It was sad to see her older brother a shell of the man he once was. When he had left La Junta almost ten years ago, he had been broad shouldered, athletically built, energetic twenty-two-year-old with a quirky smile. Now he was thin, frail, and barely got out of bed most days.
At least he had made it to the couch today.
Naya pulled out a sauce pan and filled it with water from the tap. Quietly humming to herself, she quickly turned on the gas stove and salted the water so it would come to a boil faster. She pulled out all the ingredients to make her brother’s favorite cheese pasta as she listened to the sounds of battle from the other room.
As she waited for the water to boil, she grabbed a glass of water and leaned against the door jamb to the living room.
“I’m making pasta for dinner, Kevin, would you like some?” She offered.
Kevin looked over his left shoulder and Naya observed the way his neck muscles moved as he opened his mouth to speak. “Sure, that would be great, thanks.” He flashed her a stunningly straight smile then turned back to the game.
Naya couldn’t tell how tall he was from the way he was sitting, but he was clearly fit and muscular. His complexion was fair to match his light hair, a sharp contrast to her and her brothers more bronze shade. She filed this information away as she turned and headed back to the kitchen to add the pasta to the pot.
She was stirring the hard noodles into the boiling water when the doorbell rang. Naya sighed and turned to head for the door only to see Kevin had beaten her to it. Now that he was standing in front of the door Naya could see he was almost a foot taller than her.
A second man stood in the doorway with a similar build and dressed in dusty jeans and a logoed shirt like Kevin but with straight and thick chestnut hair that fell into his eyes. Naya assumed they must work construction for the same company her brother used to and met him there. There was simply no other reason they would be wearing shirts from the construction company.
Kevin turned from the door and noticed her. “This is our buddy Trevor.”
“Hello, I’m Naya, Vance’s sister.” She held out her hand and noticed how he maintained eye contact as they shook hands.
“Nice to meet you Naya.” He said and Naya couldn’t help but notice his warm and bright smile, chiseled jaw and broad shoulders similar to the way Vance’s shoulders used to look. He was definitely an attractive man.
The men turned and headed for the living room as Naya returned to the kitchen and quickly added the rest of the box of pasta to the boiling water. Hopefully it would be enough for four. While she was pulling out a sauce pan to heat the sauce she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Startled, she spun around with a slight jump, she hadn’t heard them come into the kitchen. Kevin was standing behind her with a sheepish smile.
“Sorry, Vance said it was okay for Trevor to join.” He said as she placed the pot on the stove.
Naya rapidly regained her composure and forced a smile, “No worries, the more the merrier.” She wasn’t unhappy that Vance had invited friends over, just a little bummed he hadn’t warned her.
“Okay, well Vance sent me in here to let you know that he also invited another person.” Kevin seemed apologetic as he watched Naya’s face for her reaction.
Interrogation class had prepared her for this, and she was careful not to show her annoyance. “Awesome, I’m glad Vance has such a great group of friends.” She kept the fake smile in place as she quickly calculated if there was enough pasta in the pot for five or if she would need to make herself something else.
Kevin seemed to realize her dilemma. “Should I order a pizza or something?”
Naya paused, she was big on hospitality but there was no way she could feed four grown men on only what was in the pot. “That would probably be best yes.”
In one smooth motion Kevin’s phone was in his hand and he was typing quickly. “What toppings do you like?”
“Anything’s fine, get whatever you all would like, I’m not picky.” She smiled as she turned back to the pot. Now she was genuinely glad Vance had found such considerate and respectful friends. When he had called her parents to let them know he could no longer work his job in construction as a site manager Naya had been worried about his mental health, with him being home alone all day. But it seems her worries then had been unnecessary.
Kevin was still tapping away at his phone when the doorbell rang once more. Naya put down the spoon she was using to stir the pasta intending to answer, but Kevin held up a hand. “I got it.” He said as he turned and left the kitchen.
Naya sighed as she pivoted back to the dinner which was about to be upstaged by the pizza Kevin was ordering.
When Vance had found out he was ill six months ago he had adequate savings and health insurance to cover his condition, but as he had quickly begun to deteriorate so had his savings and his ability to work, which cost him his healthcare. Naya made enough to support them now, and she had come to Denver with sufficient savings, but she knew with the medical bills her brother was destined to incur that she needed to save every penny she could. Luxuries like eating out didn’t make the cut. She intended to ask about the possibility of overtime to compensate and allow some flexibility for splurges like pizza as soon as she felt it was appropriate without seeming desperate.
Kevin reentered the kitchen with another dark-haired man at his side. Just like Trevor, he was tall and muscled with a chiseled jaw but with lighter green eyes, he was wearing a shirt with the same logo as the others. It was obvious he was another of Vance’s construction buddies.
“Naya this is Sebastian, Sebastian, this is Naya, Vance’s sister.”
“Nice to meet you.” Sebastian flashed Naya a crooked smile as she held out her hand for yet another callused handshake.
