He conceded a nod. ‘Ok, then why do you send Lacie to me every time something goes wrong? You want me to pick up the pieces, you want me to—‘
‘I didn’t ask you to come to S.I.S. and bond with my baby, did I?’
‘No,’ he admitted. ‘But Lacie needs us. Ryder needs us. They’re the kind of righteous, altruistic people who would actually drop everything to help us if we needed it.’
His face scrunched in a kind of disgust that made her smile. They weren’t the kind of selfless people that Lacie and Ryder were, but some of that goodness appeared to have rubbed off on him, even if it did make him uncomfortable.
‘I want to help too,’ she said, because she felt honestly awful for what was going on. Ryder and Lacie were meant to be together, yet circumstances kept pulling them apart.
Stroking her arm, he moved closer. ‘You can come to S.I.S. with me tomorrow,’ he said. ‘After you dump your husband.’ Her head went back and she exhaled. ‘You have to talk to him, Sorch. You have to end it. Now that you know the truth—‘
‘Seth!’ she said, holding up a hand. ‘I can’t deal with this right now, please.’
And she meant it. Lulu was keeping her awake at night. Bruce was going to ruin her reputation and wouldn’t quietly agree to end their association because that would just be too easy. And Lulu… Sorcha wasn’t prepared to be a parent let alone a single parent.
As if on cue, the lights on the baby monitor flared and she sagged before she actually heard Lulu cry. ‘Just leave the pictures and let yourself out,’ she said and turned to head for her daughter’s bedroom. Except Shep snagged her wrist and pulled her back.
‘Let me get her. I’m not walking away from you, Sorch. I don’t care how long it takes for you to see it. You’re not driving, I’m not going to limp away because you bench me. I’m sticking by your side until you can’t deny it anymore.’
He didn’t give her a chance to answer, just took the liberty of going past her into the second hallway, presumably to get Lulu. She didn’t know what made him an authority on babies, but she wasn’t going to argue with the help, not tonight when she was exhausted.
Glancing down, she saw the pictures of Bruce scattered on the couch and floor, facing in various directions, some upside down and some obvious. Exhaling, she admitted to herself that she wasn’t heartbroken. There had never been much love between them. The most overwhelming emotion in her was fear, as it had been from the start.
Except now that Lulu was here, she wasn’t so scary. Being a parent was exhausting and it was constant, but when Sorcha heard Shep through the baby monitor talking to Lulu who quieted to gurgle, she smiled. Her daughter wasn’t immune to the charms she had fallen for, but she couldn’t take a chance on Shep as she had with Bruce. She would have to be sure she was making the right decision before she tethered herself to another man. Shep would have to prove himself.
Chapter Nineteen
No matter how hard she willed it, the kidnapper didn’t phone that day. It was heart breaking to see Gabe and the others working so tirelessly to try and find Ryder when all the time she was holding on to this titbit of information.
Lacie did her duty and went downstairs to start looking through more footage for them in hopes that if she could find Ryder then she could put a stop to this crazy game. She underestimated how difficult it would be to be surrounded by people.
Most of the guys seemed to take her reticence as a reaction to what they were going through. But the truth was, she hated keeping secrets. In need of moral support, she considered calling Shep. Sorcha hadn’t called back or come over and Shep had been absent too. Lacie didn’t know if they were together, if Sorcha had gone to Sheppard Investigations to get answers or if her friend was curled in a ball crying her eyes out.
Calling Shep became such an attractive idea that she actually reached for the phone. Something stopped her though and it was that nagging doubt in her mind. The kidnapper had said he was watching. He also said he had someone on the inside, and that he would know if she revealed the truth to anyone. She and Shep had been the only two people who knew about Bruce’s infidelity. That left no explanation on how the kidnapper knew.
Peering over her computer, she scanned the men working around her and she got a glimmer of how Ryder must have felt when he began to suspect Jamie Wallace of betrayal. All of the men here had been innocent of being in cahoots with Wallace and she had fought for them when Ryder doubted them. So how had the kidnapper known the truth of Bruce’s infidelity? How did he get the number for Ryder’s private line? How did he even know that there was one?
