Chapter 25
"Like I asked before, what do you want?" Janie asked, sounding highly annoyed that they would intrude on her day.
"Hi, well, I need to know about Brendan. Have you seen him recently?" Gregory asked.
She started to close the door on Gregory.
He stuck his foot in the door. "Sorry, this is important. I don't know if he's involved in anything criminal, but I need to speak with him."
She frowned at him. "I thought you were a furniture salesman."
Sascha raised her brows. So Gregory didn't always tell people how much he was worth. With Sascha, she already knew, well, once she realized who he was, but it hadn’t meant anything to her.
"Yeah, well, here's the deal. When he and I were born—" He paused. "Can we sit inside and talk about this?"
She let out a breath. "Okay. Come in, though I don't usually let strangers into my house. But you seemed like a decent guy when we went out together." She glanced at Sascha.
Sascha raised her hands in defense. "I'm just a fortune teller."
The woman's eyes widened. "Can you do a reading for me?"
"Sure," Sascha eagerly agreed.
"You're a real one, right?" she asked as she closed the door behind them and they made their way into her living room, where three cats were perched in various places: one on a bookshelf, one on the back of a recliner, and one in a packing box that looked to be just for their entertainment.
"I am for real," Sascha said as she sat with Gregory on a couch, and Janie took a seat on a chair across from them.
Gregory hoped she would only give her a happy reading.
"So what's all this about Brendan? You know we broke up, and then he was madder than a hornet when he learned you had dated me that one time."
"Yeah, that's what we thought. Okay, so here's the deal. Brendan and I were born at the same time."
"No way. He's your twin?"
"No, we were both born at Memorial Hospital in Dallas. But his mother claimed that the babies were mixed up."
"Oh, I've met his mother. She and her husband divorced. She told me that Brendan wasn't her son, that some other baby was. I thought it was really bizarre. So you're the other kid?"
"The DNA results came back, proving that my parents were mine and that he belonged to Francine Drury."
"Yeah, I felt sorry for him. I always go for the underdog. I mean, what kind of a life could that be? When your parents don't want you because they think that you don't belong to them. And then finally treat you badly because of it. When his sister was born, it was totally different."
"How long were you dating?" Sascha asked.
"Six months. I saw the family several times, and the crappy way they treated him. But his sister was the princess and could do no wrong. I hated going over there, yet poor Brendan kept trying to win them over."
Gregory felt bad for him, knowing more of the backstory, though he had suspected that was what had happened.
"So what is the criminal stuff you think he has gotten involved in?" she asked.
"Well, you and I had that one and only date and—"
"Yeah, you were boring as all get out."
Sascha laughed.
"I see you're engaged to him, or at least you're wearing a ring." She pointed to Sascha's engagement ring.
"Yes, we're engaged. Someone has been trying to kill Gregory."
Janie had been sitting forward in her seat, and she sat back, her eyes wide, her mouth agape. "No," she finally said.
"It might not have been him, but he was angry that I dated you the one time, right?"
"Well, yeah. But we had broken up."
"Why?"
"I know it seems mean, but I couldn't stand seeing him constantly sucking up to his mom and dad when they wouldn't give him the time of day.
I told him to grow some balls, have a backbone, stand up to them, or dump them.
You know how it is. You're stuck with blood, but friends, that's another story.
I choose to have positive people around me. "
"Who aren't dull," Gregory said.
She laughed. "Yeah, so anyway, we broke up, and I figured that was the end of it.
I hadn't dated in weeks after the breakup, and then you and I met at the coffee shop, you asked me out, and I went out with you.
" She looked at Sascha. "We didn't do anything.
And I moved to Austin from Dallas shortly after that. "
"No problem."
"So then I realized that Brendan had a tracking device on my car and had followed us to the club. He didn't show his face or make a scene, but he followed me home and made a big deal of me going out after we broke up. But it didn't matter because we were no longer a couple."
"So he didn't take it well."
"No. He smashed my phone, and I was furious. I made him leave, and I haven't heard from him since. So what's the criminal business he might be involved in?"
"Someone has been trying to kill me."
"What?" She glanced at Sascha.
"He, or whoever it was, ran the vehicle off the bridge that I was riding in, and we believe he thought Gregory was in the car."
He was glad she didn't mention it was a limo. Janie would probably wonder all about that, and he didn't want to get into it.
"Ohmigod, that's awful. But you were both okay."
"Yes, but one of these times, it could be so much worse. The police have no leads, and the PI that I hired learned about you and your connection to Brendan and me, and we wondered if there's anything to that."
"I...I wouldn't think he would do anything like that."
"Can you get in touch with him? The PI believes he has dropped off the face of the earth, so he may be using an alias."
"Well, if he's changed his name, phone number, email, etcetera, I might not be able to get hold of him. But I'll try."
"What will you say to him?"
"I'll, well, I'll ask him to come and see me so we can talk things out.
I wanted to anyway. But he might be angry to see you here.
Still, maybe we can all talk things out.
I just can't believe he would try to hurt you.
" Janie got her phone and called a number.
"Hey, if you get this message, Brendan, I want to work things out with you.
