by C. A. Mason
“Can’t say I blame you.” My cell phone buzzed, but I ignored it. Nothing could be more important than this. “So you mentioned saying something to Ben. What was it?”
“I got sick of him shooting his mouth off, saying he could have Maura anytime he wanted her. She was really into Coop. So I told him she’d done things with Coop she never woulda done with him.” He smirked. “I may have even told him that Coop had turned her into a dirty little whore, got her hooked on all kinds of crazy shit.”
I wanted to kick the shit out of him for saying those things about Maura. “You gave him details?” I kept my voice even and my breathing steady even as I clenched my jaw.
“Yeah. I told him some of what Coop told me, just to shut him up.”
“How did he react?”
“He was pissed.” He laughed. “I definitely got the reaction I was hopin’ for.”
I looked at the run-down house across the street. “Does he still live around here?”
“No, but he still lives in town. Last I heard, the bottle got the best of him. He’s working as a mechanic at Riley’s.”
“What happened to his fancy education?”
“He got kicked out of school not long after Maura was raped. I guess his grades were slipping or something. I don’t know. I didn’t talk to him all that much after Coop was arrested. Every time I did, I got the feeling he was digging, trying to find out what I knew about Coop’s case. Even if I had known anything, I wouldn’t have told that douchebag.”
“Well, thanks for the info, Jim.” I nodded at the envelope on the table. “I hope that’ll help you get back on your feet.”
“Thanks, man. Hey, it was nice meeting you.” He chuckled. “It’s not every day a fuckin’ billionaire swings by my place. You and Maura, huh? She was always a sweet piece of ass. I haven’t seen her in a while, but I’m guessing she still is if she turned your head. Hell, you could have any woman you want, huh?”
“I want her.” I glared at him, though he couldn’t see the warning behind my shades. “Only her.”
I walked away before he could antagonize me further. I already had half a mind to go over to Riley’s and feed that worthless piece of shit my fist, but I had to be strategic about this. I couldn’t raise suspicion. That would only prompt him to run before we had enough to go to the police.
No, it was time to pass this over to my investigator. He was a former cop, a well-respected lieutenant who’d gotten into private investigating when he retired from the force five years ago. He’d know exactly what he needed to do to build a case against the guy. The police would have no choice but to bring him in for questioning, and I had no doubt he would crack under the pressure. Jim was right about one thing. The guy was a weasel.
***
I sat across from Maura, struggling to find the words I knew would change her life.
“So you haven’t said what happened this morning,” she said, spearing a piece of spinach and chicken with her fork. “Did you learn anything from the guys on your old crew?”
“Yeah.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin before reaching for my water glass. “You remember Jim Martin?”
“I think so.” She bit her lip before asking, “Was he the guy who drove that blue Impala?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” I watched her reach for her wine glass, wondering how I could break the news to her that she’d willingly slept with the enemy. “Jim, uh, had some information that could blow this case wide open, angel.”
She lowered her glass slowly as her eyes met mine. “He did?”
“Yeah.” I inhaled deeply. “Did you know he lived across the street from your ex?”
“My ex?” She frowned. “Which ex?”
“Ben Lang.”
She smoothed the napkin in her lap as her eyes fell to her half-eaten salad. “No, I never went to Ben’s house when we were dating. I knew he lived in kind of a rough neighborhood. I assumed he was embarrassed to take me there.”
“You’re probably right.” I was trying to figure out how to tell her the role my actions had played in her attack. I still felt sick thinking about it. If I hadn’t told Jim what had happened between Maura and me, he never could have used it to light a fire under that sick bastard.
“Blaise, just tell me what you know. Please.”
She was pleading for answers, and I knew I had no choice but to give them. After all these years, she deserved to know the truth even more than I did.
“I told you that I’d shot my mouth off to the guys in the crew.” I covered her hand with mine. “Baby, you have to believe me when I tell you that was the single biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I feel like that set this whole thing in motion.”
“What do you mean?” Her blue eyes were wide, filled with disbelief and terror.
“Jim told your ex about… us.” When she shot me a questioning glance, I sighed and withdrew my hand as I leaned back in my seat. “He told him details about what we’d done.”
She covered her mouth with her hand as she shook her head back and forth, her eyes filling with tears.
The waiter chose that moment to approach our table, but I quickly waved him off. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. You have to believe me. If I’d known—”
“Ben did this? He was the one who raped me?” Her words were barely more than a whisper, her voice clogged with emotion.
“It looks that way.” I closed my eyes, unable to watch her beautiful face crumple.
She lowered her head into her hands. People turned to stare at us, so I pulled a few bills from my wallet before standing.
“Let’s get out of here, angel. We can talk more outside.” I helped her get to her feet and clamped my arm around her waist as I led her outside.
“I can’t breathe.” She bent over as she gasped. “Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick.” She slapped a hand over her mouth.
“It’s okay,” I said, guiding her to my car where we would have some privacy. I opened the passenger’s door for her.
“No!” she cried. “I can’t get in there. I told you, I feel sick.”
