Chapter Sixteen
As we got in the car I turned to him.
“Before we start this,” I said, “we need names, real names.”
Roberto looked at me silently. “Sean Boylan,” he mumbled.
I stuck out my hand and gripped his for a handshake. “Pleased to meet you, Sean Boylan. I’m Trudie Eyre and for the next twenty-four hours you abide by my rules.”
“Like what?” he complained as he put on his seat belt.
I started up the car. “In my house there are no drugs, no alcohol and no cigarettes.”
“You don’t get laid very often do you?” Sean said.
“You will remember you are staying with a lady and your language and conversation will reflect that,” I said primly with a small smile on my face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sean smiling as well. “Thanks for reminding me though, there will be no young ladies invited into my house, in fact no friends at all. Music volume is down unless you’re wearing headphones in which case I really don’t care as you are ruining your own hearing not mine.”
“You’ve got kids don’t you?” said Sean.
“No,” I said, “but I used to work as a nanny.”
“That explains it,” he said. “You’ve got that whole uptight thing going on. I’m guessing you don’t date much at all. That makes it easier, I think a boyfriend would have lost it if you turned up at home with me.”
“Yeah, probably would.” Lucky for me, fake boyfriends didn’t get any say in who I invited back to my home.
Turning up to my apartment, I noticed Crystal knocking on my front door. When I got close, Crystal turned around.
“Where have you been?” she asked, exasperation clear in her voice.
“I worked out how to find the person who took the photos and went to meet him,” I said.
“That’s great,” she exclaimed. “Did you get any information?”
“Some, it seems Ryan Hendricks wasn’t really all that fussed about the fact that his brother was sharing time with his fiancée.”
“Why were any of these people involved with each other?” Crystal asked. “Why don’t they just get laid and move on? Clean and simple. Some people are just not meant for monogamy and the sooner they realize that the happier everyone would be.”
Noticing Sean’s inordinate interest in the conversation I moved to quieten Crystal.
“What did you want me for?” I asked.
“I need to return the key to Ryan’s house to Adam. He just called and sounded kind of panicked. Said he needed the keys now. Just wanted to know if you want to come with me.”
“That would be great,” I said, then remembered that I had Sean and I wasn’t going to take him anywhere near Adam. At this stage I did not know if Adam knew about Sean, but if he did I wanted to keep them apart.
“I can’t right now,” I said, looking at Sean.
Crystal pulled me aside, out of earshot. “Who’s he?”
“It’s the kid who took the photos of Adam and Emily. He got tossed out of home and has nowhere to stay. I’m letting him sleep at my place tonight and tomorrow I’ll find someplace else for him.”
I looked down at her, expecting a lecture on what a stupid idea that was, and was surprised to see the shimmer of tears in her eyes. She threw her arms around me and muttered into my shoulder. “That’s the reason I love you.”
“Are you gay?” asked Sean, “Because it’s okay if you are, I’m just asking because I gotta say, this is looking a little hot.”
I rolled my eyes thinking I would never understand men. Crystal pulled away, surreptitiously wiping her eyes.
“No we’re not gay but I need Trudie for a little bit.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I can find someplace else to go.”
“No you’re not,” I said as I grabbed his arm when he turned around and started to walk off.
“Miss Betsy,” I yelled across the complex, getting her attention.
The elderly lady looked tired as she was weeding a part of the garden which had been neglected a bit lately.
“Sorry dear,” she said. “I haven’t had much of a chance to tidy this area. We’ve had quite a few maintenance issues lately so the garden has gone to the bottom of my to do list.”
“So you’re going to be gardening all day today?” I asked.
“Pretty much all day,” she said.
I pulled Sean forward. “I’ve got a friend staying with me today but I need someone to keep an eye on him while I go out. I am sure he would be thrilled to help you for the day.”
I could see the mutinous look in Sean’s eyes and dropped my voice. “Please give her a hand. The work is hard on her.”
His expression softened as he looked over the elderly lady with dirt encrusted on her hands. “Sure I’ll help.”
“That would be lovely,” said Miss Betsy.
“Wait here,” I said to Crystal.
Racing into my apartment I grabbed a cap and some sunscreen. Coming out I passed them to Sean. He looked at me strangely.
“Look, I come from Australia, the skin cancer capital of the world, and that red hair and pale skin scream disaster to me. Put on the hat and the sunscreen and don’t question it.”
“You are one weird chick,” mumbled Sean as he jammed the cap on.
I smiled at him proudly. “I know,” I said as I followed Crystal to the car.
“You know he’s right,” she said as we were driving. “You are kind of strange.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You’ve got this whole maternal, take care of everyone vibe and yet you don’t have any of your own children or anything close to a relationship.”
“You’re forgetting my fake boyfriend.”
“Ah yes, Detective Hottie. Have you heard from him lately?”
“Not since yesterday at Ryan’s house. I don’t think he was too happy with me. Because he’s only my fake boyfriend, I’m not even sure if he’s giving me his version of the silent treatment.”
Crystal giggled. “You get yourself into the strangest situations,” she said as we pulled into the driveway at Adam’s house.
As we got out of the car, we heard a crash coming from inside the house. The front door of the house smashed open. Crystal and I dove back in the car as two men came out, dragging a struggling Adam Hendricks between them. Seeing us, one of the men raised a gun and started shooting at the car. Crystal threw the car in reverse and started driving away from the scene. Both of us ducked below the dashboard as shots were fired in our direction. I grabbed my cell and called 911. When someone answered I started yelling into the phone.
