Chapter 35
Grace
A few days after we’d had lunch, Mercy and I returned to the downtown office to be sure we had everything out, this time accompanied by Ry.
While Mercy and I sifted through things, Ry watched the door and the street beyond, carrying boxes, or plants, or whatever to the car whenever we needed him to. He was our bodyguard, our watchman, and our mover all in one, and he was good at all of it.
After about two hours, we wrapped things up, leaving a pile of things to be set out for trash or taken to the dump, and another of papers to be shredded.
We crammed into the car – Ry in the front passenger seat with a document scanner on his lap, and me in the back seat juggling two succulents while Mercy drove. We dropped Ry off at a work site, then continued on to Mercy’s apartment to get organized.
Late that afternoon, satisfied with our progress, we called it a day. Mercy dropped me off at the front door to my and Michael’s apartment and I returned her wave as she pulled away.
I turned to enter the building, then stopped. For the past week, I’d been trying to get to the tea shop down the block for a tea blend that Stacia, the woman Ace was currently seeing, had recommended. It was supposed to promote well-being and focus, and who couldn’t use more of that?
I redirected my steps, heading for the door to the shop, visible just a short distance away. It took no time at all to find and purchase the blend I was looking for, and I breezed back to the apartment building, squinting at the sun in my eyes, glad to be able to cross that errand off my to do list.
I’d nearly reached the front door of the building when someone stepped right in front of me and said my name.
I shaded my eyes and gasped.
Standing there – between me and the front door – was Seth.
Unnerved, I opened my mouth to scream just as Seth threw his hands up in front of him in the universal symbol for “I mean no harm.”
“Don’t,” he rushed out. “Don’t scream. I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Of course you’re not.” I took a step back, eyes flicking quickly right and left for an escape route. “That’s why you jumped out in front of me like you did. Completely normal, right? Everyone does that.”
I wasn’t sure where the sarcasm was coming from. Maybe fear. Or shock? I’d learned young that Ellis responded to sarcasm by being even more nasty and hateful. I never, ever would have spoken to him – or around him – the way I just had Seth.
“I had to. I knew you’d run if you saw me coming and you have that fucking giant who follows you around everywhere. I needed to talk to you alone.”
I tried to edge a little to the side, but he moved with me.
“Why? So you can tell me I need to come back? I’m not doing that, Seth. No matter how many men you or Ellis or whoever it was pay to try to kidnap me.”
A woman walking by glanced over with a frown and Seth shifted nervously.
“We can’t talk about this here. Let’s go inside.”
He’d lost his mind.
“You think I’m letting you inside my apartment with me alone? Not a chance. Say what you have to say and leave. For good. You’re lucky I’m not screaming my head off as it is.”
“Not here.” He paused as two more people passed by. “We need somewhere private. Look, I took a big risk coming here. You want to hear what I have to tell you.”
“Fine, but I’m not going anywhere with you. Is your phone number still the same?”
“Yeah,” he frowned. “Why?”
“I’ll talk to my giant and I’ll let you know where we can meet you.”
Seth’s eyes darted back and forth, scanning the street behind me nervously. “It has to be today. Ellis can’t know I was here.”
That got my attention. Seth had followed along behind Ellis for as long as I could remember. What could he have to tell me that he didn’t want Ellis to know?
It could be a trick. But it didn’t feel like one.
“It will be tonight,” I said firmly, having no clue if that was true. “Now go away and I’ll call you in a while.”
To my shock Seth did as I’d said. Hands in his pockets he slunk down the street looking this way and that, looking as shifty as a sleazy character in a low-budget movie. If he was trying to avoid calling attention to himself, he was doing a terrible job of it.
I watched until he turned the corner. The second he was out of sight adrenaline shot through me. I dashed through the front door of the building, sprinted up the stairs, and slammed through the apartment door like the hounds of hell were nipping at my heels.
I locked the door behind me and slid to the floor nearly panting with panic. I pulled my knees to my chest, rested my forehead on them, and made myself take a slow breath, then another, and another, until my heart no longer threatened to beat its way out of my chest. I slowly unfolded my legs and tipped my head back against the door.
It had happened.
The thing I’d worried about, planned for, feared for years, had happened.
And I’d gotten through it.
Not only that, I’d made Seth walk away and demanded to meet him on my own time and my own terms.
Hands still shaking with adrenaline, I pulled my phone from my bag to call Michael. The sooner we could meet Seth and send him on his way, the better.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Tears sprung to my eyes at the sound of Michael’s voice, and I blinked them back.
“Hi. Are you on your way home?”
“I’m on my way up the stairs. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m okay.”
