Soon as they were on the road headed to Paul's suburban home, she stated, "You and your brother are very close."
He must have identified this as a rhetorical question because he didn't bother to respond to it. Matter of fact, she could have almost assume he had not heard her.
"Did you introduce Shane to your brother?" she questioned.
"No," he answered.
"That's the general assumption. You knew her first by her internship at your offices."
He glanced at Onyx piercing her sharply with his green eyes, and then looked back at the road. "Paul met her by accident before we actually met. You're a nosey bitch aren't you, Ms. Heart?" he sneered.
"I just like the truth. Are you willing to tell me?"
"I'll tell you the truth," he promised her. "I'll tell you I don't like you."
"Feelings mutual, Mr. Watkins, but that doesn't mean shit to me. I'm here to find out anything and everything I can in order to complete my assignment." She took a cigar out from her inside breast pocket of her jacket and lit it. Pulling out his ashtray, she noted it had not been used in a while. "When did you quit smoking?"
"A while ago."
"Do you love Shane?"
Andrew shrugged shifting uncomfortably. "I love her as any man loves his sister-in-law."
"So why do I get the feeling that it was more than that?"
He gritted out, "Maybe it's just gas."
"Maybe you're trying to avoid another question," Onyx assumed.
The leather around the steering wheel whined from the tight grip he applied. "Like I said, I loved her like a sister."
Onyx moved on in her questioning. "What did she say to you? How was she feeling the last time you saw her?"
Andrew paused to think longingly about the answer. "She was okay, but worried."
"About your brother dying?"
He shook his head solemnly. "We've had a long time to think and grieve about Paul's departure, due to his condition."
"Was she assuring you that once Paul was dead you were sure to get your hands on a company that you felt rightfully belonged to you?"
Andrew cut her a green eyed glare. "She was warm and tender, Ms. Heart. There wasn't a deceitful or evil bone in her body, unlike some women."
His smart remark didn't faze her. "So trying to convince her to meet your brother, become pregnant with his child, get him to marry her, stay with him until he dies, then marry you, all so you can lift her up in a highly competitive real estate field and you can rightfully own your father's company is very far fetched?"
They had stopped at a light, so he was able to turn his full body towards her. "You can't be serious in thinking I had anything to do with Shane's disappearance."
"If truth be told, you are my main suspect."
"Why?
"You have feelings for her, you want your father's company to be yours, you could have been jealous that your brother had her before you. Your record does show you have not been very good with the ladies."
"That's a bunch of shit, and I want to find her just as much as anyone. I-" He suddenly stopped himself as he took off on the green light.
Onyx wondered very much what he was going to say, but she didn't press the subject. The man was on the brink of hurting someone and Onyx would sure hate to put him in his place by breaking his jaw.
Chapter 39
She was burning up, but at least her legs had stopped cramping. Shane didn't try to move from the curled up position she was in on her side, everything hurt too much.
Two days is what she estimated since she had awakened in this space, by loud chime from somewhere nearby.
Breathing quietly, she could hear voices. Someone was arguing and if she closed her eyes and listened closely she could make out the words.
"I love you, but I don't think I can do this, Trudy!"
"Yes you can. We must redeem ourselves, Evan or we won't be able to be happy... Don't worry. No one will know what we've really done. No one will ever know and hopefully... if we don't, we’lll pay for our sins even worse."
The voices trailed away and Shane forced herself not to get upset again. Yelling and screaming did absolutely nothing. All she could remember was fighting Buck as he dragged her out the Jeep and over to the Gold Maverick's trunk. He had a ski mask over him, but there was no doubt that it was her uncle. Someone else was in the Maverick, but before putting her in there, he covered her head with a black cloth bag and forced her to lie down in the trunk. She didn't know what she laid on, but it was hurting her side and the vest felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.
Yet she didn't take it off. The vehicle started and took off at high speeds. She counted the seconds and determined wherever the Maverick had stopped it had taken fifteen minutes to get there. The sounds she heard made her to assume she was in her old neighborhood.
The trunk opened and Uncle Buck grabbed her arm, but she tried to fight again and scream. In the middle of her scream, sharp pain seared her forehead and she could feel herself drowning in blackness.
When she awoke in blackness, she knew she wasn't dead, but she was in some kind of box. It was too high to be a coffin, but she smelled stale air. It was very warm, so she didn't think she was outside, although it was still summer weather. The only thing she really heard was a hum of an engine, but she couldn't conclude what the noise came from.
Shane wasn't sure how long she had been out, but she knew the baby was protesting the state of hunger she was in.
Wiping the sweat off her brow, she decided to hell with the vest and removed it from her person. She could make it into a nice pillow, so her arm would stop going to sleep from the weight of her head. Taking it off, she realized that the vest had been making her uncomfortable all along. It was as if the liner was filled with bricks. Feeling the inside of the vest, she found a zipper in the back and thought that was strange. Opening the zipper, she pulled out the stuffing on the inside, and then touched something hard and plastic. Her heart soared as she gripped the bottles of water and deeply thanked Evan although he knew this was all going to happen to her.
