36. Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Apparently the earlier flight had done little to appease Ben’s dragon. If he wasn’t mistaken, he could actually feel it rumbling in his chest. Or maybe he was doing the growling himself. Now he was out for a drive in the truck that at some point he would need to get back to Walter. Eric had insisted on tagging along, which was fine with Ben.
“You feeling better now?”
Ben glanced over at Eric. “Was it that obvious?”
“You were a bit antsy earlier. Other than going to see John, you’ve been cooped up at the house.”
“It’s more than that.” He wasn’t sure how to explain. “I feel like I’m stuck until I get my memories back, if that makes sense.”
“I get it. My memory was impacted after that witch’s spell hit both of us. I remember the frustration at that time, and I at least knew who I was and could remember my past except for a few events. Don’t lose hope. We’ll figure it out one way or another.”
Ben nodded and they drove in silence for a few minutes.
“We better head back to the house or we’ll be late for dinner,” Eric said. As if in answer to his announcement, his phone rang. “It’s Megan.” He clicked on the phone. “Hey.”
“Hi. Where are you two?”
“Out for a drive. We’re just turning around to head back to the house.”
“How far are you away from Nashville?”
“We’re on the outskirts. Why?” Eric said.
“Can you head toward Connor’s gallery?”
Eric frowned. “What’s going on, Megan?”
“Tessa got a call from the gallery to come and meet Connor. Said he has some information that can help us with reaching out to Mia.”
Ben’s dragon rumbled louder. “And she went to see Connor alone?”
“Yes. She didn’t get a bad feeling from him when we spoke. Said he’s all about money. She promised she’d give me a call when she was done talking to him.”
“How long ago was that?” Ben said as his heart thumped loudly.
“Maybe thirty minutes? She was on her way there, but I would think she should be done by now. I called her and the gallery, but no one is picking up.”
Ben sped up. “We’re on our way.”
“We’ll call you as soon as we find out what’s going on, Megan.” Eric hung up. “I don’t like this.”
Ben gripped the steering wheel and didn’t respond. If something happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
“Ben?”
He needed to concentrate. “Just remind me how to get there, Eric.”
And thank God his brother understood what he needed and simply directed him to the gallery.
Ben pulled into the lot. “Tessa’s car’s not here.” He came to a stop in front of the gallery, and both he and Eric got out of the car and tried to enter the building but it was locked.
Eric pounded on the door, and after a couple minutes a man came to the front and opened the door. “I’m closed, gentlemen. You’ll have to come back another day.”
“Where’s Tessa?” Ben barked.
“Who?” Connor said.
What the hell name had she used with him? “Sydney. Where is she? You called and asked her to meet you here.”
Connor frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ben took a step toward him.
Eric held up his hand. “Wait. Let me get Megan on the phone.”
Ben wanted to pummel Connor, but maybe Eric had the right idea for now.
“We’re here with Connor, and he says he doesn’t know where Tessa is.”
“Tessa said that Nadia called her and said Connor wanted to speak to her. That he had found a way to contact Mia.”
Connor shook his head. “I didn’t.”
Ben took another step toward him.
Connor threw up his hands. “I swear. I didn’t have Nadia call her.”
“You didn’t see her come into the gallery?” Ben asked.
“No. I’ve been in the back all afternoon working on my accounting. Nadia was watching the front of the shop, but she left for the night.”
Ben turned in a circle. “Do you have cameras?”
“Yes.”
“We need to see your recordings,” Eric said.
“I don’t want to be involved in whatever is going on.”
Ben growled and grabbed him by his pricey suit jacket. Before he had to persuade him to help, Megan started talking.
“Connor, please help us find her. You obviously aren’t involved. Don’t become an accessory to whatever has happened.”
Connor nodded and Ben let him go, causing him to stumble.
“Show us the cameras,” he growled.
Connor led them to the corner desk and opened a laptop, clicked on an application, and brought up several screens with video. “The cameras record three days’ worth of video before copying over it.”
“Replay back the last hour.”
Connor reversed the time stamp and then fast-forwarded through the video in the store. The screen showed a woman sitting at the desk, talking to someone on the phone, and then according to the time stamp, twelve minutes later she picked up her purse and walked out the front door, giving them a clear view of her face as she left.
“That was Nadia leaving for the day.”
“Shit,” Eric mumbled.
Before Ben could ask what was wrong, Eric shook his head.
