That still left hundreds of people to find. The futility of it all – the sadness – it was more than Sophie could bear. These were people. They were people with lives, and souls, and yet they were gone. They’d just disappeared from the face of the Earth. Sophie knew all of them weren’t victims, but the idea that some of them could be was tearing her apart.
She needed some peace.
Sophie sighed, glancing at the clock on her desk phone and stretching. It was late. She’d returned to the newspaper because the Internet connection was faster there. She was hoping to burn through the rest of the files before Grady returned. She needed to accomplish something, because she felt like she was just spinning her wheels these days. It was frustrating.
It was almost midnight, Sophie realized. She’d gone through every file. She’d ruled out most of the files. There were still eighty that were cause for concern. Eighty was too many. Eighty was … daunting.
She needed some sleep. No, she needed more than that. Sleep could only help, but what she really needed was Grady.
Sophie shut down her computer and gathered her things. She’d finished the main searches. She’d accomplished something. It wasn’t what she hoped, but it was a start. Tomorrow she’d start going through the files again. There had to be something there. She headed for the front door.
Summer in Southeastern Michigan is amazing. The days are hot, and sometimes humid. Most of the nights are comfortable, though, and filled with bright skies and unequivocal magic. Sophie was hoping to capitalize on that magic when she got home. Grady would be there. She could curl up on his lap, rest her head against his chest, and just marvel at the life they’d managed to build. He’d given her more than she ever envisioned. Now, more than anything, she just wanted him.
Tonight would be perfect. They hadn’t been able to enjoy the hot tub in more than a week. Tonight would be different. Tonight would be perfect. Tonight would be … the night. She was ready.
Sophie rummaged through her purse, searching for her keys. She stepped down from the curb in front of the Daily Tribune, sucking in a deep breath, and finally realizing that things were coming into focus.
Unfortunately, the thing that came into focus next was the cocking of a gun as it was leveled at her back. Sophie stilled, the cold metal of the barrel jarring her as it came to rest between her shoulder blades.
“You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?”
“YOU’RE Christian?”
James couldn’t help himself. He’d been expecting a muscle-bound moron with a bad attitude and a big gun. The man standing in front of him was … small. His hair was greasy, and starting to thin at the edges of his forehead. His jeans were old and frayed. This was not a criminal mastermind.
“This is Christian?” James shot Finn an incredulous look.
“I couldn’t see him in the dark,” Finn said. “I could just hear him.”
“Talk,” James ordered.
Christian looked terrified. “What do you want me to say?”
James studied Finn. “Is that the voice you heard?”
Finn nodded, sheepish.
“You’re running pot across the bridge?” James asked. “Pot?”
“Hey, most people in the U.S. think that pot should be legal,” Christian said. “I’m providing relief for cancer victims and … people who need to relax.”
“Whatever,” James grumbled.
“What about the women?” Grady pressed.
“What women?”
“The ones being trafficked over the border,” James said. “Do you have anything to do with that?”
Christian was scandalized. “Why would I do that?”
“Because people are taking girls – working girls – and selling them in Canada,” Grady said. “We thought that’s what you were doing.”
“That’s way too much trouble, man,” Wayne said. “Pot doesn’t talk back.”
“I … this is unbelievable,” Grady said. “We’ve been on the wrong track from the beginning.”
James was confused. “What about Lily?”
“What about her?” Christian asked.
“We know you were her pimp,” James said. “We know what you did to her.”
“Her pimp? I’m not a pimp.”
“She said you were,” Finn said.
“Well, she’s a liar,” Christian said. “I’m not a pimp. If you think trafficking women is too much work, you should see what the pimps go through. That’s just a nightmare.”
“So, I … what were you and Lily talking about last night?” Finn pressed. “I heard you outside of the bar. She said that she was going to do one more job for you and then she was out. She was scared of you.”
“She’s not scared of me,” Christian scoffed. “Trust me. If anyone should be scared, it’s me.”
“Why?”
“She’s evil, man,” Christian said.
“Define evil.”
“She’s the one who orders me around,” Christian said. “She’s the one who organizes the trips over the bridge. She’s the one with the connections.”
Grady stilled. “Wait. What?”
“She’s the boss.”
“Oh, shit,” Grady said.
Twenty-Five
“This makes absolutely no sense,” James said, reaching into the refrigerator and pulling out a beer.
“Are you just saying that because we look like idiots for following the wrong men for a week and a half, or are you saying this because Lily has made us look like fools?” Jake asked.
The men were back at James’ house, worry and embarrassment washing over all four of them.
“Both.”
“Are we sure that Christian isn’t lying?” Finn asked. “I have a hard time believing that Lily could be in charge of anything. She doesn’t seem like a criminal mastermind. She doesn’t seem like anything but a pain in the ass, quite frankly.”
“Maybe she’s just a good actress,” Grady suggested.
