CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
But when they got to the Webster Mansion, and Hawk saw all of his siblings’ cars, along with police cruisers and a police SUV with Police Chief written on it, his resolve weakened. He was suddenly terrified for his mother.
Janita’s plan was to wait outside with Von because she was sure that family didn’t want to see her face again.
Especially not after what Donnally had told them.
But Hawk had already, in his mind, nixed that plan.
He was nowhere near ready for Janita to leave his side.
He couldn’t verbalize why, but when she, as if she was still on duty, opened that back passenger door for him, and he stepped out, it was a definite feeling.
He wanted her with him. “You’re coming in with me,” he said to her.
“Inside?” Janita sounded doubtful.
But Hawk didn’t. “That’s what coming in with me means.”
“We don’t wanna cause any trouble. We’ll wait out here.”
“Not him. Von can go on home. We’ll let him know if anything happens. I know it’s been a long day for him too. But you’re staying with me,” he said as if it was an order, and then he began walking toward the huge front door of his childhood home.
Janita was nervous as hell as she grabbed her blazer off of the backseat.
Von, behind the steering wheel, turned all the way around and looked at his sister. “I’ll wait on you,” he said.
“No, Von. You’ve been driving all day. And then waiting for hours. Go home and get some rest. I’ll call you as soon as I find out something.”
“But how will you get home?”
“I’ll call a rideshare. Don’t worry about that. Just go.”
Von stared at her. “You gave him some, didn’t you?”
A flush of embarrassment came over Janita. “Boy, that ain’t got nothing to do with you!”
“He uses women, Neet. I read all about it online. He’s got a cavalcade of ladies all over this country, they say. What you look like falling for him?”
“I haven’t fallen for anybody,” she said, although she knew that wasn’t entirely true. “Just go home, Von.”
But Von was worried about her. That same chief of police that arrested her earlier was in that house. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” he said to her.
“I wanna stay.” Ironically, she wasn’t ready to leave Hawk’s side either.
Which she knew was insanity. But that wasn’t her main reason.
“I bear some responsibility for that kidnapping. I need to know if she’s alright.
And if nothing becomes of this, me and you will hit the road again tomorrow searching. ”
“But it’s late. Aren’t you exhausted too?”
“I’m okay, Von. Really I am. We’ll get back at it tomorrow if we need to.”
“But remember we’ve got those two events tomorrow morning we have to provide security for.”
Janita had forgotten all about that. “You’re right. But I’m just gonna have to call and cancel. We can’t do anything else until we get Mrs. Webster back home safe and sound. That’s our only priority right now.”
“But can we afford to cancel gigs like that though?”
“No,” Janita said honestly. “But we have to. She went missing on our watch. We can’t allow that to stand and call ourselves a security company.”
Von nodded. He agreed. “But I’ll call the contacts tonight and cancel. You don’t worry about that.”
Janita loved her brother to bits. “Thanks, Von.”
“And don’t let those high-and-mighties treat you like a dog. You’re just as good as they are. You stand up for yourself.”
“When have I ever not stood up for myself, DeVontay? You know I will.”
“I’m just sayin’,” he said. “I don’t like the way he talks to you like you’re his pet and not his equal.”
She wasn’t his equal, she thought, but she wasn’t going there with her brother.
Besides, she had already figured out that Hawk’s bluntness was just his hardcore personality.
For the most part, she didn’t take offense to it whatsoever.
But her baby brother took things to heart far more than she did.
“I’ll be okay,” she said. “Just go home.”
Then she closed the door, he drove off, and then she made her way to the front door where Hawk still stood. At least, she thought, he didn’t leave her to go in alone. Which would have been terrifying for her.
As she walked up the steps toward him, she noticed he was looking down at her body.
And she was right. Even though he knew there was no real rest for him until his mother was back home safe and sound, Hawk couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to be inside of her.
He could have stayed there all night. And she was turning him on again.
Which baffled him. No girl had ever turned him on the way she did and she was nothing like any girl he’d ever known.
They were all so glamourous. She was the exact opposite.
But she was the one? This girl? It seemed so unlikely.
“Everything okay?” he asked her when she finally made it by his side.
