Maggie was laughing, her head thrown back at something the college boy had said.
Being a good sport, Tom walked out from his hiding place and smiled.
“Hey, Maggie.” He smiled and watched her jump as the bags in her hands fell all over the ground.
“Tom . . .” Her sweet, lovely, sexy-as-all-hell face grew ghostly white, prompting a bigger grin on Tom. He sauntered over as casual as he could, and rocked back on his heels for a second.
“That’s me. Tom.” He looked over at the college boy. He was in decent shape for a loser, but probably wouldn’t last more than three punches. “Who’s your friend?”
“Ben, this is Tom. Tom, this is Ben. We have a class together.” She was good, keeping it calmer than he’d expected. It made sense, the kid being a study buddy, because Tom couldn’t imagine his pet whore would want to get her face shattered for a limp-wristed little piece like the one she was hanging with.
The kid set down his packages as carefully as he could and held out a hand. Almost amused by the idea, he took the offering and shook hands like a real gentleman.
“Nice to meet you, Tom.” The kid’s face was neutral. That was good. He didn’t want to have the boy feeling like they were going to be friends or anything.
“Likewise,” he said with absolutely no concern whatsoever if the loser noticed it was a lie.
“What can I do for you, Tom?”
“There’s a little problem with Brewster, my puppy.” He looked into her eyes and saw the minor flash of gratitude that went along with the tightening of her jaw. He could have ousted her and it wouldn’t have mattered all that much, but if he pissed her off over the little shit, she’d forget to be grateful when the time came.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He misses you. He just wanted me to say hi; maybe later you could give him a visit?”
Maggie looked at him through half-lidded eyes. She had a great bitch stare. It would have worked on most guys. Tom wasn’t like most guys. He knew the score and sometimes he had to remind the girls. They didn’t remind him.
“Maybe,” she shrugged. It always did the nicest things to her tits. “Has he learned not to bite yet?”
“Disciplining puppies is so hard, Maggie.” He pouted and put on his best puppy dog face. Even he knew it wasn’t a pretty sight, but he did it anyway. “But he wanted me to tell you he’s really sorry and it won’t happen again.”
Maggie looked him up and down with an almost insolent stare that was going to cost her dearly if she didn’t satisfy Brewster’s needs. “Yeah, okay. I’ll stop by and see him.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. I know you just made his whole day better.” He looked over at Ben and winked. “You think she’s gonna make it tonight, Ben? Or are you keeping her busy?”
He looked surprised by the comment. “Oh, no. She was just helping me pick up some stuff for the forensics class I’m taking.” He gestured at the small mountain of white bags.
“Fake evidence folders, cute.”
“Professor Holmes likes his authentic touches.” Ben was looking at him now, too, with a funny expression on his face. Tom decided he’d have to check later to see if he had been insulted.
“Well, you guys have fun now.” He turned and headed back to his car. Brewster would be happy and he would pay top dollar. That made Tom happy. Maggie was off the hook, for now. She’d get bitchy sooner or later, and he’d put her back in her place again. He loved teaching Maggie lessons. He shot his best smile at Ben and then winked playfully at Maggie. “But not too much fun, you hear?”
Neither of them said anything as he left. That was good. He liked to get in the last word.
Chapter 6
I
Alan and Meghan Tripp were beside themselves when the sun rose on their son’s empty bedroom. He had been in bed by nine; they knew that, because they’d tucked him in together. He was a good kid and even though he was getting older, he still tolerated their doting on him.
Now he was gone.
By the time he should have been getting ready for school, they had torn through every room in the house. By the time he should have been finishing his breakfast, they had called everyone they could think of. No one had seen Avery after they put him into bed.
Meghan was a wreck, pacing and wringing her hands. Avery had been something of an unexpected miracle child, coming as he did after an early partial hysterectomy. There was no chance that they would ever have another child, and even if they did, he would never be able to replace Avery. He was her baby, and she was devastated by his disappearance.
