Chapter Four

_________

 

Dominic

 

 

 

 

I’d watched the house for at least thirty minutes from my rental car, and several people had stumbled out to their cars during that time. Most of them were squinting at the sun and moving with the sort of aimless, relaxed energy of people who had nothing important to do whatsoever. There was no sign of Leah or her mom until a red topless Jeep squealed to a stop alongside the curb, and my attention caught on the blond woman who climbed out from the passenger’s side. It was hard to tell for sure with the black sunglasses she was wearing, but I was almost positive she was Leah’s mother. The driver of the Jeep, a skinny blond guy, jumped out from behind the wheel and caught up to the woman as she started to approach the house. He said something to her that I couldn’t make out across the distance, and he didn’t touch her but his body language was familiar and casually possessive. I watched them enter the house and carelessly leave the front door open behind them – something I was shaking my head at, even as I swept in to take advantage.

I could hear the angry voices halfway between my car and the house, and I paused outside the screen door just long enough to put the edge pieces together. It appeared the drama was centered around the guy who came in with Leah’s mom, and that was so far from my area of concern I quickly dismissed it from my mind and entered the house. No one even noticed me as I walked in, so I took a minute to assess the area. It was obvious I was walking into the aftermath of a party; there was leftover trash everywhere and a body passed out on the couch. Three people sat around a kitchen table in back, all on their phones but taking quick peeks at the argument in progress, unable to hide their interest. I kept an eye on them as I moved in further, making sure those phones were aimed down and not trying to record any of this. My primary focus, however, honed in on my target.

Leah was facing off against her mother, and my first thought upon seeing her for the first time was that she looked different from her pictures. I mean, clearly there’s always a difference when you’re comparing a flat image to a live, three-dimensional person, but this went beyond that. It wasn’t just the slightly messy hair or the bare feet, and it wasn’t the clean face or the wrinkled blue t-shirt and plaid cotton shorts. It was more that she looked younger and wild and raw somehow, with none of the plastic or poise I’d expected. Fury lit up her eyes and emotion crackled from her body like something electric and alive, giving me the uncomfortable feeling that I was intruding somewhere I shouldn’t. Which, of course, I was, but normally I wouldn’t have felt wrong about it. Not on a job. Shaking it off, I surged ahead with a fixed resolution that was probably partly in spite of my own brief hesitation. With nearly perfect timing, Leah’s mom told her to go back to New York, and I took that as my cue.

“Come on, Leah. Let’s get out of here.”

I wasn’t exactly sure why I chose to approach her in such a familiar way. Maybe it was that the scene I was walking into was so personal, and she was outnumbered and clearly upset. It just seemed like someone should have her back, so I stepped into that role without a second thought. And, as she looked up at me with a startled, confused expression, I didn’t immediately  pull my badge or call Thomas, or any of the official shit I was supposed to do. I needed her to trust me, and so I did what I always did. I went with my instinct.

The thing about instinct, though, is that it’s not always infallible. Her eyes sharpened with realization almost right away, and I knew she knew who I was. That was when her face hardened, her fury from before swooping in and directing itself all on me.

“Seriously? He sent you after me? Oh, my God. No.”

“Who is this, Leah? Do you know him?” This was from the mother, but I didn’t take my focus off Leah for a second.

She didn’t look away from me either, even as she answered her mom’s question. “He works for my father.”

“Oh,” the woman said flatly. “Of course he does.”

Leah’s response had actually made me a little curious. “You know me?”

“Yeah, I know you.” She didn’t sound too pleased by this, but I guess you couldn’t really blame her. “I’ve seen you at his office.”

That surprised me, because I was positive I’d never seen her in person before, and I wasn’t used to being observed without observing back. I was usually the one aware of everything and everyone around me while being unobtrusive, part of the background. And while Leah might not have been anything resembling my type, she was undeniably hot, and I couldn’t imagine not noticing her if she were ever around. But I moved past that little tidbit, focusing on the matter at hand. And it actually worked to my favor, because I didn’t have to waste time trying to convince her I wasn’t there to kidnap her.

Even if I basically was.

“Look, you want to get out of here?” I asked this quietly, leaning in a little like it was 3 am at the club and I was inviting her back to my place. It was an offer of escape from a clearly toxic situation, and it was one I thought she might go for. No, it wasn’t a selfless gesture on my part, but it could lead to a mutually beneficial outcome. At the very least, it was preferable to using force.

