by A. K. Evans
Some of it sounded promising; some of it sounded downright terrifying. I didn’t want to dwell on the possible downsides to whatever it was that he wanted to discuss, so I offered him a simple nod of my head.
“It’s going to be fine, warrior. I promise.”
I had no reason to doubt him, so I accepted him at his word. “I’m looking forward to tonight, then.”
“Good. Do you have anything planned for today?”
“I’m meeting up with Elle this morning to go over a few of the last-minute details for the meet-and-greet tomorrow. Other than that, I’ll just be here working until it’s time to get ready for dinner,” I noted.
“Ok,” he started as he moved to pick up his bag with the equipment he brought to finish my security system. “I’ll give you a call later today and let you know what time to be ready.”
I followed Cruz over to the front door, where he stopped and turned back to me. “Sounds good,” I replied.
“See you later, Lexi,” he said as he leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek. Then, he put his hand to the door knob and opened the door.
“Bye, Cruz.”
After he left, I locked the door, set my alarm, and went in search of my phone. I scrolled through my contacts, found the person I was looking for, and tapped on the screen.
“Hey, Lexi. Everything still good for this morning?” Elle greeted me.
“Yes, but I was wondering if we could change the location. The time, too, if needed.”
“Sure, what’s going on?”
“Well, is Levi home?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s still here.”
I gave myself a minute to consider what I was planning to do and realized it was the right decision for me. “I’d hate to inconvenience him if he’s got things going on today, but would it be possible for him to hang around for a bit this morning so I can talk to him about something? I’d like you there as well.”
“I’m sure that’s fine. We’ll be here, so come over whenever you want,” she assured me.
“Thanks, El. I’ll see you soon.”
I disconnected the call and got myself ready. Thirty minutes later, I was on my way to Levi and Elle’s place.
When I arrived, there was no denying the nervous tension in the air. That tension was coming from me and Elle. Not Levi. That man exuded confidence like he was being paid to do it. Though I guess, in a way, he kind of was.
It was that confidence that made it easy for him to open up the conversation. “Is everything alright? I’m guessing this might have to do with the security system Cruz installed?”
“Yes, everything is good with that. Well, other than the fact that Cruz told me I wouldn’t be receiving an invoice. I really don’t mind paying for the equipment,” I remarked.
“It’s not a concern for me, Lexi. Aside from the fact that I know there’s something good brewing between you and Cruz, you’ve become an important part of Elle’s life. She’s had to deal with enough bad stuff over the last few months that I want to see to it that the good people who are in her life stay safe.”
I tried to ignore the fact that he mentioned the situation with me and Cruz and focused on how much he loved Elle. Nevertheless, I didn’t want him thinking I was trying to take advantage of my friendship with her.
“It’s completely not necessary, but I do appreciate your generosity, Levi.”
“No problem at all,” he returned. “So, if that’s not what you wanted to discuss, what’s going on?”
I had to do it quick, like ripping off a bandage.
“I had a panic attack last night,” I blurted.
Elle looked worried while Levi grew curious, so I quickly explained, “Cruz was at my place last night installing the additional pieces he needed for the security system. As you noted a minute ago, Levi, there’s something brewing between me and Cruz. We kissed last night. A lot. I suddenly had a flashback to when I was in college and I lost it.”
“Oh, Lex,” Elle started. “Are you ok?”
I nodded. “I am now. It took a little bit, but Cruz managed to help me get through it. Of course, it was tough for him because he’s the one who triggered the attack.”
“I don’t understand,” Levi cut in. “What did he do?”
Uh oh. I suddenly realized maybe I should have thought this through a little bit better. It seemed to me that from the moment I told the first person that wasn’t my therapist about the rape, I couldn’t seem to stop. I was like a rippling effect. I told one person. That turned into two, then three. I couldn’t stop myself from speaking out. I quickly realized that telling people was helping me cope, so that’s not what bothered me now. What was a problem was that if I told Levi about this, I would end up telling him about my make-out session with his brother, something I’m not certain he would want to hear.
“Gosh,” I hesitated. “This is awkward.”
“Lexi, did Cruz do something to hurt you?” Levi asked, not a trace of humor in his tone.
I gasped. “Oh, no. Nothing like that at all. I’m sorry.” I let out a sigh. “I’m just struggling with this because I know I want to gag whenever Nikki talks to me about things getting hot and heavy between her and Luke. I don’t know if it’s different for guys, but I would imagine that hearing about your brother’s…encounters is not exactly on the top of your list.”
“Can you tell me what you need to tell me and spare me the details?” he wondered.
“Right,” I said. “Well, we were on the couch, kissing. Cruz’s body was mostly on top of mine and he slid his hands up my arms. They were over my head. I panicked and started kicking and screaming at him to get off me.”
At this point, Elle was now looking very nervous. Levi still looked confused.
I enlightened him. “I said earlier that I had a flashback to when I was in college. When I was in my freshman year, my attacker pinned my hands above my head when he raped me.”
