by Hadley Quinn
One way or another, Leah Kemp was going to meet up with her big brother.
Chapter Three
Blood…everywhere… So many fighters… Lies… The Block… Diamonds… Beautiful sapphire eyes… A genuine smile… Deceitful parents that turned a life upside down… Traitorous friends jumbled with the most loyal you could get… Loneliness. Alone. It was better to be alone.
Abandoned.
Isolated.
Alone.
Alone.
Alone.
Cole woke with a jolt, hitting his head on the side window of the car. The stiffness in his neck made him grimace when he straightened himself in the driver’s seat. He glanced around to assess his surroundings—the rental car where he’d struggled through another restless night.
His clock read 5:17. He’d been dozing in and out of sleep for only ninety minutes. Still parked across the street from Leah’s apartment complex, he climbed out to stretch his back and legs.
This day had better go as planned or he’d have to resort to drastic measures.
After eating a stale donut and washing it down with half a bottle of Gatorade, Cole waited three more hours in his car. He’d made a few phone calls, getting grumpy complaints from his various contacts for the early hour, but the only thing he needed right now was the rest of Leah’s story. He wanted to know who in the hell had convinced her that Van was dead and why.
Knowing what he did know—that Leah had moved out of New Jersey with a guy she’d been dating and then eventually ended up in Florida—Cole could make many assumptions and probably figured at least one of them was correct. However, he needed for Miss Kemp to cooperate by telling him herself.
Cole had almost called Van to tell him he’d found Leah, but decided against it. There were still a lot of things he needed to find out and he wasn’t willing to risk the repercussions from jumping the gun. If he couldn’t convince Leah to come back to Jersey with him, then he’d have to call Van to come get her himself.
Several people had come out of the apartment complex and Cole studied each one of them, so when Leah finally exited the building, there was no way he missed her.
He watched her climb into her car—a white ’02 Ford Probe—and he followed her east to Miami Beach. He had no idea where she was headed but he’d find out. Following her for a day had been his plan of action for now until he had more to go on. If he wasn’t able to figure this shit out on his own, he would make Leah tell him.
She wouldn’t want to mess with him when he was demanding answers.
Cole was an entire block behind her when she pulled into a driveway. As he passed by, subtly glancing out his peripheral, he in no way mistook who he saw open the front door of the house. It was none other than the auburn-haired, long-legged beauty from the night before.
Scarlett.
“Hmm, I’m more intrigued than ever,” he spoke out loud to himself.
The neighborhood wasn’t the richest of the rich, but it surely wasn’t for the middleclass. How a prostitute could afford to live in such a place was a mystery. And as far as Cole knew, it didn’t belong to Damien Glenn, either. She could have been one of his many girlfriends, but she just didn’t seem like the type to tolerate that situation.
Never judge a book by its cover, he reminded himself. “Or a whore by her home,” he murmured.
He picked up his phone to make a call. “Yeah, I need you to run an address for me and I need as much information from it that you can get,” he told his contact. He ran off the address as he flipped a u-turn and parked his car on the side of the road.
After another minute of conversation, he hung up and pulled out his digital recorder. He always spoke his information to be recorded, no matter what case he was working on. It was the easiest way to retain information; definitely a whole lot easier than jotting things down.
And, the grimmest aspect of it, he had a record of his whereabouts and what he was dealing with if anything ever happened to him.
Cole waited in his parked car for almost an hour. His binoculars didn’t offer much, so for now he waited until Leah’s car backed out of the driveway. He spent three more hours following her around as she appeared to be running errands: the bank, the post office, and the store. By then he had learned that the house Scarlett was living in belonged to someone named Harold Westman. It appeared he was in no way connected to Damien Glenn, but since Cole didn’t know Scarlett’s real name, he couldn’t be sure if Harold was her relative or not.
He was parked outside Leah’s apartment at five o’clock that evening. She’d gone inside, and whether or not she was getting ready for another shift at the whorehouse, he waited for her to come out. When she did, Cole sat up straighter in his seat.
“Oh shit,” he said under his breath.
She had a backpack on her and another bag in her hand. Seeing that she was in a hurry, Cole could only assume she was running. Leah opened her car door, but instead of getting inside, it looked like she just grabbed a few things and shut it again. After shoving a few items into her bag, she turned for the street and started walking.
Cole was completely torn at this point. He was still trying to decide if he should approach her to see what the fuck was up, or just follow her again.
But to his surprise, she came straight for his car and pounded on the window. When he unlocked the doors, she opened the back one and tossed her stuff in.
Dropping into the front seat next to him, she said, “Show me some identification.”
From the console, he pulled out a black leather bi-fold that contained his professional I.D. and handed it to her.
She raised her eyes at the P.I. badge and asked, “Why didn’t you just show me this?”
“Because I don’t always go that route. I’m here as a courtesy to your brother and hoped that would be enough.”
