Answers For Julie (Book Nine In the Bodyguards of L.A. County Series)

by Cate Beauman

  Donnie sniffed at the air. “I smell a trap. You think I’m stupid enough to say something that’s gonna incriminate me?”

  Chase laced his fingers again, resting his weight on his elbows. “No, I see a guy who’s coming up on the one-year mark. What do you have, another month or two before you’ve been a guest of the State for a solid three hundred and sixty-five days?”

  “So?”

  “So that means you’re almost out of time to take advantage of Rule Thirty-Five—reduction in sentence for a prisoner’s cooperation.” He let that sink in and sat back in the damn orange chair. “But a deal like that’s only good for the first year, man. The way I look at it is the truth’s about to come out. Alyson Porter’s been found, so you might as well get in on the right side of the law before I figure out your part in her abduction.”

  “Prove it. Prove it’s her.”

  “You saw her. Hell, you sexually harassed her just the other day.”

  Donnie shrugged. “Could be her. Probably isn’t. I’m not putting myself out on any limb for no one.”

  Chase gave a casual jerk of his head. “That’s a shame.”

  “You get me proof you got yourself the real thing and maybe I’ll start remembering something.”

  “She looks just like Neve Porter.” Chase put another picture in front of Donnie of Neve at a press conference on the anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance last year.

  He grinned. “That’s a fine looking woman there.” His smile disappeared. “So was the chick who showed up here, but that don’t mean jack shit. For all I know, that’s the woman who paid me a visit.” He tapped Neve’s face. “You get me proof, Fed, and I’ll think real hard about the year I met Dawn Summerman.”

  “I’ll take care of my end. I’ll even leave my number in the right hands—just in case something comes back to you in the meantime.”

  Donnie held his gaze, stood, and walked away, stopping in front of the guard to be searched again.

  Chase gained his feet, gathered his pictures, and left. He needed Julie to do the DNA test, then he needed to talk to Agent Tillis and the DA if they had any hope of getting this ball rolling before Donnie Dorman ran out of time to take advantage of a deal.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Okay. Good,” Julie said. “Now let’s swan dive down.” She bent at the waist, wearing snug black shorts and a red exercise bra. “Bend at the knees a little and settle your hands on your mat.” She pressed her hands to her yoga mat.

  Neve followed her example wearing yoga pants and a sleeveless workout top.

  Julie peeked to her left, making certain Neve was in a proper pose. “Go ahead and take a couple of nice deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth.”

  Neve let loose a long, slow breath.

  “Inhale in and step back with your right foot.”

  Neve slid her right leg back as Julie did.

  “Breathe. Center yourself. Feel that beautiful stretch.”

  “I feel it, but I don’t know that it’s beautiful.”

  Julie grinned. “You’re doing great. You’re a natural.”

  “You make it look so easy. Today I feel old and saggy.”

  “What?” Julie looked at her with surprise. “No way.” She slid her other leg back. “Plank pose.”

  “You have such a beautiful figure.” Neve followed Julie’s lead.

  “Thank you. So do you.”

  “You have nice muscle tone—very feminine but very fit. I just watch every calorie that passes my lips.”

  “So do yoga. I typically eat healthy foods, but I don’t feel guilty when I indulge. Drop your knees, your chest, and your arms.” Julie did all three as she spoke. “Keep your head and hips up—kind of like an inchworm.” She breathed in deeply, not quite finding the peace she usually did when she practiced. Neve wanted to chat, which was fine. “Let’s move into the cobra pose.” She closed her eyes, enjoying their one-on-one session and stayed in pose a moment longer. “Let’s go into upward dog.” Again she pressed her hands into the mat and arched forward, staying as she was for a good thirty seconds. “Step forward and come back up with a nice deep breath.”

  Neve followed Julie’s instructions and beamed. “Well, that was great.”

  “Good.” She gave a decisive nod.

  Neve picked up her towel and dabbed at her forehead. “I might have to sign up for a few classes.”

  “You should. It can change your life. It did mine.”

  “You found your passion.”

