Strangers

by Crystal V. Rhodes

  Whatever Heflin’s plans might have been if the kidnapping had been successful were now irrelevant. James was here to see to it that his time at Tech Play would be brief.

  CHAPTER 28

  James had barely clocked out of his first day on the job before Sin called to get an update. He wanted to meet with James at a restaurant in downtown Carmel. James agreed.

  The restaurant in which they were to meet was located in a courtyard off of Ocean Avenue. Being in that area again reminded him of Dana and what had caused the rift between them. Last night he had stopped himself a dozen times from picking up his telephone and calling her—but, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t trust her. That bridge was a long one to cross.

  Sin was waiting for him at a table on the patio of the restaurant. He was anxious to learn about what had happened at Tech Play. Over dinner James filled him in.

  “So Heflin just happened to be on vacation during the same time that our girls were snatched,” Sin said eagerly.

  “More than likely he went to L.A. to pick up the money at the drop.”

  “Spencer didn’t take a vacation because on the day the drop was to be made, he showed up for work to patrol our neighborhood. He was at work on the day of the kidnapping too.”

  Andy Vegas hadn’t been at work on either day. Like Heflin, he had been on vacation during that time. After the girls identified him, and the authorities verified that he was employed in the same building in which Dana’s office was located, his fate was more or less sealed. If the unconscious man ever awakened from his coma he would find himself in need of an attorney.

  “So Vega left the girls alone in that house, and went back and forth to check on them,” James mulled over the scenario. “He must have been checking in with either Heflin or Spencer to see how things were going.”

  “Not well,” Sin was glad to say, especially since it was his daughter who had spoiled their little party. “What’s next?”

  “I’ll turn Heflin’s name and the information gathered over to Agent Conway. I think that there’s enough to hang him.”

  Sin nodded in agreement. Starr and he both knew that there was a fine line between impeding the investigation and assisting with it.

  “When I go back tomorrow, I’ll see if I can get anything more on him. I should be able to wrap this up shortly.”

  “No argument there. It’ll be interesting to see what Jack Spencer will have to say when he hears Heflin’s name.”

  Jack Spencer had claimed not to know Andy Vegas, although it had been confirmed that they had both attended the same high school in Los Angeles. Brandon’s research hadn’t turned up a connection between Heflin, Vega and Spencer.

  Sin’s cell phone vibrated. He looked at caller I.D. and then glanced up at James.

  “I’ll get it later.” He started to put the phone back in his pocket. James stayed his hand.

  “From the way you just looked at me I can guess that the call is from Dana. It’s all right, answer it. She deserves to know what’s happening.”

  “Okay.” Sin greeted her. “How’s it going?”

  Dana had been anxious all day. She had taken a flight back to Los Angeles that morning and had gone straight to her new condo, which she hadn’t stepped foot into for nearly a month.

  Boxes were everywhere. Her bed had remained unmade since the day the girls had been kidnapped. There was barely any food in her refrigerator, and there was only one bottle of water to drink.

  When she walked into the spacious living room with its towering ceilings, the place smelled stale and uninviting. The curtains were drawn and the interior looked dreary, but she didn’t care. Instead of opening the blinds to let in the sunshine, she had tossed her travel bag and purse on the floor, dragged herself to the bedroom and crawled into bed.

  “That’s what caring about someone will do for you,” she had lamented as she pulled the cover over her head. She had been depressed, but she vowed to herself that she would not stay that way.

  After a luxurious bubble bath she felt better. Donning the sexy new underwear that she had bought in Carmel, she covered it with a new dress that she had also purchased and then slipped into a pair of shoes that she had never worn. Later, feeling like a new woman, she had strutted into her office with the confidence of a queen.

  The rest of the day had been spent catching up on work and fending off media calls that were still coming. It had been those inquiries that wouldn’t let her forget what was happening with James. Despite her efforts to ignore the feeling of disquiet that had consumed her, she had finally succumbed to her curiosity and had called Sin.

  “It’s going fine,” she replied to his query. Dispensing with further small talk, she got straight to the point. “What happened with James and Heflin today?”

  She listened intently as Sin recounted what James had told him, emphasizing the fact that contacting the FBI would be their next step.

  “That sounds like a good idea,” she agreed. “So does James think that Heflin is the one who beat Vega so badly?”

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?”

  James jumped unexpectedly as Sin thrust his cell phone in his hand. Excusing himself to go to the men’s room, he was gone before James could utter a protest.

  Dana’s mouth went dry at this unexpected development. She would murder Sinclair Reasoner when she saw him again. She had no idea he was with James.

  Taking a deep breath to steady her emotions, Dana reasoned that this really wasn’t a big deal. James and she weren’t adversaries. He did work for her family.

  “Hello, James.” Her tone was crisp and professional. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine, Dana.” He was professional too.

  “I have a question for you.” She proceeded to ask him the same one that she had asked Sin.

  “I can only assume that it was Heflin,” he answered. “If he didn’t want Vega to talk then he had a motive, but the question about that would be why he didn’t just kill him.”

