Maxim's Mate

by Selena Scott

  “Okay, so what then?” Will pulled on his cigarette in return.

  “Well, I obviously told her to try and show a bit of patience. I wasn’t hanging around for the sake of it. Then she muttered something which I couldn’t make out. Then she was gone.”

  “As in gone out here, to the garbage area?”

  “Exactly,” Jay began his answer, “as I said, she muttered something under her breath and she dragged one of the garbage bags out with her. She slammed the back door after her and that was that. To be honest I was lost in what I was doing. I didn’t give her another thought until you rang.”

  “Which was, what, ten minutes later? Longer?” Will was trying to establish the facts. Jay appreciated this, it seemed.

  “Could have been. Could have been a bit less. A bit longer. I honestly don’t know.”

  Andrea was growing frustrated.

  “How long did the cops say they’d be?” she asked. Polite but a little vexed.

  “The cops?” Jay looked surprised. “I haven’t.”

  “What do you mean, you haven’t? You haven’t called them?”

  “Yes, Andrea, I mean I haven’t called them. Why would I call them?” Jay’s tone was polite, but there was a little bit of steel behind his words. So was Andrea’s. Because there was a respect there. A genuine one. But at the same time, urgency was creeping into the conversation.

  “But she’s missing!” Andrea was sure of it, she could feel it. Although she could understand how it could look like an overreaction.

  “We don’t know that.” Will wasn’t correcting Andrea when he said this. Andrea didn’t feel he was. But she didn’t want him to be too objective either. Emotional outbursts were going to get them precisely nowhere. But she wanted to see some of the same fire she had seen earlier that evening. But to counter that, he did have a point.

  Still, though, Sally wasn’t the type to just get up and go. Argument or no argument. The background to the situation indicated this wasn’t something that was probable. What she knew, so inherently, about Sally told her this wasn’t possible.

  “I can call the cops, no problem.” Jay was being more defensive than acknowledging some kind of error of his ways. “But out of interest, what is it that I say?”

  Will and Andrea jointly looked at Jay. They both knew by his tone that he didn’t agree with them. He knew the drill, how it would go. The cops would come out. See nothing, read more into Jay and Sally’s argument than there was and come to the assumption that she had just stormed off. Jay thought if she was missing, they would need something a bit stronger. At the very least a bit more time would need to pass. They’d check home. But not now. Jay didn’t see the point.

  “Why wouldn’t you report it, Jay?” Andrea asked. She knew that the cops weren’t going to pull up, step into the situation and just solve this apparent mystery. But she also knew that they needed momentum. Better to have the cops involved at this early stage.

  Will no longer saw the point in this debate continuing. They could drag out the pros and cons for the next twenty minutes and it would still end with the necessity to make a decision.

  So, he just made one.

  “When we know more, we call them. Okay? When we know their resources can benefit us. For now, they would only slow us down.”

  Andrea liked this side to Will. The side that, just like earlier with the two goons, showed his capacity to take control. It impressed her.

  The three of them stepped out through the exit. Jay had already done this. There was nothing. No sign of any struggle. They flashed the torchlight from their respective phones. There was enough space for delivery trucks to back up and that was about it. It just led back out into the parking lot.

  Andrea took an intake of breath and sighed. She looked at Jay and wondered. Was there any way this man had anything to do with Sally going AWOL? And was it just that – AWOL? Or was she really missing?

  There was nothing unusual, really, in the situation. Not if you took a step back. But the thing about being objective is that you aren’t embroiled in the emotion of the situation. And there was something to be said for working off feelings. Not exactly scientific, she knew. But science and logic didn’t have the ability to solve all problems. But Jay, she thought. He was a guardian of safety in a way. It was his job. And he liked Sally. There was no doubt about it in her mind. The energy that flew between the two of them. She often thought it a shame he was married. A couple of teenagers they were, really, she used to tell Sally. Sally would chide her for such nonsense.

