Riley’s face brightened up as she placed the tea on the coffee table right next to Janey. She left and returned with a cup for herself.
Janey took a sip from the cup. It was bitter. She grimaced and placed the cup down. Seeing Riley watching her intently, she decided to take another sip so that the other woman wouldn’t feel bad. But that was as far as she could go. She wondered if Riley had forgotten to add sugar, but it tasted as though there was something else in the tea. Whatever, she would not be drinking from that cup till she left Riley’s apartment.
“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone,” Janey said after a brief pause.
Riley sighed and placed her cup on the coffee table next to her. She laced her fingers together and stared at them.
“It was still so new and I wasn’t sure of him,” she said in a subdued tone.
“I guess I can understand that.” She took another sip.
“May I ask something?”
“Sure,” Janey nodded.
“Why did you and Mark break up?”
The question was a surprise. She thought of how to answer her and opted for full honestly. She put down her cup of tea.
“Honestly? He broke off with me. Remember that time I took off a few months ago?” She waited for Riley’s nod before going on. “Well, my sister had gone missing and I needed to find her. Mark told me that if I left, the wedding was off. I left.” She gave a slight shrug.
“That was it?”
Janey chuckled, “Yeah.”
“But you came back right, and after he pestered you a little, you decided to start seeing him again.”
Janey opened her mouth in shock. “What? Hell no! What gave you that idea?”
“But he said…” Her voice trailed off when she realized what she’d let out.
“He said?”
Riley was breathing heavily now, visibly agitated. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “He said you were getting back together.”
Janey sat up straight. It was too much of an effort, so she relaxed again. “When did you speak to Mark?”
Riley burst into tears then.
“Riley? What’s going on?” She tried to go to the other woman to offer her comfort, but she was feeling so tired.
Riley reached for the box of tissue that was right beside her. Janey frowned, wondering where the box had suddenly come from. She hadn’t noticed it.
After blowing her nose, she dried her tears.
“I’ve been seeing Mark, Janey.”
Janey could not believe her ears. “For how long?”
“Close to a year now.”
Janey opened her mouth and shut it. She felt like a fish, struggling for air. Actually, she was beginning to feel like she was struggling for air.
“Mark cheated? On me?” Her words were slowing down and her limbs had become heavy.
“Please, he’s been cheating on you probably from the get-go. I wasn’t the first person. Guess you weren’t enough to hold his attention. He always needed more than you could give.” Riley suddenly sounded mean.
Janey frowned in confusion, “Mark shhh…cheating?” She had to pronounce her words carefully. “What’s wrong…wrong with me?” She tried to wave her hands. Her brain communicated the instruction, but her muscles refused to cooperate.
“I poisoned your tea,” Riley stated baldy.
“What? Why Riley?”
Poison. Was this some kind of horror movie? Janey could not believe this was happening to her. And over Mark of all people.
“I can’t lose Mark. I’m having his baby and he’s obsessed with you.”
Janey tried to shake her head. She could not afford to black out now. “Don’t want Mark.”
“Yeah, that’s what you say. Yet he was having lunch at your parents’ place.”
“Don’t want Mark,” she said again.
“Well, I don’t give a damn!” Riley yelled. “He wants you and he’s not going to have you.”
Tears suddenly filled Janey’s eyes as she felt herself becoming weaker.
“Please…Riley. Please.”
“It’s too late now. Just relax and let the poison do its work.” She leaned back and picked up her cup of tea.
“Trusted you…”
Riley laughed bitterly. “And that’s another thing, you are too trusting. This was almost too easy.”
“Drew…” she murmured as her vision became blurry.
“Yeah, I saw him eating you like crazy in your greenhouse.” Janey heard Riley say from a distance. “I’ve been watching you, Janey. Waiting for the perfect opportunity. I had something planned for you at work today. But this worked out damn well if you ask me.”
There was a brief silence, then. “Why did you have to be so greedy, Janey. You had Drew and still wanted my Mark. Guess you want them both and I’m going to make sure you have none of them.”
Drew.
All her fears and concerns now looked inconsequential. She could have been with Drew, now she would never know what it felt like to be the center of his attention, even if it was just for a short period. To wake up beside him for as many mornings as he was willing to give her. If there was anything Janey regretted the most, it was that she hadn’t given Drew a chance when she’d had the opportunity to do just that. Now she would never know.
Where are you, Drew?
Her vision faded and everything abruptly went black.
Chapter Ten
Drew was getting frantic. Janey had been missing for almost six hours. After he got off the phone with Tamika, he went into the house, expecting to find Janey there. But the house was empty. Her car was in the garage so she didn’t drive out.
He tried calling her phone, but then he heard it ringing inside her room. Though he searched everywhere in the house and around the house, there was no sign of her. He concluded that she’d probably gone for a walk. But as the hours had stretched, Drew knew something was desperately wrong.
He called the store and got the assistant, Riley. Janey hadn’t been at the store either. So he got in his car and drove around, looking for her without much success. He ended up at her parent’s place.
