She grabbed hold of his right hand and stood. “Did you tell them you’ve been shot?”
“Yes. It’s just a flesh wound, I’m sure.”
“I don’t want to be alone. I’ll stay with you. In case you faint or something.”
Jack managed a smile.
The sound of the ambulance headed their way was one of the nicest sounds Gretel had heard. Jack and she looked at each other and no words were needed.
Jack’s shoulder was tended to while he and Gretel were questioned by some of the same officers who’d been at the house earlier.
The bullet had grazed Jack’s shoulder. After his wound was properly dressed, the two of them were driven to the station in separate vehicles to make official statements.
By the time they both finished, it was eight o’clock at night. An officer drove Jack and Gretel back to his car.
By the light of the police car headlights, Gretel saw the vicinity was surrounded by crime scene tape.
“I never want to see this place again,” Gretel said as they walked to the car.
“You and me both.”
“You can’t drive with your shoulder.”
“My shoulder won’t bother me. I hope you’ve still got the keys.”
“I have and I’m driving.” She unlocked the car and got into the driver’s seat. After hesitating, he got into the passenger side.
Once they had gone back down the dirt track and she'd turned back onto the road, he said, “I don’t think either of us should drive after what’s just happened.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“Pull over.”
She turned on the blinker and did as he said.
He took out his phone and did a search. “There’s a hotel two miles up this road. We can get something to eat and get a decent sleep before we head back.”
“That does sound good.”
It wasn’t long before they had booked side-by-side rooms and were sitting opposite each other at a cozy waterfront restaurant.
As soon as she took a bite of her crumbed fish, she sighed her enjoyment. They’d not eaten anything since that morning. “The police wouldn’t tell me anything. Did they know who those men were?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“You think they were after Ryan? Maybe they were trying to kill me or you.”
“We’ll know more if we can identify their bodies."
"Those poor policemen who were killed and their families. It’s so tragic.”
“I know. One death has a ripple effect. It doesn’t just affect the immediate family, and this was four deaths, and the criminals.”
“Yes, let’s not forget them.” Especially not them, Gretel thought. “I feel terrible. If I hadn’t asked you to go to the cabin, those men would be alive today. It’s hard to believe that one day they were here and now they’re gone.”
“You can’t think like that, Gretel. It is what it is. It’s happened and it’s in the past. Don’t beat yourself up over it. How do you know a worse tragedy mightn't have happened if we didn’t come here?”
“I suppose.” The phone call from Ryan reverberated around in her head. He’d told her not to look for him. If she’d listened, these men might still be alive.
“As I said, once the criminals are identified, then we’ll get a better idea why they were after your boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend.” She looked out over the lake as her stomach clenched. Her well-ordered and organized life was reduced to chaos and uncertainty. She fought back the urge to be sick.
“Are you okay?”
“I can’t stop seeing those people lying there each time I close my eyes.” She told him what she thought he’d want to hear. Sure, she was concerned about the deaths, but there was nothing that could be done about that now. Truth was, she was more worried about the mess that her life had become.
“It’s hard the first time you see something like that.”
Gretel appreciated the genuine sympathy he offered her. “Do you think Ryan had something to do with the Welch robbery?” She now knew it was a strong possibility, what with the family ties.
“He went missing from the hospital the morning after.”
“Do we know that for sure?”
“Yes, by all accounts he was still in the hospital, unless he slipped out before they knew it. That’s the next road we’re about to go down. They raised the alarm that he was missing the morning of the Welch killing, but it is possible he had already left that night.”
“Good.”
“You say that like you want him to be found guilty.”
“I do. I want him to get what’s coming to him if he did it.”
He leaned forward slightly and stared into her eyes. “It must be awful to find out someone you loved so much deceived you so badly.”
“Well, I didn’t love him that much. It wasn’t Romeo and Juliet or Cleopatra and Mark Antony.” She sipped on her straw.
“More like Bonnie and Clyde?”
Her drink spurted out of her mouth. “Oh, gross, I’m sorry.” She grabbed a paper napkin and wiped up the mess as she giggled. “Bonnie and Clyde, definitely not. Well, maybe a short-lived version. I should hit you for that, but I might hurt your arm.”
He looked down at the bulge that the bandage made underneath his shirt. “Don’t hurt me when I’m at my most fragile.”
She smiled and then resumed drinking her soda.
They’d made an early start and had hit the city traffic mid-morning. She’d talked him into letting her drive again. When she was close to her apartment, she said, “I should take you home and then I can collect you in the morning.”
“No. I’m okay to drive. It’s only a slight graze. Head to your place and I’ll take over from there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s an order.”
She smiled. “I can’t go against that.”
When she pulled up outside her apartment, they both got out of the car.
“Get a good night's rest, Gretel, and I’ll check back in with you tomorrow. Let me know if Castle calls you again. Call me anytime, night or day.”
“Shouldn’t you take a few days off with that shoulder?”
