by Miley Maine
I groaned silently. I was getting nowhere. “Listen. I have resources that a lot of people don’t have. I can make sure your daughter stays safe. I can give her celebrity-like levels of protection. The sky is the limit. I can keep her safe and sound. But you have to talk to me. You have to tell me where she is. You have to tell me what is going on.”
Kevin looked at his wife and then nodded. She began to speak.
10
Julie
I closed the door to my new apartment and looked around. It was smaller than I was used to, but it was cozy. I could get used to it. I had no other option. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be living there. Just long enough hopefully to establish a new life and then go from there.
I sat down the bag of groceries I was carrying on the kitchen counter and began to put things away. It was mostly easy convenience foods. When you were on the run it was difficult to eat healthy sometimes. I bought some pasta and some sauce, a frozen pizza, some cans of soup, bread, peanut butter, and some prepackaged cold cut meats. I put all of this away and poured myself a glass of water before I sat down on the couch to relax.
I had to start looking for a new job. That reality was now sinking in as I realized that I only had about three hundred dollars left of my savings, which I’d cleaned out a few days ago. I was lucky to get this apartment on such short notice with only a six-month lease. I would find something I could do for work until I got a job I really wanted.
I wanted to go back and work at Caplan. I wanted to be with Tony. I wanted my friends and family around me. I sighed. Tony…
I missed him so much. He was probably going crazy looking for me. I needed him so badly. Just thinking about him and his touch, the way he looked at me, the way he wanted me with just his gaze… I could not stop feeling those sensuous eyes on my body when I was with him.
That last night we were together, he told me he loved me. I wondered if he would bother looking for me. He probably thought I got freaked out when he said those words to me and that I’d left because of that. I hadn’t. That was so far from the truth.
I left because of what I’d been hiding from the past few years. I left from the thing that would never stop chasing me. The thing that Tony knew absolutely nothing about. I’d never even mentioned it. I wondered if he would still want me after that.
Somehow, Saul had found me. I didn’t know how, but I realized that he was there. He was after me. He’d gotten so close this time. How? He didn’t even know what state I was in. After he was locked up for trying to murder me, a charge his shyster lawyer talked down to assault with a deadly weapon, I’d fled. I’d fled away from my psychotic, abusive ex-husband. The gangster. The lowlife. He was evil as anyone could be.
And I’d missed all of this when I fell for him. He was so handsome and charming, so sweet when we were dating. I thought he was the one. He was the love of my life. He was everything to me, I thought. And then when we got married, it was like night and day. Suddenly, he changed. He became abusive. I tried to leave, but I quickly discovered how powerful he was and how much influence he actually had.
He would not let me go. He had a crazy hold on me. His minions tracked me down and then I was like a prisoner. I couldn’t go to the bathroom without a chaperone. I had to be there at his beck and call while he went out running this business of his and hurting so many people. He would often come home in a foul mood and he would take it out on me. I tried to get away so many times, but it never worked.
Finally, one night I decided to do something drastic after he attacked me with a kitchen knife for not cooking his meatloaf to perfection. He was drunk and I knew I could outmaneuver him. I waited until he lunged at me and I swung the cast iron skillet I was holding behind my back leaning against the stove. I swung it around my body and collided with the side of his face. He went down quickly.
His henchman was waiting outside the door and he came inside to see the ruckus after he heard Saul yell in pain. I slammed the skillet into the middle of his face. Then I grabbed his keys and stole his car. I was out of there within an hour.
I went to my parents’ house and I found a safe place to stay until the trial. I thought for sure he would get life behind bars, but he was smooth. He had friends everywhere and if they weren’t friends yet, they soon became so after he greased their pockets.
He was given a two-year sentence. And I knew he’d be out in a year on good behavior. I had to hide.
So, I fled across the country and set up a whole new identity. I didn’t have a choice. My family did the same thing, moving close by me. And for a few years, everything was fine. I’d moved on with my life. But now… now he’d found me. I knew I would have to keep running for a while.
How did he find me? How? I wish I knew. It might have been an accident.
I wanted to call Tony and tell him everything. But I couldn’t. I was afraid I might put him in danger somehow. But then again, being a billionaire did afford to offer someone a level of protection. I was more worried about what Tony might do to Saul if I told him. Tony would probably find him and kick him until every bone in his body was mush.
I felt so safe with Tony. I’d never had that with a man before. It was so wonderful to actually be with a real man. A real good man who loved me. And now I had thrown it away. I should have talked to him, told him what was going on. But I didn’t want him mixed up in all of this. It wasn’t fair to him.
No. I would figure this out on my own. Maybe in a few weeks I would tell Tony about things. Or not. I wasn’t sure.
I picked up my phone and called Lizzy. “Hey, what’s up? You aren’t returning text messages?”
“No,” I said.
“Ok, are you too good for us now since you got that rich billionaire boyfriend? I see how it is.”
“No, it’s not like that, but I do have to tell you something. It’s serious.”
