Chapter 8 G
Chapter Eight
G
I cannot believe I had to resort to such childish antics in order to get her attention.
She had been off my radar for so long. After the release of her debut album thirteen years before, she had all but disappeared from the public eye.
I had seen her once or twice since the night we met at Smirk but after she fulfilled whatever obligations she had with the record label, she was gone.
Not even that brief affair she had with another singer could keep her in the public eye.
Of course, it all boiled down to the time she spent with Moore. I recognized him, of course. Everyone in my business knew who he was. I didn’t expect him to be on the scene all these years later. Then again, I didn’t even know she had a kid.
If it wasn’t that I recognized her voice singing the intro song to some teen drama, I would never have known where to start looking for her.
I had sent her some fan mail over the years but I wasn’t sure if she got any of it.
But thanks to the writing credit on that song she performed, I knew her real name and it was easy to track her down.
The waitress at the quaint diner offered me a smile. “Would you like to hear the specials, or do you know what you want?”
The girl couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.
She could’ve been younger, with her dark hair in such a high ponytail, she looked no older than a freshman.
But I believed the owner of the diner was a stand-up guy and wouldn’t hire anyone underage.
“I’ll just have a cheeseburger, fries and a coke. ”
She nodded and stepped away. Her sneakers squeaked on the black and white checkered tiled floor as she made her way to the counter. She punched in the order on a desktop computer, then entered the kitchen.
The ring of the bell over the door had me pulling my baseball cap a little further down.
Not so much that I looked suspicious, but enough that I wouldn’t be easily recognized.
The teenagers, a few tables away, got my attention.
They were celebrating a birthday. Based on the crown on her head, I guessed it was the blonde wearing it.
The waitress, who seemed to be the only one working that afternoon, used her hips to swing the kitchen door open as she brought over a big two-tiered cake with two candles in the shape of a one and a five. The table started singing happy birthday. They were loud and full of smiles.
I could only pick up bits of the conversation, not that I was paying too much attention. I was only interested in information on Eve. Or Everly, as the case may be. I doubted those teenagers knew anything about her.
The waitress, Shiloh according to her name tag, hurried from the table as the man in the kitchen called my order.
“Shi — you can relax after this.” The man seemed to be more familiar with the girl. “I can handle whatever customers come in. And that gentleman doesn’t look like he’d be a lot of trouble.”
He was, of course, referring to me. And his statement was not technically true. I could be a lot of trouble. I had no intention of making trouble and wanted to maintain as low a profile as possible. It wouldn’t help to draw unnecessary attention to myself.
As I ate my burger, I scrolled the messages on my phone.
The most important ones were from a hacker called AntMan.
I’d found him while searching a forum on the darkweb.
He mined information and then sold it. His rates were steep, but he promised discretion and had a one hundred percent success rate of evading law enforcement.
He was the one who had sold me the information on where to find Eve Halle. Actually, he was quite prepared to help me and take my money. But as soon as he found out her real name, he tried to back out of our agreement. He even went as far as offering to refund my money.
In the end though, after some begging and threatening, he gave me what I needed.
Confirmation that Eve Halle and Everly Hale were the same person.
He also provided me with her address, cell phone number, and private email account.
The ones I had been using were for her fans that her manager mostly managed.
I hadn’t used that one in so long, since I never received a reply to any of mails to her.
The information packet also let me know that she was a mother.
What it didn’t tell me about was the father of her child.
I didn’t stick around for long after they found my parcel, but I witnessed enough to know that Moore was the father of her kid, and that he was somehow involved in her life. They looked far too cozy together.
Rage flowed through my veins. How dare she get pregnant by another man? What happened between her and Moore that night at The Dane was supposed to be of no consequence. I’d forgiven her for that, after all, we all had transgressions, and she was just acting on her primal urges.
But to get pregnant and still be with that same guy for all that time, that she needed to pay for. And only after I had meted out her punishment, would our life together begin.
A phone rang and the woman who looked to be the mother of the girls at the birthday celebration, pulled a phone out of her purse.
She smiled as she looked at the screen. “Hey, Everly.”
That got my attention. Apparently, Everly was well known in the town. I did not hide the fact that I was eavesdropping. Or the frustration of only hearing one side of the conversation.
The woman nodded. “Sure, you can drop her off at the diner, while the police do what they need to do. I can drop her off at your place when you’re ready.”
The woman nodded and I waited for more information. “Yeah, it makes sense that you wouldn’t want her to be there. I’ll keep her with me until you tell me what the plan is.”
She nodded some more. “Oh, you’re almost here? Should I wait for you outside or are you coming in?”
I didn’t wait for an answer, it was my cue to leave. If Eve was on her way to the diner, I didn’t want her or Moore seeing me. If she was well connected in town, it would be more trouble.
She had the Salingers arriving minutes after the little brat had found the package.
The kid screamed before she even got to what was inside.
Not only was the package not meant for her, her little outburst had Moore rushing to protect her and ensured that Everly never even got to see what I sent her, let alone the note I had written.
It took weeks of planning. I had to ensure that she would be away from the cottage, and that no one was in that house. With the brat still having dance classes despite the holidays and everyone else either at the Salinger farm or away with family, it was the perfect time to sneak onto the property.
I actually wanted to pick her rudimentary locks and leave the package inside, just to let her know that I could get to her if I wanted. But that mutt wouldn’t stop barking and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.
Low key was how I was going to win her over.
What I hadn’t counted on was Moore being part of the picture. I didn’t account for him and for some reason AntMan had not mentioned his presence in her life. I needed more information on him. I wasn’t sure if AntMan would help me though.
He was very interested in my business until he found out who Eve really was. Or maybe, something else in the information he found on her had spooked him. Either way, I thought it was prudent not to mention that Moore was connected to Eve if I wanted information on him.
I climbed into my car and fired off a quick message in the app AntMan told me to use.
G: Hello AntMan. I have some business for you.
AntMan: G, it's good to hear from you again. As long as it doesn’t involve the same people as last time, I’m sure we could come to some arrangement.
G: This is for a different person. I need some information.
AntMan: You know my fee.
The hacker did not come cheap. Even if I only wanted a basic background check it would be more than the average cyber investigator.
The deep dive I required would use up a sizable portion of the budget I had set aside for setting up a life for Eve and myself.
But the information was necessary. I could only eliminate the competition if I had as much information on them as possible about him.
G: I will wire the money as soon as I can.
With that, I started my car and pulled out of the parking lot just as Everly and her kid were pulling in.