“He doesn’t have Eli, does he?” It was as much an acknowledgement as it was a question.
“I don’t think so. The letter sounds like he wanted you and Eli to be safe. I think at this point it’s leaning more towards Alison and Stephan acting alone. Grayson would have made contact by now if he had Eli, and from what we saw in their home, they’ve been watching Eli for a while now.”
“Who’s Grayson?” I wondered out loud. Dillon gave me a quick sideways glance before returning his concentration to the road in front of us.
“That’s the name of the loan shark.”
“Oh,” was all I could manage.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner; it just completely slipped my mind.”
It was only then that it occurred to me that Dillon had kept nothing from me, ever. He was always forthcoming, always telling me things that were going on in his life. He was an open book, completely trusting in me. I reached across the small distance between us and took his hand from the steering wheel, threading my fingers with his. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“What for?”
“For trusting me, something I didn’t do with you. I feel lost and broken, but your honesty is helping; it keeps me focused on finding him rather than breaking into a million pieces like I want to.”
“You’ve never done anything to break my trust, Annie. You are one of few who deserve it. And if you shatter, Sunshine, once I have fixed this, I’ll put every single damn piece of you back together again.”
With Phillip, I had managed to find a man intent on destroying me, even if his heart truly didn’t want to. In Dillon, I had found a man dedicated to protecting me and holding me together. In this moment, I felt cherished, even if my fragmented soul ached.
The rest of the short drive to Dillon’s office was quiet, neither of us much in the mood for conversation. What was there really to talk about? The weather, which was unseasonably cool today? I briefly wondered if Eli had a jacket to keep him warm. The simple, motherly thought stabbed through my heart and would have brought me to sobbing tears if I hadn’t forced the thoughts and sadness deep down inside myself. It was the same place I pushed away my fears and sadness during my marriage to Phillip. It was a place I hadn’t really needed to use for some time. I was able to acknowledge just how happy I had been since arriving in Claymont. It was a happiness I had made for myself, for me and Eli. I had taken the steps I needed to survive and those steps had fortunately led to greener pastures. I had become stronger, more determined, and right now I needed to tap into that strength. I needed to find Eli, and I couldn’t do that if I kept breaking down every time he entered my thoughts.
Arriving at Montgomery Securities helped distract me from my heartache, and I followed Dillon from the underground parking garage that I had never been in before. He swiped a card through a panel in the elevator and typed in a code before pressing the button for the third floor.
“Staff entrance,” he explained. “You can gain access from the street easily enough, but this elevator leads to the back of the office. There is a safe back there with weapons stored in it, so we keep things locked down pretty tight on this end.” When the doors slid open, we were met with an angry, feminine screech. I paused before joining Dillon in the hallway before us, and he cast me a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Lover’s quarrel. Sam’s girlfriend, Jessica, lives in the apartment upstairs with him. To be honest, she’s not supposed to come down here anymore, too much of this going on.” He waved his hand in the direction of the arguing.
“Damn you, Sam, you promised we would go away this weekend!” the woman, Jessica, growled.
“And things have changed. Don’t you think a missing boy takes priority over a goddamn weekend away?” I recognized Sam’s voice immediately; however, the anger in it was completely unfamiliar.
“There is always going to be a missing boy or girl. You need to prioritize. What is more important, them or me?” Jessica yelled.
“It’s not a hard choice for me, sweetheart.” Sam was now deceptively calm. “The missing person, always.”
“Fuck you, Sam. You are a worthless, pathetic excuse for a man. No wonder you get along better with your computers than you do with people.”
The calmness that settled over Dillon’s face was a little frightening. When he turned to face me, he couldn’t even manage a reassuring smile.
“Annie, would you mind grabbing me a cup of coffee.” He pointed to a room down the hall, closer to the front of the office. “I just need a word with Sam and Jessica.”
