Mistake Me Not

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

When Ryder led her into an underground garage in the HQ building, Lacie was surprised by the number of vehicles. She still hadn’t established how many people were there. Only the center section of the space lit up when they opened the stairwell door. What was in the shadows?

Ryder pressed a button and his truck flashed. Oddly warmed by the familiar sight, she realized just how much she liked entrenching herself in his life. Being in his presence had felt natural since the beginning, but her seat in his truck could be her seat, her place… maybe she belonged there.

“Will I get to meet Jamie?” she asked, putting on the aviators while Ryder drove.

“Hmm?”

“Jamie, you said he was your business partner. Was he one of the men I saw this morning?”

“Jamie’s in Sweden,” Ryder said.

“Not somewhere I would consider security a necessity.”

“We work where our clients need us,” he said, squeezing her thigh.

“You have a beautiful home.”

“We work odd hours. It made sense to have something close to work.”

“Do you think Shep will have found out anything useful?”

“We’re about to find out,” he said.

“Yesterday when we were getting in the car after the search you looked at him… that look you exchanged, what was that?”

“Nothing,” he said. “It was nothing.”

“It was something,” she said, only to be met by silence. “I thought we weren’t having secrets.”

“It was nothing to do with the case.”

“So what was it about?”

His evasiveness had bought him time to arrive at their destination and park. She hooked his sunglasses into her cleavage while Ryder rounded the truck to open her door. Shep’s office was unchanged. They completely bypassed Tiffany. Ryder kept hold of her hand and led her straight into Shep’s office. Shep and Sorcha were already seated at opposite sides of the desk.

“You’re late,” Sorcha said.

“It’s been a busy morning,” Ryder said.

“So busy that you forgot about my life?” Sorcha said.

She took a minute to look at Lacie, and then at Ryder. Lacie didn’t have to look at him to know that he was scowling. Of course his iron grip on her hand gave Lacie a clue. He wasn’t happy with Sorcha’s show of petulance.

“What’s wrong?” Sorcha asked Lacie.

As soon as Sorcha realized something wasn’t right, her whole aura changed. Her sulk was forgotten in a flash. Just as quickly, she was at Lacie’s side.

“I don’t want you to worry,” Lacie said. “I’m fine. Ryder will tell you what happened.”

“Ryder?” Sorcha said with a tinge of disgust that would’ve existed in her tone whether he was in the room or not.

“Do you mind?” Lacie said, looking from Sorcha to Ryder. “I really don’t want to go through it again myself.”

“And you shouldn’t have to,” Ryder said and kissed the top of her head.

He carried on like a consummate professional, objective, reasoned, and utterly calm. The only nod to any sort of personal relationship was that she was perched on his knee. There were only two seats on the guest side of the desk and Sorcha was in one of them.

“I’m not holding my breath that you’ve found anything useful,” Ryder said when he’d finished recounting the night’s events.

“I have a few interesting leads,” Shep said.

“The nature of this has changed,” Ryder said.

“How so?” Sorcha asked.

“I appreciate that this started as an operation to locate Bruce Booth, and that’s still an objective, but Lacie’s safety has to be paramount to us all.”

“That goes without saying,” Sorcha said.

“What are you getting at?” Shep asked.

“You’re in or you’re not,” Ryder said. “The games stop now. This isn’t a competition and it’s not about the money. You help or you don’t.”

“Are you going to share what you’ve learned?” Shep asked. Ryder said nothing, Lacie slid her hand to the back of his neck. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Why should I share with you?”

“You’ll have to give all your findings to the police.”

“Like you did?” Shep asked. “I know what I’m doing.”

“What are you doing?” Lacie asked. “So far you’ve done nothing.”

“What has he done for you, sweetheart?” Shep asked. “Except clear the cobwebs out your panties.”

Ryder took offense, “Hey, you just—”

“We have to talk” Sorcha shot to her feet and grabbed Lacie’s hand, pulling her from Ryder to drag her across the room.

“Not out there,” Ryder said. “We’ll leave you two in here.”

“We will?” Shep asked.

“Move,” Ryder growled.

The men left the room. Lacie waited for Sorcha to say something… she took her time about it.

“I’m so sorry,” Sorcha said, taking Lacie into her arms. “This is all because of me. You’ve been hurt twice now.”

“None of this is your fault.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Sorcha said. “But you’re involved because of me. Are you staying with Elise? You should maybe think about going to your parents.”

“I thought about that,” Lacie said. “But what about you?”