Daphne Moore answered the door.
“Hi, Drew, nice of you to stop by. Come on in.”
Drew hesitated by the door. “Actually, I came to ask if Janey came over today.”
He didn’t want to get Janey’s parents worried, but he did not know what else to do. He had come to the farm as a last resort.
“Janey?” She frowned. “No, she didn’t say she was coming here. Did she say she was coming over?”
“It’s just that she left the house…”
“Oh, a lovers’ tiff, right? Don’t worry about it. Janey is a hot-headed woman, though she tries to hide that pretty well. But I’m sure you’ve already realized that about her. However, she calms down really quickly, so she’ll be back, you’ll see.” She smiled and patted him on his arm.
Drew smiled, even though he knew it did not reach his eyes. How could he tell them that their daughter was missing? He was pretty sure Janey had said nothing to them about the threatening notes she’d received so they had no idea that this was no lovers’ tiff. It was something darker, more sinister.
Driving away from the Moore’s, Drew knew he had no other choice. He had to call in the team. He also needed to report it to the police, although he already knew what they would say. They could not file a missing person report until forty-eight hours after the disappearance. He didn’t want to go to the police because that would mean disclosing everything to Janey’s family. And after Diane’s disappearance, he did not think they would be able to handle it.
On second thought, he would hold off on calling the cops.
He slid his phone out instead and dialed.
“Emily, Janey’s missing,” he said baldly into the phone.
“How long?”
He glanced at the clock on his dashboard. “Going on eight hours.”
“And you’re just calling this in?
Nevermind, I’ll send in a team. Rusty will examine the video feed from the cameras you set up. Meantime, call up everyone who knows her and raise an alert.”
Emily ended the call and Drew threw the phone on the seat beside him.
How could Janey have disappeared like that? And under his watch no less? He had no idea who was after her, and he hadn’t tried very hard to find out. He regretted that now. He’d become distracted.
Ensuring that Janey remained safe was not just about protecting her bodily, but also about removing the source of the threat. He hadn’t done that.
He hit the wheel with his hand.
Was he going to lose another woman? His gut wrenched at the thought of losing Janey. He was not ready to give a label to whatever was going on between them, but he knew that losing her would destroy him.
He could not let anything happen to her. He was going to find her if it was the last thing he did.
Drew decided to circle the town once more. Surely, he would find something, anything, that would give him a clue about what happened to Janey. He glanced at the clock. Janey’s Blossoms, her flower shop, would be closing in a few minutes. He needed to check the store.
He parked in front of the store right next to a bright yellow VW bug. He was about to open the door when his phone rang. It was Rusty.
“Hey.”
“So, Janey absolutely left her home around zero nine five zero. No jacket and no evidence of anything else. She headed west of the property.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“I’m still combing the feed.” Rusty added thoughtfully, “I feel like I’m missing something. I’ll let you know.”
“Right.” Drew disconnected.
It didn’t tell him much, except that Janey had not meant to leave. She had probably taken a walk so she could process stuff, then someone had grabbed her. He turned on the car and pulled out. He could check the store later, he needed to follow Janey’s trail before night came and everywhere turned dark.
He drove back to the house and parked the car. This would be much better on foot. He walked as far as the entrance to the estate but there was no sign of Janey. One thing he knew for sure was that she must have gone willingly with whoever had taken her because there was no evidence of a struggle. So it must have been someone she knew. Or someone who had something over her. And knowing Janey, that seemed highly unlikely.
Drew retraced his steps and walked back to Janey’s cottage. There were only two other times in his life that he’d felt so helpless.
The first was when Anne-Marie had killed herself. The second time was when he’d watched his SEAL brothers fall around him in the Middle East because of defective body plates that were supplied by Senator Newman’s cronies.
At that moment, Drew felt powerless. He was used to action, but how did one act without information? It was almost as though Janey had just vanished into thin air, and he knew that was not possible.
Someone had taken her.
When he got back to Janey’s house, there was a silver SUV parked in front of her house. As he approached, the doors opened and Drew came to a halt. He could not believe his eyes when they stepped out.
The entire crew was there. Emily, Rusty, Tamkia. He felt his chest expand when another figure carefully got out of the vehicle. Ace.
These were his friends, his family. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Drew was overwhelmed.
Emily was the first to get to him. She was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a white tee-shirt beneath a tan trench coat. She took off her aviator sunglasses and stared at him with mint green eyes that saw just a little bit too much.
“You holding up okay?”
Drew nodded.
“We will find her.”
He took a deep breath and admitted something he would only have said to Emily, “I’m scared.”
She hugged his arm. “So am I, but we’ll find her.”
Ace was the next to reach him, and Drew was surprised to see Sierra there, Ace’s fiancée.
“Oh Drew.” She rushed to him and threw her arms around him. “She’ll be okay, don’t worry.”