“Does he snore? Does his feet smell? Is there something about him that is not perfect?”
“It’s about my ex-husband,” I said.
“What? Your what now?” Lizzy asked. She was already freaking out. I’d told her and Nellie nothing about Saul. When I finished telling her everything, she was in tears. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. Are you ok? Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No. I’m fine. I just hope I can see you soon. I’m not sure how long I’ll have to run this time. I just wish there was a way to make Saul go away forever.”
“You could have him whacked. Just make it look like one of his gangster friends did it. That stuff happens all the time, right?”
“Yeah, I guess. But no. I’m not having him whacked. That would make me too much like him. I will never let myself get that way. I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back to being me, you know?”
“I can see that. But desperate times, right?”
“Right,” I replied. She did have a point. And I’d thought of it. Oh, I thought a lot about it. But it wasn’t me. I simply couldn’t bring myself to do something that horrible to anybody. I wondered how many people Saul had killed either directly or indirectly. The man was a predator. He was evil and should have been put down.
“How do you know he is looking for you, again?” Lizzy asked.
“The other morning. I stopped at my apartment on the way to work to change my clothes and pick up a few things. The landlady mentioned as I passed her in the hall that some guy came by looking for me. I knew that it was him. Just by the way she described him. I put the wheels in motion to get out of the apartment with my stuff, get a new place setup here, and to take the money out of my account. Then I packed my car and I split. I wish I could tell you where I am.”
“I don’t want to know. If I don’t know then I can never tell anyone.”
“That’s right,” I said. “That’s the way it should be.”
I finished the phone call and told my friend how much I loved her, and I would miss her. I would see her again sometime, though. I’d work that out. I wasn’t sure how yet. But I would ma
ke sure of it.
I pulled out a paperback romance and read for a while. It was fun to read stories that took you away from the complexities and fears of real life sometimes. I read for about two hours until I was tired enough to go to bed.
When I laid down on my bed alone in the new surroundings, I realized I felt very uneasy. I was not settled into this new world yet. I was not near anyone I cared about. And I might not be near anyone close for a long time, until my parents could make arrangements to move again, if they chose to. I hadn’t even got myself settled in this new place yet.
I closed my eyes and I prayed that this nightmare would soon be over. When would it be done with?
11
Tony
Saul Bannon. That was the man that I hated now more than anyone I've ever come across in my life. That was the man who was trying to hurt the love of my life. That man was a vial, dirtbag gangster who needed to be put in the ground already. And I was the man to do it. I would not rest until this man was found, until Julie was safe for good, and until I had her happy in my arms.
I sat there on the couch listening to the story that her parents told me. I didn’t want to believe any of it. All of it was so horrible. It pained me to listen. But I knew it was true. Every single word was true. And now this guy had found Julie again. I wanted to know how. I wanted to know why he wasn’t behind bars.
He was rich and powerful and had friends in the right places. Well, so did I. And I was going to find out where this guy was hanging out these days. I was prepared to do whatever I had to in order to protect Julie. She was being menaced by this prick and that made my blood boil.
Julie should have told me. She should have told me every single thing, but this guy had her under a spell of some sort and she was just too scared.
I wanted to crush his throat just for that reason.
Julie’s parents still claimed to not know where their daughter actually was. “We thought she was in Colorado Springs. That was where she said she would go next if she ever needed to, but now we don’t know. When we last talked to her on the phone, we said we’d visit her there soon and she said she wasn’t there. She didn’t even want us to know the location. She is such a wonderful girl.”
I nodded but I didn’t really believe their story. I thought they would probably know where their daughter would go, even if they didn’t want to tell me. I understood. They felt that by not knowing they were actually keeping her safer. That was incorrect thinking. I was going to have to find her myself.
When I got home, I contacted Bill Thompson, a police detective I’d become friends with years ago. There had been a security breach in one of our corporate buildings and this detective was the man in charge of that investigation. I admired him mostly because he was such a regular guy.
He answered cheerily enough. “What does this asshole want?
“I want you to spit on the toilet paper this time,” I said teasing him.
He took my joke in a good manner and said, “Wow, it has been a super long time. To what do I owe this dubious pleasure?”
“I need your help.”
“Shit. What did you do now?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I need you to find some information for me.”
“Ok, who are we looking at?”
“A guy named Saul Bannon. He’s some low life gangster thug out of the Detroit area. I don’t know if he is still based there or not.”
“Ok. What’s going on?” Bill asked.
“He is threatening a good friend of mine. I think he might be stalking her with deadly intentions.”
“Shit. Why don’t I put this in and add it to our caseload? We can get some manpower on this.”
“No,” I said. “I don’t have time for that, and I don’t want to make a public thing out of it. I’d rather take care of it under my own radar.”
“Ok,” he said. “I just hope you know what you are getting yourself into. These guys can be real piece of work.”
“I’m aware,” I said. “Can you get on that? I think time is short.”
“Ok. I can do that. I’ll get back with you shortly.”