  Julie nodded, sitting again with her legs outstretched in front of her. “I did. After I finished high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was pretty lost. Chase and I had parted ways.” She rolled her eyes. “More like I messed everything up.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true,” Neve said, patting the top of her head.

  “No. It is.” She reached for her feet and continued stretching. “My mom and gramps died a few weeks before the start of my senior year. One minute they were alive; thirty minutes later the cops were knocking on my door telling me they were dead.”

  Neve made a noise in her throat and sat as well. “How terrible.”

  “I was devastated, but I had Chase and Gram and Nana—my rocks. Somehow Gram and I got through the worst of the grief and kept going. Not long after, Chase had to go back to Seattle. We were dating long distance—talking every night before bed for hours, e-mailing during classes, making it work.”

  “Young love can be such a joy, but so hard.”

  She reached her hands over her head. “For some reason our relationship wasn’t. We were so wrapped up in each other, so consumed. Then Chase found out he’d been accepted into the FBI’s summer internship program. I was excited for him.” She moved her left arm right, reaching. “He’d worked so hard. The FBI was all he’d ever wanted. He wasn’t going to be able to come back to Bakersfield for the summer, but I wasn’t worried—bummed, but not worried. I figured we would just keep doing what we were doing, but once he left for Virginia, everything changed.” She moved her right arm to the left and leaned. “We didn’t talk every night—just sporadic conversations here and there or e-mails, and even those were different. Chase was obsessed with his work, and I was starting to question if what we had was enough.” She planked up, using her core muscles to keep her body stable. “Gram suggested I get a job, so I did—working part-time at my friend Bryce’s family hardware store.”

  Neve grimaced. “Uh oh.”

  Julie wrinkled her nose as she rested her bottom on the floor and settled her hands on her thighs. “Yeah, uh oh. Chase called less and less, and Bryce and I started hanging around more. He was fun to be around; he filled in some of the void Chase left behind. Then the anniversary of Mom and Gramps’ death rolled around, and Chase didn’t call or even e-mail. I was so hurt.”

  “Foolish, selfish boy,” Neve scolded with a frown.

  Julie nodded. “I thought he didn’t have room for me in his life anymore, so I tried like hell to move on, and moved right into Bryce’s arms.” Sighing, she shook her head, still angry with herself for being so stupid. “He asked me to marry him not long after, and I said yes. I’d convinced myself I loved him, that he and I could build a happy life together. Then Chase came back to Bakersfield to surprise me the week before he had to leave for college.” She closed her eyes, groaning with the memory. “The moment I saw him, I was swallowed up by this—this indescribable love that I’ve never felt for anyone but him. He was so mad, so hurt when he found out about me and Bryce, but when I saw him standing outside of Nana’s house, he didn’t look like the Chase who left for his internship. He seemed different somehow—like he was ready for more—bigger things, and I was going to hold him back. He asked me if I was really going to marry Bryce. I told him yes even though I knew I couldn’t. He said good luck and left—had Nana drive him to the airport. I didn’t see him again until a couple of weeks ago when he came back to Washington to get Nana’s house ready for sale.”
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  Neve smiled, taking her hand. “You’re together again.”

  Letting her hand rest in Neve’s wasn’t so bad, especially as she realized she could talk to Neve in a way she’d never been able to talk to her mother. “On so many levels, it feels the same as all those years ago—the comfort—but it also feels different, like it’s more.”

  “Perhaps it is.”

  She shook her head, unable to let herself think about anything but an ending for her and Chase. “We have now. That’s enough.”

  “So how did your breakup with Chase lead you to find your dreams?”

