Inseparable

by Missy Johnson

  “Thank god she lives on level one,” I muttered, my stomach churning. How could anyone live here? I was trying my hardest not to be judgemental, but the middle class girl in me was horrified that people had to live in these conditions. This was the best the government could come up with for people who needed help?

  We exited the stairwell, finally able to breathe.

  “Are you okay?” Dane took my hand and squeezed it. How was he so calm, and I was the mess?

  “I’m fine,” I smiled. He smiled back, his eyes telling me he could see through my fake reassurance. I started off down the hall, “Number 145.”

  The door I stood in front of possibly separated us from knowing where Steffy was. My heart was pounding as I went to knock on the door. Before I could make contact with the wood, Dane grabbed my hand.

  “Give me a minute. I need a second,” He turned around, his hands clasped tightly behind his head. He was nervous now, and his skin had turned a shade of grey that made me worried he might throw up. Or pass out. Either would be bad.

  “Dane. It will be okay,” I said, as I wrapped my arms around his waist, my thumb resting just under the hem of his jeans. He hugged me back.

  “Fuck I love you, Lily. I love you so damn much,” He kissed me, then pulled away, heading for apartment 145. He knocked loudly. Silence, followed by the sound of footsteps rushing to the door.

  The door cracked open, the safety chain still connected. A woman peeked through the gap, and not just any woman. It was her.

  Eva Feluca.

  “Yes?” She asked, suspicion and concern clouding her voice. Not that I blamed her. I’d be suspicious to anyone knocking on my door if I lived here too.

  “Are you Eva? Eva Feluca?” Dane asked.

  “Why? Who wants to know?” Her tone hardened, and I wondered just how much this woman was going to help. She didn’t exactly seem like the caring, sharing kind.

  “A friend said you might be able to help me find my sister.”

  “Sorry, I can’t help,” Eva shook her head, “even if I wanted to, I couldn’t help you, and honestly, what’s the point? So you can force your runaway sister back home only to have her end up back here within a year? Because that’s what happens,” She rasped, shutting the door.

  Thinking fast (or not thinking at all), I wedged my foot in the door. She looked up at me, as If she were seeing me for the first time. She was angry, her brown eyes flashing.

  “Honey get your fucking foot out of my door before I-”

  “She wasn’t a runaway, Eva,” I cut in, my voice soft, “She was six when she was abducted ten years ago outside her home. For ten years, my boyfriend has thought his sister was dead. Raped. Murdered. Now he finds out she’s alive, but in trouble, and you’re ‘sorry’ you can’t help us?” I laughed incredulously, “Sorry, Eva, that’s not good enough.” I crossed my arms and held her gaze.

  Eva hesitated. “What do you want from me?” She demanded. Angry. Frustrated.

  “We just want a few minutes of your time. To talk. To see if you can help us. If not, then fine, we’ll be on our way,” I reasoned. Dane looked at me in admiration. When his hand touched my back, I knew he was proud of me. Hell, I was proud of me.

  “You going to have to move your foot for me to let you in, honey,” Eva said, sarcasm dripping off her words.

  I hesitated for a second, before pulling my foot back. The door slammed shut. I glanced at Dane. He shrugged. Neither of us knowing if she was going to open the door again. The door opened, Eva nodded at us.

  “Come in, then,” she said.

  We walked inside. She locked the door behind us and let us into the kitchen. I had to admit, I was shocked. Eva’s home was spotless. Everything in the place was meticulously clean, and neat. Everything had a place. While the furniture was by no means new, it was nice. The place looked homely.

  “Not what you expected, right?” Eva smiled. Though it was so obviously her from the mug shot photo, she looked different. She looked clean, and aware.

  A baby’s cry filled the room. “Have a seat, I will just be a second.” She rushed out of the room, leaving Dane and I alone.

  “Wow,” I murmured under my breath. Dane nodded, raising his eyebrows as he looked around. Eva came back in the room, carrying a little girl. Her tiny face lit up when she saw Dane, who laughed. I got the feeling he liked the little girl’s fascination with him.

