CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Jack
I burst through the doors at Salazar Nights, only to find it mainly empty. It seemed the party had wrapped up, and most of the people around were from the nighttime cleaning crew.
“Fuck!” I yelled and had to stop myself from punching a wall.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Enzo Salazar walked up, a frown on his handsome face. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“It’s Daisy. I… screwed up. She thinks badly of me and ran out of the house.” I pushed a hand through my already messy hair. “I saw her get in some van, and now I can’t find her anywhere.”
Enzo looked confused. He was holding a glass of whiskey and leaning against the wall casually. “What the fuck did you do? I told you to treat her right, asshole.”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah. Well, I tried to, but I might not be the best at being a boyfriend. I’ve never actually done the whole relationship thing before.”
Enzo’s eyebrows went up. “Never?”
“Never.” I looked around, still hopeful I might see her somewhere in the huge club. “Look, have you seen her or not?”
“No. Not since the two of you left earlier.” He sipped his whiskey and stared at me. “What do you mean she got in a van?”
“It was a Dinardo’s Deli catering van. I assume she knew the person driving.”
Enzo looked surprised. “I think there might be a lot I don’t know about Daisy…”
“She worked there for years. She knows everyone from there. Look, are Jelly or Nia still around?”
“Jelly’s back at Sugar. I don’t know who Nia is, so…?” his voice trailed off.
“Right. Okay.” He took pity on me.
“Come on. Let’s find Ray Ann at Sugar.”
“You don’t call her Jelly?” I asked absentmindedly as he steered me out of the club and onto the city sidewalks still teeming with people out for a good time.
“She’s too pretty to be called Jelly,” he said simply.
I nodded, barely listening. I was going back over everything Daisy must’ve seen.
Why hadn’t I locked the door to my surveillance room?
It took my breath away to think that she’d seen all of that—the screens, the video, the evidence that I watched her whenever I was away from her.
And then there was the deed to my house.
I hadn’t filed it away because I hadn’t wanted Grandma, who kept track of all of my records, to ask a bunch of questions about the house.
I knew Daisy had seen it because the papers had been scattered all over the floor.
I walked into Sugar with Enzo leading the way. He looked around for a minute before nodding towards the tables closest to the bar. “There’s Ray Ann. She’s with her usual customer,” he grinned.
I didn’t care one iota what he was talking about. I saw Jelly rolling her eyes at some handsome dark-haired guy. She had her hands on her hips and looked like she was giving the guy hell, but he had a lazy smile on his face, not bothered in the slightest. I hurried over to her.
“I don’t know why you fight it,” I heard him say to her. “Just come to the VIP room with me and give in…”
“Jelly.”
She looked up at me, startled. “Jack?” She frowned.
“Who the hell is this?” the guy she’d been talking to eyed me with distrust and what looked a lot like jealousy on his face.
“Don’t you worry about it,” she threw back at him before grabbing my arm and pulling me towards a more private area. “What’s going on? Where’s Daisy?”
“I don’t know.”
Fear flashed across her face. And Jelly wasn’t exactly the kind of girl who showed much fear. “What the fuck does that mean?”
I explained as best I could what had happened. Jelly looked more and more concerned as I kept talking.
“This isn’t good,” she bit her lip. “Let me go get my phone.”
“She’s not answering calls,” I said.
She gave me a look. “She’s not answering your calls. Let’s see if she answers mine.”
I followed closely behind her, but she was suddenly intercepted by the guy she’d been speaking with when I first walked up. He held onto her arm and looked down into her face with real concern. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly. “Is this guy bothering you?”
“I’m… fine.” She looked as if she almost told him what was going on, but changed her mind at the last minute. “And no, this guy isn’t bothering me. It’s fine, Paolo.”
Paolo looked me up and down. “Where are you going with him?”
“Look,” she stepped closer to him, and his hand dropped to her waist, “this is my good friend’s boyfriend, okay? I’m not going anywhere with him. I’m just trying to help him find her.”
The man’s face relaxed, though he still gave me a suspicious look. “Well, if you need me, you know where I am.”
She nodded at him and started to move away. His other hand went to her, waist and he held her for a second as he whispered something in her ear.
“I’m fine, I swear,” she assured him, and he finally let her go. He gave me a hard stare but let his hands fall from her waist.
“Sorry about that,” she said as she hurried through a back hallway and waved off a bouncer who tried to stop me. “He’s fine.”