Ryder might have given out the number, but the kidnapper would have to ask for it first, and that would mean he was aware of its existence. The men in this room knew about the private line. So did Jamie Wallace and his accomplice Eric, but they were both out of the picture and had been for months. Sorcha and Shep had never been in Lacie’s bedroom, but it was possible they knew about it.
That night she didn’t need anyone to tell her to go to bed. She went upstairs, got ready for bed, and then lay in the dark waiting for the phone to ring, hoping that it would.
At exactly midnight, the phone began to ring and she dashed over to snatch it up.
‘Very good,’ the voice on the other end said before Lacie had a chance to say a word.
‘I did what you said,’ Lacie said. ‘Now you let Ryder go.’ She knew it was never going to be that easy, but she had to ask.
‘That was your test, to see if you were going to comply, and you did.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ Lacie asked, feeling the heat of anger replace her distress. ‘Why are you doing this to us?’
‘I’m not doing anything to you,’ the voice snarled. ‘Not everything is about Lacie Hart.’
‘Why did you drug me at the cabin? Why did you show up at the gallery and drug me? Just to scare everyone?’
‘That’s exactly why,’ the voice said. ‘That was a good, old-fashioned case of misdirection. I didn’t want anyone looking at Ryder. Your history gave me the perfect cover. I knew that as soon as Ryder thought you were in danger he would double his efforts to keep you safe. Security swarmed around you and you were cut off from the world. The focus was on you because everyone thought you were at risk.’
‘And while they were distracted, you went after Ryder,’ Lacie murmured and wandered to the bed to sink down. ‘But why?’
‘Why is nothing to do with you,’ the voice said. ‘Why is for me and my prisoner to discuss. Your concern should be your next task.’
‘Which is?’
‘In the morning you’re going to pack your things. You’re going to leave that building and move into the Grand Hotel.’
‘What? Why would I do that?’ she asked. ‘The men here, they’re working to… they’ll think I don’t care about finding Ryder.’
‘I know exactly what Ryder’s men are doing. I have already told you that I am aware of all that is going on.’
‘I don’t understand—‘
‘If you refuse, you give me my excuse to hurt this man you claim to love.’
‘I do love him,’ she said because there was no denying it. ‘I’m not refusing. I’ll do it.’
‘You’ll go alone,’ the voice said. ‘Leave without telling anyone. If you’re discovered, you will refuse security or any kind of accompaniment.’
‘How do I know this isn’t a trick meant to draw me out?’
‘You don’t. But as I’ve said, not everything is about Lacie Hart. If I wanted you, I would have taken you from the cabin instead of leaving you there, wouldn’t I? I had you then and I could’ve kept you. Your precious Ryder would never have found you.’
Lacie splayed a hand on Ryder’s pillow, the connection with him was fading as his scent was, but she knew she had to hold on. ‘Why did you leave me?’
‘Because if I didn’t, Ryder would have had nothing to protect. They had to be looking at you and unconcerned about their own safety.’
‘They?’
‘His men,’ the voice said. ‘What has come before is all a part of my plan and it worked. I have Ryder and now you are my puppet. You will do exactly what I tell you or Ryder will be hurt. Do you understand?’
‘I understand.’
‘Good. You have your instructions. I expect them to be carried out.’
She did exactly as she was told. The next morning, she packed what she needed and left the rest of her possessions filled with hope that she would be back soon. Going out into the world alone might leave her exposed, but the kidnapper was right that he could have had his way with her before if he wanted to hurt her.
Pulling her bag off the bed, she worried her lip in her teeth as she descended in the elevator. If one of the guys found her now, they would be very confused and she didn’t want to fight. Lacie wasn’t used to keeping secrets, so she didn’t know how good a poker face she had. Ryder’s men were trained to sniff out a lie, which was part of the reason she’d tried her best to avoid them yesterday.