I noted the way her cheeks flushed, but she crossed her arms and stepped back into her own space. “Uh, no? I’m not going anywhere with you. This is my mother’s house, you can’t just walk in here like this.”

“Come outside and talk to me, then. Away from all this.” I gestured toward her mother and the slack-jawed blond kid and the eavesdropping trio in the kitchen. “I’m not going to touch you or make you go anywhere you don’t want to go. I just want to talk.”

She scoffed like she didn’t believe a word of it, but then her mother spoke.

“Just go, Leah. It’s for the best. You shouldn’t be here, and I don’t want to be involved in whatever this is.”

Leah slowly looked back over at her mom, not even trying to hide the hurt on her face. “Mom…”

The woman had the presence of mind to look at least somewhat shamed. “Look, I’m sorry I’m not who you wanted me to be. You’re better off with your father. Everyone’s always known it, and now you do, too. So just go back to him.”

“How can you…” Whatever she was going to ask was stopped short, and she quickly shook her head. “I’m not going with this guy. I’m going to call my dad so I can rid of him. Then I’ll figure out everything else.” She started toward the stairs, but turned and held a hand up when I followed her. “You stay here. Do not follow me.”

“Sorry,” I said unapologetically. “Where you go, I go.”

She shot a look to her mom as if she thought the woman would back her up, but Ashley only said, “Don’t forget you left your shoes in my room.” Even I felt the sting of those words, because though there was something hesitant and maybe a little regretful in them, their meaning was pretty clear. Get your shit and go.

After a beat, Leah turned to me with a stone face and said, “You know what? You win. I’m going to go get dressed.”

I nodded like I’d expected nothing less, and this time she didn’t try to stop me when I followed her. She was fast going up the stairs, though, like she was trying to lose me, and she attempted to shut the door behind her after speeding into the back bedroom. I stopped it just in time and she spun around, eyes widening in surprise, apparently caught off guard by how close behind her I was. Then, the surprise shifted into anger.

“Excuse me? I’d like some privacy.”

Stepping inside, I scoped out the room, noting the two windows that looked sealed shut. They were the only way in or out, and they wouldn’t open without a lot of accompanying noise. Glancing back at the pissed off girl in front of me, I said, “Let’s talk first.”

“Let’s not.”

Ignoring that, I lifted the edge of my shirt and tucked it behind my badge so the Canton stamp was visible. Then I got the official shit out of the way. “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Dominic Weber. I’m part of the security team at Canton, and I’ve been assigned to you while you’re in California. Call or text Thomas and he’ll send verification.”

Resistance was all over her face, but she went over to the table by the bed to retrieve her phone. I kept a close eye on her movements as the device powered on, and I could tell when she got the information because her whole body seemed to deflate. She tossed the phone on the bed and stared at me for a minute. Then she said, like she was explaining an obvious bit of information that had somehow managed to escape me, “I don’t want a bodyguard.” 

Without a beat, I said, “Well, you have one. And I think you’ll find I’m not as easily distracted as Isaacs.” I said this with a hint of a smile, like it was a joke we were in on together, but we both knew it was only to soften the warning.

I watched her eyes darken, and though she tried to act cool, every inch of her was on guard from me. I could practically feel her trying to size me up, but I was too well schooled to show anything I didn’t want her to see. “Will you leave if I ask you to?”

“Do I really need to answer that?”

“That’s illegal. I haven’t signed off on this, and I don’t agree to it.”

I shrugged, glancing at the phone on the bed. “So call the cops.”

A ripple of anger crossed over her face, and for a second I wondered if she would actually do it. Logically I knew she probably wouldn’t, but I already knew she was impulsive, and I was starting to catch a glimpse of her temper. Those things together made her unpredictable, and I didn’t like unpredictable.

In the end, though, she just exhaled and muttered, “This is so stupid.”

It was the first signal of defeat, and I jumped on it. “Look, I’m not going to get in your way. Your father wants someone out here with you, that’s all. He wants someone making sure you’re safe, and that’s all I’m going to do. You’re still free to do whatever you want to do.”

“Spare me the bullshit. He wants to force me to come home.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong about the ‘force’ part. “Would that really be so bad, though? I mean, are you having any fun here?”