  “She’s adorable,” I smiled.

  “She’s my whole world,” Eva smiled, gently rocking the little girl on her knee, “Her name is Anabel. She’s almost two.” Anabel laughed, her little eyes fascinated by Dane’s smile.

  “Such a pretty name,” I smiled.

  “So, how can I help? What do you want to know?” The happiness evaporated from Eva’s expression. She looked wary and defensive. I could tell right away her guard was up, and chances of getting anywhere with her were pretty slim.

  “Eva, my sister, Steffy, we think she might have been caught up in something. She was abducted when she was six. From our home. They caught the guy, or at least as far as the police were concerned he was the guy…” Dane looked down, fiddling with his fingers as he fought to find the right words.

  “The man they caught, he confessed,” I rushed to help Dane, who was visibly upset, “but before they could find out from him where she was, he died.”

  “What, you think I know where her body is?” Eva’s eyes widened as she shook her head, “look I may have been into some shady shit in my day, but murdering kids wasn’t one of them.”

  “We don’t think you were involved,” I said quickly, trying to get control of the situation, “we just think maybe she was somehow involved in something you were…” My voice trailed off, along with any hope that she would help us. I struggled to think of something to say to fill the awkward silence hovering over us.

  “A few years ago, I was involved in some prostitution,” Eva coughed, holding Anabel close to her, almost like a security blanket. Dane looked up. I could see the hope in his eyes.

  God, please don’t let this lead to a dead end.

  “I was working for...someone. Never actually met him, only his minions. I was living with six other girls who were also his,” she paused, her voice shaky, “they were his in every sense of the word. He owned them. Me, I was just caught up, trying to work off a drug debt.”

  “He owned them?” I repeated, shocked. “Were they…Americans?” I asked cautiously.

  Eva shot me a look. “You mean were they illegals?” She asked in her strong Mexican accent. I blushed. That had been exactly what I had meant, only I hadn’t wanted to offend her. “Most were Mexicans or Bolivians. He heard he had a few Americans, young girls. He would get more for them. It was one thing to sleep with an underage illegal, but a blue eyed blonde American? They were worth gold,” she laughed bitterly.

  “You said young girls. How young are you talking?” I asked softly, positive I didn’t want to hear the answer. Dane sat next to me, his hands covering his face.

  “Young. You don’t want me to say. Really,” her eyes were begging me, as they flickered between Dane and me. I felt sick, physically sick, like I was going to hurl.

  “Eva, this guy, do you know his name?” I asked. Eva stood up.

  “I can do better than a name. Will you take her?” She handed me Anabel before I could answer. I cradled her in my arms, her little face peering up at me curiously. My heart melted. She was so cute. I felt something I’d never felt before.

  Clucky.

  Kids had never been on my radar, but holding this little girl made me realise I did want them. Maybe not now, but in the future. Abby and I used to talk about getting married and having babies when we were little, but once she got sick, there was no future to talk about. Not for her, and not for me.

  Eva came back. She handed Dane a card, and took Anabel off me.

  “His social security number,” she smiled proudly, gently bouncing the baby on her hip. I looked at Dane in surprise. Holy shit
. His social security number? What were we going to do? Call the police? That was the obvious answer.

  “He covers his tracks,” she added, “call the police and I guarantee your chance will be gone.”

  Dane stood up and grabbed my hand. Something was bothering me though. Something that just didn’t add up.

  “Eva… how are you so sure that this number is correct? Surely if he’s as smart as you say, he wouldn’t leave that kind of information just lying around,” I said softly.

  “I know it’s his number because…”She paused, looking away, “he’s my father.”

  What? Her father?

  “Look, I know what you’re thinking, but you don’t know my father and what he is capable of,” she cursed in Spanish, “I came here looking for him. He left my mom when she was pregnant with me. I found him through a private investigator. He wouldn’t meet me, and then, suddenly he had a change of heart. We arranged to meet…” She paused, tears in her eyes, “he couldn’t even meet me in person. He set me up with some cash, but then said I had to work off the money I owed him…I got away from him as soon as I could. I didn’t want my little girl growing up around him,” She spat, wiping her eyes.

