by Rebecca Deel
The door opened behind them and Beckett stalked inside. As he stomped past Jake, the cop shoulder checked him and kept going through a set of double doors.
“I’ll check with Jones, see if he’s available,” the desk sergeant muttered. “Have a seat.”
Jake led Lacey to a row of chairs shoved against the wall. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her against his side. “Do you believe what Harley told us?” he murmured.
“I do. I think he’s devastated by Mom’s disappearance. We’ve got to find her, Jake. I want my mother to have a life with a man who loves her.”
The double doors opened again. This time, a dark-haired, dark-eyed man strode into the lobby and headed straight for them. “Lacey.” He shook her hand, then Jake’s. “Todd Jones.”
“Jake Davenport. I’m Lacey’s boyfriend.” With his arm still around her shoulders, Jake felt Lacey startle at his claim. Yeah, it was a little soon considering they hadn’t been on a date yet. However, he wanted word to spread that he was looking out for her. Besides, if he had his way, he would be Lacey’s boyfriend. He intended to romance the woman who had haunted his dreams for months.
In all the time he’d been slowly building a friendship with the beautiful barista, Jake had heard rumors about Frank’s treatment of her. From all accounts, the abusive jerk hadn’t appreciated her. No one had mentioned flowers, dinner dates, picnics in the park, concerts, movies, nothing except sports events because that was Frank’s interest. The ex had insisted Lacey run his errands and prepare his meals. Jake looked forward to showing Lacey how real men treated their women.
“Come on back.” As soon as Todd opened the double doors again, the raucous noise of phones ringing, perps yelling and cursing at officers, and various conversations around the room assaulted Jake’s ears. “It’s a zoo in here today. Let’s find an empty office or an interrogation room.”
The detective led them down a long, narrow hall, glancing into rooms as he passed. Finally, he stopped and motioned for them to precede him inside the room to the left.
Jake and Lacey sat on one side of the wooden table, Todd on the other. Jake scrutinized the room, noting the two-way mirror and camera secured in the corner of the ceiling. Definitely an interrogation room.
“How have you been, Lacey?”
“Busy.”
“Haven’t seen you since I left town after high school. What have you been up to?”
“Managing a coffee shop outside Nashville.”
“Like it?”
“It’s fun.”
“Want to own your own shop one day?”
She shook her head. “I’d like to go to school to be a doctor.”
“Wow. That’s great. I hope you succeed. You always were the smart one of our class.”
Lacey blinked. “You think I’m smart?”
The detective snorted. “I remember you’re smarter than me. You killed the curve on tests.”
“That was a long time ago.”
Todd shifted his gaze to Jake. “What about you? What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a medic with Fortress Security.”
The other man straightened. “I’ve heard of your group.”
Interesting. Fortress didn’t advertise. They didn’t have to. Business came looking for them. “Where?”
“Military. I served a tour in the Sandbox before I mustered out and came home. The guys in my unit were hot to get on with Brent Maddox.”
“But not you?”
“Nope. I wanted to marry my high school girlfriend. We’d been saving every spare dollar since I enlisted. I had no interest in signing on with a private outfit no matter how good they were supposed to be. All I wanted was to come home and start a life with Maryanne, and she was tired of being afraid for me all the time.” He grinned, cheeks flushing. “She wanted a husband to keep her warm at night. Now, what can I do for you, Lacey?”
“We want to know everything you know about my mother’s disappearance.”
Jake squeezed her hand. “We also want to know about the women who disappeared in and around Winston, and whether you believe the disappearances are connected to Yvonne.”
Todd massaged the back of his neck. “You want the truth?”
“Of course.”
He leaned closer to them, cast a quick glance at the two-way mirror behind him before he murmured, “The truth is we’ve got nothing.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lacey stared at her former classmate, stunned by his words. “You don’t have anything to tell me?”
“A whole lot of nothing. Your mom walked out of her house at 10:45 the night she disappeared, drove off to some mysterious meeting, and never returned.”
“Have you found her SUV?”
Todd shook his head. “We have a lot of rural areas around Winston. There are any number of places to hide a vehicle. We searched, but came up empty. We talked to her friends, and no one seems to know where she might have gone.”
“Did you talk to Harley?”
“Yeah. He says he and Yvonne are in love and he’s doing his best to convince her to marry him. From what I saw, he’s pretty broken up about your mother’s disappearance. There’s no indication from their friends or neighbors of disputes between the two, and we haven’t answered any domestics from either address.”
Lacey noticed Jake staring at the mirror. From his intent expression, he saw more than their reflection in the glass. What did he see?
When Todd opened his mouth to speak, Jake held up his hand. He leaned forward. “Check the observation room,” he murmured.
The detective stood. “I need some water. May I bring some for you and Lacey?”
“Please.” When Todd left the room, Jake turned and wrapped his arms around Lacey, burying his face in her hair. “Someone is watching from the other room. Be careful what you say until I’m sure it’s safe to share information.”