She looked over toward the door, then shook her head so subtly you could have blinked and missed it. “I need to get out of here.” The words were quiet and angled away from me, like she was speaking to herself.

“Let’s get out of here, then.” It was a full-on agreement to the obvious solution. “Why don’t you get your stuff together, and I’ll wait out in the hall while you get dressed.”

After a few seconds, she faced me again and nodded. I started toward the door, but her voice stopped me just before I got there. “I saw you before. At the office, with Davis.”

I tried to get a read of her face to determine where she was going with this, but the curiosity from before stepped in again. “So you said. I don’t remember that. I didn’t see you.”

“I know. You were different when you didn’t know anyone was watching.”

That bothered me and I didn’t really know why. The fact that she’d apparently observed me without my notice made it feel like she had an advantage I didn’t want her to have. “Okay,” I said tonelessly. “Are you going somewhere with this?”

She shrugged. “You were more real, that’s all. Not like you are now, with your buddy-buddy comrade-in-arms bullshit. So you can just stop all that. You’re not manipulating me, and you’re not as smooth as you think you are. My leaving has zero to do with your influence.”

I kept my expression blank, even as I was caught in the middle of some weird pull between agitation and actual amusement. In spite of how defenseless she looked, she could definitely cut someone down to size. I should have kept in mind that I was dealing with the girl who fought a kidnapper off when she was all of fifteen years old. “Got it,” I said, moving to exit the room. “You have five minutes.”

“I have as long as I want.” And, with that, she pretty much slammed the door in my face.

 

 

She kept me waiting closer to ten minutes while I stood outside the room listening to the obnoxious voices and laughter coming from downstairs. I identified one of the loudest voices as Ashley’s, who apparently gave no actual shits about her daughter whatsoever. My mom looked like Mother of the Year compared to her, and that was saying something. I looked back toward the door when it opened, and I noted the sleeveless white top and denim shorts Leah was now wearing. A long purse strap crossed over her body from shoulder to hip, settling between her breasts and accentuating them in a way I couldn’t help but notice. Pulling her suitcase behind her, she looked ready to go except for one thing: she was still barefoot.

“Forget your shoes?” This was my way of saying to grab them so we could go.

“They’re in my mom’s room.” Just after she said that, her mom’s laughter rang out, and Leah whipped her head in that direction. She looked startled and pissed, all at once, like she’d momentarily forgotten the scene downstairs and now remembered with a fresh wave of anger. Then she looked back at me, nothing in her face softening. “Look, now that I’m in compliance, I want to establish a few ground rules. You work for my father. That means you don’t question me, and you don’t tell me what to do. Your place is in the background, shadowing me. And try to remember that shadows don’t make any noise. We clear?”

My expression didn’t change as I regarded her. I had about a dozen retorts warring to unleash on the little princess, and luckily, this actually had the effect of silencing me before I had a chance to voice any of them. What she was saying might have been true on a normal job, but she obviously had no idea how much authority over her I’d actually been given. And I wasn’t ready to divulge my hand. Not yet. Plus, the haughty princess routine was pretty fucking transparent at this point, since I’d already seen her without it. So we had a silent stand-off for a few seconds before her phone started ringing from her pocket, which saved either of us from saying anything else. In a blur, she turned and headed to the room opposite from where she’d been staying, digging her phone out at the same time. Slowly, I followed and settled myself in the doorway, watching as she lifted the phone to her ear and started looking around, presumably for her shoes. She answered the call in the casual, familiar way of a close friend, which meant it most likely wasn’t her dad or Thomas.

“Yeah. I’m still at my mom’s, but I’m about to leave. I know, it was just…” She darted a glance at me and lowered her voice. “Hold on a sec.” Bringing the phone to her chest to muffle the sound, she said to me, “I’m taking this in private. Please wait outside.”

I bristled at her tone, but I kept it down and took a quick look around the fluffy, overtly feminine room. There was an overflowing walk-in closet to the left and a brightly lit bathroom to the right. A huge, unmade bed took up a good deal of the floor space and, just beyond that, there was a slim door covered in white lace curtains. I made my way over to check it out, but she was closer and intercepted me.

“It’s the balcony,” she said, reaching over to unlock the door and pull it open. “It’s twelve feet off the ground. No one’s getting in from there.” I went out to quickly examine the area. There were no stairs down, no ladders, just a direct view of the pavement on the patio twelve feet down. I went back in and she pushed the door close, twisting the lock. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. Please wait outside and watch my suitcase.”

