by R E Gauthier
Mack had once told her she would soon tire of having sex with random women or having casual fun with women she met in a bar. Mack warned Nikki she would realize she wanted and needed a real connection. It took losing her best friend and this search she embarked on, to understand Mack was right. Today, Nikki knew she had to make some changes. The sex was enjoyable, and she wasn’t going to be celibate, but she had to stop going from one bed to another with women who she didn’t have a real connection with. If she and Willow were going forward from this moment, Nikki had to keep from falling in bed with her just to feel good. The next time she had to have more conviction and keep her head. Nikki wanted what Mack had with Miranda, and not just a woman to warm her body and bed.
Chapter Fifteen
Willow’s Hotel Room, April 13, 2012
Willow rubbed her palms on her jeans for the third time in as many minutes and cleared her throat. Nikki felt the strain since they got out of bed. They ordered room service and were waiting for it to arrive. Nikki had tried to broach the subject of what happened between them twice, and Willow had shut her down both times. Usually, there wasn’t any awkwardness because Nikki had left before it settled in. She and Willow didn’t have the intimacy to back up what they had shared in the bed. “Can you tell me what you learned about Mack?”
“Mack? I thought it was a woman you were looking for.” Willow fidgeted in her seat and didn’t look in Nikki’s direction as she spoke.
“Mack is my…best friend and partner—”
“I didn’t know you were in a relationship; I would never have…” Willow stood to answer the knock at the door. “I’m sorry; I had no idea.”
Nikki frowned. She and Willow were missing each other’s meanings. She waited until Willow returned with the two trays before she attempted to explain herself. “You misunderstood what I was saying—"
Willow put her hand up after placing the plates on the table between the chairs. “You don’t have to explain. My mistake, I saw the way you were looking at me, so I thought you were interested. Let’s eat, and then I can tell you what I learned about your lover’s whereabouts. You can leave after that, and I won’t bother you again.” Willow sat and took the cover off of her plate.
Nikki shook her head. “Before this gets anymore messed up, let me explain. Mack is a woman, but she isn’t my lover.” Nikki snickered. Not that she hadn’t imagined what that would be like, but she and Mack would be a disaster. “She’s my partner in the FBI as well as my very best friend, and she’s also my superior in our unit. I love her more than anyone in my life, and she went missing eighteen days ago. I did want you, but it wasn’t the time or place. I’m not saying no to a relationship with you; I’m saying let’s slow it down. It’s been a long time since we’ve known each other. Last night, memories and emotions got in the way of clear thinking; I only regret we didn’t wait.”
Willow blew out a breath, closed her eyes, and smiled.
Nikki smiled also.
They ate in silence for several minutes before Willow said, “Mack is a lucky woman to have you looking out for her. I know you’re a great friend.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t a good friend when I should have been. Please forgive me for not allowing you to make up your mind and to trust you not to turn me away. I was a stupid and scared girl.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I was a bit self-centered back then. I had no idea about the turmoil you were going through. If I had been a better friend, I would have known you needed me to be more understanding. I thought whatever angered you about me; it would blow over.”
Nikki nibbled on her lower lip. “And I thought you wouldn’t care because, in time, you’d find better friends and have your boyfriend.”
“I missed you so much. I tried to reach out to you for weeks, but when you never called me back or answered your phone, I stopped trying. I shouldn’t have given up so easily.”
Nikki shook her head. “I was stubborn; you weren’t going to wear me down or change my mind. I had it in my head that you were only my friend because you felt sorry for me and that in reality, you wanted me to go away. I had it in my head that you were just too nice to tell me to go.” Back then, Nikki was not the self-assured person she displayed for everyone now. Inside she was a shy, fragile little girl whose parents didn’t understand her — a little girl who craved love and wanted to have what everyone else had. Tears welled up in her eyes; blinking, she willed them away. “You were my first real friend until I met Mack.” Nikki laughed. “She’d like you, but she does take a while to warm up to most people. We connected while at the Academy and stayed best of friends. I made her a promise to find her and bring her back home.”
