Under Covers

by Rhonda Bowen

  “Maybe somewhere less...crowded,” Naomi glanced around.

  He nodded and the two women followed him through the precinct, down a hall and into a small office. Garth sat in the battered office chair on one side of the dinosaur of a desk while Naomi and Latoya took the two hard plastic chairs on the other side of it. An overhead fan spun lazily above them. It did nothing to cool the room or help with the sweat that trickled down Naomi’s spine.

  “Camille’s missing,” Latoya said, getting right to the point. Naomi could tell the woman wanted to be in and out of Garth’s presence as soon as possible. “She came here with her boyfriend but he’s involved in some kind of drug run to New York.”

  Garth’s face grew steely as he listened to Latoya. He turned his eyes to Naomi.

  “When did this happen?”

  “Yesterday, as far as I know,” Naomi answered. “She didn’t tell me she was coming here, but I found her itinerary on her computer. We heard through the grapevine the reason for their visit but have no idea where they might be.”

  Garth pulled out a pen and a small notepad. “What’s this guy’s name?”

  “Andre. His last name is Whittaker, I think,” Naomi answered. “He might be staying with some friends near Victoria Square.”

  Garth nodded. “I know some people in that area. I’ll pass through there and see what I can find out. Anything else you can tell me?”

  Naomi opened her purse and pulled out a picture of Camille. She slid it across the table. “I know it’s been a while. This is what she looks like now.”

  As she glanced at the picture of her smiling niece, Naomi blinked back tears. When she spoke her voice came out shaky. “I don’t know why she’s doing this. Maybe it has to do with Nigel. Maybe it has to do with money. She just always does these things and doesn’t think about the consequences. She probably thought she could be in and out in a couple days without me knowing.”

  “Anyway, we need to find her by tomorrow, before Naomi has to leave and before Camille tries to board a plane with a stomach full of drugs,” Latoya said.

  Garth frowned at her. “You expect me to figure this out in twenty-four hours? How do you even know she’s leaving tomorrow anyway?”

  “Because that’s what her ticket said,” Naomi answered, before Latoya could open her mouth. She shot her a cousin a look that told her to shut up. But it went right over her head.

  “And because Naomi is getting married this weekend and Camille would never miss that,” Latoya said with smirk. She seemed to enjoy the way Garth’s cocky look slid right off his face.

  His eyes locked on Naomi’s. She tried to look away, but she couldn’t.

  “You’re getting married?”

  The guilt settled somewhere in her throat. It choked back her words, so she just nodded. His eyes pierced through her as waves of emotions swept across his face.

  “Latoya, could you give us a minute?”

  “No.”

  Both Naomi and Garth looked over at her. She glared back at Garth without flinching.

  “Listen, Garth Duhaney, I know you,” she narrowed her eyes. “I’ve known you since you wore knee shorts and we both went to the same elementary school. You were no good then and you’re no good now. And if you think I’m gonna let you mess up my cousin’s life again, you have another thing coming. Don’t let the belly fool you, I will still kick your a-”

  “Latoya!”

  Naomi placed a hand on her cousin’s arm. It was enough to stop her verbal assault, but not enough to cool the fire in her eyes as she glared at Garth. For his part, Garth breathed hard. His jaw locked and his eyes were steely as he glared back at her. Naomi was very glad that the large heavy desk between them stopped the World War Three that was about to happen.

  “Look, Garth, all I care about right now is Camille. I have to find her. Will you help us?”

  He turned his gaze slowly towards Naomi, his features softened as he did. “I’ll do my best. In the meantime, go home and sit tight. I’ll give you a call in a few hours and let you know what I find.”

  Naomi stood. She helped Latoya up with her.

  “Thank you,” she said. Then she beat a hasty exit out of the office and the precinct before hell on earth broke loose. She said a prayer in her heart. She would need God in more ways than one if any of them planned to make it through the next twenty-four hours.

  Chapter Eleven

  “So you’re really doing this. You’re really going to leave this house at eleven at night with that man?”

  When Naomi returned from the police station, she had stalked all of Camille’s social media platforms to see if she had posted anything since the last time Naomi saw her. There was nothing. And the anxiety of the day combined with her lack of sleep caused her to pass out in Latoya’s guest room not long after. She had only been roused several hours later when Garth called, saying he had a lead.

  And now here she was. Naomi sat on the steps of the front porch and pulled on her shoes as she listened to Latoya frown behind her from the front door.

  “If he ends up finding Camille in this place, I need to be there.”

  Latoya snorted even as the black SUV pulled up to the end of the driveway. “I hope that’s the only thing you find.”

  Naomi threw her a weary look then stepped into the darkness as she made her way down to Garth’s waiting vehicle. Her skin, flushed from nervousness, was cooled by the night air. As Naomi drew closer, the tinted passenger window of the vehicle rolled down.

  “Get in,” Garth said somewhat impatiently from the still-running vehicle. “We gotta go.”

  Naomi barely had both feet in the vehicle when it pulled away from the curb. The wheels spun. She threw a look at Garth as she pulled her seatbelt on.

  “In a bit of a hurry?” she asked dryly.

