by D L Lane
A collective, “No, sir,” echoed.
“Good. This meeting is going to be short and sweet today, but before you all head out, I also want to mention there was a fire at Doctor Harding’s place last night.”
“Did you find out who set it?” Stanley asked.
“No.” Gage shook his head. “There was some footage of someone, dressed in black from head to toe, face obscured, who clearly put accelerant onto one of the trees on the Harding’s front lawn, struck a match, and set it ablaze. But that’s all we were able to see from the footage on the security system. Whoever it was, is tall. Slim.”
“Could you tell if it was a man or a woman, teen boy or girl?”
“My gut says an adult, but as to male or female, there just wasn’t a way to discern.” Taking a deep breath to keep his irritation from showing, Gage then rapped his knuckles on the wood in front of him. “That’s it for today. Watch your backs, and stay safe.”
“Chief,” Officer Stanley said, striding up.
Gage didn’t care for the man and expected him to go into a spiel about the Parker kids. He was one of ‘those’. Other than their darker skin matching that of their father’s, he didn’t have a reason to always think the worst of them.
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted to let you know I brought Wendell Gibbs in last night. I haven’t had time to do my nightly reports yet, but as I’m sure you can guess, he was drunk and disorderly, yelling outside of the bar about the alien invasion while stumbling around. He scared a few people during Trick or Treat Street, so I figured he needed to sleep it off, but he said something that makes me wonder now.”
“What was that?”
“He was yammering on and on with that crazy E.T. stuff, then started in a different direction, about someone watching, and I quote, ‘That pretty little blonde girl with the blonde babies’.” Stanley scrubbed his jaw with two fingers. “I just figured he was rambling, you know, three sheets to the wind and all, but with the whole fire thing… I don’t know. Maybe there was something to it?”
A ball of tension formed in Gage’s back. “I’ll go talk with him.”
Stanley nodded and started to go.
“Thanks for telling me, Officer.”
The man glanced back at him. “Sure, Chief.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Before
“What’s up with Mason and your sister?” J.J. asked after Danica slipped into the passenger’s seat of her car.
Putting the seatbelt on, she shook her head. “I have no idea. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she and Mase broke up, but she’s still wearing his rings.”
“Why did you leave him standing in front of your house?”
She sighed. “He came to see her, but she’s not home.”
“What is it? You have that look you get when you have more to say.”
“Something bad has happened between them, only Breck won’t talk about it.”
“Sounds like she’s related to you.”
Danica frowned over at her bestie. “She’s my sister. Of course, we’re related.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it, Danny, so stop being obtuse.”
“I'm not thick, J.J., so quit using that thesaurus of a brain on me.”
“Do you honestly believe I’m oblivious to the whole Gage thing? You’re messed up over him and have been for several months now.”
“Do we have to talk about him?”
“See. You’re just as closed-mouthed as Breckin.”
Danica shrugged.
“Okay, Danny. We won’t talk about the boy who crushed your heart.”
“Good. I don’t want to talk about Max.”
J.J. snorted. “Yeah, whatever.”
Glancing behind her, then down the street as Jillian pulled out of her drive, Danica said, “It’s all clear this way. You’re good to go.”
Once they were tootling down the street, J.J. turned the music on the radio up, but not in an overwhelming way. “Before we go do our nails, do you want to stop by Berta’s place and grab a milkshake to go? I’ve been dying for a large strawberry with whipped cream.”
“Sounds good.”
“Tomorrow is graduation. Are you guys doing something special to celebrate your sister’s big day?”
“I think Mason’s parents are throwing a party or something, so I guess we’ll go over there. At least, Breck hasn’t said she’s not going, so if she goes, we will too.”
“Don’t you think he’ll be there?”
She whipped her head toward her friend. “You mean, Gage?”
“I didn’t say his name, you did.” J.J. grinned, pleased with herself.
Danica rolled her eyes heavenward. “God, give me the strength.”
“Oh, knock it off with the dramatics before you win the best actress in a daytime drama.”
Tucking some hair behind her ear, Danica flipped the visor down to check her lip gloss in the little mirror. “He might be there. I don’t know.” I don’t know much of anything about him anymore.
“Well, speak of the devil and all that.”
Knocking the visor back in place, she glanced out the windshield, catching Gage helping Jenny out of his GTO, then he did something inside his car for a bit before he came back out with a baby carrier.
Immediately, she wrapped her arms around her midsection in a weak attempt to combat the pain, but it wasn’t any use. “Justin’s not my baby, Danny,” he’d said to her once, but it sure didn’t look like any of that mattered as the three of them walked inside The Snack Shack like one big happy family.
“Oh, Danny.” J.J. obviously caught the expression of complete and total desolation on her face.
And the thing was, she doubted she could have hidden it, no matter how hard she tried.
“I’m so sorry, girlfriend.”
Swiping a single tear that had escaped and rolled along the contour of her cheek, Danica whispered, “It’s not like he cheated on me, we were never a thing.” But, every single cell in her trembling body said Gage had cheated on her and was still doing it.
