by PJ Fernor
“Because of Lo?”
“Of course.”
Jerry nodded. “I really wish I had paid more attention. I really had no idea what was going on. Lo mentioned Steph and I just thought it was a friend from school, or someone she met somewhere. She never said it was out front of the building.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.
“I’ve been thinking about how to approach Lo with this,” Jerry said. “Come.”
He walked to the living and pointed to the couch.
I sat first.
He sat next to me.
“Did you come here to talk about Lo and the case all night?” he asked. “I only ask because I don’t want to ramble and ruin our night.”
“I’m not sure what all I came for,” I said. “I feel guilty I’m not working. I have things in place. I have theories to explore. It just feels wrong that I’m here and there’s bad happening, that Lo is hurting.”
“Well, I would offer to go out there with you and help, but I don’t think I’m allowed.”
I smiled. “No, you’re not. The hardest part of my job is realizing there’s only so much you can do. Businesses close for the day. People can hide for a day or two. I just don’t like questions without answers.”
“Neither do I,” Jerry said. “That’s the struggle with my job too. Building trust so someone can be vulnerable without worry.”
“You’re good at your job though.”
“So are you,” Jerry said.
“I feel cursed, Jerry.”
“Cursed?”
“I came back here to take care of Lo after Alex’s death. I promised myself I wouldn’t look into her death either. I wouldn’t get lost. See, back in the city, there was a case… well, it was the case that got me my detective’s shield. I saved a little girl. But I thought there were two girls. I swore on it. The house was knocked down. No other girl was found. I almost lost my job over it. So when I came here I said I wasn’t going to do that again. My focus was Lo. But every corner I turn, she gets hurt.”
My eyes filled up with tears.
I turned my head and put my wineglass down.
Jerry put his down too.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Jerry gently placed his hand on my leg. “I’m listening, Allie. You’ve been through a lot. Without nobody to talk to.”
I nodded. “I’m worried about Lo. Not myself.”
“That’s not fair. Without you, there is no Lo. You have to worry about yourself too. For Lo.”
I looked at him again. “Are you going to charge me for this advice?”
“Do you have insurance?” Jerry asked with a grin.
“Of course I do. You know that.”
“Well, maybe we don’t need insurance,” he said.
That’s when Jerry made his move.
He touched my cheek and wiped away a tear.
Then he got closer to me.
His movements were slow and respectful toward me. Giving me plenty of time to stand up and walk away or just tell him to stop.
I didn’t want that to happen.
When Jerry’s lips brushed against mine, it felt right.
That sense of comfort went through my body again.
I leaned into him and into the kiss to make it count even more.
Jerry brought both of his hands to my face. His touch was soft, inviting. I felt the world beginning to melt away. In the recess of my mind, a devilish voice suggested maybe tonight was the right night to just let it all go. Maybe it was time to ask for a personal tour of the apartment. More specifically - the bedroom.
I was, after all, a woman. A person. With needs that went beyond the obvious of what my life had given me.
Jerry broke the kiss and grinned at me.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” he whispered. “If there’s any lines we cannot cross, please, be honest with me.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Just keep going.”
I moved in to kiss him this time.
Two seconds into our kiss, my phone began to ring.
Without hesitation, I turned my head.
My brain forgot all about kissing, needs, and pleasure.
I grabbed for my phone and saw it was Ben.
I looked at Jerry.
“You need to take that,” he said.
“It’s about the case.”
“You also need privacy,” he said.
I nodded.
“Through the kitchen you can stand on the balcony. Or better yet, I’ll leave.”
“Jerry, no,” I said.
He stood up and touched my chin. “This case means a lot to you. I’ll go for a walk for a few minutes, okay?”
“Thank you,” I said.
Jerry took his wineglass and phone and left the apartment.
The call from Ben had ended.
I quickly called him back.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
“Ben, what’s wrong?”
“First off, nobody else is dead,” he said.
“Okay. That’s good.”
“I don’t want you panicking. How’s Lo?”
I swallowed hard. “She’s…” - at home - “okay. She’s upset. She’s hurt and confused. I can’t find anything out about Steph-slash-Leslie.”
“Neither can I,” Ben said. “I called around and asked. Nobody has seen her or heard of her. It’s like she just vanished.”
“That gives me chills,” I said.
“Me too. Is there anything I can do for you? For Lo?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “That poor girl has been through enough. And I can’t stop it from happening.”
“She’s tough,” Ben said. “Like you. Like your sister.”
“Thanks.”
“I called about something else,” Ben said. “It’s a really big long shot here…”
“I live for those. You know that.”
“That’s why I called. I wanted to give you time to think it over.”
“Hit me with it.”
“I stumbled across a kidnapping case from ten years ago,” Ben said. “A possible kidnapping, trafficking case.”
“How did you find that?” I asked.
