by Dale Mayer
Knowing his sister was tired and stressed, he hated to hear her take on more guilt. Her shoulders were broad, but they were overwhelmed at this stage. Corey tried to help. “I’ll find her and see what’s going on. And, if she’s in trouble, I am someone who might be able to help her.”
“Then why the hell did you let her walk away?” his sister cried. Almost immediately she calmed down. “I’m sorry. That’s so not fair. You’re right. I should have warned you. When she left my apartment, I should have called you and said that she was in trouble and that she was coming to you for help.”
“Yes. You should have,” Corey said. “Then I would have convinced her to talk to me more. I was just still so focused on what was happening with a friend of mine and then, seeing Angela like that out of the blue, … well, I was off my game. I’m sorry for that.”
“What happened? I heard something about a murder on the base.”
“An old stalker of Macklin’s was murdered.”
And suddenly his sister gasped in sympathy. “Oh, no. He’s such a teddy bear. He’s really had such shitty luck.”
Corey remembered explaining a little bit about Macklin’s problems in an earlier conversation. “Well, because it was his stalker who was murdered, the police immediately looked at him as a suspect.”
“But he wouldn’t hurt a fly,” his sister exclaimed. “He’s a sweetie.”
“Maybe. But he’s also very well-trained and could have snapped her neck in no time.”
“Is that how she died?”
“No. And that’s part of the problem. Anyway, they solved the case last night. I haven’t heard all the details, but Macklin now has a relationship with the detective from his case.”
She chuckled. “Good for him. I’m glad to see maybe his luck is turning.”
“True enough. Back to Angela. I need contact information. I need to know where she lived, where she worked and if you have any idea what was going on.”
“I don’t have much.” She rattled off the address. “Do you have her cell phone number?”
“I do. But my calls go to voice mail. What about where she worked?”
“She was a website designer. She had her own company and worked from home most of the time.”
“Interesting. Do you have keys to her place?”
“Yes, actually I do,” his sister said in surprise. “I never even thought about that. I drove past, but I didn’t go in.”
“You have a lot on your plate. No worries. I’ll come and take a look.”
“Good. Are you coming tonight? Because I won’t be home for several hours.”
“When are you out of school?”
“Never, as you well know. I’ll be very glad when this is all over.” She sounded more than just exhausted. “Come and stay overnight with me. It will be nice to spend some time together.”
Corey hated that this was adding to her stress. “How about I take you out for dinner tonight?”
“That would be nice,” she said with enthusiasm. “I’m really looking forward to seeing you.”
“Ditto.” He hung up and turned to look around his small apartment. He shouldn’t need an overnight bag, but, not knowing where this trip would take him, he decided to go prepared to stay for several days, just in case something unusual popped up. Given that Angela worked from home, Corey imagined she had attracted a cyberstalker. Maybe it was just Macklin’s recent stalker case filling Corey’s mind with scenarios, but it was a start. Plus too many people were too transparent on the internet with all the various social media outlets. Based on that, he wondered which IT specialist in his circle to contact.
He had a bunch of them to choose from. Particularly doing the missions they did in the military. Some of the men in his unit were incredibly talented, and a lot were really good hackers. It wasn’t what they did full-time, but it was what they did on their time off.
Corey pulled out eggs and sausage from the refrigerator. He quickly made himself a solid meal. Just as he sat to eat, his phone rang again. He fished it out if his pocket to see it was Mason. “What did you find out?” He took a bite of egg as he listened.
“Her file was opened but extremely sketchy in details. They want to talk to you.”
Corey groaned. “I was heading out to see my sister. I wanted to check out Angela’s place. Apparently she’s a graphic artist, and she builds websites for a living.”
“Sounds interesting. Yet it could be a wasted trip.”
“Still, we need to check out where she was, what she was doing, see if there’s any sign of who she was running from or running to.”
“We?”
Corey sat back. “I was hoping one of the many IT guys we have in our nice little circle might be available.”
“Take Warrick. He’s got several days off. Supposedly to see his girlfriend. They were going to the coast for a couple days, but they just broke up.”
“What? Warrick and Sandra broke up?”
“Yeah. Happened last weekend. That’s the way it works sometimes. Warrick is now single, but Macklin looks to be involved.”
“Good for Macklin. Not for Warrick. Although he and Sandra had been fighting off and on since forever, so it wasn’t exactly a match made in heaven.”
“True. He needs to find somebody like Tesla. Hell, you need to find somebody like Tesla.”
“Dude, if Tesla could be cloned, we’d all have made copies and grabbed one for ourselves. She’s fantastic.”
“Well, Devlin wouldn’t take a copy. He’s pretty darn happy with Bristol.”
“You all make me sick sometimes,” Corey said with a laugh before he shoved a bite of sausage in his mouth. “I’ll contact Warrick. Then I’ll stop by the police station, give them a statement before I head out to my sister’s for the night. If I can drag Warrick along with me, I will.”
