Chapter 16
16
I t was the early evening before Ruben was finishing up with the maintenance around the pool.
No, he didn't have to do it on his own, but he liked the busy work.
It kept him from rushing off and following Aubree around like a shadow.
He'd felt better when Alara was in town because he knew that the FBI Special Agent believed that Aubree was in danger, so she'd been all the more motivated to take care of her.
While the brass believed that Alara was wrong since no one had attacked Aubree, Ruben couldn't shake the feeling that Alara was the only one who really had her head screwed on straight.
Using the power washer on the pool deck had helped occupy his time and thoughts. The subtle but unending vibration that he felt through his hands was doing its job, but it was the moment he turned off the machine and set it aside that all of his worries rushed back into his head.
He reached into his pocket for his phone and before he could talk himself out of it, he dialed Aubree's phone.
It rang a few times before it clicked over, and he heard her voicemail message.
"Hey. It's Aubree. I hate recording these things. So do the thing and make it worth the cringe I went through for this message. 'Kay?"
After the beep, he struggled with the idea of what to say. Then decided to go with the truth.
"Hey, it's Ruben. I was just thinking of you. Missing you, really. When you get a chance, call me. I know you're going to be upset that Alara left to head back to San Antonio. I can't say I'm happy about it either. So stay safe, Aubree."
He was about to hang up but decided to add one more comment. "I love you, 'Bree. I can't wait to hold you again."
He ended the call and heard some chirping from the direction of the trees.
Nothing odd, but still, he turned to look.
Instead of one of the local birds, he saw a mountain lion looking back at him.
Ruben blinked and forced the beat of his heart to slow from the sudden uptick in speed.
The mountain lion made no move to come closer.
In fact, he made no move to go anywhere.
Instead it just looked at him.
And Ruben, looked back.
He kept expecting something to scare the large cat off.
Something crept up into his memory.
The sound of Aubree's voice.
"It was my brother, Diego."
Ruben narrowed his gaze at the lion and wondered how scared she must have been to see a wild mountain lion when she'd been trapped in her car, after the wreck.
Still, she didn't think about the lion as a wild thing.
Her words replayed in his head. "It was my brother, Diego. I saw him. Or rather..."
He remembered the way she'd looked down at the ground, avoiding his gaze.
"I saw him in the eyes of the mountain lion who laid down beside me in that wreck."
The lion hissed at him, lifting its chin as if he wanted to lock gazes with him. Ruben didn't flinch or take a step back.
It wasn't because he was or wasn't afraid of the animal he saw.
He didn't move because he was hoping it would say something to him. Something about the reason it was there.
Or what he was supposed to get out of their... meeting.
"Ruben?"
He turned his head and saw Jagger Kline standing in the opening of the doors that led out to the pool deck. "Hey, Jagger. Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Everything is fine with me. I just wanted to stop in and see if I could use the pool."
Ruben nodded but took a moment to speak.
He was watching Jagger's expression and his stance.
His face didn't show much more than his normal guarded expression, but it was the tight line of his shoulders that said he had something he was working through.
"Go ahead," Ruben nodded. "I just cleaned the deck but as long as you avoid the wet spots, I'm good with you coming in."
Ruben turned back to look at the mountain lion just beyond the wall, but the creature was gone.
He scanned the campus in and around the pool area, but he couldn't see a thing beyond the normal landscaping he saw every day.
Part of his head said that he'd just been imagining things, but something deep in his chest said that there was something else happening.
He just didn't know what it was.
It's amazing the things that pop up in your memory when you weren't thinking about it.
Or when you're desperate not to think about the trouble you were actually in.
Tied up and crammed into what was likely the trunk of a car, it kind of made sense that her mind would conjure up another memory.
Something similar.
But then again, what would be similar to getting kidnapped by a murderer?
Maybe... that was the answer.
Swimming in and out of consciousness, her shoulder and hip bouncing heavily against the hard shell of the trunk, pictures came out of the darkness.
It was late and the road ahead of her was just reflective paint and darkness. The music on the radio was from her phone connected to the car with Bluetooth. Queen's Radio Ga-Ga was coming through the speakers, and her fingers were tapping on the steering wheel along with her left foot as she focused on the road ahead and staying awake.
It was just another drive home from the police station when her headlights caught the outline of two cards on a side road.
Leaning forward, closer to the wheel she saw that one car was parked in front of the other, headlights on, and the car behind it was lighting up the back of the first car.
Dead battery?
It wasn't until she was almost driving past that road that she saw the distinctive lines of rooftop lights on the second car.
A traffic stop?
But where were the lights on top of the car?
Her instinct told her something was off.
There could be any number of reasons why those two cars were on the side of the road like that, but she whipped a U-turn on the main road and drove down the side road toward the other cars.
When her headlights washed over the cars from the back, she could see an officer standing beside the driver's window of the front car.
Knowing procedure the way she did, she lowered her window and stayed put in her car. Getting out without the benefit of her own red and blue lights could be a horrible mistake.