***
Onyx had thoroughly searched the house and questioned Rochelle for about an hour. When she was satisfied, she declined Andrew's offer to take her back to the hospital to pick up her own vehicle and opted to get a cab.
He didn’t particular enjoy her company and she knew he was only being nice to her because of his brother. With his brother not around, he couldn’t care less how she was. On her ride back she spoke with her brother, Lethal, who was still in California looking for some missing heiress. They bounced ideas off each other about their cases and she promised to do some research for him and email him by the morning.
When she returned to the hospital, she went back up to Paul's room happy to find him alone.
“I heard you scared the poor valet outside of the hotel. I offered the family my apologies, but can’t you be just a little bit nicer?”
Onyx snorted. “I only interrogated the valet.”
“You made the boy pee on himself!” Paul exclaimed.
Unaffected at what she had done to the valet, she asked another question. “Why didn’t Shane care that the Meadows didn’t honor the contract and move out when she came out of the coma?”
Paul shrugged. “I did address this with Shane, but she would become upset just at the mention of handling it. She even told her lawyer not to press the subject until after the baby was born because she didn’t want any unwanted stress. Unfortunately my wife has a weakness when it comes to family and people she cares about. The Meadows have clearly taken advantage of that, but I have a weakness for Shane and she implored her father, Aldridge, Andrew and I not to bother about the subject. Aldridge did cut them off as soon as we married and as far as I know they are wallowing in a bunch of debt that’s only getting worse due to pressures we have made sure they experience without Shane knowing about them.”
“Why would she have to implore anything with Andrew? He’s just her brother-
in-law?”
“And her boss,” Paul reminded her. “Andrew cares about the well being of his employees.”
Snorting she said, “He doesn’t look like he cares about anything other than himself and maybe you but that’s only because you’re blood.”
“You’d be amazed what a man can be made to care about giving the right circumstances.” There was a proud glint in Paul’s eyes.
"Do you think Andrew could have hurt her?" Onyx asked him.
Unlike his brother, Paul didn't become riled up and stated obviously, "No, Andrew couldn't hurt her. He cared for her as much as I did."
"So he loved her?"
"Andrew shows his emotions differently because of his background and history with women, but I will let you know, I have never discouraged my brother's attraction to my wife, but I know she will be true to me as long as I'm alive and I know my brother would never lay a hand on my wife." Paul sipped some of his water and continued, "But it is my hope that once I have left this beautiful earth, that they will find comfort in each other."
"So you're expecting them to fuck after you're gone?" she asked bluntly.
Paul hadn’t experienced bluntness with a woman in a long time, so his flush was evident. "In so many words."
"But they wouldn't do it before you've left this beautiful earth, would they?" Onyx questioned suspiciously.
"Not without me knowing." There was a teasing light in his eyes deliberately to throw her off.
The trick obviously worked because she changed the subject. "I checked with the police department and there are no Jane Does in the examiner's office. I'll keep checking, but there's no trace of anything from your wife. That includes her phone, which hasn't gotten a signal since the day she walked out of this hospital according to the phone company, and your truck was still in valet. No one saw anything, but I'm pulling the security tapes from the hospital. I should come up with something because if she left the vehicle here, she had to have walked away on foot."
"I should let you know that she was deliberately distant from her family."
"I checked over there. I've had a man stake the place out for the past two days and he hasn’t seen anything suspicious. I'm on watch for tonight and if I see anything out of the ordinary I will let you know, but according to my notes, no ones missed any days of work, no strange garbage has been set out, no strange phone calls, no unusual places visited - nothing! I'll keep the stake out, but I don't think they are your culprits if someone has taken her."
"What do you mean if, Ms. Heart?"
"I mean does she really want to be found? Do you think she is doing this on purpose?"
Now Paul was riled. "She would never do something like this. Shane would never hurt me or Andrew and she was very aware of how much we loved and cared about her."
Onyx took a deep breath obviously getting the answers she needed. "This all sounds like some sick ménage a trios, Mr. Watson, but you're paying the bills and I'm doing my job. Either way, I'm going to find out the truth behind her disappearance."
Paul was glad to see her leave. If word ever got out that he wasn't the father of the child Shane carried, her share of the company would be lost to the lawyers who were adamant about keeping his father's will.
Dialing Andrew's cell phone, he was glad to hear his brother answer. "I want you to keep on Onyx Heart like white on rice, Andrew, and find that friend Jeremiah. He called the day Shane came up missing and left a message about some test results I asked him to look into. I haven't heard hide or hair from him since that day."
"What was he looking into?"
"The real death of Shane's nephew. I want to know."
Andrew was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "How many weeks was she exactly?"
Paul sighed dejectedly. "Almost thirty-three weeks."
"So if something happened to her, the baby might have a good chance of living?"
"If we find her alive in time. If.." His voice trailed off.