  “Some of my guys are already on the way to the location,” he said gruffly. “I don’t want them waiting on me.”

  Naomi didn’t think that was it. But she didn’t say anything. In fact, they barely said anything to each other as the vehicle cut through the almost-midnight darkness. Thanks to Garth’s break-neck driving, they made it out of the hills and into the city in record time. As they drove past Queen’s Park Savannah and then the city’s General Hospital, Naomi was pretty certain they were on their way to Victoria Square.

  He stopped the vehicle at the corner of Victoria Square and Duke Street then shut off the engine. Naomi reached for the door. She realized that it was locked around the same time she realized that Garth wasn’t moving. She couldn’t read much from the steely profile he gave her but she knew enough to know that she had been right the first time. It wasn’t just about people waiting for him. There was more than that on his mind.

  “Were you going to tell me you were getting married?” His voice carried the same coarseness from when he picked her up. He was mad enough that he didn’t even look at her.

  Naomi considered lying for a moment then changed her mind. “No.”

  Fiery dark roast eyes whipped around to glare at her. “Why not?”

  “Because honestly, Garth, it’s none of your business,” Naomi said with a shrug.

  “But it’s my business when you need to find Nigel’s kid, right?”

  “No, it isn’t,” Naomi said. “But I asked you to make it your business because you’re the only one I know who can help me with this.”

  Garth gritted his teeth. He swore and slammed his fist against the armrest. Naomi stared out the windshield and let him have his temper tantrum. This was just like Garth. She had known he would react this way sooner or later, and was just glad they could get it out of the way and get on to the business of finding Camille.

  “After all we’ve been through Nay, you should have told me,” he growled. “I’m not just some man you shacked up with one time. I was...”

  “Yes, that’s it, Garth. You were. We were. It’s the past, we aren’t anything anymore,” Naomi interrupted him. “You know that.”

  He shook
his head. “I thought we were at least friends.”

  “We can’t be friends. Even when we were friends, it was poison. We’re bad for each other, Garth. And it’s better for the both of us if we just keep things as disconnected as they have been for the past year.”

  She let out a deep breath, glad that she had been finally able to say the words that she should have said years ago. Words that would have saved her a ton of heartache if she had just believed them a lot sooner.

  “So it’s like that, huh?”

  Naomi rubbed her eyes. “Garth, I will always care about you. You know that. We grew up together and I’ll never forget that. But we both live different lives now. So let’s just let what was, remain what was.”

  He rubbed a hand over his face and stared out his window a long time.

  “Alright.” When he finally turned to look at her, he was back to his old over-confident self. “I hear you, Miss Savoy.”

  Before either of them could say anything more, there was a knock on the window. Garth rolled it down and spoke quietly to someone she couldn’t see then rolled it back up.

  “Alright, here’s what’s going to happen. You see that bar over there?”

  Naomi nodded as Garth pointed down the street to a spot with the brightest lights on the otherwise subdued street.

  “Is that where she is?” Naomi sat forward, but a hand on her arm pressed her back.

  “Easy, sweetheart,” Garth eased her back. “She might be in there, she might be in the apartment above it, or she might not be there at all. We’re just following a lead. And I need you to be calm and promise me that you will follow my lead.”

  “I will,” Naomi reached for the door. Garth’s hand slowed her down again.

  “I’m serious, Nay.” The intensity in his eyes made her pause. “The guys who hang out at this place are not people you want to play with. If they even smell anything suspicious they won’t hesitate to shoot. So just stay close and follow me. Got it?”

  Tension filled her chest as she realized how serious Garth was. She nodded. “Okay.”

  The automatic locks for the doors clicked open. They both got out. Naomi fell in step close to Garth as they walked towards the bar. The street was quiet save for the faint sounds of calypso she assumed came from the bar. She rubbed her bare arms in defense against the cool air and glanced around her nervously. She stiffened when she saw a figure walking a few paces behind them.

  “Don’t worry, he’s with us,” Garth said quietly.

  They were almost at the bar now and already Naomi’s eyes were peeled for any sign of her niece. She was so intent that when Garth put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her snug against his side she almost jumped out of her skin.

  “What are you...”

  “Remember, just go with it,” he whispered, his mouth pressed against her ear. His breath felt warm against her neck and her body responded exactly how she wished it wouldn’t. She wanted to pull away from him, for her own safety. But they were now at the entrance of the bar and any such movement would attract unwelcomed attention. So Naomi did exactly what he told her to do, she went with it.

  She slipped her arm around his waist. They walked in together and took a seat near a corner at the front. It was a good spot. They could see most of the room and there was no one behind them. Naomi flashed a smile at Garth as her eyes discreetly perused the room. He raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. She shook her head slightly. Thus far, no sign of Camille.

  The room, however, was filled with an assortment of characters. Most of the seats at the bar were taken and there were scatterings of people in groups of twos and threes at the small tables in the middle. Music blared from the speakers stacked up to the ceiling in a corner. Couples packed together tightly, danced closely under the dim lights of the open area at the back. She didn’t have a great view of the booths down the side but the one in the opposite corner of the bar had a large noisy group of mostly men.