Drew nodded, too choked up to reply. Over her head, Ace met his eyes and he knew that he was looking at the one person who knew exactly how he felt. Not too long ago, Sierra had been kidnapped and had also gone missing. Ace had gone crazy trying to find her. Just as he slowly was.
Drew still didn’t know exactly how he felt about Janey, but somehow, his best friends knew. Even more than he did, they knew that she had become essential to his existence.
**
“Who would want to harm her?” Emily asked.
They were seated in Janey’s living room. Sierra had made coffee for everyone and they were going over what they had so far.
“As far as I can tell, Janey has no enemies.” She kept mostly to herself and was pleasant to everyone.
“Except for that weasel, Mark,” Sierra said with a dark scowl.
“That’s just the thing. He is too much of a weakling to pull a stunt like this,” Drew said.
“Still…”
Drew glanced at Sierra. She was so fierce; he knew Ace would have his hands full. Glancing at his friend, he found him smiling fondly at her and knew that she made him happy.
Sierra was so different from Janey. With Sierra, you could always tell exactly what was on her mind; she didn’t hold back. Janey, on the other hand, was like an onion. The more layers you peeled, the more you discovered. Just when he thought he’d figured her out, he discovered that he was just beginning. Gentle and soft spoken, she was also stubborn as hell.
“I checked with him, Sierra, he’s been out of town for a couple of days.”
She nodded reluctantly.
“We should check the feed again.” Ace spoke for the first time.
They all glanced at him.
“I’ve combed through a dozen times,” Rusty said.
“Yeah, but Drew’s the one who’s been living here. Let him take a look. Fresh eyes and all that…”
They all nodded.
“Sounds like a great idea,” Rusty said, pulling out his MacBook.
As he set up the video feed from the cameras, Drew suddenly remembered that he’d set up a camera in the greenhouse as well. Shit. He did not think Janey would appreciate everyone viewing what had happened between them that morning.
His eyes flew to Rusty. The other man was looking at him with a smirk on his face. Then very subtly, he shook his head. Drew felt his heartbeat settle down. Rusty must have edited out that footage.
The video feed showed Janey coming out of the Greenhouse. She looked…stunned was the only way he could describe how he looked. She started towards the house, paused, then turned towards the street. A bright yellow bug drove past her on the opposite direction, then the footage ended.
Drew went still.
He had seen that car just that day.
“Play it again.” His gaze was focused on the screen.
Rusty hit play. When it got to the part where the car came out, he signaled Rusty, who paused the feed. Drew stared at the yellow car on the screen.
“What is it, Drew?” Sierra asked.
Drew kept his gaze on the screen. “I know that car.”
“What about it?” Emily asked.
He had seen Janey’s assistant driving that car. When he’d called earlier in the day, she’d said that she hadn’t left the store all day. But if her car was on Janey’s street at the exact same time that Janey disappeared, it could only mean one thing.
Riley knew what happened to Janey.
“Fucking hell.” Drew wondered how he could have missed it.
“Talk to us.”
He looked up and found everyone’s eyes on him. The last thing Drew wanted to do was talk. He needed to go out there and find Janey any way he could, even if it meant intimidating the hell out of that Riley woman. But he took a deep breath and told himself to calm down.
“That car belongs to Janey�
��s assistant, Riley. When I couldn’t find Janey, I called her, but she said she’d been in the store all day and hadn’t left at all.”
“Yet her car was on Janey’s street,” Rusty concluded.
Drew nodded. “The funny thing is that they don’t have any history that I’m aware of. They always get along so well.”
“It’s always the ones you never suspect,” Tamika said quietly.
They all turned to her. Tamika and Ace both did not talk much, but Tamika hardly spoke at all. So when she did, everyone paid attention.
“I am confident she has something to do with this.”
Rusty turned his MacBook and began tapping the keyboards. “I have her address,” he said after a while.
Drew stood up.
“Hold on.”
Their gazes swung to Emily.
“Let me place a call to Kinsella.”
Aaron Kinsella was a retired captain who had been involved in a number of their cases. He was also the bureau chief of organized crime at the Chicago Police Department.
She got up and walked into the kitchen.
“Why would Riley wish to harm Janey?” Sierra asked. She sounded as befuddled as he was.
“I have no idea,” Drew said with a sigh. “But I intend to find out.”
Some minutes later, Emily walked in. “Kinsella will inform the police chief here. They need to know that we’re operating within their jurisdiction, just in case something goes wrong.”
“We have to wait?” Every minute they waited could cost Janey her life.
Emily met his gaze and he saw the sympathy in hers, but she nodded. “We wait, Drew.”
Drew swallowed the stream of curses that were at the tip of his tongue. Without another word, he walked out of the house.
Chapter Eleven
Janey came awake slowly. She had no idea where she was. Everywhere was dark. She could not feel her limbs and her head felt like she’d just been run over by a Mack truck. She tried to open her mouth and discovered that it was taped shut. She felt her breath come in short bursts as panic threatened to envelope her.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 32