Stitch by Jaime Lewis
Chapter Seventeen
“Detective McDonnell, it’s nice to meet you,” Ace said as he shook the detective’s hand. “This is my fiancé, Alex.”
The detective smiled. “It’s nice to meet both of you. Follow me, and we can talk in my office. Would either of you like anything to drink?” He offered as they entered a small, bare-bones office. The only things that made it resemble an office space were the desk, a computer that looked like it belonged in a museum, and two chairs.
“No, thank you.” Ace answered.
The detective motioned to the chairs. “Please, have a seat.”
Once Ace and Alex were seated, the detective started to give them an update on Mia’s case.
“I’ll be honest with you. When Tink first called me and explained what happened to your sister, I thought we were dealing with a crime that we deal with daily. I know that sounds awful, but this is a dangerous city.
“But you don’t think that way, now?”
“No. There’s more to this case than meets the eye. I just haven’t found that missing link yet, but I’m feeling optimistic that I’m close.”
“Can you give us any update?”
“Right now, my focus is on Mia’s place of employment.”
Ace sat forward in the chair. “You think someone at her office was behind her abduction?”
“I don’t know if they were behind it, but I have a hunch there is definitely something off about that place, and someone knows something.”
Ace listened as Detective McDonnell explained the facts they had to go on. He hadn’t been lying; there wasn’t a ton of evidence. There were no witnesses to her abduction, and they looked into street cameras but only caught the side of the van they believed was used. Unfortunately, it was just a white delivery van with no distinguished markings. They interviewed her neighbors to see if they had seen or heard anything. The focus there was on the good Samaritan who dropped Mia off at her apartment. The detective was baffled by the mystery person's involvement in the ordeal. Whoever it had benn knew the placement of the cameras around her apartment building. He had been able to avoid every single one of them. All they had to go on was Mia’s recollection from that night, which wasn’t a lot.
The detective told them about visiting her workplace, and what Danny— Mia’s friend and co-worker—had told him about Willow and how they couldn’t locate her.
“So, this Willow girl is missing now, too?” Alex asked.
“We don’t know for sure. According to Dr. Walters, he received her resignation via email during the Thanksgiving weekend.”
“Can’t you contact her family?”
“It appears she doesn’t have any family. From records we were able to locate, she was an only child. Her dad died when she was young, and her mom passed away a little over a year ago. After her mom died, she moved to the city. It seems she’s a loner, doesn’t have many friends. In fact, Mia and Danny were who she would hang out with outside of work.
“You mentioned that Danny said Willow wanted to talk to Mia the night she disappeared.”
The detective nodded his head. “Danny said that both he and Mia had noticed a change in Willow’s behavior. He said it had started about a month ago. Danny also mentioned that Willow gave Mia an envelope and told her not to open it until they spoke.”
“Have you been able to locate that envelope?”
“No. With your permission, we looked through Mia’s apartment but couldn’t find that or anything that could be a clue in her case. I was planning on calling Tink to see if he could ask Mia about it.”
“I’ll see her tomorrow, so I can ask her, if you’d like. I know you have other cases besides hers.”
“If you could, I’d appreciate it.”
“Would it be okay if Alex and I went by Mia’s apartment to have a look around?”
“No, not at all. Would you care if I tagged along? Maybe we missed something when we were there. Since you’re her brother, you may see something out of place that we didn’t.”
“Fine by me.”
◆◆◆
Ace pulled up to the curb by Mia’s apartment. He handed Alex the key to the apartment.
“I’ll let you off here, then go park the car in the off-site lot the detective told us to use.”
Alex could tell that Ace was uptight and frustrated with the lack of information on Mia’s case. She was frustrated as well, but she knew the police were doing everything they could.
She took the key from Ace, then leaned over, putting her hand against his cheek, and smiled.
“Ace, you need to relax a little.”
He blew out a long breath. “I can’t. Not until whoever is responsible for my sister’s assault is caught.”
“I understand. I’m not saying this will happen, but what are you going to do if you get called up, and there are still no answers? You can’t let this consume you. If you let it, then you are putting yourself in danger and your team. Ace, look at the positive; Mia’s safe. We have to give the police some time to put the puzzle together. If this puzzle is anything compared to the ones I’ve worked on, that missing piece will show up.”