I assumed by needing ‘a word’ with Sam and Jessica, he meant someone was going to get their ass chewed out. Even I knew it wasn’t professional to bring a lover’s quarrel into a work place, even if that said office was closed for the weekend. I could feel Dillon’s eyes on my back as I walked down the hall and disappeared into the break room. I came to an abrupt halt when I came face to face with Dillon’s secretary, Alice. She was an older woman, well into her sixties with slivers of silver breaking her dark brown, short hair. Alice’s kind eyes rose from the coffee machine to me, and she moved straight towards me, wrapping me in her motherly embrace.
“They’ll find him, sweetheart. There is no one those boys can’t find.”
“Howdy, y’all,” I heard Dillon’s deceptively calm voice coming from the other end of the hall.
“Thank goodness he arrived. Those two have been driving me batty all morning. That Jessica is a skanky dog.” I smiled at Alice’s description of Sam’s girlfriend. “You want a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I quietly confessed. “What are you doing here on your day off?”
“I just wanted to sort out a few things at the front desk. This place is getting too busy for a Monday to Friday, nine to five job. All Dillon’s boys, and Gabbie, of course,” she quickly added, “put in plenty of overtime. It won’t kill me to do my part.”
We went quiet, and I listened for Dillon’s voice. I didn’t want to snoop on what was happening back down the hall, this was definitely none of my business, yet I couldn’t help but listen intently as I helped Alice make coffee.
“Sam, I thought we talked about Jessica staying out of the office.” Alice snorted at Dillon’s muffled voice.
“She’s always in the damn office,” she quietly muttered. Alice shook her head as she smiled at our obvious attempts to snoop on the Jessica situation. I felt like a complete voyeur, yet I was unable to stop myself.
“I haven’t seen him in days, Dillon. If I didn’t come down here, I would never see him.” Jessica’s voice had turned from outright spite to a childish whine.
“We have a bit of a situation here at the moment. Annie’s boy, my boy, Eli, is missing. Like everyone else who works here, Sam is committed to helping find him. I’m sorry if that inconveniences you. I’m sure once he is found and returned home though, you will get to spend some quality time with Sam. Hell, I’ll give him a week’s paid vacation to take you somewhere nice.”
“Bitch,” spat Alice quietly, surprising me with the wicked curse from her mouth. Personally, I wanted to do a whole lot more than swear at the woman. My fists clenched as I forced my feet to remain in place. I wanted to storm down the hallway and slap the skanky dog across the face.
“Not necessary, Boss,” I heard Sam say in a low voice.
“Here you go, honey.” Alice handed me two, hot cups of coffee. You take that to Dillon and make sure that blonde Barbie bimbo sees you.” Alice disappeared in the opposite direction, heading towards the reception area of the office. I walked slowly down the hallway, carrying the full, steaming mugs carefully in my hands. I paused in the doorway, not wanting an awkward interruption. Fuck it. Eli was missing. It took priority over a lover’s spat. With that, I stormed into the room.
“Jess, go back upstairs. We’ll talk about this at a more appropriate time.”
I was almost mowed over by a tall, blonde woman with a butto
n up white blouse so tight I was surprised it didn’t spring open when she moved. Not to mention the sprayed on skirt that sat so precariously high her girly bits were in jeopardy of flashing. Her dark brown eyes met mine and the venom and spite I saw in them made my instant dislike for the girl rise to all out hatred. I plastered on my best fake smile and took a sip from one of the coffee mugs.
“Hi, I’m Annie, Eli’s mom.” I thought I saw a flash of guilt, but if I did, it was quickly smothered by righteous indignation.
“Wonderful to meet you,” she practically sneered before disappearing into the elevator at the end of the hallway. I stepped further into the room and handed Dillon his coffee.
“Nice girl,” I couldn’t help but say. Sam was such a gentle, kind man. I couldn’t understand why he would want to be with such a thoughtless and selfish woman.
“Sorry, Boss, Annie,” Sam said a little sheepishly.
“I don’t want her down here anymore, Sam. If you can’t rein her in, we are going to have problems.” There was no sympathy in Dillon’s voice; he was in complete boss-mode right now.