  He wouldn’t hurt her. Or would he? There was something she felt he wasn’t saying. Or something he was holding back. She just didn’t know what. And maybe it was nothing. But it was not knowing for sure, that’s what bothered her.

  “Was there anything at all, Jay?” Andrea was calm. But she just wanted him to think. Hard.

  “What do you mean, Andrea?”

  “Jay, this isn’t accusatory, obviously…”

  “It damn well better not be.” Jay held his hand up as soon as the words had left his mouth. “Sorry.” He looked to the ground and shook his head slightly. “Sorry,” he repeated.

  “It’s fine, honestly. But I’m just asking, is there anything at all? It’s been a strange night.” Andrea threw a glance at Will, and he nodded back. What he was saying was that he agreed. He agreed that she was pushing him a little.

  Jay stood in silence, and scratched his stubble with his hand. “Honestly, guys, I really can’t think of anything. Sure, there were a couple of people still walking by to see the aftermath of the commotion from earlier, but things have been quiet in the last half hour. Especially around the time that Sally…” Jay paused briefly. “Well, you know, especially since I saw her last.”

  “No one tried to enter the store?” Will asked.

  Jay shook his head.

  “No odd noises or the like from out back?” Andrea pressed.

  Again, a little helpless looking, Jay shook his head and he hunched his shoulders.

  “Any cars acting suspiciously, anything like that?” Andrea continued the questioning.

  Jay stopped just as he was about to shake his head again. He looked Andrea straight in the eyes. He turned slightly and looked at Will in the same manner.

  “It’s… it’s probably nothing. But there was one thing. One very slight thing.”

  “What? What was it, Jay?” Will edged closer.

  “It was probably nothing. I only thought at the time, what’s this guy playing at. As I said it’s probably nothing.”

  “Jay,” Will didn’t want to be impatient, but he was getting that way. Andrea, too.

  “Well, there was just this jeep. This red jeep earlier.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Will’s heart sank. He knew immediately what Jay was referring to. His instincts were right. It wasn’t a coincidence. Unless this – what Jay had observed – was just another massive, improbable coincidence.

  “Jay, it’s important. This is important.”

  “Is it?” Jay answered.

  Andrea didn’t get it. Okay, so there was a jeep acting odd. How odd? And why did Will immediately grab onto it? There was that feeling again. That feeling that Will was keeping something from her. How easy did he find it, she wondered? How easy did he find it to lie to her? Because in a way, that was what he had done all this time. All this time since he got rid of Lloyd. And for a second she thought – did he really pay him off? Did he, or did he just give him an unmerciful beating?

  Or worse?

  Because as much as Lloyd thought he was tough – and he did work out – there was no comparison. Will looked like he could handle almost any situation. If she was honest with herself, it was part of the attraction. A man who can walk into pretty much any situation and feel like he was in control.

  Yet he never felt the need to act like that. She had seen him in action on a few occasions at the mall. The usual, relatively small incidents. But the type of incidents that could get out of
control if it wasn’t for a calm head. He could have thrown his weight around. But he didn’t need to. That was what gave him control.

  But was that really what happened between him and Lloyd?

  If she wasn’t sure about that, could she be sure about anything with him? And could she be sure that he was being completely straight with her now?

  It was a conundrum for her. It wasn’t as much a question of trust. Not in the true sense. Not after what he had given up of himself that evening. He had made himself more vulnerable then he could have possibly imagined.

  But still. There was still this tendency. A tendency to hold back. She felt it in general. But now, more specifically. This jeep. What was this jeep thing he was honing in on like a hawk? He knew something. But she wouldn’t say anything. Yet.

  “Jay, the jeep, what kind was it?” Will’s question wasn’t a hard one, but Jay looked like he was thinking hard. He didn’t drive. Well, he hadn’t driven for fifteen years. Not since that crash in 2002. That horrible incident that haunted him.

  But he lost interest in cars, which was natural considering he lost complete interest in driving. But he knew one thing.

