Chapter 3
One month later
Walking into the bar, Marcia Creston slid onto the padded barstool, her confidence shining as she took a long, purposeful gaze around. Unabashedly checking out the single men, she turned back to the bartender. Not recognizing him from her previous visits to Eclipse, she ordered her drink.
Her phone buzzed and, glancing at her messages, she saw Angel was not going to be able to make it for drinks. Giving an inward shrug, she texted a regretful acknowledgment. It did not take long for a shadow to pass on her left side, a man’s arm setting his drink onto the bar next to hers. She waited the requisite minute, to make him wonder, and then twisted her head to see if she were interested. Hmmm, not bad.
Her phone buzzed again and she texted Angel to let her know that she was being replaced by the gentleman who now sparked her interest. With a grin, she dropped her phone into her purse and turned her attention to the man who was now leaning toward her.
This could be a very interesting night.
*
Monty pulled up to Chad’s house and watched as his large, dark-haired friend and co-worker jogged down the front steps before hopping into Monty’s SUV.
“Thanks for the ride, man,” Chad greeted. “I thought my truck would pass inspection but it needed brake work.”
“No problem,” Monty laughed. “But when are you going to replace that hunk-a-junk?”
“I’ll keep it as long as I can,” Chad replied easily. “I know it’s an eyesore next to all y’alls fancy trucks, but it’s got sentimental value.”
Monty sobered, knowing the old jalopy of Chad’s had belonged to one of his former ATF Bomb Squad buddies who died. His mother had not wanted the old truck and gave it gladly to Chad. “Well, as long as someone can keep it running, you might as well drive it,” Monty agreed.
The two men talked about current cases the Saints were working on as they drove to the compound, located securely underneath Jack’s massive house on twenty acres nestled next to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The back of the property butted against part of the parkway and a winery with acres of grapevines. The other side faced Mountville Cabin Rental and Wedding Venue, owned by Bethany, Jack’s wife.
Driving through the gate after entering the security code, the men headed to the house that Jack, and now Bethany, lived in. The large log structure resembled a luxury rental cabin, but underneath housed the Saints’ compound. Rooms full of equipment needed for their security business, plus the huge conference room filled with computers that assisted them with their investigations.
The Saints all lived nearby, although they did not meet at the compound daily. They generally held meetings there twice a week, unless an active case required them to gather more often. It seemed lately, as busy as they were, they met more frequently. Pulling to the front of the house, they saw the vehicles of most of the Saints already there.
“Sorry if I made us late,” Chad said.
“We’re good on time,” Monty replied, glancing down at his dashboard clock.
“Yeah, but we don’t want to be stuck with the crumbs.”
Bethany baked muffins or massive cobblers when she knew the men were called for special meetings. Her reputation among the Saints meant that none of them wanted to be late.
Hustling up the broad front steps and into the foyer, they were not disappointed to see her just pulling out the apple-peach coffeecake from the oven. The other Saints piled around, plates at the ready. The greetings made the rounds as she served the hot cake.
“Damn, I thought you two would be late and I’d get your piece,” Bart, a large, former SEAL declared, trying to elbow Chad out of the way.
“I made up the time it took to pick Chad up,” Monty confessed, winking at Bethany. “Wasn’t going to miss this.”
The Saints headed down to the conference room to grab coffee along with their treat. Luke, a former CIA analyst, bypassed the Keurig and made his own, super-charged coffee. Seeing the bemused looks of the others, he shook his head and continued toward his computer station.
“Fuck, it must be a doozy of a meeting if Luke’s getting his caffeine fix so early,” said Blaise, a Nordic blond, sitting down to shovel the tasty morsel into his mouth. A veterinarian, whose government career had been with DEA, was also their medic.
Marc, sitting next to Blaise, looked over remarking, “I swear you’ve got black fur on your sleeve. I didn’t think you had a black pet.”
Blaise glanced down, shrugging. “I adopted a little black cat and she likes to sleep on my pile of clothes from the dryer.”
“So all your clean clothes get covered in cat fur?” Marc asked. The former CIA pilot loved his dogs, but had never been a cat person.
Blaise’s fork stopped halfway to his mouth as he turned and looked over at his friend. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
Shaking his head, Marc laughed. “Not a damn thing, man.”