“You really know where Van is?” She wasn’t looking at him, but staring ahead through the windshield.
“Yes, I absolutely do,” he answered.
Finally she turned her head to look at him. “Then take me to him.”
***
Cole had been on this assignment for a month. The first couple of weeks had consisted of research; tracking down Leah’s past through the places she’d lived and the people that knew her. The last family she’d lived with held the most information, but they were also the shadiest. Leah’s boyfriend at the time had been Alex Mills, and the minute she turned eighteen, she was out the door to move in with him. They’d lived in Roanoke, Virginia for a couple years until one day they just up and left. The landlord said they gave no notice and barely took anything with them.
Cole had tracked Leah to the Miami area, but there wasn’t a clue that she’d gone there with Alex. He didn’t know where Alex was, but Cole’s job was to find Leah Kemp, so he’d taken the first flight to Miami. It took him less than three days to link her to Damien Glenn, and through his contacts in Florida, he was informed that was a very, very bad turn of events.
His investigation shifted to all things Damien Glenn, which consisted of money laundering businesses, gentlemen’s clubs, strip joints, weapons and drug smuggling…even murder. If there was anything that could make the assignment more dangerous, it was definitely the tangled web of a notorious crime family.
He had hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with it, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“So are you gonna talk to me?” Cole finally asked Leah.
He’d been packing his things in his motel room for the past ten minutes while she sat in a chair in the corner. She hadn’t said a word in the car after telling him to take her to Van, and she didn’t even seem to be focused on anything in particular. Staring at the wall or the floor tended to be her routine at the moment.
She finally looked at him. Her expression was neutral and her temperament seemed placid. He was a complete stranger to her, yet here she was with him in a motel, willing to get on a flight to New Jersey together. Cole wasn’t sure what that said about her except she was eager
enough to see Van she was willing to travel with someone she didn’t know.
“What do you want me to say?” she replied.
“Well, there are a shit ton of answers that I’d like from you, starting with why you thought your brother wasn’t alive, and then maybe finishing with how and why you ended up in Miami.”
“That’ll take a while.”
“Then start now and get a jump on it.”
She pursed her lips for a few seconds but didn’t respond. Cole returned to tossing his toiletries into his bag and zipped it shut.
“Van’s married now,” he stated, glancing at Leah for her reaction.
She didn’t give one.
“He also has a little girl,” he added. “Her name is Violet and she’s about a year old.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Leah take in a deep breath of air and silently let it out. He shoved his phone into his pocket and hoisted the duffel bag off the bed, and then motioned for her to follow him out the door.
“How’d you end up in Miami?” Cole asked as they walked outside.
“Needed a change of scenery,” she mumbled.
“Why Miami?”
She sighed, like he was totally annoying the fuck out of her. “Because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I don’t know. Why do you care?”
He tossed his bag into the back seat and shut the door. Maybe he didn’t care. All he was asked to do was find this chick. He didn’t need to get roped into her drama.
Without answering, he headed for the front desk to check out, and when he returned, started the car to head for the airport in silence. After returning the rental car and checking into their flight, Cole realized how hungry he was. The last thing he’d consumed was a blueberry muffin and a bottle of water, and that was six hours ago.
“I’m gonna go grab something to eat,” he stated as he stood. “What do you want?”
Barely shaking her head she answered, “Nothing, thanks.”
He might’ve inquired if she was sure, but on second thought, decided it was better not to. The last thing he needed was some confusing food order he would fuck up that would make their already awkward acquaintance even worse.
But as he stood in line at a food vendor, he ordered something extra as a last minute thought. It was probably better to throw out a burrito than to regret an opportunity he was supposed to have read her mind.
When he returned to Leah, she was staring at a phone in her hand. He wasn’t used to seeing a female with such a standard, baseline cell phone. No smart phone? It explained why she hadn’t shoved earbuds into her ears long ago to use music to drown out their time together.
It’s what he would have done.
As he sat two seats over, Cole placed the extra burrito and a drink on the seat between them. Leah glanced at it, but then noticed he was already taking a huge bite of another one in his hand.
“I said no thanks,” she informed him.
With his mouth full he answered, “My bad, I thought you said ‘okay, thanks.’”
He didn’t bother making a big deal out of it. She was either going to eat it or not, it was her choice. So he continued to assault his own food because he was starving at that point. By the time it was three-fourths of the way devoured, Leah had carefully unwrapped the other burrito and took a bite.
“Thank you,” she said after a minute.
He only nodded.
An hour later they were seated on their flight to New Jersey and Cole’s entire mood shifted. He didn’t care if Leah was comfortable, fed well enough, or what the hell she was even thinking. All he cared about was that his own ass didn’t go down in a burning inferno of plane wreckage.
“You hate flying,” Leah stated after they were finally in the air. She seemed amused, but he didn’t bother to care.
