Chapter Two #2
He still couldn’t wrap his head around the situation. In what world did Grace pretend to die instead of facing the problem head-on? And, hell, in what world did Hayden agree to go along with the story? He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What else do you know about her ex-husband? First impressions. Last impressions. What are your thoughts?”
He forced in a long breath and held it for a five-count.
“At first glance, I thought he was a dick. But we didn’t realize how bad it was until after the FBI raided Marino’s houses and offices and led him away in handcuffs.
” He dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling.
What to say when he couldn’t substantiate anything beyond gossip and conjecture? “He probably abused her.”
“From the redacted divorce documents…” Vivian nodded.
“Hayden and I knew some details from their stepmom, but not enough. How long has he been out of prison?”
“A few months.”
His eyebrows hit his hairline. “That’s all it took to find Grace.”
“The last known sighting of her was in Maryland more than a week ago at a small-town grocery store, where she asked the store manager to let her out the delivery entrance.”
“Hayden knew that?”
“No, her voicemail was only about her ex-husband. Her family has not been able to reach her since.”
“How do the grocery store and the voicemail connect?”
Vivian waffled her hand. “That’s what Dean is working on.
A day after the grocery store incident, the manager reported the abandoned car and interaction with the woman to local police.
The car was registered to an untraceable shell company.
That might or might not be Grace, but the car was also tied to a nearby cabin where a woman paid upfront in cash for a few months.
The name on the contract doesn’t match Grace Willoughby, but the description from the grocery store manager vaguely does. ”
“What about CCTV footage?”
She shook her head. “No security cameras. This was a small place in a tiny town.”
“But the manager’s description matched?”
“To that?” She gestured to the picture on the screen. “No. About the right height. Hair in a ponytail. But no makeup. Quiet voice. Nervous eyes.”
“Quiet with nervous eyes doesn’t sound like Grace.”
“A lot can happen to steal someone’s sparkle.”
He swallowed hard. His disbelief was gone, and he wasn’t ready to deal with the implications of his closest friend lying, but he couldn’t stomach a nervous, quiet Grace. “What else?”
“I had hoped to have something for you pretty quickly from Dean, but Grace knows how to cover her tracks. Hayden provided her aliases, phone number, and emails. Despite all the money she apparently still has access to, she works as a freelance calligrapher and illustrator.”
Dean, their resident former NSA-analyst, could find anyone’s electronic trail no matter how well they had tried to hide their digital breadcrumbs. That he’d come up with nothing was strange.
“I reached out to Marino’s lawyers this morning. They swear up and down that he hasn’t left New York.”
“What’s the assignment? She might be hiding from her ex, but she’s not going to resurface in her old life just because he found her.
She could get in trouble for faking her death.
” He worked over the angles. “Skipping out on the marshals, not testifying if she’d been compelled to by subpoena. There are possible tax issues…”
“Hayden wants you to set eyes on her. He wants to know what the hell is going on, and why the family can’t reach her, and he wants you to do it while keeping a low profile.”
“I bet.”
“Says he would do it himself if he could…”
“But he can’t.” Callum knew the life Hayden lived. It had been his life only a few months ago.
“This will probably be simple. She probably checked into a hotel and is watching trashy movies and bingeing on room service. That’s what I’d do if a nightmare ex showed up to scare me.”
“No, it’s not. You’d kick his ass.”
Vivian smiled and shrugged. “I might do both.”
“Okay, this is a stupid question, but since we have her contact information, what if I call her until she answers? Hell, I could leave a voicemail. ‘Hey, I know you’re alive. You’re scaring your family. Let’s meet up.’ No matter what she’s gone through, I don’t think she wants to scare them.”
“Be my guest.” Vivian frowned. She clicked her mouse, and the screen turned dark. “Something’s going on. If it looks like shit, and it smells like shit, it’s going to be a big pile of shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Give Dean another day to hunt down leads and send you the file. Then, after you find Grace and figure out the situation with the ex-husband, we can decide our next move.”
Callum pushed out of his chair. “I’d be good with stringing Dominic Marino up by his balls. Then again, that’s always been my attitude toward him.”
Vivian snickered but held up her hand. “One more thing. If the ex is a current threat, this might turn into a protection detail until he’s handled. You good with that?” She narrowed her eyes. “Anything I need to know about your past with Grace?”
There had been a time her smile would bring him to his knees. She would laugh, and he’d want to get closer. Good thing Callum had a hell of a poker face. He lifted his hands with a shrug. “I literally thought she was dead.”
“That doesn’t matter if there was a past between you two.”
Memories flashed through his mind. The time he and Hayden ignored her when the three of them played tag in the dark.
A few years later, when she was a freshman in high school, they’d watched out for her as high-and-mighty seniors.
Callum recalled the way she watched him with those beautiful brown eyes at his and Hayden’s Army Ranger graduation.
And the time Callum watched her drive away in Marino’s fancy-ass car, knowing he should have said or done something the first time he met the prick. “There’s not.”
“You sure, Hale?”
“Absolutely nothing. She’s always just been the girl next door. Come on, Viv, don’t look at me like that. I just thought she was dead. Cut me a little slack.”