They finished their breakfast in silence and then Lester and Miguel left Sophie and Jaylen alone in the kitchen. Miguel would start his rounds while Lester got some sleep.
“Sophie, can I ask you a personal question?” Jaylen asked, her voice unusually subdued.
“You can ask but I can’t guarantee I’ll answer.”
“Fair enough. I just want to know how you and Makenna became such close friends. I want to know my daughter better, but we keep butting heads.”
“You’re just alike, you know? Strong, stubborn, obstinate. Perhaps if you stopped poking her like she was a piñata and just listened to what she was saying, you might hear more than what was being said.”
“I can’t get past the fact that she thinks I would kidnap my own mother. My mother is a saint. She tried so damn hard to save me from the drugs, but I wouldn’t, couldn’t listen. I was too far gone. The only way I could get off of them was being sent to prison. It saved my life.”
“That’s it. That’s exactly how you should talk to Kenny. Just be open and honest with her.”
“I wish I could. If I could get her to trust me, I know I could help her find Mom.”
“If you could help find Deidre, you would earn Kenny’s trust.”
“I was trying to help. She won’t listen to me,” Jaylen said.
“Telling her that it may be a sister she didn’t know she had is not helping. It hurt her instead.”
Jaylen frowned. “It was the truth. How else could I have put it?”
Sophie studied her for a moment and finally admitted, “I don’t know. It would be hard to hear no matter how you said it.”
“Exactly,” Jaylen replied triumphantly. Getting Sophie to see her side of things would go a long way in convincing Makenna to trust her. Talking with Sophie provided insight to Makenna and her friendship, but there was still a pang of jealousy at the close friendship the two had.
“It may have hurt initially, but it’s better to get the truth out there,” Sophie said contemplatively. “If you’ve been truthful with her… told her everything, you could begin to build a foundation. You could begin to get to know your daughter.”
“And that’s why I’m putting up with her humiliation.”
Shaking her head, Sophie said, “You’re both angry and the majority of that anger is at each other. If you really want to be in her life, you’re going to have to find a way to be patient with her, because she’s got a lot to process right now.”
Jaylen stood up and picked up her plate. “I’m sure you’re probably right,” she said, carrying the plate to the sink. “I just don’t have that kind of temperament.”
“Well, you might as well give up then. Because, unless one of you is willing to bend, you’re just going to keep hurting each other.”
Jaylen slouched at the kitchen counter, her shoulders dropping, her head bowed. She took a deep breath and turned to Sophie. “I suppose, since I’m the older one—”
“And her mother,” Sophie inserted.
“Yeah, yeah, and her mother. I suppose I should be the one to bend.”
“Sí, you should. I’m glad that you could recognize that.”
Jaylen smiled at her sweetly and replied, “Yes, me, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chelsey walked over to the evidence wall in the game room and looked at the photo of her holding up the ransom note. “Does it sound strange that I missed all of this, even though I was only gone for one day?”
After Kenny found the other two guards and asked them to escort Jaylen to the kitchen, she and Chelsey went down to the game room to wait on Tobias to give his findings, if any. She also wanted to check the prison forum she had posted on regarding her sister. She knew that chances of getting a hit were slim to none, but then, she’d said the same thing about the lottery. Maybe her luck would hold out one more time. She sat down at a computer and tapped on the keyboard to wake it up.
“I don’t think it’s strange at all. We make a good team, and I’m anxious for us to get back to work. I need to go to the bank in a minute and learn how I can do a money wire transfer. On the way, we can drop off your DNA collection to be processed.”
“How will that help us now?” Chelsey asked. “I mean, it’s almost Monday and looking more and more like you’ll just have to pay the ransom to get Deidre back.”
Kenny swiveled in her chair and looked over at Chelsey. “It will help by eliminating those who were actually invited to the party from those who crashed it. Then I go after those who weren’t invited.”