Checking into the hotel didn’t take long. Once she was there, she had nothing but time to whittle away. It might take the guys a couple of hours or more to notice that she was gone because they trusted her, they assumed that she would stay in the safety of the building where they all were.
Just before lunchtime, there was a pounding on her bedroom door that told her she’d been found out. Flicking off the TV, which she’d put on to distract herself, although it didn’t work. Lacie went to the door and checked through the peephole, something Ryder had trained her to do.
Gabe and Rocco were on the other side of the door and when her hand fell to the door handle, she closed her eyes and took a breath before she opened it.
‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ Gabe demanded, barrelling in with Rocco before she had a chance to inhale. ‘Why did you sneak off and—‘
‘I didn’t sneak off,’ Lacie said, closing the door. ‘You were busy.’
The room she was in was a standard room and with these two bulky guys present, it began to look a lot smaller. Anyone else might be intimidated by their height and girth, but Lacie didn’t fear these men, even in their current angry state. That anger came from a place of concern and it tore her up to know that she was betraying that and them in favour of pandering to a madman.
‘Busy?’ Rocco asked.
Rocco didn’t get angry, Lacie didn’t think she’d ever seen him wear a frown, but he was wearing one now. ‘I just needed to get away,’ Lacie said, running her hands through her hair, trying to indicate that she was harried. ‘Everything there, it’s just… it’s Ryder all the time, all over the place.’
‘If you were having a hard time, you should have told us,’ Gabe said. ‘You were not supposed to run away without security or—‘
‘I don’t need security,’ she said, meeting his eye. ‘If this is anything to do with the same guy who took me then he’d proved he doesn’t want me. He took Ryder and kept him. Me, he drugged at the cabin and left me there.’
‘And if it’s not?’ Rocco asked. ‘If we’re dealing with two separate crazies?’
‘It doesn’t matter, if this is a second crazy then he doesn’t want me, he hasn’t touched me, has he? And if this all stems from that mugging gone wrong, or whatever it was…’ Now her eyes drifted downward.
Gabe wasn’t having any of her detachment. He took one long stride and came up against her. ‘What?’
‘Maybe the guy got rid of him.’
Gabe shook his head and set his attention on her. Without blinking, and with deliberate words, he conveyed his determination. ‘We are not giving up. It’s been a couple of days. We are going to keep working under the assumption that Ryder is alive. You cannot give up on him.’
Gabe’s anger was a great disguise, but even his stoic self couldn’t hide his hurt at her actions. ‘How could you walk away from him? From Ryder? How could you give up this quickly?’ Rocco asked. ‘We never leave a man behind. And it was you, before… it was you who held us together when Ryder was in jail. He wanted nothing to do with us and we were ready to disband. You came in and told us to get with it. You gave us the kick in the ass we needed to get working.’
‘You don’t need that now, do you?’ she said, skirting Gabe to head for Rocco because he was easier to look at right now. Gabe had a way of looking through her that made her feel like he knew every thought in her mind. ‘You are working hard, together, you’re doing a great job.’
‘You’re a part of the team,’ Rocco said. ‘If you don’t want to watch the footage we’ll find you something else to do.’
‘No,’ Lacie said, shaking her head. ‘I just need to be by myself for a while. I need to… I need to think about things… to process this.’
‘What is there to process?’ Gabe asked, causing her to about face. ‘Ryder is out there in trouble and he needs us… When you were out there, the guy barely slept or ate. He would never have considered abandoning you.’
‘Well I’m not as strong as he is, am I?’ she asked. Being gentle wasn’t working. These men weren’t going to slip out of her room and out of her life without a fight. ‘I need space, Gabe. Is that hard for you to understand? I want to be away from that building. Away from everything and everyone in it. I need to be away from you guys. Can I be any clearer?’
Gabe’s eyes narrowed and she held her breath to remain as inscrutable as she could. ‘How are you going to face him when he gets back?’ Gabe murmured.
‘That’s for me to worry about, isn’t it?’ she said and brought her hands to her hips. ‘Now if you’d excuse me…’
It wasn’t like she actually had anything to do, but the longer they were here, the more of a chance existed that she would be found out.
