Memory Lapse: A Slater Vance Novel (26 page)

If Bennie was surprised
at the unusual lack of preamble, she didn’t voice it. “Yeah, he’s here, working
in his office. Let me put you through…”

“No. Don’t put me
through.
Just…
Bennie, don’t let him leave until I get
there, okay?”

Bennie hesitated but
finally said, “Okay, Father.”

Tucker drove as fast as
his little blue Prius would go. It was the only time he wished he had a faster
car. As he pulled into the parking garage of Slater’s building, a sick dread
began to flood his body. He probably shouldn’t have wasted time driving over
here to tell Slater about… Ellis – he had such a hard time remembering to call her
that. But he knew this was information he needed to tell Slater in person.

Tucker took a deep breath
as he pushed open the glass doors of Exposed, Inc. He raised a hand to Bennie
in passing. Slater was standing facing the big picture window directly behind
his desk. He obviously had his Bluetooth in his ear as he was talking to
someone on the other end with his arms folded across his chest. From the back,
Tucker could tell he was tense by the tightened muscles across his shoulder
blades. Slater turned when he heard him close the doors quietly behind himself.

“I don’t think she is the
one you’re looking for. I have your number. We’ll get back to you.”

Slater clicked off the
call and pulled the Bluetooth from his ear.

“Tucker?”
Slater felt fear slice through him.
He’d seen this look before and it never brought good news.

“Slate… I… I don’t… I got
a call from…” Tucker paused, not knowing what to call her, “Janet. She said…
she said her husband had arrived at the station and she was going home with
him. Her daughter, Petra, was in school, and she…”

“What the hell do you
mean she was going home with her husband?”

“She said she’d call with
more details later. That’s all I know…” Tucker finished lamely.

Slater lowered himself
into his chair slowly. “I don’t understand. Who is this husband? Where was he
taking her? How could you let her go? Come on, Tucker, we agreed. Everything
ran through me. What if this guy is a nut-job? What if it was a trick? Do you
know how many calls I’ve returned because of that damned show?
Almost fifty.
Do you know how many panned out?
None.”

Tucker faced him, bereft.
“I know. I tried to get her to wait until she talked to you, but she said she
had to go to her daughter. She said her name was Ellis… Ellis
Trusworth
. She didn’t know…”

Slater’s body stiffened
so much his face twisted from the pain it caused to his ribs. Struggling to
breathe – much less speak – he said through tight lips, “What did you say?”

Tucker wasn’t sure what
part he wanted him to repeat. “She said her name was Ellis
Trusworth
…”

Slater sat back in his
seat and ran a hand through his hair, all the while muttering, “God, no.
Dammit. Shit. Shit. Shit!”

With his chest heaving
and his teeth grinding, he looked at Tucker. “Did she happen to say what her
husband’s name is?” he asked almost too quietly.

“No,” Tucker answered
just as quietly.

Slamming his hand down on
the desk, Slater jumped up from his seat, “No! No! No!”

As calm as he could,
Tucker said, “Slate, you’re scaring me. What is it?”

Again running his hands
through his hair, Slater said, “I don’t have time to get into all of it right
now, but
Sylus
Trusworth
was the person responsible for the break-ins. Remember we talked about him? If
that is who she is with, we have big trouble. I’ve… I’ve got to try and find
her. Listen, go back to your office and I’ll call you once I’ve contacted her,
okay?”

Tucker began to shake his
head. “I’m sorry, Slate. I didn’t make the connection when she called.
 
But, you’re not doing this alone. I’m coming
with you.”

“Absolutely
not.
You’ll just
be in my way. I really need you to go back to your office. I’ll call you. I
know what I’m doing.”

Slater went to his floor
safe and pulled out the red folder containing the information Wiseman Linear
had given him. He quickly began scanning through it searching for an address.

“Slate, I don’t…”

Slater looked up at him.
“Tucker, I don’t have time to argue with you right now…”

Slater stopped
midsentence when his cell phone began to play Highway to Hell. He almost
ignored it when he saw it was an unknown caller.

 
At the last second he answered, “Slater
Vance.”

This was a brief pause on
the line then, “Hey, it’s me,” said a strained voice. A voice he’d recognize
anywhere.

“Janet,” he whispered,
sitting heavily down in his chair.

With a small laugh, which
didn’t actually sound joyous, she answered, “It’s Ellis, actually.”

Quietly, he said, “Are
you okay?”

Again in the same
strained voice, “I’m okay.”

“Are you safe?” he asked.

She ignored his question.
“
Sylus
… my husband saw the show. He came for me. I
tried to call, but couldn’t get through to you. But I’m okay. I… don’t want you
to worry. I… I…” her voice broke and she struggled to breathe and swallow at
the same time. “Thanks for everything. I’d not have made it without you and
your brother.”

Slater closed his eyes at
the confirmation of his worst fears – her with
Sylus
Trusworth
. The coincidence would have been too great.

“Tell me where you are
and I’ll come and get you,” he said, panicked.

Harsher than she
obviously intended, she said, “No! Don’t. Please don’t come for me,” her voice
softening to a whisper she added, “I’m… I’m where I need to be.”

“Janet…”

“Sorry, Slate, but my
name is Ellis...
Trusworth
.
Take care of yourself. Be happy,” she said dully before
clicking off the line.

Slater sat with the dead
phone pressed against his ear for a minute before laying it down. He scrubbed a
frustrated hand over his face. He wasn’t sure what to do.

He looked to his brother
for guidance. “What do I do? She says she’s fine. But she’s not fine, she’s
afraid. But I don’t know if she’s afraid of him… or me?”

