Chapter 51
Chapter Fifty-One
Kain
I left Andrew’s body for Godfrey and rushed back to meet Milo. Harry had given the apartment number on the first floor of Eva’s building.
I knocked on the door, and Harry opened it. A woman stood next to Emilio and smiled. She had a friendly face with caring eyes, looking familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen her. Right now my mind was muddled, and all I could think about was Eva’s safety.
“Hi, I’m Camila. Nice to meet you.” She extended her hand, offering a firm shake.
“Kain,” I said. “Nice to meet you too.”
She turned to Emilio. “Can you ask Milo to come out now?”
“Sorry to bother you this late at night.”
“It’s no bother. We all want to get Eva back as soon as possible.”
Harry gestured for me to follow him to the dining room, where a tray held bingo cards and chips.
I pulled out a chair for Harry and one for myself.
“Milo’s here,” said Emilio.
I looked up at the boy with a laptop in his hand, and recognition flared. Milo had been at the flower shop that day when I met Eva. He had knocked into a display rack.
I rose to my feet and approached Milo. “Nice to meet you. I heard you’re a genius.”
Milo offered a crooked smile, studying me. He had light brown hair with freckles dusting his nose and cheeks. He wore a pair of gray sweatpants and a long-sleeved knit top. Milo didn’t look as frazzled as that day.
“You remember Eva, right?” Camila asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Yes,” Milo said, placing his computer on the table and plugging the electrical cord into the outlet on the wall.
“Eva needs us right now.” I stood beside him. “Can you help us locate her?”
“I remember you. You saved her from the rack.”
“Yes, I did.”
“I’ll try to find Eva.” Milo folded himself into the chair.
“Thank you for helping, Milo,” Harry said.
Emilio grabbed a chair across from Harry, and the two men began a hushed conversation.
“What happened that day at the flower shop?” I looked at Milo. “You ran away from your grandmother?”
“Milo is sensitive to smells, particularly chemicals.” Camila rubbed his back while he typed on his computer. “It triggers his anxiety, and he panics.”
“I don’t like preservation solutions like heparin, which is used to prevent blood clotting in the organ during transport.”
“My smart boy can remember certain details that we might overlook,” Camila added.
My chest tightened. “Did you smell it that day?”
Milo nodded. “The man in the flower shop that day.” His nose crinkled. “It was very strong on him. He walked past me in the street. I don’t know why I followed him. The odor was potent. It was all over the shop, even on Eva.”
Even though I was there that day, I remembered nothing except her. I needed to review the recordings in her shop. This could be the same man who had placed the bleeding heart order. William Bell was supposed to pick up his order in two days. Would he come or send someone else?
I wanted to find Eva now, not in two days.
“This is her phone number. It goes straight to voicemail. We need her location. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.”
While Milo worked, I wondered about his condition. His personality differed from when I first saw him. Right now he appeared to be a tech whiz as he opened a private browser. His fingers flew across the keyboard, and a new webpage splashed onto the screen, filled with codes.
I met Camila’s eyes and gestured for her to follow me into the hallway.
“I know what you’re going to ask me,” she began. “Milo has osmophobia. It stems from past trauma. Certain smells trigger a memory, forcing him to act out sometimes. The eucalyptus scent calms him, and he’s a lot better now.”
“Does he need to rest? I’m sorry to put him through this.”
“Milo knows Harry, and he’d do anything to help him. Besides, Milo enjoys solving mysteries.”
We returned to the dining table where Milo’s fingers worked fast, changing up codes that filled the screen swiftly.
“He knows computers and high-tech stuff.” Pride showed in her eyes.
“I’m typing in her number now,” Milo said.
“How can you locate a phone that’s been turned off or has no reception?”
“All phones have a silicon chip, which is made from quartz crystals. Bits of silver and gold are also used in the phones. There’s a charge to them, a frequency that’s always there.
These are elements from nature, so they’re never truly ‘off.’” Milo smirked.
