Mistake Me Not

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ she said watching the men clear out.

  Her purse had been on the floor next to her bed but it was gone now, she had to get some clothes on and tell the police what was going on. The trouble with that was that she didn’t know herself.

  Talking to the police had taken more than a while. First, she did a quick check of what was missing, and that turned out to be anything of value, her underwear, and her purse with all of her personal things in it. The police had then taken her down to the station to give her statement. Repeatedly they’d asked her whom they could phone for her but she couldn’t tell her aunt about this, she’d only panic. Sorcha would be worse, and she didn’t have Ryder’s number.

  Once they’d put the details through the sun was up, but she didn’t know what to do. The cop in charge Detective Deacon had loaned her a twenty – he’d tried to give her more but she refused. Normally she’d go straight to Aunt Elise and from there she could phone Sorcha. Except Ryder was likely to try and find her today, and she wouldn’t be able to phone him from Elise’s because she didn’t have the number. Lacie used the phonebook at the front of the police station and found StoneWall. Except the only number they had was going to a business voicemail and she didn’t want to leave a message. She tried it three times leaving at least ten minutes between each attempt in case someone was on the line.

  The clock read fifteen minutes to seven, and she knew it was unlikely that a receptionist would be in at this time. Knowing there was little else for it, and little else on her day’s schedule she scribbled the address onto the back of the business card Deacon had given her, and got in a taxi.

  The twenty was done by the time the driver stopped at the two storey white building set back from the pavement. Grass surrounded the building, and a high white brick wall swept the perimeter. The building itself was on a hill which allowed her to see it, and it to see her, but she couldn’t see what was beyond.

  A single metal gate covered the only gap in the wall, and right beside it was a button attached to an intercom. Chances were if there was no one there to answer the phone there would be no one to answer the buzzer either. This wasn’t a commercial area though she knew there were a couple of industrial estates around here. This area was almost all woodland, or grass, and there was a lake too because her aunt lived only a half a dozen miles from here and they often walked around the lake for some evening exercise.

  Lacie realised coming all this way and not attempting to get in would be ridiculous but the whole set up was intimidating, and nothing anywhere actually told her that this was StoneWall, and if it was then she’d made a major miscalculation. Ryder played with the big boys, and Shep would barely ping on his radar... and she’d once wondered if their offices were alike.

  Moistening her lips she pressed the buzzer but there was no response. She waited and pressed it again, still there was nothing. She’d happily walk six miles under normal circumstances but she’d stuck her feet in leather boots without socks because she didn’t seem to have any socks left either. The boots were a triumph when they’d found them because most of her shoes were trashed too, and she’d almost ended up in flip-flops. The men had damaged her shoes, her clothes, her soft furnishings; these men were full of gusto if lacking in acumen... none of them had thought to look for her in any places other than the obvious. But, she wouldn’t razz them for their ignorance, it had inadvertently saved her life.

  She pressed the buzzer one more time and bent to take her boots off. If she had to she’d cut across the grass at the far end of the street. She’d rather walk over grass in bare feet than on concrete in shoes that rubbed.

  ‘Do you know what time it is lady?’

  Lacie stood bolt upright. The voice had come unexpectedly, and from nowhere. Then she remembered the intercom. The guy on the end had the gall to sound annoyed after the night she’d had.

  Stabbing the button with her index finger, she leaned in close. ‘You bet your ass I know exactly what time it is. If this wasn’t an emergency do you think I would be at your property at this time voluntarily? Do you think I go around pressing security buzzers on abandoned streets at the crack of dawn for kicks?’

  A loud scrapping buzz above her threw her off guard but recognising it for what most buzzers did she gave the gate a shove, and it opened. Inside the gate, the property still gave nothing away. Grass. White brick, large wrap around porch, a huge black front door after five stone stairs up to the porch. The path she was on was a white shingle, and she’d just taken her boots off so she skipped over it to the grass and carried on up to the house. She didn’t know if she should knock, or just walk in but the question was answered when she got to the top of the stairs because the door was already opened a few inches.

  ‘I like her!’ a male voice exclaimed.

  ‘Where does, “I like her” fit in with your security training.’

  ‘She shouted at him, he’s a masochist.’

  Pushing the door, she peered around it to see a space the full width of the house with a solid wall at the back with only one door. Each end of the room was glazed floor to ceiling. A pool table stood at one end, while at the other there was plush white leather seating around mini kitchen that had a table in the centre.

  In between these extremes was a high white desk with a hutch over it. Three men stood around two on one side, with one on the other. All of them stopped talking to look at her, and all of them wore scowls – the good-natured conversation of a few seconds before was forgotten.

  They were huge all of them, all over six feet, all in peak condition, one blonde, and two dark and they could kill her with their bare hands, of that she had no doubt... and that excluded consideration of the guns all of them were clearly packing.

  ‘I don’t know if I’m in the right place,’ she said keeping her place just inside the open door – she’d learned her lessons about cutting off her exits, and these men were far more capable than those who had lured her before. These guys wouldn’t play with her first it would be over before she got the chance to breathe.

  ‘You’re not,’ one of them said.