  “Maybe they just quarreled about something and had a fight,” Dana suggested.

  “What we saw was more than a simple fight. Whatever the case, Heflin is probably on pins and needles hoping that Spencer won’t talk.”

  If they had been on good terms, he might have asked her what she thought about his theories. He valued her opinion and he enjoyed the lively discussions that they used to have. Instead, there was an empty silence full of spaces that needed to be filled. They weren’t.

  “Thank you,” Dana finally responded. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  His manner was just as cool as hers over the telephone. If that’s the way he wanted it, that’s the way it would be.

  The goodbyes were said. The call was disconnected as the gulf between them widened.

  ****

  “How close do you think he is to wrapping this thing up?” Bev, asked her sister as she and Ray sat on the upper deck of their houseboat talking to her on speaker phone. Dana had called to update them on the investigation. As he had done, she gave no specifics.

  “It’s going well,” she informed them. “James has a solid lead on a suspect and he’s working on it now. Hopefully, everybody who was involved in the kidnapping will be in custody soon.”

  “Have you called Darnell and Thad and told them?” asked Bev.

  “Yes I did, but I got voice mail. I told them to call me back.”

  “Has James had any word on how that man in the hospital is doing?” Ray hadn’t been able to get the sight of his battered body out of his mind.

  “He’s still in critical condition. They say he’ll probably be a vegetable if he ever wakes up.”

  Ray tuned out the rest of the conversation as he recalled that day at the house in Los Angeles. It wasn’t only the brutality of the beating that bothered him, but he kept remembering the stranger who drove past while he was sitting in the car waiting for the others.

  The moment their eyes connected had been so brief it should have been
forgotten, but there was something about the moment that haunted him. It was those eyes that he couldn’t forget. There was something about them, and he didn’t know what it was.

  CHAPTER 29

  Three days had passed since Dana had spoken to James regarding Heflin, and those days had been excruciating. She hadn’t wanted to miss him, but she did. She didn’t want to worry about him and the work he was doing in Carmel, but she did.

  After the stunt that Sin had pulled putting James on the phone, Dana was upset with him and wasn’t sure if she would speak to him again, even though she knew that eventually she would. As for her sister, she didn’t want Bev to know that James and she had had a tiff. That would only lead to a lecture from her about Dana’s dysfunctional love life and she didn’t want to hear it.

  Dana avoided talking to Ray as well. He would mention any concern that she might have about James to Bev, which would prompt a call to Dana to find out what was going on. It seemed that she just couldn’t win!

  Darnell was a constant source of information. Like her brother, the capture of the abductors had become an obsession. However, when the phone rang and Dana found her niece was on the other end, Darnell was preoccupied with another matter.

  “Thad’s not sure we’ll be able to move back home to Carmel when this is over,” she told her aunt. “He said that after all of this we may never be able to get any peace.”

  “But I told him we’re going home come hell or high water.”

  Dana could understand how she felt. The celebrity couple lived such an idyllic life on the quiet cul de sac in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Far from the Hollywood life style, they loved it there.

  Presently, they were winding up a visit with her husband’s parents in Michigan as they dodged the media and hid from the paparazzi. A single photo of their little family could earn a photographer a year’s income. With that at stake, Thad might be right. It could take some time for their lives to get back to normal. Despite that, Dana tried to be encouraging.

  “Home is wherever you, Thad and Nia make it,” she assured her.” The bond between you and Thad is strong and I know that you’ll weather this storm no matter where you are.”

  There was a pause on the line, which meant that Darnell was thinking, which wasn’t always a good thing. Then came “You know something, Auntie, you’re right! We’re coming back home come hell or high water!” The sound of her laughter was melodious. “Listen to you. You’re beginning to wax poetic since you met James Starr.”

  Dana became instantly defensive. “What do you mean by that?”

  Did her niece know what was happening between James and her? Had somebody talked? More than likely it had been Sin. There was entirely too much communication in this family.

  Darnell dismissed her reaction. “It was just a comment. I spoke to James yesterday and he said that things were coming along smoothly with his investigation of that Heflin guy.”

  “Oh really?” Dana tried not to sound too interested, but couldn’t quite pull it off.

  “Yes, really.” There was a tinge of amusement in her tone.

  “I assume that part of your conversation happened to include my personal life.”

  “Uh, no it didn’t.” Plain spoken as always, Darnell gave an indulgent sigh. “Aunt Dana, if there’s something between you and James Starr, I wish you well. But to be honest with you, right now my priority in life has nothing to do with your love life.”

  She went on to inform Dana that the FBI would be taking Helfin in as a person of interest the next day.

  “And I got that first hand, from Agent Conway,” she finished. “After Heflin has been brought in, Carla will continue to handle the media. We’ll issue another statement through her thanking everyone who assisted in the capture. Of course Webb Starr will be given special credit.”

  Dana was pleased by that news. After this case was solved, James’ company would be in high demand.