“Do you have any exterior cameras?” Eric asked.
“Yes.” Connor clicked on another button and selected a time stamp, and they started watching that as well.
“Wait. Slow it down,” Ben said.
The video showed Tessa’s car pulling into the lot and parking next to the gallery. Nadia walked over to her car and bent down. Then she opened the car and got inside.
“Reverse it back to when she leans down and looks in the window. There. Is that a gun?” Ben said, his gut twisting.
“Oh my God,” Connor exclaimed.
“Keep it running,” Eric said.
They watched as Tessa drove around the side of the building and out of sight.
Ben held his breath. “Do you have cameras in the back too?”
“Yes. That’s where I receive deliveries.”
They watched as Tessa drove up to a van and then tried to make a run for it. She fought back hard before the guy grabbed her and threw her in the van. Ben wanted to rip his throat out. His claws extended from his fingers. Luckily he was able to pull them back before Connor could see.
“Can you get a close-up of the license plate?” Eric asked.
“I don’t know for sure. But I can try.”
He zoomed in on the plate, and Eric used his phone to take a picture of it.
“We need to call the police,” Connor said.
“No police,” Eric said.
“What are you talking about?” Connor said. “She’s been abducted.”
Eric frowned. “Yes, by one of your employees. I don’t think you want that to get out, do you? It could impact your reputation. Plus I have contacts in the police department. I’m going to handle it. Do you have a thumb drive to save these videos on?”
Connor scrambled into the desk drawer. “I think I have an old one. Here.” He plugged it in and saved the videos.
“What is Nadia’s last name and contact info?” Ben asked.
“Beringer.” Connor opened a desk drawer and pulled out a book where he flipped through pages and then scribbled her address on a piece of paper.
“How long has she worked for you?” Eric asked.
“A little over a year now.”
Too much of a coincidence. “Was she here when you worked on the Death of Magic painting?”
“I hired her right around that time, yes.”
“Can we get to the lot through the back of your store?” he asked.
Connor motioned for them to follow him as he jogged through the gallery. He unlocked the back door, and Ben ran over to the car. Both doors were open, and the key was still in the ignition. Tessa’s purse was also in the car. He searched it and found the burner phone. He closed everything and brought the bag, keys, and phone with him.
“I don’t see anything that would tell us where she was taken.”
“We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions,” Eric said.
“I hope she’ll be okay.”
“If Nadia shows up here or contacts you, call us immediately on the phone number Sydney gave you.”
“I will.”
They headed out to the truck, and Ben spun to face Eric. “What the hell, Eric! Why aren’t we calling the cops?”
“We are. Just one of ours,” Eric said.
“You recognized Nadia, didn’t you?” He held his breath, dreading the answer.
Eric scowled. “She’s the witch that cast the memory spell on us.”
Ben’s heart beat triple time. “Let’s go.”
They climbed into the truck, and Eric called Megan again. “Megan?”
“I’m here with Marcus and Sienna. Tell us what’s going on.”
Eric quickly relayed what they had seen on the video.
“Why would they take Tessa?” Sienna said.
“Maybe they didn’t believe Tessa’s story. She gave them a fake name,” Ben said.
“Just a first name so that they couldn’t try and track her down online,” Megan said, her voice cracking.
“They still could if they used reverse imaging. Tessa would have been on the security cameras from the other day. If they took a still photo of her face and ran it through an online search, her real name and background would have come up. She has her own Wikipedia page.”
Eric gaped at him. “How do you know that? You’re technology challenged.”
“I’ve learned some things. How are we going to find her? She doesn’t have a phone with her.”
“No. But Connor gave us Nadia’s number. We can track her phone instead.”
“Jonas is on his way,” Marcus said. “But I have a call out to Carl. He can track her through the sheriff’s department.”
“I have the license number for the white panel van that she’s in that Carl can look up. I’ll text them to you,” Eric said.
“I have several guards already heading your way so they’re close by when we get an idea of where they’ve taken her.”
Ben had never felt so helpless. “What do we do?”
“I doubt she would take Tessa to her house, but we can check her address to see if we can find anything.”
Ben slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “There has to be something we can do!”
“We have to wait,” Eric said.
Up to this point he’d thought he understood what feeling helpless meant. But that was nothing compared to what he was experiencing right now, when he couldn’t help Tessa.
She had put herself in danger for him and for the clan. She had to be okay.
He wouldn’t accept any other outcome.