Finn sped through town as he called Talwar. He was happy to be driving his own vehicle again. He’d picked it up that morning from the parking garage beneath Macy’s apartment building before heading to the police station.
“Hello?”
“Macy did it again. She gave me the slip. If she shows up there don’t let her leave. Tie her up if you have to.”
“I do not understand how she keeps managing to outsmart you,” Talwar responded.
Was the guy baiting him? Smartass. “Just do as I say. You got that?” He didn’t have time to go into all the details about how Macy had asked Detective Burns to detain him. It had taken more than an hour for the man to finally let him go. And only once Finn had confessed his love for the woman. He’d lied and said Macy had caught him flirting with another woman and that was why she was so bitter. He couldn’t bring himself to tell the guy why she was really angry with him. But before letting him go, the detective had warned him to stay away from her. Fat chance of that happening.
“Yes, sir.”
“I have to go.”
“Wait. Do not hang up.”
Finn rolled his eyes as he took a turn a little too sharply. “What is it? And make it snappy.”
“I have gone over this list of the employees several times.”
Sighing, “Get to the point, Talwar.”
“Yes, sir. The thing is, something doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t make sense?”
“You told me that one of the employees provided you with this list of names and addresses, correct?”
“Yes. Can you get to the point?” He made the turn that would lead him to the house where Jeremy Matthews lived. Finn could only imagine what a place like that would cost.
“What did you say this gentleman’s name was again?”
“Benny. Benny something. Why?”
“That is what I thought you had told me. But, Finn, there is no one by the name of Benny on this list.”
That was odd. “Try Benjamin.”
“I did that. And I looked for Ben as well.”
That made no sense. Unless Benny didn’t think to put his own name on the list. Was he that stupid?
Or maybe he was smart. Maybe he didn’t want his name and background being searched. Holy fuck! Was Benny the one who had been threatening Macy? Did he have something to do with Kat’s disappearance as well?
What the fuck was the guy’s last name? Then it hit him. “His last name is Grossman. Dig up everything you can on that asshole and call me back.” Finn should call Luke Remington. His friend was supposed to be in Chicago sometime this morning. He’d had several missed calls from Luke but with dealing with Macy he hadn’t had time to call him. He pressed the callback for Luke and gave him the rundown of what was going on.
Finn finally reached Matthews’s house, parked his SUV out front and hopped out. He raced up the brick steps and jabbed at the doorbell several times. “Macy?” he shouted. “Matthews? Open up, or I swear I’ll kick this door in!” No answer. “Macy?”
Not willing to wait any longer, Finn kicked the door open and rushed inside. He saw her purple bag in the hallway. He continued to call out Macy’s name as he made his way upstairs. He checked the bedroom he had found her in that morning but she wasn’t there. He checked the other rooms but there was no sign of her. Then he made his way downstairs, glancing into rooms as he made his way to the back of the house. He recognized her purse sitting on the kitchen counter at the same time he noticed the bloody body lying on the floor of the open pantry. “Aw fuck!”
Macy was confused when Benny pulled into a storage facility instead of going to the police like they had discussed. “Why are we stopping here? We need to go to the police, Benny.” He punched in a code and the gate lifted, allowing them access.
“I know that. But I need to make sure you’re safe, that David can’t get to you.” He drove around to the back and stopped his car. “He’ll never find you here. Come on. Let’s go inside and then we can call the police.”
Something didn’t feel right to her but she reached for the door handle anyway. Then she stopped. “Benny, why don’t we just drive to the police station? I told you it’s the one on Michigan Avenue.”
“We will. But we have to get Kat first.” He got out of the car but left the door open.
“Kat? She’s okay? Do you know where she is?”
Benny leaned low and looked at her inside the car. “Yes. She’s inside.” He pointed to one of the storage units. “She’s waiting for us.”
That didn’t make sense. Why would Kat be inside? She pushed to her feet, and breathed a sigh of relief that her friend was alive and safe. “Tell me how you found her.”
“She came to me. She was afraid. David had contacted her, threatened her. She didn’t know where else to go.”
Macy closed the car door and rushed to Benny’s side. “Why would she call you? Why didn’t she go to the police?”
Benny punched in a security code and the roller door to the unit began to lift. He turned to her then with a scornful look on his face. “You ask too many questions. You know that?” He shoved her inside, hard enough to make her fall to her knees. She noticed a foul odor but didn’t have time to process it before Benny struck her on the head with something and she blacked out.