He grinned. “I’ll be all right.”
She stood and watched him get in the car and drive away.
Gretel was only back in her apartment for an hour when she grew restless.
She couldn’t sit around and do nothing.
Ryan’s apartment was where she needed to go. Sure it was a risk, but somehow she felt it was just as much a risk to do nothing. If Ryan had killed Welch, he was a murderer. She’d already had one attempt on her life. Ryan Castle had to be found.
Chapter 19
When she found a place to park close to Ryan’s Brooklyn apartment, she sat there feeling anxious. Then she pulled out a disposable cell phone and called Kent.
“About time,” he said as soon as he answered. “Where have you been? I haven’t heard a thing from you.”
“I went to the lake house. You didn’t tell me about the company who owned it, and do you know about Ryan?”
“Yes. I said I’d call you back with info. Next thing I know, there was no answer.”
“So you know Ryan’s true identity?”
“Yeah,” Kent replied, “Ryan Butterworth.”
“And you know—”
“His father was Josephine Welch’s first husband and Ryan’s the only son of Earl Butterworth and Hilary Butterworth. So he might’ve stolen the Welches' loot. Seems he lived with the mother after his parents separated, and she shipped him off to boarding school. No love lost there. His father didn’t want him when he got the new wife, Josephine.”
“I know. Jack told me they never even had him home for the holidays.” When there was silence on the other end of the line, Gretel said, “Jack knows—”
“I figured. You’re not getting too close to him, are you?”
“Never! I know what I’m doing. He’s not goi
ng to be interested in someone like me anyway. Have you found out anything else on the Welch family or about Ryan?”
“I’m still searching.”
“Good.” She ended the call and put her hand on the door of the car, and then hesitated as a sense of danger clouded her mind. Shrugging it off she told herself it was backlash from what had happened at the lake house.
Ryan’s apartment was sitting there vacant. It had to hold clues to something. Maybe his relationship with Josephine and Glen Welch, or maybe something to let her know where he could be found. Finally, she pushed the car door open at the same time she pushed aside her reservations.
The police would be keeping an eye on the building in case he headed back there. Surely they wouldn’t be on the lookout for a female who might slip into his apartment, would they?
Once she had picked the lock, she would grab the spare key he always kept by the front door. If she had a key—with the fingerprints she'd make sure were on it—no one could call it a break and enter. She hoped not. The fact that she'd been there before meant she didn't have to worry about her prints inside the apartment.
When she got to his apartment, she noticed the door was ajar. She pushed it open. “Is anyone here?”
Silence.
She took another couple steps, enough to see that the entire apartment had been trashed. Furniture was toppled over and things were strewn across the floor. It was one unholy mess.
Gretel made her way through the debris disappointed at the thorough job that had been done. They’d even slashed the upholstery on the couch, and every one of the chairs had been shredded.
When she reached the chaos in the bedroom, Ryan’s aftershave hung in the air. Had he been there recently?
Sneaking a peek out the bedroom window, she saw a white car parked on the other side of the street. It had to be the police staking the place out. When she turned her back on the window, she saw his closet.
A memory jumped into her mind. She’d been searching Ryan’s hotel room after he’d been shot. As he lay there bleeding on the floor at the airport, he told her the diamonds were hidden in a photo frame. She had wasted no time in grabbing his keys and one of the keys had told her he’d stayed in a hotel so that was where she headed. While she’d been searching his hotel room, someone else came in and she slipped into the closet to hide. There were at least two of them because she heard one call the other by the name Monzo. Were they the Shadows, or were the men at the lake house the Shadows? Or, were they all part of the same group? Or, were there still others out there?
Realizing the people who had ransacked the place could come back, she quickly waded through the mess looking for anything that might give her a clue to Ryan’s whereabouts, or the location of the diamonds.
Her eyes were drawn to a photo frame on the bedroom floor. She turned it over and through the shattered glass she saw Ryan and herself with the Eiffel tower behind them. They looked like any other loving couple in their holiday snapshot. It fell from her hands and she stomped on it and squished it into the plush carpet.
After another quick look around, Gretel decided there was nothing left to find, but she was glad she had come. It seemed she wasn’t the only one looking for Ryan and the diamonds. If these were the same people who shot at her and Jack, she needed to leave fast.
She headed out of the apartment, leaving the door ajar as she'd found it, and left by the rear door of the building to avoid being seen by the cop in the white car. He’d done a lousy job since he didn’t know someone had trashed Ryan’s apartment. If he knew, surely Jack would’ve been informed and Jack would’ve told her. And there would have been police tape blocking the doorway.
When there was a break in the traffic, Gretel walked across the street and just as she was nearing the other side, a car sped toward her. She leaped out of the way and then realized the driver was trying to hit her. She sprinted to the sidewalk and the car swerved to follow her, jumping the curb. To avoid getting hit, she ducked into a store. When she was safely inside, she turned for a better look at the car.