"Do you want me to come back to the hospital?" Andrew asked concerned with the despair he heard in Paul's usually calm voice.
"No, just come tomorrow when you can and keep me updated on anything you find out," Paul said gaining control of himself.
"I don't believe she's dead, Paul. I think someone took her. I think someone was planning to hurt her all along and we got in their way, but the moment we let our guard down they were waiting."
Paul agreed with his brother. "I was thinking the same thing too, but Ms. Heart said she didn't find anything suspicious."
"I think Ms. Heart is full of shit," Andrew growled.
"But she's good at her job, Andrew and she's going to get results whether we like them or not," Paul assured his brother. "Call me in the morning and get some rest."
Chapter 40
Andrew was leaving out of his offices three days later, when Onyx drove in. Amazingly, she drove a black Ford Expedition custom designed with bigger wheels with an all leather interior. She parked it next to his maroon Expedition and jumped out.
"Just the person I was looking for," she said with a weird smirk. "Do you have any plans tonight, Mr. Watkins?"
"Why? You want to drag me in a dark alley and beat the shit out of me for sport?" he questioned seriously.
Onyx wrinkled her nose and snorted, which was as close to a laugh as she would ever come to in her lifetime with anyone other than her brother or best friend. "The idea would be fantastic, but I hate to disappoint you. I want you with me on a stake out."
"Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"Your brother is adamant about her family having something to do with her disappearance, so I continued to sit there every night until the early morning. This morning, I decided to check the phone records of her cousin's boyfriend, who happens to live across the street, Evan Phillips."
Andrew interrupted her. "That was Shane's best friend a while ago, but she made mention that she didn't trust him as much anymore."
"Well, he had been calling her phone for the past six months almost three times a day from his home and he's been doing some major remodeling to his home, which seems strange for a guy who's struggling through college. Did you know his parents were dead?" she asked.
"Shane broke contact with him. Her trust in him was shaken, I guess he broke her creed." He shrugged. "What does his parent’s death have to do with Shane's disappearance?"
"That's why I need you to come with me," she said and pointed to her vehicle. "I'll do the driving if you don't mind."
Stiffly, he passed her and moved to the passenger side of her vehicle. Onyx joined him sitting behind the driver's seat and tearing out of the parking lot as if she were driving a Corvette.
"Did you find out anything about Jeremiah Sanchez?" Andrew questioned.
"Yes, he's been in Chicago for the past week visiting distant relatives. He goes there every year. The trip was not out of the ordinary and when I spoke to him over the phone, he gave me a serious down low on her family. This prompted me to do some serious background checks on all of them and I found out so much shit on the aunt, uncle, and cousin, I had to start looking deeper into their present lives. This led me to the boyfriend. He's been acting funny and I checked the hospital tapes again."
"But we looked at the hospital tape and the last footage we see is Shane at the valet counter, then she doesn't appear in any more footage from in front of the hospital," Andrew stated.
She took him over to the main offices of Heart's Securities and Investigation on the Boulevard in Detroit and led him up to a video office.
"The first time I looked at these tapes with you, I saw the same thing everyone else saw. Shane leaving the desk I assumed to go out the front doors." She stopped the tape on the screen just as Shane was leaving the picture and pointed to the far left corner where a reflection could be seen. "I enhanced the image and came up with this." She pushed several buttons and came up with another image of a scruffy looking man. "This is Evan Phillips. He was at the hospital that day, but he didn't va
let park. So I went back to the hospital and pulled the tapes from the parking structure."
With more typing into the computer and button pushing, on a different screen showed Shane getting off the elevator with Evan and walking to a Jeep. They were talking very seriously and then she hesitated, but got in the Jeep with him. They could be seen talking in the Jeep for a moment, until a vehicle partially off the camera pulled up and a man dressed in all black came to the passenger side and practically dragged Shane out the car. Nothing else could be seen of Shane, but Andrew intently watched the reaction of Evan, who looked totally helpless.
When the other vehicle pulled off, Evan relaxed, laid his head on the steering wheel and actually looked to be crying. He sat there until he received a cell phone call, and then drove away.
"What the hell was that all about?" Andrew asked.
“I don’t know, but I can tell you he went to his family lawyer and ordered all his assets to be inherited to his son upon his death.” Onyx explained, "That other vehicle which was none other than a late model Maverick and we determined the color as being gold. I ran a DMV check and the only one who owns one that Shane knows is Evan Phillips."
Andrew frowned. "So why aren't we over there beating some sense into him to find out where Shane is?"
Snorting, she admitted, "I thought about that, but please let me finish this. When he came back home, he and Shane's cousin spent a long time at a Tim Horton's way out as if they didn’t want to be seen, and then she stayed the night at his home. Most of what I picked up from all that is something about redemption. Seems Ms. Trudy has some kind of religion and whatever is bothering her, she and Evan had to pay for their sins."
Drawing The Line (Mistaken Identity Series) Page 32