“Me? I wasn’t there. They’re not coming after me. Ryder’s right, we have to keep you safe.”

“I’ll be safe. We have to find Bruce. We have to find out what he’s up to.”

“No.” Sorcha shook her head. “I had no idea… what is he mixed up in? What have I got myself mixed up in?”

“It might not be as bad as you think.”

Sorcha led Lacie to the desk so they could sit. “Shep spoke to Alan.”

“From Lewis Investment?”

“Yeah,” Sorcha said. “Shep cornered him in the coffee place down from Alan’s house. He really put the legwork in.”

“What did Alan say?”

Sorcha looked one way then the other. Although they were entirely alone, she lowered her voice. “Bruce and Alan were close.”

“I knew that. I met Alan a few times.”

“According to Alan, Bruce didn’t get headhunted. He was fired.”

“Why?”

“There were complaints by some of his clients about his behavior,” Sorcha explained. “He was acting weird, stressed out, missing meetings, being all erratic.”

“So they fired him?”

Sorcha shrugged. “That’s what Alan said. Except after that Bruce skipped town… Alan said Lewis are in the middle of an internal audit and things are showing up… inconsistencies.”

“Such as?” Lacie asked.

“He didn’t elaborate, but…”

“So Bruce was skimming money, or laundering it, or—”

“I don’t know,” Sorcha said. “But it started at Lewis whatever it was.”

“Do you think they’ve told the police,” Lacie asked. “If something has happened at Lewis…?”

“I don’t think they’d want to advertise that one of their employees has been stealing from their clients.”

“Good point,” Lacie said. “But where did the money go? I didn’t think of Bruce as the greedy type.”

“Neither did I.”

“I think it’s fair to say he’s in over his head with something. The people he’s associating with aren’t his usual type of friends.”

“Lacie,” Sorcha started, from how she began to fidget, Lacie expected a bombshell. “I could make this go away… do you think I should?”

“This isn’t about the baby,” Lacie said, covering Sorcha’s hand with hers. “The ball is rolling. The horse has bolted. We’re in this now, don’t do anything rash.”

“How will I tell my parents?”

“They’re not going to cast you out. They might be shocked, but they’ll get over it.”

“Do you think I should tell them?” Sorcha asked. “Now?”

“Your parents have the resources to keep you safe,” Lacie said. “Their house is like Fort Knox.”

“My safety isn’t an issue, yours is. Will you at least consider going home to your parents?”

“I don’t have to do that.”

“You do,” Sorcha said. “You have to be safe.”

“I will be,” Lacie said. “I’m not leaving while all this is going on. I won’t let them scare me away.”

“So you’ll let yourself get killed?”

“I’m not going to get killed,” Lacie said.

“How do you know?”

“Ryder won’t let that happen.”

Sorcha said nothing for a few seconds. “Do you really trust this guy? You’ve known him for five minutes. I know he’s good looking, and he’s tough, but… this is serious, Lacie. You can’t be ruled by your… you know.”

“My libido?” Lacie said, smiling because she’d said the same thing to Sorcha countless times. “It’s not like that.”

“How do you know?”

“I know,” she said.

“You can’t know,” Sorcha said. “Has he said something?”

“Not exactly.”

“Does he love you?”

“We’ve known each other a week,” Lacie said. “Not even a week.”

“So how can you trust him?”

“What choice do I have?” Lacie asked. “He’s capable, and he cares about me.”

“I know that but—”

Sorcha’s purse began to vibrate, she bent to retrieve her phone.

“Who is it?” Lacie asked.

Sorcha only shrugged and answered the phone. “Hello?” Immediately her friend squeezed her hand, wide eyes betrayed her shock. “Where are you? What’s going on with…? Well, yes of course but—okay… Okay… Yeah.”

Sorcha hung up the phone. The call was over as quickly as it had begun.

“What was that about?”

“We have to go,” Sorcha said, hooking her purse onto her shoulder, pulling Lacie to her feet.

“Go where?”

Sorcha hurried her to the door in the corner behind the desk. Inside it looked like any other closet. Her friend knew different and threw the hanging items aside to reveal a door at the opposite end. Why did Shep need a secret door? Ryder had explained the necessity of multiple exits. Maybe Shep was smarter than she’d given him credit for.

The door led outside. Concrete and light. Outside. Sorcha took Lacie out, across an alley, and then the street. Lacie was separated from the information about where they were going or what was going on by the length of her arm and Sorcha’s. Her friend’s tight grip on her hand didn’t relent. They crossed another street and went into a park, up a steep incline to a residential area.