From the look in his eyes, Alex could tell she had gotten her message across.
Ace pulled her closer, fisted her ponytail in his hand, and tugged until her head tilted back. “Thank you,” he said before he took her mouth hard in a crushing kiss that sent her heart racing. Damn, the man’s kisses alone made her head spin.
When he released her, she felt flushed, but so loved.
He winked. “Go on; I’ll be up in a bit.”
She smiled, then exited the car and made her way into the building. Finding Mia’s apartment was easy, and in no time at all, Alex found herself standing just inside. She moved further inside and closed the door but left it unlocked for Ace and Detective McDonnell. She walked through the living room, noting that the place was neat and tidy. Just the way Mia kept her place. As Alex went to walk down the hallway toward the two bedrooms, she stopped at the console table in the hallway and smiled at all the pictures Mia had displayed. There were pictures of everyone—her family, her brother’s team, and even some of Alex and Tenley. But the one picture that stood out was the one of Mia and Stitch. Alex remembered taking the picture. It had been on Christmas, and they weren’t even looking at the camera. The way they both gazed into each other’s eyes, you could see the chemistry was there. It was a special moment between them.
Moving along, Alex pushed open the door to Mia’s room. Mia had asked her to pick up a few things since they were coming. As Alex made her way toward the closet, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She knew that feeling well and knew she wasn’t alone. There was someone in the room with her. The only spaces large enough for someone to hide were the bathroom or the closet. Her heart started to race as she thought about how she should play this out. She saw a large duffle bag next to the bed. She grabbed it and went to Mia’s dresser and acted like she was pulling some clothes out to pack, but really she was texting Ace from inside the drawer.
Before she got a reply from him, the atmosphere in the room changed in a flash. Trusting her intuition, she took the bag and retreated from the room. She was midway down the hall when she heard the floor creak behind her. As she turned, all she got a glimpse of was a large hand coming at her. Grateful for her quick reflexes, she ducked just in time. She tripped on the bag she had dropped, which gave the guy an opportunity, and he took it. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he lifted her feet off the floor. He was huge; about Ace’s size. Using the wall in front of her as leverage, she pushed her feet against it and sent both of them backward and onto the floor.
The guy lost his grip, and she turned the tables on him and pounced like the fearless lioness she was. She couldn’t claim a victory as he rolled them across the floor until he had her pinned under him. She wrapped her legs around his ribs and squeezed with all her might. He was breathing heavily, and his face had turned red. She managed to get her right arm free and swung, hitting him in the jaw, stunning him. Taking the opening, she scrambled to her feet and got into a fighting position. Hopefully, Ace could hear what was going on and would barge in any second.
“Who the fuck are you?” He asked, breathing heavily as he too rose to his feet. She would have ran for the door, but he stood between her and it. She didn’t miss the heavy English accent.
“I should be asking you the same question.” She wiped the blood from her lip when something on the floor where they were wrestling caught her attention. She realized it was a police badge at a closer examination, though she couldn’t make out what it said. She looked up at the hulking of a guy. “You’re a cop?”
He started to speak when the door burst open as the cavalry arrived led by Ace, although they were a little late to the party. Ace took one look at her, and his expression went from concern to rage in two seconds.
◆◆◆
Ace and Detective McDonnell had just entered the lobby of Mia’s apartment building when he received a cryptic text from Alex that read, “I’m not alone.” He cursed and showed the message to the detective, and they took off up the stairs taking two steps at a time. As they rounded one of the landings, his phone rang with a call from Alex. He answered, putting it on speaker as he continued to climb the stairs. Instead of hearing her voice, the sounds of a scuffle was heard, followed by glass breaking.
Ace’s adrenaline was pumping as he pounded up the remaining two flights of stairs. The entire time he could hear her putting up a fight. He was going to kill whoever laid their hands on her. As soon as they made it to Mia’s apartment, he didn’t waste a second as he kicked the door in.
“You’re a cop?” Alex asked as Ace and Detective McDonnell filled the doorway. The guy, who was a pretty big dude and physically fit, turned and raised a gun, stopping Ace in his tracks.
“FBI, freeze!”
Ace slowly raised his hands, showing he wasn’t armed. At least it appeared that way. His gun was tucked in the waistband of his jeans, concealed by his shirt and he had a second one strapped to his ankle.
