by Hadley Quinn
“I’m here because I was sent here. I’m here because I was asked to check on you but…I don’t know why, okay? I’m just doing what I’ve been asked to do. He honestly hasn’t even said a word about the money. And I have been looking for Alex. That was my promise to you and I wanted to keep it. I’m just trying to keep everyone happy, okay? You know how it goes, babe. I’m only looking out for you. I told you that from the beginning.”
Leah’s face seemed to soften, but Cole was shaking his head. Lies. This woman knew how to manipulate people in order to get what she wanted. Maybe there was truth to it, but not entirely. She even admitted it herself: she told people as much of the truth that she needed to.
Thank God the next knock on the door was Barry, and with him were two uniformed officers. Cole barely gave a brief explanation for what was going on because he didn’t want to do it there in the apartment, so Barry took Scarlett away for questioning.
And the anger on Leah’s face informed Cole that she still thought he was being an insensitive prick.
Well, he didn’t really care at that point.
Chapter Fifteen
Upon trying to be a part of Scarlett’s interrogation, Cole had been given the shaft big time. Barry even told him to back the fuck off and he wasn’t too nice about it.
All he knew was that they’d let her go after an hour of questioning, and he could just picture Scarlett’s smugness as she walked out of the precinct.
“Feeling a bit wounded, sport?” Leah goaded him crossly.
But he didn’t respond. He knew she was absolutely devastated over the news about Emilia and was trying to distract herself. He couldn’t fault her for feeling confused, lashing out at the wrong people.
“She didn’t know about Emilia being taken,” Cole decided to tell her. “I don’t know what they got out of her, but that’s what I got out of her.”
Leah’s face went pale and she swallowed. “What do you mean?”
Cole got up from the couch where he’d been mindlessly staring at whatever show Leah was watching. He headed into the kitchen to get leftovers since he never had a chance to eat dinner earlier.
“I mean you surprised her. I could see it on her face, trying to register what you were talking about. Obviously she didn’t know Emilia had been taken, or even knew anything about her for that matter. That means Damien never mentioned it to her.”
Leah got up and joined him, sitting at the counter while he stuck a dish in the microwave. “So…I just gave up that information all on my own,” she stated quietly, shaking her head.
Cole had no response to that, but as he removed his food from the microwave and sat at the counter he said, “Are you ever going to talk to me about it? You know, the rest of the stuff you’ve been keeping from me?”
Leah fell quiet, so Cole just began to eat. He felt she would open up to him eventually, but he hoped it was sooner than later. He was especially interested in this money aspect that had been mentioned earlier, as well.
“What do you want to know?” she sighed.
“Tell me about Damien.”
She got up and made her way to the refrigerator. Pulling out a beer, she faced him and leaned against the counter. For the first time since they’d been together, he realized she wasn’t even old enough to legally drink. Out of responsibility, he reached over and took the bottle out of her hand.
“I’ll buy you some chocolate milk,” he couldn’t help but add.
She gave him a death glare while he drank half the bottle right in front of her. “You’re just now realizing I’m under drinking age?”
He didn’t answer and took another bite of food. Sometimes she acted older than she was and sometimes she didn’t. He supposed it was a woman’s right to be so contradictory.
“So tell me about Damien.”
She didn’t answer for almost a minute as she made herself a glass of ice water. Then she situated herself on the couch with the remote in her hand but turned the TV off.
“When I arrived in Miami, I went straight to the first club I knew Damien owned. I didn’t know what I was doing but figured I could start by asking for a job.”
Cole turned himself on his stool to face the living room. “Did you ask for him directly?”
“No, do you think I’m stupid?” she laughed sarcastically.
He shrugged as he left his food and walked to the other couch. “No, I’m just asking for details.”
She gave him a slight frown. “Well I was kinda dumb, to be honest. Thinking back, I’m sure it wasn’t just a coincidence that Damien happened to come to me later that night. I sat at the bar and had a drink and that’s when he came up and talked to me.”
“You were drinking at the bar?”
She scowled at him. “They never even asked for i.d. Anyway, he sat next to me, ordered a whiskey, and started up a conversation. Thinking about it now, it’s obvious he was directing the conversation to a point he wanted it to get to.”
“Can you be sure about that?” he asked, trying to get a feel for her interaction with the guy.
“Yeah I’m sure,” she smirked at him. “You do the same thing.”
Hmm. Noted. “So he got you to say…what? That you were looking for a job?”
“Yes, pretty much. And he seemed to know that I didn’t mean as a stripper. He didn’t even mention anything like that. Obviously I don’t have the body for it,” she motioned to herself.
He looked over whatever she was referring to. “I don’t see the problem here. You have a beautiful body.”
She stared at him for a few awkward seconds. Again a blush started to creep over her cheeks. “Ahem, no. Not like some of those girls have,” she mumbled.
Cole wanted to laugh out loud but didn’t need for her to get the wrong idea. “Well I’m not sure what your idea of a beautiful body is, but yours fits my definition of one. You have nothing to feel insecure about.”