  “When the news breaks about the arrest, the media will probably start hounding you again,” Darnell warned. “Are you going to stay in L.A.?”

  “Yes, I can take it. I’ll direct all questions to our spokesperson.”

  “Well, if you need a break, our house in Carmel is always available, although I’m not quite sure that it’s much more of a refuge anymore. We’re winding up our vacation with Thad’s parents and heading back to Stillwaters for a while. We won’t be around when things heat up again.” Hopefully, it won’t take too long for this whole thing to settle down.”

  “I hope not, and thanks for the invitation to Carmel.”

  Dana knew that she probably wouldn’t be going to the Peninsula as long as James was there, but it was nice of Darnell to offer. It was also good to find out that James remained safe on his assignment.

  ****

  “I want to be there when they bring Heflin out,” Sinclair Reasoner told James as they strolled along the beach.

  After his stint at his pretend job, James had stopped by the cul de sac to dispense some paperwork to his employees on duty. Sin had been headed to the beach for a walk and had invited him to come along.

  James’ undercover stint was about up. The .FBI was ready to apprehend Heflin. His impatient employer wanted to know exactly when.

  “They say they’re going in, but you know that they have their own timetable and way of doing things. I don’t know exactly when they’ll make their move.”

  “Well, I’ll park nearby and wait.”

  “Man!” James groaned in exasperation. Sin Reasoner could really be obstinate. He reminded him of—

  James shook his head, forcing all thoughts of Dana out of his mind. It had been a long time since any woman had occupied his thoughts so completely.

  “Starr! Starr?”

  James snapped out of his daydreaming. “Uh, sorry. What did you say?”

  “I asked if you were going back in tomorrow, but it looks like your mind was a million miles away.”

  “Yes, I’m going back. I want to be there when everything goes down.”

  They continued walking along the water’s edge. The rhythm of the tide proved soothing for both men. Over the past few weeks they had been through a lot together, but it looked as though their common goal might finally be achieved.

  James was relieved. Although he was reluctant to admit it, he had been under tremendous pressure and wasn’t sure how much longer he could have kept up the pace. His attempt to come to terms with Nate’s death was still overwhelming, as was the responsibility of carrying on a growing business without him. Then there was this thing between him and Dana.

  He had to admit that everything in his life had changed dramatically for the better from the moment he walked into her office. In a short span of time he had experienced emotions that he hadn’t been sure he could feel again for a woman. If that wasn’t unexpected enough, another change had occurred that he once would have deemed impossible—he had come to like Sinclair Reasoner.

  “Has it ever crossed your mind how strange this is? Here we are two ex-gang members who once vowed to kill each other on sight, strolling peacefully along a California beach.

  Sin chuckled. “Yes, it crossed my mind. But believe me, I’m a living witness to the fact that stranger things have happened. You’d never believe some of the crazy twists and turns that my life has taken. I might share them with you sometime.” He stooped to pick up a piece of drift wood and flung it into the ocean. “But my wife, the Preacher Lady, says there is a divine plan for everything.”

  “Hmmm,” James wondered. He wasn’t a religious man, but his own life had gone in some strange directions as well. “Do you believe that?”

  “I’ve fought the idea of divine anything for years; but after some of the experiences I’ve had while I’ve been with her, I can’t totally discount it.”

  James started to disagree but then stopped himself. After some of the recent good things that had happened in his own life, he couldn’t either.

  ****

  “Damn it!” Hardma
n was frustrated. What was happening? He had practically hand delivered Heflin to that guy named Starr in Tiburon and the prick hadn’t been picked up yet! What kind of private investigator was Starr?

  Hardman paced the room restlessly. He wanted to know what was going on, but didn’t dare risk another trip to the Peninsula. Sinclair knew what he looked like and he wasn’t sure how he could explain or handle running into him again.

  His son was smart, and Hardman had no doubt that he would become suspicious of a stranger popping up so often. It was difficult, but he would have to be patient.

  Hardman decided to wait another day or two to see what would happen. If Heflin wasn’t arrested by then, he vowed to save the state of California the expense of holding a trial.

  CHAPTER 30

  “You didn’t have to pick me up,” Dana insisted as she and Sin drove out of the airport terminal headed for Darnell and Thad’s house. She had been surprised to see him when she exited the terminal.

  “Well, I figured I didn’t have anything else to do, and Darnell told me what time you were landing. I told Bev I’d come and get you.”

  Dana wanted to kick herself for having come to the Peninsula. Ray had flown to L.A. on business and Bev had made plans to go to Carmel for the weekend for some down time. She had called and implored her sister to meet her there.

  “We can spend some time alone,” she had added as an incentive. “We haven’t done that in such a long time. I’m staying at Darnell’s house, and we won’t even have to go out. We can just lie around and enjoy each other’s company.”

  Dana tried to persuade her to substitute Carmel-by-the-Sea with Santa Barbara, but Bev didn’t’ want to drive that far. Dana didn’t want to tell her that as long as James was on the Peninsula she wasn’t going to be caught dead in the area. She didn’t want to bump into him.