Alan was holding it in better, but he wanted to scream. Instead, he did the only wise thing and called the police. They were there in less than five minutes; no one in Black Stone Bay took child abduction lightly. Not after what had happened with the Whittaker girl back in ’87. Carla Whittaker had been stolen from her bedroom in the middle of the night, and at first her parents thought she had run away to get attention. For the first three days, the Whittaker family simply made polite inquiries of her friends and school chums.
Then the phone calls came. An anonymous voice spoke urgently, demanding ransom and secrecy. An hour later, the caller rang them again and almost every hour after that the calls came fast and hard, some time after the fourth day of quiet, polite searching was done. The kidnappers wanted money, of course, and they would not let anyone speak to Carla.
The story did not play out well. After the money was delivered, the phone calls stopped. Pieces of Carla were found along the coast for several months. All of them were fresh when they were located. The last piece they found was her head, which the coroner determined had only been in the water for a few hours when fishermen found it. The case had never been solved.
So, yes, it was fair to say that no one in Black Stone Bay took missing children lightly.
The questions were endless, of course. Did they have a recent picture? Yes, and also video footage. Did they know what he was wearing? The clothes he had worn to school were not in the hamper, so yes, he was wearing a green flannel shirt, blue jeans, and red Reeboks. His jacket was also missing, a dark brown leather bomber jacket that he had requested for his birthday. Did he have any friends in the area? Damned near every child in the school and in the neighborhood; he was a well-liked young man. Did he have any enemies? No. Even Lucien Hawkings liked him, and the old bastard didn’t like anyone. Where were they when he disappeared? They didn’t know when he vanished, but they were likely in bed. When did they realize he was missing? Five minutes before they called the police. The list went on and on.
By noon there were almost four hundred people searching for Avery Tripp. By four in the afternoon, there were closer to eight hundred. By sunset, a lot of very disappointed people were ready to call it quits.
Alan Tripp was not among them. He wandered the streets until almost two in the morning before he came home and fell into a troubled sleep. In his dreams he heard Avery crying for help, and try though he did, he could not find his son.
When he awoke in the morning, Avery was still missing. He left the house with the dawn and began searching again. There were so many places his son could be; Avery loved to explore. He was never happier than when he was out finding new things.
II
Maggie had to give credit where it was due; Lance Brewster was very good at groveling. After she had finally conceded to call the man, he spent twenty minutes apologizing for the way he’d mistreated her. She spent twenty minutes listening to his attempts at an explanation without giving an inch to him.
He swore it would never happen again and confessed that he had feelings for her that went beyond what he should have. That did not get him any further with her. Maggie didn’t have the time to be his personal toy and she most certainly didn’t have the time to listen as he went on about how his wife didn’t understand him. She knew all about the divorce he was going through; she just did not care.
Finally, after almost an hour of his begging, she allowed that she could be free that night.
The man was in tears on the phone. It was really rather embarrassing. Still, he was normally a good client. Unless he wanted to make sure that he never saw her again, he would continue to be a good client.
Besides, after the incident with Tom the night before, she needed a little reminder that some people actually cared for her, even if they cared for all the wrong reasons.
Monkey Boy had come in on a rampage, ready to cause her no end of grief, and had managed to show mercy for whatever reason. She was grateful, which was really the main factor that made her give in to his request.
Yes, grateful; because now the one person she’d met recently who was becoming a friend wasn’t suddenly looking at her like she was a whore. In the grander scheme of things, it wouldn’t matter all that much what Ben Kirby thought of her, but it was still nice to have a guy she could talk to who didn’t seem desperate to get into her pants.
They arranged to meet at the Windbreakers, a very fine dining establishment known for their excellent food and atrocious costs. He brought her a pair of diamond earrings that was beyond excessive, and gave her a matching necklace as well. She thanked him politely, and warmed up a small amount. They had a nice meal, with excellent food, just a little wine, and some decent conversation. Of course he had to mention his wife again and the misery she was putting him through, but that came with the territory.