Finn contacted Detective Burns upon seeing Jerry Matthews’s body. Even though the detective warned him to stay put he wasn’t that stupid. He knew the man would have to bring him in for questioning and he didn’t have that kind of time to waste. He had to find Macy. He knew she had been there because her purse was on the kitchen counter and her suitcase in the entrance hall. He wasn’t the praying type but he was praying now that she was still alive.
A house key was sitting beside her purse which led him to believe she had used it to get inside. It was obviously the one Matthews had given her that morning. Had she walked into the house after Matthews was killed? Or had the killer arrived after she had come back from the police station? Either way she must be terrified right now. He rooted through her purse and saw that her cell was inside so he couldn’t even call her. Had she run? Or had someone grabbed her? It was obvious she had either left in a hurry or had been taken.
He hoped she had run, that she would find a way to contact him. Without her phone in her possession she may not know his number but he was certain she knew how to reach Caroline. And from there Ryder would put her in touch with him. He quickly called Ryder, gave him the lowdown, but neither he or Caroline had heard from Macy.
Finn brought everyone up to speed on what was going on. Luke Remington was now with Dev Talwar at Macy’s apartment trying to locate Benny Grossman by tracking his cell. He’d already given Finn Grossman’s address. Finn was on his way to Grossman’s house right now.
Talwar had discovered that Grossman’s girlfriend Candy Symes had been beaten so badly she’d been hospitalized twice in the past year. But according to the police reports she’d said both incidents involved men she had met while working at a strip club. Finn didn’t believe that crap for a minute. Candy could very well have been the woman who had called the Dr. Macy show, saying her boyfriend was beating her. Plus her cell phone went straight to voice mail announcing the mailbox was full. According to Talwar, Candy had no family that anyone knew of. Then again he and Luke weren’t even sure if Candy was the woman’s real name.
Pulling up to the house where Benny Grossman supposedly lived, Finn shoved the vehicle into Park and got out. He raced up the front walk of the tiny bungalow and without bothering to knock or ring the bell, kicked the door in.
“Macy!”
No answer. He made a quick sweep of the four-room house but there was no sign of Macy or Benny. No sign of a struggle. No sign that Macy had ever been inside. He spotted a laptop sitting open on the kitchen table and started looking through it. He saw that Benny was into porn big time. In fact the last several web sites he had visited were all porn sites. Finn searched through the files on the desktop then searched the documents he had recently opened. One had his login and password information, again, mostly for porn sites. Some of the passwords were for online banking information, online retail stores, Facebook and his Twitter account. But then he found a password code for a storage unit. No address but it was a start.
He called Remington. But before he could say anything Remington said, “I think we got a location on this guy.” He rattled off the address. “It’s some kind of storage facility.”
“I’m on my way. Have Talwar meet me there.”
“Will do, my friend.”
“Oh, and do you have a number for Grossman? Can you patch me through to him?” Finn asked as he charged out of the house and sprinted toward his SUV.
The phone rang several times but then went to voicemail. Finn spoke loud and clear. “Listen, you motherfucking prick! You lay one hand on her and I will take you apart limb by limb. You got that?”
Macy opened her eyes, feeling woozy. Blood pounded in her brain. She was propped up on a cold concrete floor into a sitting position. Her jean-clad butt was near frozen as were her fingers and toes although the unit itself didn’t seem cold at all. It was probably climate controlled. She opened her mouth to speak but then realized she was wearing a gag. She wanted to pull it off but could barely move her hands or her feet. That was when she noticed the ropes tied around her ankles. Her wrists were tied behind her back.
Benny. Benny had done this to her. She replayed everything in her mind, starting with seeing Jeremy lying bloody and dead in his kitchen pantry. She sucked back tears as she glanced around the storage unit where he had taken her. But she didn’t see anything that unusual. Lawn furniture, stereo equipment, a tweed sofa that had seen better days, tons of cardboard boxes and a few heavy duty trash bags containing only God knew what.
That nauseating smell was starting to make her sick. She had to get out of there. There was no sign of Benny as she tried to push to her feet. But then someone came around from behind a row of boxes.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he said, only it wasn’t Benny. It was a woman. A woman with Benny’s voice.
She blinked several times, trying to understand what she was seeing. Why was Benny dressed in women’s clothing and wearing a wig?
“How do you like my disguise? I borrowed my cousin’s passport and turned myself into her. Jessica Bowers.” He gave a little curtsy in the black flowy pants and pink turtleneck sweater.
Macy didn’t respond or react. She did not want him to see her fear.
“Anyone looking for the man who abducted Kat will never find me.” He laughed. “I also left no trace of Benny Grossman when I flew down to the Bahamas yesterday and back this morning. I had been looking for you. Naughty girl. That was a waste of my time. Although I had fun killing your maid or whoever she was. Susheena, I think her name was. What a stupid name.”
