by Dale Mayer
“That would be bad,” she said in a very low voice. “I don’t know what his problem is, if he’s just joyfully doing my father’s bidding or what, but he’s never going to let up.”
“Well, he will but not on his own. We’re going to have to step in and let him know he’s got to stop or we’ll have to stop him ourselves.”
“Is that possible?”
He sighed. “Very possible. Often the only ending we see in this world. The asshole dies or his energy abilities become so burned out he is institutionalized for the rest of his life. It’s not an easy scenario for anyone.”
“No. But I wouldn’t mind either of those. I can see I don’t know if my father is involved or not, but if he is…” She shook her head. “It’s hard to imagine doing that to anyone you love. He must have loved his first family. But the second…I don’t know.”
“Give him a chance to explain. He might not have known how to deal with his own emotions after such a huge loss. That’s not easy.”
“Unless it’s a loss he wanted so he’d be free again.” She fell silent. “I don’t know what to believe.”
“Hopefully we’ll get more information soon, that will help us to figure this out.” He walked to the sink and filled it with hot soapy water. “Stay positive.”
She laughed. “Hard not to with you around.”
“Always happy to help.”
“We need do go to the bank now, don’t we?”
He nodded. “Lots of errands.” She watched that glance of his land on her, do a quick assessment then as if satisfied, he said, “I might even pick up coffee and snacks while we’re out to keep you fortified.”
“Be still my beating heart. I thought the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, not a woman’s. Aren’t you supposed to buy diamonds for me instead?”
“Ha, you were likely raised on those, and I’m not in the diamonds with coffee category.” He grinned and as if he couldn’t help himself, he snagged her up in his soapy arms and said, “Besides, a double Dutch chocolate and walnut coffee cake will probably have the same effect.”
Her eyes widened in wonder. “There is such a thing?”
“Indeed and as soon as we get the kitchen cleaned up and a few errands run, I’ll take you there.”
That did it. She spun into action and they were out of the house in ten minutes.
*
He’d have laughed but she was so damn serious he wanted to cry instead. He was right in that she’d had everything she needed in life but the little things like enjoying a coffee and baked treat out with friends. He was pretty damn sure she never experienced something so simple before. He walked her into the Second Home Bakery and Coffee Shop only a few blocks from his house and stopped to take a big inhale of the wonderful aroma. They roasted their own coffee here and it was delicious. Not burned tasting like so many places that tried to do the same thing.
“Oh wow,” she said, a certain reverence in her voice. He followed her gaze to the large glass display counter showing her dozens of fresh baked goods.
“See, isn’t this a great place?” He led her to a small table and chairs set off in the corner. “I’ll go order.”
She stared at the goodies and nodded.
“What would you like to eat?” he asked.
“All of it,” she said in a hopeful voice. “No, that would be too much. How about what you suggested earlier. And a latte please.”
He made his way to the order counter and stood in line. Ever since that first twinge to say they were being hunted he’d been on his guard. It was wearing. Normally he’d hole up at home or at work until the danger eased. Except instead of easing, the sensation was getting worse. He had his guards up, but to know that someone was tracking them just added to the tension.
They’d survived getting new bank cards and ordering new credit cards for her. They’d also set up a P.O. box address.
It still wouldn’t take long for anyone to track it all down, but he hoped it would take a day or two. He had meetings set up with her financial advisors for Monday, her birthday, and had managed to schedule a couple of days off at the beginning of the week so he could get this all locked down.
She was holding up, happy even. There’d been no new attacks, but even he could see her energy tight around her frame. Constantly aware. Constantly in defensive mode. Likely from sensing Will getting closer. It blew him away she could do such a thing and have no idea what that meant in terms of energy work. She was really special.
What were they going to have to do to stop her father from destroying her life again?
Stefan stepped into his mind. You’re going to have to stop him. The father legally, and the minions – likely the hard way.
Are you picking this presence up?
Yeah, there’s definitely something the hell going on? Grayscale has shifted, Stefan said. The energy fields all over are tweaked. We need to stop this asshole before he creates permanent damage.
But who is it?
I don’t know. I thought it was Will, but unfortunately I keep getting a female vibe, and that’s not blending with the other information.
Stefan paused and asked in a low voice, Did you get any information on the dead wives?
Not yet. You think they are key?
Yes, Stefan said softly. They are key or at least they are one key…
Chapter 24
Trevor fascinated Hannah. She’d had ample time to study him today with all the errands and business stops. They’d arrived at his office where she’d taken a seat close to him so she could watch him. He was confident and strong, always in control. Always helping out.
From her experience, it was this last trait that made him so unique. She found herself wanting to know more. Wanting to know everything there was to know.