Lacey wrapped her arms around his neck to add to Jake’s projection of unaware lovebirds. She breathed deep. Man, Jake Davenport had the best aftershave lotion ever invented. She pressed her lips to his jaw. “How did you know?” she asked, her lips still against his skin.
“I was watching the mirror and caught a shadow of movement when someone from the hallway looked into the room.”
Raised voices could be heard from outside the door. “Sounds like Todd caught someone spying on us.”
“My guess is he caught Beckett.” Jake trailed his lips from her neck to the corner of her mouth. He lingered, planting a light kiss. “You have no idea how much I want to kiss you.”
Why was he stopping? She’d dreamed about a kiss from Jake for months. “Why don’t you?”
“I’m afraid I won’t stop at one kiss. More important, I don’t want our first kiss witnessed by a voyeur. It’s a special, private moment I refuse to share with anyone but you.”
She placed a series of soft kisses at the corners of his mouth. “Soon?” she whispered.
A soft groan rumbled in his chest. “A long wait for that kiss might kill me.”
Lacey’s heart beat hard enough she thought it might fly out of her chest. She brushed her lips across his in a whisper-light caress.
Jake’s arms tightened around her. “You’re playing with fire.”
“Funny. I thought I was playing with you.”
He uttered a choked laugh. “I’m going to pay you back for this.”
“Something tells me I won’t mind paying the price.”
The door to their room opened, and Wayne Beckett lumbered in with Todd following close behind, three bottles of water in his hands. He didn’t look happy to have the chief of police in the room. That made three of them because Jake’s eyes were narrowed at the interruption from the policeman.
“What are you doing here, Lacey?” Beckett demanded.
Jake released Lacey. “Who are you?”
“Wayne Beckett, chief of police here in Winston. I already know who you are, Davenport, and what you represent.”
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“I’m here to support my girlfriend.”
He sneered. “Is that what they call it these days?”
The man who still had one arm around her stiffened.
Under cover of the table, Lacey squeezed his knee. She didn’t want Jake arrested, and Beckett waited for an excuse to toss both of them in jail. For some reason, the chief hated her and her mother. Tossing her ‘boyfriend’ in jail would give the man a great deal of satisfaction.
The medic glanced at her, his jaw tight. He covered her hand with his and held it captive against his knee, then gave her a barely perceptible nod.
Relieved he’d let her handle this encounter for now, she turned her attention to the police chief watching their interaction with avid interest. “I came home to look for answers.”
Beckett scowled. “I already gave you all the information we had. Yvonne is back to her old trade and she took off with some john. She’ll come back when she’s good and ready.”
Lacey’s cheeks burned. “My mother hasn’t been in the business in six years.”
“You ain’t lived here in a long time, and you hardly ever visit, girl. You don’t know what she’s been up to.”
“I know you need to keep looking for her. I don’t believe Mom slid into prostitution again and neither does Harley.”
“You’re wasting my detective’s time. He’s busy, got several open cases without having to hold your hand over nothing.” The chief of police shot a glare at his detective. “Finish up with them and get back to work.” He jabbed a finger at Jake. “You stay out of trouble. Interfere in police business, and you’ll be spending your time in Winston behind bars.” With that threat, he left the room.
Todd dropped into the chair he’d vacated minutes before. “Sorry,” he murmured. “I tried to head him off, but he was determined to poke his nose into my case.” He slid the water across the table.
“Thanks.” Jake broke the seal on one bottle and handed it to Lacey. “Who was in the other room?”
“Chief’s son.” Todd guzzled part of his water, then sat back in his chair, arms folded across his chest. “What did you do to tick off Will?”
“Told him to take his hands off my woman.”
The detective scowled, his gaze shifting to Lacey. “He hurt you?”
She thought about the bruises she’d discovered on her arms this morning in the shower and knew if Jake hadn’t showed up when he did, Will would have done more. She’d seen it in the cop’s eyes, recognized the cruelty in his gaze. It was the same look Frank had every time he’d used her as his punching bag. She flinched. In the past, she reminded herself. She’d walked away from Frank and the poisonous relationship.
“Lacey.” Jake cupped her chin in the palm of his hand and turned her face toward him. “He hurt you, didn’t he? You should have told me.”
“I didn’t want him to arrest you, and I’ve had worse injuries. This was nothing.” After Frank laid into her the first time, Lacey had been in the hospital for days. She’d been so stupid. That was the perfect time to kick the loser out of her life. Instead, she had given him a series of second chances until Adam and Brent had chased Frank off and had a serious talk with Lacey. She spent several hours talking to one of the counselors from Fortress after that. In fact, Marcus Lang had decided their sessions could be reduced to once a month with the stipulation that Lacey call if she needed to talk sooner.
“Can you show me where you’re hurt?”
Thankful she’d worn layers today, Lacey shrugged out of the tailored button-up black shirt she’d paired with an emerald tank top. She sat still while Jake examined her arms, his touch gentle.
He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to each arm. “Any other injuries?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t want to worry you over something as minor as a bruise.”
“If there is a next time, tell me. I’ll take care of you after I take out whoever hurt you.” He helped her slip back into her shirt, then reached for her hand. “What do you know about the women who disappeared, Jones? Was there any connection between them?”
