Tragically Flawed Read online

  Drexel stalked out the front door, phone up to his ear.

  Amie walked outside to check on Shan. Gray went into the kitchen to pour himself some coffee. He came back with a cup for Dr. Ashworth.

  “You look like you could use some sleep,” she told him.

  Gray let out a snort. “Yeah, I’ve been up for over twenty-four hours, but you’d have to shoot me up with a horse tranquilizer to get me to sleep right now.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  Gray assessed Dr. Ashworth momentarily before speaking. “You remember the fires? Stupid question. Who doesn’t, right?”

  “Unless you’re not from around here, you’d have to remember.”

  “Shan’s best friend and his family died in that fire. They lived in one of his homes and he blames himself. Colby was my best friend too. It wasn’t Shan’s fault. Nothing could’ve saved them. Thing is, it really took a toll on our relationship too. Shan shut down and stopped talking to everyone, including me.”

  “Guilt is a terrible thing, even when it’s misplaced.”

  “Yeah. So now, add this to the mix. I’m more than a little concerned about him.”

  “Would you like me to talk to him?”

  Gray rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension. “I think that’s a question only Shan can answer.”

  Dr. Ashworth got up and walked outside. Shan stood with his back facing her and Amie stood alongside him, looking quite helpless. Amie noticed Dr. Ashworth approaching and silently walked away.

  Shan took one look at Dr. Ashworth and said, “I don’t care to be analyzed right now.”

  “I wasn’t planning on doing that. Besides, I’m a psychologist, not a psychiatrist. I don’t do any psychoanalysis.”

  “What did you come out here for? And if you think you want to chat, you might want to get your coat. It’s pretty cold out here. I hope Riviera had a coat. Or at least I hope she’s in a warm place.”

  “Shan, sometimes it’s best to force yourself to have positive thoughts.”

  He turned to face her and she instantly knew she’d said the wrong thing. “Okay, that wasn’t the right thing to say.”

  “You think?”

  “I know. Listen to me, Shan. I know Riviera. I understand how she thinks and she wouldn’t want you to be feeling like this.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me how to feel, my good doctor!” he yelled.

  “I can’t tell you how to feel. I can only suggest that you channel your thoughts into finding her and not into what happens if you don’t.”

  Shan glared at Dr. Ashworth. “Thanks for your sage advice, Doc. But I’d like to trade places with you right now to see how well you’d be channeling.”

  “It may not seem like it to you now, but I’m not here to anger you. I’m here to help. If you feel the need to talk, you know where to find me.”

  He gripped the wooden railing until his knuckles whitened. He squeezed his eyes shut.

  “Shan, I’m on your side. I’ll be inside if you need me.” She headed back into the house.

  *****

  Drexel’s phone buzzed with a text. He motioned to Gray. “They found her Highlander. It was out in a place called Piney Lake. Do you know it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Let’s go.”

  They drove there in silence and when they arrived, the police had the car nearly disassembled.

  Drexel approached the officer in charge. “Find anything?”

  “Nothing. Except this.” He held up a blond hair in a small plastic bag. “It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. Whoever took it was smart enough to park off the road and in the grass. We did get some tire tracks over there. We’re going to run a check on them ASAP.”

  “Good. Were her supplies in the back?”

  “Yep. All her paints and tools. Do you need to see them?”

  “No, I was just making sure everything was accounted for.”

  "Yeah, it would've been nice as an evidence trail, huh?" the detective said.

  Drexel and Gray got back inside Gray’s car. “I think it’s time for me to pay a visit to this Marsha Sue,” Drexel said. “I need to rattle her chain a bit, especially before the police do. Once they get to her, she'll lawyer up and I'll have a tougher time because she'll be surrounded by those pricks.”

  “Hey, don't forget I'm one of those pricks," Gray said. "But do you think that’s wise? What if she gets spooked and calls whoever has Riviera?”

