Careless

by Cheryl Douglas

  Angela held the phone out and Mike scribbled the contact information down in his notebook. “She’s in a rest home?”

  “Yeah, she has dementia or Alzheimer’s. Hell, I don’t know. All I know is she can’t remember too much.”

  Mike felt his hope begin to plummet. He couldn’t be getting so close only to hit a dead end now. He’d learned early on in his career to trust his instincts and his gut told him that he’d zeroed in on their location, if only he could find it. “And you don’t have any way of getting in touch with any other member of his family?”

  Lisa cleared her throat. “I have my cousin Lizzy’s cell number. We keep in touch.”

  Her mother scowled. “I thought I told you I didn’t want you talkin’ to those people?”

  “I’m sorry, but I like her.”

  “Let’s just hope she don’t take a likin’ to those funny cigarettes the way her daddy done. I always thought he was the only one in that family with a little promise, but when I saw him last, he looked like a walkin’ skeleton. I keep tellin’ ya what them drugs’ll do to ya, Lisa. If you’re not careful—”

  “Please,” Mike said, feeling like his head was going to explode. “If you have the number?” He handed Angela a sheet of paper. “And if you could jot down the first and last names of any family or friends you can think of.”

  She hesitated a minute before taking the paper and pen he offered. “We heard on the news you and Tori are engaged. That true?”

  The last thing Mike wanted was to talk about his feelings for Tori with a stranger, but he sensed this woman wouldn’t give up until she’d satisfied her curiosity. “Tori and I were makin’ plans for the future.”

  She smiled. “That’s nice.” She pointed the pen at her daughter. “See, I told you, honey. This is the kind of man Tori needs, someone strong, handsome, not some deadbeat like your father.”

  “If you wouldn’t mind giving me the information, I’d like to get on this right away.”

  “Sure thing, Lieutenant.” She passed the paper to her daughter. “You write Lizzy’s number down there, but don’t think we’re not gonna talk about this later. You know I don’t like it when you go behind my back. Makes me wonder what else you been doin’ when you think no one’s lookin’.”

  Mike felt the heat rising up his neck as he looked at his father. He knew his blood pressure must be dangerously high by now. He wanted to scream, For the love of God, hurry the hell up so I can find her already, but he had to politely wait for Angela to scan her memory for the last names of every person her ex-husband had ever associated with since the eighth grade. Mike knew any one of the people on her list could provide the break he needed, so he had no choice but to wait it out.

  “What was his barber’s name, Lisa? You know the one who used to cut his hair…” She smirked. “That was back when he had hair. He thinks he’s foolin’ everybody by shavin’ his head. Like we all don’t know he—”

  “Lisa,” Josh said, intervening, “why don’t you give the number to Lieutenant Cooper, so he can call Lizzy while your mama finishes her list?”

  “Yes, sir,” Lisa said, passing Mike the paper. She looked up at him and their eyes met for the first time since she sat down. “I really hope you find her, Lieutenant.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart, so do I.”

  Tori watched Joe build a fire in the old stone fireplace. She didn’t know why he was going to bother with a fire in the middle of July, but she wasn’t going to complain. Maybe she could stick a hot poker in his eye if he got too close to her.

  “I always imagined what it would be like when we were finally together.” He turned to her and smiled. “This is what I imagined, a fire, a bottle of wine, us talkin’ about our plans for the future.”

  The only plan Tori had for the immediate future was getting away from him, but she knew being kind to him, feeding his fantasy, was her best course of action until she found an opportunity to make her getaway. “I had no idea you had these feelin’s for me, Joe. Why didn’t you say anything?”

  He flexed his bandaged hand and winced.

  When Tori saw the size of the first aid kit buried in his trunk, it made her question why he thought he needed it and what he intended to do with it. “Your hand still hurt?”

  “Sometimes I act without thinkin’ things through.”

  No kidding. “Those letters you left for me, you talked about all the times we’d been together, but we’ve never, you know, been intimate. Why’d you say all that stuff?”