After dinner, she made him beg again; in the bedroom she made him beg as well. She did not stay the night with him in his hotel suite. He wanted her to, but she had school in the morning.
She left Monkey Boy’s portion of the money in the drop slot of his front door. She knew the signs that Tom was getting antsy. She also knew the best way to get him to behave was to keep her end of the bargain they’d struck some time back.
She kept the diamonds. They were hers. Any apologies that had to be made were made to her, and not to the prick who thought he owned her.
She didn’t feel like going home, and she was far from tired. So it was off to the diner. Sally was probably working, and Sally was normally good for a few jokes while she ate.
No one was more surprised than she was to find Ben there. It was a nice surprise, but unexpected.
He was leaning over his laptop and typing furiously. His fingers moved so fast she would have thought the keyboard would catch fire. She slipped in across from him, moving as carefully as she could, amused by how intent he was on his typing.
When he finally looked up, he actually jumped in his seat. “Hey!” He looked embarrassed. “I mean, hi.”
She laughed, and reached across the table to graze his hand with her fingers. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You just looked so intent I didn’t want to disturb your work.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m just . . . gathering my thoughts.”
“Did you get what you were looking for? For your friend?” She didn’t have to clarify. He knew what she was talking about.
“Yes.” A quick flash of a smile that degraded into a yawn. “Excuse me. I did get it. I’m going to tell her tomorrow.” He rubbed at his eyes for a second and stared at her. After a second he remembered it wasn’t polite to stare and looked greedily at his now empty coffee cup.
“You’re sweet to go through all of that.” He blushed. She had never known anyone who blushed as often as he did. She looked around and waved to Sally, who had been taking a large order from a group of businessmen. Sally smiled and nodded as Maggie made a few gestures for food, coffee, and a refill over here.
“Why are you staring at me, Ben?”
If she thought he’d blushed before, she was mistaken. He was red all the way to his ears when she asked. It was cruel, maybe, but she couldn’t help teasing him just a bit. He almost begged for a good teasing.
“Sorry. Really, I am. You just took me off guard and I’ve never seen you dressed that way.”
Maggie hadn’t even really given her clothing any consideration. She was dressed for a night out, and once the wardrobe had been chosen it was the last thing she thought about. The dress she was wearing was a formal little black thing that clung to all of her curves. She liked it and saved it for special occasions.
“I had a dinner date. Is it too much?”
“No. No, not at all.” He was doing a wonderful job of not stammering.
She laughed and playfully swatted his arm. “Down, boy. It’s just me under all of this goop.” She gestured to her face and the makeup she had carefully applied earlier. “I’ll be back in regular clothes tomorrow.”
“Yeah, well, don’t go changing on my behalf. You look beautiful.” He stared at his monitor as he said it, and then closed the screen so he could look at her properly.
“Well, thanks. It’s always nice to be appreciated.”
Sally set down her omelet and coffee, then topped off Ben’s cup. After she’d walked away to handle the businessmen, Ben smiled and poured a few spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee.
“I didn’t expect to find you here, Ben. Why the change of scenery?”
“Because if I stared at my walls for another minute, I’d go crazy.”
“Is that the only reason?”
“No. I also ran out of coffee.”
Maggie laughed. It was nice to know she wasn’t being stalked. She’d had enough of that to last her a lifetime.
It was nice to relax. It was beyond nice to be able to just be herself around a guy. Ben was sweet and he was cute, she was going to have to watch herself around him. She couldn’t afford to fall for anyone. Her plans for the future did not include being in a relationship; at least not for a while.
They went to the apartment building together, then to their separate apartments almost immediately after they reached them. She paused long enough to give Ben another kiss on the cheek. After that, she slept. It had been a very difficult day and a taxing night. She needed the rest. There were more names on Jason Soulis’s list, and she had school to consider.