  “I’m hoping she does. I have connections that'll have her cell phone traced by then. She’ll lead us right to Riviera.”

  Gray smiled. “What are we waiting for?”

  “You’re going back to your brother’s. I’m going to borrow your car.”

  “I’d like to go with you.”

  “No, Gray, you wouldn’t. I don’t use traditional methods to get information, even where women are concerned. If I suspect someone is lying to me, I get the information I need and you may not approve of my methods. I’d rather you stayed clear of this.”

  “Okay.”

  Gray drove back to Shan’s and gave up his car to Drexel. “Call if you find anything.” Then he was gone.

  *****

  Faint noises floated in as Riviera began to regain consciousness. The sounds were in the distance but present nonetheless. She wanted to open her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to find the strength, so she let herself drift back to sleep. Something jarred her awake a short time after that. When she tried to open her eyes again, something prevented her from doing so. It was dark wherever she was, but she knew she was moving. She could sense and hear the motion of the vehicle in which she was trapped. Trying to move, she found that her hands and feet were bound. Her mouth was covered too, and from the taste and smell, she knew it was duct tape. Jasper had used it on her so many times, she knew she’d never forget that smell. She wondered if her eyes were duct taped too.

  She was in a cramped space—she couldn’t stretch out her legs. A ripple of extreme dizziness rushed over her, quickly followed by a surge of nausea. Memories of Jasper tying her up and beating her senseless flooded her mind. Her heart beat erratically, and her breath puffed in and out of her nose.

  With her ear pressed to the surface of whatever she was lying on, the realization slapped her in the face. The noise of the highway whizzing beneath her and the sounds of passing cars told her she was in a trunk. If only she could see, she thought. She remembered reading somewhere that you could knock the taillights out of a car and put your hand out to call for help. Riviera knew she was in deep trouble because she couldn’t have found a taillight if she’d tried.

  The fuzziness in her head was overwhelming. Then she remembered hearing Marsha Sue’s voice, right before she felt the stinging in her neck. She’d been drugged. Why the hell was Marsha Sue doing this and where was she taking her?

  Riviera tried to roll over and kick her legs. She figured doing anything was better than doing nothing. Time passed, but she didn’t know how much. Soon the car stopped and she heard a door open and close. Then she felt the cold air fan across her skin as the trunk lid popped up. Riviera wanted to scream, but it was pointless with her mouth taped shut. She couldn’t even look at her abductor.

  “You woke up faster than you were supposed to,” a deep voice said. Riviera tried to match the voice with a face, but came up empty. A twisting serpent of fear slithered in her gut; she was flying blind and defenseless. All the situations she’d been trapped in before with Jasper never made her feel like this. If her heart didn’t pop right out of her chest, she would be shocked. She knew any minute she would feel the hands of the stranger drag her out of that trunk and either rape or kill her, but that ultimate feeling of helplessness was so encompassing, she knew there was only one thing to do.

  She thrashed around, flopping like a beached fish. She felt his hands shoving her face against the hardness of the cold surface her body lay against. “Stop it, you little shit,” he hissed. Then that stinging hit her in the back
of the neck again and she knew she’d be down for the count. Her last thought before her consciousness slipped away was she prayed Shan could find her.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Plans

  Shan walked into the room, rubbing his eyes. He was so damn exhausted, his thoughts were nothing but a jumbled mass of horrors. “Tell me what you’ve found.” A look at their grave faces did not sit well.

  “Gray?” he asked.

  Gray glanced at his parents and then back at Shan. “They found her SUV up at Piney Lake with no evidence but a hair.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Shan, thoughts like those won’t help.”

  “Gray, I’m not stupid. But I can’t just flip a damn switch and make them go away, goddammit. I can’t even come close to explaining to you how I feel.”

  “Man, I am so sorry. I wish there were some way I could make you feel better.”

  “There is. Help bring her back to me ’cuz honest to God, Gray, I don’t think I can live without her.”