Naya was quiet, almost expecting one of the men to hit on her as a number of Vance’s friends had done when he was in college. To her surprise, they didn’t say anything more and Sebastian turned and headed for the living room. Naya wasn’t sure whether to be pleased that they were respectful or worried that she was losing her edge.
She was single by choice, as she had her share of boyfriends in La Junta, but she had wanted to come to the city unattached as she had known she would probably be here for the long term and that her brother would be her priority. She had been seeing a man for about six months prior to moving and it hadn’t been serious enough for her to ask him to come with, nor had it been serious enough for her to feel a loss at letting him go. It felt proper to break it off.
After Sebastian left the room Kevin had pulled out his phone and resumed clicking buttons, after a moment he flipped the phone her way, interrupting her thoughts, “Ta-Da, pizza will be here in half an hour.”
Naya returned her attention to the stove and made a split-second decision, put the second pot she was going to use for sauce away and instead spun to the fridge to grab some ranch dressing and bell peppers. “I think I’ll make this into a pasta salad instead.”
“Good idea.” Kevin agreed, “Especially sinceI just ordered four pizzas.”
“Four pizzas? You guys eat that much?” She sputtered.
Kevin laughed and shook his head “No but you weren’t helping me decide so I wanted to get a range of options.”
Naya laughed along with him. “Well I suppose everyone will have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.”
“Perfect.” Kevin chuckled as he turned and walked back to the living room. Naya heard whoops and cheers from the room, she smiled, they must have made some big achievement in whatever game they were playing.
She grabbed the pasta and turned to the sink to drain it, taking a deep breath as she watched the steaming water swirl down the drain. She sensed she would be happy here, even if things were stressful right now.
She felt certain of it.
CHAPTER 3
MARK
He waited in his truck, tucked around a corner, his fingers trembling while he watched the dot on the phone screen move closer.
Yes. Come to me.
A grin spread across as his face as he felt the exhilaration from what he was about to do, what he had always wanted to do.
He reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed a cloth and the bottle of ether he had managed to procure. The dot on his phone was steadily approaching and he started to get ready.
Mark popped the lock on the door now so that the sound didn’t startle her and cause her to change course. Not that he thought she would, she ran this route frequently it was clearly routine and felt familiar to her.
He checked again, the dot was almost next to him now, and he could see her approaching in the rearview mirror. He prepared to strike.
She jogged comfortably past the rearview mirror, and in one motion he was out of the truck, positioned himself behind her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to hold her still. She didn’t have time to realize what was going on or make a sound before he placed the cloth over her mouth and prevented her from screaming as she breathed through the soaked cloth.
She tried to kick him feebly a few times, but he had the element of surprise on his side and she didn’t have much use of her limbs in this position. With a smile he glanced around as she gradually gave up fighting and went limp. Checking behind him, he smoothly hoisted her over his shoulder in a fireman carry, keeping the cloth to her mouth and open the back door of the cab.
Placing her lightweight athletic frame in the compact back seat was easy and he hurriedly closed it in case any lookieloos were to happen upon them. Though it was doubtful at this hour, it was a school night afterall. Hadn’t anyone taught the poor girl she shouldn’t run once it was dark at night?
Mark climbed back into the driver’s seat and started up the car, heading to a location he had picked out earlier that week.
He smiled into the rearview mirror.
Executing his plan was going to be easy. It was fool-proof.
CHAPTER 4
NAYA
The pizza arrived, as had two more of Vance’s friends. She had no idea her brother was this social. Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised, he’d always been too large for life in their small town.
Naya had always kept to herself, content with it just being her and her best friend Hensely. They had been nearly inseparable in school and nothing had changed even though they had both recently celebrated their twenty ninth birthdays. Well almost nothing, except that Hensely was now married and expecting her first child.
She grabbed a slice of pizza and a scoop of pasta salad for her plate and quietly made her way up the stairs to her loft. She didn’t really feel like being social this evening, the day had been overwhelming already.
Naya flipped on the lights and once again took in the space she would be calling home for the foreseeable future. The previous night had been her first in the small loft with the slanted roof. It wasn’t anything special, but it had a queen bed, nightstand and dresser which filled most of the limited space, she could probably put a TV on the dresser if she wanted one. But honestly, she figured she would be too busy with Vance and work to need one. There was a small door next to the stairs she came up which opened to the small closet stocked with just her few measly possessions.
She pulled out her laptop from the nightstand drawer as she sat down on the bed. She had made a list as she had packed in La Junta of all the things she would need to do once she got here, she now added ‘go shopping for dress pants’ to the list. She had brought her measly wardrobe with her, which apparently wouldn’t suit Brody, as it was mostly nice jeans and blouses. She only owned one pair of slacks she now planned to wear the rest of the week, but she knew that wouldn’t cut it long term.
Her eyes scanned up to the list and she sighed as she read the words she had written shortly after she had made the decision to come to Denver. She did a quick Google search then pulled out her cell phone. It rang a couple times before a woman answered.