Willow frowned. “I’m sorry I wanted to reconnect with you. No, I wanted to get you to sleep with me before I told you what you needed to know. I was afraid once I told you, you would go, and I wouldn’t have another chance. I was selfish.” Willow ducked her head. “You deserved to know right away. I see how much she means to you.”
Nikki reached over and put her hand on Willow’s knee. “I’m not sorry we reconnected. I’m only sorry I don’t have more time to spend right now on getting to know you again. Once I know where she is, I’m not stopping until Mack is back home. She has a fiancée waiting for her. They’re planning on a June wedding. As her Best woman, I owe it to her to make sure that the wedding happens on time.”
Willow smiled widely, reaching her green eyes.
Nikki’s heart lurched in her chest. How could a smile do that to her?
“Finish your breakfast, and I’ll set up everything. I can show you what I found. I have everything locked in the other room.” Willow crossed the room and took a key card out of a dresser. Using the card, she opened the adjoining door to the next room.
Nikki hadn’t even noticed the door and had no idea what Willow had set up in the next room. Finishing her toast, she rose to follow Willow into the large room. Against the far wall were a bank of monitors and keyboards. Willow had quite the technological set up that could almost rival the one Nikki had in her bunker. She whistled. “Wow, you have some nice equipment here.”
Willow blushed and smiled. “These are my babies; I’ve had them for years. I moved them all here a few weeks ago when your signature jumped up again.” She ran a hand over one processor and cooed. “This baby is the same one I got after college; she’s never let me down.”
Nikki frowned. She moved around too much to have been able to keep her equipment over the years. “What I would give for an old reliable like her? I’ve been using new stuff for so long; I’ve forgotten what it’s like having something you can count on.”
Willow closed her eyes. “These may not be people, but if it were not for them and my fixation on you, I may have lost my own life after the accident.”
Nikki asked what she wanted to ask Willow last night before they ended up in bed. “How are you doing? Do you want to talk about them?”
Willow blinked rapidly and bit down on her bottom lip. “Adam would have been ten next month. He was an amazing boy. I never had any problems raising him. He was a dream-child. Always smiling, always dreaming. His laugh was infectious, and when he died, I wanted to join him.”
Nikki’s heart hurt for the young girl whose heart she had known once. She stroked Willow’s back to comfort the woman beside her. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
“If I didn’t have you…Well, I wouldn’t be here. You came to me when I needed you the most. Odd how life works, and now I can help you.”
***
“Wow, Willow, this is awesome!” Nikki admired the thorough work it took to find what Willow had found. She had traced the burner phone back to where it was purchased in a kiosk at the London Heathrow International Airport, but Willow was able to hack the security camera near the kiosk that showed a man in sunglasses and a ballcap. “I’m always amazed by how many people think they can hide their identity with glasses and hats. I can use my facial recognition software that I’ve been developi
ng for the FBI. It uses spatial frequencies, facial alignments, and recognition of certain features. A person can wear a fake nose and Groucho Marx eyebrows, and I can discern their true looks.”
Willow giggled. “I also found out that the van, the two men took from the Pittsburgh Airport with the crate in it arrived at the Port of Baltimore and was off-loaded in a warehouse. I was able to search for anything going out of that Port to the UK. I theorized the man who bought the burner phone might have been involved in shipping the crate out. Do you think that Mack was in that crate?”