  Shan turned away and walked straight into his bedroom. He dropped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, thoughts of Riviera and what had happened to her consuming and battering him like a tidal wave. The pain was indescribable. His head pounded and his guts were so twisted he wanted to scream with anguish. Most of all, he wanted to see her beautiful face staring at him and hear her sweet voice wash over him as she told him it was all just a terrible nightmare.

  Shan wasn’t aware he’d been sobbing until his mother came in and put a cool cloth on his forehead. She handed him a whiskey, neat, and told him to down it or she was going to call the doctor to have him sedated. He did as he was told, and to his surprise she left the room, only to return with another. He downed it and felt the liquor soften the edges of his pain.

  “You don’t have to stay here with me, you know,” he said, his voice raw with emotion.

  “I’m your mother, Shan. I’ll always be your mother. I love you and when you’re in pain, so am I. It’s the way things are. I’ll stay until you sleep.” She brushed his long hair back from his face and watched his eyes close. She said a silent prayer for Riviera that God would bring her back to them safely. Then she pulled up a chair next to her son and held his hand. Patsy thought to herself how some things never changed. Though he was a grown man of twenty-four, Shan was still her baby and she would stay with him until he awoke.

  Mike walked in the room and knelt in front of his wife. “How is he?”

  “Asleep for now. I’m surprised he drank the whiskey.”

  “Did he taste the Ativan?”

  “No, and if you ever tell him, I’ll make life very difficult for you, Mike Shandon. It was only a half of a milligram, not enough to do anything but make him a tad drowsy. He needed to sleep.”

  “I know.” Mike patted Patsy’s hand.

  “Mike, he wasn’t this bad when Colby and his family died. He was angry then, but now, he’s so broken. He loves her so much and it’s killing me to see him like this.”

  Mike pulled his wife into his arms. “I know it is. Patsy, just because he’s a grown man doesn’t make him less of a child to you.”

  “I look at him now and see that little boy I used to hold in my arms when he fell and scraped his knees. I could wipe away his tears and make him feel better. I can’t do that anymore.”

  “Oh, Patsy, don’t you see? That’s exactly what you’re doing. Look at you, sitting here, holding his hand. That will never change. You’ll always be here for your children.”

  “What if they don’t find her?”

  “Pray they do, honey. Just pray as hard as you can that they do,” he said somberly.

  *****

  Drexel walked up to Marsha Sue’s front door and knocked. When he received no answer, he jimmied the lock and let himself in. He wasn’t surprised when he found Marsha Sue, sitting in the den, staring at him open-mouthed.

  “Who are you and what do you want?”

  “Who I am makes no difference. What I want is the information you have on Riviera Benson. Where is she?” Drexel asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  Drexel grabbed her wrist and applied pressure until she screamed. “You’re lying. I’m playing nice with you right now, Marsha Sue, but I won’t if you continue to lie. Where. Is. She?”

  “I don’t know. This guy named Jasper threatened to kill me if I mentioned he was here,” Marsha Sue moaned.

  “You’re lying.”

  “No! He wanted to know where she was. He said he found out she was working for me and if I didn’t tell him where to find her, he’d kill me.”

  Drexel narrowed his eyes. He knew he wasn’t getting the whole truth, but he’d take this for the time being. “So instead of calling the authorities, you just gave him the information?”

  “I was afraid. He told me he’d kill me,” she whined.

  “But you didn’t give a damn what he’d do to Riviera. Is that about right?”

  Marsha Sue sat there and looked at him. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Where was he taking her?”

  “He didn’t say. I suppose Chicago. But I don’t really know.”

  Drexel took the wrist he was holding, gave it a sudden twist and forced it behind her back. “Last chance, Marsha Sue. Where is Riviera?”

  Marsha Sue screamed in pain again. “I'm not sure. She may be in Chicago but I don't know. I swear.”