Gabe didn’t make it any harder for her. He almost pushed her aside as he stormed toward the door. Rocco caught her arm to help her steady her weight, but he didn’t say anything, just looked at her like a hurt puppy and then made for the door after his friend.
Pacing in the hotel room only got her worked up, so she tried going out for a long walk to exhaust herself, but still she didn’t sleep. Without the private phone line, Lacie had no idea how the kidnapper was going to get in touch with her. But there had been a reservation under her name when she arrived at the hotel, which could only have been made by the kidnapper. That he had gone to that trouble, suggested he had a plan.
Dinnertime had come and gone. Lacie was whittling down the minutes until midnight. Still clothed, she flopped onto the bed on her back and began to count her breaths. A noise outside her bedroom door made her open an eye. Straining to hear if there was someone out in the corridor, she slid off the bed as quietly as she could. A proud knock made her leap to her feet and rush toward the door.
The kidnapper could be here to visit her in person. Or maybe he had decided to release Ryder right here on her doorstep. Checking the peephole, she was surprised to see Sorcha on the other side of her door.
Sliding off the chain, Lacie opened the door wide. Sorcha’s chin was tipped down but her eyes were fixed on Lacie. It appeared she’d perfected the disapproving mother stare already.
‘Hi,’ Lacie said when Sorcha didn’t say anything.
‘I’m waiting to hear your explanation.’
‘My explanation?’ Lacie asked.
‘I’m not fooled, Lace,’ Sorcha said, propping a hand on the doorframe to drum her manicured nails on it. ‘You didn’t come here for space.’
‘Then why did I come here?’ Lacie asked, fearful that she would reveal more of herself to her friend than was safe.
‘I don’t know,’ Sorcha said. ‘That’s why I need an explanation.’
Sorcha came into the room now, and flicked on the light that Lacie had neglected to turn on even as night drew closer. ‘Where’s Lulu?’
‘Downstairs, in the lobby,’ Sorcha said, going to sit in an armchair that stood in the corner.
Lacie’s eyes slunk to the side. ‘In the bar with a martini, or…?�
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‘She’s perfectly safe,’ Sorcha said. ‘Don’t change the subject. Why are you here?’
‘Why is it so hard for everyone to comprehend that I just need space?’ Lacie asked, crossing to sit on the corner of the bed opposite Sorcha.
‘I have a new baby,’ Sorcha said. ‘But I’ve been at S.I.S. all day, doing what I can to help. I’m pitching in.’
That was a surprise that Lacie hadn’t expected. ‘You are?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’ Lacie asked and her intrigue deepened the groove between her brows. ‘When I was kidnapped—‘
‘Ryder did everything humanly possible to find you,’ Sorcha said, leaning toward her to take her hand. ‘He went out of his mind doing what needed to be done. He doubted his own best friend for goodness sake. He actually listened to and relied on Shep when the shit hit the fan because saving you was worth forging an alliance with a man he’d always detested… Ryder’s gone for a couple of days and you check out. It doesn’t make sense.’
‘What happened with Bruce?’ Lacie asked. She had neglected her friend duties. The kidnapper hadn’t told her not to go out or follow up with Sorcha, so there was no reason not to have acted as she usually would with her friend. Except to do that, she’d have to have a conversation and that would mean lying.
‘What happened with Bruce is irrelevant to this conversation,’ Sorcha said, loosening her hand from Lacie’s and standing up. ‘There’s something going on with you and—‘
‘I need some space!’ Lacie said. Thrusting to her feet, she paced away from Sorcha. ‘My god, Sorch! Why can everyone else say they need a time out and people just accept it? But I say it and suddenly everyone wants to be a part of my business? Can’t you see how much my life has changed? Last year we were just… we were free and single and none of this was a part of our lives. We didn’t have men worries and kids and kidnappings to think about. It was just you and me living our lives and it worked!’
‘Are you telling me that you’re turning your back on Ryder? That you’re walking away from your relationship with him? Dumping him when he could be out there getting tortured or something?’
Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2) Page 22