He took a quick glimpse at Alex to make sure she was okay and became enraged when he saw the blood oozing from her lip.
“NYPD!” Detective McDonnell shouted from beside Ace with his weapon drawn and aimed at the stranger inside the apartment.
Nobody moved a muscle as the tension in the apartment escalated.
“Identify yourself,” McDonnell ordered to the stranger.
“Terek Larkin, FBI. My shield is on the floor, and my identification is in my back pocket.”
Ace saw the shield on the floor.
The so-called FBI guy lowered his weapon, and Ace heard the click of the safety being engaged and felt a little less apprehensive. He took Alex’s hand and tugged her towards him. He stood in between her and Larkin, acting as a shield just in case. His hand went to her lip, where the blood continued to seep from the laceration, and he used his thumb to wipe away what he could.
“You okay?” Ace asked while putting some pressure on the cut to stop the bleeding.
He hadn’t realized how bad he was shaking until she covered his hand. It was weird because as soon as her hand made contact with his, a sudden calmness overcame him. “I’m okay,” she told him as he continued to stare into her emerald eyes. She repeated the words. This time a little slower, trying to get her point across. “I’m okay.”
“You scared the shit out of me. When I heard…” She cut him off by getting up on her tiptoes and kissing him, hurt lip and all. He pulled her close and hugged her as their lips stayed pressed together. She gave his waist a little squeeze and pulled away, and he stared down at her. Her eyes glistened, but he recognized the look and her expression and knew she was telling the truth.
The FBI guy reached into his pocket and pulled out his identification, and handed it to McDonnell. Once he confirmed it was a legit ID, he lowered his weapon and holstered it.
“What is your business in this residence, Agent Larkin?” McDonnell questioned.
“I’m checking up on a friend.”
“Mia Chambers is a friend of yours?”
“You could say that.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Ace interjected into the questioning, which drew a scowl from Detective McDonnell.
“Maybe I should be asking you three what you’re doing here?” The agent countered, and that just pissed Ace off.
Ace went to reply to the pompous ass, but McDonnell beat him to it.
“Spare me the sarcasm, agent.”
“Wait, did the bureau contact you?”
“Bureau? No, why would the bureau contact me?” McDonnell asked.
“About Mia.”
“What about Mia?”
Ace folded his arms across his chest. He slowly started to get frustrated as they were getting nowhere with this guy.
“Look, all we’re doing here is spinning our wheels. Why in the hell would the bureau contact the NYPD regarding my missing sister?” Ace asked the agent. Instead of another sarcastic response that he was expecting, the guy surprised him when his demeanor took on a whole different approach.
“You’re Mia’s brother? Wait…She’s missing?” He then turned toward McDonnell. “I thought the bureau had contacted the NYPD about what happened to Mia last week.” His eyes moved back to Ace. “I thought for sure she would go to you. I warned her to leave.”
“You know what happened to her?”
The agent ran his hand down his face and genuinely looked upset.
“Okay, I think we all need to take a breath and maybe have a seat and discuss this,” McDonnell stated and motioned to the kitchen table.
Agent Larkin turned to walk into the kitchen but clutched his side and moaned.
“Fuck!” He popped his head up, looking towards Alex. “Where in the hell did you learn to fight? I think you broke a few of my ribs.”
Alex grinned, and Ace couldn’t help the proudness he felt.
“I had some good teachers growing up,” she replied.
“Okay, now that we’ve established that you got your ass kicked by a girl, let's get back to the subject at hand. Everyone have a seat,” McDonnell ordered.
Once they were all seated, McDonnell started the discussion.
“Agent Larkin, this is Marcus Chambers, Mia’s brother. Obviously, we are somewhat here for the same purpose, but it seems there is a lot more to Mia’s case that’s not being disclosed.”
McDonnell looked at Agent Larkin. “Let’s start with a basic question. How do you know Mia?”
Ace watched him, and for a second, he thought the agent was going to feed them a line of bullshit, and he had been prepared to call him out on it.
Larkin tilted his head and cracked his neck. “Mia and I have a past.”
“Oh shit!” Ace heard Alex whisper next to him, and he looked over at her.
“What?” He asked, and Alex grabbed his hand and gave him a warning look. It was a look he was familiar with; she was about to drop a bombshell.