Nikki made a silent prayer that her best friend was not put into the crate, but it was the only explanation she came up with. The two trucks seen on satellite running Mack’s SUV off of the road were driven to the airport, but they never left again. Then two men fitting the same height and weight of the three men, seen buying gasoline in containers a few miles from the crash site, were later seen getting into a white cargo van at the Pittsburgh Airport. Willow’s surveillance camera footage showed that a crate was inside the van, and the men had backed a similar crate out of their truck and into the van. Nanna said Mack was safe, but Nikki’s heart sank when she saw the trucks run Mack off of the road, and then several minutes later, the trucks and Mack’s SUV drove away. The trees obscured what they did, but Nikki watched the area footage for twenty minutes after the black SUV went off of the road. There was a massive ball of fire and then thick black smoke. How the men had been able to manage the crash would remain a mystery for now. “I cannot imagine how they got her from the airport to the port if she wasn’t in the crate. What did you discover about the shipping of the crate? Did it go to the UK?”
Willow made a few keystrokes. “Three containers were leaving, that day, from the Port of Baltimore to the UK. Only one was a smaller twenty-footer. It was destined for the Port Glasgow. The manifest stated it was wooden furniture and fragile. I was able to track its movements, and it arrived eleven days later in Glasgow. I wasn’t able to find any surveillance footage for the port. Maybe you can have more luck.”
“I could see if I can get a satellite view. Do you have the exact coordinates?”
“I have everything on a drive. I uploaded the data and footage for you. It is all here.” Willow gave the drive to Nikki.
“I cannot thank you enough, but you said you knew where she was—”
“You didn’t let me finish. The best part is that the men left a phone number for the container rental in Baltimore, and I traced that phone number to an address on the outskirts of Edinburgh.” The house deed is under Stephen MacAskill, but it was owned by the late David McColl. I remember that name from one of your searches. David McColl’s mother’s maiden name was MacAskill.”
Nikki’s mouth opened and closed. Stephen MacAskill? Could that be Mack’s uncle? It couldn’t be a coincidence; there was no such thing as real coincidences. “Oh shit, yes. Willow, you found her!” Nikki jumped and whooped. “I have to go…Oh, my God! Willow, you did it. I cannot believe it.” Nikki hadn’t thought that the people who took Mack were, in fact, her family. If they were indeed, then Mack already knew they didn’t perish in their house that night.
Willow smiled and ducked her head. “I had nothing but time, and I wanted to help you.”
“Help me? You did more than help me. I don’t know if I would have found all of this. I was chasing my tail at first. I knew there had to be a way to track the trucks and the men, but you took it one step further. I’m not sure how I can check if Mack is at this house.” Nikki chewed on the inside of her mouth.
“How about that phone number? I have the phone number for the house. You could call and ask to speak to the woman of the house. See who will answer.” Willow gave Nikki a piece of paper with numbers written in ink.
Taking out her burner phone, Nikki took the piece of paper from Willow. Entering the numbers into her phone, she waited for the phone to connect.
“Hello, MacAskill residence; how may I help you?” A woman answered the phone.
Nikki asked for the lady of the house, and the woman asked if she meant Lady Catrina or Lady Ashley. Remembering Mack’s aunt’s name was Catriona, she asked for Catrina. Could Catrina be Catriona?
Before Nikki had much time to think more about the possibilities of Lady Ashley being Mack’s cousin Aisling, a soft woman’s voice said, “Hello, Catrina MacAskill speaking, how can I help you?”
Nikki thought quickly and said she was with a survey company and wanted to know more about the people living in the house. After a few indirect questions, Nikki learned there were four adults in the house. Although Catrina didn’t name anyone by name, she did say that her husband was away, but she, her daughter, and niece were in the house at the moment “I want to send you the prize by direct post and need to verify your civic number.” Catrina was accommodating and gave Nikki a full civic number and even directions to find the house.
Ending the call, Nikki smiled. “She’s there; I know it. Mack always said there is no real coincidence only signs you’re on the right track. Catrina MacAskill just verified that she, her daughter Ashley, and her niece are in the house. She told me her husband is away. At least I know the mother isn’t the mastermind behind Mack’s abduction.”
“That’s great, Nikki! You’ll be wanting to leave right away.” Willow smiled weakly.