  “So why not call the police? Once you got away? Why let all those other girls suffer?” I asked, unable to comprehend her lack of empathy toward the other girls.

  “Because even though he’s my father, he still wouldn’t hesitate to kill me to protect his interests,” she spat angrily. Anabel started crying in her arms. “Look, I’m sorry, but you need to go,” she walked toward the door, her baby screaming hysterically.

  “For what it’s worth, I hope you stop him. I hate myself every day for not doing anything, but I need to put my baby first.” Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to calm Anabel, “Oh, and Lily?” I turned around.

  “If you so much as mention my name to the police or my father, I will deny everything, then I’ll hunt you down and kill you.” She spoke softly, but with such conviction, it sent shivers down my spine.

  “I hope you find your sister, Dane,” she said, and with that, she shut the door in my face.

  Dane and I walked silently back out to the car (which was surprisingly still there). Once safely inside, I let out a long sigh.

  “Wow,” I murmured. My mind was overheating with the amount of information running through it.

  “What do we do now?” Dane asked quietly. He looked overwhelmed. Not that I blamed him. Eva had pretty much said he father was running some kind of sex ring.

  “We go back and speak to Fraser and Kella. Regroup. Then see where we’re at. Maybe Reece can dig up some info on this guy.” I said, waving the card. Dane’s eyes lit up. He grabbed the card, and his cell.

  “Reece. Yeah, it’s Dane,” he paused, glancing at me, “Yeah, she’s here,” he said stiffly, “Yes, just as cute as before.” I stifled a laugh, clapping my hand over my mouth. This must be killing Dane.

  “Dude, can you dig up as much as you can on a ‘Rafel Feluca’. Apparently well known in the drug and illegal sex circles. Uh huh. Right. Sure, I’ll tell her,” He sighed. He hung up his cell.

  “Tell me what?” I was almost afraid to ask.

  “Tell you that he’s looking forward to seeing you,” Dane sighed, raising his eyebrows as he shook his head. “Seriously, sexy, do I need to punch this guy?” He groaned, as I dissolved into giggles.

  Chapter Twenty

  Dane rapped loudly on the bathroom door.

  “Lil, hurry up before we miss the reservation!” He yelled. Grumbling, I continued drying myself. We still had a good half an hour to get to a restaurant that was two blocks away. Where I was late to everything, Dane was the complete opposite, always early.

  Wrapping the towel around me, I opened the door and ran to the bedroom, but not before earning a low whistle from Dane. He followed me into the bedroom.

  “Can I watch?” He asked, eyeing me appreciatively.

  “No.” I said, pushing him out of the room. “If you watch, I’ll never get dressed and then we’ll be late. And we don’t want that, will we?” I said sweetly, closing the door.

  “Really, Lil? You’re going to use my own words against me?” He chuckled on the other side of the door. Giggling, I grabbed the dress out of my bag, glad I’d packed a couple of dressy outfits to wear. The dress, a spaghetti strapped, charcoal chiffon, flowed down mid-thigh, and looked hot. Curling my hair into a high loose bun, I quickly put on some make-up, and I was ready.

  I walked into the main room. Dane was sitting on the sofa, facing away from me.

  “I’m ready.” I said, the nerves catching in my throat. He stood up, turning to face me.

  “Holy shit.” He smiled, his eyes drinking me in. Walking over to me, his hand reached up and touched my face. “You’re so beautiful. You’re always beautiful, but this is…” He trailed off as his lips met mine.

  “We better get moving.” I grinned, slipping into my low heels. Dane made a face.

  “You sure you don’t want to stay in tonight?” He joked, though I wasn’t convinced he was actually joking. As I went to answer, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, his expression changing.

  “Hi. Recce.” He said, his eyes meeting mine. “Sure, now is fine. Okay, see you in a minute.”

  “Well?” I prodded, after a moment of silence.