Levi dropped his head a minute and took a few deep breaths before he lifted it again and lamented, “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Lexi…both the rape and the flashback. I’d like to think I know my brother well enough to know he got off of you.”
I nodded and added, “Yes, and he helped me through the panic attack. He even offered to stay the night on the couch in case I needed him. He’s a great man.”
A look of pride washed over Levi’s face before he agreed, “He is.” Then, he asked, “So, while I understand needing to talk about what happened to you to have a support system, I get the feeling this is about more than that.”
“It is and it isn’t,” I began. “I spent a lot of years dealing with my rape on my own. I’ve only recently told the people I’m comfortable with. It’s been very good for me to be able to do that. I really like Cruz and I want us to have a fighting chance at something special. That said, I know what I dumped on him last night is not an easy pill to swallow. I think he’s the kind of person that will keep what I told him private. I realize, though, that if things progress with us the way we are both hoping they will, he might need to unload his feelings about it to someone he trusts. I was hoping you’d be able to be that person for him.”
“It goes without asking,” Levi declared. “He’s my brother, Lexi. Of course, I’ll be there for him and, whether things get where the two of you hope they do or not, you as well.”
I blew out a breath and dropped my shoulders. More bricks were gone. “Thank you, Levi. I appreciate it; I didn’t want him to have to hold this in.”
Levi’s face softened further before he shared, “You should know, I hope this thing between you and Cruz goes where you both want it to go. If there’s anything else I can do, don’t hesitate to ask me.”
“I won’t.”
With that, Levi made sure there was nothing else I needed to discuss before he gave Elle a proper goodbye and took off. Elle and I spent the next hour with me giving her the details of my night with Cruz. Then, we moved on to the details of her meet-and-greet.
The
bad news kept coming. It was one blow after another and it didn’t matter if I was thinking about work or my personal life. The truth was that, until recently, my life consisted of working a lot. Now, I had a reason to devote more time to my personal life and the only case I was working on was taking up an insane amount of my personal time.
Standing up from my chair in the conference room, I announced, “We’re up to ten women. Ten in a matter of weeks. Two of them were picked up on the same night. And the most recent one to go missing is a seventeen-year-old girl.”
I looked around the room at the guys surrounding the table: Dom, Lorenzo, and Pierce. Every file on every missing woman was spread out across the length of the massive table. We were stuck.
“We’ve got to work harder. No, not harder. We need to work smarter. There has to be something we’re overlooking. This is happening right under our noses and all we’ve got is a bunch of dead ends, no leads, and a list of missing women that keeps growing.”
“Cruz,” Lorenzo called to get my attention. “We’ve been over these files a million times and we’ve followed up on every lead that we did have. Even with nothing new, it’s not like we’ve been sitting around waiting for the next one to fall into our laps.”
“It’s not enough,” I went on, my frustration beginning to get the best of me. “We’ve got to do something different.”
“You alright, bro?” Dom asked. “You know we all feel the same as you, but you’re getting agitated over this beyond what any of us have ever seen from you. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I clipped. “That’s precisely the problem. These guys are smart because they know where to hit. There’s been no camera footage to tap into. I don’t like thinking that these fucking guys are outsmarting us. There are ten women missing. Ten women who’ve been taken against their will and are likely being bought and sold by some sick bastards. That’s happened and we’re sitting here trying to figure out where the fuck to go next!”
All I felt was rage and, being so consumed with that as I ranted at my team, I never noticed Levi walk into the room.
“Cruz!” he yelled out.
I turned to look at him.
Levi’s eyes went to the guys and he instructed, “Can you guys give us a minute?”
They got up and moved out of the room. Once they left, Levi closed the door and stared at me a beat before he asked, “Do you need to be off this case?”
“Don’t have time right now, Levi. I’ve got to get to work.”
“Let it out, Cruz.”
“What?”
“Lexi came over this morning to meet with Elle to go over some things before the event tomorrow. She told us what happened last night with the two of you.”
The mere mention of what happened last night had me on the verge of another outburst. I hadn’t even begun to process how I felt about what I’d learned. That said, I was taken aback at learning she’d shared with Levi.
“What exactly did she share with you?” I shot back.
“She told us about her panic attack. She also explained what brought that attack on. I know what happened to her in college, too.”
I dropped my head to the ground and closed my eyes.
My Lexi.
My thoughts drifted to her. I thought about everything from the way she kissed, the sound of her laughter, and the feel of her sleeping beside me last night. I was so lost in my thoughts I never noticed Levi move closer to me until his hand was on my shoulder giving me a squeeze.
“She told me because she likes you, Cruz. She wants things to work and she knows that what you learned last night was some heavy stuff. Lexi wanted to make sure you had someone there to listen to you if you need to get out what you’re feeling about it.”
I let out a laugh, “And here I thought I did a good job of hiding how I really felt about it. Obviously, she saw right through that.”