His office was an experience in itself. She’d been in legal offices before. Ornate, dark somber atmosphere as if heavy weighty issues were going to happen in those places and those places only. This office was bright, cheerful and airy. Lots of windows. It was on a small side street near the hospital. He had three assistants and yet he was the only lawyer.
She asked him about it.
He laughed. “As soon as I can find people who do anything even similar to what I do I’d be delighted to have them come on board. In the meantime…” He waved at the two men and one woman who were busy working, “These guys are my lifeline.”
“Any articling students among them?” she asked curiously.
His gaze assessed her seriousness. “Yes, actually Charlie here is doing just that. I gather you’ve been around lawyers a lot of your life.”
“Not much choice. They came and went through my father’s home office on a daily basis.” Too damn often as far as she was concerned. They were all the same stuffed shirt, ostentatious vehicles, and non-smiling personas.
She nodded to Charlie who happened to look up at that moment. She smiled at him. “Do you really understand all that Trevor does?”
The young man grinned. “I’m not sure anyone understands that but him.”
Trevor led her to his office and motioned at a chair for her. “I’ll try to be as fast as I can be.”
“Not an issue,” she said easily. “If you have a spare laptop, I’ll pass the time easily.”
“I can do that.” He got up and walked to the doorway to speak to Charlie. “He’ll bring a spare we have for the office in a moment.”
“Nice to have spares.”
Charlie brought her one. “Do you need a mouse?”
She shook her head. “No thanks.”
She turned it on and once it loaded, she went to her email. As expected it was full. She sighed and started to delete the bulk of them. When she’d deleted those she turned to the ones that required responses. An old school friend was asking for money for a charity fund. An old teacher contacted her about a friend of hers who was trying to raise money. She was sensing a theme here.
She ignored it and moved to the others. There was a reque
st from her financial advisor to confirm the request for information that Trevor had submitted and a confirmation on Monday’s meeting as well. That was a given.
By the time she’d made it to the bottom of the heap, she was done mentally too. There was nothing in there about her business. The lack of her business. Nothing. So what happened to it now?
And yet…she could barely remember it.
And she should.
She glanced over at Trevor who had been on and off the phone since she’d arrived.
She checked out her social media sites unsurprised to see there was nothing going on in her world – it was after all infinitely small. She groaned and went to Tasha’s page only to find there wasn’t one. She frowned. Hadn’t it ever existed? Her world was a mess of assumptions but lacking in facts.
She couldn’t even trust her memories.
Although there was more there now than before. It wasn’t the time or place to work on the remaining blocks, but she had to wonder at what information could be so important as to place blocks in a child’s mind to begin with. Sure, trauma was one thing, but that block should have disappeared or been removed over time. Time was a warm cozy blanket that eased the load for many things. But maybe not a personal loss like that. If she thought about it, losing her mother still felt like it had happened only yesterday. And she could only imagine if she’d lost a child or a husband and not a mother.
The losses would be so personal.
And devastating. Her mother had lost her sister and the children. But her grandparents. They’d lost two daughters and two grandchildren. She was the only one left. That had to have been terrible for them.
She also had no idea how much contact she’d had with them after her mother’s passing. Had she had any? Or had she been sequestered away and they’d essentially lost her too?
All painful questions.
And she needed answers.
“Okay, I think I can leave.” Trevor said in a distracted voice. “I’m going to bring work home with me…”
She stood up. “Can I use this laptop?”
“You can. Or we can go and buy you one on the way home.”
“I’m not up for that.”
“Good. Neither am I.” He smiled at her. “We might need to do more shopping on the way home too if your appetite doesn’t ease back.”
“It’s not bad right now. But I think the energy work boosted it.”
“It does do that. In your case we have a lot more to do.”
“So we are stopping on the way home,” she said with spirit. Then she paused. “Could we drive past my store too please?”
“We can do that.”
She sensed the intensity of his gaze as she walked out of the room but knew the other employees had been studying her furtively as well. Hell, by the time they walked out she knew they’d be discussing her and the new situation. Couldn’t really blame them. Their boss got married unexpectedly to someone they didn’t know and of course they were going to talk.
Everyone talked. All the time.
*
He parked outside the Chinese food restaurant beside the burned out shell of her store and motioned toward it. “Shall we do take out?”
“Yes, please.” But her voice was faint. Sad. She stared at the remains of her business and looked about to cry. He hated to cause her more pain, but she was disassociated from so much it made him realize he was even doubting that she’d cared about the business in the first place. The whole rich kid syndrome. But she did.
“I want to get out.”
But she sat immobile.
“Then let’s go.” He turned off the engine and hopped out, coming around to her side to open the passenger door. She stared at him. Then took a deep breath and accepted his help to get out.
“It’s like a grave,” she admitted. “It’s so shocking to see it like this.”