“You sound shaky. Where are you?”
On the floor. In front of the door Michael was about to walk through.
I pushed to my feet and walked on unsteady legs to lower myself on a kitchen chair. “I’m home.”
As I finished speaking, Michael came through the door. He must have sprinted the rest of the way to the apartment. He rushed over to me and dropped to a crouch in front of me.
“What happened? Don’t tell me nothing.”
I had to swallow before I could get the words out. “I saw Seth.”
Michael’s eyes darkened as his big hands gripped my thighs. “Where? Did he see you?”
Did he know how much it meant to me that he didn’t question what I said I’d seen? Didn’t ask if I was sure?
“He did. It was here, outside. I talked to him.”
Michael’s concerned gaze raked my face. “What did he say?”
“That he wants to talk to me. He says he has something I need to hear, and that Ellis doesn’t know he’s here. He’s afraid for Ellis to find out. He was nervous.”
“Did he try to grab you? Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head, resting my hands on top of his. “Just scared me. Startled me, really.” My lips curved up in a small smile. “He said he needed to find me when my giant wasn’t with me.” Michael’s eyes, dark and serious, stayed fixed on mine. “He didn’t try anything else.”
“Where is he now?”
“I told him to go away, and I’d call him with a time to meet us to talk tonight.”
“That’s my brave girl.” Now Michael grinned. “Taking control and letting him know who’s in charge.”
I swallowed hard again, remnants of adrenaline still coursing through me. “I didn’t feel brave or in charge. I was scared,” I confessed. “I just wanted him to go away.”
“Being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you get shit done anyway.”
I didn’t argue, just nodded as I took a breath.
“What do want to do now, Gracie?” Michael asked. “You call it, time and place.”
“I want to get it over with. Hear what he has to say and hopefully be done with him and Ellis forever. Where...” I shook my head as I searched my admittedly muddled brain for a suitable spot. “He said it needs to be private.”
Michael looked as dubious as I felt.
“Maybe we should call Detective Chase and see what he says.”
“Want me to do it?” Michael asked.
A little of the tension drained out of my body. “Would you?”
“Of course.” Michael rose to his feet, dropping a kiss on first my lips then my forehead on his way up, then stepped back and pulled out his phone.
I heard him talking as I got a glass from the cabinet and ran myself some water. I leaned against the counter and sipped slowly, trying to settle my body and mind.
After a brief conversation Michael came back into the kitchen. “Detective Chase is going to talk to some people and get a meeting place set up. He plans to be there and have some plainclothes officers there in case anything happens. He’ll call us back in a few minutes.”
I set my glass aside as Michael came to stand in front of me. I tugged at the front of his shirt, and he complied with my unspoken demand, stepping into me and wrapping his arms around me. I looped my arms around his waist, rested my head on his chest, and let the steady thump of his heart soothe me, hoping it wasn’t too far-fetched to think that this whole thing may be over soon.
––––––––
A T DETECTIVE CHASE’S direction, we arranged to meet Seth at 6 PM at Forever Blue, a small bar owned and operated by a retired police officer.
The bar was mostly empty when Michael and I walked in a few minutes before six. There were a couple of men at the bar, both dressed in flannel shirts and ball caps, a man and a woman sitting at a high-top dressed like they’d come from an office job, and a lone guy seated at a big table, which gave the impression that a group of friends would be joining him soon.
Michael and I headed for the booth in the far corner where Detective Chase had directed us to sit, and slid side-by-side into the seat facing the door. The bartender acknowledged us with a chin lift, then came around the end of the bar to talk with us.
“Friends of Roman’s?” he asked, and we nodded at the name Detective Chase had given us. “What can I get you?” He cut us off quietly but firmly as we were about to decline. “You’ll draw less attention from other customers if you have a drink in front of you. It’s what people expect to see.”
So, he was in on the plan, too. It was good to know for sure that there were reinforcements nearby if needed.
“I’ll have a beer and...” Michael looked at me.
“Sparkling water with lime, please?” I requested. The bartender gave us a nod and walked back toward the bar just as Detective Chase walked through the front door.
He was dressed casually in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. He didn’t look at us or acknowledge us in any way, just walked over and joined the guy sitting at the big table.
The bartender delivered our drinks – Michaels’s in a dark bottle that made it hard to tell if it was full or empty, and mine in a short, wide glass that could easily have contained vodka along with the other contents.
As he walked away, Seth walked in.
I took a deep breath as Michael gripped my thigh under the table. Seth took inventory of the space, then twitched his way over to our table, looking as nervous as a squirrel in traffic.