The bouncer wasn’t going to take her word for it until Enzo caught up with us and leaned in to speak with the brawny guy.
Enzo waved us on. “Find her. Let me know if I can help. I’ve already called Carmen. She’s… busy at the moment, but once she’s available, she’ll give you both a call.”
“Could you call Nico? Have him contact the mayor and the sheriff and let them know what’s going on.”
Enzo’s face looked like a thunder cloud. “What the fuck is going on, Lancaster? Is Daisy in real danger?”
“She has a stalker… or two,” I admitted. “And I’m afraid she might have run directly into one of their hands tonight.”
“Jesus.” Enzo rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll call Nico right now. This feels like the Candace Keys nightmare all over again.”
Jelly turned, fear written all over her face. “I really don’t think so. Everyone at Dinardo’s is pretty trustworthy, I think.” A look came over her face. “But there were times when I worried about a couple of the employees.” She reached her locker, opened it, and pulled her phone out of her purse.
“There are no missed calls,” she said, disappointed. “Not from Daze, anyway.” She called her on speaker, and I hung on every ring until Daisy’s familiar voicemail message started. Jelly shook her head and hung up. “I’m calling Nia,” she said, “and you’re going to drive me to Cinnamon House.”
“I am?”
“You are.”
I turned away from Jelly while she talked to Nia and gestured for Enzo to come closer to me.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I might have a… slight problem.” I rubbed the back of my neck. I didn’t want the sheriff going through my house at the Estates at South and finding what Daisy found.
Enzo raised an eyebrow. “Tell me.”
I did, quickly, while Jelly was on the phone. When I got finished, Enzo’s face was impossible to read. He looked calm, except for his eyes. They were blazing at me, as if he was furious.
“I will have this taken care of, Lancaster.” He leaned in and grabbed me by my lapels. “But if I ever hear of you harming that girl in any way, you’ll answer to me.”
He dropped me, and I stumbled backwards a bit.
I was surprised. Nico was the Salazar brother I’d always been worried about.
But watching the dark look in Enzo’s eyes made me think I’d picked the wrong brother to steer clear of.
“How can I repay you?” I asked, reaching in my pocket and pulling out my wallet.
He laughed. “Put your fucking money away.”
My eyes shot to his.
His smile was smooth, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“I’ll call on you one day when I need a favor.
” He stepped back and raised his voice. “Now, I need assistance.” Employees I hadn’t even realized were standing around came running.
“Daisy Tiller is missing,” he said, and several people made exclamations of surprise.
“I need all of my brothers and Carmen. I need my parents… no, just make that my father. I need the mayor, I need the sheriff, and I need news coverage. I also need a couple of people to ride with me. We’ll be going over to Jack Lancaster’s house in the hopes that Daisy comes back there.
” He pretended to think about it. “Let me get Mario and Petra to ride with me.”
“Boss, they’re both working the cameras in Cayenne…”
“Then get someone to take their places. They’re coming with me.”
“Yes, sir.”
He gave me a head nod and a subtle wink, then stalked off to get things done.
I nodded, waiting until he’d turned around to slump against the wall. Damn. Enzo Salazar was intense. But if that intensity could help us get Daisy home, then I was all for it.
It wasn’t long before we were settled in Daisy’s old room at Cinnamon House.
Most of her things had been cleared out, but a few things remained.
Jelly had pulled out a cork board and propped it up on a dresser.
I was sitting in a chair while Nia was perched on the bed.
We both listened as Jelly went over each and every suspect she and Daisy had discussed over the past few months.
“I just don’t understand why she wouldn’t have told me all of this forever ago,” Nia repeated, clearly hurt. “I could’ve helped.” Nia had apparently been in the dark about the stalking up until Byron started watching over Daisy on campus.
“That’s not the main problem right now,” Jelly said, sounding decidedly less nice about it than she had the first time she’d said it.
Nia shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut for a second before opening them again. “You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry. She popped her neck as if she was preparing for a fight.
“Let’s do this. You have my full attention.”
They started to go through the list again, but I stopped them. “I think we can discount her old boyfriend, the guys from her classes, and all the other people not from the deli. I know it was a Dinardo’s catering van she got into tonight.”
Nia narrowed her eyes. “That’s just weird.”
“Why?”