“Maybe,” Finn conceded. “That still doesn’t explain why she was working as a model. If she really is the one trafficking women across the border, why would she freelance as a model? Why would she live in that hole where Emma and Sophie found her?”
“We don’t know that she’s trafficking women,” James cautioned. “We know that Christian said she was in charge. She could just be in charge of the pot runs.”
“He also said that she was only involved with this run,” Jake said. “Maybe she was just looking for extra money.”
“She still lied,” James said. “She said that she was kidnapped and someone tried to transport her over the border. She said Christian mistreated her and made her turn tricks on the street to earn room and board. Why would she do any of that?”
“To draw people in,” Finn replied.
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” Finn said. “What better way to find premium girls? They’re models. They’re pretty. They’re going to be far less likely to have diseases – or emotional problems. She’d be able to get more money for them.”
“They’re also more likely to be missed,” Jake pointed out.
“Not necessarily,” Finn said. “What if she tells people her story to get their defenses down? Emma said that she just volunteered her story out of nowhere. Emma was suspicious of it because of her past. She was raised by liars and … bad people. She thought Lily was lying from the start because she already knew what a liar looked like.
“The only reason Emma changed her mind is because someone else repeated the story,” Finn continued. “She felt guilty. She started looking at Lily as a victim she overlooked, and instead of keeping her defenses up, she dropped them all the way down. Lily was counting on that.”
“You know, Finn has a point,” Grady said. “Think about it. Lily tells this story to feel people out. She’s looking for sympathetic women. She doesn’t have to worry about how they look. They’re models. She’s got an open pool there. She needs to read them.
> “Every gambler knows it’s not about the cards in your hand,” Grady said. “It’s about the cards everyone else thinks you have in your hand. Lily knows how to read people. When Emma and Sophie came to her door, she realized she had an opening. She knew they were investigating.”
“And there’s no way better to figure out what people know than to get in the inner circle,” James added. “So, Lily made up a story about people coming after her. People being able to track her down – especially since we never mentioned her name – threw us all for a loop. It never made any sense, and yet we believed it.”
“So, Emma took her in,” Finn said, gritting his teeth. “And Lily heard everything that was going on.”
“When you had a problem with Lily staying, and Sophie came up with the Peter solution, Lily realized how deep our resources ran,” Grady said. “The second she could manage, she snuck out and disappeared. We went back to her apartment. No one has been there.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to think that’s not her real home,” James said. “I’m betting she makes her presence known there. She picks up her mail, she talks to her neighbors, she drives to and from there on a regular basis … but her home base is someplace else.”
“Where?” Jake asked.
“I have no idea,” James said. “We may never know. All we know now is that Lily is the one in charge, and we have to plan our new attack around that.”
“She knows our faces,” Finn said. “She may have only met a few of us, but Emma has pictures all over that apartment. She knows what each and every one of us looks like.”
“Including me?” Jake asked.
“There’s a picture of you, Ally, James, and Mandy on the bookshelf in the living room,” Finn said. “She knows.”
“So, you’re done downtown,” James said. “It’s a waste of time.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Jake said. “We’re still not done here, though.”
“We’re nowhere near done,” James said. “We just have to adjust our thinking. Lily is a predator, not the prey. That throws everything we’ve learned out the window.”
“What?”
James swiveled, his eyes landing on Mandy as she let herself into the house from the glass doors that led to the back yard. “Where have you been?”
“I was out in my studio,” Mandy replied. “I bought a few canvases today.”
James arched an eyebrow. “You did? You’re finally going to start painting something?”
Mandy scowled. “Don’t push me.”
“How are you going to fit painting in with your gay correction classes?” Grady asked.
Mandy cuffed him on the back of his head as she shot a disdainful look in James’ direction. “You told them?”
“It’s funny, baby,” James said. “I just want you to know, if you ever feel the need to explore those feelings, feel free to do it when I’m in the room. I’d love to join in.”
“You’re sick.”
James gave her a quick kiss. “I was just joking. I’m fine just watching.”
Mandy made a face. “It’s good to know I’m not enough for you.”
James paled. “That’s not … oh, now you’re just messing with me.”
“You were messing with me,” Mandy countered. “I just gave you a taste of your own medicine.”
James graced her with a lazy smile. “You’re all I want. Ever.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Grady said. “He’s so disgustingly in love with you that he won’t even look at another woman. It’s sad. He used to be the belle of the ball, and now he’s the wallflower.”
“Oh, like you should talk,” Mandy said. “You don’t look at anyone but Sophie, even if you are too stupid to tell her you love her.”
Silence descended on the room.
“Who told you that?” Grady asked, shooting an accusatory look in James’ direction.
James shook his head, raising his hands to indicate innocence.
“He didn’t tell me,” Mandy said. “He didn’t betray your little brotherhood of trust, so don’t worry about that.”
“Then who told you?” Grady pressed. “No one knows that but me and him. I didn’t tell Jake or Finn. So, who told you?”
