Private Investigation

by Aidèe Jaimes

  “No! Please, Justin. Let her be free. She’s been caged too long. Leave her alone.”

  “I can’t. Not in this case.”

  “Do it for me. I’ve covered for your ass so many times. Think about the shit you did before you met Nat. It was me that helped you hide your gambling habit from our family, and me that took more than one beating when you couldn’t pay.”

  “I always paid you back.”

  “Fine. At least give me time to think.” I’m nearly begging, desperately trying to come up with anything that will move him.

  “Think about what?”

  “About what I should do! I can’t abandon her to her fate like this.”

  “Oh my God. Matty, please tell me you didn’t fall in love with her.”

  “I don’t know,” I admit.

  “She’s not Lena! Her face doesn’t make her your wife.”

  “I know that! She’s Eva. Trust me, there’s no confusing them now.”

  “You slept with her,” he states.

  “Does it matter?”

  Justin releases a loud breath. “I don’t know what to say to you. This is unprofessional. And beyond that, you could have ruined us. You’re my little brother, and I do have your back. But I also have a family to feed and a father to make proud. You know this. So I’m going to do something for you. You have until Monday. That’s when my conference with Mr. Cage is scheduled for. And, Matt, I am going to call the police. Whatever you need to do, do it by then.”

  “Thank you.”

  Chapter 25

  The instant we hang up, I dial my private Ember line and get a generic voicemail greeting.

  “This is Matthew Grayson. I need to speak with number twelve. It’s urgent… Fuck! Please have her call me as soon as possible.”

  My phone rings a minute later. It’s coming from a blocked number.

  “Mr. Grayson,” comes the sexy voice.

  “Can I please speak with Eva? It’s important.”

  “Breaking protocol. We do not use our associates’ names. Goodbye.”

  “No! Please have her call me!”

  The line goes dead. “Fuck!” I dial again, but this time, it’s blocked. Why didn’t I get her personal number? Fuck me and my stupidity.

  An hour passes and still nothing. My mind made up, I grab my keys. I’ll go to her house, leave a note. Shit, I don’t know how, but I have to get to her somehow.

  As if she can read my mind, the phone rings. Again, it’s from a blocked number.

  “Hello!”

  “Matt?” It’s Eva.

  “Thank God you called me back.” The sudden relief slows my blood pressure to such a degree that I feel faint.

  “This is a secure line, but I can’t stay on for long,” she tells me.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I need to talk with you, in person. Is there somewhere we can meet? Heaven’s Gate, maybe?”

  “No, I can’t go out there today.”

  “Then where?” I ask, desperation creeping into my veins.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t tell you over the phone.” And I need to see her face when I say what I have to say.

  “I can come to you. But not tonight. Tomorrow. Ten in the morning.”

  Tomorrow. That will still give us an entire day to plan, not that my mind hasn’t already been racing, figuring out every detail. I ask, “Are you familiar with the Saddler Beach Resort?”

  “Yes. On Vanderbilt Beach.”

  “Room 305.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there,” she agrees.

  “Eva?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  A gentle sigh escapes her. “Me too. I’ve—” The call ends abruptly. I suspect it was on a timer, or someone from her group was listening and they disconnected it.

  Either way, I have so much to plan before we meet tomorrow.

  There’s a light knock at the door. I open it to find Eva standing there, wearing torn jean shorts and a white formfitting racerback. Her hair is down, messy, with a single barrette pinning it behind her ear.

  Her smile broadens as soon as she sees me. I pull her inside, closing the door behind us.

  On their own accord, my arms circle her waist and lift her. My lips find hers, and I hold her to me tightly, wondering why the hell I let her go in the first place. In spite of everything she said, she doesn’t push me away. In fact, if there was ever a moment of doubt that what I felt between us was real, her reaction to me erases it.

  When she digs her fingers in my hair, tugging me to her, it tells me she’s missed my kiss. And the way she wraps her legs around my waist as we fall onto the bed, her core pressed hard against me, tells me she needs me as much as I do her.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” she says, moving away only slightly.

  “Eva.” I whisper her name against her throat, tasting the soft skin there. We have much to discuss, but first, there’s this uncontrollable hunger for her that needs to be sated.

  She tears at my T-shirt, jerking it over my head. I help her take my shorts off and throw them somewhere in the distance, along with hers. There’s no time for her shirt, our need is too desperate. I shove it up only enough to expose her breasts, then I bury myself inside of her.

  She gasps as I fill her, arching her back and calling my name.

  “I need more, Matt. I need you.”

  I pound into her mercilessly, just as she’s begging me to do. I thrust until my world shatters and there’s nothing left of me because I’ve poured everything I am into her.

  Collapsing, I press my face to her neck, breathing her in. Her arms tighten around me, and I realize she’s as afraid of letting go as I am.

  I’ve damned myself.

  From the bed, I watch as she cleans up in the bathroom, smoothing her hair. When she turns to me, she smiles sadly. “I have to go soon. What did you need to tell me?”

  Taking her hands in mine, I pull her down onto the bed beside me. “Come with me. We can go anywhere you want. We’ll go to a nice city, somewhere the kids will like.”