“Some guy is shooting at us.”
“Ma’am where are you?”
I looked at Crystal. I didn’t know where we were. I’d just been the passenger, I hadn’t actually been paying attention to the address or anything. Crystal yelled out an address as I held the phone to her.
“Did you get that?” I asked.
The gunshots stopped and Crystal and I looked over the dashboard. Adam was being pushed into the car. As he struggled, he was hit by a meaty fist to the jaw and he slumped.
“Ma’am are you still there?” the calm voice from the 911 operator came through and I realized that in the midst of all this drama, Crystal and I had gone silent.
“I’m here,” I said.
The other car drove past us, wheels squealing and shots again rang out. Crystal pushed her foot hard on the accelerator and sent the car forward out of the range of the gunfire. She wrenched the car around and started chasing after them.
“What the hell?” I yelled out.
“They’ve taken Adam. Tell the cops, maybe they can intercept them.”
I took a deep breath. “My name is Trudie Eyre. I’ve been working with Detective Jake Griffin. Adam Hendricks was just kidnapped from his house at the address we gave you. The men who took him were the ones shooting at us. We are chasing the kidnapper’s car,
going south now.”
“Ma’am, I don’t think that is a good idea. If they have already been shooting at you they are dangerous. You should stop now and find somewhere safe.”
I was inclined to agree with the nice man on the phone. Unfortunately, I was not the one in charge of the wheel. Crystal was getting us close to the kidnapper’s vehicle. I felt a huge crunch as the kidnapper’s car swerved into us and we were pushed into a car parked on the side of the road. Airbags went off and I’ve got to tell you, they aren’t gentle. They may look like pillows but those things hurt. My chest felt like it had taken a hit from a baseball bat. We weren’t going anywhere. In the distance I heard police sirens coming close and the kidnapper’s car reversed away from us. In a cloud of smoke and squealing wheels, it took off in the opposite direction. Looking over at Crystal, I saw blood dripping down her forehead.
“Oh no, Crystal,” I said as I put my hand to her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, although she sounded a little groggy. “Not sure what I hit my head on though.” She winced as she raised her hand to her hairline.
A police officer came up to the window on my side. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” I said, “but my friend’s hurt. Did you get the guys that hit us?”
“No, we have another car that has gone after them. Can you hold on there for a few minutes? Paramedics should be here soon.”
Before too long we were out of the car and heading to hospital. I was sitting on the bed in a hospital room after having my statement taken by the nice young policeman when Crystal came in.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she sat on the edge of my bed. “I should never have done that.”
“You’re more hurt than me.” I pointedly looked at the bandage on her forehead.
“Yes, but I know how you feel about cars. I probably made things worse.”
“On the plus side,” I said, trying very hard to put an end to the guilt she was obviously feeling, “my constant nagging about wearing seat belts was totally worth it.”
Crystal giggled and winced as it pulled on the edges of the bandage. “I guess it was.”
We looked up at a knock on the door. Standing there with a concerned look on his face was Griffin.
“Finally,” I said. “It’s about time my fake boyfriend turned up.”
“Yeah,” said Griffin. “I figured I’d better put in an appearance. Could we have a moment please, Crystal? Ramos is out there. She wants to have a chat with you.”
“No problem,” said Crystal and left the room. Griffin was looking at me strangely.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“No, you’re not,” he said. “You could have been killed today. What the hell were you thinking?”
“We were returning the key to Ryan’s house. Trust me, there was no way I could have known we were walking into that,” I said indignantly. “Did you have some information that indicated he was going to get kidnapped?”
“No,” he said. “I had no idea.”
“See,” I said triumphantly. “Neither of us are fortune tellers. I could have just as easily walked into an armed holdup or a drive by shooting.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better or worse?” he said. Leaning over he tucked my hair behind my ear. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to get that message from dispatch and know there was nothing I could do to help? Knowing the danger you were in.”
I knew he was saying something important but at that moment I was losing myself in those beautiful green eyes.
“I feel like this is somehow my fault,” he murmured.
“That’s because it is your fault,” came an officious voice from behind.
Griffin straightened to face the wrath of Monique.
“She shouldn’t be anywhere near this situation but you forced her into it.”
Oh boy, was Monique mad. In heels she stood eye to eye with Griffin and she was letting him have it. Strangely enough, Griffin was just taking it. Unlike when he was talking to me his face had tightened up and that cold mask of his had come over it.
“Monique,” I said, trying to break into the tirade, because once Monique got started she could go for days.
Monique looked over at me.
“Let it go,” I said. “Please.” I may have also put a hand to my head, intimating that I had a headache to elicit a bit of sympathy. Sometimes you had to use everything you had.
“For you, ma petite, I will do that,” she said as she moved towards me on the bed, gripping hold of my hand.
“I’ll see you later, Trudie,” Griffin said as he made his exit.
“You had to scare him off didn’t you?” I said to Monique, shaking my head.
“He is no good for you,” announced Monique imperiously.
Reggie, who had followed her in, sat on the other side of the bed. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” he asked solicitously.
“I’m fine,” I said. “The only reason I’m here is we’re waiting for the x-rays on my ribs. I felt a little bit of pain earlier and they’re just being careful about it.”
“Crystal’s pretty upset that she put you through that,” Monique said quietly.
“Please tell me you didn’t have a go at her as well,” I implored Monique.
“Of course not,” she said, as if offended I would say such a thing. “I like Crystal.”