by Jeff Shelby
Isabella pulled past the park, made a U-turn, then turned into the subdivision and pulled the car to the curb.
“Is this where you usually park?”
Isabella nodded. “We don’t park in the lot. Sometimes when we’re here we’ll go for a walk—you know, to smoke—and so it might look a little dicey if there are cars in the lot and no one nearby.”
“So she’ll see the car here?”
“She should.” Isabella turned off the ignition. “So what do I do now?”
“What do you normally do?”
“Go hang out on the swings.”
“Then go do that,” I told her. “When she gets here, just do whatever you usually do. She’s not expecting anything to be weird. I'll come up and you won't have to say anything.”
She shifted in her seat, her hands still on the wheel. “Alright.”
“I'll get there right after she shows,” I told her. “You don't have to worry, and you won't have to pretend for long.”
She hesitated. “Okay,” she finally said.
She pushed her door open and got out. Javier and I watched her cross the street, then walk through the park until she reached the swings. She chose the one on the far left and sat down in the saddle, her shoulders pinched together as she studied her phone in her lap.
“This is weird,” Javier said.
“You think?”
“Like a stakeout or something.”
“I guess,” I said. “But I think this is more of a meet and greet.”
“What are you gonna do? When she gets here?”
“I'm gonna walk over and say hello.”
“What am I gonna do?”
“You're going to stay here,” I said. “We don't need you involved. She's going to most likely be pissed at your sister and that's okay. But I want to keep this simple.”
Javier nodded, almost relieved. “Okay.”
I did want to keep it simple. I knew that Sabrina would most likely flip out when I got there. I wasn't sure what she'd do, but I was counting on her being angry at the very least. I didn't want to add Javier to the mix because it would give her an extra target for her anger.
“Then what's gonna happen?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Don't know. We'll see what she has to say.”
Ten minutes later, a white Jetta approached. It slowed about fifty yards behind where we parked, then pulled parallel to the curb.
“That's her,” Javier said, siting up straighter in his seat.
Sabrina Dixon got out of the car. She was dressed nearly identical to Isabella: mirrored aviator sunglasses, a tight pink tank top, and denim shorts that barely covered what needed to be covered. She waved at Isabella and walked toward her.
“Are you gonna go?” Javier asked, his voice lowered, like they might be able to hear us.
“I want her to sit first,” I told him.
Sabrina high-fived Isabella when she reached the swings. She stood in front of Isabella for a moment, then sat in the swing next to her, her hands on the chains, her feet swinging in the air.
“Stay here,” I said. “A friend of mine is going to be showing up so don't panic when you see another guy get here.”
“Okay,” Javier said, his movements quick and jerky, unable to hide his nervousness.
I got out of the car and crossed the street without looking toward the park. I hung a left at the street that ran adjacent to the park, then crossed over to the park side. I wanted to make sure I was between Sabrina and her car without being obvious in my approach. I walked past the car by the sidewalk and didn't look in their direction. I could hear their voices but couldn't make out the words. When I was about fifteen yards past them, I made another left onto the grass and pulled out my phone. I pretended to fiddle with it while I walked further into the park. When I was even with the sand circle and the swings, I cut over and stood in front of them.
Sabrina looked up, surprised but not necessarily scared. “Hey,” she said when she saw me looking at her.
“Hey,” I said. “You're Sabrina, right?”
She smiled and pumped her legs, swinging back and forth a bit. “Maybe. Who are you?”
“My name's Noah,” I said.
“Well, hello, Noah,” she said, her smile widening as she glanced first at me, then at Isabella. “How exactly do you know my name?”
“I saw a picture of you,” I said, returning the smile.
She raised a thin eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”
I pulled the picture out of my pocket and held it out to her. “Oh, yeah.”
She took it, studied it for a moment, and the smile faded. “What is this?”
“A great question,” I said. “What exactly is it?”
“Where'd you get this?” she said, her feet now firmly on the ground.
“The ranch has cameras,” I said. “It appears that you set them off.”
Her cheeks glowed pink.
“What the fuck were you doing, Sabrina?” Isabella asked.
“I...this...wait,” she said, trying to get a handle on what was happening.
I looked at Isabella. “Go to the car and wait.”
Isabella's mouth was set in a hard line, but she stood.
Both of Sabrina's eyebrows were up now in disbelief. “Wait. Hold up. You brought this guy here, Iz? Not cool.”
“Neither was using her to get to her uncle,” I said. I nodded at Isabella. “Just go.”
“Bitch,” Isabella whispered as she walked away.
“Wait,” she said. “Iz! You believe this guy? Come on. And you brought him here? You set me up?” When Isabella didn't answer her, she looked at me. “I don't have to talk to you.”
I shrugged. “Probably not. But I've got a police detective and a customs and immigration officer in my contacts. I'd be happy to call them both and you can talk to them.”
She looked less sure of herself now and I didn't want her to recover.
“You took Isabella's uncle?” I asked. “Correct?”
She didn't say anything.
