The Corner Booth (22 page)

CHAPTER 42

“Ladies, is everything okay?”

Both Cassie and Emily looked up, startled. Derek saw the look of terror flash over the dark-haired woman’s face. He couldn’t read Cassie’s. Her brilliant blue eyes widened in surprise, but then seemed to shut down.

“Everything is fine, Derek. What brings you into Faneuil Hall so early?”

Good for you
, he thought.
Don’t let them see you sweat
. Shrugging, he sat down next to Cassie, uninvited. “My partner and I finished our break. We come here a lot. I have to say, this is the first time I have seen you here.” He stared at Emily and her tearstained face and he lowered his voice. “Whatever you two think you can handle, I can pretty much tell you that you can’t, so, if I were you both, I would start talking.”

“I have no idea—”

“Fine. You don’t want to tell me, then you will listen. Your little friend here was with someone who has more holes in him than I can count and her face is plastered in every police precinct as we speak. I can also tell you that if we have her picture, then others do also. You both need help.”

“If they wanted her, she would be dead right now.” Cassie responded coolly, shocked at how calm she felt. Watching the mix of emotions flash over the ATF officer’s face, she knew he had thought the same thing as she did. She had called his bluff and won that round.

“She is not in trouble; she is just needed for questioning.” He held out his hand in greeting and introduced himself to Emily. “Derek Chandler—I work with the ATF.”

Cassie started to speak, but Emily’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“You don’t think that they will come after me, do you?” Emily had seen the same thing Cassie had on the man’s face.

“No. No I don’t.” Turning back to Cassie, he looked worried. “It is you who I think needs to be careful.”

Cassie swallowed the fear that rose inside her. “Really? I don’t need anyone’s help.”

“Yes, really.” Derek’s tone was harsh. “Let me ask you something, Miss Oliver. Did you know that Julian Karwowski is dead?”

All the blood left Cassie’s face at the name she hadn’t heard in over five years. She didn’t respond to his question; she just stared wide-eyed. “The wife came home to find him beaten to a pulp. They called it a home robbery. Interesting, that after reading the case report, I couldn’t seem to understand what was taken actually, besides his life.” He let that sink in for a moment before he continued. His voice softened. “You know Mr. Cunningham passed this weekend in a car accident and Andre was shot to death. So, here is my problem, Cassie. Every one of these deaths would not normally raise a red flag in my mind but it does. Do you know why?”

Derek waited for her response. He wasn’t disappointed at her silence, expecting it. “There is one common factor to each of these deaths, and it is you.”

The overwhelming urge to throw up came over Cassie. “I didn’t kill anyone,” she whispered, horrified.

“I know you didn’t, Cassie. I do not believe that you are capable of hurting a fly.”

“So, what are you trying to tell me?”

“To be careful.” He handed a business card to both Cassie and Emily. “If at any time, you need help, or are afraid, call me.”

Looking quickly from Cassie to Derek, Emily took a stand. “We can go with you now, if that is alright. I don’t know what else to do and I can’t go home without this resolved.”

“Cassie?” Derek watched as Cassie chewed on her bottom lip. She was the one he wanted to come with him but she seemed conflicted.

“I can’t do this without you, Cass.” Emily’s voice quivered. She was ready to lose it again.

“Fine, but I have to make a phone call first.” Cassie reached for her phone in her backpack. She should have called Stephan a long time ago.

“Great. You girls are making the right decision. I will have a car come and pick us up.” Derek was relieved. He hadn’t expected to be able to convince them to come back to the office with him; he only hoped to get into their heads. After speaking briefly with his supervisor, who assured him that a car was on its way, he ushered them both out of Quincy Market towards the south side of the Market, where they would be picked up.

By the time they reached the street, Cassie’s phone had turned on. She quickly pressed the keys; Stephan picked up before she even heard the ring. He had her on speaker so that Sakis could hear the whole conversation.

“Where the fuck are you?”

“Stephan, I am with Emily. She is terrified.”

“I am coming to get you both. Where are you?”