  Garth slipped his arm around the back of her chair then leaned close to her ear again.

  “I’m gonna get us some drinks at the bar and figure out what’s going on.”

  “Okay.”

  Then before she knew what had happened, Garth dropped a quick kiss on her lips and walked away.

  Naomi sat in her seat, stunned. She had wondered before if Garth was taking advantage of this situation, the way his arm fell possessively around her shoulders, the way his hand slid down and grazed her behind as he seated her. Now, she knew he was. He had her in a tight spot. But if he thought he was going to use it to get his way, he had another thing coming.

  Naomi glanced around the room again as she waited, this time she looked for Andre. She saw no sign of him. She started to doubt Garth’s intel. At just that moment, he returned with two glasses of beer.

  “I thought we were working,” Naomi said as he slid both glasses onto the table.

  “We’re in a bar, Nay,” he said dryly. “What did you think I was gonna order, ginger ale?”

  “Well, you should have,” Naomi curled her lips. “Cause I don’t drink. And by the way, you try anything like what you just pulled again and you’ll be sorry.”

  He grinned. “Come on, Naomi. I can’t believe a big girl like you got scared after just one kiss. We’ve done a lot more than that in the past.”

  “How about you focus on remembering that last part - in the past?”

  “Listen, we’re undercover,” he said as he slipped his arm around her chair again and leaned in. “We gotta do what we have to do to maintain the image. Now drink your beer or I’ll be forced to kiss you again.”

  Naomi ran a finger down his chest. She felt the hard muscles beneath, and leaned close to his ear. “You kiss me again, and I’ll pour this drink down your pants.”

  He laughed heartily. “Glad to see some things haven’t changed.”

  “Did you find out anything from the bartender?” Naomi asked.

  “Only that Andre was here last night and passed by earlier today,” Garth took a swig of his beer. “The owner of the bar lives upstairs and is a friend of his but he’s not here tonight. He might come back later though. He doesn’t exactly have a schedule.”

  “What about Camille? Has he seen her?”

  “Didn’t ask,” Garth said. “I don’t want word getting around that we’re looking for her. It might get back to Andre and then we may never be able to find him.”

  Naomi stood up suddenly. The move elicited a look of surprise from Garth.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To the ladies room.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue with her but she didn’t give him a chance. If she did, he might figure out what her actual plan was. She strode easily across the busy room and down the side past the booths she previously couldn’t see. There were some interesting activities going on in a couple of them, but no Andre and no Camille.

  She pushed the door with the female symbol on it and found herself in an aging two stall bathroom with dingy tiles and peeling walls. Both stalls were empty. Naomi waited a few moments before heading back to the exit.

  She sidled out the door into the hallway. Instead of heading back to the table, she glanced both ways then slipped quietly out the back door at the end of the hallway into the darkness of the night. The cool air brought a welcome contrast to the hot sticky atmosphere inside the bar. Naomi leaned against the back of the building and looked around the small paved courtyard area. It was mostly dark, lit only by the moon and the light that streamed down below from an upstairs window. On one side and along the back, a high concrete wall separated the courtyard from the neighbors’ property. To her right, however, a staircase on the side of the L shaped building led to what could be the apartment upstairs. Naomi’s heart pounded faster as she looked up at the single window. A sheer curtain muted the light. Naomi couldn’t tell what was going on behind it, but didn’t see any movement either. She looked back at the door that led to the bar then back at the stairs. The evening
air shook the wide leaves of a banana tree that grew close to the back wall and pushed against her, as if warning her to go back. But she couldn’t. Her heart beat like a bass drum. Her limbs shook, but she had to do it. Naomi had to see if Camille was in that room. What if something had gone wrong and they had left her up there to die? What if this was the only chance she had to save her. She couldn’t pass that up.

  With another glance around the courtyard, she scurried over to the stairs, made the first step, then took the rest two at a time. Halfway up she thought she heard something. She froze. Her eyes peeled around the courtyard for any sign of movement. There was scratching again, and then a stray cat crawled out from the shadows into the open. Naomi let out the breath she held, as the cat crossed the yard, then disappeared through a hole in the back wall.

  She gritted her teeth. This was taking too long. Garth would look for her soon. It was only when she got to the top of the stairs that it occurred to her that the door might be locked.

  “God, please don’t let it be locked, and please let Camille be in there and safe.”

  She held her breath as she tried the handle of the door. It gave easily beneath her fingers. With a little push it swung open. From her position at the door, the room looked empty. She could see a couch and the blue lights that reflected off the wall told her a TV was on. Naomi stuck her head inside and confirmed that she was right.

  It was a small space, but it was littered with an assortment of things. Soda cans and beer bottles sat on the table. Old newspaper was strewn haphazardly on the floor. One discarded sneaker here, a couple of flip flops there. A pair of new Timberlands, probably size six.

  Naomi froze.

  Those were Camille’s Timberlands. She was almost sure. She walked over, picked them up and looked the boots over. Sure enough, Camille’s initials were marked discreetly on the inside, where she marked all her shoes so her roommate wouldn’t take off with them and claim they were hers.

  Energy surged through Naomi as she realized her niece was there, or had been very recently.