“Your brother helped arrange his transport over and then tried to get him to pay more, right?” I said. “Your job was to keep tabs on him or something like that?”
She glanced up at me, her lips pressed tight.
“You got tight with Isabella as a way to stay involved,” I continued. “Your brother snatched him and then you made the ransom call.” I paused. “How am I doing so far?”
She didn't say anything.
“I asked you how I'm doing so far, Sabrina,” I said. “If you don't open your fucking mouth, I'm calling my friends.”
Sabrina stood from the swing. I wasn't sure if she was going to run or what her plan was, but I was ready if she made a hard move. Instead, though, she pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and set her hands on her hips.
“I don't think you know who you're messing with,” she said.
“Sabrina Dixon,” I said. “Sister of Aidan. You kidnapped Isabella's uncle and you called in a ransom demand. Threatened to kill him if Isabella's family doesn't pay. Funny way to be a friend, Sabrina.”
She folded her arms across her chest and looked me up and down. “What are you? Some kind of cop?”
“No.”
“Then what are you?”
“Just a guy looking for some answers. And I think you have them.”
“Think again, dumbass,” a voice behind me said. “And turn around slowly.”
THIRTY SIX
I turned around slowly.
There were two guys flanking me on each side. The one to my left was about my height, but didn't weigh as much. He had short blond hair with sideburns that were too long. He had some sort of handgun in his right hand that hung loosely next to his leg.
The guy on my right was a little shorter, but wider, with muscles that had to have been put on in the gym. His dark hair was slicked back with some sort of gel, making it look like he'd just gotten out of the shower. A scraggly beard was doing its best to grow on his f
ace, but struggling. I didn't see any weapons in his hands.
I glanced in the direction of the car. I could still see the front end parked at the curb. I didn't see anyone standing near it, which I hoped meant Javier and Isabella were fine.
“Who the fuck are you?” the bearded one asked. I recognized his voice as the one who called me a dumbass.
“You always sneak up on people in parks?” I asked. “Like some sort of stalker?”
“Only when necessary,” he said, smirking at me. He glanced past me. “You cool, Sabrina?”
“I'm fine,” she said. “Told you something was up, Toby.”
“Where's the girl?” Toby asked. “You said she texted you to meet up.”
She pointed in the direction of where I'd parked. “She walked that way.” She looked me up and down again. “This guy told her to leave.”
Toby squinted at me. “Did he now?” He lifted his chin at his partner. “Go check it out, Jimmy. Bring her back if you find her.”
Jimmy nodded, gave me one more tough guy look, and started down the grass in the direction of the car.
Toby reached behind him and pulled a handgun from his waistband. “Just so you don't get antsy.”
“Sure,” I said.
Sabrina came around next to Toby. “He knows who I am. And he had this.” She held out the picture.
Toby took the picture and looked at it. “This from the ranch?”
Sabrina nodded.
He shook his head. “Not good, girl. Your brother's gonna be pissed.”
“When is he not?”
I looked past them. Jimmy was just about to reach the car. His pace had slowed and he was being a little more cautious.
“So who are you?” Toby said, handing the picture back to her.
“I'm Noah.”
“Like the guy with the ark.”
“Just like.”
“And why are you bothering my friend Sabrina?”
“Because she took my friend's uncle. But I'm thinking you already knew that.”
That unnerved Toby for a moment and he glanced at Sabrina. She made sure not to look at him.
“When's the next ransom call?” I asked, looking at each of them. “Who gets to make it?”
“You need to shut up,” Toby said, leveling the gun at my gut, his tone decidedly less light now. “Right now.”
A jogger came around the corner from where I'd parked. A very large jogger. In wraparound shades and bleached white hair. He seemed to be out for just a casual run and did not look in our direction.
“I'd be careful here, Toby,” I said. “You don't know who I am. Or what I'm capable of.”
“And I'd be careful because I'm the one holding the gun,” Toby growled back.
The jogger crossed the street and reached the grass, slowing his pace as he tried to decide which direction to go.
“You're gonna shoot me here?” I asked. “Right here in the park?” I held my arms out. “Fire away, brother.”
Toby's face reddened. “You need to chill out, man. This could go bad for you.”
“Hate to tell you, but if you kidnap me and ask for ransom, people will laugh in your face,” I said. “Maybe get about ten bucks. If that.”
“You guys know if there's a path that goes further into the park?” the jogger asked, taking a few steps closer to us. “I'm looking to do some hill repeats. I need a hill.”
“No,” Sabrina said, shaking her head, annoyed.
“You sure?” the jogger asked, coming up the slope, now just behind Sabrina and Toby. “A guy back there told me there was a hill just on the other side of the swings here, but I'm not seeing it.”
“No,” Toby barked. “We don't know nothing about no hill.”
The enormous jogger stood there for a moment, then took a couple more steps so that he was right behind Sabrina and Toby. Toby carefully kept the gun hidden in front of himself. The barrel was now pointed at the ground.
“Seriously?” the jogger asked. “Guy said it was right over here. And I really need to get these repeats in.”