“Home Health Care, how can I help you?”
“Yes, I need to see about getting some part-time assistance?” Naya shyly inquired, at the same time she pulled up the information she suspected the woman would need.
“Certainly, can you explain a bit about what kind of assistance you need and I’ll look into matching you with one of our aides.”
She could hear the woman typing on the keyboard in the background.
“Yes, my name is Naya Largusa and I need some help a few days a week with my brother, Vance Largusa, who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
The woman was silent for a moment then her typing resumed. “Sure thing, I just need to ask, how old is he? And what is his level of mobility?”
“He’s thirty-two. He can walk, but not far, and he can’t stand for more than a few minutes at a time. The treatment has made him very weak.”
“Ahh, yes.”
The woman was quiet for a minute, seemingly trying to think of the best way to broach the next subject, she braced herself.
“Is the treatment…helping?”
She sighed, she knew this was something she needed to acknowledge, “It does not seem like it, no.”
“Alright, I will put down a preference for a male assistant, that way they will more easily be able to lift Vance if necessary.”
Naya pinched the bridge of her nose, blinking back the tears that came no matter how well she prepared herself for these difficult conversations. “Thank you.”
“What is Vance’s current height and weight, if you know?”
Naya references her notes from the chat she had with her brother the previous day. “He’s about six foot, and approximately one hundred and sixty-five pounds I believe.”
“And how often will you need assistance?”
“That’s the thing, I’m a detective and so my hours will change quite a bit. I’d like to start at maybe three or four afternoons a week, and then if work gets busier, maybe every afternoon? And if…” she took a sharp breath, “If things get worse, I will need more help. Perhaps full days.”
The woman typed for a moment. “Alright, I’ve got a couple of prospects, let me contact them and then I’ll get back to you. If your brother needs more extensive care in the future, we will probably need to split the job between two nurses. Could you give me your address?”
Naya rattled off the address she had already memorized.
“Perfect. I will call you back sometime in the next two business days.”
“Thank you.” Naya wiped the moisture from her cheek.
“No problem, have a good evening.” The woman replied, then the call was disconnected.
Naya jolted awake in the middle of the night to the sound of her phone ringing. She leaned over and squinted at the screen, recognizing the number she rushed to answer before it could ring a third time “Hello?”
“I know you just went home a couple hours ago, but it looks like we already have our first case.” Atlas’ voice came over the line.
Naya glanced at her clock and noticed it was almost one in the morning.
“What’s going on?” She asked as she began slipping out of her sleep shorts and into her slacks. She went to the closet and pulled a button up blouse out to put on.
“Maybe something, maybe nothing. A girl from the local high school went out running around eight this evening and never came home. He parents started to get worried and called in at around midnight.”
Naya balanced her phone between her ear and shoulder as she leaned to slide into her shoes. “Midnight? Seems a bit long for a run. How old is the girl?”
“That’s the thing, she’s eighteen, a high school senior on the cross country team, and supposed to graduate this year. She runs two or so hours a day for practice, so when she wasn’t home by ten, her parents just figured she ran a little farther than normal, but then by midnight they knew something was wrong.”
“Did she have a cell phone with her?” She slid her weapon into her holster and headed downstairs to the bathroom to run her brush through her hair.
“Yes. But it was off when they tried to call.”
“Ok.” Cell phones in the recent years had made their jobs easier, but the criminals were learning to be smarter about them. “I’ll be out the door in five. We meeting at the girl’s house?”
“Yes, I’ll text over the address. I’m going to have the tech check for any cell pings on my way.”
Atlas was clearly going to be a great partner.
“Alright. See you in a few.” Naya ended the call and grabbed her jacket, slowly walking down the stairs on the side she had discovered the previous morning creaked less.
Vance’s bedroom door at the bottom of the stairs was open a crack and Naya peeked in. He was asleep in the middle of his bed which seemed to grow bigger around him each day. He didn’t stir as Naya inched the door closed. In the kitchen she opened the fridge, she grabbed a ziplock bag of the leftover pizza she had separated after everyone had left earlier, making sure the one for Vance’s lunch was easy for him to find. Not that she expected he would eat it, but she left it for him anyway.
Naya hoped the Home Health Care company would get back to her quickly, if all it meant was that Vance would be forced to eat more often, it would be enough to make her feel better.
Naya pulled up in front of a large red brick house in the Cherry Creek neighborhood, noticing immediately that whoever these people were, they had money. As she cut the ignition her vision zeroed in on Atlas who was halfway up the walk, he heard her footsteps as she stepped out and turned around, waiting for her.
“Any developments in the past half hour?”
He shook his head. “The techs are still trying to get a final ping for her phone. The patrol officers have been sitting with the parents while they wait for us.”
Naya stifled a yawn as they stood in front of the door and Atlas made a quick call to the officers inside to come to the door.
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