“There were no catering events tonight. There was an office party in the early evening, but it would’ve been over hours ago. And it was nowhere near Estates at South.”
A cold chill went through me. I looked at the suspect board Jelly and Daisy had made. “So that leaves… Old Man Dinardo and Ivan? Can you tell me why each of them is on the board?”
Jelly bit her lip. “Daisy could tell you more about them. I just remember her saying that Old Man Dinardo sometimes looked at her a little too long, and that he talked about how pretty she was a lot. But she didn’t think he was her stalker.”
“What do you think of him,” I asked Nia.
“It’s not him. Yes, he notices that Daisy’s beautiful, but it’s more in a way that makes it clear he’s thinking of how she helps him, you know?
Like having pretty girls working at the deli means more businessmen and college guys come in for lunch.
It seems impersonal. I know because he treats me the same way. ”
I nodded, still not entirely sure. “And Ivan? Who’s he?”
“Just the cook,” Jelly waved her hand. “Daisy thought I was crazy for putting him up here. I just noticed him staring at her one day when I swung by there to see her. She said he was her friend.”
“Is that true?” I asked Nia.
“Yes.” She seemed more hesitant. “But… well, I hadn’t had a chance to tell her this, but he’s been asking about her a lot the past few weeks. And he seemed kind of mad that she was with you now,” she admitted, looking at me with her distinctive eyes.
“Hmm.” Jelly frowned. “I’m not a fan of that.”
“Me neither. A thought occurred to me. Do you know who worked the catering event this afternoon, Nia?”
A shadow crossed over her face. “Ivan. It was Ivan.”
“Are you sure?” Jelly asked.
Nia nodded. “Yeah. I know because he doesn’t usually do the events alone, but Old Man Dinardo sent him by himself since it was a relatively small event. He helped him do the prep work at the deli, loaded the van, and sent Ivan on his way.”
“So, Ivan had the van.”
She nodded, looking miserable. “Sorry. I should have thought of that sooner.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I’m sure there are a few catering vans. Who else had one out this evening?”
“As far as I know, Ivan was the only one.”
Jelly and I stared at each other. “He’s our guy,” she said softly.
“Really?” Nia asked, skeptically. “I’ve known him for a while now. I don’t think he’d ever hurt someone.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt her,” I said, not wanting to think about the content of the notes I’d seen.
Because whoever the fuck had left the ones addressed to ‘Pretty Girl’ sure as hell wanted to hurt her.
If Daisy really did have two stalkers besides me, I could only hope that Ivan had written the other letters, the ones address to Daisy.
Those letters weren’t great, but they were nowhere near as bad as the ‘Pretty Girl’ letters.
“Maybe,” Jelly said, doubtfully. “Do you know where Ivan lives?” she asked Nia.
Nia shook her head. “No. Look, are we sure he took her? Have you checked all the places she would have gone?”
I nodded. “She’s not at the condo. She’s not at Sugar. She didn’t go back to the party at Salazar Nights. She wasn’t here, obviously,” I gestured around the room. “I don’t know where else to look. I sure as hell don’t think he drove her all the way back to her hometown.”
“Did you see if her car was in the parking garage at Salazar Heights? He could’ve dropped her there and then she might’ve driven home.”
“I didn’t think of that,” I said. “Let’s go.”
On the way, Jelly looked at me with sharp eyes. “Why’d she run away from you in the first place?”
“What?” The question startled me, coming out of left field like it had.
Jelly just stared at me, waiting for an answer.
“We, uh, had a fight. She left while I was upstairs getting something. I assumed she was heading to Cinnamon House, but then I saw her get in that van. It flipped me out.”
“Because you knew she had a stalker.” Jelly concluded.
“Right.” She was making me nervous. Was she suspicious?
“Hmm.” Jelly let out a little hum and stared out the window. We were almost at the parking garage.
This was the last place I knew to look for Daisy. If her car wasn’t here, I could at least think she was safe at home in Crosston. But if it wasn’t here? I was going to be convinced the guy from Dinardo’s Deli had her. Ivan.
I grabbed the ‘oh, shit’ handle as Jelly practically caught air she zoomed into the parking garage so fast. I directed her to Daisy’s parking spot, though I thought she probably already knew where it was.
All three of us were quiet as Jelly pulled to a stop behind Daisy’s car. It was here, tucked safely in its spot.
But where the hell was Daisy?