  ‘Who gave you the black eye?’ the second asked hooking his elbows on the hutch that was now behind him.

  ‘None of your business,’ she said. The bruises were fading, and so much had happened she’d forgotten they were there – though the police had asked her too.

  ‘What’s with the shoes?’ the first asked nodding to the boots she had in her hand.

  ‘That’s none of your business either,’ she said.

  ‘No one gets in here without an appointment,’ the third – who stood behind the desk – said.

  ‘Funny, because I’m standing right here,’ she said.

  Each of their harsh expressions changed with her sass; usually she wasn’t this bad. But it had been a hell of a week.

  ‘Sweetheart, if you’re looking for—‘

  ‘I’m not your sweetheart,’ she snapped. ‘What is it with men? Why do you do that? Do you think you can just pat me on the head and send me on my way? Do you think I want to be here? Do you honestly think in a million years that I would be here right now, like this, through choice?’

  ‘So what is it we can do for you?’ the second one asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ the first one said. ‘No one gets in without an appointment. I don’t care how cute you are, or how in need you are. Our business is through referrals only.’

  ‘At least I know I’m in the right place,’ she said dropping her boots to the floor and shutting the door behind herself. ‘Do you have coffee over there?’ she asked pointing to the kitchen.

  ‘You can’t just walk in here and—‘

  ‘Watch me,’ she said crossing to the kitchen.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ one of them asked the others.

  ‘If she’s a terrorist I’d love to see where she’s packing the bomb.’

  ‘I’m not even wearing underwear,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘I think I’d have prioritised
that over C-4, don’t you?’

  ‘Is this a drill?’ they said to each other.

  ‘Usually people leave when we tell them to.’

  ‘Are you taking the mick out of me for last week with that librarian? Is this a hazing?’ another of them said.

  This conversation carried on as she saw that there was coffee already percolating. Almost squealing with delight, she started to hunt for mugs.

  ‘Should I throw her out?’

  ‘Call the boss.’

  ‘Don’t do that,’ another jumped in. ‘She’s not going to do any damage here is she? There’s three of us.’

  ‘Learn nothing from the librarian about underestimating your opponent?’

  Lacie crouched and found the mugs under the counter, on the shelf below that there was a bag of ready-made pancakes.

  ‘See,’ she murmured to herself and opened the bag.

  A door opened, and there were more voices but she stuck to trying to fish out the pancake.

  ‘What’s the matter with you three?’ another male voice.

  ‘Uh... well...’

  ‘What?’

  ‘There’s something of a... situation.’

  ‘I am not a situation,’ she said, straightening her legs to bring herself to height, and tore off a piece of the pancake.

  New in the room from the only door on the back wall were three men... one of them she recognised.

  ‘Pancakes,’ she said holding up the piece she’d torn off. ‘What did I tell you? Everywhere.’

  ‘They’ve probably been in there a while,’ Ryder said separating himself from the group. ‘Come up to the house and I’ll cook you something.’

  ‘The house,’ one of the men behind him stuttered.

  ‘Can’t,’ she said pouring coffee into the mug she’d found.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I don’t have an appointment.’

  Ryder stopped to look back at his men. ‘You wouldn’t let her in?’

  ‘Didn’t make an ounce of difference,’ the first one said. ‘She made herself at home anyway.’

  ‘She’s not wearing any underwear,’ the third and visibly youngest member said.

  ‘Just how do you know that?’ Ryder growled.

  ‘She told us,’ he stuttered out not wanting to face Ryder’s wrath – not that she blamed him.

  Swallowing down the pancake, she took a mouthful of the scorching liquid then hummed at the heat that cascaded through her. ‘Does anyone have the time?’ she asked putting the mug aside and laying the pancake beside it.

  All of the men except Ryder looked at their watches. ‘Seven twenty-seven,’ they all said though in slightly different timing to each other.

  ‘How adorable is that,’ Lacie said brushing her hands together to rid them of crumbs. ‘I have to go.’

  ‘Go,’ Ryder said. ‘You came here just to leave again?’

  ‘Something like that,’ she said resting her hands on his chest when he wrapped her in his arms. ‘I wanted to let you know that I wasn’t going to call.’

  ‘You didn’t call,’ he said. ‘I know because I was waiting for it.’

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘That’s a different story. I’m sorry. I have to go to Elise’s, and then I have to speak to Sorcha. I’ll probably be at the twelve o’clock, but I’m waiting for the police to get back to me.’

  ‘The police?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘They’ll let me know when I can go back into my place.’

  His expression hardened. ‘Do you want to go back to the beginning?’

  The truth was she didn’t because she knew he would overreact... but then maybe it wasn’t overreacting. He couldn’t do anything to change what had happened. But she couldn’t hide the truth from him, not when he could be in danger too.

  ‘They came,’ she said. ‘They came to my place... they were looking for me.’

  The clarity turned his body to stone. ‘They were in your place?’ he growled. The depth of his voice rumbled from his chest to hers. This was a man beyond angry, the coil tightened and she wasn’t sure she’d want to be around when it wound too tight. ‘Did they touch you?’