“Aside from living in and around Winston or visiting, they were all ages, from 16 to 35 with the exception of Yvonne. They were all attractive women, slender in build. A few were friends, several others visitors to the area. Many of the women disappeared before I came on board, but I pulled all the case files to look for patterns. There aren’t any aside from their appearance.”
“Bodies?”
“Nothing so far.” He dragged one hand down his face. “It’s only a matter of time. Bodies are hard to hide.”
“Have you stopped looking for my mother?” Lacey asked.
“No. I will find her, Lacey.”
“But will it be in time?”
“I hope so.”
“The Becketts believe Mom ran off with a john.”
“There’s no evidence to indicate that was the case, but the story is spreading through town. Is there anything you can tell me to help me find her?”
“I doubt it. I know some things aren’t adding up.”
“Like?”
“Mom isn’t stupid. She doesn’t go out at night after ten. She told me nothing good happens after midnight.” Ironic considering what she used to do for a living. Maybe of all people, her mother knew the truth of that statement.
“If that’s true, why would she leave to meet someone at eleven?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Another oddity is her house. She has a house full of new furniture. Mom works at the diner. She doesn’t make enough tip money to pay for that much new furniture in such a short period of time.”
“Huh. When did she buy the furniture?”
“Sometime in the last three months. That’s the last time I was in the house. Unless Mom’s tastes have changed, she bought the new stuff at Riley’s Furniture Emporium. They can probably narrow down the time line for you.”
“That’s great. Thanks, Lacey.”
Jake pressed Lacey’s hand tighter. “With rumors flying around town that Yvonne was plying her trade again, is there any proof to back that up?”
Todd hesitated, his gaze darting toward her.
“Look, whether it hurts me or not, we need to know the truth.” And hearing that her mother had lied to her and everyone else, especially Harley, would gut her. Better to know the truth than not.
“While I interviewed Yvonne’s neighbors, Nora Chesterfield claimed that your mother was sleeping with her husband.”
“She thinks every woman is sleeping with her husband. She even accused me of the same thing right before I graduated from high school.” The whole incident had sickened her and made her even more determined to put Winston behind her.
“Nora says she found your mother’s underwear in her bed.”
“I don’t doubt she found another woman’s underwear, but it wasn’t Mom’s. She values good underwear plus she wouldn’t touch Paul for any amount of money. She loathed the man and says he’s the scum of the earth.”
“Can’t argue with that. The guy’s a louse.”
She hoped she wasn’t about to make a major mistake. “When we were inside the house, I noticed Mom’s laptop is missing. Did you take it, Todd?”
The detective frowned. “I didn’t know she had one. Yvonne might have taken it with her.”
To a meeting late at night? What would be the point of that?
“Did you ping her cell phone?” Jake asked.
“No luck on that.”
“Whatever you find out as you look into the disappearance, we want to know,” Jake said. “We’ll return the favor.”
A sharp glance from the detective. “You’re investigating. You heard the chief. He won’t tolerate any interference.”
“How can it be interference when we’re sharing information and cooperating with you?”
Thirty minutes later, Jake and Lacey walked out of the police station. Back in the SUV, Jake cranked the engine. “You up for talking to N
ora Chesterfield?”
Lacey twisted in her seat. “That can wait. I think I know where Mom might have gone for her meeting.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jake turned right toward the Martin farm and winced as the SUV bounced along the rutted gravel road. “How long has this place been vacant?” he asked Lacey as he steered around another crater.
“At least ten years. Old man Martin passed away when I was a freshman. Because he and his wife didn’t have children, he named a distant relative as his heir. We expected the heir to either move to Winston or sell the property, but he didn’t.”
“Why are we driving out here?”
“A caretaker’s cabin sits at the back of the property. Mom used to entertain her johns there.” She slid him a look. “I don’t know if you noticed last night, but Winston shuts down at 8:00. If Mom wanted to meet men without the whole town knowing, she needed a place away from town. Everybody knows everybody in Winston, and there’s one flea-bag, no-tell motel in town that would let her ply her trade. The place is on the main drag at the outskirts of the business district in the middle of town.”
“Not the best place for customers if they want an anonymous hookup. Can’t hide what you’re doing from the town gossips and your loved ones. I’d say the men didn’t want their names linked with your mother.”
“Not if they wanted their private lives left off the gossip circuit.”
He drove around a long curve and parked a distance from the cabin. If Lacey’s mother was inside along with her captor, Jake didn’t want to alert them to his presence. “Wait here.”
“Why?”
He leaned over and captured her lips in a light kiss. A mistake on his part. The quick touch of his lips to hers made him want more, a lot more. He growled. “Not the time for this.”
“You sure you won’t make an exception?” She leaned closer.
He held her off. “Lacey. That’s two real kisses you owe me. Our first kiss shouldn’t be inside my SUV. You deserve better treatment from me.” Jake was tempted to break his own decree. She had no idea how hard she was to resist. “Wait here. I want to make sure it’s safe.” And no bodies.