“I don’t care. Just get in.” If she got sick in the car, I’d have it cleaned. The only thing that mattered to me was making her feel safe.
She sank into the seat, and I closed the door. I glanced at her through the windshield as I made my way around the front of the car. She was sobbing uncontrollably, her whole body shaking.
As soon as I got in, she said between broken sobs, “The whisky. The cigarettes. It all makes sense now. That’s why he whispered, because he knew I’d recognize his voice.”
I pulled her into my arms, resting her head on my shoulder. “Sssh, it’s gonna be okay, angel. That son of a bitch isn’t gonna get away with this. I swear to you, I’ll make him pay for what he did to you.”
“And to you.” She clutched my shirt. “Oh God, I sent you to prison for a crime he committed. I ruined your life. It’s all my fault. I slept with him. I—”
“Stop,” I said gently, stroking her hair. “Just stop. I won’t let you blame yourself for any of this. He did this. He’s the one who deserves to be punished.” I held her for what seemed like hours, just letting her cry.
Eventually her tears stopped and her breathing returned to normal. “What now?” Her voice was small as she looked at me. “Do we go to the police?”
“Not yet. We need more evidence. I put a call in to my investigator on the way over here. He’s on it. He’ll build a case, then he’ll go to the police when he’s convinced he has enough for them to press charges against him.”
“He still lives here, you know.” Her voice trembled as she clutched her stomach. “Oh God, I take my car to Riley’s for service sometimes. They’re the only ones in town who can service my Audi without voiding the warranty. I could take it to the dealership, but they take forever. I can’t be without my car that long.”
She was babbling, but I let her talk and process her thoughts.
“I see him sometimes, through the glass. I don’t
have to talk to him because he’s always in the bay working on a car. I just deal with the clerk at the service desk. But sometimes I catch him looking at me, and it’s so… unnerving.” She shut her eyes. “God, why didn’t I think of him?”
“You had no reason to,” I said, rubbing her back. “I was the last person to see you, the one you’d been arguing with. I was the jealous one with a legendary temper. Of course the cops were gonna try to pin it on me. I was the logical suspect.”
She looked at me. “Do you think he followed us to your place from the bar?”
“He must have.”
“I guess I didn’t notice because he was driving that white van.” She rubbed her face. “It was his dad’s. He picked me up in it once when his car was in the shop.”
All of the pieces were falling into place. I knew it wouldn’t be long before my guy had enough to go to the police. My cell phone started ringing. It had been buzzing incessantly all morning. A quick look at the call display told me it was an unknown caller.
“I’m sorry, angel. I should get this.”
“It’s okay,” she said, sitting up. “Get it.”
I connected the call as she reached into her purse for a tissue. “Hello.”
“Blaise? Please.” The female on the other end was sobbing, making it difficult to understand her. “Help me.”
“Who is this?” The pounding in my ears almost drowned out her plea. Almost.
“It’s Lana.”
Her tortured cries sent a chill down my spine. “Sweetheart, you have to calm down. Just tell me what happened.”
“Blaise, I’ve been raped.”
Chapter Five
I couldn’t even think straight as that foul word echoed through my head. “Lana, where are you? Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay, sweetheart.” I was frantic, thinking about the last time someone I’d cared about had been viciously attacked. I hadn’t been there to save her either.
“Just please come. I need you,” she whimpered.
“Where are you?” When the only sound on the other end was muffled sobbing, I asked, “Are you at home?”
“Yes. Please, come quick. I’m scared. I can’t be alone. I’m worried he might come back.”
Fuck! I gripped my head, trying to force my brain to work. “Does your dad know what happened? Have you called the police?” I sensed Maura watching me, but I didn’t trust myself to look at her. My fear and rage were bubbling too close to the surface.
“No! I can’t call the police,” she shrieked. “He said he’d kill me if I told anyone! You’re the only one I trust to keep me safe. Please, Blaise, please. I need you.”
“Okay, I’m on my way. Stay put. Lock the doors and windows and set the alarm. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you.”
I disconnected the call before staring at the phone in disbelief. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I slammed my open hand into the steering wheel over and over again.
“What happened?” Maura whispered.
When I looked over, she was cowering in the corner, pressed up against the closed window. I hissed, releasing a low, slow breath as I closed my eyes and tried to regain control. “I’m sorry, Maura. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“What happened?” she repeated.
“That was Lana.”
“Lana?” Tension radiated from her as she clenched her hand in her lap. “Malcolm’s daughter? Your ex-girlfriend?”
I thought that was over-stating Lana’s importance in my life, but I didn’t have the will to argue. My only thoughts were of getting to Lana and doing what I could to protect the person who meant more to my partner than anyone else. Malcolm was a widower, and Lana was the only family he had. If anything happened to her, it would destroy him.
“Yes. She’s been…” I curled my hand around the steering wheel as I tried to force the word out of my mouth. “Raped.” I hung my head. “God, this can’t be happening. Not again.”
“I’m sorry,” Maura said, reaching for the door handle. “For you and for her.”
