Annabeth
Annabeth and Jesse sat in his parked SUV outside the Brazilian restaurant, Jalisco’s, where Vi and Fin were having a date. The very thought made Annabeth’s stomach roil. The whole ride there, all Annabeth could think about was putting her hands around Fin’s neck and squeezing until all the life drained out. She reached for the car door handle but Jesse clicked the lock button.
Seriously?
“Annabeth, wait.” Jesse turned in his seat to face her. “Do we have a plan or are we charging in there all guns a-blazing?”
“The plan is to get her out of there. We have to get her away from that monster as soon as possible.” Annabeth’s breaths came in short gasps. “He rapes and murders women, and he’s alone with Vi, right now.” Her throat started to tighten, making it even harder for her to catch her breath. It embarrassed her to lose it in front of her neighbor, but she didn’t really have a choice but to ride it out.
“I want to help her just as much as you do but we have to be smart about this.” Jesse let out a huff. “Oh, for the love that all is good and holy, take some deep breaths before you pass out.” He riffled around on the floor of his SUV and found an empty brown paper sack. “Here. Breathe into this.”
Annabeth’s vision started to blur as her heart hammered in her chest. She snatched the bag from him and started to take slow, easy breaths. The dizziness still hung on, but she was finally able to catch her breath. “Thank you,” she said handing the bag back to Jesse.
She bit her lip and looked away from him to hide her embarrassment. He was right, as always. She needed to get her anxiety under control.
“All right, so what’s the plan?” He twisted the steering wheel with his white knuckled grip.
Annabeth took a deep relaxing breath and turned towards Jesse. “He feeds off reactions so we won’t give him one. We’ll stroll in there like it’s not a big deal. The goal is just to get Vi out of there safely. That’s all. So don’t let him rope you into a fight. He’s really good at it.”
Jesse’s jaw clenched. She had a feeling he was reaching the end of his patience. “I can play it cool. I won’t let anything happen to Vi.”
The realization hit her that she hadn’t called Marcus to let him know what was going on. “Shoot, Marcus!” She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and called his cell. Of course. Straight to voicemail. He always turned it off when he was in physical therapy. “Marc, call me as soon as you get this!” She hung up and wrung her hands.
Jesse exhaled deeply. “No offense, but shouldn’t we call the police?”
Annabeth shook her head. “No, there isn’t anything they can do. There’s no proof that this man did anything wrong. They kind of need some sort of probable cause to bring him in and right now there’s nothing, but some cryptic text messages that I can’t tie to him because the phones aren’t in his name. Besides, all we are doing is taking our friend home. We don’t need the cops to do that.”
“Okay, I guess I see your point. Let’s go crash this date.” He gave her a half smile and got out of the SUV. She hoped that Fin’s ironclad control might unravel when confronted by a man that was twice his size. Jesse could be intimidating if he wanted to, and with Vi’s life on the line, she knew he wouldn’t let her down. She followed him into the restaurant and took a look around the quaint space.
“I see them.” He pointed to a booth in the back by the kitchen. “There.”
“Will you be dining with us this evening?” the hostess asked.
Jesse shot her his best smile. “Yes thanks, darlin’, but we won't be needing to be seated. I see our party over there.”
The hostess batted her eyes and crossed her long legs on the stool she was sitting on. “Well alright, just holler if you need anything.”
Jesse smiled and they made a beeline for the back where Vi and Fin sat looking rather cozy. It occurred to her right then that no matter what happened next, Vi would get her feelings hurt. How do you bounce back from falling for a rapist murder? Her heart ached for Vi, who had grown to mean a lot to her over the last two months. She deserves so much more than this.
Annabeth heard her mother’s voice clear as day in her mind. “Life isn’t fair. Buck up baby, the world ain’t gonna hand you any favors.” Her mother’s so-called wisdom played in her mind like a broken record as she walked across the restaurant to where Vi and Fin were sitting.
Jesse clapped. The sound echoed in the small room. “Fancy running into y’all here. Anna I were just stopping in for a bite.”
He didn’t waste a second. No, he slid into the bench beside Fernando like they were old pals.