This time Macy couldn’t help but let out a strangled cry behind the gag. Not Susheena. Oh, God, please don’t let it be true. But she knew it was. Had he also killed Kat and his girlfriend, the woman who had called her? The off-putting smell in the storage unit made sense now. Her stomach turned and she fought the bile rising in her throat.
Without thinking she rolled onto her side and tried to get to her feet. She wanted to attack Benny. But she only managed to tumble back down again, twisting her wrist in the process.
He laughed. “You’re not going anywhere you little slut! You made me kill Candy and I actually miss her now that she’s gone. That was all your fault, pretending to be a psychologist when you’re nothing but a reality TV star.”
Oh, God. He was going to kill her. Why hadn’t she stayed with Finn where she’d felt safe? She glanced around to see if there was another way out of the unit besides the big steel door but there wasn’t, from what she could tell anyway.
“You don’t know the first thing about relationships although you think you do. You had everyone convinced you were happily married to this great guy. Well, Kat spilled the beans to me when I was fucking her in your dressing room one night. We were both drunk and a little high and she picked up that stupid photo of your husband on the motorcycle and started rambling on about how hot he was and how she wished she could fuck him only he wasn’t real.”
Macy didn’t want to hear anymore. She wished he would just shut the hell up, but the longer he talked the longer she would be alive. Would anyone find her? Would Finn come to the rescue? She didn’t know how he could possibly know where she was, but she had to keep the faith.
If she could distract Benny somehow she felt certain she could get her gag off and possibly scream for help. She just didn’t know if anyone would hear her. Her gaze darted around the room, looking at anything and everything. Then in the corner she noticed a large purple roller bag, just like the one she had looked for in her closet that morning. She stared at it long and hard, until Benny finally turned around to see what she was looking at.
“Oh, I see what caught your eye. Hope you don’t mind but I needed a way to get Kat out of your apartment after I strangled her.”
Her stomach heaved and she almost threw up this time. Lifting her shoulder, she dragged it over her cheek and mouth and managed to lower the gag. She screamed at the top of her lungs. “Help! Help me! Somebody help me!”
Those were her last words before Benny planted a fist in her face and everything went dark again.
Finn stopped in front of the storage facility. He punched in the code he had memorized but nothing happened. He got out of his SUV and hopped over the wrought iron gate. He then scanned the length of the parking lot. He had no idea which unit belonged to Benny Grossman, but if he had to guess he would say it was the one with the Toyota Camry parked in front of it. Using the keypad he punched in the code just as he saw Talwar’s rental car come screeching to a stop next to his vehicle.
The roller door began to lift with a rickety sound. There was a speed boat in the very center of the unit. Using it for cover he ducked beneath the door and rolled inside. He half expected to see Grossman, assumed the guy would come at him immediately. But no one was inside. Although there was a cell phone sitting right out in the open on the concrete floor. Did it belong to Grossman? Why would someone leave their phone behind? It was as if he wanted it to be found.
He heard the unit door lift just to the left of this unit. He hugged the wall and watched as an elderly man walked outside and headed for the Toyota.
Talwar was on him in a flash. “Hands up, against the car,” he ordered the gray haired man who had to be close to eighty.
Finn went out to join them. “That’s not him. That’s not Grossman.”
The older man yelled. “Take my wallet. Take anything in my storage unit. But please don’t hurt me.”
Talwar released him and the man spun around, obviously surprised.
Finn spoke up. “Have you seen anyone around here today? A man and a woman? Maybe just a man? The one who rents the unit next to yours?”
“No. I haven’t seen anyone. I just went inside to check on Lucifer.”
“Who the fuck is Lucifer?”
“My cat. My landlord won’t allow pets and I couldn’t part with him. When I sold my house last month I rented an apartment and I rented this unit as well. Lucifer is all I have left since my wife died. So I come down here every day to spend some time with him, feed him, change his litter box. Just until I can find a decent apartment that allows pets.”
Was he fucking kidding? Where the hell was Macy? And Grossman? Finn had never felt so helpless in his life. If anything happened to her he would never forgive himself. Because if he hadn’t made up that lie about sleeping with her six months ago, she might be safe and in his arms at this very moment. But no, he’d been a prick. And because of his unforgiveable behavior he may have lost Macy for good to the hands of a perverted killer.
“Grab that cell phone inside,” he said to Talwar, pointing to the unit where he had found it. Talwar ran inside and retrieved it.
“Are you a religious man, Talwar?”
He nodded. “Yes. Why?”
“Because I’m not and I need someone to help me pray that Macy is still alive.”