“Mom, I know you went through a really tough time, and I know you’re scared of Eli, but I can’t let Makay go on like this. With her I feel . . . it feels right. I’m pretty sure I love her. I know it’s quick, and I don’t plan on pushing things too fast, but I have to stand between her and this creep, even if that means taking her far away from here.”
“No!” Her face was pained. “Please, son. Don’t make any rash decisions.”
“It’s not a rash decision. Don’t you see? Nobody in Makay’s life has ever stood up for her. No one. She’s taken care of Nate all alone—a responsibility that should have been her father’s and stepmother’s. And now I find out she’s been used by that man for years. She almost got killed last time. It’s enough.”
“There’s nothing I can do!” Tears stood out in her eyes. “I want to help you, and I really like Makay. But I—” She broke off, picked up the money, and resumed counting, her jaw set.
Harrison took a deep breath. “You can help us end this. All we have to do is call the police right now. Maybe Eli will never know.”
“And if he does?” Her tears spilled over.
“If he can’t deal with it, maybe he doesn’t deserve you. Or any of us. Besides, you know how he feels about appearances. Unless this is splashed all over the papers, he can’t exactly make you wear a scarlet letter on your shirt.”
Not replying, she shoved the rest of the money into the grocery bag without counting it and handed it to him. “Just give it to them. When it’s over, we’ll figure out what to do for Makay.”
Harrison’s phone beeped, and he stared down at the message. “Looks like we’re out of time. He wants us to go back to that Albertsons, park in the same spot, and leave the money on the seat of our car.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes.” He scowled. “See? This isn’t at all like the guy’s typical setup. Makay says the payoffs are usually at a park.”
“Well, he must know about you two then, but that doesn’t mean Makay’s in trouble. Didn’t you say something about her going to a funeral today? Maybe she’s still there or at a gathering afterward. It might be too loud for her to hear her phone.” She sighed. “If Makay is in trouble, the best thing we can do for her is to not make this man angry. Let’s just give him the money and then we’ll look for her.”
Harrison wanted to remind her about the strange message Makay had left Lily, but he supposed the funeral might be out of town, and maybe Makay had decided once she arrived to stay overnight. “You sure seem anxious to give up this money.”
“I’m anxious to get my life back.”
Harrison sighed. “Okay, I need to change out of these dress pants, and then I’ll leave. You stay here—or go home. I don’t want you anywhere near that creep.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near him, either. But I don’t know what else to do. At least Albertsons will be busy this time of day, so it should be safe.”
Harrison shed his work clothes, choosing a pair of worn jeans and a collared shirt that had been washed enough times to feel soft. He dialed Makay again as he left the room. No answer. He wished he knew where she was and if she was in danger. Had one of her old marks found her? Or was something up with Lenny? The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. He wished he knew for certain Lenny was involved, because then he’d have a reason to crush the guy—a reason bigger than fifty thousand dollars—but his mother could be right that the safest thing for Makay was to follow through with the payoff.
His mother didn’t quite look him in the eye as he entered the living room. “Maybe I should go with you.”
“Why?”
“Because this whole thing is my fault.” Her face flushed, and her eyes welled again with tears.
He took her hands, and they felt fragile in his grip. “You made the best choice you could at the time. You have no idea where either of you would be if you’d made a different choice.”
“What if that choice takes you away from me now? I hate thinking of you and Makay having to leave Arizona to get away from that man.”
He hugged her. “I’ll always see you, no matter where I live. I love you, Mom.”
“And I love you.” She put her hand briefly on his cheek. “Be careful. I’ll wait for you here.”
“What about Eli?”
“He’s working late. He thinks I’m getting my hair done.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit then. Here goes.” Harrison strode to the door.
He followed the instructions in the text to the letter, parking the Beetle in the middle row at the end, leaving the bag of money on his seat, and going into the store. But he didn’t stop there. He sprinted to the back and ducked inside a door marked employees only.
“Hey, you can’t come back here,” shouted a kid with long hair.
“I need a back door. Please.” Harrison lifted his hands. “I didn’t take anything from the store. There’s this guy out there following me—a real creep who’s been stalking my girl. Please, I need to get away.”
The teenager stared at him as if expecting him to whip out a pistol and point it at him.
“Please!”
Harrison was getting ready to run back to the front and see if he could find a window that allowed him a view of the car, when the kid said, “Okay, man. It’s over here.” He did something to a keypad before letting Harrison out.
“Thanks.”
Harrison ran the length of the building and then to the front edge of the side. He was barely in time to see Lenny, starting away from the Beetle, a grin on his sharp face and a backpack hanging awkwardly off one shoulder. No Makay.
Had he really thought she’d be there? No. And funeral or no, Lenny suddenly shaking things up meant something was horribly wrong. Harrison had to do something. He hurried forward, thinking to follow Lenny, but he’d barely reached the car when Lenny sped by in a red Jag, his middle finger lifted in his direction.
“Wait!” Harrison ran after the Jag, catching up as it slowed to a stop behind another car at the entrance to the parking lot. He pounded on the window. “Where’s Makay?”