“And I’ll run interference here. Somebody needs to check some street cameras. The ideal scenario would be if we found out she was being followed.”
“There’s nothing ideal about that,” Corey said, his heart sinking at the thought. Surely he’d have noticed, wouldn’t he? “I did stand in the coffee shop parking lot for a few minutes, and vehicles were pulling in and out at that time, but I wasn’t watching them.”
“Tell the cops that. They can check the cameras at the coffee shop. Or at least cameras at the closest intersections and see if anybody was on her tail.”
“Will do.” He hung up, finished off his breakfast, grabbed a bag and started packing. Then realized he hadn’t called Warrick. He dialed his friend’s number. “Hey, I hear you have a few days with nothing to do.”
“Yeah. Apparently I have the rest of my life free too.” Warrick’s tone was snippy.
“How about coming with me for a couple days to get your mind off things?”
“What’s up?” Warrick asked, his interest piquing in spite of himself.
Corey laughed. “Any disaster in our world makes us happy, doesn’t it?”
“What kind of disaster?”
“A friend of mine might be in trouble.” He explained what had happened. “I’m heading to my sister’s. We’ll stay overnight. I’ll go through Angela’s apartment. It might be our only way of knowing what’s going on. I want to get there before the police do.”
“Are you allowed to?”
“I wasn’t planning on asking for permission,” Corey said cheerfully. “Are you in or out?”
“Hell, I’m in. Can’t say I’m too thrilled about the first stop at the police station, but I’m up for visiting your sister and definitely interested in helping out your friend. When are we leaving?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
*
Angela gripped the steering wheel with more force than necessary. She tried to relax, to unclench her grip around the leather, but it was as if her fingers were claws. She didn’t have a clue where she was going. Somehow she had taken a wrong turn, and, instead of heading to her aunt’s cabin, she had ended up on this bloody highway. A tur
noff was up ahead. She took it and slowed down, realizing belatedly the speed she’d been traveling. Her nerves were shot, and she could swear to God she’d been followed for the large part of this journey.
A black pickup seemed to sit on her ass for the last several hours as she drove up the California coast.
Then suddenly there was no sign of it. That made her more worried than ever. She’d wanted to stop and check in with Bridget, let her know she was okay, but she was afraid her phone was being tracked, so she had turned it off. It was just way too easy to get people you loved in deep trouble. And that was something she couldn’t handle.
She was desperate to get Joshua back, but she didn’t know how to accomplish that.
For some wild reason, she’d thought Corey would be able to help her. But she hadn’t even stayed long enough to explain it to him. How would she tell him, as the father of the child she’d lost, that the father of her second child was trying to take her out of the equation?
She gave a bitter laugh. “I can really choose men. I walked away from a good one and ended up with a crazy one.”
She pulled into a gas station and got out. She not only needed to fill the tank in the car but she needed food and a rest stop.
She finished pumping gas, paid for it with her credit card and then froze. She pounded the roof of her car and bowed her head. “Shit. Shit. Shit. Somebody can track my credit card use.”
She stared bleakly out at the world around her as she parked her car by the nearby restaurant. “I was not cut out to do this.”
Exhausted, worried, she walked inside, ordered coffee and a sandwich, and sat down in the far corner. She’d very quickly learned to sit in such a way where she could watch the traffic coming and going, keeping an eye on anybody who appeared to be watching her. When her coffee arrived, she stared at it with longing. It would still be at least two minutes before it cooled enough for her to drink it.
And she was rather desperate for the caffeine hit. When the sandwich arrived soon afterward, she swallowed that down in several bites and then sat back to enjoy the coffee. She didn’t know where she was going at the moment. She needed to ask somebody for help, but she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself. She had a GPS option on her phone, but the roads in the area were not well-enough marked to use it. She brought out the address from her pocket and the old map she had stuffed in the back of the car’s glove box, then had transferred to her purse.
Once she had figured out where she was, she realized she’d taken a wrong turn about forty minutes back. She groaned. “I’ll be a couple more hours getting there.”
At least she had filled up with gas, and this coffee would hold her for a little bit. Her aunt’s cabin was completely empty and hadn’t been inhabited for at least a year, which meant there wouldn’t be food or supplies. There was no getting away from the fact that Angela was already at the end of her rope and more tired than she thought possible. She needed this trip to just end.
When she finished her meal, she ordered a second sandwich and travel mug of coffee to go. While all that was being done, she used the ladies’ room, washed her hands and face, brushed her hair and straightened her clothing so she didn’t look like the vagabond she appeared to be.
When she walked back out, she paid for the food, collected her order and headed outside. She reversed out of the space and drove down the road, headed back to the turn she had missed. Forty minutes later, she saw the correct turn ahead. She turned right and took the final leg of the journey to her aunt’s cabin. It had been a roundabout trip, so, when she finally turned into the driveway and drove up the gravel road, her heart warmed.
