Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
T he big hand inched closer to twelve, and Reed wished it would move faster. He wanted to get back to the café before Lauren left. Time was moving as slowly as the client they were interviewing, talking about his security needs for a high-profile actor who was coming to film a movie in Margaret River, a town almost four hours south of Perth.
Prior to a week ago, Reed had been keen to take on the assignment, but now, he didn’t want to leave Lauren or Charlee. Steve knew that but still needed him to attend the meeting as he had taken the initial call from the agent.
Finally, the client finished speaking. “Right, that’s all we need. Do you think it’s something your company can provide?”
If the guy knew exactly what Power Security did he wouldn’t be asking that question. “Of course, providing personal protection is one of the main services we offer. We will get a proposal to you with regards to costs and plans of action to deal with their transportation to and from set and to and from the town.” Reed stood and held out his hand. “Thanks for coming.”
Normally Reed would’ve explained a bit more about what they would do but all he wanted was to get out of there and to the café.
Patrick had gone underground. He hadn’t been seen anywhere near the café, and Lauren hadn’t received any more texts, calls or emails. She now believed that she’d been right and Patrick had been all bluster and no substance. But he wasn’t so convinced.
Wilt ushered out the client and Reed headed straight for his desk to collect his keys and phone. Andy was watching Charlee’s school and Steve had taken to working remotely from the café on the days when one of them, namely Reed, couldn’t stay there because of other work commitments.
He breezed past Margot. “See you tomorrow.”
“Reed wait. Something arrived for you.”
He stopped, hiding his irritation at the interruption. It wasn’t Margot’s fault. “What is it?”
Margot held out an envelope. “Not sure, but it arrived about thirty minutes ago.”
There was nothing on it to show who it was from, but that wasn’t unusual. Some of the work they did required anonymity. He tucked it under his arm. He’d look at it later. His main priority now was getting to the café and Lauren. “Thanks.”
Fifteen minutes later, Reed pulled up to the café, noting that there were still a few cars in the parking lot. Not unusual as Tabby’s Café was very popular, especially in this new location where there was more traffic driving past. It helped that one of the major food websites had done a feature on it recently.
As he went to get out of the car, he paused, grabbing the envelope. He should look at it before he went inside the café.
Reed pulled out the contents and his blood chilled. In his hands were at least a dozen photos of Lauren and Charlee. Charlee playing at school. Both of them at their home. Pictures of Lauren leaving the café with Reed beside her.
“What the fuck?” There was only one person who would’ve taken these photos, and that was Patrick. Which meant he knew where Reed worked.
Fuck .
And he knew where Charlee went to school.
Fuck.
Lauren and Charlee weren’t safe.
Jamming the photos back into the envelope he strode toward the café, relieved that Steve was there today. He needed to talk to his boss so that they could form a plan of action. Patrick may have been quiet in terms of contacting Lauren, but he’d been watching, and Reed hadn’t seen him. Or even felt his presence. Neither had the others.
If Patrick had taken the photos, then he was a more dangerous foe than they thought.
“Hey Reed, do you want your usual?” Tabitha asked when he walked in. That was another thing that put Tabby’s Café in the more popular category—she knew what her customers liked. That personal touch made a huge difference to a business’s success or failure.
“That will be great thanks. Steve in the back?”
Tabitha’s brow furrowed, clearly surprised he’d asked about her husband and not Lauren like he normally did if she wasn’t the one who greeted him. “Yes. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just work stuff.” He kept his voice light, the last thing he wanted to do was worry her, although Steve would tell her anyway.
“Okay. Lauren’s in the kitchen.”
“Thanks.” If he didn’t stop and say hello to Lauren, Tabitha would be even more suspicious. He’d planned on seeing Lauren before seeing Steve anyway, but Tabitha didn’t know that, particularly after his first words had been about her husband and not Lauren.
The aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air as he wandered into the kitchen, the envelope burning in his hand. He wouldn’t show Lauren the photos, not yet. Not until he and Steve had spoken and had come up with a plan of action.
“Hey Ren.” He wanted to walk over to her and kiss her, but he controlled the urge. He’d been wanting to kiss her ever since he put his mum’s ring on her finger. That was a lie, he’d been wanting to kiss her long before that, but hadn’t felt that he could. Or had any right to.
