraby handing him a plane ticket.”
“Then I’ll find Mr. Haraby and make him speak.”
“He’s probably gone too. Said he was heading back home if Gary needed him.”
Jay flung open the door, swearing under his breath, then glanced back at Ruby and Frank. “Thank you both.”
“We’re staying out of this,” Ruby blurted out, her voice stopping his feet. “I have done all I am willing to.”
Jay opened his mouth, but Frank silenced him. “We’re expecting, Jay. I won’t risk my family and, despite how messed up this might seem to other people, I know you wouldn’t risk us either.”
Jay felt his eyes widen. For one tiny, precious moment, there was nothing but the happy news that his younger sister in all ways but blood was expecting her first child.
Ruby gave him a smile that showed that she too was in that untainted moment.
He nodded and marched back into the room and quickly scribbling down another number. “You have already risked too much. If you think, even the smallest doubt, that you are in trouble, call this number. Tell them the phrase ‘Elliot plays the harp’ and then how to help you. All costs billed to me.”
Ruby took the paper and nodded. “If you can bring Stella back, Jay, I would like to maybe see if you can be my brother again.”
Jay took them in for a moment longer and then left without another word.
***
Dave grinned as he entered the room at the inn but seemed to pick up on his mood with almost inhuman accuracy.
“I take it whatever lead you were chasing all afternoon yielded nothing you wanted to hear?”
The man was now shifting aside the laptop he had been working on and stretching. Jay took several deep breaths. Ruby’s information had been hard to swallow. Not the least of all because it meant that Stella’s current situation might well all be just to get back at him for some past actions of his.
“Jay?” Dave asked tentatively after a moment of taking his scrutiny in silence. “Did I do something wrong? If it was that moment after we left the mansion, it won’t happen again, I swear.”
It took Jay a few heartbeats to remember what Dave was talking about. As he remembered the humorous moment of admiration, he also recalled the words that he had not paid attention to at the time.
He motioned Dave to sit back down. “Outside, before I left, you said that you had heard about me. Can you elaborate?”
Dave cocked his head to the side. “Well, I mean, when you offered me a job, I looked you up. Didn’t want to accidentally step into something I wouldn’t be able to find my way out of again.”
Jay waited and Dave continued. “I realized that I had heard about you before. So I looked as far back as I could. You were exactly as you described yourself when you were telling me how Ms. Carmichael might see you. A figure that is larger than life.”
Jay shook his head. “That’s it? Just news articles and tabloid reels?”
Dave flushed. “And the trial. It had been leaked on a forum I stumbled across. There was everything from there and even someone claiming to have personal correspondence between you and Ms. Haraby, but I—”
Jay had already reached backward for his own laptop. “What was the forum?”
Dave watched him intently and seemed satisfied that he was not in any kind of trouble, but rather simply a few steps behind whatever revelation Jay had found. “The Serpents.”
Jayden accessed the forum and suppressed a groan. He was being held up as some kind of vigilante. “Who claimed to have personal correspondence?”
Dave frowned and his eyebrows pushed together as his eyes lost focus.
Jay tried hard not to drum his fingers on the laptop as the other man thought. He already knew Dave had found out a little about him, but he hadn’t realized the importance of that until now. Someone had hounded first Ruby and Frank, and then Stella. They might have crossed paths with Dave if they had been following Stella. Perhaps Dave had seen them.
One question at a time, he scolded himself.
Dave’s eyebrows sprung apart and his eyes refocused on Jay’s face. “I’m fairly certain it was blood angel fifty-three. All lowercase, no space, and I think there was some underscores between the letters and the numbers.”
Jay tossed him a smile as he searched for that user ID. The search came up with two hits, only one exactly as Dave had said.
“How did you ever wind up working as a salesman with a mind like that?”
Dave chuckled then shrugged. “Needs must. It worked out well though. If I hadn’t been working there, I would never have met you.”
Jay felt his lips tilt in a smile even as his fingers flew across the keyboard, putting some of Joe’s programs to good use. He needed the source of the forum and the true identity of bloodangel_53. He found the post that Dave had been referring to, but the link to the promised information led nowhere. Either it had always been a dud, or had now been disabled.
Jay set the laptop aside and turned his eyes on Dave again.
“Next question,” Jay continued. “Did anyone else come asking after Stella at the dealership?”
Dave pressed his lips together and shook his head. “No. At least not that I was aware of.”
Jay thought for a moment then asked a new question. “After her visit, did you notice anyone watching the premises?”
Dave’s green-blue eyes filled with confusion. “No, but maybe if you tell me why you are asking, I might be of better help.”
Jay only shook his head. “Either you noticed someone or you didn’t. My reasons why won’t have any effect on that answer.” Dave shrugged, and Jay reached out and patted his shoulder. “Thanks for the help. How did your afternoon go? Did you finish cataloging Ms. Carmichael’s information?”
For some reason, this question seemed to make Dave uncomfortable and the man moved away.
“What did you do?” Jay asked after a pause of watching him carefully.