Sam nodded. “I give you my word she won’t step foot in this office again. I’m going to remove her access to the elevator. She can use the stairwell to get down to the street, and if she needs me, she can call. I might answer her,” he said with a small smile. “Anyway, she won’t be here much longer, I promise you. Her folks get back from an overseas vacation next week. The minute they do, I’m sending her home to them with instructions to never return.”
“She still lives with her parents?” I wondered out loud.
“Technically, right now she lives with me, but she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and I’m not going to kick her out onto the street, no matter how much of a bitch she is.” Dillon gave a noise which I gathered was a reluctant agreement. He took his coffee from me with a grateful smile, then like the gentleman he was, he pulled out a chair for me to take a seat.
“I’m okay,” I murmured. I’d done enough sitting over the past two days. I needed to stand. I needed to pace, move. I needed to at least feel like I was doing something to help. Dillon nodded, and I noted he didn’t sit either, instead opting to lean against the wall beside Sam’s desk.
“Where’s Bomber?” Dillon asked.
“Went home to shower and change, thank god. He smelled rank,” Sam chuckled.
“Probably smelled like I did when I woke up.” Dillon ran a hand through his messy hair. A quiet knock at the door had us all turning to face Alice. Behind her stood Sergeant Maitland, dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a navy blue button down shirt. His hair was wet as though he had showered and come straight in.
“Alice?” Dillon startled, also surprised to see her here on her day off. “It’s the weekend, what are you doing here?” He wasn’t angry or disappointed to see her; if anything, he seemed guilty that she had come in on her weekend.
“Hush, Dillon, it’s Saturday, and if I wasn’t here, I’d be at home cleaning, so a little bit of quiet office overtime is saving me from back breaking work. Anyway, I’m heading off now, but Sergeant Maitland is here for you.” Alice stepped away from the door and offered us all a solemn smile and a wave.
“Dillon,” the sergeant said, holding out his hand to shake Dillon’s.
“Sergeant, I wasn’t expecting you here today. You have something?”
“I’m off duty today, so call me James. Morning, Ms. Lonergan, how you holding up?”
I shook my head in dismay. “Please, call me Annie, and I’m not. I’m just holding on. It’s all I know how to do.”
James nodded and turned his somber gaze back to Dillon. “No news, but I’ve got every available resource out there working on this. Your cousin, Braiden, called me and filled me in on the situation with Grayson Shivell.”
“Braiden called you?” Dillon said rather alarmed.
James smiled. “He’s quite the charmer, not real big on conversation.”
Sam and Dillon both snorted at the same time. “Hence why you met with me the other day and not my cousin. He’s good at what he does, though, the best.”
“We are following up on this Shivell. He has a partner, his right hand so to speak. On the street, he is known as Ricky the Enforcer, to us he’s known as Richard Fenner. We were able to establish that Ricky took a flight out of Holton Springs five days ago and landed in Claymont. I’ve got men out searching for him as we speak. My thoughts are he is the one who attacked you, Annie.”
“You think he has Eli?” I asked, unable to hide my hope.
“Of that I’m not sure.” At that moment, Dillon’s phone rang and he glanced at the screen.
“Braiden,” he said as way of answering it. He was quiet for the longest time before nodding, a small smile touching his lips.
“You did good, Braiden, thank you.” He hung up and turned to face us. My heart was pounding hard and fast in my chest. Dillon’s soft grey eyes found mine, and he shook his head, sadly. “Nothing on Eli, well, not really. Braiden found Grayson.” Dillon then turned his attention to James for a moment. “He wasn’t willing to talk, but Braiden can be very persuasive.” The sergeant said nothing, merely raised a brow and nodded. “Grayson knows nothing about Eli’s disappearance. He said he wouldn’t have taken him, having a kid around wasn’t on his agenda. If the money didn’t come through, he would have come for Annie, and it was his man, Ricky, that was told to rough her up a little and let her know they weren’t fucking around.” At this point, my legs failed me, and thankfully, I fell down into a chair sitting right behind me. “Once Braiden got Shivell talking, he became real helpful, told him Ricky is staying at The Sleep Inn. And also told him he’s wiping Phillip’s debt clear.”
