Chapter Five – Molly

 

The handsome not-a-cop at my passenger window straightened up a little, his broad shoulders back and perfectly straight. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, ma’am.”

God, what was I thinking? My friend might be kidnapped, this guy was telling me there was some kind of killer on the loose, and the people up at the top of the hill might be involved in some way, and here I was attempting to invite a stranger into my missing friend’s car.

But one look at him, with his square jaw, and those soulful eyes of his, and I couldn’t help but feel something special towards him. Not romantic, or anything—definitely nothing like that. But that he was trustworthy. That he was dependable, and a man of his word.

Most importantly, I was sure of one thing else: he was genuinely concerned about Heidi, and about my safety.

“Come on,” I said as he backed away a little from the car. “You want up there, and I want to help my friend.”

“No.”

I sighed. “Look. It’s my friend up there. Not yours. If anything happens to her, and I don’t do what I can to help, I don’t know how I’m going to live with myself. Period.” I paused, biting my lower lip in indecision. “Listen, do you regret anything in your life? Anything at all?”

He looked down at the road for a second. When he looked back up, I could see the pain of guilt and long-ago trauma swimming in his eyes. “More than you know, ma’am.”

I sighed. “Then you understand why I need to do something. Why I need to help her.”

“How about this?” he asked, his words tentative and probing, like this was the beginning of a chess game, and he was making his opening moves. “Why don’t you tell me how you were going to get up there, and I’ll see what I think. Deal?”

“Okay,” I said, shifting in my seat so I could face him a little bit better. “I know the password to get by the gate and get inside.”

“Perfect,” he said, grasping the top of the door. “Just give me the password, ma’am, and I can get right in there.”

I smiled briefly, but quickly frowned. “Yeah,” I replied, dragging out the word, “and that’s a no. What do you think they’re going to do if you go wandering in there all by yourself? You’d make it to the front door, and they’d kick your butt right back down the hill when they realized you don’t belong up there.”

“How’re you supposed to help me with that?” he asked. “No offense, but the password could be wrong, or they could have changed it already. How does you coming up with me fix any of that?”

I shrugged. “You’d be my security.” I looked him up and down, at least the part I could see. “Sure, why not?”

He shook his head, backing up a little from the passenger side window. “No way. No way am I dragging you up there. You should steer clear of this thing as much as possible, and just let the professionals handle it. This is way too dangerous.”

The regret I already felt in my gut seemed to grow at his words, as he completely dismissed me. Now, not only had I completely screwed up and driven my friend straight into danger, but I was also being told that I wasn’t even capable of helping her. That I was powerless, suddenly, and worthless. That all I was capable of was sitting on the sidelines like some weak, emotional woman.

He might as well have told me to just go back to my knitting. Or to get in the kitchen and fix his dinner!

I clenched my teeth, my shoulders tightening. “Professionals? Dangerous? She’s my friend! I know as much about her as anyone else, and I can get you in there!” I turned forward in my seat, saying, “You know what? Screw you. I’ll handle this on my own. You don’t want my help? Fine. Fine.”

“Whoa,” he said. “Hold on there, ma’am. What’re you planning on doing, here?”

I shot him a look. “What am I planning? I’m going up there, with or without you.”

“That is such a bad idea to go up there alone. You don’t know what kind of people you’re dealing with, here.”

“Bad idea?” I spat. “A bad idea is sitting around here doing absolutely nothing while my friend’s in trouble. You think she’s up there? I can give you a way in to look around. If you don’t want to help, that’s fine. You can just screw off to wherever and let another innocent girl die. And as to dealing with people, you don’t know me. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

He gripped the door more tightly at my words, knuckles white despite his deep tan. He looked me in the eye for a long moment before slowly nodding. “Dammit,” he said, straightening back up and glancing both ways down the road. “I know I’m going to regret this, but let’s go.”

I stabbed the automatic lock button with my finger, unlocking the door for him. “Good. Get in.”

He climbed inside, and I drove down to the gate, the world seemingly tinged red at the sides. I pulled the car in, rolled down my window, and hit the buzzer.