  “Matt, you don’t know what you’re saying. This”—she points at the bed—“what we did, it doesn’t change anything.”

  “It changes everything! Eva, I know you feel what I do. I can see it in your eyes. You love me.”

  She looks away but doesn’t deny it. “And do you love me?”

  “I’ve never been more sure of anything. We can be a family, Eva.”

  Wide eyes turn to me again. “But you hardly know me!”

  “Everything I need to know is right here,” I say, touching her heart. “And here.” I touch her face. “The moment I looked into your eyes, I saw you. It’s always been you that I see.”

  “I…I told you I would leave Ember. Peter… I should be with him.”

  “I know that’s what you say, but my gut tells me you’d rather be with me. Am I right?”

  Looking down at our joined hands, she nods. “What I want to do and what I should do are two different things.”

  “They don’t have to be.”

  “It’s a big change, Matt. There’s so much I still have to tell you. It may take time.”

  “You don’t have time!” I blurt out.

  Two thin lines form between her brows. “What does that mean?”

  “Eva, I need to tell you something.”

  “What? You’re scaring me, Matt. What is it?”

  “My being here, it wasn’t just because I wanted time with Lena. I’m a private investigator.” I watch her carefully as I admit who I am. She doesn’t blink at the words, and I don’t know if it’s the surprise of it all or the lack of it that hints at something being wrong, but I ignore it. “My brother was hired by a man named Peter Cage to investigate his wife. You. Initially, I refused to take the case, but then I saw your picture, and you looked so much like Lena that I had to see for myself.

  “And when I did see you, you captivated me beyond my wildest dreams. Your eye
s, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. And when I wanted to see Lena, all I saw was you.”

  “Have you told your brother about me?” she asks.

  “Accidentally. I meant to delete the report I was working on, but I sent it instead. He gave me a day before he contacts the police with everything I have on Ember.”

  To this she does react. “Can you stop him?”

  “No. That’s why I need to get you out of this before he does it. Before he calls your husband.”

  “If he finds out, he’ll take the kids,” she whispers.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep it from him.”

  “I understand.” She stands, walks to the glass doors and looks out to the sea beyond.

  I follow, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “Will you do it?”

  Her head falls back onto my chest, and she exhales hard, yet I know whatever she wanted to release with that breath is still inside. “Would you love me in spite of what I am? Of what I’ve done?”

  Through her filmy reflection in the glass, I see her eyes close as she waits for my answer.

  “I loved you before I knew you. Of that I’m sure.” It’s the truth. Somehow, she’s been inside me. It’s as if my heart recognized her as soon as I saw her and refused to let go.

  “Then yes, I’ll go. Wherever you want, I’ll go with you.” Her words are like that first drink of water after years of thirst. They heal me, they bring me back to life. She turns in my arms and I hold her to me tightly. “I’m afraid.”

  “Everything will be okay. As long as we’re together, it will be okay.”

  Those are the same words I said to Lena years ago. What would make me think this time will be any different?

  Chapter 26

  I pace like a madman, waiting for the clock to strike eight. Eva should be here any minute. My bags are packed; the Charger is gassed. We’re ready to go as soon as she and the kids arrive.

  To say I’m nervous to meet them is putting it mildly. Meeting her kids under any circumstance would be terrifying. Meeting them moments before we make a run for Jacksonville certainly complicates it.

  Eight o’clock and she’s still not here. I look out the blinds to the parking lot. Her red car is nowhere in sight.

  Calling the number she gave me, I leave a message. “Eva, we have to go. Justin has contacted the police, but luckily, he couldn’t reach your husband. We have to go before they start searching for you.”

  By eight thirty, I’m nearly clawing my skin off, wondering if she’s in some ditch somewhere. At nine, I realize I can’t wait any longer. After I leave a note on my door in case she shows up, I head out, calling her over and over again as I drive around with no idea of where she could be.

  First I go to her house, and I’m almost out of the car before it stops rolling. I ring the doorbell, bang on the decorative glass of the door, trying to look inside, but the view is too distorted.

  “Eva!” I call out. No one answers. There’s no sound from inside the house. “Fuck!”

  Next I go to the school, walking into the office half-crazed.

  “Can we help you?” The young woman with bottle-bottom glasses greets me wearily, looking as if she’ll scream if I take a step closer.

  “I’m looking for Eva Cage. Please, it’s important. She’s in danger.”

  “Who?” the woman asks with a puzzled look on her face.

  “Her name is Eva Cage. She has two sons. Twins. Five years old. They come here.”

  An older woman turns from whatever she’s doing on her computer. “Do you mean Eva Jean?” she asks, frowning.

  “Yes.”

  “You know who that is?” the younger woman asks her.

  The older one doesn’t reply to her. Instead, she says to me, “Eva Jean isn’t here. And…neither are her sons.”

  Shit. If she didn’t bring them to school, maybe she’s back at the hotel waiting for me. I leave without saying goodbye, racing back to the hotel. When I see that she’s not there, I dial the number on the back of my Ember card. It’s still blocked.

  I’m on the verge of losing it. I want to scream in helpless fury. And I nearly do when I check every hospital in the area but find nothing.