He slid into the seat across from us, his eyes still darting around. “You’re sure this place is safe?” I was surprised to hear his voice shake. He was more than nervous; he was afraid.
Michael squeezed my leg again, giving me the lead.
“We’re sure. Tell us what you came to tell us.”
Seth ran a hand over his hair as he swallowed. “Ellis...” he paused, shaking his head... “I think your brother has completely lost it.”
“What do you mean?”
“All he’s talked about since you took off is finding you. He’s been obsessed. He fucking trashed the house that day when he realized you were gone.”
“Watch your mouth,” Michael growled, drawing a wary look from Seth before he focused back on me.
“You know how Ellis gets. He wants something he can’t have and it’s like that’s all he can think about.”
I didn’t comment but I knew that aspect of Ellis quite well.
“When you wouldn’t hand over that property, he came up with this whole plan to get it from you.”
Now I did speak up. “You mean the one where you were going to marry me, even if you had to drug me, and then steal it?” Seth’s face blanched as he stared at me. “Or the one where you and Ellis planned to kill me so you wouldn’t have to bother with the stealing part?”
“Hey. No.” Seth held his hand out as if he were pushing back on my words. “I never agreed to that.”
“Which one?” Michael asked, his words tight with barely restrained anger. “Drugging her, stealing from her, or killing her?”
“The, uh...” Seth hesitated, seeming to realize he needed to step carefully. “The last one.”
“We’re supposed to believe that?” I scoffed.
“I’m here trying to help you, right? Taking a big risk?”
I crossed my arms and stared him down, unimpressed.
Seth leaned in, stopping with another cautious glance at Michael when Michael shifted. “I never hurt you, Grace,” Seth said insistently. “We were together for years, and I never hurt you. I wouldn’t have let Ellis hurt you, either.”
It was true that he’d never harmed me. Whether he would have stopped Ellis from hurting me?
It didn’t matter now. All that mattered was whatever he said he needed to tell me.
“I don’t care about any of that. Tell us what you came to tell us.”
Seth straightened and glanced around like someone may be listening. “Ellis has been trying to track you down since you took off. He was just pissing in the wind for a while but once he got locked up, he got connected somehow with this guy who’s an amateur hacker. The guy found a credit card hit or something for you one time and maybe a phone number.”
I thought back to the times it seemed someone was following me or asking about me, and the phone message that had sent me fleeing from Lark, shaken at the evidence that all my fears had been founded.
Now that he was talking, Seth seemed anxious to get it all out. “The guy’s gotten better at hacking apparently and has some work release gig outside the prison now that gives him access to a computer that’s not monitored like the ones at the prison. He hacked into the DMV records looking for a driver’s license and found the records from when you sold your car and then when you renewed your license.”
Michael squeezed my thigh under the table. That explained how Ellis had tracked me first to Bluelake Springs and then here to Lark.
“Was that you?” I interrupted him as he went to speak again. “In Bluelake Springs? Did you go looking for me?”
“Me? No.” Seth shook his head but didn’t quite meet my eyes. “Ellis didn’t trust me to go.”
I didn’t quite believe him but again, it didn’t matter now.
“Keep going,” Michael rumbled, wanting to get this over and done with as much as I did, I was sure.
“He hired some guy to grab you here. I didn’t know about it until it went sideways. Then he reamed me about it like it was my fault.”
That was Ellis, blaming everyone and everything but himself.
“Where did he get the money?” Seth squinted at Michael like he didn’t understand the question. “You said he hired someone. Where did he get the money?”
Seth shrugged. “Don’t know. He’s got some guy who visits him a lot and there’s a guy, Peters, he used to race with who lives around here now so maybe one of them gave it to him.”
That lined up with what Detective Chase told us.
“He was pissed about that already, but when he found out you two got married, I guess he completely lost his shit. Started screaming and yelling, went after a couple guards, just went nuts.”
“How do you know all this? Were you there?” Hadn’t Detective Chase told us the other man – Stokes – was there when Ellis had his meltdown?
“No, I saw Peters and he told me. And he told me something else.”
Seth stilled and I knew this was it. Whatever else Peters had told him, this was his reason for coming to find me.
Under the table, I slipped my hand into Michael’s and clasped it tightly. “What’s that?”
“Ellis is trying to hire a hitman.”
I would’ve been less shocked if Seth had reached across the table and punched me. Michael sat rigid beside me.
“Hire a...” my voice was nearly a squeak... “hire someone to kill me?”
“No.” Seth shook his head.
I’d just about drawn in a relieved breath, thankful I’d somehow misunderstood, when he shocked me even more.
“Not you.” He nodded at Michael. “Him. He’s taking out a hit on him.”