Chelsey half-turned to Kenny and said, “By the time they get the samples processed, you’ll have Deidre back. What’s the point?”
“The point is to make sure that the kidnapper doesn’t get away with it,” Kenny replied, turning back to the computer. “They’re going to pay for what they did to my grandma. Especially that bitch upstairs. Speaking of which, I have a glass with Jaylen’s DNA on it. Can you swab my mouth and collect my DNA? I’d really like to know if she’s telling the truth or not.”
“That’s a good idea. Hang on just a minute.” Chelsey walked over to the bar, which had become her office, per se, and picked up a DNA kit. “Open wide,” she instructed as she slid the swab into Kenny’s mouth. She gazed into her gray-blue eyes, losing herself for a moment in the amorous swirl of lust that Kenny was not trying to hide. She had to clear her throat in order to talk. “All done.”
“Gee, that’s too bad,” Kenny teased, watching her butt as Chelsey walked back to the bar.
Chelsey inserted the swab into a plastic tube and wrote Kenny’s name on the label. Then she turned and walked back to the evidence board. A sudden cold shiver ran down her spine and her heart began to race. She took a step back and in a raspy voice, said, “My, God. It’s Harold.”
Kenny jumped out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Chelsey from behind. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. He won’t ever touch you again.”
“I’m okay. It startled me a bit, seeing his beady eyes again. He really wasn’t that bad a guy, well, except toward the end when he went a little crazy.”
“When he got the phone call, right?”
“Right,” Chelsey replied, responding to the warmth of Kenny’s breasts against her back, she leaned into her and laid her head against her shoulder. Since the night they made love, Chelsey could think of nothing else but the feel of Kenny’s arms around her. There was no denying the physical attraction when her breath caught and her heart skipped a beat each time she looked at Kenny. But while she was held hostage she’d realized that she wasn’t sure what their relationship was based on. They were complete opposites in so many ways. Unlike most college students who spent their free time at the local hangouts and lived for spring break, Chelsey took extra classes and attended lectures for fun. Kenny got excellent grades in college, but her downtime consisted of playing Halo 5 on X-Box One and eating pizza and drinking beer.
Kenny kissed her on the back of her head, then her lips found their way down to the pulse point on her neck. Chelsey forgot about everything else and tilted her head to the side, giving Kenny room to indulge herself. And indulge she did, nipping and flicking her tongue at the throbbing vein. The sound of Chelsey’s raspy moan spurred Kenny to slide her hands under her shirt, searching for her soft breasts. A louder moan and then—
“Kenny, we’re done— oh shit.” Tobias gasped and hurriedly turned around. Carla followed his example. “Uh… sorry, we’ll come back.”
“No, it’s okay,” Kenny said quickly, removing her hands and stuffing them in her jeans pocket. Damn.
Chelsey straightened her shirt and also turned to them, her face flushed from both arousal and embarrassment. She felt like a teenager caught making out in the high school gym.
“Did you find anything?” Kenny asked. She wasn’t embarrassed in the least, just disappointed that the fire in her depths was slowly dissipating.
“Nothing electronic in nature,” Tobias reported, “but we did find the
se. He handed Kenny a large brown bottle labeled Amino Acid Capsules, 750mg, sixty capsules.
She shook the bottle once then removed the top and looked inside. The bottle was half full with large, white unlabeled capsules. “Where did you find it? She didn’t have a purse or anything like that on her when she came here.”
“I found it hidden behind the TV,” Carla explained. “I know that a lot of recovering drug addicts take Amino Acid as a dietary supplement.”
“How do you know that, Carla?” Kenny asked curiously. She wasn’t suggesting anything, she was on a fact-finding mission.
“For a very short period of time, I was a cop,” came the answer.
“Oh, yeah, I remember reading that in your bio,” Kenny said.
“Why did you leave the police work?” Chelsey asked, forgetting her embarrassment, although her close proximity to Kenny did nothing to relieve the agitation between her thighs. “I mean, if it’s not too personal.”