Alex looked at Larkin. “You’re Mia’s ex?”
As the guy nodded his head, Ace’s nostrils flared. Son-of-a-bitch! Mia didn’t mention him by name much. When Ace found out he was a Green Beret, he nicknamed him the Green Beret, and when Mia would talk about him, she referred to him as the Green Beret to be sarcastic.
He looked over at the guy and glared at him. So this was the asshole who had disrespected his sister. The fucking Green Beret. He felt even better now that Alex gave him a good beat down, although he now wanted a crack at him.
As if sensing his anger, Alex squeezed his hand and reigned him in. “Ace, now is not the time to deal with that. Let’s focus on the real reason we’re here.”
Alex turned toward Agent Larkin. “Agent Larkin, I’m confused. Mia said you worked as a Director of Security for some Fortune 500 company.”
Ace thought the guy would want to play games, but he surprised him.
“That’s my cover. Mia had no clue I worked for the FBI. Look, I can’t go into a lot of detail due to the assignment I’m working on, but I’m concerned about Mia.”
“Why?” Ace asked.
“Because I was there last week and saw the whole thing unfold. I witnessed Mia get pulled off the street.”
Ace felt as if he’d been punched in the gut as all the air left his body. His head felt like it was literally spinning.
“Agent Larkin, can you tell us what you know or saw? Why didn’t you help her, or call for help when it happened.”
“I did. I mean, I called the bureau.” Larkin raked his hand down his face in frustration. “Because of my current assignment, I couldn’t just call the police, so I called my supervisor at the bureau and explained to him what was happening.”
“What the fuck actually happened? Why didn’t you help her when she was attacked?” Ace raised his voice.
“I was too far away. I couldn’t have made it to her in time. Look, let me start at the beginning with what I know. At the gala that Mia attended last week, she and I ran into each other. It was awkward since that was the first time we were seeing each other since we had broken up. But what made it even more uncomfortable was that I acted like she was a complete stranger. The people I was with that night are criminals. And if they knew that Mia and I had a connection, they would start asking questions, and it could have led to my cover being blown, and put Mia’s safety in jepoardy.”
“Wait, she was with her boss all night. Are you saying that her boss is one of the criminals you’re talking about?” Ace asked.
“She was with him, but as far as him being a criminal…he hasn’t ever been charged with anything, but he is under investigation which I’ll get to in a minute.”
McDonnell agreed. “I was suspicious of him when I interviewed him. More so when three of his supposed employees showed up while I was there.”
“Who were they?” Agent Larkin asked.
“Marlon Zurek, Oscar Torres and Jules Gudotti.”
Ace saw the tick in Larkin’s jaw. “I know of all three of them. Oscar and Jules do ‘side work’ for several employers around the area, if you know what I mean. It is all about the money for them. Marlon, on the other hand, prefers to reap the benefits from his cousin’s work, without putting in too much work.”
“I saw him talking to Mia right before she left the gala. When I questioned her afterward outside, she mentioned that Marlon wanted her to give Dr. Walters an envelope, and he was adamant that she get it to him that night. I knew something was up. I told her to watch her back.
“I was concerned, so I called a buddy of mine back in Washington and asked him to dig a little deeper into Dr. Elijah Walters. It didn’t take long for him to get back to me. For the last year and a half, Dr. Walters and his clinic have been under investigation for smuggling.”
“Ace, Tink was right. Mia was targeted for human trafficking,” Alex said to him.
But Larkin interrupted. “No, Alex. Dr. Walters isn’t dealing in human trafficking. But he is under investigation for puppy trafficking.”
Alex covered her mouth as if shocked. Ace was aware of people smuggling dogs, but he didn’t realize how big an operation it was until Larkin started explaining. He was shocked to learn how much money is made from an operation as such.
Larkin continued, “After finding out that information, I wanted to talk to Mia. I couldn’t tell her anything because it’s an ongoing investigation.”
“So why are you telling us?” McDonnell interrupted, and Larkin gave him a serious look.
“Because I care about Mia, and I want to find those responsible for hurting her. And I trust you to keep this on the down-low.”
With the nod of the detective’s head, Larkin continued, “The next day, I tried calling and texting Mia to talk to her again, but she never responded. I was concerned and knew she normally goes for a run in the park between six and seven, so I waited to see if she would show. I watched her from afar.”