Monty, always meticulous with his clothes, caught Marc’s gaze and shook his head as well, grinning. Blaise had better find an animal lover girlfriend or his bachelor days will continue.
The last two Saints came down the stairs. Cam, a former undercover police detective, plopped down in his chair, dark circles underneath his eyes. Seeing the curious gazes from his co-workers, he answered with one word. “Miriam.”
The others nodded, knowing that his pregnant wife spent most mornings from about four a.m. until seven a.m. throwing up.
“Is she doing okay?” Jude asked. The newest Saint had readily slid into the camaraderie of the group.
“Yep. If she can make it to about seven or eight o’clock, then she’s good the rest of the day.”
Jack stepped into the room, eyeing the empty plates of his men. A no-nonsense, former Special Forces soldier, he sat at the table. The others immediately pushed their plates to the side and grabbed their tablets. Luke was already loading them with the information Jack had supplied him.
“I’ve been contacted by the governor and Senator Creston,” Jack began. “His daughter, Marcia Creston, was declared missing yesterday morning when she did not show up at her office.”
Every pair of eyes stayed riveted to their screens as Jack continued. “It hasn’t hit the news because the Senator wants to keep it quiet. The FBI knows we’ve been contacted and we’re moving this to top priority. Agent Mitch Evans will coordinate with Monty again in this case.”
“What have we got so far?” Chad inquired.
Luke added more information to their tablets. “Here’s her picture. It was taken two months ago for her business cards.”
Monty startled as he eyed the dark-haired, beautiful woman. “I’ve seen her.” The others looked at him and he continued, “About a month ago, she was with a group of women at a restaurant that I was at.” A flash of Cupcake flew through his mind—not the first time since that night.
“You notice anything unusual at the time?” Jack demanded.
Shaking his head, Monty said, “No. There were about six women having a gathering. From their greetings, it looked like they all knew each other for a while.”
“She runs a small investment firm, although she is under a corporate headquarters.”
“Daddy’s influence probably helped with her career since she is a local president at her age,” Blaise surmised.
“I’m looking into the financial aspect of her company,” Luke said, “but first I’ve been trying to get the initial police and FBI reports.”
“Give me a second and let me see if I can get Mitch.” Monty stepped away from the table to call his FBI contact, Mitch Evans, who had worked with the Saints on another case.
“Mitch? It’s Monty Lytton. You know Jack’s been tasked for the Senator’s daughter? Yeah, can I patch you in?” Monty looked at Luke and nodded. Luke made the connection and in a few seconds, Mitch’s face appeared on their tablets.
“Good to be working with you all again,” Mitch greeted. “Just wish to hell it wasn’t for something like this.”
“What can you tell us?” Jack asked.
“Marcia Creston did not show up at work yesterday. Her assistant called several times and then finally went to Marcia’s condo. She had a key, given to her by her boss for when Ms. Creston was out of town and the assistant would water plants and pick up her mail. She went inside and found nothing unusual, but it appeared as though Marcia had not been home the night before.”
“Did it ever occur to daddy that maybe his grown daughter was just out all night partying or with someone?” Bart asked. He leaned forward, his forearms resting on the table, his expression full of concern. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but most parents have no idea how their adult children spend some of their…um…recreational time.”
“According to the Senator, and the assistant corroborated, Marcia was a consummate professional. She had a Tuesday morning meeting and would never have missed it. Given the prominence of the Senator, the police did not wait for the usual amount of time for a missing person’s report to be filed. He went straight to the head of the FBI.”
Luke sent the FBI initial report to the tablets showing her apartment. Before the Saints could ask questions, Mitch continued.
“Initial investigation from this morning showed no fingerprints on the doorknobs.”
“They were wiped?” Monty queried.
“Yeah, someone was thorough with their fingerprints.”
“What do you need from us, besides the usual?” Jack asked.
“Right now, just check her background, business, and finances,” Mitch answered.
“Was she in a sorority?” Monty wondered aloud.
Mitch shrugged, replying, “Don’t know. Why?”
“I saw her a month ago with a group of women and I thought I heard one of them talking about their sorority days.”
“I’ll let you check that out. We’re short staffed here right now and, with a heightened terrorist possibility in D.C., I don’t see me getting new agents, even with the profile of our victim.”