“Thanks, Bill.”
I tried to sit down and relax while I waited for Bill to call me back, but it was no use. I was sure that Julie was in trouble right now and I needed to be with her. If this guy or one of his gang buddies found Julie, then I would probably never see her again. They would most likely kill her. She did put Saul away for a few years. It was a miracle the guy had gotten off so light. And now he was still pissed. What a psycho!
About an hour later, Bill called me back with some news. “Ok, this guy Saul has been staying off the police radar and keeping a low profile for a few years, ever since his release. As of now we don’t have anything to hold him on.”
“He is stalking my friend,” I said.
“Do you have actual proof he is stalking her?”
I had to think for a moment. He had a point here, but it was not easy to get out of that sort of compliance to the law. The law protected criminals sometimes with just being so damn vague about everything. It drove me nuts.
“No,” I said. “She’s his ex-wife, the one who sent him to prison. I know he is after her. She abruptly packed up everything. She is running scared for a reason.”
“I’d agree with that, but that alone isn’t enough to actually do anything to him.”
I sighed. This was not getting me anywhere. “Where is he? Do you have any activity on him? Is he still in Detroit?”
“I was able to pull up a few things,” Thompson said. “I traced some credit cards registered to him and they have activity in Los Angeles.”
“So, he must be there.”
“That is still too much of a coincidence. I know you want to throw the book at the guy and judging by his history that would be the way to go. But we don’t have anything as of yet. If that changes, I will let you know.”
“Thanks, Bill,” I said.
I ended the call feeling very helpless about things. I wanted to track this guy down and I wanted to rip his lungs out. He deserved it for hurting Julie. The prick.
I poured myself a drink and tried to calm down a bit. I had to gather my thoughts and think of what to do. Saul was a smooth guy. He ran a criminal enterprise, and he did it quite well. Julie’s parents said that everyone in Detroit feared that guy. He was careful. He always covered his tracks. There was no way he’d been getting away with doing these horrible things for so long without knowing how to avoid detection. And he had help. He had an elite team of people helping him pull off all of the various things he was into. He wasn’t operating alone.
Julie was all by herself. I had to find her. I sat down to think long and hard about this. I wondered if she’d called any of her friends… what were their names? I’d never actually met any of them.
I pulled up Julie’s social media and I discovered her friends Lizzy and Nellie on there, the ones she was always talking about and hanging out with. I decided to reach out and contact them. After a fast search online, I had Lizzy’s phone number. It was far too easy to find out people’s contact information nowadays.
“Hello?” Lizzy answered very bubbly. I was surprised she answered my number.
“Lizzy?”
“Yes…”
“This is Tony Caplan. How are you?”
“What?”
“This is Tony Caplan. I’m Julie’s boss. How are you.”
“Is this a joke.”
I groaned. I didn’t have time for these games. I switched the call over to Facetime so that she could see it was actually me. It took a minute, but she eventually caught the drift of what I was doing and answered the Facetime. She was shocked to see me.
“See? It’s really me,” I said.
“Oh, wow…” she replied. She suddenly seemed very nervous about her hair and her hands.
“Have you talked to Julie recently?” I asked.
She shook her head, and I could tell immediately that she was lying.
/>
“It’s very imperative that you tell me the truth. I have to help Julie. You know if anyone can help her, it’s me. I know about Saul. I know he is after her. Please, did she call you today?”
“Yes,” Lizzy said. Her eyes lit up with understanding when I mentioned Saul’s name.
“Ok, did she tell you where she is?”
“No. I asked her not to.”
“Ok, that’s all I needed to know. Thanks,” I said.
I called up Bill Thompson again.
“Yeah?” Bill answered.
“Hey, can you run a trace on a phone number? I need a record of all the calls dialed to that phone number and who they belonged to.”
I prayed that Julie wasn’t using a burner phone or something.
“Will do. Just give me a bit.” Bill said.
I waited for about twenty minutes and Bill called back. “Ok, I’ve got a number from an unidentified number and a few from local people. None of them are the girl you’re looking for. They are all close by as well. Sorry, man.”
“Ok,” I replied. “Thanks.”
So, Julie was using a disposable phone. I just hoped that she eventually used her other phone at some point. There had to be a way to find her. I had to get to her before Saul did, or find Saul. I had a feeling he would be even harder to track down than Julie.
“Can you trace where the unidentified number might have been pinging from?” I asked.
“It will take a while, but it may lead to nothing.”
“Ok,” I said.
I ended the phone call and slumped down on my couch. I was starting to feel like this was going to be so much harder than I thought it was. Why wouldn’t Julie just reach out to me? I needed to know she was safe. I knew right then that tracking her down was going to be my number one priority. I would put it ahead of the business and everything else. I had to have someone working hard on this every step of the way. I’d put together a team if I had to.
I kept hoping that she would call me. But she didn’t. She was either too scared to get me involved, or she really didn’t want to continue what we had. I could only speculate as to the result.