Ace saw the pain etched in Larkin’s face as he continued.
“I was a couple of blocks away standing next to my car when I saw it all go down. The dude snatched her so fast before he dragged her into an alley. I jumped into my car. I got to about a block away and the van peeled out of the alley. I followed them across the bridge into Jersey. The driver took the exit leading to the docks area. By the time I exited, I had lost them. I kept driving up and down each street, searching for a glimpse of the van. Along the way, I ran into a few individuals who I know from those streets. One of them said he had seen one at the far end within the last hour, so I headed in that direction. That was when I made the call to my supervisor. He warned me to back off before I blew my cover and assured me he would escalate the incident to the NYPD.”
“But you didn’t back off?” McDonnell stated more than he asked.
Larkin looked right into Ace’s eyes as he answered, “No, I couldn’t turn my back on her. On the north end, I made a turn and realized it was a dead end. As I was putting the car in reverse, something moving in the road caught my eye. At first, I thought it was an animal. I flicked the high beams on and moved a little closer, then realized it was a person. She was in bad shape when I got to her. I quickly picked her up and put her into my car.”
Larkin paused and looked as if he was battling with himself.
“I couldn’t take the risk of her knowing it was me. I spoke to her using an English accent, and then I gave her a drug to make her sleep. I feel awful about it, but it was the best for the both of us.”
“Were you the one who left her the note?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. I honestly thought she would head to her family.” He looked at Ace. “I came back later after I took care of a few things, and she was gone. I thought she would head to you. But now you’re here saying she’s missing.”
Ace could sense the concern in both Larkin’s expression and body language. Although he was very grateful for Larkin being concerned for Mia’s safety and diligence in finding her, it still didn’t mean he was letting the douche off easy.
Ace spoke up and looked at Larkin. “Before we go any further with this discussion, I need to know something. Why did you feel you needed to be concerned for Mia when you were unfaithful to her?”
“There are some things I need to explain to her about the night….”
“The night she caught you with your pants down, literally.”
“Ace…” Alex warned him.
Larkin shook his head. “It’s not what she thought.” He blew out a breath. “It was a set-up to look like I was cheating on her so she would break up with me.”
“Oh, please.” Ace stated and rolled his eyes.
“Seriously. If my cover ever got blown, I didn’t want to put Mia in some evil people's crosshairs because she was dating me. I swear to you, I didn’t cheat on her. Yes, it looked that way. The woman with me that night is a colleague of mine, and she was in on it.”
“Why didn’t you just tell her you didn’t want to be with her anymore instead of making her feel like she wasn’t good enough? Although, she was at your place to dump your ass.”
Larkin appeared taken back by that little tidbit. “What?”
“She went to your place to break things off with you. She knew there wasn’t a future for the two of you.”
“Well, that explains the distance she’d been putting between us.”
Ace nodded in agreement as if the guy was a true dumbass.
Larkin gave Ace an odd look. “If you don’t know where Mia is, then I’m very concerned for her safety. Criminals are connected in this city, and if Mia was targeted, she could be in grave danger.”
Ace looked at McDonnell for guidance on the subject. He wasn’t going to jeopardize Mia’s case by opening his mouth.
McDonnell’s eyes traveled to Larkin, and he pinned him with a stare, “What is said in this apartment, stays inside this apartment.”
“Understood,” Larkin stated. “And before you ask, I’ve already checked the place for bugs. It’s clean.”
McDonnell nodded. “Mia is safe.” Both McDonnell and Ace explained the series of events leading to where they now were in the investigation. McDonnell also made it known that the bureau had never notified the NYPD.
Larkin looked at Ace for confirmation, and Ace nodded his head.
“Do you have any leads?”
“There are several directions we are looking, one being she could’ve been a target of human trafficking considering what Mia heard about “their” boss having an eye on her.”
Larkin appeared to suddenly take on a sickly look, and Ace wondered what had brought that on.
“Man, are you okay? You look like you are going to vomit.”
Larkin took a couple of deep breaths.
“I’m assuming you haven’t checked the dock area in Jersey where I found Mia.”
The detective shook his head. “We haven’t had reason to look over that way. Since she was abducted in the city, our focus has been on warehouses near the water here.”