Dave’s eyes flashed guiltily to his face, then he sighed. “I went back to see Ms. Carmichael.”
“Why?”
“Because I felt her reasons, that you were not interested in, might actually help.”
“Did they?”
“I think so. Here, look.”
Dave’s laptop screen was running a program that had created a kind of flow chart. At the top were five separate start points. Jay’s release, Stella’s last sighting, Miranda’s last sighting, the beginning of Carmichael’s correspondence, and Mr. Haraby’s order to his men to bring his daughter home. Jay let his eyes move down the lines and felt ice pour into his chest as they slowly joined together. Everything seemed to be working too neatly, too perfectly in tandem.
Ruby had to be right. They were being steered. Jay glanced toward his own laptop then back at Dave. Maybe he should cut the man loose. He didn’t want to drag anyone into some kind of feud, let alone an overeager acquaintance.
“I might be wrong,” Dave said, catching the glance, “but that seems too tidy. Do you have any enemies?”
Jay stared at him for a long moment and then burst out laughing. “And here I was worrying about how to tell you that this might not be random.”
Dave tilted his head to the side. “Random? I never even considered that it could be.”
Jay perked up. He supposed if he thought about it, he wouldn’t have accepted ‘random’ as an answer either, but he’d just hoped that Stella was not in line to be hurt. Now he had no other way to see it.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she was only taken after exactly enough information was left to lead you here,” he waved a hand towards the antique box, “where another clue was waiting.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”
Jay turned back to look at Dave then shook his head. “If my sources are correct, then it will be a wasted trip anyway. Mr. Haraby will have already left. Stay here, finish that flow chart of yours. I have written down the rest of my moves since Shreveport and before you caught up with me. See if there are any other correlations.”
Dave was still wearing a frown but nodded. “I will, but what if Mr. Haraby is still at the hotel?”
Jay gave him a humorless smile. “Then your presence would only give him someone else to target. I have known Stella for many years, and her father has disliked me for every single one of those. I am used to it.”
Dave chuckled. “Well, good luck then.”
Jay left the inn and headed through the darkening streets of Salisbury, planning his method for tackling Gregory Haraby. He knew the man hated him and that his confrontation with him had only made things worse, but he still had to try. Something spiky had been clawing at his chest since his talk with Ruby, since she had left him no alternative but to believe that it was all linked to him. His hands curled into fists as he tried to pinpoint his enemies back again over his life. The problem was that that list was far too long to be useful.
His head snapped up as the sounds of sirens blaring grew louder and several firetrucks flew past, swiftly followed by the police and a handful of ambulances.
Jay stood there a moment, unable to decide, then took out his phone.
“Dave, there seems to have been some problem in the direction of the estate. See if you can find the source. I’ll meet you back at the inn within an hour.”
Jay entered the hotel’s foyer and moved straight to the counter where the staff were whispering. He caught the words ‘conspiracy’ and ‘bomb’, but then they spotted him and swiftly pasted on friendly smiles. Jay glanced over them swiftly and picked out the lean, bespectacled man as the higher ranking.
“I’m looking to send a message to Mr. Gregory Haraby,” Jay requested, with a tone that, while friendly, clearly displayed the fact that he was used to getting his way.
“And you are?” he asked, clicking something on his computer screen, his false smile barely hanging on.
“Jayden Roe,” he answered. “But please, give my message first and my name last.”
The man pushed his glasses back up and then spoke with unconcealed, malicious pleasure. “I’m afraid Mr. Haraby checked out about an hour ago so I cannot deliver your message.”
Jayden bit back a curse and instead nodded his thanks. So Ruby was right. Mr. Haraby had left for Washington already. He drew in a deep breath. If whoever had Stella had not killed her yet, then they likely wanted to use her for something. Which meant he perhaps had a little time to figure out what they wanted from him.
He heard the woman behind the counter swear suddenly and looked up. Both her colleagues are now leaning over her shoulders for a look at her phone.
“Jesus,” exclaimed the bespectacled man. “Do you think it is terrorists?”
They all exchanged grim looks. They straightened up when they realized Jay had come closer and was looking at the screen too.
“Can I help with something else?” he asked annoyingly.
Jay seemed to be lost in thought for a second. “Yes. Forget my name. Forget I was ever here.”
He turned on his heel and left. He hoped Dave had been smart enough to stay out of the way once he realized what was going on. Jay raced back toward the inn, the images from the news broadcast flashing through his mind. The great estate of Miranda Williams was an inferno. From the bit of the report he had seen, there were thought to still be people inside the smoldering house.
He burst through the door and nearly sagged in relief when he spotted Dave. The other man seemed to have shared the same thoughts and let out an audible sigh.
“What happened?” they asked together.
Jay half smiled. “Surely you can guess?”
Dave gave the same half-smile. “Given how quickly you returned, Mr. Haraby has already left.”
Jay nodded, then asked after a pause. “And on your side?”
“Can’t you guess?” Dave asked.
Jay smothered a laugh. “I know only that her house is on fire. The rapid spread of the fire makes me think it was intentional rather than accidental. So you decided not to linger in case the arsonist was still around?”