I'll be here all day if you can drop by. "
She shrugged as she set her phone next to her on the armrest. "He's not picking up. He might be unavailable, truly, or maybe he doesn't want to get back together with me."
"Can you call his sister and see if she'll come by to talk to you? I don't think it will help if we see her parents," Gregory said.
"No, they're so set in their ways; no way will they come around and treat Brendan any differently.
I just need to show him that I'm good for him and he needs to let go of them.
" She thought for a moment, tapping her finger on the armrest. “I don't think it will do any good, but I'll call his sister. "
She called Brendan's sister and said, "Hi, Belinda, this is Janie." She paused. "Yeah, I'm trying to get hold of Brendan. Do you know where he's at?"
Gregory glanced at Sascha. She was frowning but didn't say anything.
"I'm going to put this on speakerphone because I need to feed the cats. So in answer to your question, I want to try and work things out with him."
"I don't know why," Belinda said.
"Because"—Janie paused—"I love him."
Belinda scoffed. "You know he's the black sheep of the family."
Only because, apparently, his parents and his sister made him that way.
"So do you know where he is?" Gregory asked.
"He was in Dallas, last I heard. He got a job up there, but I don't know what he's doing. Probably some dead-end job."
"Has he been in touch with you lately?" Janie asked.
"I heard from him when the two of you broke up. He wouldn't tell me what it was about. I figured you were off sneaking around on him," Belinda said.
Real nice sister.
"Well, I wasn't. It had to do with his family and how unsupportive they've been toward him."
"He's twenty-nine years old. He needs to support himself!"
"He has supported himself. I'm talking about his family being there for him, not monetarily, but emotionally."
"He has never been easy to live with. And you know what, he's not even really my brother."
Janie glanced at Gregory. He shook his head in disbelief. And he truly did feel sorry for him.
Then Janie said, "Oh, I've got an incoming call. I'll talk to you later." She ended the conversation and said, "Brendan?”
"Hey."
"I want to see you. Can we get together today?"
"Uh, I would have to make arrangements at work."
"Can you? I really want to see you." She glanced at Gregory, looking guilty.
"I'll get back with you on that."
"All right. You know I love you."
Brendan didn't say anything for a long moment.
"Brendan?"
Gregory wondered if he could even feel love for anyone after the way he had been treated growing up.
"Yeah, me too, babe. I'm sorry about the way I treated you. I might not be able to make it today. I need to get confirmation, and if I can't, I'll see if I can get a break soon."
"All right. Thanks. Love you, honey."
"Love you." Then he ended the call.
They all sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Do you see what I mean about his sister? Total bitch. Just like his mother and rotten father," Janie said.
"What was Brendan working at before this?" Gregory asked.
"He was in the military, Army, then came home and worked at a car dealership."
"Not as dull as my job."
Sascha and Janie laughed.
"I didn't say your job was boring, but that being with you was."
Everyone laughed. Gregory knew Sascha didn't think he was boring, but he did wonder why Janie thought that.
"So what makes Brendan more fun?" Sascha asked.
He wished she hadn't asked.
"Oh, he liked to take me paddling, skydiving, bungee jumping, hiking on overnighters and longer, and mountain climbing. I mean, he is really fun to be with. And he has a great sense of humor."
Gregory thought he had a great sense of humor also!
Sascha smiled at him. And he read her mind. You do, and you don't need to take me bungee jumping or mountain climbing. We do great together. A furniture salesman, eh?
He smiled at her. Then he got a call from Red.
"Hey, Mr. Landry, I had something important that came up, and I wondered if it was possible to take off the rest of the day.
You've got all the rest of your bodyguards, and I would have talked to you about it face to face, but nobody knows where you're at. "
On purpose. "Yeah, sure, do you need more time than that?"
"I don't know. Maybe two days off?"
"Take whatever time off you need. Can you tell me what this is in regard to?" He thought he might need to give him some upfront funds if he needed it.
"I might be getting back with my girl."
Gregory looked at Janie. Hell, Red couldn't be Brendan, could he?
Red? Sascha asked in her mind.
"That sounds great. I hope it all works out for you."
"Thanks, sir." Red sounded truly grateful.
Red was wearing a blond beard, had red hair, and his eyes were green. Brendan was blond-haired, clean-shaven, and his eyes were blue.
He didn't have a picture of Red with a beard, or he would have shown it to Janie. Now they had a problem: if Brendan was Red, he still needed to be arrested for trying to murder Gregory. But Gregory felt the guy had never had a chance to live a normal, healthy life. And he wanted to help him out.
I do too, Sascha was thinking.
Which was good because Brendan could have killed her too, and he wanted her involved in the process.
His dad was friends with everyone—the mayor, the governor, the prosecutor, judges. Maybe they could work out a deal.
He couldn't believe he would even think this way about the man who tried to kill him and who might have been hiding under his own roof out in the open, with access to him, and knowing just where he was going and when.
He thought of all the times that Red was out checking the perimeter or the parking lot at the fairgrounds, able to communicate via email without anyone ever knowing he could have sent it.
He could have easily borrowed the clown costume and shot the missile at Sascha's booth while the other bodyguards were watching out for them.
He could be the maniac hiding in plain sight.