Larkin looked Detective McDonnell in the eye. “You may want to expand that to include the docks and warehouses across the river. Lots of activity taking place over that way.”
Larkin turned his attention to Ace. “Where is Mia now?”
“As Ace mentioned, she is safe, with her boyfriend, far from here,” Alex stated, and Ace wanted to laugh at Alex getting a dig in at Larkin. She hadn’t liked the guy since the night Mia called and told her what he had done. But the question Larkin asked next had Ace wanting to ask a few questions himself.
“Boyfriend?”
Ace smirked. “Yeah, boyfriend.”
“Well, as long as it isn’t her boss, then I’m happy she’s happy.”
“She’s very happy, but why would you think she would date her boss?” Ace asked, looking confused and a little disgusted.
“Oh, shit….” Alex mumbled next to him, and for the second time within the same conversation, he looked down at her wide eyes and knew there was something that she and Mia had been keeping a secret. All he did was quirk an eyebrow, and she started spilling.
“The night of the gala,” she gave Larkin a look as if she was asking him for confirmation, and from the expression on his face, Alex had hit the nail on the head. Now they just needed to clue him in.
“What happened the night of the gala?” Ace questioned.
“She came with Dr. Walters. All night he was glued to her as if he was staking a claim to her. I’ll admit it pissed me off.”
“That isn’t all,” Alex spoke up, and Ace could see she was battling something internally when she let out a frustrated sigh. “I promised Mia I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Alex, whatever it is, you need to tell us.”
“She called me the next morning on her way to work. After the gala, she stopped by the clinic to drop some papers off to Elijah, which I’m now guessing is whatever Marlon gave to her.”
“Hold up,” Ace said, shaking his head. “I don’t understand. She was with her boss all fucking night. Why didn’t she just give him the papers then?” Detective McDonnell agreed with Ace.
“Fuck!” Larkin shouted.
“What?”
“Marlon.” Alex nodded her head, but Ace’s head was starting to spin with all of these new developments.
“Right, but according to Mia, Marlon was adamant she drop it off at the clinic that night on her way home. That’s when…” Alex paused and bit down on her lip. It was a stall tactic.
“When what?” Ace pushed.
“He kissed her.”
Several “whats” echoed in the room, and Ace had even more questions. Most he would save for his sister. Did she have a thing for her boss? What about Stitch? Fuck!
Alex spoke quickly, “It was unwanted. Mia pushed him off and told him he shouldn’t have done that. He told her that it was bound to happen and that he’d wanted to kiss her since the day he first saw her.”
Ace was thanking the Lord for the anger management skills he’d learned because he was ready to punch something. He was boiling. From the sound of it, Mia’s boss had preyed on her from the start of her career. Now that he thought about it, he had a conversation with Mia right after she had accepted the job, and she had mentioned how her salary was way above the normal pay grade of someone just out of school. Did he pad her pay so she couldn’t say no? He fucking manipulated his baby sister.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ace looked at Alex for an answer.
“Because she told me not to tell anyone,” Alex snapped back at him.
Ace looked at Larkin. “Look, as you go about your undercover assignment, can you at least give Detective McDonnell a call if you run across anything you may hear?”
“Absolutely. And I really meant it. I never intended to hurt Mia.”
Ace smirked. “You didn’t hurt her; you gave her that final push in the direction we were all hoping for.”
Alex snorted a laugh and Ace smiled down at her, and winked.
Ace glanced around the apartment. It was clean and neat, just like Mia. She was always the organized one of the family. His eyes stopped on a vase of yellow roses on the breakfast bar. They looked fresh.
“Who sent her flowers?” He asked, and he didn’t miss the annoyed looked that passed on Larkin’s face.
“Dr. Walters.”
Ace glanced at Alex. “I think I’d like to meet this Dr. Walters before we head home.” He looked at Detective McDonnell. “Would you have a problem if Alex and I stopped in to meet Dr. Walters? After all, I am the concerned brother of his missing sister.”
The detective shook his head and grinned. “No, I think it would be fine. Just don’t go beating on the guy.”
Ace took another look at Alex and winked. “It never crossed my mind.”
◆◆◆
Ace sat across the desk from Dr. Walters, trying to figure out if this guy was sincere, or just a good actor. His concern for Mia was more along the lines of a significant other, than an actual colleague, and that pissed him off now that he had a good idea of what the doctor’s intentions really were.