Dave tilted his head to the side. “Mostly right, though as you are missing crucial information, I won’t fault you for it.”
Jay shook his head and spotted the case at Dave’s feet. “Wait. Are you leaving?”
“Yes,” Dave replied, but seemed to realize that they weren’t on the same page. “I mean, aren’t we both leaving?”
Jay’s brows furrowed. “I need to know more about the fire. I mean, an attack so soon after our visit hardly seems coincidental.”
Dave watched him for a long moment. “It isn’t coincidental. It also wasn’t just Ms. Williams’ house that went up in flames.”
Jay took in the somber look on the other man’s face and made the leap unassisted. “The Bronze Rose?”
Dave’s lips twitched as if he wanted to smile at Jay’s keen mind. “Went up just after the house. The latest,” he told Jay, pointing at the television. “Is that eight other private residences have all gone up the same way.”
Jay looked at the muted television, where helicopter footage was now showing a Salisbury on fire. He saw Dave move from the corner of his eye, reaching for the laptop that was on and open on his bed. He knew the man was likely about to present his findings thus far, but they were hardly necessary. Even from the choppy footage on the TV, he could tell that the houses attacked were all in the same neighborhood, a stone’s throw from the antique store that was also on fire.
“Have there been any casualties?” he asked as Dave looked ready to speak.
Dave sighed. “Figured it out already?”
Jay felt his face harden. “Enough of our usual back and forth, Dave. I need to know how many of the people we spoke to are dead.”
Dave held out his laptop. “I have found and verified the addresses with the women I met with. They all match. As for deaths, the news has made no updates yet, but there is speculation that at least some of the houses were occupied.”
Jay ran a hand over his hair, feeling a lash of guilt. If this was truly all aimed at him, he wished his enemy would hone their aim a little better.
“Any other fires elsewhere in the city?” he asked, his mind flashing to Ruby and Frank.
Dave was watching him closely. “Not that I am aware of. Are you going to tell me where you went earlier today.”
“Irrelevant,” Jay breathed. “I understand that this might have rattled you, but we can’t leave before—”
“There’s one more thing you need to know,” Dave interrupted. His fingers flickered over a few keys and a new page opened up. “This is the CCTV footage that the police released about seven minutes ago.”
Jay looked at the grainy images. Two showed a person, dressed head-to-toe in black, running away from the neighborhood now in flames. The last was time stamped about an hour before the first two. It seemed to show the same figure, but lacking their gloves and head covering, with their back to the camera, so there was no real chance of an ID. They were bending close to the passenger window of a cab. Just visible through the gap was a hand with a chunky, Celtic-style ring.
Jay felt his stomach bottom out. He looked back to Dave and saw that the man didn’t need his help to recognize the ring.
“You see? We need to get out of here now before Mr. Haraby sends that thug after us, too.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jay nodded and started to pack his belongings. He needed to try and send a message through to Ruby or Frank. They might not see Stella’s fa
ther as a threat. He moved toward the box he had taken from The Bronze Rose and stopped. This didn’t make sense. He turned back to Dave and saw a small stain of blood soaking into his shirt on his left side.
“What happened?”
The question came out sharper than intended. The other man recoiled away from him, but he huffed a small laugh.
“Nothing really. I was near the Rose when it went up in flames. Don’t think I have ever run so fast in my life. I thought I saw that red-haired woman again and ducked through a fence. Got scratched.”
Jay felt all his muscles lock, but endeavored to keep his face and voice clear. “You saw her near the fires?”
“No, a few blocks away. I can’t even be sure it was her. You seem very interested in her. Is there—”
“This wasn’t Mr. Haraby,” Jay cut him off and changed the subject.
He saw Dave’s certainty that he was keeping him in the dark deliberately, then Dave sat on the bed.
“Why? Because you don’t think he’d kidnap his own daughter? He wouldn’t be the first, you know.”
Jay sighed and ran a hand over his hair. It wasn’t exactly that he didn’t think Mr. Haraby would stoop so low, it was more that he didn’t see how the man would have bothered with all the other stuff. The anonymous messages, the fact that it seemed Jay’s movements and Stella’s were all tracked with care to line up perfectly. Why would he care who Jay and Dave had been speaking to?
He looked up and saw that Dave was still waiting for an answer. His fearful dash through the city seemed to have taken a toll on him even if he didn’t seem outwardly concerned with his injury.
Jay managed a small smile. “I understand that this is getting more dangerous than perhaps you thought it would. I will ensure you get back to your old life safely if that is what you want.”
“You want me to leave?” He stood and shook his head. “Look, Jay, you’re right. This isn’t exactly how I had imagined things. For one, you’re a lot nicer than the papers make you out to be. But I can’t escape this now, and you know it as well as I do.”
Jay bit his tongue. Dave was right. There was no escaping the fact that this was personal now, which meant that Dave would likely be targeted no matter if he left or stayed.
Jayden Roe Mystery 02-The Final Lie Page 8