Walking around his desk,
Tucker propped his hip against it. “Give her time. She’ll call if she needs
you. This is confusing for her as well. I think she was beginning to feel
something for you and it must be confusing for her. Living with a man she
doesn’t know while missing one she knows well.”

“So that’s it then? We’re
done? She’s gone?”

Tucker studied him for a
long time before answering softly, “For now, Slate.
For now.”

“This doesn’t feel right,
Tuck. But I’m afraid of what he’ll do if I rock the boat now.”

“Give it a little time.
She’s smart. She will call if she needs to. At the end of the day, it’s her
decision, right?” Tucker answered softly.

“Yes, I guess it is.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I need a drink.”

◊◊◊

Slater met with Bridge
the next day in
Loofus
Deli again after squaring up
with Tiger and sending him home.

“Were you able to find
out any more information on
Nevin
Justaine
?”
Slater asked him.

In between bites of his
sandwich, Bridge replied, “
Naw
. Like his file says,
it’s like he doesn’t exist. Are you sure he’s working for
Sylus
Trusworth
?”

“No,
not a hundred percent.
But pretty sure.”

“What do you think he was
looking for?”

“I’m assuming Jan… Ellis.
But I’m not sure. When the guy broke into the house, he would have known right
where she was. So why break into my office again?
Unless this
is tied up with the stuff with Wiseman Linear.
I tell you, though, it
seems a little weird to me. In my office, the man didn’t bother to wear a mask
– where he knew security cameras were bound to catch his image. But in my
house, in the middle of the night, he wears a ski-mask to hide his identity?
Isn’t that odd?” Slater asked perplexed.

“Umm.
Maybe it’s two separate things… a
coincidence.”

“Maybe.
I just worry about her being in
Sylus
Trusworth’s
clutches – he
and his family are dangerous. She was on the run for a reason.”

“Why do you think she
left her child?”

The mention of the child
brought two unremembered thoughts to Slater’s mind.

“Shit. Bridge, I don’t
think she did forget her child. Do you remember when the paramedics said she
was asking about her pet? Well Tucker said her daughter’s name was Petra. What
if the child was in the car with her that day? The day I went to the accident
site, I ended up at the rest area not far from it, and in one of the trash cans
I found a man’s shirt that was covered in blood. I took the shirt… and placed
it in my safe, which is now gone.”

“How does that all tie
together?” Bridge asked dubiously.

“What if he caused the
accident? Ran her off the road, took the child, and left her for dead? Maybe he
got some blood on his shirt and wanted to hide the evidence. Maybe he went back
later for it and found it gone. I don’t know. But now I’m really worried. I
think tomorrow, I’ll take a ride out to
Trusworth’s
estate and make sure she’s okay.”

“Pretty-Boy, I don’t
think that’s wise, man. It could be dangerous. Maybe, like you said, you
shouldn’t rock the boat. Especially don’t go alone. Let me go with you, if you
go.”

Slater shook his head.
“No. That’s too official. If anything, I’ll call Tiger.”

Slowly, Bridge nodded his
dark head. “Okay Pretty-Boy, but be careful.”

Slater went back to his
office and worked for a while, but eventually had to give it up. He couldn’t
concentrate. A little before two, he packed it in and decided to go home.

On his way out the door,
Bennie stopped. “Hey, Slick, you
gonna
be okay?”

Slater turned
questioningly to look at Bennie with her now yellow-tinted hair.
“Yeah, why?”

“You
ain’t
been yourself in a while. I miss your
smartassedness
.”

“Is
smartassedness
really a word?”

“You just proved it was
right there, Slick. Good to have you back,” she smirked.

Bennie was a pain in the
ass, but she did make him smile.

Chapter 21

Slater sat for a minute
in his car. His house would certainly seem lifeless without Honey/Janet/Ellis
and Tiger there. They’d made it seem almost like the home it’d been when Anne
and Sophie lived here. He grimaced at the thought. Tiredly, he slipped out of
the car and headed for the door. He was surprised to see the alarm turned off.
Maybe Tiger had forgotten something and came back and then forgotten to reset
the alarm.

Just to be cautious, in
light of things, he pulled his SIG out of the holster strapped to his upper
torso and eased quietly into the house. He stepped into the entry and quietly
let the door close but not latch. There were no lights on in the house, but sun
shone brightly through all the windows. He slowly maneuvered through the
kitchen, which was empty, then moved to the den, which was also empty. He
checked both spare rooms and found them all empty. It wasn’t until he got
towards the end of the hall that he heard a noise. He stopped dead-still and
listened intently. It sounded like rain. It took him a minute to realize it was
water running somewhere in the house.

Slater took a second to
center himself before moving forward. He slid stealthily into his bedroom and
crouched as he rounded the doorway. He could really hear the water pounding in
the bathroom now. Slowly, he eased to the bathroom door and glanced around its
frame. Swallowing hard, Slater lowered his weapon at what met his eyes. Setting
his SIG on the counter, Slater advanced into room.

The water ran full-tilt
onto its fully-clothed occupant. Ellis was sitting on the floor of the shower
wrapped up into a tight ball. She was sobbing uncontrollably and rocking
herself in some age-old form of comfort. The gauzy material of her pastel pink
shirt and coordinating skirt was sopping wet and clinging to her body.

So as not to startle her,
Slater softly called her name, “Ellis?”

She seemed not to have
heard him, so he tried again, a little louder this time, “Ellis?”

She raised her startled
and hopeless eyes to his before burying her head back down, sobbing. Swallowing
again, and regardless of the now-tepid water of the shower still running,
Slater opened the glass doors of the shower and sat down next to her, fully
clothed as well, and pulled her unresisting body into his own.