  “Reece is downstairs with some news.” Dane sighed. “Maybe you should change?” He suggested. I laughed. Was he serious?

  “Dane, I’m not changing.” I giggled, knowing the only reason he wanted me to change was so Reece wouldn’t ogle me. “Besides, he will take a minute, and then we will go.”

  Dane sighed, clearly not happy. The knock on the door stopped the conversation though. I waited by the sofa as he went to answer it.

  “Hey Reece.” Dane shook Reece’s hand, standing aside to let him in.

  “Hey man. Hey…holy shit.” He gaped at me, his intruding eyes making me wish I’d listened to Dane and changed.

  “Hi Reece.” I said loudly, interrupting the staring contest he was having with my breasts. He grinned, not out of embarrassment that he’d been caught out staring, but the same cocky smile he wore whenever he looked at me.

  “You're one fucking sweet assed babe.” He said, running a hand through his hair and adjusting his crotch.

  “Thanks." I said, cringing, forcing myself to be civil. "You said you had something for us?” I pushed, still determined to make our dinner reservation.

  “Yeah, I do.” He said down and pulled out his laptop. “So I was able to track Rafel Fernandez to a rather interesting website.” He swung his laptop around. I glanced at Dane, alarmed, and back at the screen. Images of naked women filled the screen, one after the other, but all in the same pose. Sitting on a chair with arms tied behind their backs. Each girl was numbered.

  “What is this? Some kind of porn site?” I asked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

  “This is an auction site.” Reece replied, almost proudly. “These numbers down here are unique to each girl. If I wanted to enquire about a girl, then I’d call this number, and quote her number.”

  “How is something like this up? Why wouldn’t the police have taken it down?” I asked, glancing at Dane. His face was stony.

  “Most likely they don’t even know it exists.” Reece explained. “Look, there are probably thousands of sites just like this that nobody knows about. It’s not hard to make a website virtually untraceable. I’m awesome at what I do, and it took me about six hours to crack this, and even then it was only thanks to the info you guys’ had to start with.”

  “So, what now?” Dane asked. It was the first time he’d spoken. Reece shrugged.

  “I have no idea. I can give you the website, and the number, as well as the address I tracked the website to, but I can pretty much guarantee the address will lead to a dead end.” He said, shrugging.

  After Dane had let Reece out, he came and sat next to me on the sofa. This was our strongest l
ead yet, and I was beginning to feel like we were getting in over our heads.

  “What are you thinking?” Dane asked quietly.

  “What the hell we are going to do next? Where do we go from here, Dane?”

  He shook his head. He had no answers. “I have no idea.” He hesitated. “Do you mind if we skip dinner? I don’t really feel up to going out.” I nodded, not sure what to say. He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to have a lie down. I’ll come back over later?”

  “Sure,” I said, forcing a smile. He was pulling away from me, and I had no idea what to say, or do, to get him back.

  After texting Kella with an update, I changed out of my dress, and into my pajamas. It was barely eight in the evening, but I was tired, and too depressed to even bother trying to fight off my tiredness. I climbed into the bed, trying to ignore how lonely I felt lying there alone. Tucking the covers up under my chin, I closed my eyes.

  “You look tired.” Abby smiled at me. I was relieved to see her. I really needed her advice on what to do next, with finding Steffy and supporting Dane. I needed my sister’s advice.

  “I am tired, Abs. What do we do?” I asked helplessly.

  “It will all work out, you will see. You’re so close now, just go with your gut. If something doesn’t feel right then listen.” Her tone made me shiver. There was something in her voice, almost as if she were warning me.

  “And Dane?” I asked softly. “How can I support him if he keeps pushing me away?”

  “He’s not pushing you away, Lil. He’s tired, that’s all. You can imagine how hard all this must be on him.” She added. Abby lay down on the bed beside me, her hands brushing over my hair. Though I couldn’t feel her touch, I could feel her presence, and it was comforting.

  “Lil? Are you still awake?”

  My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness, and to process the familiar voice.

  Kella.