“Hi.” She smiled and used the back of her hand to wipe her cheek
He noticed the ring hanging from a chain, further testing his limits in not hauling her close and claiming ownership of her. At least she’d kept her word and had it close by. “Busy day?”
“Yep.”
She was avoiding his eye, and her one-word responses raised red flags. Reed went on alert and looked around, as if there were any clues as to what was troubling her. “What’s wrong?” he asked, the envelope crinkling as he crushed it a little bit. He deliberately relaxed.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired. As I said it’s been a busy day.”
Again, she wasn’t meeting his gaze, there was something going on, but he was getting to know Lauren really well now and knew that he couldn’t push her to answer him, even if that annoyed him. She would tell him in her own time—if at all.
“Right. I’m just going to see Steve, and then we can go get Charlee.”
“You don’t need to do that anymore. Okay? We’re fine.” There was a bite to her tone. A bit of exasperation, frustration and…fear? He had to be imagining it, unless Patrick had got in touch with her. Had he sent her photos as well?
Not wanting to exacerbate the issue any further, he nodded and headed toward the office tucked off to the right of the kitchen.
Steve was looking at something on his laptop when Reed walked in. “Did Lauren get a delivery today?” he asked without preamble.
“Why? What’s going on?” This was another great thing about his boss, he trusted his staff and knew that there was a reason why Reed had asked the question.
“I was just talking to her. She was acting out of sorts. Something’s happened. She’s reverted back to being short with me. And,” he tossed the envelope on the table, “these were delivered to the office, addressed to me with no return address.”
Reed paced around the small space, as he waited for Steve to open the envelope.
“What the hell? Do we know when these were taken?” Steve placed the photos back on the table.
“Looking at the clothes both Lauren and Charlee are wearing, not to mention what I’m wearing, I’d say in the last week. The whole time Patrick has been silent. He knows where I work. Who I work for. Where Charlee goes to school.”
Steve sat back in his chair, and it may have looked casual, like he didn’t give a shit what Reed had just showed him, but Reed knew his boss well. Steve was running everything through his mind. He was considering how the photos could’ve been taken without anyone’s knowledge and what it all meant.
Reed was too close to it all so he wasn’t thinking clearly, his immediate thoughts were to grab Lauren and Charlee and hide them somewhere safe. Then find Patrick and eliminate the asshole so that he couldn’t hurt Lauren anymore. But he couldn’t and wouldn’t do any of that, at least not without a plan and not until he had all the facts and information he needed.
“These were taken by a professional,” Steve surmised. “Someone who knew how to get them without being detected. We’ve been keeping a close eye on the surrounding areas of Charlee’s school, their home and here, there haven’t been any suspicious cars lurking around. I don’t think it’s a private investigator who’s done this.”
“Do you think it’s Patrick? After all, he’s been able to find out Lauren’s number after she’d changed it. Not to mention where she lives and the café. Plus my connection to them now. Although I haven’t been hiding that. As far as Patrick believes, we’re engaged.”
“How much time have you been spending with Lauren and Charlee?”
“Not as much as I’d like. Lauren’s pretty stubborn, as you know, so I’ve been giving her space.”
“Maybe not a good idea, because if you and Lauren were engaged you’d be spending more time together. If Patrick is the one who has been watching you, then he’s going to think his first assumption was right, that you and Lauren aren’t really engaged.”
Reed dropped into a seat and sighed. Steve was right, they hadn’t done anything to convince anyone watching them that they were in a true relationship. “What do we do? I can’t force myself onto Lauren. Do you think that Patrick has contacted her? You never did answer if something was delivered to her.”
“There’s been no deliveries apart from some supplies, but today is the usual day that they arrive so I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Is it possible that Patrick knew this and arranged for a little extra to be put in the delivery?” Reed wished that wasn’t the case, but after seeing those photos, anything was possible.
“Maybe, but he’d have to pay off the driver, and the guy that delivers the supplies has been doing it for years. Tabby knows him well.”
Reed hated that they seemed to have more questions than answers. “We still don’t know if Lauren did get a letter or photos like I did. The only way to find out is to ask her.”
The question was, would she answer him or put him off?