The driver was Ryan Castle. She was sure of it. She walked back onto the sidewalk to get a better look. He slammed on the brakes, stuck his head out the window and they locked eyes. He then drove off.
She ran to her car and got in and started it. Then she sped to catch that car. She couldn’t let him get away.
When she turned the corner, she spotted his car in the distance. Slamming her foot hard on the gas, she fished her phone out of her bag, and then with one finger got her phone's camera open so she could at least snap the plate number. When she started snapping, he must’ve seen in the rear-view mirror what she was doing because he started weaving in and out of traffic.
It was no use; she’d never get him now.
Since the FBI was tracking her cell phone, she certainly couldn’t call Kent or send him the images from her phone. She pulled her car over to the side and sent the pictures to her own email knowing Kent would see them.
Did Ryan think she trashed his apartment, was that why he’d tried to kill her just now? Or was it revenge for what had happened at the lake house? Was Ryan working with those men? If so, he wouldn’t be happy that four of them were dead.
Once Gretel was home, she made herself a cup of coffee and sat down on the couch trying to still her shaking body. Ryan could’ve run her down and that would’ve been the end. Jack would’ve thought it a random hit and run, and Ryan wouldn’t have paid for that crime either. The more she thought about it the more she knew he had to get caught and thrown into prison or she’d never be safe.
She abandoned the couch and her coffee to turn on one of her alternate cell phones and call Kent. “Did you get my email?”
“The black vehicle?”
“Yes.”
“Registered to one Ryan Castle.”
“I knew it. Thanks.” She ended the call and picked up her regular cell phone and called Jack.
“Gretel, how are you feeling?”
“Lucky to be alive.”
“I know it was a dreadful ordeal.”
“I don’t mean that. I mean today, just now.”
There was silence at the other end of the phone for a moment. “What happened?”
“Ryan Castle tried to run me down.”
“In a car?”
“Yes. I happened to be near his apartment …”
“Wait a minute. What were you doing all the way out there?”
“It’s not that far.”
“I know you were there. You were seen going into his building.”
Gretel gritted her teeth. “Okay, I did go into his apartment, but I do have a key. From before. Someone had trashed it before I got there and when I was leaving he tried to run over me when I was crossing the street.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m alive. Unharmed physically, but in the last forty-eight hours I’ve been shot at and driven at, so ... Am I okay mentally? That's a different question. I mean, a different answer.”
“Where are you now?”
“At home.”
“Sit tight. I’ll be there soon.”
She slumped back into her couch and sipped her now lukewarm coffee. It amazed her how quickly love could turn to hate. Had Ryan ever had any feelings for her, or had it all been an act from the start?
Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on her door. A glance at the monitor told her it was Jack. She opened the door and he moved in quickly and closed it behind him. He put a warm hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I think so. Just some bruises and a couple of scratches from flinging myself into the doorway of a store. How are you feeling?”
“I’ll live.”
“I’ll show you the photos I took of his car.” She grabbed her cell phone and showed him the images she’d snapped.
He held the phone and then his eyebrows knit together. “These are taken from a car?”
“I chased after him.”
His mouth fell ope
n. “After he nearly killed you, you chased him?”
“Yes. I had to know if it was him for sure.”
“You should not risk your life like that. I’ll email this to myself and then we can blow up the images.”
“I’m sure you’ll find the vehicle is registered to him.”
“We’ll soon find out.” He finished emailing the pictures and when his cell phone beeped, he picked it up and tapped on some keys. “Okay, done. We’ll hear back soon. Where did this happen?”
“A street parallel to his apartment building.”
“Any witnesses?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t stay and collect names. It was a carpet shop that I ran to.”
“Perfect. I’ll send someone over to collect CCTV footage and see what we can find.”
“Thanks. Do you want coffee?”
“No thanks. It’s been a long day. I should go.”
She didn’t want him to leave, didn’t want to be by herself. “What about a calming chamomile tea?”
He grinned. “Okay. I could probably use one of those.”
“Have a seat.”
As he sat down, he said, “By the way, they weren’t able to trace that call.”
“When Ryan called me?”
He nodded. “At least we know he’s in the vicinity. Until we have him in custody, it might be an idea not to go out alone.”
“Does that mean you’ll collect me and bring me home every day?”
“Yes.”
“Great. It’ll be nice to have my own personal bodyguard. That’ll save on gas too and with the change in my finances I do have to be careful.”
When she had placed two mugs of chamomile tea down on the coffee table, she sat next to him. “You must live close by.”
“Not too far.”
“I’m sensing some unequalness in this relationship. I can’t know where you live?”
He picked up his herbal tea and took a cautious sip. “No. It’s business, it’s not personal.”
She felt that was a slap in the face. Wasn’t he interested in her at all? Even just a little? “I know that, but when you saved my life it went from business to personal for me. Thank you for saving my life. I haven’t thanked you before now. I’m not sure why.”
Shiny Things Page 10