“Where are we going?” Lacie asked. Sorcha struggled to breathe as she soldiered on. “What’s going on? Who was on the phone?”

Still Sorcha didn’t answer. Lacie yanked her hand free and stayed put.

Sorcha came rushing back to her. “Come on, I don’t want to be late.”

“For what?” Lacie asked. “Who was on the phone?”

“Bruce,” Sorcha said, her smile growing. Relief and joy were plastered all over her face. “It was Bruce. He’s back in town and he wants to see me. Lacie, he wants to see me. Everything will work out now.”

Sorcha squealed with delight and hugged her. Lacie couldn’t be quite as exuberant. This was wrong. There was something odd about him calling. If he was in town, if he was truly back to his life, then any normal man would phone and make a date, not demand to see someone there and then.

Lacie hugged Sorcha back but couldn’t put any effort into it. Ryder. Oh no. He wouldn’t be happy that they’d just upped and left. Without a purse, or a phone, or anything, she had no way to contact him. She could only hope that when he realized they weren’t in Shep’s office that somehow, he’d find her before… just before.

“This is taking too long.”

“Who knows what women talk about,” Shep responded.

Ryder paced the outer office, trying to play this forward.

Shep was happy lounging around, drinking coffee and making eyes at his receptionist. Ryder wasn’t. More than happy to be bawled at for interrupting them, he went to the office door. When he lowered the handle, a draft circled his ankles. Dread in his spine spread like ice through his bloodstream.

Throwing open the door, his worst fear was confirmed. The women were gone. An open door in the corner revealed the light of day. He got over there and shoved the obstacles aside to find himself on another street. Scanning the area, he didn’t see either of the girls or any disruption of where they might be.

Shep sauntered up to his side, casually glancing around. “Looks like they made a break for it.”

“Or were taken,” Ryder said, but there hadn’t been a sound or signs of a struggle.

“The door only opens from the inside,” Shep said.

“How did they know the door was there?”

“Sorcha used to come visit,” Shep said with a shrug.

“So they left by choice,” Ryder said mentally sorting through the possibilities.

He couldn’t believe that Lacie would abandon him to his distress. But he also knew that she wouldn’t leave Sorcha alone. The question was, what would motivate Sorcha to leave so suddenly and through a back door?

Ryder hadn’t intended to bring Lacie to the meeting. Damnit. He hadn’t given her a phone and had no way to contact her. Desire to put his fist through something, or someone, pumped his blood. Regrouping, he retrieved his own phone and got in touch with the team to get the investigation up to speed.

Shep did a whole lot of nothing while he spoke to his guys. When Ryder went back inside, he noticed Shep and Tiffany exchanging whispers. The clandestine activity could mean nothing, the pair made no secret of their intimacy. Tiffany nodded in his direction drawing Shep’s attention to Ryder’s entrance.

The men met in the doorway. “Are you calling the cops?” Shep asked him.

“I’ll call Deacon when Rocco gets here. Gabe’s liaising with the cops now.”

“It’s crazy of them to just run off. Your girl could get herself in trouble.”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Ryder said.

“She’ll have gone after Sorcha,” Shep said. “That woman can be an idiot.”

“I witnessed that myself when I walked into her motel room yesterday.”

“Alright, draw your claws in,” Shep said instead of returning his usual quip. “They could be around the corner having coffee, or the mall is just up the street.”

“Lacie knows I’ll be worried,” Ryder said. “I thought they would be safe in your office.”

“They got out of there for a reason,” Shep said. “Something got Sorcha riled enough to do a runner, and she didn’t want anyone to know what it was.”

“Booth,” Ryder said.

“Could be,” Shep said. “We won’t know until they get back to us. There’s a good chance they wanted to ditch us. Maybe Sorcha thinks daddy could do better.”

“Except she doesn’t want her father to know what’s going on. Why don’t you check that out?” he said, watching the black sedan pull up outside.

“What are you going to do?” Shep asked.

“We’re tapping Sorcha’s phone and keeping an eye out for credit transactions.”

“You think we’ll figure this out?”

“I think the stakes just got higher,” Ryder said. “But, yeah, we’re going to figure this out.”

“You’re confident.”

“Damn right, I’ve got to get this woman back just so I can chain her to my wall,” Ryder said, leaving the office to update Rocco.

He would get his woman back. When he did, he’d never let her go again.