“Listen to me. Derek Chandler saw us. We are at Faneuil Hall. He is taking us to—”

Stephan could hear tires squeal in the background, followed by someone shouting to get down numerous times. The phone dropped, but remained open, allowing Stephan and Sakis to hear everything. Several popping sounds came over the line. Stephan’s heart sank; he knew the sound of gunshots well. Cassie’s scream ended midway by a sickening thud. Then the line went dead.

Tearing out the door, he left Sakis sitting alone in the huge office and prayed he wouldn’t be too late.

CHAPTER 43

Several of the streets were blocked off as they neared Quincy Market. Stephan knew the driver wouldn’t be able to get any closer. Jumping out, he ran towards Faneuil Hall. It was easy to find the location. Crowds of tourists and curious onlookers stood a safe distance away from the yellow caution tape while a barrage of SWAT and ATF officers swarmed the area. He wasn’t interested in any of them, but headed towards the flashing lights of the police vehicles and ambulances. Emily was in one, with a blanket around her shoulders. She shook uncontrollably, more than likely in shock. Stephan’s eyes scanned the next ambulance and recognized Derek, who was also seated in the back and pressed an icepack against his head.

Stephan looked to where he was pointing, deep in conversation with another officer. All of the air left his lungs at a body lying on the ground. A sheet had been laid over the still figure but it couldn’t prevent the blood from staining the ground around it. His legs started to give.
It couldn’t be her. Not Cassandra.
Turning back to the ambulances, he prayed she was with either Emily or Derek. As he locked eyes with Derek, the officer jumped off the ambulance and hurried over to him.

“It’s not her,” Derek called out to him before he spoke to one of the police detail and gave permission for Stephan to cross the tape.

“Where is she?”

Derek shook his head as they both walked to the still body. “I don’t know. It happened so fast. We had just reached the street, when the black Escalade shot around the corner. Cassie was behind us on the phone. I pushed Emily to the ground and pulled out my gun. I shouted for Cassie to get down. I was able to get a couple of shots off but we were already swarmed. Someone hit her in the head with the butt of the gun. I saw her go down, as I was struck. When I came to, she was gone. Emily said that they had picked her up and drove away with her.”

Stephan stared down at the sheet that covered the dead body. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t had time to check.”

Crouching low, Stephan lifted the sheet and stared at the man dressed in all black.

“I do not know him. We need to check his arm.”

Derek waved over someone to ask them to pull up the sleeves on the body. Stephan recognized the tattoo immediately, as did Derek. This man was a member of the Philadelphia family. Sakis’s suspicions had been correct. They were pissed and now they had Cassie. Stephan stormed off, away from the body. He needed to find her.

“Stephan!” Derek called out after him. “We need to work together on this!”

Without even hesitating, Stephan kept walking. Derek was furious. “She is going to die if you don’t take my help, and you know that!”

Stephan turned cold eyes towards Derek. He hated to admit it but the officer was right. This was time sensitive, and by the time he would be able to pull everything together, it might be too late.

“Fine! But you have to answer something for me first. Did Cassie go to you for help?”

Derek laughed.
The arrogance of some people.
He wanted to say yes, but he couldn’t do it. He liked Cassie and the repercussion of a lie like that could be dangerous.

“Good grief. Do you even know her?” Uncertainty was written all over Stephan. “Cassie would never go to the police. I just happened to be there with my partner and saw her sitting with Emily. I wasn’t even going to approach them, but something was off. The second she knew I was taking them to the precinct, she was on the phone with you.” His head cocked to one side, he continued. “She is loyal…where that is going to get her with you and Sakis, I am afraid to guess.”

“Cassie is loyal to many, not just us. That is who she is. If I was here, she wouldn’t have been taken.”

Derek’s face reddened at the insult. He had to take several deep breaths to hold back from punching him in the face. “But you weren’t, were you, Stephan, and neither was Sakis, so what does that tell us?”

An EMT who had approached coughed in his hand to gain their attention. He felt the tension between the two imposing men, but he had to do his job. “Officer, Emily is asking for you.”

Stephan followed Derek to the waiting ambulance. His mind raced; they were wasting too much time.

“Emily, how are you feeling?” The young woman looked horrible. It certainly had been a trying couple of days for her and he wondered when her breaking point would happen.