I couldn’t resist narrowing my eyes at her a bit in silent warning. Still, I conceded, because I was eager to get this over with and get back home. “I’ll be right at the door. Hurry up.”

Outside the room, I listened at the door and tried to pick out some of her conversation, but it was too quiet against all the noise downstairs. All I could hear were muffled words, something about New York, and the occasional short laugh. After several minutes of this, I got impatient and tapped on the door. “Leah?”

No response, but I heard a soft laugh that made the first glimmer of unease crawl up my spine. Something wasn’t right about that laugh. Something wasn’t right about any of this. I was absolutely certain of that all of a sudden, and I wasted no more time before opening the door and barging inside. And she wasn’t there. My eyes searched that room longer than they should have, past the point of certainty, as if clinging to the possibility that I was somehow wrong. But she was gone, the balcony door was open, and her phone was laying face up on the bed, the recorded sound of her voice playing from the speaker. If I’d been able to hear it more clearly I would have realized how canned it sounded, with fake, inane bits of conversation, all what had to be less than twenty seconds of recording playing on repeat.

“Yeah…I know…it doesn’t matter…of course she did, that’s what I keep telling you…uh-huh…I don’t think so…sure, maybe when I get back to New York (laugh).”

It kept playing on a loop as I went out to the balcony, frantically searching for any trace of her in the open backyard but coming up empty. The world outside was still and quiet, giving me absolutely nothing. I looked down at the thin columns that held the balcony up, noting these tiny notches etched them that I had somehow missed before. It didn’t look like a comfortable climb down, but it was the only way she could have gone. Fuck. Striding back into the house, I didn’t even slow as I grabbed the phone off the bed and made the offending recording go silent, then I grabbed her suitcase and stormed downstairs and out the front door. Ashley and her little followers went quiet as I swept past, watching me with wide eyes, but I didn’t waste time with any of them. Instead, I went straight for my car and pulled up Leah’s call history. Someone had called back in the house but it was from an unnamed local number. Going into her messages, I found a text from the same number.

Hi, this is your Uber. I’m parked around the corner from your address on Grove St. per your instructions.

Her reply: Great, can you please call me in exactly two minutes? I’m trying to escape a friend’s house lol. I’d appreciate it so much and will tip extra! This was followed by three smiley face emojis.

Shaking my head, I almost wanted to laugh. She’d been playing me the whole time, and I’d fallen for it like I was new to the game. It wasn’t a big deal, I told myself as I started driving around the corner onto Grove Street. She didn’t have her phone or any of her shit. There was the possibility that she had another phone her dad didn’t know about, which would make it that much harder to find her. But I had a whole security team at my disposal, and I was going to make use of them.

I didn’t even consider that I wouldn’t find her. That was not going to happen.

A quick phone call to Davis had him watching her bank accounts and keeping me updated via text. I didn’t disclose the fact that I’d already come into contact and then lost her in a dumb, rookie mistake. I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t need to know, just put him on lookout while I searched for the girl and tried to come up with where she might have gone. I pulled up Uber on her browser but she’d logged out, so that got me nowhere. Davis looked out for hotel or airline charges, or any ATM withdrawals. Those typically showed online right away.

Last ATM withdrawal Thursday before she left NY.

Last purchases Uber today, Clover Juice Co. and another Uber yesterday, charges still pending.

The address he sent me for the juice place was on Main Street in the direction I was already heading, so I continued that way. She was likely to go somewhere familiar while she worked out her next move, so it was as good a place to start as any. Davis was having Tricia at work trying to get into Leah’s Uber account, and I drove by Clover Juice while I waited for any new information. I carefully looked through the crowds of people I passed for a white shirt and long, wavy dark hair. After a few minutes of coming up empty, I got a text saying a charge debited the available credit on her credit card, but it didn’t show where it originated. It wasn’t an ATM withdrawal and it was an even three hundred, which pointed to hotel authorization rather than airfare. Tricia called Leah’s bank, claiming to be Leah, and she was able to get a hotel name from their system, which got us an address. It was a location not even ten miles away. I didn’t exactly sigh in relief, because I wasn’t letting my guard down around this girl anymore, but I did feel the smallest sense of satisfaction that I was that much closer to tracking her down.