  Julie got to her knees and started rolling her mat. “I realized I didn’t want to skate anymore shortly after Chase went to school. Gram suggested I enroll in some classes at the community college, but that didn’t excite me either. My whole world had been wrapped up in skating and Chase. I didn’t know who I was without them.” She got to her feet and put the mat with the neat stack, crouching and starting on Neve’s when Neve stood. “Nana and Gram treated me to a massage a couple days before my final skate. When my masseuse finished, I asked her how she got started. She told me about the school she went to over on the coast—outside of Seattle. I didn’t do much with the information, but then I fell twice at regionals, and I knew I would never get on the ice again—to compete, anyway.” She stood, taking the mat over to the others. “I still floundered until I heard Nana talking to someone at Mrs. Mickle’s Christmas party. She was telling Mrs. Kindrick how happy Chase was at college, how he was really taking off and had already secured another internship with the FBI for the next summer. Something clicked.” Julie snapped her fingers. “I knew I needed something for myself. Chase wasn’t coming back for me, so I enrolled in that massage school with the money my mom left me and never looked back. One of the girls I was in school with would talk about the yoga class she was taking on Wednesday afternoons. She encouraged me to go, and I fell in love. After class I always felt so…centered. I always left feeling so full of purpose. It was like the parts of me that died when Chase went away started to come back to life. I started going every chance I could get and began tossing around the idea of opening my own yoga and massage studio, but it was so expensive.”

  “But you found a way,” Neve added.

  “I did,” Julie confirmed. “After my graduation, I talked to Gram about turning the downstairs into a studio. She thought it was a great idea. As long as she had a comfortable chair and somewhere to knit, she didn’t care.” She smiled at the memory.

  “Well you’ve certainly found your calling.” Neve stretched her neck. “I feel very loose.”

  “I wouldn’t go around saying that too loud,” Elaine said, walking in dressed in a sleek power suit with her pretty blond hair pulled back in a bun, leaving her stunning face unframed. “It sounds questionable for Neve Porter to be telling people she’s loose.”

  Julie chuckled as Neve laughed.

  “I do.” Neve smiled, rolling her head again. “This yoga stuff is quite the thing, especially with a great instructor.”

  Elaine moved to the fridge in the expansive gym area and grabbed three waters before joining them again. “Drink up.”

  “Thank you,” Julie said as she twisted off the top.

  “Yes, thank you, Elaine. Thank you also for taking that meeting with the event coordinator for me this afternoon.”

  “It wasn’t bad. They had these sinful chocolate covered almonds.” Elaine rolled her eyes as she drank her water.

  Julie bent over, enjoying a final stretch while her muscles were still warm.

  “Good Lord, you’re flexible. That must be great for sex.”

  Julie tilted her head up, grinning and wiggling her eyebrows. “I don’t think it hurts.”

  “Are you giving Mr. Muscles down the hall a lesson?”

  “Good God, Elaine.” Neve gave her friend’s arm a gentle swat.

  Julie stood straight again. “I think he might be giving me lessons, actually.”

  Elaine hooted. “Spicy. I’m not too old for details,” Elaine moved closer.

  Julie laughed, a sound so much like Neve’s.

  Neve shook her head with a chuckle. “She’s shameless, Julie. Shameless.”

  “I’m fun,” Elaine corrected.

  “Yes, you are,” Julie confirmed. “Maybe you can get in on a lesson tomorrow.” She gestured to her yoga shorts and top. “We’ll work on your flexibility, then you can tell us stories.”

  “Oh, I like her, Neve. I really do.” She pulled Julie into a friendly hug. “But I’ll have to take a rain check. Tomorrow’s a busy day.”

  “The charity ball,” Julie remembered.

  Elaine nodded. “Starts at seven.”

  Julie capped her water. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Actually, Elaine, I changed our plans around a little. To include Julie.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Elaine nodded again.

  “What am I included in?” She looked from Neve to Elaine, not so sure she wanted to be.

  “A day at the spa—the works. Elaine and I have been going for eighteen years.”

  “The Christmas ball spa day. It’s like our own special little holiday.” Elaine smiled.

  “Then you two should go. I don’t want to mess with a sacred tradition.”

  “You’re not,” Neve rested her hand on Julie’s shoulder. “We would love to have you.”

  “I can’t think of anyone in their right mind who would pass up on wraps, facials, massages, manis, and pedis,” Elaine added, ticking the assorted treatments off on her fingers.

  “I don’t know,” Julie hesitated.

  “If you and Chase have something scheduled already…” Neve said.