People jumping out of their cars at a traffic stop would make any law enforcement officer nervous.
This late at night on a road with no streetlights? Even worse.
So she kept her hands on the wheel and when the officer turned around to look at her, she smiled and nodded. Keeping calm and relaxed.
As he walked toward her he had his flashlight out and pointed at her in his hand raised up by his ear.
She repeated his license plate to herself as he moved closer.
"Put the car in park and shut off the engine."
"Officer, I'm-"
"You're going to turn off your car and put your hands on the steering wheel."
Aubree tried to per herself in his shoes.
Lone officer and a random car pulling up on his traffic stop?
Disconcerting to say the least.
She lowered her right hand slowly and deliberately and turned off the engine.
When she put her hand back on the steering wheel, she heard the man speak again.
"What in hell made you drive up to a traffic stop?"
"I'm an officer with the New Mexico State Police and saw you on the side of the road. Your lights aren't on. I thought you might need some assistance."
His flashlight lifted and shined in her eyes.
Instinctively she lifted her hands to block the light from her eyes. "I can show you my badge."
"Badge, huh?"
She nodded, trying to narrow her gaze so she could see beyond the blinding light. It didn't work.
"Show me your ID."
The man's tone was harsh and rough, but that wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. A lot of men that she worked with saw her as an outlier. What kind of help could she offer them?
She lifted her hands from the wheel and gestured at the center console. "It's in my purse. Beside me."
Something outside of the blazing white light caught her attention. Something about his car.
The decal on the driver's door was peeling off.
Her heart sank and her skin prickled with awareness.
The officer holding a gun on her wasn't an officer after all.
If she played her cards right, she might be able to get to her service pistol where it was under her purse.
Swallowing down some of her nerves, Aubree managed a smile. "I'm going to get my badge for you. It's under my purse."
"Slowly."
She nodded. "Slowly," she agreed. "I have to lift my purse to get it and-"
Pain exploded against the side of her head and then there was nothing.
The pain in her head now wasn't just a memory of the pain from her memory.
The pain in her head was a living, breathing thing.
And her vision wasn't helping matters either.
There was no light inside the trunk, and she wondered if this was what it was like to be stuffed inside of a refrigerator.
Someplace where the light only came on when the door was opened.
Aubree breathed in through her nose since there was something heavy and tight around her mouth.
It was something in her favor really.
If he was just going to kill her, he could have done so much more than cover her mouth with... tape.
He could have killed her just as easily as he'd taken her captive.
No, he had something else in mind.
Something she didn't want to put a name to.
Whatever he had in mind for her meant that she had time.
Time to figure out how to get out.
How to save herself.
She had a whole damn life to get back to.
And a family that didn't need to lose one more child.
Ruben picked up his phone and didn't bother to look at the screen.
He swept his finger over the screen to accept the call.
"Hello-"
"Ruben? This is Antonio Cueva."
"Sir?"
Ruben looked down at the screen to see the man's name lit up against the black background.
"I came to the station to pick Aubree up and take her home, but she's not here."
Ruben dropped his chin down in a nod. "You tried her phone?"
He cringed even as Antonio answered his dumb-ass question.
"And the officers there?"
"They saw her around and in her office, but no one remembers seeing her leave. Do you think Alara decided to stay? Maybe they went out chasing down a lead?"
Ruben couldn't argue with the other man's thought patterns.
They were hopeful even as panic was likely screaming inside his head.
"As far as I know. Alara left this afternoon."
"Okay."
Ruben heard the worry in the other man's voice. "You didn't get a message from Aubree?"
"No." There was a tremor in the man's voice.
That fear multiplied inside of Ruben even though they were just talking on the phone.
Aubree wouldn't leave the station without a ride.
She couldn't.
"I tracked her phone."
Ruben's eyes squeezed shut. He should have done that himself. "And?"
"It's stationary along the side of the highway."
Ruben opened his mouth to ask a question-
"I've already been in touch with her boss. He's put out an APB for her because her phone," Ruben heard her father clear his throat, "and her purse were just found by a patrol man on the side of the road."
Ruben felt his heart go absolutely still in his chest.
"They found..."
"Her things, but not her, Ruben, remember that."
Her things but not her.
There had to be a fine line between relief and insanity at that moment.
He knew what Aubree's father was saying.
They hadn't found her body.
Her dead body.
No. He told himself. He wasn't going to fall apart.
He, more than anyone else, could talk about having a spine.
He had one with more metal in it than he cared to admit.
But when it came to Aubree, the dominant part of him was his heart.
He had to find her.
"Where can I meet you?"
As Antonio rattled off his location, Ruben crossed to the edge of the pool and caught Jagger's attention.
The other man stood up in the pool, water falling into his eyes from his longer than regulation haircut. "You okay?"
Ruben shook his head. "Sorry, Jagger. I need you to get out of the pool. I have to leave."
Jagger didn't argue. He just rolled up onto the deck without question. "Is there something I can help with?"
Ruben shook his head. "Aubree's missing. I have to go."