  “I’m not sure, Will. It was deep red. I wouldn’t be able to tell you the model. But the make – it was definitely a jeep and definitely a Cherokee of some sort. I wouldn’t know the specific model, Will, I’m sorry.”

  But that was enough for Will. It had to be the same jeep.

  Will looked at Andrea.

  “Let’s go inside.” He didn’t wait for her or Jay to answer. He made his way back into Cup Character and took a seat near the window. Andrea decided to give him a little space. Nothing good ever came of crowding someone’s space. Another mantra from home.

  Andrea grabbed some water from the refrigerator. She watched as Jay slid into a seat beside Will.

  Even those few seconds were important. Letting things settle down.

  She passed the bottled water as she took a seat herself. She had a flurry of activity in her mind. First and foremost, one of the people closest to her was missing. Based on the last couple of minutes, the possibility that it was something innocuous was now less likely. Then there was the fact that she had had the best, nearly-sex of her life with someone she had liked for so long. Then there was the fact that this man was also a wolf.

  Maybe that last part should have been the most shocking for her to deal with. Frankly, it wasn’t. She was cool with it. It was, in isolation, fucking crazy. But then again, she was fucking crazy about this guy. This cute, purposeful man. She couldn’t love him?

  It was the first time she had allowed herself to consider this.

  Why not?

  “Right. Time for a bit of candor.” Will said. His eyes focused straight ahead. It was enough to bring Andrea out of her trance.

  “Candor?” Jay asked.

  Andrea looked at him. Her eyes told him to just spit out whatever it was.

  “The Jeep Cherokee. I’ve seen that jeep. Well, a deep red Jeep Cherokee. I’ve seen it twice tonight. First time, must have been in the parking lot. Earlier, before I finished my shift.”

  Andrea and Jay sat silently.

  Will continued.

  “The second time. Well, when I was dropping you home, Andrea, I saw it again. That was the first time I thought there was something funny about it. But it was more than funny. It was a coincidence. A coincidence that I didn’t like. On the jeep, there was a scratch along the groove in the rear, on the side panel on the passenger side. It was sharp and recent. It was odd that it appeared on your road, Andrea.”

  “Before you ask, no.” Jay said as he looked at the two.

  “No, what?” Will said.

  “No, I didn’t notice a scratch. I mean, come on, there’s only one ex-Navy SEAL here, Will. So, before you ask, I didn’t see it. But goes without saying, that’s not to say it wasn’t there.”

  Andrea looked at Jay. “What did you observe?” There was no malice in the question. Everyone in the room now wanted the same thing. There was clearly something wrong. Something, for some reason, had gone astray. They just wanted to get to the bottom of what it was.

  Jay understood. “I was over there,” he nodded to the door he was fixing, “and I saw a jeep, well, I saw this red Jeep Cherokee drive past. He was driving towards the main exit. As if he was leaving the parking lot. That’s what would make sense for me.”

  “Well, it’s not the only exit,” Will said.

  “It’s not, you’re right,” Jay continued, “but the most used route out of the lot is the main entrance because it leads onto the traffic circle which has an exit for the freeway.”

  “The quickest way out of town.”

  “Exactly, Andrea. But this car stopped, ever so briefly, on the first time of passing. Then he looped back from the most logical route towards the exit. You would presume he thought the far exit suited his travel needs better. Or that he forgot something. Maybe he had to run to the drug store. Who the hell knows?”

  “You’re right. We don’t know,” said Will. “But this is important. When he doubled back, did he slow down again?”

  Jay looked at Will. He was sure.

  “I thought it was just someone else who had heard about what happened earlier. But yeah, he slowed down. He definitely did.”

  “You sure it was a ‘he’, Jay?” Andrea asked.

  “Andrea, no, I’m not. I’m presuming, to be honest.”

  “Security cameras?” Andrea asked.

