CHAPTER EIGHT
“GOOD MORNING, SIR.” Vee and the new girl greet in unison as I step into my private lobby.
I walk past them both without a word. It certainly is not a good morning, and I don’t intend on pretending otherwise. Vee’s light steps are behind me the second I pass their desk. I can only tell the difference because the new girl tends to be slightly more heavy footed. Her pathetic attempts to get me to notice her are irritating. The last time she pulled that in front of Autumn, she got her ass handed to her. All I did was stand by and watch.
“What does my day look like Vee?” I ask after my office door shuts behind us. Reaching my desk, I slip off my jacket and hang it off the back of my leather chair. Vee takes her usual seat and flips open her appointment book.
“You have a meeting at nine with Jason. He said there was something that went wrong with the self sustainable mechanism he was working on. Noon, damage control. Two you have—”
“Damage control?” I ask finally look at her. “What damage control?”
“Well, sir,” she hesitates, her eyes darting everywhere but me. “The incident in Cali. It’s all over the news.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me?” I drag my fingers through my hair. All that work to keep the media out of it. I knew it wouldn’t last forever, but it wasn’t supposed to be this fast. My chest constricts making it nearly impossible to breathe. I hate dealing with the media. I’m sure Mark is already on top of finding out who got the story out. I don’t even want to think about what is being broadcasted right now.
“Wolf called this morning too.” Vee says jerking me from my thoughts, and laying a small envelope on my desk. “He said he tried to get you earlier but you weren’t answering.”
“Fine. Anything else?”
“At two you have a meeting with Marcus. He said they finished the design for the new windmills.”
I nod, but stay silent.
“Sir,” the pity in her voice makes me look up. “I’m sorry to hear about your fiancée. She was a lovely girl.”
Fury fills every limb of my body, a frantic surge of energy rushing in my veins. My jaw hurts from the force in which I’m clenching my teeth. “She is. She is, a lovely girl. She isn’t dead. She’s missing. And she’s alive.”
“You’re right.” She says quickly, her eyes widening as she raises her hands. “My apologies.”
I take a deep breath reigning in my sudden rage. She doesn’t know any better. The media must have everything twisted around already. I would have preferred she ask me first. Internally I roll my eyes. Yeah because I’m handling it so well right now. “I’m sorry Vee.”
She gives me a faint nervous smile then quickly retreats my office. I slump in my chair dropping my head in my hand. I shouldn’t be here. The last thing I need is to be lashing out at my staff and clients. Jumping up to tell Vee to cancel my afternoon, the sound of a phone vibrating distracts me. I pull a small vibrating phone from the envelope Vee handed me earlier out.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Wolf. I can’t trust your phone not being tapped. I’m sure you have heard already, but it’s been leaked.” Damn it! Who would want that type of attention? “There’s more. I received the rest of the employee files thanks to Mark. There is no one under the name Luke as a paramedic. I’m looking around at other hospitals to see if he was helping out that night, but that is a stretch.”
“Are you telling me that Luke doesn’t exist?” Is he the one behind all of this?
“Not as a paramedic. Sounds like he was impersonating one. Kage, that makes this personal. I can’t tell if it’s an attack directly on you, her, or you both.”
“What about the fire?”
“Nothing new sir. The gas leak was from a worn tubing and I’m still waiting for the report on the short. It’s looking more intentional, but I’m not sure we are going to be able to prove that. I can tell you if it was, they were professionals.” He pauses, “When did the paramedics show up?”
“Not long after I put her down and started running back for her family. Why?”
“Are there emergency services close to her family home?”
“Not really.” Where is he going with this?
“All right. I will get back to you on it.”
Knowing his trail of thought, I swallow past the lump and bile in my throat. “Then why take her to the hospital?”
“You. I’m going to send copies of the employee files to Mark. I need you to go through them all and pull flag everyone you saw that night. Then make a list of who you didn’t. I’m betting the three in the ambulance don’t work at any hospital.”
“Three?”
“Yes. Luke, his partner, and the driver. The license plate, I should be able to get from the footage.”
Why didn’t they just take care of me at the time then? “Don’t those trucks have trackers?”
“They should.” He pauses the inhales sharply when he realizes what I have said. “Yes, I should be able to see what trucks were taken out that night. But don’t get your hopes up, Kage.”
“It was real. It looked real.”
“I mean they could have bought an old one. They could have bought a truck and made it look like one.”
My brow furrows, my stomach churning. “Why go to such lengths?”
“That is why I think the fire was intentional. The ambulance showed up too quickly. They were on the scene before any other emergency vehicles, and they tried to leave without you. It’s suspicious. I think they were waiting for just the right time to swoop in.”
“So they had to be close enough to watch me put her down and then run back toward the house.”
“Possible. It sounds the most plausible right now. If it is intentional, it is personal.”
My throat constricts. I look around for a drink but Mark must have removed my bar cart. Damn him. I have to pull myself together enough to get through this first meeting. How am I going to keep my mind focused?
“One more thing, Kage.”
“What is it?”
He heaves a heavy sigh. “If I’m correct, and this is an attack. If the ambulance turns out to be a fake. The men impersonating paramedics. If the license plates on the truck turn into a dead end.” He pauses long enough for dread sneak in filling my body. “It may be a very long time before we find her. This entire event has been planned down to the last detail.”
“I don’t want to think about that. I just want us to focus on finding her.” My chest aches at the thought. What would have happened if I didn’t make it to the ambulance that night? “Is this a ransom?”
Wolf hesitates, then intakes a heavy breath. “Honestly, I don’t think so. If it was they should have contacted you by now.”
“What about the note?”
“Wasn’t a ransom note. If it was they would have asked for money. It was just drilling home what you already know deep down.”
“You’re not giving up are you?” I ask despite the hole I feel in my gut.
“Of course not.” He breathes out.
Even though he can’t see me, I nod as relief floods through me. I fear that Mark and Wolf will be the only ones supporting me for however long this takes. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Actually, yes. Since I need to figure out if this is a personal attack to you, or both of you, I need you to research her family.”
“Like what? And what does that have to do with anything?”
“Was she poor or rich?”
“Wealthy. But her father was an entrepreneur. So what?”
“Because if this is an attack against her I need to know everything to figure out why. What schools she went to. Is she from old or new money? Old boyfriends or crushes we need to know about. I know all about you. I need to know about her. Find out what you can and send it over.”
“Well, I know most of that already.”
“But you don’t know it all. So, please get me everything. Anything that could be used as leverage. I have Mark already working on past people for you.”
A knock at the door followed by Vee peering around the door halts my conversation. “I’m sorry, sir, but your nine has just arrived.”
“Thank you, Vee. Give me a minute then send them in.”
She gives me a soft smile the dips back out closing the door behind her. “Anything else I can do Wolf?”
“No, that’s it for now. I’ll let you know if something changes. And, watch your back, Kage.” His voice heavy with unspoken words of she might no be coming home.
I hang up just as Jason walks in, a bright smile that doesn’t reach his eyes plastered on his face. My gut twists knowing that the pity glowing there is about what the media has twisted around about the event. I can only hope they kept her name out of it. Damn vultures. We shake hands and Jason takes a seat in front of my desk, immediately launching into the problems he’s been having. Unfocused my mind continues to stray as he drones on.