Placing a supportive hand over the top of hers, J.J’s gesture made Danica glance down—the light shining in the side window creating a slant of warmth along her knees.
“I know you’re hurting,’ her bestie said, “but I don’t know what to do to help you get over him.”
“There isn’t anything you can do, J.J.” Closing her eyes, Danica didn’t know if she would ever recover from what Gage Harrison did to her, because some wounds were just too deep to overcome.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Pacing from the formal living room to the dining room, to the kitchen and back, Danica was fit to be tied. It had taken her a while to get the twins down for the night, and she didn’t want to wake them with her frantic back and forth, so she’d closed their bedroom door, taking the baby monitor from her room and putting it in the kitchen, turning it up full volume.
She glanced at the clock—2:18 A.M.
Danica frowned. She’ been calling and calling, leaving message after message for Marcus, and it was getting late, but what concerned her so much? She hadn’t heard anything back from him at all. There were times, yes, it took a bit to get back to her, especially if he were performing surgery, but this, to hear nothing, was sending her to the edge of panic.
Having a tug-a-war with herself, she considered calling Gage, tell him she was uneasy about her husband’s complete lack of response, then she talked herself out of it, only to talk herself into calling. Back and forth she went, finally deciding she would give Marcus until 2:30 to either show up or call her, and if not, she was going to do something!
~
Gage was in the middle of one of his night terrors when ringing—Is it my cell phone?—roused him from the horrific scene. Rolling over in bed, he grabbed the little device from his side table, saw the number on the lit-up screen, and sat bolt upright.
“Danica? What’s going on?” The residue of his bad dr
eam dripped over into his present.
“Ga-Gage.” She was crying.
“What’s happened?” he asked, his bare feet hitting the hardwood floor.
“Marcus isn’t home, and I’ve tried calling him for hou-hours, but he-he’s never returned any of my calls. I cal-called the hospital in Seattle and the gir-girl who spoke to me must be ne-new or something ’cause—”
“Danica. Take a second and breathe for me.”
He heard her intake of breath.
“Okay. Slowly, tell me.”
“For a moment, she acted like she didn’t know who my husband was, but it is late, so there’s that too, but she finally told me he’s no longer there. When I asked her if she knew when Marcus left, she just said she didn’t know and to call back in the morning during regular office hours to speak with the chief of staff.” She sniffed.
Gage was putting his jeans on, one-handed. “Did you try calling his parents?”
“No, they are in Brazil, so they wouldn’t have a clue as to what is happening here.”
It was quiet.
“Danica?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I know something is wrong. Marcus might be gone a lot, but he never fails to call me back, and if he’s going to be late, he calls me. He hasn’t called.”
“I told you to get hold of me anytime you needed me, so you will never be a bother.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Her voice had gone small, almost child-like.
“I’ll call Mason and have Breck and him come over and stay with you.”
“I don’t want to wake them up.”
“I’m waking them, Danny.”
“Gage?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you try to check on him?” More sniffling.
“I’ll make some calls; then I’m heading out. Have you guys had any arguments lately?”
“Huh?”
“Fights. Have you had any?”
“We don’t really fight.”
He doubted that, but Gage wasn’t going to press the point. “So, there wouldn’t be a reason he might purposely stay away for a while?”
“No.”
“Does he have any colleagues he might go out with?”
“A couple. But one of them is on his honeymoon, and the other, I think he was taking a vacation. I remember Marcus saying something about it.”
“I’ll be over just as soon as I can. In the meantime, think of anyone Marcus might hang out with to blow off some steam, and write down their names and phone numbers if you have them.”
“Okay.”
“And, Danny?”
“Yes?”
“I’ll find Marcus.” And when I do, he better have an excellent reason for putting you through this, he thought, ticked. “I’ll see you in a few.”
“All right.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Before
“I heard he’s going to the University of Washington to be where Jenny’s at,” Pam said, her voice a low whisper as she spoke to J.J, but the words were loud enough to pierce Danica’s already hole-riddled heart. “It’s like an episode of As The World Turns around here with all that graduating class.”
Danica knew that was the truth. First, her sister took off to parts unknown without a single word, leaving Mason crushed, then her Mom and Dad got a call, which she wasn’t home for and missed, but was told Breck was in Paris of all places! Then, Jake and Maggie started seeing other people, and now Gage had changed his plans from attending WSU to the university in Seattle to be with her.
A sick roll of disgust traversed Danica’s spine, and she couldn’t even say that girl's name.
“Are you all right?” J.J. asked, pulling her back into the room, and a good thing too since she’d been far away.
“I’m fine.”
Her best friend eyed her. “Um-hm. And I have fairy wings and can fly.”