  ‘No,’ she said smoothing her hands over his newly shaven face. ‘No they broke in. I was in bed I... They trashed the place... I got downstairs, and they didn’t look hard enough thankfully.’

  ‘You’re sure it was them?’ he asked.

  His embrace had tightened with each second since she’d revealed events. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He was... he was shouting, taunting me, before they decided I wasn’t there.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ she said and tried to back off but she sprung back against his chest.

  ‘You’re going to tell me everything.’

  ‘I have to go to Elise. I have to go to Sorcha.’

  ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘Are they in danger?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I can’t stay at my place and I’d rather stay with Elise than with Sorcha, and I’m not sure if Sorcha’s at her place right now because she’s avoiding her family.’

  ‘You’re not leaving here,’ he said. ‘You’re going nowhere until this is over.’

  ‘I didn’t come here to ask you to look after me,’ she said. ‘They took my purse so I don’t have my phone, or your number. I don’t have any money either, so if you could lend me cab fare.’

  ‘Come here,’ he said taking her hand and leading her toward the back wall door.

  The men parted for Ryder and her in his wake. He took her through the door, which led to a hall with a set of stairs running up one side. The other side had several doors. They didn’t go up the stairs. Instead he took her to a door near the foot of the stairs, which revealed a downward staircase. They descended to a space with three doors, he took the first one and they entered a lounge with a big soft leather couch and recess lighting. Ryder sat on the couch and pulled her into his arms covering her mouth with his own. She hadn’t had a chance to breathe but the shock quickly ebbed to the comfort of his kiss. That enveloping security coiled around her and the prickle on the back of her neck eased. The tension and awareness that had plagued her like paranoia all morning departed. Her toes stretched, and her curled fingers held his body to hers. Pulling on him she lay herself back trying to bring him with her. But they only got to forty-five degrees when he took his mouth away. He kept her close, stayed above her, teasing her with what she’d almost had. The low lighting and dark colouring of the room made an artificial night – this was a room conducive to comfort, and to intimacy.

  ‘Do you have time to have sex with me right now?’ she asked uncurling her fingers from his tee-shirt to slide them up to the sides of his neck. His pulse beat against her palms and trickled its way down to her centre.

  ‘Yes,’ he said, the corner of his mouth twisting upward.

  ‘Here?’ she asked linking her fingers at the back of his neck.

  ‘We have the time,’ he said. ‘And we can do it wherever you want.’

  Except he sat up taking her with him, then he gave her a shove to the opposite end of the couch from where he sat.

  ‘We’re not touching,’ she said. ‘Is it possible to have—‘

  ‘I want you to tell me what happened,’ he said. ‘I want the details.’

  ‘I came here to tell you so that you wouldn’t panic if you came looking for me, or heard that the police had been to my address in the middle of the night. I didn’t have your number, and I was aware that you could be in danger too.’

  ‘Me?’ he said.

  ‘One of the things he said was that the boss didn’t want me out and about. I can only assume he was referring to the man who came in with Bruce who was unhappy with my presence,’ she said.

  ‘He probably wasn’t happy that when he returned we were gone. The question is how did they find you.’

  ‘Bruce,’ she said, and this brought his head up. ‘He said that Bruce told them.’

  ‘If Bruce told them
freely then they would have come to you straight away. He can’t have been keen to tell them. Still, when I get my hands on him—‘

  ‘That’s the father of my best friend’s baby,’ Lacie said sidling towards him.

  ‘Was Sorcha there?’ he asked landing a hand on her thigh.

  ‘No,’ Lacie said moving in closer to touch his shoulder, his neck, his back. ‘She left after midnight. I didn’t want to wake you up. I was going to phone you this morning but...’

  His hand slid from one thigh to the other and he pulled her legs against him. ‘You’re going to stay here,’ he said.

  ‘I don’t want to impose. Your friends don’t like me.’

  ‘My friends are also my employees, and they’ll like you just fine now they realise we’re together. We’re an insular group; we don’t let other people in. But, you’re part of the team now.’

  ‘I’m not part of the team just because I had sex with you.’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not. You’ve got blood in the game.’ He touched her face tracing her bruise. ‘I should never have left you alone last night.’

  ‘We had no idea this was going to happen. None of us could have foreseen this.’

  ‘I’ll be honest; I didn’t see this as a legitimate case until what happened in that place. What happened to you... We got out through a stroke of luck, and...’

  ‘You just supposed they were small time,’ she said and he nodded. ‘I did too. They didn’t look for me last night, not really. The men we met, those were the men there last night. None of them is the sharpest tool; they’re muscle, not brain.’

  ‘And certainly not trained,’ Ryder said. ‘Which means you’ll be safe here. I won’t take anything for granted. We’ll give you full clearance for the house, and—‘

  ‘Wait a minute,’ she said. ‘We... you have to be sure about this.’

  ‘I’m sure,’ he said. ‘If you stay with Elise, or with Sorcha they could be in danger. We can keep you safe here.’

  ‘I’ll tell Elise to go and stay with her sister for a couple of weeks. Bruce doesn’t know her but she’ll want to know what’s going on and I want to ensure her safety,’ Lacie said.