  Where the hell is she? Is she hurt? Are her children all right? Is she with her husband?

  Her husband! Digging through the records, I pull up the name of his company, Grader Kitchen and Bath, LLC. I search the page, only to discover that it went out of business last year.

  What the fuck?

  Maybe Justin got the information wrong, though that’s not like him. Unless he saw it completely unnecessary to look into the man’s work history. After all, why would he? Not only did Mr. Cage pay up front, but he also wasn’t the one being investigated.

  Taking a chance, I dial his number. Instead of a ring, I get a busy signal. Disconnected.

  Maybe she told him what’s going on and they ran away together. The idea of it lances a spear right through my heart. But I’d rather be the one to suffer if it means she’s okay.

  The phone rings. I answer hurriedly, without checking the screen, because I need it to be her. “Eva?”

  “It’s Justin.” My brother’s deep voice would please me more if it were nails on a chalkboard.

  “What the fuck do you want?”

  “What? No ‘Hey, how you doing’?”

  “I don’t fucking care how you’re doing,” I spit at him.

  “Damn.” He whistles. “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I see.”

  “Yeah, I did. Because of you, you fucking piece of shit. You and your holier than thou, must-do-the-right-thing mentality.”

  “Matty, you know that’s not—”

  “I know exactly how it is. You were in the fucking gutter, and I hid it from Mom and Dad. As far as they know, you’re perfect in every way. And somehow, you’ve started to believe it. But you’re not. You’re a fucking addict. You were addicted to drugs, then gambling, and now you’re addicted to self-righteousness, where no one is good enough. Poor Nat can’t even get a break because there’s no sitter good enough to watch your kids. Even Ma isn’t allowed to keep them alone!”

  “Shut the fuck up. You call me a drug addict? Who’s the one who ended up in a ditch? Who was walking around like a zombie for months on end, high as a fucking kite on sleeping pills?”

  “Me. I was. My wife had just died and I couldn’t cope. I’ve never denied my imperfections. But you know what I’m also not doing? Judging people.”

  “She’s a fucking prostitute. A whore!”

  “So were you,” I remind him. “You got those drugs somehow, even when you couldn’t afford them. I’m pretty sure you can suck a dick as good as Eva can.”

  “Fuck you. This conversation is over.”

  “Fine.” I push the end button hard, wishing it was a landline phone so I could slam the receiver. And fuck me, but I forgot to question him on Mr. Cage. Shit!

  I’m about to blow. I need to find Eva now. Leaving the hotel, I hit the road again, heading toward Vaspaa Court.

  “Eva!” I pound the doorbell, as if pressing it with anger will make it louder.

  When there’s still no answer, I bang on the door, wishing I could break it down.

  “Eva, open the door! Peter Cage, you bastard, what did you do with her!”

  I turn to see the nosy neighbor with her little white dog watching me from across the street. She pulls out her phone and dials. The police, of that I’m sure.

  Rounding the corner, I look through the windows, in search of one that’s open. Nothing. Even the blinds are closed.

  All except the one on the back door. Through the glass, I have a perfect view of the interior of the house. The perfectly empty house.

  A beep sounds from somewhere inside when I pull on the handle and, to my surprise, the door opens. Fresh air hits my face when I go inside.

  “Can I help you, young man?” The woman from across the street has followed me to the back of the house, though she’s keeping he
r distance.

  “I’m looking for someone.”

  “Well, I don’t know who. No one lives here. It’s a rental. The last tenants moved out a month ago. Nice family.”

  “Did they have two little boys?” I ask her.

  Her brows pinch together. “No. A girl. That’s it. I’ve called the cops, you know,” she tells me, raising her phone to me when I take a few more steps in.

  “I figured. But I need to see for myself.”

  There are no signs of life. No furniture in the living room, no kitchen table. The maple cabinets are bare, as is the fridge. Three bedrooms with no beds, no toys. Closets that should be bursting are empty but for four hangers between them all. Vacuum tracks still mark the carpets. The walls have been freshly painted a pale beige that has no personality.

  The brave woman and her creature are in the house with me now. If I was someone truly intent on doing her harm, that little mutt wouldn’t be much protection.

  “There was a woman I saw here the other day. Eva Cage is her name.”

  “I don’t know an Eva Cage. Jean Free owns this place. She comes to check on it sometimes,” the woman says.

  “Yes, that’s who I meant. Eva Jean. Do you know where I can find her or her husband?”

  “Her husband?” She frowns, looking at the dog as if it might know. “If she’s married, I’ve never met him.”

  Now it’s me who frowns, wondering if the lady has lost her marbles, or if between the two of us, she’s the only one with a fully functioning brain.

  Blue and red lights fill the space, making me turn. Through the blinds in the kitchen, the room I’d so often wondered about, I see two patrol vehicles and an unmarked one.

  “Did you tell them I’m a bomber?” I ask the woman when I see how many cars they sent for me.

  “No,” she says standing right next to me, looking out the window curiously.

  Four uniformed officers and two men in suits walk up the driveway. The woman and I go together to the door, opening it before they knock.