Chapter Twenty-Eight
SEBASTIAN
Sebastian: Is everything okay?
Sebastian: Simon, talk to me.
Sebastian: If you’ve changed your mind just tell me.
It’s been four days since I last talked to Simon. Since we agreed that I was going to work things out so we could take our relationship out of this weird gray area into something more serious.
I know he’s waiting for me to tell him something changed in my divorce process, but I decided I’m not willing to wait.
I don’t care that it hasn’t been long since Tony and I separated.
Our marriage was never more than a business deal.
And nobody has made me feel the way Simon does. I want him to be mine.
Only mine.
I try calling Simon’s phone again, but it goes to voicemail. I’m dialing the number for his other job at the assisted living facility when Lehman enters the room.
“Belle Argo Assisted Living. How may I direct your call?”
“I’m trying to reach Simon Sinclair. Is he working today?”
The woman pauses before blowing out a shaky breath. “Uh. No. He’s not working today.”
“Do you know when he’ll be in next?”
“Are you family?”
Odd question. But since I’ve used the lie before, I say, “His boyfriend.”
“Oh.” The syllable is almost a whisper. “Well, this is kind of awkward then. He kind of disappeared in the middle of his shift the day before yesterday and he hasn’t been in since.
I overheard one of the administrators complaining.
He’s usually such a good employee, but she’s saying she might have to fire him for walking out? ”
My stomach clenches. “Simon loves his job.”
“He does, right?” I can almost hear her nodding her head. “He’s honestly one of our best nurse aides. All the patients love him. Is there a message I can take in case I do see him?”
“No. I’m sure he’s at home, not feeling well or something. I’ll touch base with him soon.” Meanwhile, there’s a block of ice settling in my stomach.
I hang up and immediately dial Brennan.
“Yoohoo.” Lehman waves some papers at me. “You asked me to update you when—”
I give him the universal hand signal for “wait one damn minute.” Except I use my middle finger.
“Perez Laundry Service, how may I help you?”
“Brennan, this is Sebastian Pierce. I’m looking for Simon.”
“Can’t give out the personal information of my employees to a client, Mr. Pierce, not even the ones who pay me a fuckton of money.”
For the love of—I swear something inside me is about to snap. “I have his personal information, asshole. I can’t reach him, and his other employer says he left mid-shift two days ago and hasn’t returned. I’m worried.”
“You try calling him?”
“Oh shit, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Yes of course I called him. His phone goes straight to voicemail.”
“Look, sometimes he falls off the radar for a few days so he can study. I’m sure it’s nothing too—hang on.”
I mute the phone and place it on the desk. Lehman raises his eyebrows at me.
“I talked to Simon at a fundraiser a few nights ago. We agreed to start dating, to have a real relationship as soon as I got Tony to sign the divorce paperwork. Now suddenly I can’t reach him.”
“Did the two of you agree or did you insist and then take his silence as agreement?”
I think back to that night. Maybe getting Simon to agree while I was jerking him off wasn’t entirely legit, but… “He did agree. Sort of. I think.”
The look on Lehman’s face shows his doubt.
Lehman glances at my phone, still silent, and then clears his throat. “You’re not going to want to hear this, but I’ve got some news about the disappearances.”
“Kidnappings.”
“Potato, Lindberg Baby.”
“I don’t know what that mean—dammit, just tell me.”
“Liam’s team combed through the locations the last few people disappeared from.
I mean, they went all out. They talked to catering staff, partygoers, DJs…
everyone. A couple of homeowners were uncooperative, but some of the locations were vacation rentals, so they had more leeway.
Interesting thing, every location was either minimal on security cameras or they’d been disabled.
Buuuut….” He waggles his eyebrows. “The location of that summer blowout or whatever they called it had a close enough neighbor to get footage of Parker being led to a white van.”
That rings a bell. “Simon was at that party. I think he may have mentioned a white van.”
Lehman nods. “Right. And Tony was there.”
“I talked to him. He was hired as a promotor. He put out the word and got people in the door. Based on our conversation at the fundraiser, didn’t have any real information.”
Lehman sighs quietly. “Bas. I know you think you’re detached and objective about Tony because your marriage was a business agreement, but I think you’ve got a blind spot where he’s concerned because once upon a time you were friends, and you felt for him when his life got turned upside down.
You’re not going to want to hear this, but when I say Tony was there, I don’t mean at the party.
I mean we’ve got a video still showing him standing by the van while some guy they haven’t yet identified shoved Parker in the back. ”
Now I know what getting drenched in ice water feels like. “No.”
“Hate to say it, but your buddy sounds like he’s got a point.” We both startle as Brennan’s voice comes on the line.
“Dammit, I thought I muted you. How much did you hear?”
“Most of it. Simon’s brother is here. He said Simon hasn’t been home in a couple of days. Given that our interests are aligned, I figured it would be good to listen in case your guy had good information. Which he did.”
In spite of my denial, Lehman wouldn’t lie to me. I’m so damn furious I can barely think straight. “I didn’t see it. Tony, I mean.”
“To be fair, I wouldn’t have either if I hadn’t seen the video.” Lehman seems to hesitate before continuing. “There’s something else kind of strange.”
“Stranger than someone I thought I trusted showing up at a goddamned kidnapping? Let me guess. Dragons? Werewolves?”
Lehman shrugs. “I suppose anything’s possible, but no.
They couldn’t see the driver of the van through the tinted windows, but they did run the plates, and it’s registered to a local farm.
Some sort of religious community out near Beacon Hill.
I don’t know what the connection is, but it sounds like Tony was working with someone out there.
Has to be one of the farms the guy we questioned talked about. ”
Lehman might not know the connection, but I think I do.
I sit up straight, blood boiling. “Simon told me he grew up on some kind of a religious commune not far from here. He said it was a farm. I don’t know what Tony would be doing involved with these people, but I don’t believe for a second this is a coincidence. That motherfucker.”
“Gotta take some deep breaths, bro,” Brennan pipes up. “Going off half-cocked isn’t going to help us find Simon.”
I open my laptop to start searching. “Fuck off, Brennan. He didn’t tell me the name of it, but I think I can find it on a map. He said it’s near the restaurant where we had dinner reservations, about half an hour outside of town.”
“You’re obviously too pissed off for your brain cells to work properly, or you wouldn’t be telling me to fuck off. I just told you Simon’s brother is sitting right in front of me. Besides, I know where the place is. I’ve been there.”
“How the hell do you know where Simon grew up?” It’s a stupid, stupid thing to get jealous over, but someone’s childhood home is personal. And I remember Simon saying the place was insular. So how has Brennan been there?
“Cool your jets, big man. I know where it is because I’m the one who found him on the road after they almost killed him.”
All the breath leaves my lungs in a rush. Brennan saved my life. That’s what he meant. Shit, I really wanted to hate the guy.
There’s a murmur on the other end of the phone. Simon’s brother, I guess.
“Gabe says he thinks he knows where Simon would be if they took him there. We can’t go in guns blazing, though, not now. Florida’s got stand your ground laws, and those assholes are definitely armed.”
“It’s a farm.”
“Tell me you haven’t spent any time on a farm without telling me.”
“Fuck you. We need to do something. If Tony’s involved with these people who got sold overseas to the highest bidder and he also was somehow involved in taking Simon, then we need to find him and we need to find him now.”
Before Simon becomes one of the people sold overseas. I don’t need to say it out loud. I don’t even think I can.
“We’ll find him. I’ve got some bodies, but we might need more. You have any?”
I glance up at Lehman, who’s texting on his phone. He nods.
“Tell us where and when.”
Wherever he is, Simon had better be okay. Or whoever took him won’t be.