“I’m sure she didn’t see everything that you feel about it because I’ve got to imagine your feelings are pretty close to what mine would be if I learned that happened to Elle. My feelings would not be nice and I’m convinced that would not make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The girl that was at my house this morning spoke about you and it was all warm and fuzzy.”
“I want to kill the motherfucker that did that to her,” I finally admitted.
“Figured as much,” Levi replied. “And I’m guessing I’m right to assume you didn’t tell her that.”
“That would be an accurate assumption,” I confirmed. “I knew the last thing that would help her after telling me about such a violent act would be hearing me tell her how I wanted to enact more violence. So, I thought it, but I didn’t tell her how I felt.”
“You need off this case?” he asked.
I shook my head. “As much as I want to be with her right now, I need to put this case to bed. And I know Lexi wants to see that it happens, too. She’s terrified for these women.”
Levi nodded at me and advised, “Understandably so. That said, you’re going to need to keep these two situations separate, Cruz. Losing your cool with the team is not going to help you find these women. If you need to talk about it, find me and we’ll deal with it.”
“Thanks, Levi,” I started. “I’ve got to get back to work.
He nodded and added, “I don’t like the fact that the two of you have a long road ahead of you, but I think if you and Lexi can work through it together, it’ll be good for the both of you. I know you have what it takes to help her beat back any lingering demons and, on the other side of it, I can already see that she’s giving you something other than work to be passionate about again.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “She is.”
At that, I turned and walked out of the conference room. I found the rest of the team in Lorenzo’s office. When I walked in, they directed their attention to me.
“Sorry about all that in the conference room earlier,” I began. “I’m dealing with some of my own stuff and this case feels like it’s eating me alive.”
“It’s all good,” Dom insisted. “We all understand it, man. It’s not exactly like we’re happy about what’s happening. We’ve just got to stay focused on what we need to do.”
“To that end, I’m going to go back to the start of this case,” Pierce chimed in. “I didn’t investigate the first few with you guys. I’ve looked over the cases again and I’ve got something I want to dig a little deeper into.”
“Which is?”
“Jenkins.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Frank Jenkins. He owned a business in town, but has since retired. He’s well known among the locals and he’s a regular at The Rusty Spur,” Pierce clarified.
This offered little explanation, so I pressed, “What does this Frank Jenkins and the tavern have to do with this case?”
“Anything that’s happening in town, this guy knows about it. Some of these women we’re searching for were picked up close to the tavern; I’m hoping he might have something to offer us.”
“What time are you heading out?” I asked.
“Lunchtime. He’ll be there; he’s always there.”
I wasn’t sure if this guy would be able to offer us anything useful, but it was worth a shot. “I’ll ride along,” I offered.
Pierce dipped his chin and we got back to work.
An hour later, we took off to The Rusty Spur.
“Ready?”
That was me talking to Pierce. We had walked into The Rusty Spur roughly forty minutes ago. Frank Jenkins wasn’t there when we arrived, but Pierce insisted he’d be showing up. We sat at a table, ordered food, and Jenkins walked in five minutes later.
He took a seat at the end of the bar and looked to the bartender, who confirmed, “The usual?”
Jenkins gave a nod while the bartender disappeared to the kitchen before coming out and setting a beer in front of him.
Pierce and I figured it was best to let the guy eat before we questioned him; so, after we finished our lunch, we wai
ted.
Now that we had filled up and Jenkins had pushed his plate back on the bar, I was ready to see if he could offer us anything.
“Yeah,” Pierce agreed. “Let’s go.”
I threw some bills down on the table and followed Pierce over to the bar. He sat on the stool closest to Jenkins on his right side. I sat next to Pierce.
“Hey Frank,” Pierce greeted him.
His eyes narrowed in response, but not in anger. I believed he was taking a minute to figure out why he recognized Pierce.
“You’re the investigator,” he announced, finally remembering Pierce’s familiar face. “Reynolds, right?”
“Sharp as a tack, Frank,” Pierce praised him. “You got it in you to help me out again?”
“I don’t like when bad stuff is happening in my town, so if there’s something I can do to right any wrongs, you know I will.”
Pierce filled him in. He explained the situation and with each word he spoke, Jenkins grew more and more agitated. He did not like what he was hearing. When Pierce finished, Jenkins asked, “How can I help?”
That’s when I interrupted, “Hey, Frank. I’m Cruz Cunningham and I’m working with Pierce on this case.”
He gave me a nod.
I continued as I slid the file over to him, “Have you seen any of these girls around here over the course of the last three or four weeks?”
He opened the folder and pulled out the sheet with all of the pictures of the missing women. His gaze shot to the seventeen-year-old girl that was reported missing last night. “She was here two nights ago. Pretty young thing…didn’t belong in a place like this.”
“Are you sure it was her?” I questioned him.
“Not a doubt in my mind,” he confirmed. “She didn’t know it, but when she walked out of here, I kept my distance and made sure she got to her car safely.”