  “A thousand times I’ve wondered what it would be like to make love to you…” He got a faraway look in his eye and Tori cursed herself for reminding him of those letters.

  “The tattoo, how’d you know about that?” She was trying to gather as much information as possible to use against him when he was finally prosecuted for what he’d done to her. She had no doubt she’d get out of here one way or another. As long as she didn’t upset him, he wouldn’t bind her and she still had a prayer of escaping on her own. Without that, her life was resting in Mike’s hands.

  “I had a hidden camera in your bathroom.”

  Tori dipped her head to hide her disgust. She wanted to kick him as hard as she could, but her legs were so much shorter than his. Even with an injury, he could probably outrun her. “Why did you do all this? If you had feelings for me, why didn’t you just tell me?”

  “I knew we’d need a little time away from everything and everyone else before you could see how good we’d be together. That’s why I wanted to bring you here. No one to bother us or distract us. Just you and me.”

  Great, imprisoned in a dirty, smelly shack with a delusional psychopath. Good times. “You know we have to leave on tour today. People are countin’ on me.”

  He scowled. “Too damn bad. You’re mine now.”

  Those words echoed through her mind, you’re mine. Mike had said that to her every time he touched her, looked at her, made love to her. But the difference was she wanted to be his. The thought of giving herself to this brute made her want to retch. She had to get Mike out of her head. Thinking of him would only make her feel weak and vulnerable. It would just remind her of how much she needed him, and she couldn’t afford to let her guard down now. She had to stay strong and stick to the plan.

  She’d keep him talking about himself, make him think they were making progress, and earn his trust. He had to fall asleep eventually, and as long as she could convince him she wasn’t a flight risk, she may be able to slip out while he was sleeping.

  Hotwiring a car was one of the tricks her older brothers had taught her when they were teenagers. Not that they’d ever planned to steal a vehicle, but they claimed it was good to know in case you ever lost your keys. Like she believed that. She wasn’t the only one in the family who had a little too much fun joyriding. Their daddy still had a ’57 Chevy in the barn with too many miles, thanks to his unruly kids.

  She looked around the one room cabin. It seemed no one had been up there in years. The furniture was covered in a thick layer of dust, it looked like little critters had been nesting in the old, worn furniture, windows were broken, curtains were hanging off broken rods, and a dank, musty smell hung heavy in the air. “How’d you find this place?”

  “Me and my daddy used to come up here when I was a kid. We’d spend our weekends huntin’, fishin’, talkin’. It was great. I sure do miss him.”

  Tori remembered Joe telling her his father had passed away recently. “My daddy and I are close. It must have been hard on you, losin’ him.”

  He looked her in the eye. “It was. No one understood. Things weren’t too good between us toward the end. He was pretty disappointed in me because of some stupid mistakes I made when I was on the force.”

  “Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. Why should you be any different?”

  “I knew you’d understand.” He smiled as he set the poker down on the stone hearth.

  They were sitting on the stumps of old trees someone must have hauled in fro
m outside. Tori was all for the rustic look, but this old stump was bound to leave a big bruise on her bottom by the time she got up. She glanced at the mouse droppings littering the old plank floor. A sore behind beat the alternative. “You never did say, why’d you leave the force?”

  “Got mixed up in a mess coverin’ for some buddies who were on the take.” He held his hands up. “I never crossed any lines myself, but the powers that be weren’t buyin’ it. It never went on my record or anything, but they made it known they intended to make my life a livin’ hell.”

  “That sucks.” He’d probably gotten exactly what he deserved, but telling him so wouldn’t serve her purpose. Fortunately, Avery had schooled her well in the fine art of diplomacy. Tell people what they want to hear, but don’t say it if you don’t mean it, because those lies will eventually come back to bite you. In this case, she didn’t think a little white one would hurt. Not even Reverend Ross could hold her accountable for her bad behavior today.

  “You’re tellin’ me. My old man was a career cop. Never made it past walkin’ the beat, but he sure was proud to wear that uniform.”