“We have given her something to calm her down. She will be pretty foggy soon.”

“Derek!” She reached for his hand and gripped tightly. “You have got to find her. She came out for me, to help me.” Emily’s words started to slur and her eyes glazed over.

“I know—”

“No. I heard one of them say to the other to head towards Landing Street, or Lands Round Street…God, I am having a hard time thinking.”

Gripping her face, he forced her to meet his eyes. “Emily, do you think he said Lansdowne Street?”

She leaned back on the stretcher. “Yes,” she mumbled, “that’s it…Lansdowne.”

CHAPTER 44

The sun felt warm on her skin. The bales of hay were so high. She knew she shouldn’t have climbed up, but if they finished this last row she could relax for the rest of the evening. She would have nothing to do. Adjusting the bale, she walked to the edge and looked down.
Damn, this was high.

“Cassie, be careful, you’re going to fall!” Her foster father screamed her name out as she began her terrifying descent. It seemed to go on forever. The contact with the unyielding ground was a shock to her system. Every part of her body hurt from the impact. She moaned loudly.

“Ah, the princess is waking.” A harsh voice crashed through her dream. The pain hit her full force, and Cassie realized that she wasn’t at the farm, but somewhere even more frightening.

The knot from the fabric tied around her eyes dug into her scalp. The knot itself was its own form of torture.

She screamed loudly as someone gripped her hair and yanked her head back. She could smell his rank breath as he pressed his face close to hers.

“You are very beautiful. Maybe beating you is not the way to go to send a message to your boyfriend.” Rough hands gripped her knees, brutally trying to force them apart. “This would be so much more fun.”

Kicking out with her feet at her assailant, her sneaker made contact with a shin, which only seemed to anger him more. The force of the backhand slap was so intense, she felt as if her head were going to snap off her neck as blood filled her mouth. Spitting out the copper liquid, she aimed in the dark, hoping to cover him with it.

“Bitch!” Strong hands gripped her shoulders and hauled her to her feet.

“Stop!” A voice rang loudly through the cavernous room. Cassie felt the hesitation before she was thrown back onto the chair, which wobbled uncontrollably, ready to topple her and the chair over.

“That was not part of our orders.”

“Fuck that.”

“I will be sure to relay your message to the boss when he calls,” the voice, now directly in front of her, stated.

“What do you want from me?”

“Absolutely nothing,” the deep voice answered her. “You are part of the message we are sending. That is all. This is not personal.”

There was nothing Cassie could do to stop her heart from beating frantically deep in her chest. She was more than terrified. Was the message her death? These were not people with a conscience. She was nothing to them. She tried again to loosen the zip ties that kept her wrists tightly bound and ignored the pain as they cut into her skin. She knew from the warm slickness on her fingers that she was bleeding, but her desperation shut out everything but wanting to be free.

“You are a fighter. Sakis is a lucky man to not only have beauty but courage underneath him.” Fingers traced down her face. She turned away to avoid the touch. “Even your beauty cannot be marred by the bruising.”

A phone rang off in the distance. Cassie heard several sets of footsteps head to the direction of the noise, including the leader. Moments later, it stopped. Unable to hear the conversation, Cassie took the time to work on her wrists again. She was so focused on what she was doing, she didn’t hear him approach, and let out a yelp as he grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up onto her feet.

“Okay, beautiful, showtime.”

Her kidnapper half dragged, half carried her across the room. Kicking and screaming, she struggled against him, seething when he chuckled. “Keep fighting, little butterfly. It won’t do any good.” His words only made her fight harder, but exhaustion was catching up with her. She kicked out, hoping to connect to any part of his body. Unexpectedly he stilled and cursed under his breath as he dropped her to the ground. She grunted in pain. Shouting could be heard off in the distance, and hope sprung alive inside her.

“Yeah, don’t get your hopes up. You will be dead before anyone rescues you.”

Cassie winced at the harsh words, showing true fear for the first time, but he was gone before he witnessed it. Cassie lay where she was. A tear slipped from under her blindfold; she was too tired to even care anymore. If she was going to die, she just wanted it over with.