“Sophie knows,” Mandy said, taking James’ beer from his hand and taking a drink before passing it back.
“She … she told you that?”
Mandy looked Grady up and down. “She did.”
“When?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Mandy said, turning toward the stairs. “I’m going to go up and change.”
Grady grabbed her arm. “No, I need you to tell me what she said.”
“Grady, this is between you and Sophie.”
“And you, apparently.”
“I … .” Mandy looked to James for help.
“Maybe you should just tell him what you know, baby,” he suggested. “You’ve already opened the door.”
“I really do have a big mouth,” Mandy grumbled. “You keep telling me I do, and I keep telling myself it’s not true. It’s totally true, though. I have a huge mouth. If I was a spy, I would be the one they’d torture for information.”
James smirked. “I’d just tickle you until I got the information I needed.”
Mandy groaned. “Fine. Yes, Sophie and I had a discussion the other day.” Mandy yanked her arm away from Grady. “She said you haven’t told her you love her.”
“She hasn’t told me either,” Grady protested.
“She’s afraid to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because she thinks you won’t say it back,” Mandy replied.
“But … I will.”
“I told her you would,” Mandy said.
“You did?”
“I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, Grady Hardy, but you’re not fooling me,” Mandy said. “It’s obvious you love her. It’s written all over your face every time you look at her. It’s written all over her face when she looks at you, too.”
“I don’t see that.”
“That’s because you don’t know where to look,” Mandy said.
“See, I told you,” James said.
“You did?” Finn arched an eyebrow, his gaze bouncing between his two brothers. “How long have you known about this particular problem?”
“A few weeks.”
“Why don’t you just tell her?” Finn asked.
“Have you told Emma?” Grady challenged.
“Of course he has,” Mandy scoffed.
“Well … actually … .”
Mandy made a face. “You, too?”
“I’ll bet Jake hasn’t either,” Finn protested.
“Jake and Ally have been together for a few months,” Mandy replied. “That’s different. You and Emma have been together for a year.”
“The timing hasn’t been right,” Finn said.
“The timing is never going to be right,” Mandy said. “You just have to speak what’s in your heart. You love Emma, right?”
Finn’s mouth dropped open. “I’m not having this discussion with you.”
Mandy’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying you don’t love her?”
“No!”
Mandy rolled her eyes, turning back to Grady. “I can only deal with one of you at a time. You’re the first.”
“Why am I the first?” Grady asked.
“Because you’re the one tied up in knots over this,” she said. “You want to tell her. That much is obvious. Just tell her.”
“It’s not that easy,” Grady grumbled.
“Why?”
“What if she doesn’t say it back?”
“She’ll say it back,” Mandy said. “The only reason she hasn’t said it to you is because she’s scared to say it. She said that she couldn’t live with a man who doesn’t love her. So, if she says it to you, and you don’t feel the same way, she’s caught. She doesn’t want to lose you.”
Grady groaned. “This is a mess.”
“Just tell her,” Mandy said. “Your brother managed to find the words, why can’t you?”
“Maybe James is braver than I am,” Grady challenged.
“James ran away and left me naked in bed after the first time we had sex,” Mandy reminded him.
“Thanks, baby,” James said. “I always love hearing that story.”
Jake patted his shoulder sympathetically.
Grady rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. “It’s funny that this is coming up now,” he said, planting his hands on his hips. “Just today … I just decided I was going to do it. I wanted this case done so everything was solved. I want everything perfect when it happens.”
“Life is never going to be perfect, Grady,” James said. “Do you think it was perfect the first time I told Mandy?”
“Wasn’t it?”
“I told her after three hours of questioning by the police,” James said. “We were both exhausted. She’d been stalked and almost killed. I’d been panicked and convinced I was going to lose her. There was nothing perfect about that day, and yet everything was perfect about the moment.”
“Was it perfect for you?” Grady asked, focusing on Mandy.
“Yes.”
James moved up behind Mandy, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed her head. “You make the moment perfect, Grady. You don’t wait for the moment to be perfect.”
Grady sighed. “You’re right. I’m telling her tonight.”
“Good,” Mandy said. She glanced over at Finn. “Now we can talk about your problem.”
“Oh, great,” Finn mumbled.
The sound of Grady’s phone ringing cut off the chuckles in the room. Grady frowned when he looked at the screen. Why would Peter be calling him?
“Hello?”
“Grady?”
“Yeah.”
“We have a problem,” Peter said.
“What problem?”
“It’s Sophie. She’s been … she’s been taken.”
Twenty-Six
“Where is he?”
Sven, one of Peter’s bodyguards, ushered everyone into Peter’s grandiose Grosse Pointe mansion. “He’s in the arboretum. He’s been trying to secure the funds.”
“I can’t believe this,” Grady muttered, stalking through the house.
Deadly Questions (Hardy Brothers Security Book 8) Page 18