Looking away, she cleared her throat again. “Um, well… Anyway, back to Damien. He asked me if I wanted a job and I accepted. Looking back, I realize he knew who I was. Whether Alex told him, or he had someone figure it out…I’m not sure. But I’m pretty sure he kept close tabs on me after that. I never really saw him much—he only came by the Inn a handful of times when I was there—but he was always nice to me. He even made sure I was getting by okay and offered me a few extra bucks now and then. He called them ‘loyalty tips.’ But I was desperate to make ends meet so I was grateful.”
“So tell me about that. The money. Do you owe him some?”
She glanced about, seeming embarrassed.
“Just tell me, Leah. There’s nothing you can say that would make me think anything less of you. As long as you’re honest with me, that’s all that matters.”
After a few seconds of thinking it over, she said, “I borrowed some money from him to get a car. He offered, said I could just pay it back by taking it off my hours. It was the only option I had at the time. I still have about two grand to pay off.”
“And he’s pretty adamant about it getting paid back?”
“Actually…not really. He never mentions it. But I’m just…I’m really freaked out about that kind of stuff. You hear things, you know? I just don’t want to be on anyone’s bad side.”
“And what about Scarlett? How did you meet her?”
“Well she was with Damien at the club when I first met him, but he didn’t introduce her. He left for a meeting with a couple of people and Scarlett stuck around to talk. That’s when she offered me a room to stay in. I honestly was so thankful… I wasn’t even sure where I was going to sleep that night. I only had enough money for one motel stay. So of course I said yes. Damien hadn’t offered me the loan until later.
“But a couple of weeks later Scarlett showed up at the Inn to work. Damien doesn’t share his women while they’re with him, but he let her work there again after they broke up. Anyway, we became friends,” Leah shrugged.
“She already set you up with an apartment by the
n? You said you only stayed with her a few days?”
“Yeah, she found a place I could afford, and then Damien loaned me the other money to help get me on my feet. They were actually really good to me. I kind of didn’t understand why, but just counted my luck, I guess.”
Cole bobbed his head in thought. “And when did you tell her about Alex?”
She sighed. “I was afraid to share anything with her because of her relationship with Damien and because Alex was missing and… I just didn’t know what to do. She tried to talk about my personal life on several occasions—I just thought she was being a nice person—but I was a closed book. One day I built up the courage to ask her. Since she’d been around Damien’s businesses for a while, I figured she’d know of Alex. She promised that I could trust her, so I told her he’d come looking for Damien and disappeared.”
“And what’d she say?”
“Well I told her that Alex was my boyfriend since a few years back and that I found out who his family worked for. I followed him to Miami to look for him and feared the worst. She was sympathetic. She promised she would look into it without letting Damien know. Then the next day was when Damien stopped by the Inn. He came by the salon and asked how I was doing, gave me a little tip money and said those comments about Alex keeping secrets from him.”
“And he’d never mentioned Alex to you before?”
“No. Never. And I seriously thought Scarlett had told him. I asked her about it, but she swears she didn’t say a word. Damien had said that stuff to me, gave me the address for Emilia in case I wanted to check on her, and walked away. It seriously scared the shit out of me, and since I hadn’t heard from Alex, I didn’t know what it all meant. Two days later, you showed up.”
Cole barely nodded, letting the information sink in for a little while. He wanted to keep drilling her with questions, even if it pissed her off, but she stood and said she was heading for bed. She’d basically shut down earlier after hearing about Emilia, so Cole was grateful to have gotten out of her what he had, but he could tell she was torn up inside. She was ready to hole up with her emotions and didn’t want to be bothered.
After an hour had gone by, Cole stood from the couch. He was feeling restless and wasn’t ready to attempt to sleep. There was nothing he could do about Emilia Denton and that situation—that was in the hands of the authorities and however they’d decide to proceed. Most likely it would become a federal case if Damien Glenn’s name was tied to it.
And Cole couldn’t be entirely sure how Scarlett was involved in all of it. It really pissed him off.
But Leah was now staying in his apartment for the time being. He believed it was necessary until he could figure out what kind of target she was in this game, if she was at all.
And…another trip to Miami might be due in the near future.
Chapter Sixteen
Sometimes it was necessary to drive aimlessly in the middle of the night. It was definitely not an unfamiliar routine when it came to laying all of his cards on the table to see what he had to work with. Oftentimes he would have light bulb moments that could bust a case wide open when he least expected it. Right now he wasn’t even sure if this was a case he was supposed to be a part of.
Cole had asked Cody to sit at the apartment with Leah. She’d been asleep in the bedroom and his buddy took up the couch with the television on quiet, but at least he didn’t have to worry about her being there alone. When he thought of the things Dani’s ex had put her through before Cole had taken on the case, it became personal to him. He didn’t want something else to happen to their family if it could be prevented. Until he knew more about Alex Mills’ fate and where his former boss was, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
Cole’s truck pulled up to Lindy’s Diner. It was after eleven and the ‘open’ sign was still lit, and even though he hadn’t necessarily planned on stopping here, he figured why not.