“I hate traveling period,” he answered. He motioned to the fact that he barely fit in the seat he was squeezed into. “And honestly, how the hell is a person supposed to sit like this for three hours?”
She barely smiled, just as the seat in front of Cole reclined back several inches his direction with a thunk! Then Leah’s hand flew to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. It was nice to see her chill out a little bit, even if it was at his expense.
“I’ll be freaking out like the chicks in Clueless do when they accidently get on the freeway,” he told her to keep things light. “You really don’t want to see me like that.”
He gave her a side-glance and she was obviously surprised. But then she started to laugh, very obviously aware of the scene he was talking about.
“You’ve seen Clueless?” she asked, still chuckling.
“I’ve seen everything,” he answered honestly. “I watch a lot of movies.”
“Too much time on your hands?”
With a shrug he replied, “I work, go to the gym, head home. Nothing to do at home but work some more or watch TV. Sometimes I’ll work with a movie on. It helps me think.”
She didn’t respond right away, which was kind of disappointing. Cole found that conversation with someone was helping to ease his nerves. Yes, he absolutely hated flying. There was something about being confined in a small space for several hours that didn’t settle well with him. He hated elevators, too, and took the stairs any chance he could get. He fit in well at the Block for that very reason; all the fighters took the stairs. He never once had to explain his aversion to elevators.
“So how long have you been in this line of work?” she asked him. “What are you, a whatchamacallit, bounty hunter or something?”
He raised an eyebrow, thinking that he’d already told her what he did for a living. “No, not exactly. I’m a private investigator.”
“Yeah, you said that. But what does that mean? Like, do you track people down and stuff? Is that your, um, specialty?”
“Sometimes, if it’s required,” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that’s my specialty, though.”
“What is your specialty then?” Leah smirked at him.
Cole barely smiled in return. Most of today she’d been pretty subdued, keeping to herself. But now, more of her personality from the day before was coming out. He hadn’t been around her much, but he could easily compare the similarities she shared with her brother. Van had a heavier Jersey accent than Leah did, but Cole could definitely tell they were related by a few of their physical features and mannerisms.
“My specialty is everything,” he finally answered with a smirk to match hers.
“Everything, huh?” she scoffed. Slowly nodding her head she added, “Including the cocky attitude.”
“Hey, I’m not going to deny that I’m good at my job.”
“I’m pretty sure you are,” she shrugged “But tell me this… How do you know my brother? You said you worked together? Worked where? What does he do? He’s not an investigator too, is he?”
“No, not Van. I didn’t want to get into it yesterday because you were already overwhelmed, but I know Van because I was hired to a case he was involved in.”
She cast him a puzzled frown. “What kind of case?”
“Well, it’s a long story, but he was framed for murder last year.”
Leah’s mouth dropped open as she stared at him. “What the fuck?” she whispered. “What do you mean?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story—”
“We’ve got two more hours on this trip. Start talking.”
Chapter Four
It was two in the morning when Cole stepped off the plane with Leah. He was tired and couldn’t wait to crash in his own bed. He’d spent the rest of the flight talking about Van, starting with Dani and her crazy ass ex and that entire mess. Normally he wouldn’t divulge jack shit to someone that wouldn’t tell him a damn thing in return, but he was using it as a tactic to get her to open up.
Leah was pretty much blown away while hearing all that her brother had been through, but she’d barely said anything in response. And when he asked what she’d been up to the past year or so, s
he replied, “Your job was to find me and bring me back, right? Well here I am.”
Then she closed up even more.
Okay, then.
After grabbing their luggage, Cole hailed a cab. It was too late to call anyone for a ride, and since they were less than thirty minutes from his apartment, that meant he could grab his truck, transfer her shit into it, and drop the entire load off at Van and Dani’s house in Middletown.
Then he could finally hole up in his own damn apartment for the next few days.
“I’m not showing up on his doorstep at the crack of dawn,” Leah said upon realizing that Cole was about to throw her bags into his truck at the Jefferson Apartments.
He was too tired to rationalize with her and replied, “Well I’m taking you there, so get in.”
“You do realize it’s after three in the morning, right? And you said they’ve got a baby? You really want to wake them up this early?”
“Leah,” he groaned. “You have been gone from Van’s life for how many years now? You really think he fucking cares what time of the day you show up?”
“Well I do care,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “And maybe I’m not quite ready to see him yet, okay? Just give me a chance to get some sleep and maybe a damn shower. Is that too much to ask?”
He was too exhausted to deal with this right now, but he yanked the bags out of the truck and started walking. He didn’t say a word as he entered the building from the back entry and headed for the stairs. He could hear her behind him as they trekked upward, but she didn’t say a thing until they reached the fourth floor.
“Is the elevator broken?” she asked as they walked to 4G.
“What does it matter, you didn’t have to carry the bags,” he replied as he dumped them onto the floor outside his apartment. He searched for the key, unlocked the door, and pushed the bags inside with his foot.