“How was business?” he asked curiously.
“Not great. But I loved being here. It wasn’t making a profit but it could have with time.”
Only she was speaking as if from memory. Trevor glanced around the neighborhood, run down and tired looking. He could imagine the store being in the same condition.
Immediately her hand went to her forehead. As if in pain. He’d noticed it a couple of times before but hadn’t understood. Now he wondered if the questions didn’t have as much to do with areas that had been blocked or maybe the areas where she’d blacked out. “Do you remember the last time you were here?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. That’s part of the problem. I can’t remember anything.”
“Do you have the company books anywhere?”
She motioned to the store. “In there. On the laptop that had been in there as well.”
“What about cloud storage?”
She frowned. Then her gaze cleared. “Yes, we used an online storage system to keep the information for income taxes.”
“Good. We’ll take a look at that when we get home.” He studied the building remains. “What made you buy it?”
“I was looking for something…”
“Was it a good price?”
“It was cheap,” she admitted. “It’s the only reason I could buy it in the first place.”
“Right.” And probably a complete and total rip off in the first place. But he stayed quiet.
“Did you have fun?”
Her face lit up. “I did. It’s the first time I had anything of my own that my father didn’t have his fingers in. I loved being around the flowers.”
That made the most sense of all. “Did someone help you with the transition?”
“The old owners. This would make them cry now,” she said, motioning to the shell in front of her. “They’d wanted out for a long time. They were tired and getting older, they needed to close it down but had lots of loyal customers they didn’t want to disappoint.”
“So you bought it. Did you buy it so they could have that extra boost for their retirement then give them the job of training you so they had some purpose in their life?” he asked, intuitively knowing she hadn’t been rooked as much as she’d deliberately helped them out.
The sideways glance in his direction confirmed his suspicions. “You are really a sweetheart, aren’t you?”
“You mean bad business person?”
He grinned and tucked her fingers into his arm. “Let’s order a bunch of Chinese and while we wait, we’ll walk around to the alley so you can see all the damage.”
And that’s what they did.
As they stood in the back and stared at what remained she shook her head. “I wasn’t here so my car was torched.”
“That’s the part I don’t get. If you weren’t here – where were you? And if you weren’t in your car, which as it’s parked here I assume you weren’t – what car were you in that took you to Stefan’s house?”
“I have no idea,” she whispered, staring at the remains of her vehicle. “Any chance I own two cars?”
“I’ll check the DMV.”
“Good, at least you know where to look. I haven’t a clue.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Do you need to see anything more?”
“No,” she said in a soft voice. “I don’t. It would be nice to see Tasha again though.”
“Sorry, Hannah. Remember, we still haven’t confirmed that’s who was found here.” With his arm around her shoulders they walked back to the Chinese restaurant. He went inside to pick up the order while she waited outside.
The owner said, “Order ready.”
“Good, Thank You.” He took out his credit card to pay. Then added, “I brought Hannah over to look at what’s left of the flower shop.” He nodded outside to where Hannah stood looking over the blocks around them. He figured she’d want nothing to do it the place again.
“Hannah?”
The owners’ faces scrunched up. “Who is Hannah?”
Trevor, his spidey sense tingling said, “She was the young owner of the store
next door – wasn’t she?”
The little Asian woman stood at his side, and she burst into a spate of Mandarin. Then she stopped and they both turned to look at Hannah then back at Trevor.
As if synced together, they both shook their heads and said, “No. Miasha owner.” They pointed to Hannah outside and said, “Her Miasha.”
And his stomach heaved.
It took him a long moment to regain control, but when he could he nodded, paid for the food and left.
He glanced at Hannah as she stood pensively leaning against the car.
What was the chance her blackouts were at the core to this? Still his training brought up many other possibilities. The institutions were filled with examples. He just never thought to be married to one. And not for the first time he had to wonder what the hell he’d done getting involved in this mess.
Stefan? Got a moment?
He heard a faint response. Sure, Stefan said. Don’t mind me. I’m just here working with Anita.
Any change, Trevor asked hoping for good news. The little girl was such a sweetheart. Did Dr. Maddy get a chance to stop by?
She has, but not long enough to learn anything new. Although she did mention there was some foreign energy there as well. Female and older. Then we already knew the older part. We’re looking into her family history at the moment. His voice faded slightly.
The fatigue hitting him. Trevor didn’t know how Stefan could keep helping so many people. Then he was in the same boat himself.
What did you call about?
Trevor filled him in. Before he was done, Stefan was there barking questions.
She could be just using a pseudonym to hide from her father, Trevor said.
Anything is possible. Particularly if her father was controlling, overbearing. But Stefan’s voice was doubtful. It will eventually make sense, but we need more pieces of information first.