“It’s all good. We were just handling some loose ends for tomorrow.”
“Security jobs?”
“Yes, sir, but we’re going to focus on finding your mother instead.”
He nodded. He appreciated that although he didn’t verbalize it. But before he opened the door, he looked at her. They were within an inch of each other. “Stop calling me sir,” he said to her. “I’m Hawk. Or Hawthorne if you prefer. I’m not your sir.”
She smiled. “Yes sir,” she said on purpose and he slapped her backside, which made her smile even greater. And then he opened the door and they walked in.
It was Janita’s first time inside the Webster mansion since that terribleness earlier that day, and she still had anxiety about it. But what she wasn’t going to do was let any of them see her sweat.
But what she did do was follow Hawk toe to toe.
He was a tough cookie just like the rest of his family, but that strong connection she felt to him was still there.
And it wasn’t just a sexual connection. It was more emotional than anything else.
And besides, she was his invited guest. She had every right to be in that house whether they wanted her there or not.
She followed him into the huge dining hall.
Hawk’s father and his siblings were all seated around the table.
Dinner had been served, but most of their plates were still full.
Dale Donnally was there too. He was standing near the head of the table giving the family an update.
When they walked in, he was telling the family that they would leave no stone unturned.
“Once that ransom demand comes in, we’re on it. We don’t need no FBI.”
Hawk disagreed. Janita did too. “But they’re still coming, right?” Hawk asked the chief.
“Oh yes sir,” Donnally said. “Your father insists on it, although we don’t need them. But yes, they’ll have a special agent here first thing in the morning.”
Janita noticed how Donnally was behaving as if he didn’t know what a bribe was. When she would count one-hundred-thousand ways that he knew.
“Do they know that the kidnappers contacted my father?” Hawk asked.
“Not yet,” said the chief. “But again,” he said as he turned to William, “we will leave no stone unturned until we bring your wife back home to you.”
“Safe and sound,” added Janita.
Everybody looked at her. But Minka nodded his head. “Right,” he said.
“Of course safe and sound,” said Donnally, although he gave Janita a side-eyed look.
“Where have you been?” Babs asked Hawk as she looked from him to Janita as if she knew their secret.
“We were searching for mother,” Hawk said. Then he looked at the chief. “Why wasn’t that dressing room still protected as a crime scene yesterday?”
“We got all the evidence we can get from there.”
“And what have you concluded?” asked Hawk. “Other than Janita did it because she didn’t.”
“It was a well-planned and coordinated job,” Donnally said, ignoring that part of what Hawk said.
“It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen.
They knew about that false door. They were going to snatch her if it was the last thing they did.
They knew exactly what they were doing. It was extremely well-planned. ”
“But . . .”
It was Janita, and they all looked at her. Hawk could tell she wasn’t buying what the chief was selling. “What is it, Nita?”
His siblings glanced at one another. She was Nita now, was she?
“If it was so well-planned,” Janita said, “how could they have planned to kidnap her that day when they couldn’t have known she was going to Ellen’s?
It was a spur of the moment decision. She even said she felt like buying a new dress after she got in the car and thought about it.
Even Miss Ellen didn’t know she was coming by, or she would have already had some dresses ready for her to try on. ”
“Ellen did say that,” Hawk said, nodding his head.
“So how could they have known she was coming that day?” Janita asked the chief again.
The chief didn’t like her questions, that was obvious. But Mr. Webster was staring at him. “Answer the question, Dale,” he said.
“Well um.” He cleared his throat. “We believe it was well planned because that hole was a distraction. And apparently they knew she was going to stop by Ellen’s that day because they followed her there. Yeah, that’s it. They followed her there.”
But Janita was shaking her head again. “I have cameras all around our SUV. While we’re driving our clients to any location, I’m checking that screen to make sure nobody’s following us. I even have cameras on the sunroom to get an aerial view. Nobody, not by land or by air, was following us.”
Hawk was impressed. His father and siblings were too. They looked at the chief. “I don’t know about all that,” Donnally said. Then he got nasty: “If she’s so efficient, why couldn’t she prevent them kidnappers from kidnapping Mrs. Webster in the first place? If she’s so efficient.”
They all looked at Janita. He had a point.