“We’ll let you know what we find,” Jack promised. Disconnecting with Mitch, he turned to his group. Eyeing Monty, he said, “You’re on point with this case. I’d suggest you start with finding who her friends are.”
Monty nodded, glad for the vote of confidence from his boss. He wanted to tell himself that checking for Cupcake would just be another part of the job, but he knew he would be lying. She hasn’t been far from my mind in weeks. Refusing to think of her as anything other than a possible interviewee, he could not stop the pounding of his heart.
*
A few hours later, back on video-conference with Mitch, the Saints pulled together again to review their initial investigation findings.
Monty began, “We know she was recently promoted to president of the investment company over several others and while no one would speak directly about the situation, from the initial FBI report, I’ll bet there were hard feelings amongst a few of her co-workers.”
“I’ve got nothing yet on her finances, either personal or the business. From outward appearances, there’s nothing unusual standing out, but I’ve only begun to dig,” Luke added.
“The FBI interviewed the assistant and, with another walk through the apartment, she still says that she sees nothing out of place other than Marcia’s laptop is missing. But she also cannot swear that it was taken home that day,” Jude said.
Monty interrupted. “My initial digging came up with a number of social acquaintances, an active social media presence, some close friends. We’re going to start interviewing them today.”
Jack nodded his agreement. “Monty, I want you to stay close, so you investigate the ones here. Blaise and Chad, you take her friends in D.C. Bart, you and Cam go back and check out her apartment and office. Monty, when you go to interview the Senator, take Jude with you. Luke’ll be digging into the finances and Marc, I want all the background info you can get for us.”
Bart and Cam fist bumped each other, knowing their assignment came from their skills with breaking and entering undetected. Bart’s from his years as a SEAL and Cam’s from his early delinquent youth.
Mitch, still on video chat, rolled his eyes. “Don’t even want to guess what the fuck you two will do, but you find anything, let me know so we can get the evidence legally.” He then asked, “Monty? You wondered if she was in a sorority. She was and I’ll send you the info that came in from her college records on that.”
Signing off, the Saints then turned to the table to continue their meeting. “I’ve confirmed that you’ll meet with the Senator and his wife this afternoon at two p.m.,” Jack said to Monty. “You can interview the friends later in the afternoon.”
As the men moved to their workstations, each with their tasks, Monty fired up his secure laptop. Quickly going through the university information sent to him, he focused on the sorority. An old yearbook photograph showed a group of women posed perfectly for the camera. A small group of only twenty women, he searched the faces. He knew he should be looking for Marcia Creston first, but his gaze landed on a beautiful blonde with a wide smile, seemingly without a care in the world…his Cupcake. There were no colorful streaks in her hair, but the same vivaciousness he had witnessed in the restaurant was present in the photograph from six years prior.
Angel Cartwright. Angel. Fuck, if that name doesn’t just fit. A quick internet search brought up Angel’s Cupcake Heaven. Damn, she’s the creator of the delicious swirls of color that had been all over my mouth at my niece’s party. He continued to peruse her website, learning that she was indeed the owner of the premier cupcake bakery and designer in the area. Her website sported an up-close photograph, the same winning smile aimed at the camera. The pink, purple, and teal colors in her hair flowed across the screen. Quickly noting her location, he realized he would be able to interview her after meeting with the Senator.
“Got anything interesting?” Jude asked, looking over Monty’s shoulder.
Quickly covering, Monty replied, “Just checking to see if any of Marcia’s old sorority sisters were at the restaurant where I saw her a couple of months ago.”
“See anyone familiar?”
“Yeah, several of them,” he said noncommittally. “I’ll interview one on my way back from the Senator.” Looking up at Jude, he asked, “You ready?”
“Yeah, but I’ll need to stop by my apartment to grab my suit first.” Glancing down at his jeans, he said, “Sorry, boss. Wasn’t expecting to meet the Senator today.”
Jack nodded as Monty and Jude headed up the stairs, saying goodbye to Bethany on their way out.
Monty sat in his SUV waiting for Jude to change clothes staring at his tablet again. The picture of Angel Cartwright staring back at him, her smile lighting up the screen. What would it be like to have that aimed at me? Just once, have that kind of light aimed at me. He hoped that afternoon, he would have that chance.