~
Standing by the swimming pool, glass of sparkling water in hand, people mingled all around him, and many stopped to talk. But for the first time, Gage felt utterly alone. Oh, he could lose himself in a crowd, but since Mason had taken off, Breckin was gone, and Danica had stopped speaking to him, he’d fallen into the depths of an ocean of sadness, and was going under. Yet he smiled and said all the appropriate things to the people who had come to this party his mother threw—his going away to college celebration.
Celebration? That was so funny it would hurt to laugh if he’d remembered how.
Even his inner voice sounded sarcastic.
Gage glanced around, hoping, though the chances were slim to none, he’d see her walk through that set of open French doors, but while he’d spent the last few hours in the same general area, Danica had never arrived.
“And she’s not going to,” he said, under his breath.
“Huh?” Phillip asked. “Did you say something?”
“Naw, man.”
~
Danica was up at the crack of dawn, dressed in whatever she’d grabbed, not worried if she matched or not, and had gone out the front door of her house, taking the keys to her mother’s car with her.
Honestly, she didn’t know what she was doing, other than she had to tell Gage goodbye at least since she never went to his going away party. It would hurt, and it may be the final blow, doing her in, but the thought of him leaving for college, and more than likely not seeing him for a long time, ate at her like a slow drip of acid and had kept her awake all night.
After getting into the hatchback, starting it up, and pulling out of her drive, she headed for the Harrison house, going too fast. One good thing, she wasn’t pulled over for speeding.
Dad would love that.
Danica made the final turn onto the street where Gage lived, slowing down, ready to pull through the wrought iron gates. She had the code and could get in. But when she arrived at her destination, those gates were standing wide open—the GTO usually parked in the circular drive wasn’t there.
Danica’s heart sank as tears threatened to fall, but she finished what she’d started and pulled the car through the gates, parking where Gage usually did. A second later, Mrs. Harrison came out the front door, gently dabbing a handkerchief at the corners of her eyes, and she knew, without doubt, she was too late.
Gage has already left.
Chapter Thirty-Five
He had been in Danica’s custom build home on Halloween; however, he’d been so focused on her and what he could see on her security feed, that Gage hadn’t bothered to pay any real attention to the place. But that was all different now. He was taking everything in with an expert eye as Breck hugged her sister, the two of them snuggled on the couch, while Mason walked into the living room with a tray of coffee cups.
He’d been asking Danica question after question, gaining some contact information on a couple of people he would be checking with, and he’d already put out a call to his officers, as well a call to the department in Seattle. They were quick calls, asking them to keep an eye out for the doctor and his silver Mercedes, giving them the number on his license plate.
“Danny,” he said, not wanting to disturb her quiet moment, but knowing he had to.
“Yes?”
“I need to see your husband’s office.”
“Why?”
“I might come across something that could help figure out where he might be.”
“Okay. I’ll show you.”
“You can just tell me where it’s at, and I’ll find it.”
Getting to her feet, she ran a palm along the curve of her hip. “It’s fine. I need to be doing something.”
“All right.”
With that, he followed her down a corridor, past a room that appeared to be a home gym, and then she opened a door and flipped on the light. “This is it.”
The space was immaculate, with a massive wall of bookshelves, a large mahogany desk positioned in front of that, a few leather club chairs, a putting green, and a big-screen TV.
Gage advanced far
ther into the room and continued his visual inspection. If he was correct, those were expensive one of a kind paintings from artists, both modern and classical hanging on the walls.
The room screamed, I’ve got money!
“Do you mind if I take a look at your husband’s computer?”
“No. Go ahead,” she said.
Walking around his desk and taking a seat, he powered up the laptop, then glanced at Danica. She was wandering around the space as if she were lost. “Do you know his password? The computer is locked.”
“I think it’s dannydawn#1. All lower-case letters.”
Gage typed it, and bingo, he was in!
Going to the calendar, he took a quick look through the entries but didn’t see anything that would stand out, only stopped when something strange caught his eye. On random dates during the month, there was an R+ or R-. What did that mean? Doctor’s shorthand, or weird blood types? No, there weren’t any R blood types.
“Do you know what this means?” he asked, taking the laptop and turning it around. “Look at the 2nd, 8th, and 19th of the last month.”
Danica came over, bent, and frowned. “I have no clue, but probably something to do with his work.”
“Makes sense that it would, I suppose,” he said, putting the laptop in the correct position, then flipping back through the months, the same notations on different days of September, all the way back to February of the last year.
Gage didn’t have a real reason why, but this struck him as suspicious, and he had a gut feeling those R’s with the plus or minus had nothing at all to do with being a surgeon. Putting this little tidbit of strangeness to the back of his mind for further ponderings, he started tapping on some file folders, seeing patient notes, which he didn’t read, then saw a folder labeled PICS, and opened it.
There on the screen in front of him was a sort of photo collage of Danica and Marcus—their relationship in photographs, from some impromptu pics to more structured photos like what he assumed were vacation pictures. Danica was wearing a tiny red string bikini that made his eyes pop, the wind blowing through the strands of her golden hair as she stood on the deck of a boat.