  “No. He has meetings all day downtown, but—”

  “I think we’re going to have to insist, huh, Neve?” Elaine winked. “The spa train leaves at nine a.m. sharp. Casual clothes, no makeup, and get ready for Chef Jacques to prepare something amazing for lunch.”

  A day at the spa, where someone massaged her instead of the other way around. And lunch prepared by a chef named Jacques. “Okay. Thank you both for including me. I’m going to shower. Will we see you at dinner, Elaine?”

  “No. I have some shopping to do, then the company party with my partner in crime.” She bumped Neve’s hip. “But the limo will be here before we know it. See you tomorrow, buttercup.”

  She smiled. “Bye.” She stepped into the hall, pausing by the closed library doors when she thought she heard voices and glanced behind her as Neve and Elaine started her way. She kept going, looking forward to tracking down Chase and telling him about her shockingly great day.

  ~~~~

  Chase walked down the hall, tugging on his tie as he glanced toward the sun setting in the sky. One productive day down, a couple meetings tomorrow, then he was going on a hunt with the list Ethan and Austin had compiled of Donnie’s old addresses in the Mattapan and Dorchester areas. He hadn’t exactly been honest this morning when he told Julie he had meetings all day tomorrow, but there was no way in hell he was bringing her with him to those neighborhoods while he tried to track down decades old information.

  He heard laughter as he turned toward the home gym, where Ferra told him Julie and Neve would be—although the Porters’ “gym” was more of a homage to the physically fit than a typical home-exercise space. The place was top-notch, state-of-the-art all the way. He’d sweat a few miles on the treadmill and made use of the weights a couple of times while he and Jules had been here.

  Neve and Julie’s laughter mixed again—a similar sound—and he smiled. Julie and Neve appeared to be hitting it off. He paused mid-step when he saw the man standing in the shadows, peeking in the door. The well-built early-thirties-something looked Chase’s way, giving a curt nod.

  Chase pegged him right away. Noah Porter. Definitely Julie’s brother. Although he didn’t favor Neve as strongly as Julie, the resemblance was unmistakable. “Noah.” Chase said, stopping in front of him, holdi
ng out his hand. “Chase Rider.”

  Noah returned the greeting. “You’re her friend.” He gestured with his head toward the women chatting in the room.

  “Julie’s.” He glanced at Jules in her sexy little shorts and bra and turned his back, wanting only to focus on the man standing in front of him. “Yes. I’ve been trying to catch you.” He’d left three messages with Noah’s secretary since yesterday afternoon.

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “It’s a busy time of year. Do you have a couple of minutes now?”

  Noah narrowed his eyes. “What’s this about?”

  “I’m looking into a few things.” He stepped into the library across the hall. “For Neve and Julie.”

  Noah followed reluctantly. “My mother asked you to?”

  “She’s aware I’m trying to put the pieces together for Julie.”

  Noah let loose a humorless chuckle as he turned away, fiddling with the marble chess pieces on the table by the unlit fireplace. “Waiting for the millions, are you?”

  He stuffed his hands in his pockets, letting Noah’s insult roll off his back. “I’m sure you’ve run me and are well aware I can take care of myself. I’m also sure this will be the only time I have to tell you to kiss my ass.”

  Noah turned, smiling wryly. “Adding to the pot certainly wouldn’t hurt though.”

  He leaned his butt against the back of the couch. “I heard you were a dick. Opinion confirmed.”

  Noah’s smile vanished. “I have no intention of answering your questions, Mr. Rider.” He started toward the door, opened it a crack.

  “So don’t. I’ll get the answers one way or the other.”

  “Why?” He turned back. “Why does it matter? A simple DNA test will tell my mother everything she needs to know.”

  “Julie deserves to know what happened—you all do.”

  He laughed with a shake of his head. “Poor innocent Alyson, right?”

  “That’s right. She was three years old when she disappeared.”

  Noah shrugged. “She wasn’t very bright to run off with a stranger.”

  Chase stood straight. “Is that what she did? Do you remember that night?”