Nikki may have been excited to get Mack back, but she still saw the sadness in Willow’s eyes. “Yes, I need to go as soon as I can arrange it, but I need to do this sensibly. I don’t want to get there and find out they’ve left or taken Mack somewhere else. I’ve got some planning to do. I hope you can help me with that.” Mack had taught her patience, and if she was going to find her best friend and bring her home, she needed to do this right.
Willow gave Nikki one of her awesome smiles. “I sure can; what do you need me to do?”
Chapter Sixteen
Willow’s Hotel Room, Later in the day, April 13, 2012
Willow and Nikki worked closely together in Willow’s hotel for the rest of the day, before Nikki decided it was best to get back to her bunker. She had ignored Deb’s phone calls all day. Torres had called, and she ignored her calls as well. She thought it best to get back to both women before they started to worry. Nikki knew that once she left the US to put her plan into action to find Mack, she wouldn’t be able to stay in touch with the two women. For now, Nikki owed it to them to keep them apprised of what she was up to and what she had learned. Nikki was hesitant to involve Willow into all aspects of her investigation to protect her, but also because she didn’t want to explain her relationship with Willow to Deb or Torres. She still wasn’t sure what this relationship was all about yet. She and Willow had not had sex again, but Nikki was reluctant to leave Willow’s side.
Willow worked well with Nikki. She had some pretty remarkable computer technology and ideas to help Nikki, but Nikki felt like she didn’t belong in front of Willow’s equipment. “Ahhh, I think I should get going and start planning to leave for the UK. You have helped me immensely, and I don’t think I’d be on my way to bring Mack home, if not for you, and that help.”
Willow cocked her head and smiled. “You never did tell me where you’ve been holed up. I mean, you must have some pretty awesome stuff yourself to have got as far as you did. I only had a head-start because you were busy working on other theories. I cannot believe you were involved with a man who knows grave robbers. And to think you know a Gaelic witch; you’re living quite an exciting life.”
Nikki giggled. “Oh, my God. I nearly shit my pants when I got to the cemetery and saw the mess they made. And the look on Nanna’s face when she learned that someone had disturbed the fake graves of her loved ones. If a look could kill, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now.” Nikki leaned back and laughed harder. “I’m laughing about it now, but I will have to face Nanna one day soon, and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m more afraid of her than I am facing a whole bunch of international spies and their cronies.”
Willow joined in on Nikki’s humorous outbursts. “Were you being serious when you said she could summon the dead?”
Nikki stopped laughing. “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure all of what her gift is capable of doing. Mack has the same gift and told me it could open the spirit world; she can see visions that can predict the future at times. Once Mack knew that Miranda was in danger and found her before a madwoman dragged her off a roof. She has also found clues no one else could. Mack told me her gift isn’t one she can control fully, and it can take her where it will at times. Nanna scares the bejeebers out of me because she’s been at it longer.”
Willow’s expression changed from a humorous one to a more solemn one. “Do you think they can talk to the dead?”
“Mack once spoke to her mother, but she told me it’s not like what psychics can do. Nanna gets quite upset about people who think it’s the same. They cannot summon dead people and talk to them or perform séances. The dead who talk to them does so because they are their gifted ancestors. Talking to them is like learning about their gift in a way only the dead can help them with; Mack explained that much to me.”
“I think it’s fascinating. It must be interesting to have a best friend like Mack.” Willow leaned back in her chair. “The most interesting people I have known was a lady who lived on our street that talked to animals. I think she was a few marbles shy of a bag if you get my drift.”
Nikki laughed. “Well, I recently learned about Mack’s gift. I told you she is a difficult person to get to know, but she is also extremely private. Being driven all these years to find the person or persons responsible for her aunt, uncle, and cousin’s deaths also made her have a one-track-mind. The best thing that ever happened to her was meeting Miranda Gauthier.”
“Is she truly, a lesbian erotica writer?” Willow leaned forward. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she smiled mischievously. “What Mack and she must get up to…Mmmm, wow, it’s no wonder Mack didn’t take long to put a ring on that.”