The Lost Girls

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lucy woke up at dawn. Four hours of sleep. Hardly enough after the last two days, but better than when insomnia plagued her three months ago.

She considered an early-morning swim, but after last night’s exercise, she was still physically tired. She went downstairs to Sean’s gym and jogged on the treadmill for three miles, working out the kinks and tight muscles, then ran hard for two miles. It helped. By the time she was done, she was starving. She hadn’t gone to the store, but a few weeks ago she’d stuck some homemade tamales in the freezer. Who said tamales weren’t for breakfast?

She popped them in the oven and went upstairs to shower and dress. By the time she was done, so were the tamales, and she ate two of the three with her morning coffee while reading her email. Carina had sent a message the night before with photos of John Patrick and a note that she and her husband, Nick, would come out a week before the wedding and couldn’t wait to see her, Sean, and the house. Which was good, because Sean and Carina hadn’t hit it off when they first met. Mostly, Lucy couldn’t wait to spend time with her nephew. He’d be nearly five months old by then.

Lucy cleaned up the kitchen, then went upstairs to put on a little makeup, braid her hair, and grab her gun and blazer. She was slipping on her low-heeled boots when the doorbell rang.

Out of habit, she checked the security screen Sean had installed in their bedroom. An attractive blonde stood there, well dressed and obviously upset or angry about something. A neighbor? Maybe. Lucy knew the neighbors to the north, an older retired couple who’d lived in the neighborhood for nearly forty years. Didn’t Sean mention a female lawyer across the street? She’d referred a job for Sean at a bank or something.

Lucy went downstairs, cautious but not suspicious. She didn’t like always assuming the worst when something unexpected happened. People knocked on doors all the time.

She opened the door. “May I help you?”

“I need to talk to Sean.”

“And you are?”

She hesitated, just a minute, before saying, “Madison Spade.”

Spade. Sean’s ex-girlfriend who’d hired him to find her son and husband. She must be beside herself, and if Sean was deep in the case he might not have had a chance to call. Lucy understood how frustrating that could be. And worrisome.

“Come in,” Lucy said. “I’m Lucy Kincaid, Sean’s fiancée. Can I get you some coffee?”

She seemed surprised at Lucy’s offer. “No, but thank you. I need to talk to Sean and he’s not returning my calls.”

Lucy led Madison into the living room and motioned for her to take a seat. The woman didn’t, but Lucy did to make her feel more comfortable. Madison sat a moment later.

“I have to talk to him now.”

“I’m sure he told you that when he’s working, there are times he can’t call-it may not be safe, he may not have new information. I can assure you that Sean knows what he’s doing. Both he and Kane have done this many times.”

“But I told him yesterday not to go!”

Lucy was confused. “Why?”

“Carson called me. I spoke to him. I talked to my son. They’re fine. They’ll be home Friday. Sean should never have gone down there!”

Something odd was going on. “You need to trust that Sean knows what he’s doing.”

“He hates me. That’s why he’s doing this.”

“He doesn’t hate you, Madison.” Lucy was generally very good at reading people, but she was the first to admit that complex relationships weren’t her specialty.

“And you’re being so nice to me. You must be a saint.”

“No, but I trust Sean. Could it be he thought your husband was still in trouble? Called you in order to protect you? Sean is good at getting information, maybe your husband was forced to call.”

“No, no, that’s not it.” But Madison didn’t look at her. There was definitely something more to whatever was going on. “Sean went because of Jesse. I should never have come here. I was just so worried… and now my entire life is a mess.”

“You’re scared. I understand. But your life isn’t a mess. Sean and Kane are the best in this business, they will bring back your husband and son, safe.” Lucy paused, not sure how much she should say. And she was beginning to worry about Sean as well. They’d spoken last night, and he’d sounded preoccupied, but she expected that. “Sean mentioned your husband may have gotten involved with a shady business deal.” That seemed a delicate way to broach it. “Could he have found out that you hired someone to find him? Maybe that’s why he called, because he doesn’t want anyone knowing where he is until he, well, completes his business. But anytime there are… less-than-legal business arrangements, everyone is at risk. Sean isn’t going to be concerned about what your husband is doing as much as making sure your family is back, safe.”