“As I told the detective the other day, if there is anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Mia is a great asset to the clinic, and we are all very concerned.”
“I appreciate your concern. My family and I are all shaken by her disappearance.” Ace stood and motioned to Alex that it was time to go. She had seemed preoccupied since they had sat down, which wasn’t like her. She usually was all into the details. “Well, we won’t keep you any longer. We just wanted to stop in and be sure that you were aware of the situation.”
“I appreciate that. And, again, anything I can do, please let me know. Mia is special.”
Ace had to bite the inside of his cheek to not lash out at the guy. He and Mia needed to have a conversation about this guy. There was no way in hell she would still work for this character after all of this was over. He hoped that now she and Stitch were dating, she would decide to stay in Virginia Beach.
Dr. Walters walked them out to the reception area. As they parted ways, Alex almost ran into a gentleman coming in thru the door.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” she said to the man, and he just smiled.
“No harm,” he replied and held the door for both her and Ace as they exited. When Ace looked back over his shoulder, the guy was checking out Alex’s backside. Typically actions like that brought out the caveman in him and pissed him off, but lately, he’d been trying not to let a guy admiring his fiancé bother him. Instead, he took it as a compliment. That is unless he was acting like an ass about it and blatantly gawking, then he’d make it known that she was his.
Ace snuck a peek over at Alex noticing she had remained quiet as they pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the airport. She was staring out the window. Ace recognized the look on her face. Something was on her mind, and she was thinking through her thoughts. About mid-way through their visit with Dr. Walters, she had sort of just shut down and sat there with a blank look on her face. It was odd because, in a situation as such, Alex liked to interrogate just as much as he did.
He was about to ask her what was wrong when she turned to face him.
“We need to call Detective McDonnell.”
Ace raised an eyebrow at her. “Why?”
“Just pull the car over. Right there, pull into that parking lot on the left.” She demanded in a serious tone that concerned Ace. He did as she said and pulled into a bank parking lot. He put the car in park then shifted in his seat to hear what she had to say.
“Remember when Mia was telling us about the night she was abducted?” Ace nodded his head; how could he forget. “Well, she mentioned when she went running, she was wearing a black zip-up hoodie, but when she was abducted, someone had removed it.”
“Yeah?” He wondered where she was going with this.
“Ace, Mia’s hoodie was in Dr. Walters’ office.”
He studied her for a few seconds. He saw the seriousness in her expression and knew she wasn’t joking.
“I know it was hers because I bought it for her. It has the red “M” embroidered on the left sleeve.” She took his hand, and her emerald green eyes bore into his. “Ace, Dr. Walter’s had a hand in Mia’s abduction.”
◆◆◆
Elijah was caught off guard when Vargas, his main informant in the NYPD, entered the clinic's front door. He was alarmed because Vargas never showed his face at the clinic during office hours.
Curious about the detective’s spontaneous visit, he quickly finished up his conversation with the owner of one of his patients. Giving the Shepard a scratch on the back of his neck, he waved to Mr. Hines as he exited.
He made eye contact with Vargas and nodded for him to follow him.
Once they were in his office with the door closed, he turned on the detective.
“I thought I told you to keep your distance from the clinic. I don’t need anyone getting ideas because they saw you here. It’d be different if you had an animal, but seeing you don’t, it really doesn’t make any sense for you to be here.”
Vargas took a seat on the sofa and immediately reached for the lady's black hoodie recovered from the warehouse and brought it up to his nose. Elijah thought that seemed a little weird. When he made eye contact, Elijah raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t think I will ever get that sweet scent out of my nose.”
Elijah couldn’t disagree. It was sweet, just like Mia, who wore the same aroma. She was both sweet and beautiful. He was worried about her. Hell, he knew the city wasn’t a safe place to live, much less for a beautiful woman like Mia. He had been both shocked and startled by her brother's visit. His authoritative demeanor was on display while he and his fiancé met with him. Now, Alex, she was knockout herself. With those green eyes and tight little body, Demitri could fetch a fortune for her.
“Now that you’ve had your fix, do you want to tell me why in the hell you risked being seen by coming here?”
Vargas held up the hoodie.
“I thought you might be interested in knowing its owner.”
Well, now that was a revelation he wasn’t expecting.