“Forget her,” Lenny sneered through the glass. “She’s with me now.” He gunned his engine as the car ahead of him moved forward. In seconds, the Jag disappeared, leaving Harrison staring after it in helpless frustration.
He clenched his fists, wishing he’d been just a little faster. There was nothing left to do but drive home and hope Makay called soon. Yet what else had he expected? To chase Lenny down and beat him to a bloody pulp? It’d sure make him feel good, but it wouldn’t protect his mother or Makay.
What had Lenny meant by saying that Makay was with him? Harrison didn’t believe for a second that Makay felt anything but disgust for the man, but it worried him more than he could put into words that she seemed to be missing. He couldn’t lose her now, not after how far they’d come.
He dialed Makay’s number. Still no answer. “Call me, please,” he said when her voicemail beeped. “I’m about ready to file a missing persons on you.”
He replayed the scene with Lenny in his mind. Something bugged him about it, but he couldn’t pinpoint what. Wait. It was the backpack. As it swung off Lenny’s shoulder, he’d spotted that same crazy blue monster that Makay had clipped on hers.
“Makay’s backpack,” he murmured. Most of the times Harrison had seen her, she’d had the backpack, except at the dance club, and it had been with her stuff in his room that morning. The odds that Lenny would have the exact same blue monster was unbelievable, so that meant he’d seen her today.
Panic filled Harrison. The backpack and Lily’s assertion that Makay was going to deal with her problem had to mean that Makay went to confront Lenny. She was in danger. He mentally kicked himself for not having his mother leave the money so he could follow Lenny. Too late. Too late. The words reverberated in his head, mocking him.
He hadn’t the faintest idea where to find her. Or Lenny.
Harrison pushed on the gas. Mayb
e she’d left a clue at his apartment or at Brette’s. If he hurts her, I’ll . . . He couldn’t finish the thought.
Back at his apartment, he found his mother in his living room, her cell pressed to her ear. She beckoned to him, covering the bottom half of the phone. “You’re going to want to hear this. It’s Blaine Cooper.” She pressed the speakerphone button and put a finger over her lips.
Harrison had to wrack his brain to remember who Blaine Cooper was. Oh, yes, his mother’s old boyfriend, the father of the child she’d placed for adoption, the man who’d threatened Makay if she ever returned to blackmail him again.
“Like I said,” the man’s voice sounded hollow through the speaker, “I was really angry when she came to see me today. I mean, I work for my father-in-law, and my wife can be vindictive. I admit I was glad to have the money back, and I wouldn’t be calling at all—that girl made her own choices—but when I counted the money after I got back to work, I found an address she’d placed inside. I guess it was there so I could send my guy to that creep blackmailer’s house. Maybe she hoped I still would after I told her no. Stupid child. Like I’d risk my position to do that.”
“Then why did you call?” his mother asked, her voice deceptively soft.
“Because she returned the money and because of what we . . . Look, I know she means something to your son. She seemed pretty determined to get that guy, and I thought you should know. Maybe you can talk some sense into her. She’s screwed up, but she did give me back my money. What you do with the information is up to you.”
Harrison had the sneaking suspicion that maybe Cooper felt guilty for the way he’d treated Makay, but right now he was more interested in the address than the man’s disclaimers. “Get the address,” he mouthed to his mother.
“Well, she does seem to be missing,” she said. “Can you give me that address?”
Harrison took out his phone and tapped out the address as Cooper recited.
“Thank you for calling, Blaine. I appreciate it.”
“That’s okay. I knew where your husband worked, and a guy there—Chad, I think it was—gave me your number. I told him you were interested in looking at some carpet. Anyway, this better be the end of it.” Anger deepened Cooper’s voice. “If I ever find out who put him onto us . . .”
“It’s probably better that we don’t talk again,” Harrison’s mother said. “Have a great life.”
“But—”
She clicked the off button and met Harrison’s eyes. “How’d it go? Was Makay with him?”
“No, but he had her backpack. The same one she had here this morning.”
“Oh, no.” Her hand momentarily covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. But maybe now that he has the money, it’ll be okay.”
“You forget about the other target and that strange phone call to her friend.” He lifted the phone. “I’m going over there. I have to be sure.”
His mother clutched at his sleeve. “No. Just wait.”
“I can’t. What if she’s in trouble?” He pulled away from her. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
“Better take my other car,” she said, pressing the keys into his hands. “The Beetle stands out more—at least it would to him.”
Harrison drove quickly to the address. There was no sign of the red Jag, and he didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. He drove slowly around the block as he considered his options.
A bright blue Sebring caught his attention along the side of the road, the back seat full of boxes. Definitely Makay’s car and not outside Brette’s where they had left it. He drove back around and parked on the street where he could see the building’s entrance. Before he could decide what to do, the red Jag pulled into the parking lot.
<><><>
Sherry Matthews stared at the door to her son’s apartment for ten minutes as the shock of his leaving and of hearing from Blaine Cooper rendered her unable to move. It almost seemed as if the years had peeled away and she was again facing that terrible decision that had changed all their lives. Her heart was breaking.