The restaurant was pretty empty—only three customers sat at one table to the right—so Cole took up a spot on the left against the wall with the best view of the entire place. He’d just sat himself down when a familiar face approached his table.
Julia.
Her smile was timid, shy almost, and for some reason it affected him more tonight. Maybe he was feeling a bit beaten down with how the day turned out, or maybe he was just straight up lonely, but he forced himself to rid his thoughts of case facts and returned her smile.
“Well hello again,” he told her.
She was setting a fresh glass of water on the table for him and flipped over the coffee mug. “Hello,” she replied, avoiding eye contact. She lifted the pot in her hand and added, “Would you like some coffee?”
He didn’t drink coffee but what the hell. He couldn’t bring himself to turn her down. “Sure, I’d love some.”
She poured it carefully as she said, “I’ll be back to take your order,” and then walked away.
Cole watched her travel to the other side of the diner to refill coffee for the other table of patrons. She was the only waitress here tonight at this late hour. When she turned around, she caught his gaze and paused. He didn’t look away but she sure did, like she was humiliated to even see him again.
Then it was like his conscience hit him all at once. The last time he’d been in here she’d been kind enough to pay for his breakfast. Not only that, she left him her phone number.
And he never called her.
“I’m a dick,” he mumbled to himself, taking a careful sip of the steaming coffee. It was disgusting, so he set it back down and slid it away from him.
Sometimes his professional life drowned out any chance he had for personal etiquette. He could tell the waitress had liked him before, and it wasn’t that he didn’t find her attractive too—she was beautiful; very natural looking with a sexy, athletic body and the nicest ass imaginable—but his mind was never on his own personal gains. His professional mode generally kept him at a distance on purpose.
She returned to his table, and whereas Cole was staring at her every move, she would barely look him in the eye. “You haven’t even opened the menu, but I’m assuming you know what you want?” she asked.
Nope, he hadn’t opened the menu and he liked the fact that she’d noticed.
“Sometimes I know what I want but I don’t really know it,” he answered.
She finally looked at him, her dark green eyes seeming intrigued by whatever he’d meant. Hell, he didn’t even know what he meant, but was feeling pretty guilty that he could rattle her so easily. Serving the guy that turned her down before was probably the last thing she wanted to be doing right now.
“Am I supposed to surprise you again?” she asked dryly.
He smiled at her tone. Apparently she was now taking offense to having done that before. “You don’t like the responsibility of making a decision for someone?” he asked.
She stared at him for a couple of seconds and then just walked away.
Hmm. Okay. She’d made it easy for him before but she wasn’t willing to do it again. Message received.
Five minutes later she returned with a plate of food and set it down in front of him. “Leftovers from our dinner special. I took extra care when I heated it in the microwave for you.”
Then she walked away again.
Cole looked down at the dish in front of him. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas. Not his favorite but he still hadn’t eaten a full dinner yet and was starving. And her behavior was acceptable. He could deal with feisty females. In fact, he was enjoying it.
She returned once to refill his water but didn’t say a word before she walked away. Cole just continued to eat, and by the time he was done, he was the only customer that remained.
Julia was standing behind the counter, wiping down the same surfaces over and over. Obviously the diner closed at midnight, and being that it was ten minutes after, she was waiting for him to leave. Even the cook came out and made a big production out of turning the neon sign off, flipping the other one to �
�closed’, and shutting off a couple of lights.
Cole stood from the table and made his way to the register. He already left her tip behind but he decided to pay his tab in person this time.
She rang him up silently, and instead of placing his change in his hand, she slid it across the counter toward him. He scooped it up and waited a few seconds for her to look at him. When she did, she paused like she didn’t know what came next.
He shoved the two dollars and twenty-three cents into his pocket and asked, “Do you have any plans?”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Now? At midnight?”
He only shrugged.
She sighed and closed the register. “Yeah, it’s called finishing up here and then walking home to get a few hours of sleep before my next job. And you?”
He thought about her answer for a moment. “You walk? This late at night? Let me give you a ride.”
She shook her head. “It’s only a couple of blocks. Robert watches from the corner before he heads the other direction. Got it covered.”
He assumed Robert was the cook banging around in the kitchen right now. “Well I’ll wait for you anyway. Navy blue truck right out front.”
He was leaving just as she said, “No thanks, I—”
But he was out the door before she finished and he was already looking forward to whatever hell she’d put him through because of his previous ignorance.
And she really did. He waited for almost an hour in his truck, and even though she was wiping down tables and counters, putting up chairs to sweep, and obviously cleaning up the diner for the night, he wondered if she was doing it as slowly as possible. Through the windows he could tell even the cook was standing around like he wasn’t used to waiting for her.
Finally all the lights were shut off except for one dim one at the entry and they both stepped out the door. But after a brief conversation, Julia walked away and the cook locked the front door from the inside.