“You’ve piqued my curiosity. Do tell.”
“I don’t have a name; however, I do have a picture.”
“What? How?”
Vargas held up his phone, and as soon as the picture came into view on the screen, Elijah felt the blood drain from his face.
“Christ Elijah, you look like you just saw a ghost.”
“That’s Mia!”
Vargas gave him an odd look, and then he too looked taken back. “The doctor chick that works for you that Marlon talks about all the time?”
Vargas had never seen Mia, so he didn’t know what she had looked like.
“Oh fuck…this isn’t good.”
The squeezing sensation inside his chest was almost too much handle. He closed his eyes. This could destroy him.
“Where did you get this? Who knows about this? Her?”
“From Jules’ phone. The stupid fuck snapped a picture while she was unconscious. He left it in the warehouse, and I found it while I was wiping it down. He doesn’t know I have it.”
“How? How did this fucking happen?”
“They said that was the chick you had instructed them to get rid of.”
“Not her!” Elijah shouted. “Willow. Willow was the one.”
“I swear, Elijah, I didn’t know who she was. They already had her at the warehouse when I arrived to facilitate the equipment and crates' movement. When I walked in, and they were touching her, I told them to leave her alone. I assumed she was one that you had told them to take care of.”
“Then what the fuck happened to her?” Elijah asked, pointing to Mia’s injuries.
Vargas grinned. “She broke Oscar’s nose.”
“Mia was responsible for that?”
“That’s what set him off,” he pointed to the picture of Mia battered and bruised. “That was the outcome. He just lost it. He threw both her and the chair. The problem was he didn’t realize that when the chair broke, it left her arms and legs free. We, myself included, thought she was out cold. Unbeknown to us, she wasn’t. She climbed out the fucking window while I had them help me move the crates. I drove all around the docks looking for her but she was no where to be found.”
“Well, where the fuck could she be? Her own family doesn’t even know where she is.”
“What?”
“That big hulking guy and gorgeous brunette you passed coming in was her brother and his fiancé.”
“No shit. What are they saying?”
“Nothing, because they haven’t heard from her since that night. That’s why they were in town. They were meeting with that Detective McDonnell, the one that questioned me the other day. If she escaped and isn’t around town and hasn’t contacted her family, where could she be?”
“Hard to say. She may have gotten scared and fled. Or, she could’ve run into some trouble around the area. You know the trash that hangs out around the docks. Especially at that time of the night. A woman as beautiful as Mia wouldn’t want to be caught dead around those streets.”
Elijah couldn’t peel his eyes from the picture displayed across the phone screen. She was out there somewhere, and what scared Elijah was how much she knew and if it was enough to bring him and his operation down. As much as he would love to have her as his own, his priority was his business. If that meant sending Mia to the same fate as Willow or worse, then it was what would be done.
“I need to find her, Vargas.”
Vargas grinned. “Marlon mentioned you had your eye on her.”
“I want her, but if she connects the dots and it leads back to me, I could be ruined. I need to find her first.”
“You said that McDonnell was working the case?”
Elijah nodded.
“I know him, and I can do a little digging around the office and see what he has.”
“As long as it doesn’t look suspicious.”
“Never.”
“Then do what you need to do, but let’s keep this between us.”
“Done.” He then held up Jules’ phone. “What do you want me to do about Jules?”
Elijah thought hard. That was a tough call, because right now, he needed that asshole for the next few weeks to facilitate scheduled shipments.
“Nothing just yet. I need a little more time to tie up some loose ends.”
Elijah turned and faced the window. A winter storm was due to hit the area tomorrow morning. The clouds were moving in, giving the sky a dreary look, like his current mood.
“I will find her, Vargas. I know she is out there.”
“Well, I will leave you to your business. As soon as I connect with McDonnell, I will be in touch.”
“Thank you, Vargas. And, remember, this stays between you and me.”
Vargas got up and made his way out of the office. Elijah continued to stare out the window.
“Where are you, Mia?” He mumbled as he took Mia’s hoodie and took another sniff of the garment.
He would wait until Vargas called later with any information, but in the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt to start his own investigation. He picked up his phone.
“Claus, I need you to look into Mia’s family. I want to know everything, where they live, what they do for a living, and anything else you may find along the way. I need it ASAP.”