  Will and Jay shared a knowing look. Of the two that were reliable, they still had their moments. There was more of a focus from mall management on internal cameras. After 9-11 they had gone all out on the interior and exterior cameras. But in the following years, the exterior cameras had proved less useful and some were bound to wear and tear. The mall management team were notoriously slow to rubber stamp the release of funds for repairs and replacements.

  But the two just shook their heads. Andrea didn’t need to know the back story.

  “Sorry to ask, Andrea, and in front of Jay. But time is pressing on. Lloyd. Any idea what he might be driving these days?”

  “Lloyd? No way, Lloyd hasn’t been seen since… well, he hasn’t been seen in a while.”

  Jay played dumb. He didn’t know of Will’s involvement but he knew through Sally that things had ended poorly.

  “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t him driving that jeep,” Will said.

  “Well, it doesn’t, you’re right. But to be honest, he didn’t drive a jeep. Wasn’t his style, apparently. As much of an oxymoron it is to use style and Lloyd in the same sentence.”

  The two men smiled.

  “What did he drive?” Jay asked.

  “Usually my car,” Andrea said, smiling. “Last time I saw him he didn’t have his own car. But hey, maybe he came into a bit of money since then?” She knowingly grinned at Will. Will raised his eyebrows in return – as if to say, now we’re laughing about it?”

  Will followed with a brief smile.

  “Sports cars, the more pretentious, the better,” Andrea continued, “but hey, those jeeps are nice, too, so who knows?”

  “It was a new one, too,” Will added.

  “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you.” Andrea didn’t see the point in hammering this out anymore.

  “Look, I know you broke up, and I’m sorry to bring it up,” Jay started, “but why would this ex of yours have anything to do with Sally going AWOL?”

  Will and Andrea looked at each other.

  “Unless for some reason, he had something against her. Against Sally. But hell, I didn’t think he even knew her that much. Certainly, based on what Sally ever said about him.”

  “Did he know?” Andrea asked Will. This time bordering a little on aggressive.

  Will knew what she was asking. Did he tell Lloyd that he and Sally had got together to get him off the scene? The honest answer was he didn’t know. He recalled the heated exchange in the front yard of Andrea’s. And he recalled the thin
gs that Lloyd said about Sally. Some of them not too pleasant. But Will had given nothing away.

  But that didn’t matter. Lloyd clearly had almost as much contempt for Sally as she had for him. He demanded to know if she was contributing to the payoff. Will told him he wasn’t going to answer the same question twice. That the offer was from him, that it wasn’t going to stand for long.

  And then Lloyd saw something in Will’s eyes. Something that truly frightened him. Something that was not of the human world. It frightened him to his core. He was foolhardy enough to think that he could take Will if he wanted. He didn’t see the threat he possessed. But he did see someone who looked like something truly wild and untamed was trying to escape from inside him.

  That, more than anything, frightened him.

  “He guessed,” was Will’s brief answer.

  “He guessed?” Andrea asked. “How the fuck did he guess?” Now she was getting a little pissed. She was growing tired of Will leaving out the edges of stories. Well, what he seemed to think were edges but to Andrea were pretty damn important.

  “I said nothing. Well, I did. I told him it was nothing to do with Sally.”

  “I am completely lost,” Jay said, with confusion in his eyes.

  They both chose to ignore his statement.

  “Will, did he know Sally had anything to do with it?”

  “I would think yes. If you want an answer that’s truthful. I denied she…”

  “She put you up to it,” Andrea cut Will off mid-flow. “But she knew. Christ, Will. Do you not see?”

  “I do. Andrea, I’m sorry.”

  And he was sorry. He looked Andrea deep into her eyes and she saw the regret.

  Andrea thought of Lloyd. Big, strong, weak Lloyd. It would be just like him to take the money and apparently go. Just to come back and exact some revenge and someone he could easily overpower.

  Will took his cell out. It was time to get the cops back out here. He swiped his phone and put in his passcode.

  Will swiped away the What’s App messages from Jay and the other notifications he knew little about.

  Then he went to swipe the in-phone messaging app. He rarely checked them.