  Tori couldn’t help but wonder if that was part of the reason Joe harbored so much animosity toward Mike, because he’d moved through the ranks quickly and maintained a position of honor, something Joe and his father had never been able to achieve during decades on the job. “How ’bout you? Did you like bein’ a cop?”

  “Sure, until I realized I was gonna be just like my old man, makin’ next to nothin’ puttin’ my life on the line out on those damn streets every night.”

  “How do you know you wouldn’t have been promoted eventually?”

  “Once they figured out some of the boys were on the take, they lumped me in with them, just ’cause I wouldn’t rat ’em out.”

  He wouldn’t betray his friends, but apparently stalking and kidnapping were allowable offenses in his mind. Good to know her abductor knew where to draw the line. “Doesn’t seem fair.”

  “You’re damn right it doesn’t.” He smiled. “Anyways, it all worked out for the best. When I left the force, I started workin’ security at concerts for Titan Records.”

  Lucky us. “So, you worked your way up from security guard to my head of security. That’s impressive.”

  “As soon as I saw you the first time, I knew I had to do whatever it took to get close to you. I worked double-shifts, trained the new guys, took on more responsibility… Hell, I was the model employee. Josh had no choice but to take notice.”

  Tori swallowed. It felt like someone had poured gritty sand in her mouth, but she didn’t dare drink the wine he offered. She needed to stay focused and alert, and since he’d already spiked her water in the car, she had every reason to believe he’d do it again. “That’s when he promoted you?”

  “Yeah, he was burnin’ the candle at both ends back then, tryin’ to take care of your stuff, plus doin’ his own job. I think he was grateful when I offered to shoulder some of the burden for him.”

  That explained how he had slipped through the cracks. Tori knew Josh was vigilant about his background checks, and he still had a lot of friends on the force who had probably been there around the time Joe had been on their payroll. If he’d had any suspicions, he would have taken the time to do some digging, and it wouldn’t have taken him long to realize things weren’t as they seemed with his new golden boy. But Tori knew she couldn’t hold Josh responsible for overlooking the obvious when she’d done the same. She’d counted this man among her friends, believed he was someone she could trust to watch her back, and all the while he’d been plotting her abduction.

  It made Tori shiver just thinking about it. How was she supposed to trust anyone again? She’d be looking sideways at every security guard, roadie, and engineer they hired from now on. Assuming she escaped this alive. No! She wouldn’t allow herself to go there, not now. She needed to stay focused on her plan. There was no room for doubt or fear to creep into her head.

  “You cold?” he asked when he saw her tremble.

  She shifted back when he moved his stump closer. “No, I’m good, thanks.”

  He picked up the iron poker and prodded the crumbling wood. “It’s gettin’ pretty dark out there. I should light a few candles.”

  Finding her way out of here in the pitch black, with the threat of wildlife looming, terrified her, but waiting around while he decided what his next move might be wasn’t an option. As soon as he closed his eyes, she was out of here.

  Chapter Seventeen

  By the time morning rolled around, Mike was surviving on caffeine and hope. He’d finally mapped out the location of the cabin after wasting hours tracking down Joe’s older brother, and he and Derek were on their way up there with Smith and Jones riding back up in the car behind them.

  “We’re gonna find her, man,” Derek said, crinkling the paper map in his hand.

  Apparently, GPS didn’t work when you were traveling to the far end of civilization. At least that’s what it felt like to Mike as he eased his truck up the steep hill. He hadn’t seen a house for miles. Dread tightened his gut when he realized there was no one out here to help her, no one to hear her screams.

  “Jesus,” he whispered as he rolled down his window and allowed the desolation to settle over him. “Talk about bein’ out in the middle of nowhere.” He cursed softly. “How the hell do we know his brother isn’t sendin’ us on some wild chase? Just givin’ that lame-ass brother of his more time to get away.”

  “They didn’t seem close.” Derek smirked. “Besides, I think you made it pretty clear what would happen if he didn’t cooperate.”