Toby sighed and started to turn and say something, but the jogger's enormous fist shot out and crashed into Toby's temple. Toby's entire body sagged and the gun fell to the grass just before he did. I snatched the gun off the ground and Sabrina stood there, stunned.
“Hill repeats?” I said. “You're wearing cargo shorts.”
“What can I say?” Carter said. “Best I could come up with after knocking the shit out of the other guy back by the car.”
“Nice work,” I said.
“What the hell is going on?” Sabrina asked, looking at Toby's unconscious body near her feet.
“It's a great question,” I said. “So let's figure that out.”
THIRTY SEVEN
“The other guy is done?” I asked Carter.
He frowned at me. “Offended you're even asking.”
“Right,” I said. “My error.” I handed him the gun. “Do with this what you will.”
“Nice,” he said, smiling and inspecting the weapon.
“You sit back down on the swing,” I said to Sabrina. “Or I'll have him punch you like he did Toby.”
She eyed Carter carefully, then made the wise decision to move to the swing.
“I'm going to assume you made the ransom call,” I said. “Correct?”
She didn't say anything.
“And that your brother is the one responsible for kidnapping him,” I continued. “So the way I see it is this. You're either doing some errand running for your brother and just sort of helping out or you're tied in heavily to Aidan's operation. Both are bad, but one is bad, and the other will get you a whole lot of time in prison. Do you understand the difference?”
She was trying to remain defiant, but it was becoming more difficult by the minute. Watching Toby twitch on the ground probably had a fair amount to do with it.
“I made the phone call,” she said, her voice small. “Aidan paid me a hundred bucks.”
“And did he pay you to be friends with Isabella?” I asked.
She set her feet on the ground, but her hands remained in her lap. “Yes.”
“You're gonna need to explain that to me.”
“Are you a cop?” she asked.
“Already told you I'm not.”
“Then who are you?”
Carter toed Toby's now immobile body on the ground. “He's the guy asking the questions you need to answer unless you want to end up like your two friends.”
I wasn't terribly comfortable threatening her, but I just kept reminding myself what they'd done to Arturo.
She sighed. “Fine. My brother told me a guy owed him some money. Told me that this girl was his niece or related to him or something. I don't even remember the details. He just wanted me to get tight with her, find out where he lived, that kind of stuff.”
Toby moaned on the ground.
Carter grinned.
“So I sort of stalked her a little,” she continued. “Found her on Snap and Twitter, saw where she went to school. I knew a couple of people who knew people there, found out about the parties, and I just made sure I was there one night.” She shrugged. “It wasn't hard. And, like, Iz is actually kinda cool.”
It probably had been that easy.
“So then what?” I asked.
“Then I just told my brother what I found out,” she said. “And he paid me.”
“What about the phone call?”
She shifted on the swing, the chains creaking beneath her weight. “He asked me to make the call. Said he wouldn't really hurt the guy.”
“You believe that?”
She didn't say anything.
“Have you seen him hurt others?” I asked.
She stayed quiet.
“So you knew he was full of shit,” I told her. “And you made the call anyway.”
“You can fuck off,” she said, then looked at Carter. “And you can hit me. Whatever. I don't care. But I'm not saying anything else.”<
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“A hard case,” Carter said, still grinning. “Nice.”
“Okay,” I said, pulling out my phone. “So we should call one of my friends now? Tell me which one. Cops or Immigration?”
Her mouth twisted but she stayed quiet.
I was trying to formulate a plan. I didn't want to let her go because I really wasn't sure what her brother would do to Arturo. But I also didn't want to keep her. I wanted information from her, but I didn't want to kidnap her.
I kept coming back to one idea.
“Where's your phone?” I asked her.
“My phone? Why?”
“Because you're going to make a call for me.”
“No, I'm not.”
“Immigration,” Carter said. “Call Immigration because it'll be a federal crime and she'll do way more time and it will make her life miserable.”
“That's what I was thinking, too,” I said.
She sighed again and pulled her phone from her back pocket.
“Dial your brother,” I said. “You don't even have to talk to him.”
For the first time, she looked scared. “You want me to call Aidan?”
“Yeah.”
“I can't,” she said. “He'll be furious.”
“Just pull his number up,” I said.
She took a deep breath, then tapped the screen on her phone. Her thumb brushed across the screen several times, then she handed it to me.
His name and number were there on the contact page.
I touched the phone icon next to the number and held the phone to my ear.
“This'll be fun,” Carter said.
“Jesus fucking christ,” an angry voice answered. “I've been texting you for half an hour. And Toby and Jimmy. What the fuck is going on?”
“Good question, Aidan,” I said. “What the fuck is going on?”
THIRTY EIGHT
The line buzzed for a moment. “Who the fuck is this?”
“This is the guy who has your sister,” I said. “I'm gonna propose a trade.”
“I'm gonna propose that you fuck off,” Aidan Dixon said. “And when my guys get there—”
“Your guys got here and they are both currently licking the pavement,” I told him. “So what else you got?”