“With the right codes, any phone can be activated long enough for its location to be traced.”
“Are you serious?” My eyes flicked to Camila, Harry, and Emilio, who shrugged. I couldn’t believe this. “You help me get her back, and you’ll have a job, kid.”
He looked up at his grandmother and grinned. “Grandma, I could pay for all your medical expenses.”
“No, you save it for your future.” Tears filled Camila’s eyes.
I didn’t know how old he was, but I’d create a position for him. With all the advanced technology emerging every day, my corporation could use someone like him to protect my assets and those I love.
“It’s going to take me some time to work on the right codes.”
My stomach growled, but I dismissed it.
“You need energy to keep going.” Harry pointed at my head. “The brain needs food too.”
“I’ll order a pizza,” Milo said. “There’s a place down the street that’s open until two in the morning. The college students love going there.”
Harry was right. I had to take care of myself so I could find Eva. Though she’d been gone for hours, it seemed a lot longer. The seconds stretched on and on, with worry and fear making them seem even longer.
“Thank you.” I reached into my wallet, offering Emilio my credit card.
He snorted. “I can feed you.”
“Do I need to call the police to report her missing?” Harry asked me.
“No, Godfrey sent the video of the kidnapping to Detective McNally. He should call me soon.”
“Okay.” Harry nodded. “Let me know if he needs to talk to me.”
“I will.”
As though Detective McNally sensed someone talking about him, my phone rang with his name.
I walked over to the living room, picking up the phone. “Hi, George.” I hadn’t addressed him by his personal name in a long time. “Do you have any new leads?”
“Not yet. Do you know if she has any enemies? Did anyone make threats against her?”
“I think it’s Hawthorne,” I said.
Detective McNally knew about my past with the Black Rose Killer.
“You think he’s alive?”
“I know he is.”
“Fuck, Kain,” he huffed. “When were you gonna tell me this?”
Despite knowing the truth, I didn’t want to drag Harry or Emilio into this mess. What if Detective McNally wanted to question them for their knowledge? He was a detective, and there were rules he needed to follow no matter how friendly he was to me.
But I knew sometimes regulations hindered rather than helped.
“It’s a gut feeling, George. You need proof, but I don’t have that. The recent murders have his MO all over them. Yes, some details are different, but I think he’s the mastermind behind everything. He’s got a network of people committing crimes for him.”
Several scenarios of what Eva could experience surfaced in my mind.
What if they forced her to extract or package organs?
I knew she was still struggling with that phobia.
Fear coiled in my stomach, which soon twisted into vengeance.
I thought I’d shoved that down for later when I had time for myself.
But the anger and the desire to hurt those men who put their hands on her rushed through me like magma, hot and deadly.
Eva was innocent. She had nothing to do with Hawthorne. Still, I had failed to protect her. Guilt gnawed at me. What kind of man was I if I couldn’t protect the woman I loved?
“Do you really think he’s alive?” he asked again, pulling me out of my reverie.
“Yes,” I replied. “Which means the officers who claimed his DNA matched a burned body lied to us.”
“I’ll review that report again and see who worked on it. Does Eva have any family members I can talk to? I need to follow proper procedure to avoid any loopholes.”
“Her grandfather is here. Hold on a sec.” I handed the phone to Harry and signaled that I would be outside.
Harry nodded and took the call.
Needing air and a moment to myself, I walked down the hallway and stepped onto a balcony, staring into the night. Streetlights flickered on the empty street. Somewhere a car honked, a dog barked, and a woman yelled at her man for drinking too much.
Where are you, Eva? She was still angry when our last call ended. Everything had been one huge miscommunication. Though I tried to remain positive, worry ate at me.
When I thought the past could never be healed, Eva patched me up with passion, creativity, and devotion to her family.
I had forgotten what it felt like to have a family until her.
I gripped the iron railing, my fingers curling tightly until my knuckles whitened, and vowed to get her back at all costs.
The door to the balcony flew open, Harry’s face beaming with hope.
“Kain! Milo got something!”