  Mike had slammed Joe’s brother into a brick wall as he recited the penalties for harboring a fugitive. When he still seemed reluctant to talk, Mike kneed him in the gut and threatened to give him a little lesson on police brutality while his boss promised to look the other way.

  “If he lied to me, I’m gonna hunt him down like a goddamn dog just as soon as I find that worthless brother of his.”

  “Listen to me,” Derek said, gripping the door as Mike took a sharp turn too fast. “You can’t bend the law to suit your purpose. We gotta play by the rules, same as anyone else.”

  “You think I give a shit about the law, Derek?” Mike asked, gripping the steering wheel. “If he hurt her, I swear to God, they’ll be carryin’ him out of there in a body bag.”

  Derek winced. “Man, don’t say stuff like that. You know it would kill your mama if—”

  “Don’t you get it, man? Knowin’ Tori’s out there with him and there’s not a damn thing I can do to help her is killin’ me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose as he blinked back the moisture clouding his eyes. He could not afford to lose it now, not when they were so close.

  “You really love this girl, don’t you?”

  “She’s the one, not a doubt in my mind. I have to tell her, first chance I get.”

  “Smart decision,” Derek said, smiling. “Ladies like Tori don’t come along twice in a lifetime. Trust me, I know. You let her go and you’ll spend the rest of your life lookin’ for someone to replace her. You’ll make it through half your life before you realize you’ll never find her ’cause she doesn’t exist.”

  Mike spared a sidelong glance at his stepfather. “Thanks, man.”

  “For what?”

  “For everything. Bein’ there for me and Jay growin’ up, lovin’ my mom as much as you do, havin’ my back today and every day. You don’t know how much it means to me.”

  Derek cleared his throat as he glanced out the window at the trees and brush lining the dirt road to hell. “You and Jay are like my own kids, always have been, always will be. The fact that you guys let me back into your lives means everything to me, Mike. There’s nothin’ I wouldn’t do for either one of you. Don’t ever doubt it.”

  “I know.”

  Derek pointed to an opening in the brush. “Hey, I think this is our place.” He pulled out the binoculars he’d stowed under the seat. “H
ang back a minute. Let me see if I can catch a glimpse of anything.” He scanned the area before lowering the binoculars slowly and turning toward Mike.

  He didn’t even have to say anything. Mike already knew. “They’re not here, are they?”

  “There’s no vehicle in the drive, but it doesn’t mean they’re not here. He could be parkin’ it out of the way to throw us off, in case we come lookin’ for him.”

  Mike wanted to believe that more than anything, but his instincts told him they were too late. Tori was gone. “I can’t believe this,” Mike said, smacking the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “How the hell did we get this close, only to let him get away—?”

  “Sssh,” Derek said, holding his hand up to silence Mike. “I think I see someone movin’ around inside.” He drew a deep breath. “Looks like it’s go time. You ready?”

  Mike reached for his gun. “Hell, yeah. Let’s get in there.”

  Tori would give every last dollar she had stowed away in the bank for a restroom, a bottle of water, and a bag of potato chips, but she hadn’t seen a single rest stop in the hour and a half since she’d escaped his shack under the cloak of darkness.

  As she’d planned, she pretended to fall asleep first, buried deep in one of the two sleeping bags Joe had brought in from the car. She waited an hour after she heard his breathing become shallow, until he was snoring loudly and muttering, before she finally made a break for it.

  She held her breath and creaked across the old floorboards on tiptoe. She took the flashlight she’d seen him bring in and made her way out to the porch. He’d tucked the keys into his pocket before he fell asleep. Apparently, he thought that was insurance enough, but he didn’t know how resourceful Tori could be when her back was up against the wall.

  When she made it outside, Tori prayed harder than she ever had before. She bargained for the strength to get through this without tipping him off and pleaded she would remember everything her brothers had taught her. When the engine finally turned over, she was tempted to hit her knees on the gravel to thank her savior before jumping into the vehicle. She eased the SUV down the gravel drive, hoping with everything in her he was a sound sleeper.