“My third year on the force, and my partner was killed in the line of duty. He and I were…” She looked at Chelsey with dark, foreboding eyes. “We were partners in every sense of the word.”
“Oh, no. Oh, I’m so sorry,” Chelsey cried.
Carla nodded but said nothing. To speak further about it would only lead to tears, and she couldn’t allow that while she was on the job.
Tobias, without thinking, squeezed her hand and gazed at her with sorrowful eyes.
“I need to, um, go,” Carla said and hurried up the stairs.
Tobias started after her but Chelsey stopped him.
“No, Tobias, let her go,” she said, holding up her hand. “Give her some time.”
He turned back to Chelsey and nodded. His first instinct was to comfort the tall, muscular, magnificent bodyguard, to hold her in his arms and console her. But his second instinct told him that it was never going to happen. She was still grieving for her partner, and he didn’t want to be in the way of that.
“Tobias, why don’t you go grab some breakfast?” Kenny asked. “I believe your mother is keeping it warm for you. Chelsey and I are going to take the DNA samples downtown. Do you need anything while we’re out?”
“No, nothing I can think of, thanks.” He turned and ran up the stairs yelling, “Carla, time for breakfast.”
Kenny and Chelsey smiled at one another knowingly before Kenny sat down at the computer.
“Well, I’ll be damn.”
“What?” Chelsey asked, leaning on her shoulder to see the monitor.
“I hit the jackpot again,” Kenny exclaimed.
“You don’t mean…”
“No, thank God. I don’t think I can handle any more money right now.”
“Can you believe you said that?” Chelsey asked with a chuckle.
“A year ago, no way. But now, absolutely,” she admitted. “Anyway, the woman who is looking for her daughter sent me a private message and asked me to meet her for lunch at the River Market this afternoon at one p.m.” Kenny began typing on the keyboard, talking as she typed. “I am replying to her saying that I’ll be there.”
“Explain, please. For those of us who’ve been out of the loop for a while.”
Hitting the send button, Kenny got up and walked over to the evidence board and tapped on the prison ID card. “This is my supposed sister, Anna Reed. While you were sleeping, I called the prison, and long story short, found her ID on one of those websites for rap sheets. That led me to a message board for family members of the prison inmates. I think Anna had a foster mother, because she wrote that she wasn’t legally her mother, that’s why she was posting on the board trying to locate her. Anyway, she sent a message saying she wanted to meet with me.”
“How do you know it’s not a setup?”
Kenny shrugged. “I don’t, but I can’t not go. It could lead to finding Grandma and, at the very least, lead to finding a sister I didn’t know I had. I have to try.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come with me now,” Kenny said, turning around to look at her.
“I’d be surprised if you didn’t, but I’m still going. Look, I didn’t want to tell you this, but you need to know what you might be walking into. Harold went ballistic after the phone call. He got rough, and not just with me.”
Kenny jerked, her face white with fear. “What do you mean? Did he hurt you? Did he hurt Grandma?” She choked on the last question. Chelsey was with her, safe, but her grandmother was still with that monster.
“I was fighting him, and she tried to help keep him from tying me up, and he shoved her away. Thankfully, she fell into the chair, but I could tell she was in pain.”
“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” Kenny declared.
“He’s unstable and very unpredictable. He’s like a bomb waiting to go off.”
“All the more reason that you should stay here, where it’s safe.”
“Look, I’m not the type of girl to stand by the wayside and let someone else fight the monsters for me. I know this man better than you do, I can help. Besides, it’s personal for me now, too.”
She was going to argue, but when Kenny looked into Chelsey’s eyes, she knew it was futile. And truth be told, she was afraid to let Chelsey out of her sight again. Afraid that if she disappeared again, she might never get her back and that fear was all consuming.
“All right, but don’t let me out of your sight for any reason. Not even if you have to go pee, or poop or anything, got it?”