“I just started digging around. I was searching for anything at this point. Our conversation really got to me. I think you’re on to something big here. I really hope it’s just a murder. And I can’t believe I’m saying that. But I think it’s much bigger. Like you said.”
“Okay. So tell me about this kidnapping,” I said.
“Can we get together?”
“Right now?”
“Yeah. Come on over… oh, wait. Lo. I’ll stop over.”
“Wait a second,” I said. I stood up from Jerry’s couch and swallowed hard. “I can’t. I’m… I’m not home right now, Ben.”
“Oh,” he said. I felt the disappointment smack me through the phone. “Sorry for assuming you were home.”
“No, it’s fine. I was just… any lead I can get here…”
“Allie. It’s fine. I wanted to show you the details in person. Let you read through it all and give me your two cents, or ten dollars, worth.”
“Yeah. Right. Tomorrow is fine. Unless you think we should work tonight.”
“We’re going to have to go for a little drive for this one,” Ben said. “We won’t get anywhere tonight.”
“Good to know. I’ll make sure to talk to Miss Kesslier to make sure Lo is safe.”
“Good idea,” he said. “We might be chasing ghosts here.”
“That’s fine. Ghosts don’t scare me.”
“I know they don’t, Allie Down.”
“Give me something here, Ben.”
“College girl went to a party, had a drink and her life turned into hell,” he said.
“How so?”
“She blacked out, then when she came to, she remembers almost being sold.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, touching my chest. “D
id you say… sold?”
“That’s the word that caught my attention,” Ben said. “What you said stuck in my head. And then I saw that…”
“Sold,” I whispered. “Sometimes I wish I was wrong with my theories.”
“Sometimes you’ve been wrong, Allie,” Ben said.
I opened my mouth to ask what that meant when I heard the voice of a woman in the background.
“Is that… never mind,” I said.
“Oh, that? Yeah. She’s… helping Dad. You know? She’s working tonight.”
“Okay,” I said.
The apartment door opened and Jerry poked his head inside.
He looked at me and smiled.
Then he mouthed sorry and started to leave again.
I waved for him to come back inside.
It was his apartment.
I could talk to Ben tomorrow about everything else.
This conversation with Ben was going nowhere.
I couldn’t put my heart on the line with him while in the apartment of another man. And not while his girlfriend (or wherever Sandra was to him) was in his house.
“I’m going to get going here,” I said.
“Yeah, you do that,” Ben said.
“Thank you for calling.”
“No worries. You were the first person I thought about. I mean, that’s kind of like always though, you know?”
Jerry walked into the kitchen, a smile on his face.
My eyes followed.
I had no idea what I was doing.
I was good at being a detective.
Everything else in life…
“Goodnight, Allie Down,” Ben said.
“Goodnight, Ben,” I whispered.
I ended the call.
“Did I interrupt?” Jerry asked. “I was just coming to get something for a friend in the building.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “Just something about the case. Possible new lead.”
“Well that’s great,” Jerry said. “Do you need to go? Can I help with anything?”
“How about you bring your wine back over here,” I said. “We can sit back down. Talk…”
Jerry stepped from the kitchen and grinned. “We could take this somewhere else.”
“I can’t spend the night, Jerry.”
“I understand,” he said. “I would love to have you to myself all night, but I understand the circumstances. It’s just an offer.”
I looked at my phone.
I bit my lip.
Slowly, I put my phone on the table.
I took two steps and Jerry put his hand out for me to take.
He pulled me close to him.
I looked into his eyes and felt my heart racing.
I just couldn’t figure it out.
It wasn’t something crazy like love at first sight.
It was more of something personal.
His looks.
I did not want to be the woman that fell for a man’s look, but Jerry was just… pretty. Everything about him was perfectly in place. It was hard not to stare. It was even harder not to smile.
“You can spare some more time, right?” he asked.
I nodded. “Of course I can. Nothing to worry about.”
Jerry pressed his lips to my forehead.
I tried to take a breath and my throat fluttered.
I was giddy. Anxious.
With a grip on my hand, he led the way across the apartment floor.
“You don’t mind wine in the bedroom?” I asked.
“Not if it gets you there,” Jerry said with a wink.
I laughed. “You’re not the kind of guy that uses cheap moves, are you?”
“Soft music, fake candles, some cologne, and comfortable sheets? Never.”
I shook my head. “I never do this kind of thing, Jerry.”
“I know,” Jerry said. “I can sense quite a bit about you.”
We moved into the bedroom.
“Care to share the details?” I asked.
“Do you really want to keep talking, Allie?” Jerry asked.
I shut the bedroom door. “Actually… I’m done talking…”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Leaving the apartment for the day was getting harder to do. I had to make arrangements that felt like I was in charge of a baby. Not that I would ever call Lo a baby or imply that she was in the way, but her safety was everything to me.