Just like the night before, there was no little tone or anything. Just the weird, not-quite-silence of the unspeaking electronic box. I leaned forward a little, went to say something.

And my mind went blank. Just like someone had swiped an eraser across a white board filled with words and words, scrawled on it in a matrix of rows and columns.

What was the password again?

My lips began to move silently, and the stranger in my car shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he held his breath for a moment.

Foamy?

Foaming?

Floating?

Frampton?

No, those weren’t it.

Dammit, I remembered it being weird and foreign-sounding!

He touched my shoulder, and I turned back to him with a hand raised, asking for a little more time.

Just like when you were trying to remember the name of some famous actor that had been in that movie with Nicolas Cage, but you couldn’t remember enough of any of it to even look it up on the internet, it seemed to click together in my head, and the word just came leaping from my lips:

“Frumos.”

A tone sounded on the other end of the line as, beside me, my nameless security guard finally released his held breath. Ahead of us, the gate opened just like the night before, and began to swing open for us.

“Jesus Christ,” he breathed as we pulled through. “Almost thought you were lying about knowing the password, there.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” I said, my own heart still calming down. Honestly, for a moment there, I’d almost thought I was lying, too.

“Name’s Luke Oldham, by the way. Full Moon Security.”

“Molly Long,” I replied. “Nanny at large.”

“Nanny, huh?” he asked as I took the first turn. “How’s that?”

“Pays the bills.” I paused. “Who am I kidding? No, it doesn’t.”

“Well, it got you this car, didn’t it?”

“Not really. This is my friend’s.” I frowned. “Pretty sure mine wouldn’t make it up that drive.”

“Working with kids isn’t bad, though, is it?”

“Clearly, you’ve never worked with the children of parents who can afford a nanny.”

“No. I’ve worked private security for celebrities, though, if that counts.”

“Maybe. Ever met anyone famous?”

“Not anyone I can name without breaking some contracts.” He paused as we went around a corner and both got our first good look at the place. The house on top of the ridge looked impressive, even without its fires and windows full of light. It still seemed to command the surrounding area like some king or queen, surveying the land beneath his or her feet. “Quite the place.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Still think you can get us past the front door?”

I nodded. “Pretty sure.”

“Pretty sure?” he asked. “Doesn’t sound too confident.”

“Look, I’ve got a plan, okay?” I said as we rounded the last turn and came up into the courtyard drive I’d arrived in last night. “Just play along.”

Whereas, the front of the house had once been some kind of ominous, creepy sex palace, with its giant fountain, heavy metal door, and haunting yellow lights pouring from every window, now it had become something more akin to just a busy hotel or event venue. White vans with the name of a local caterer were parked bumper-to-bumper on the left side of the circle. Pressed close behind them were similarly-styled work vans with the name of a local commercial cleaning service.

I blinked my eyes at the change. At how, I don’t know, mundane it all seemed. How this place was just a business, just some place where people were trying to make a buck by courting the higher class.

“Didn’t expect this,” Luke said as we pulled up behind one of the cleaning vans.

“I know, right?” I said, putting Heidi’s car in park. “It’s just so freaking normal-looking.”

“Disappointed?”

“No. You?”

“Nope. You’d be surprised what you can hide behind a facade,” he replied as he went to get out of the car. “Both bad, or good.”

I climbed out after him, closing the door after me. Before it had sealed shut, a small, smartly-dressed man with a clipboard tucked into the crook of one arm and a Bluetooth earphone stuffed into his ear was already hustling down the wide walkway towards us. The exact same walkway I’d, not twelve hours earlier, sent Heidi sexily sauntering up.

“Excuse me!” he said, bustling up to us as I came around the front of Heidi’s Acura. “Excuse me! Can I help you? I don’t have anyone arriving on the schedule at the moment, and I really need that space to ensure my vendors can get in and out of the drive.”

Luke glanced back at me, a look on his face that told me to think fast before he did.

This was it. This was what I was here for. Before Luke could say anything, I channeled my inner ditz.