Madison stared at Lucy. “You really don’t know Sean, do you?” She stood up and started pacing. “He’s doing this as payback. I told him to stand down, and he won’t because he’s stubborn and angry. He’s going to make me pay because of one little secret, one stupid mistake. I will not lose my son to him. He has no legal recourse to take him from me. You have got to talk to him, tell him to leave this alone and forget I ever came here. If he ever once cared for me… please… my husband’s life-my son’s life-depends on it. Please. I’m begging you, Lucy.”

Lucy might have been naive about interpersonal relationships, but not this. It was as clear as glass.

“I will talk to him,” Lucy heard herself saying as she stood up. The room faded around her, and all she saw was a long tunnel. It was like she was swimming through molasses as she walked Madison to the door. “That is all I can promise.”

“Thank you. Really, thank you so much. Tell him if he does this for me, if he leaves this whole thing alone, I’ll tell Jesse the truth. On my terms, in my way. I’ll tell him everything.”

“Okay.” Lucy walked Madison to the door, said something she didn’t quite remember, and closed it behind her.

On autopilot, Lucy walked to Sean’s office. She logged into his computer. Sean was super-security-conscious, but he gave Lucy all his access codes in case she needed “the best computer money can buy,” as he said.

She didn’t need his computer, except for the fact that all the research he’d done on Carson and Madison Spade would be here.

She didn’t need to look far. All she needed was to look at the photograph of Jesse Spade to know that he was Sean’s son.

Jesse was up early. Well, maybe because he didn’t really sleep much last night. When he was certain his dad was asleep, he snuck into his room and grabbed his cell phone. He tried to call his mom, but the call wouldn’t go through. Jesse didn’t know why-just that cellular service was unavailable. Then he went downstairs in search of a landline, and couldn’t find one. He knew there was one in Dominick’s office, but the door was locked. Jesse thought that he might be able to break in, but he was too scared. So he went back upstairs and lay in bed until the sun was up. He might have slept a bit, but when he woke, he was still tired.

His dad was sleeping and the house was quiet. He went swimming, but not for long. Antsy, he returned to his suite and took a shower and played his DS because he didn’t have anything else to do. As soon as his dad woke up, he said, “Can I call Mom?”

“Maybe later.”

“Can we leave today?”

“I said we might be able to-I have to go to town and set up a new bank account for business. If everything goes well, probably tomorrow. Friday at the latest. Like I said.”

“I really miss Mom.”

“I talked to her last night, when you were sleeping. She didn’t want me to wake you up. You know, she is a little angry with me because you’re missing so much school, but she can’t wait to hear about the football game. That was fun, right?”

“Yeah.” It had been the best night since they’d been here, until those two men grabbed him and tried to tell him his dad was some sort of criminal. “If you talk to her tonight, would you wake me up?”

His dad smiled and ruffled his hair. “Of course. I would have woken you up last night if I knew it was so important to you.”

“Can we go do something after you go to the bank? Maybe I can go with you and check out the museum, they have a reptile exhibit-”

“No, this is business, Jesse, you need to stay here where it’s safe. I can’t keep an eye on you if I’m working with the bank to set up a complex business account.”

“I’m twelve, Dad. I don’t need to be babysat all the time. I just want to-”

“No,” he said. “Jesus, Jess, let it go. We’re not in Redondo Beach, California-we’re in the middle of Mexico. It’s not safe for Americans to just wander around.”

“I wouldn’t be wandering, just-”

“No.”

“Fine.” Jesse walked to his bedroom and slammed the door. He was so bored. And a little scared. Because his dad was acting weird, and Jesse didn’t like all these guys with guns everywhere, and he thought for certain that Gabriella had seen that guy with the scar on his neck grab him and she didn’t say anything… what was his name?

Kane.

The guy Sean called him Kane. Who were they? Why had they tried to get him to go with them? Kidnappers? But if they were kidnappers who wanted to ransom him like his dad was afraid of, wouldn’t they have like maybe knocked him out and carried him out of the stadium? Or drugged him or something? Why try to talk to him about coming with them? And they sounded American.

It was weird, and Jesse really wanted to talk to his mom.

Maybe Gabriella would let him use her phone.

He fell back onto his bed and looked at the clock. It was still early, not even eight in the morning. Gabriella never got up early, but Jesse knew she’d be around later. He’d wait.

It wasn’t like he was going anywhere.