“Excuse me, we’re on a date here—” Fin glared at Jesse and then glanced over at Annabeth with a tight smile. He didn’t seem surprised to see them, which worried her. He shoved Jesse’s shoulder playfully but Jesse didn’t budge an inch.
Jesse’s southern man grin seemed to unnerve Fin, whose lips pursed together in irritation. “Look buddy—”
“Anna, what are you doing here? What’s going on?” Vi looked up at Annabeth and her wide-eyed expression made the whole thing even more painful. All the while Fin sat there, unmoving.
Annabeth motioned to the bench. “Would you mind if I sat down for a moment?”
Vi’s jaw dropped. “Actually I would appreciate it if you would both sit somewhere else. I’m on a date!” Her teeth clenched together in a rare moment of rage.
A wave of guilt tore into her, but she reminded herself of the greater good. Stay the course, Anna.
Fin—boxed in by Jesse’s large frame—waved toward the waiter, trying to get his attention. Thankfully the man was too engaged with the hot hostess whose legs went on for miles. When Fin realized his efforts were futile, he turned his attention to Annabeth. “Anna, love. Your tenacity never fails to impress me, but you’re a bit earlier than I had hoped you would be.” Fin reached across for a chip and popped it into his mouth. “Don’t let any of this get to your head, dear girl. You’ll lose either way.”
Annabeth clenched her fist under the table, trying to temper her growing anger. His patronizing calmness pushed every one of her buttons. She felt like a tea kettle right before the steaming whistle goes off. “I’m not giving up until you’re behind bars, Fin. I’m sure you know what happens to rapists in prison.”
Vi looked back and forth in confusion. “What’s going on? You two know each other?”
Annabeth wet her lips with a quick sweep of her tongue. “Yes, we do. Don’t we Fin?”
Vi hid her shaking hands under the table. “What’s going on, Anna?”
Fin smiled, almost giddy. “Oh, please. Let me be the one to crush all her hopes and dreams.”
Annabeth held back the urge to kick him hard—anything to wipe that smug grin off his face. “Shut-up Fin—”
“Well I had hoped to sleep with her before making the big reveal and all, but since you insist on spoiling that little bit of fun…”
Jesse clenched his fist. She could see him losing the tenuous hold he had on his own patience. It reassured her that even he wasn’t completely immune to Fin and his aggravating tactics. Jesse tipped his head toward the door, his gaze fixed on Vi. “Come on, Vi. Let’s go home. He’s a bad man. That’s all you need to know—”
Vi straightened her spine and looked directly at Jesse. “No. No one is going anywhere until I get some answers!”
Fin clasped his hands and rubbed them together. “Ah, you’re saucy. I wouldn’t have guessed that. I bet you’re a firecracker in bed.”
Jesse elbowed Fin hard in the ribs, making him gasp. Once he collected himself he stared Jesse down. “Harder, next time. I like it rough. Don’t I Anna?”
Jesse glanced at Annabeth with a look of disgust. “Come on Vi. We can talk about this later. Let’s just get you out of here.”
“No!”
Everyone stopped to look at a red-faced Vi.
Fin’s smile slid off his face. “You want to know the truth?”
Vi nodded.
/>
“I—”
Annabeth grabbed Vi’s arm. She wouldn’t let Fin have the satisfaction. “He’s a rapist Vi. He and his brother Carlos raped your friend Anjali. He ran over Marcus with his car and raped and murdered two young women. Fin and his family are the ones responsible for the sex ring. He took you out on a date to rub my nose in the fact that he thinks he can’t get caught. That one day he isn’t going to be behind bars. He thinks I am an idiot and this is just one more way for him to prove his point.” Annabeth turned away from her friend to face Fin. “But I will get you and you will pay from everything that you’ve done.”
Her friend’s jaw dropped and her head swung back to face her date. “You—you’re with that group? The people that hurt Anjali?”
Vi’s normally placid features were so twisted in rage that she was unrecognizable. “You!” Words seem to have left her as well. Instead of finishing her sentence, she lifted her full glass of red wine and threw it in his face.