  Drexel dragged her to the computer he saw sitting at a desk. “Pull up your emails. Now.”

  She did as he asked. He started looking through everything and he found some interesting messages, one in particular that concerned a sizeable bank deposit. “Care to explain this?”

  “It's not what you think. It's for some decorating items I purchased.”

  He had to hand it to her. She was a quick thinker. He told her to get up. Taking a seat, he printed out several emails he thought he could use. Then he opened her Internet browser, but found her history had been erased. This one was a smart cookie, he thought.

  Drexel knew someone that could help, so he dialed a number and was glad to hear his friend answer. “Hey man, I need a favor. Can you connect to an IP addy and run a search on every site that this computer has connected to? You're the king, dude.”

  Drexel gave the man on the other line the information and waited. “You know Marsha Sue, nothing is ever deleted from a hard drive.”

  “You can't do that. It's illegal!”

  Drexel shook his head. “Oh, and kidnapping isn't?”

  His attention was diverted back to the phone and he smiled. “Thanks. Can you send all that to me? You have my email information. Can you pull files too while you're in there? Anything recent, like from the last month will do. Great. Thanks man. Just bill me.”

  Drexel stood and said, “I'm sure the police will be here soon. They found Riviera's car already with your hair in it.”

  Marsha Sue blanched as she watched Drexel walk out the front door.

  *****

  “She’s lying but she said Jasper came here and threatened her if she didn’t tell him where to find Riviera,” Drexel announced as he walked in the door. "A friend of mine is sending me her computer records--websites she visited and her most recent files. I should be getting that soon."

  “How did Jasper find her?” Gray asked.

  “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t be hard. All he’d have to do is Google Riviera's name. I already have the police and a buddy of mine with the FBI looking into it. They’re looking into Chicago, but we need more info on Jasper.”

  Drexel announced he was going to Chicago. A plane was on the way to take him.

  “I’m going with you,” Gray told him.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Everyone looked up as Shan walked in the room.

  “What’s going on?” Shan said.

  Drexel looked him in the eye. “I’m going to Chicago.”

  “What have you found?”

  “Nothing, but I’m go
ing to look for Jasper. I have enough information that I think I can find him.”

  Shan spread his legs and his lips thinned. “I’m going.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “No, you’re …”

  “Either I go with you or I go alone.”

  The two men stared at each other and an understanding passed between them. Drexel didn’t normally work with anyone. He was used to running these ops alone. Wolfe wasn’t his real surname, just one he assumed after returning from Afghanistan and leaving the military. His skills were exceptional and he put them to good use. Having an untrained civilian along would put him in danger, but the desperation in Shan’s eyes had him relenting. Surprised by his decision, he slashed his head up and down once. Spinning around, he headed back outside, phone in hand.

  It was only a few minutes before he was back inside asking Gray to take them to the airport. Pointing to Shan, he said, “Change your clothes. Wear solid black. Wear nondescript running shoes. Bring along a ski mask and gloves, preferably the kind that allow for dexterity. Leave your cell phone at home and any forms of ID. We clear?”

  Shan nodded and went to change. When he came out, Drexel said, “Let’s go. Wheels are up in forty minutes.”

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Terror

  Shan and Drexel boarded the G-5 bound for Chicago exactly forty minutes after leaving his house. The hardest thing Shan had done was stay seated until they had cleared ten thousand feet and the pilot gave them the go-ahead to unbuckle their seat belts. He bolted out of his seat and started pacing.

  “If you’re gonna act like this when we get there, I’m gonna check you into a hotel and tie you to the damn bed.”

  Shan stopped and fired a look at Drexel. “Try it and I promise you’ll regret it.”

  Drexel laughed. “At least I got you to stop with the frenetic movements.”

  Shan realized he was right. “How do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Those black ops missions?”

  Drexel’s entire face darkened until it barely resembled the man who only seconds before sat in front of Shan. It surprised Shan enough that he took a couple of steps backward.