I reached for her, but she already had one foot out the door. “Where are you going?”
“It sounds like you’re in a hurry to go.” She slipped free of my grip and slid out of the car.
“Maura, wait!”
She was already approaching the restaurant entrance by the time I caught up to her.
“I have to go, to make sure she’s okay, but don’t think that means I’m abandoning your case,” I said. “I’m not, not at all. My guy will continue to work on it. As soon as he has something, he’ll—”
She held up her hand to silence me as she slipped her sunglasses over her eyes. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. You have more pressing matters to deal with right now.”
I hated leaving her, especially now that I knew the person who’d attacked her was living just miles away. “I want to get you a bodyguard, at least until the police have him in custody.”
She crossed her arms. “No. It’s been years. If he wanted to finish what he started, he would have by now.” She’d firmly built a wall between us. Any trace of vulnerability was long gone.
“Please, sweetheart—”
“Don’t call me that!”
I was taken aback by the vehemence in her tone. I’d thought we were past the hostility. “I’m sorry.” I sighed. “Look, I just want to know that you’re safe.”
“I’ll be fine. I don’t need you to take care of me. I’ve been doing just fine without you all these years.”
I reached for her arm when she turned away. “Don’t shut me out again.” When she didn’t respond, I swore softly, tightening my grip as I drew her closer to me. “You know I didn’t do this, so why are you still punishing me?”
She looked at me. Her eyes were concealed, but her resentment was palpable. “Just go. Take care of Lana. She needs you more than I do.” Looking down at my hand, she said, “You need to let me go.”
A couple walked by, eyeing us curiously, giving me no choice but to release her. “We’re not finished—”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” she said quietly, stepping back. “I believe we are.”
***
I held Lana, stroking her hair, offering gentle words to soothe her. I’d been there for hours, and she’d barely moved a muscle. I’d learned that the man who raped her was some jerk she met in a bar. She’d invited him back to her place for a drink, and he refused to take no for an answer when she told him she wasn’t into one-night stands. I’d wanted to lecture her about inviting a drunk stranger into her home, but she’d already beaten herself up enough. Nothing I could say would change what had happened to her, so I just tried to be the friend she needed.
“I just wanted to feel safe,” she whispered against my chest, clutching my shirt. “I knew you could protect me. You wouldn’t let him hurt me again.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I just wish you’d let me take you to the hospital. They can examine you and do a rape kit. That way if you decide to press charges—”
“No!” she screamed. “I already told you, no police. He said he would come back for me if I called the police.”
The prick who’d raped her claimed to be a lawyer, which meant he probably thought he was above the law or too smart to get caught. I’d love nothing more than to prove him wrong, but it had to be Lana’s decision. She was the one who would have to live with the consequences.
“I’ll stay as long as you need me to, but we can’t hide out in this apartment forever. Eventually you’ll have to figure out how to pick up the pieces, Lana. I think a professional, maybe a therapist, could help you figure out how to do that.”
“No!” She rolled onto her back. “I’m sorry I keep yelling at you, Blaise. I know you’re only trying to help me. The fact is that this is all my fault. I was flirting with him in the bar. I let him know I was into him. I invited him back here.”
“Don’t blame yourself. He had no right to take what you weren’t willing to g
ive. No man has the right to do that.” My rage, which had been simmering dangerously close to the surface since Maura walked away, was back with a vengeance. “You said no. That means no. Period.”
She shot me a sidelong glance. “You okay? You seem even more intense than usual.”
I wanted to tell her why I felt the way I did, but I was afraid to reveal anything about my past to someone who only knew me as Blaise. “My ex-girlfriend was raped,” I finally said. “It happened as she was leaving my place.” Of course I couldn’t tell her I’d been the one to take the blame, but it felt good to say the words aloud, to share my experience with someone who wouldn’t judge me.
“Really?” Lana sat up, propping a pillow between her head and the gilded mahogany headboard. “When did that happen?”
“A lifetime ago,” I whispered, tracing an artful tear in the knee of my worn jeans. “I was in my early twenties.”
“You’ve never told me about any of your exes,” Lana said, pulling her knees to her chest. “Was it serious?”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “I was in love with her.” I still am.
“Wow.” Lana nudged me with her elbow. “I thought love was a foreign concept to you. I had no idea a girl out there somewhere had actually captured your heart once upon a time. So what happened? Why’d you break up if you loved her so much?”
“We lost touch after she was attacked.” I was getting in too deep, telling her more than I should. “Enough about that. Let me fix you something to eat.”
She shook her head as she tried to run a hand through her matted hair. “No, thanks.” Looking around the room, she said, “God, I hate being here, but I can’t stand the thought of leaving this apartment either. What could be waiting for me outside scares me even more.”
I walked around to her side of the bed and sat on the edge as I held her hand. “You have people who love you and would gladly help you through this. Friends, your father. You have the resources to get the help you need and put this guy away. Please. Not just for your sake, but for the sake of the women who’ve come before you and will undoubtedly come after.”