Of course, Miss Kesslier was there to save the day.
I owed that woman drinks, food, flowers, chocolates… a kiss from Ben…
I drove to the station and met Ben outside.
It wasn’t even worth going inside.
I couldn’t have another day of pacing my office or talking to Muldavey and Garrison.
Everyone had their own theory and one of them was going to shake out to be the right one.
As for Laura, she was stuck dealing with the administrative side of it all. Calls coming in from town. Other towns. Other departments. County wanting to send their detectives in to help with the case, which meant they wanted to take it over. If that happened, I’d end up back on the porch vandalism case, which would drive me a little bit crazy.
I got in the passenger seat of Ben’s car.
There were folders on the backseat.
I started to reach for them when Ben stopped me.
His hand gently touched my arm. “Let me tell you everything first.”
“Okay.”
“Then you can go through it all and grab anything I may have overlooked.”
“Coffee?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said. “Has to be to go. We can’t sit and have a date.”
My face felt warm. “Of course.”
Ben nodded.
He moved his hand and I put on my seatbelt.
We started to drive and didn’t say a word until he stopped and got us coffees.
Once we were off again, leaving Sandemor, we spoke.
“Carla Bruchen,” he said.
“What?”
“That’s who we’re going to see. Carla Bruchen. She’s the one.”
“The one… that was sold?”
“Almost sold,” Ben said.
I shivered. “Sold. What a word.”
“Listen to this story,” Ben said. “I made a mistake about her drink. She didn’t actually drink the entire thing. Just a sip or two and it tasted off to her.”
“That saved her life,” I said.
“Yeah, it did,” Ben said. He shook his head. “I know it happens all the time, but it still amazes me that it happens.”
“And it won’t stop,” I said.
My mind instantly thought about Lo.
She was just two years away from going to college.
I couldn’t picture it…
I didn’t want to picture it.
“So, anyway,” Ben said as he cleared his throat. “Carla goes to this college party. Everything is normal. Same as always. She’s given a drink and takes a sip. It doesn’t taste good. She takes another sip. Still doesn’t taste good. Lucky for her, her instinct kicked in. She ditched the drink and poured herself another one.”
“Smart.”
“Yeah, well, the plan was for her to drink that first one and get loopy and pass out,” Ben said. “Then she was going to be taken away.”
“In the middle of a party?” I asked. “So this is a college thing?”
“Just hear it out,” Ben said. “Carla started to feel paranoid. She had a few drinks and was tipsy. But really paranoid. In the report it says she felt like someone was watching her. Following her. She told herself that whoever touched her drink was probably waiting for her to pass out. Or to show signs that she was out of it.”
“Disgusting,” I said.
“Agreed. So Carla decided to leave the party. She touched base with her two friends that were there. Here’s the tricky part. She had to walk home. And she didn’t live on campus.”
I shut my eyes for a second and nodded. “How old
again?”
“Eighteen,” Ben said. “Right out of high school. This happened in the spring of her freshman year though. She was accustomed to the campus and parties and all of that.”
“Still,” I said. “Eighteen.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “So she’s tipsy and walking home. She says she’s done it before. But as she’s walking, that feeling won’t leave her. That someone is following. Of course she’s not feeling the effects of what was given to her. So she just figures she would get back to her apartment and call it a night. Worst case, call the police. She kept her phone in her hand. Now, as crazy as it sounds, ten years ago, technology was different.”
“Don’t I know it,” I said. “Twenty years ago… thirty years ago…”
Ben nodded. “Carla is then attacked.”
“Attacked?”
“Someone comes up behind her and grabs her,” Ben said. “The attacker is bigger and stronger. Dressed in dark colors. He pulls her into an alley and never faces her. He just hurts her.”
“Hurts her?”
Ben stopped at a red light and looked at me. “The attacker knew she didn’t drink the first drink. So he slammed her head off a wall and knocked her out.”
I put my hand to my mouth. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “This was planned out, Allie. He wasn’t going to let her get away. He dragged her to a car and threw her into the backseat. We know this because Carla woke up in the backseat of the car. She didn’t panic when she woke up. She said the door was open and she heard two voices talking. Two men. They were talking about how much Carla cost.”
“He was selling her,” I whispered.
“Carla listened intently and waited to make her move,” Ben said. “The men talked about where to take her and how to make it work. They were going to make an exchange and then Carla was to be put on a private jet and flown away. Where? She didn’t know. They didn’t speak in specific terms and places.”
“Meaning it wasn’t the first time they met or did this kind of thing,” I said.
“No,” Ben said. “The report says one of the men left. Carla heard an engine start and drive off. The attacker then shut the back door to the car. That’s when Carla made a move. She crept forward and opened the other door and inched her way out as the attacker drove off. She jumped to her feet and took off.”