Annabeth jumped up and helped her out of the booth before she did anything else. Jesse got up and guided a distraught Vi out of the restaurant. Annabeth turned to follow them, but Fin grabbed her arm, and pulled her back. She gasped.
Fin dabbed at his face with the cloth napkin. “Before you leave, dear…” He placed the napkin down in front of him. “There is one more thing.”
Annabeth paused, not really wanting to listen to what he had to say, but his grip on her didn’t really give her a choice.
“You aren’t going to win. Because you never pay attention to the big picture. Your precious Vi was never in danger of anything more than a good time.”
Annabeth buzzed with energy. She tugged her arm hard to loosen his grip on her, but he tightened his hold. Her stomach roiled as he looked her up and down. He would devour her whole like the shark that he was.
“Your little friend Brooke is the one you should worry about. My brother Emilio is quite taken with her. Poor Violeta is just a sad casualty, but you and Brooke...well we have special plans for you both.”
He released his hold on her and placed his pointer finger across his lips. “I wonder where Brooke is now…”
Annabeth charged at him, her blood boiling. She wrapped her hands around his neck and squeezed while sat there with a smile on his face—eating up her rage like it was the main course.
“Miss!” The waiter and several other employees rushed to her side—peeling her hands off of him. Two waiters escorted her out.
“Anna!” Jesse got out of the car and grabbed her arm to steady her. “What happened?”
“They have Brooke. This was a diversion to get Brooke alone.”
The color drained from Jesse’s cheeks and he turned to charge back into the restaurant. “What? That son-of—”
Annabeth grabbed his arm. “Don’t. It’s a waste of time to go back in there.”
Jesse’s breath came in short gasps and his eyes darted around the parking lot. “But Brooke…”
“I know. We’re going to find her. I’m not going to let anything happen to her. I’m calling the cops.” Annabeth’s fingers trembled as she dialed the number for the cop friend of Mike’s: Mark Hart.
“Detective Glasscock, speaking.”
Annabeth pressed the phone up against her ear. “Detective this is Private Investigator Annabeth King. We have a joint friend—”
The detective’s gravelly voice stopped her right there. “Yeah, I was expecting your call Ms. King.”
“Sir, I have a sort of emergency situation.”
“Yeah, Mike said it might take something like that for you to call.” He snorted and cleared his throat. “What can I do ya for, ma’am?”
“I need your help in finding Ms. Brooke Fischer. I believe her life is in danger.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Vi
Vi twisted the cardigan that sat in her lap. Familiar businesses and landmarks whizzed by in a blur outside the window of Jesse’s SUV, as he weaved in and out of traffic. She tried not to focus on the fact that she had been on a date with a rapist murderer and how she had fallen for his act without a second thought. Now, Brooke...if anything happened to her…She had finally made peace with her friend and now she might lose her for good.
Vi couldn’t even think it. Everything was happening around her, but she was frozen in place. Oxy...that might take the edge off. But she had left her pills at home.
Annabeth held her phone up to her ear. “Ligia, do you have Brooke’s schedule?” Her pale face had become almost white. “I’m sure she just got busy and missed her appointment.” Annabeth nibbled on her bottom lip as she listened to Ligia. “Okay, I’ll let you know if I hear from her. Okay...Bye.” Annabeth ended the call and held her phone in her clasped hands.
Vi leaned forward from her seat in the back where Tris’s car seat had been until just a few minutes ago, before Jesse had unhooked it and thrown it into the back. “Why didn’t you tell Ligia what’s going on?”
Annabeth glanced back at Vi. “I don’t want to worry her unnecessarily. She said that the free clinic called and Brooke never showed up for her appointment.” Annabeth flipped through notes on her phone and fidgeted in the front passenger seat.
Jesse strangled the steering wheel as he drove. They were catching every light in town. He slammed on his brakes again as they came upon yet another stopped-up intersection, making Vi lurch forward and back. Jesse didn’t have a set destination in mind but he seemed to want to get there fast. She couldn’t blame him.
“Where am I going Anna?” Jesse shot her a glance before turning his attention back to the road.