This was the place she had spent many hours when she was a young child. She had a lot of good memories here. She also felt a sense of homecoming—even if it had been twelve years. They’d had such great summers on the lake. She got out, walked around to the cabin door and used the key hidden underneath the mat. Inside the cabin was cold, wet, chilly. Her aunt had promised to turn on the power, and, as Angela flipped the switch, with a sense of joy Angela realized her aunt had been true to her word. With lights inside and wood outside, Angela knew she’d be warm in no time. She walked back out to her car and unloaded her belongings.
What she really needed next was the internet. And she had paid a special price to get that here. It was just a matter of setting it up on her phone and laptop. Or at least Angela hoped so. She had to keep working. She lit the fire in the old wood stove, bringing in more kindling and wood from outside so she had enough for the night. It was summertime, but it was cooler up here, especially at night. The lake was more of a hunting area but recently had become popular with wealthier families, and they were building summer cabins all up and down the shores. With a fire going, a kettle full of water on the stove, she checked out the supplies to see if anything was left.
She was delighted to find dry goods, like flour and bread crumbs, plus coffee, tea, canned goods. Added to that was the box of food she had brought with her. She unpacked everything but her clothing and then made herself a cup of tea. She walked onto the veranda, welcoming the darkness of evening settling across the shores.
What she still had to do was move her car. To make sure nobody would easily see it sitting out front. Not wanting to take that chance and getting too comfortable without having taken that last safety precaution, she returned to her car, drove it around the cabin and parked it in front of the basement doors. Her aunt usually rented out the basement to students during the summer. And one of them in particular had parked down here. But no renters were due to show up this summer.
With her vehicle now out of sight from the road and from the driveway, plus mostly hidden from across the lake because of the trees, she walked back inside, suddenly exhausted. She locked all the doors except the sliding glass one to the veranda, walked out with her tea and collapsed on the ratty deck chairs.
For better or for worse, she was committed to this step. She only hoped it was the right decision. If she was wrong, there could be devastating repercussions.
As she settled in, kicking her feet up on the railing, she closed her eyes and whispered, “Have a good night, Joshua. Mommy loves you.”
Chapter 2
She crawled into bed with the plan of sleeping well. But a strange bed and a chill in the air made it hard to drop off to sleep. Then again she hadn’t slept well for days, if not weeks. Trying to figure out what to do when there were no answers didn’t make for happy dreams.
The only good thing in all of this was the fact that she knew Joshua should be physically safe. Her son was six, very smart, and very compassionate and tender. He’d be suffering emotionally without her around. But a child custody case when you were up against a powerful presence with a ton of money was a scary thing.
She’d thought she and her husband could work it out amicably. But, once he had gotten Joshua for the first visit, things had gone to hell quickly. He’d refused to let Joshua leave at the end of the day—and she’d been kicked out alone.
She’d slowly gone to pieces as she had contacted lawyer after lawyer. Each one had given her a large bill and not much in the way of assistance. Without money, she’d gone to the police. But that was even more useless. She didn’t think there was really anybody who could help her.
She didn’t have a clue why she thought Corey was the one to call on. He’d been out of her life for so long that it made no sense to go to him.
And yet, as soon as she thought about who she could count on to have her back, his name popped up. She didn’t deserve his assistance. Plus, with so much water under the bridge, she knew it wouldn’t be an easy thing to reopen that old wound.
Finally she jumped out of bed, threw on a heavy bathrobe that had been left behind in the cabin, put socks back on and padded out to the wood stove. She tossed more wood in the fire, then fired up the teakettle again. She didn’t really want anything with caffeine, but a hot lemon tea might be nice. She thought she’d seen some lemon juice in th
e pantry.
She walked in and took a look. Found hot chocolate and some herbal teas. The lemon juice was open, and she had no idea how old it was so decided not to try it. She reached for the herbal teas instead. One with chamomile in it was called Sleepytime. She figured that would be perfect. It would take a bit for the water to heat up on the woodstove, but she much preferred sitting here in the dark, waiting, than turning on the light.
She walked out on the deck. A nice cool breeze drifted by. She could see a couple lights on the far side of the lake. Her aunt had bought this place a long time ago. The family had made good use of it ever since, and it was a wonderful place to live. If Angela had decent internet service, she could work from here.
That was what she’d always envisioned for herself. In the back of her mind she thought one day she’d have the house, the husband, the two kids and something like this to come to for summers, like she had experienced when she was growing up. But those dreams never came to pass. She’d been married for seven years and had a wonderful son. Only recently she’d learned of another woman with a son fathered by her husband, a son a couple weeks older than Joshua. What did one even do with that information? How did one deal with such a betrayal?
Joshua had a stepbrother.
Her husband had been having an affair for years. Hell, she didn’t know if her husband was still with his paramour. She didn’t want to know. Her husband had lived dual lives. And why he couldn’t play nice when it came to child custody, she didn’t know. But the thing was, things had gone too far. Now not only was Joshua’s peace of mind and his life with her at stake but she was afraid her own life was too.