“How thoughtful of him,” Sam murmured, reminding me he was in the room.
“Okay, but we still have a missing boy.” James Maitland stood rigid and wide and tall, like an unmoving wall in Sam’s office. His arms were crossed over his chest as he listened to everything Dillon had said.
“Braiden is concentrating on Phillip now, but we don’t think he has Eli. Annie received some flowers from Phillip this morning that were nothing short of an apology and a goodbye. He said he knew Eli would be safe with her. My gut says he doesn’t have Eli.”
James nodded and ran a hand through his short, greying hair. “I don’t think he has him either. Everything points towards Alison and Stephan Walters . . . but why?”
“Sam, did you get anything else from the Walters’s computer?” Dillon asked, spinning around to face Sam who currently sat before three large computer screens, tapping away at the keyboard.
“Stephan and Alison were careful about what they did with their computer. There really isn’t much on there, just your usual eBay shopping, music downloads, news, banking, everything is pretty much standard and clean. Their bank account is clean, just your usual stuff like groceries, bills, gas. There’s nothing that seems suspicious or criminal.”
“This is pissing me off,” growled Dillon. “There has to be something.” Sam pulled off his dark rimmed glasses and ran a hand over his tired eyes.
“Something, maybe,” he sighed, and James, Dillon, and I suddenly had his undivided attention. “I don’t know. This is just a hunch, an idea I only started toying with just before Jessica came down and threw a tantrum.” He took a deep breath as if gathering the courage to tell us his idea. “Alison and Stephan spent a hell of a lot of time on a couple of prepper sites, and it got me thinking.”
“Prepper?” I wondered out loud.
“It’s a term used for people who spend all their time preparing for the end of days, the apocalypse,” Dillon calmly explained.
Sam cast me a small smile, no doubt seeing the disbelief on my face.
“There are entire sites and communities dedicated to surviving the end of days, whether it be a nuclear explosion, a virus, or an alien fucking invasion, pardon my language, Annie.”
“Wow, I can’t even plan my meals a week in advance,” I mur
mured.
“So, they’re preppers?” James asked, cutting in.
“Not sure. From their apartment next door to Annie’s, I’d say no, but they spent a considerable amount of time in a couple of doomsday forums. They were researching solar energy, water filtration, horticulture, and farming. I’ve been reading transcripts from hours of forum interaction, and they don’t really seem to be honing in on the whole doomsday aspect, but more of the self-sufficient lifestyle. And since they couldn’t have their own child, it just got me thinking that maybe they saw Eli as a potential replacement for that which was missing in their life. They’d been watching him for a long time. Maybe they’d been preparing to take him.”
“You think they had a place off the grid somewhere? A place they readied for their new family? Something rural? No water or electricity . . .” Dillon said, his eyes becoming glazed and unfocused. I’d seen the look enough to know it meant he was deep in thought.
“It’s plausible,” James said, also deep in thought.
“I haven’t been able to get a hit on any other properties listed in Alison’s or Stephan’s names, though. I’ve been through all their immediate family and nobody has property that is anything like what we are talking about here.”
Dillon waved off Sam’s words. “It could anything, a property belonging to a friend, distant family member, anything.” Dillon rubbed a hand over his shadowed jaw. “It’s just crazy enough to make sense.”
“There were subtle signs in their finances that they could be building something. There were building materials, supplies, small things spaced out far enough apart that they wouldn’t set off any alarm bells.”
“They were always away on the weekends,” I added.
“Claymont is surrounded by thousands of miles of forest. If they were out there, off the grid somewhere, setting up their very own hillbilly oasis, we could possibly narrow down a location,” James said as both he and Dillon quickly turned to a map on the wall.
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