“I got it. We’ll be fine, trust me.”
Kenny shook her head and walked behind the counter. “It’s not you that I have trust issues with,” she stated, pulling her pistol from the locked box on the shelf. Making sure the safety was on, she inserted the clip and slid the Glock into her belt holster, and then clipped the holster to her belt.
“Got an extra one for me?” Chelsey asked.
“Really, you want a gun?”
She thought about it for a moment and shook her head. “No, I don’t think I could shoot someone, but I’d have no trouble hitting them with pepper spray.”
“Well, all right then. We’ll pick some up while we’re out and get you armed and dangerous.”
“Do I get a holster, too?” Chelsey asked playfully.
“Baby, you can have anything you want,” Kenny replied, grabbing her by the waist and kissing her.
“I want this nightmare to be over with.”
“Oh, hell, yes. You and me both,” Kenny declared. “And when that woman who claims to be my mother is behind bars again, you and I are going to have some fun with all that money of mine.”
Chelsey stepped back and lightly shook her head. “No, we are not. I’m going back to college and get my degree. If this little adventure has taught me anything, it’s that I like forensic science, and I want to do more of it.”
Kenny was flabbergasted. She really didn’t know Chelsey at all. In fact, the woman she had fallen in love with was even more unique, more amazing, and more trustworthy than she had originally thought. She had never met anyone like her before. God, I love you so much.
*
They dropped off the DNA samples at the lab and headed over to the bank. Kenny left her gun in the trunk of the Jaguar before entering with Chelsey. When they learned who she was, she was immediately ushered into the bank president’s office. After all, all her money was in their bank and she was their largest account. Kenny had been in the bank many times before the lottery, and although they were always cordial, now, even though she was dressed in tattered jeans and a red Alabama t-shirt, she looked like a hundred million dollars to them.
“Ms. Whitt, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Randolph Robertson, president of this bank. How may I help you today?”
The Little Rock Bank & Trust was a large conglomerate with many branches and holdings, and Robertson’s office reflected that. So did his suit. Italian made, it showed off his trim body and broad shoulders.
Silver hair, piercing blue eyes, and chiseled jaw completed the picture.
Kenny felt woefully underdressed standing in his office with its ornate mahogany desk and Persian rug. She was dressed that way for her meeting later with Anna’s mother. In Arkansas, almost every one wore a Razorback t-shirt during football season. Though she felt like a traitor, because Alabama was a rival team, she wore the t-shirt to easily stand out in a crowd. She just hoped she didn’t get booed walking around the River Market.
“First, since I’m here, can you tell me what my balance is? I, uh, have been enjoying my lottery winnings.”
“A lot,” Chelsey added teasingly.
He tapped on his keyboard and brought up her profile. “My goodness,” he mumbled to himself.
“What? What is it?” Kenny asked, suddenly worried.
“My apologies, Ms. Whitt. In a little over three months you have enjoyed eight million dollars of your lottery winnings, leaving your balance at a little over 112 million.” Eight million in three months and she’s wearing torn jeans and a t-shirt?
Chelsey gaped at her. “Wow.”
“Chump change,” Kenny joked, relieved and surprised that it hadn’t been more.
“By investing and diversifying, we can increase your wealth and—”
“I am thinking of investing in a business venture,” Kenny inserted. “As you can well imagine, I’ve never done this before. So, if I should need to transfer a large sum of money to a foreign country, how would I go about it?”
“How large an amount?” he asked, a tiny crease in his forehead.
“Just twenty million.”
His forehead smoothed out as he relaxed just a bit. “That would be as easy as going online and hitting the send button. There will be a fee, of course. You would need their account number for deposit and if it’s a reputable bank, they would probably call us to verify deposit. If you would like, I could broker the transfer for you myself.”
“That’s very nice, but I shouldn’t have a problem doing it myself online. I’m still waiting on more information, but when I’m ready, how long would the money take to transfer to their bank?”
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