She had done it for the baby and for herself, but most of all for Harrison because he was so little and she loved him fiercely. She already knew how hard it was to raise a child alone, and she hadn’t wanted to cheat him out of the little she had left, the bit she’d worked so hard to give her precious boy. The decision had been the right one for him—look where he was now. Not on some street corner selling hash, but an engineer at a prestigious firm. She’d believe that it was the right thing for her daughter as well—two stable parents who wanted more than anything to have a baby of their own.
Except now there was Makay, whose birth mother had undoubtedly thought the same thing when she’d placed her baby. Maybe my daughter isn’t okay, either. And Harrison was heading into danger. She knew it with every inch of her mother’s body. Her son. In danger.
No. She would protect him at all costs, as she always had.
Sherry picked up her phone and dialed.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It took Makay an hour and fifty minutes to work her left hand free. Bloodied and bruised, but free. In another ten, she had untied her legs and pulled the chair to the kitchen counter where she found a knife in a drawer and was able to cut the arm with the cast free.
Get out! her mind screamed. Before he comes back. She would get Nate and call Harrison to decide what to do. A spurt of joy leaked into her thoughts. She wouldn’t have to make the decision alone.
Yet Lenny had that file on her, and as long as he did, he had power over her. He’d been distracted and left in a hurry, so maybe he hadn’t cleaned up the file from the bed. She had to try. She left the room and hurried down the hall, her heart aching with hope and fear. Hope that the file was there and fear that Lenny would return before she got out with it. If it wasn’t, she’d have to try the files on his computer to see if he’d hidden the safe combination there. Before, when she’d trained with him, he’d kept a file on his hard drive that contained all his passwords and account numbers. If she could get into the computer—and she knew enough of his old passwords to hope that was a possibility—she’d be able to find that list and maybe open the safe. But would there be time?
Disbelief filled her when she found the file still on the bed. She was so emotional at the sight that she couldn’t even sob with relief. Sweeping up all the photos and papers, she shoved them back into the manila folder. Hurry. Hurry. Finally she finished, and all she needed now were the contents of her backpack on the floor in the kitchen, especially her wallet and car keys. She’d find a plastic sack there to carry everything.
Something caught her eye—the corner of a photograph peeking out from under the bed. There might be more. She fell to her knees and began a quick search. What she found stunned her further. Six boxes of drug paraphernalia nestled under the bed. More of it than one person would ever use: pipes, smoking masks, bongs, syringes, roach clips, vials, small zipper storage bags, and digital scales.
He’s not just using. He’s got to be selling. Selling to kids like Nate. Horror filled her. Growing up, she’d been around more druggies than anyone should ever know, some as young as ten or twelve.
Just get the photograph.
She swept up the picture and one more that had fallen under the bed and bolted from the room. A minute later, her hand was on the knob of Lenny’s front door. Her body ached all over and her head pounded.
He’s selling drugs to kids.
Lenny had taken her phone, but she could get out and call the police. Maybe they’d make it here before he moved everything and put him away for a long time. Or maybe selling drug paraphernalia wasn’t illegal. It would depend on what else was in the safe. He had snorted something earlier, she was sure.
Makay’s urge to flee increased. Lenny could be back at any moment and catch her. Yet if he came and saw her gone, he would move his real blackmailing files and whatever else he had in that safe, and while she might go free without the folder hanging over her, Lenny woul
d continue ruining other people’s lives. So many lives ruined. Lives like Sherry’s. Like her father’s and stepmother’s.
How could she be a mother to Nate and hope to be anything to the straightlaced Harrison if she didn’t take a stand for what she really believed was right? She made the decision quickly, engaging the top lock on the door. It wouldn’t hold under an assault, but it might give her time to think of something.
In the kitchen, she found a stapler and secured the three open edges of her folder so nothing would fall out. With a marker she wrote: Confidential. Please return to Makay Greyson. Then she added Lily’s phone number because she didn’t want anyone calling her phone if Lenny still had it. If she could open the safe, she’d take everything to the police, but not this folder. There was still Nate to protect. Lenny might say that he logged into sites as her, but she’d take his laptop, and surely the police would be smart enough to figure out who had really been in charge.
Still, she was guilty, even though at first she’d been too young to understand the consequences and afterward too afraid of Lenny to quit. Would the police want to prosecute her as well? If they interviewed the people Lenny had blackmailed, they would all point their fingers directly at Makay. While she wanted to make restitution, she had to think of Nate. Maybe she’d have to drop the evidence anonymously where the police could find it. Or maybe Harrison could turn it in while she disappeared for a while.
Out on the balcony, she tossed the folder down, hoping to have it land behind a large barbeque the bottom floor resident kept on a small cement patio. Instead, it turned in the air and landed on the second floor balcony between a planter and the cement wall of the balcony.
She groaned. Well, at least it’s safe from Lenny for the moment.
Makay went to the computer and booted it up. There was a password, but Lenny wasn’t very creative and had used a combination of several passwords from years ago. In a few moments, she was in. “Now where would you put that file?” Makay’s heart had settled into a fairly even rhythm, but each passing second she listened for something at the door with dread that slowed her fingers on the keyboard.
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