Vi remembered what Brooke had said about how he had kissed her. Those same lips pressed together now into a flat bloodless line. “Did she say if she was going anywhere else?”
Annabeth’s eyes widened. “Wait, she said she was going to the costume rental to pick up the costume first. But I don’t know what rental she went with.”
“Pink Lady,” Jesse and Vi said, almost in unison.
Anna pulled up the location and number of the rental and gave them a call. “Yes, this is Annabeth King, I’m Mrs. Brooke Fischer’s new assistant. I’m calling to make sure that the costume for tonight's gala has been picked up. I can't remember if I’m supposed to pick it up or if she said she was going to. I don’t want to screw up on my first day.” Her fake cheery tone could have fooled Vi.
Annabeth rubbed her forehead just below her hairline. “Oh thank you so much! Yes, I’m sure we will get to know each other very well. Thank you.” When she ended her call she pulled up her map application. “She picked up her costume an hour ago.” She finger-swiped through the map of Herald Springs. “The free clinic where she had her appointment is a mile away down the same road...wait a minute.” She closed out of the map and pulled up her notes app again.
Vi couldn’t read them though because she was too far back.
“I think I know where she is!” Annabeth touched her hand to her chest. “The chemicals they found on the dead girls must have been laundering ones.”
Jesse stopped at another red light. “What? Where am I going, Anna?”
Annabeth punched in a number and put her phone up to her ear. “Detective, I think I know where Mrs. Fischer is. Can you get some Herald Springs officers to meet me at ten-thirteen Dogget Lane? Wally’s laundromat…. Yes, I know it’s closed. I’ve been staking it out for the last two weeks. Just trust me on this one. My partner found a financial connection between the group and a business called Ran Corp. It’s one of their properties, but they have been boarded up for the last six months…. I think that is where they are killing the girls. The chemicals the ME found—” Annabeth bit her lip as she listened to the man on the other end of the line. “Yes, I think she was taken after she picked up her costume. The laundromat is smack dab in between the two places she was going to today. Yes, okay. I’ll meet you there... No, I’m coming. My friend is in danger. I’ll see you there.” Annabeth hung up her phone.
Jesse g
lanced at Annabeth. “Ran Corp…”
Annabeth nodded. “Heather’s company is one of the ones we’ve been watching.”
Jesse grumbled something under his breath and slammed his open hand on the steering wheel. His jaw twitched. “We’re at least ten minutes from that location…What if—”
“The cops will get there in time. They have to.” Annabeth looked out her passenger side window.
Vi wished Anna sounded more sure of herself. She caught Jesse's eye in the mirror. The last time she’s seen him this scared was when Tris had been hospitalized with pneumonia.
She clasped her St. Rita medallion and closed her eyes.
“Say a prayer for me too,” Jesse said, his voice shaking.
Oh Father, I know I’m the last person you want to hear from right now. I’ve let you down in so many countless ways. I’ve sinned in thought, word, and deed. Father forgive me. Forgive me. I am lost and frightened. My friend is in danger, and I am helpless to save her. She saved me, but I can’t do anything to help her but to beg for your forgiveness and mercy. I’m not worthy to ask anything of you, but please if it’s your Will, send your mighty angels down to save her from these evil men.
A soft hand clasped hers and gave it a squeeze. When she opened her eyes again she saw Annabeth looking back at her. “Amen.” A half-hearted smile crossed her lips, but her eyes still darted about.
Vi smiled back at her new friend. She felt a wave of gratitude wash over her. And hope. Maybe a dash of hope that things would turn out well for all of them. She wasn’t sure if God had sent any angels, but she felt a weight lifted from her own heart that had been there a long time.
“I think we might beat the cops there,” Jesse said under his breath.
The sound of sirens drew nearer behind them as they turn onto Dogget Street. Vi’s heart rapped in her chest like a trapped bird fluttering its wings. This was it. Jesse pulled into a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot. She looked through the rear window and saw flashing lights off in the distance. They had beaten the cops to the location, but she wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing.
Texas and Tiaras (The Book Cellar Mysteries 2) Page 18