Back on Solid Ground (36 page)

“Let’s go lie
in your bed,” Niki said after dinner.

They were
taking their plates to the kitchen when the phone rang.  Stacy debated on
whether to answer it and decided she better.

“Hello,”
Stacy said.  No one spoke but she could tell someone was there.  “Hello,” she
repeated.  Stacy got a chill up her back and hung up the phone.

“Wrong
number?” Niki asked.

“He didn’t
say anything but I could hear him breathing.”

“Like heavy
breathing?” Niki asked.

“No.  Not
like it was intentional.  Like nervous breathing.”

“Do you think
it was your father?” Niki asked.

“I don’t
know,” Stacy said.  “Do you?”

Niki walked
over and made sure the front door was locked, then he locked the balcony door. 
“Has that happened before?”

“A few times,
but not in the last week.”

“I don’t want
you staying here by yourself, Stacy,” Niki said.  “I’m going to have someone
posted outside your door while I’m gone.  Do you have a gun?”

“Yes.  You’re
scaring me.”

“I’m not
trying to scare you.  But I do want you to be aware of what’s going on around
you.  If your father’s back, you’re not safe.  And I don’t want you to delude
yourself into thinking you are.”

“Alex, my FBI
guy, told me to tell him when I get hang-ups.  Do you think I should call him
and let him know?” Stacy asked.

“It’s not a
bad idea.”

“Okay.  I’ll
do it tomorrow.”

“I want you
to sleep with your gun beside your bed, and I want you to carry it with you
wherever you go,” Niki said.

“Keeping it
by the bed is no problem, but it’s too big to carry with me,” she said.  “It’s
a 357.”

“Then I’ll
leave you one of mine.”

“You are so
damn sexy when you take charge,” Stacy said.  “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

“I’m serious,
Stacy,” Niki said irritated.

“I know you
are.  And I have taken to heart every word you said, and I’ll do everything you
told me.  But there’s nothing more we can do tonight, and you’re leaving in the
morning, and I don’t want to talk about it any more right now.”

Niki couldn’t
help but smile.  “Well then why are we standing around here? Get your ass in
that bed.”

Stacy woke up
early and was showered and dressed for work when she woke Niki.  She sat on the
side of the bed and leaned over and kissed him.

“Good
morning,” she said when he opened his eyes.  “I brought you some coffee.”

Niki sat up
and rubbed his eyes.  “What time is it?”

“It’s almost
7:00.  I have to get to a breakfast meeting, but I didn’t want to leave without
saying goodbye.”

“You look
nice,” Niki said. He got out of bed and went to his bag and pulled out a 9mm. 
“Where’s your purse?”

Stacy took
the gun and checked the safety, then walked into the living room and put it in her
purse and came back to the bedroom.  Niki was writing something down on a
business card.  “Here’s my mobile number.  Text me or call me, and if you get
my voicemail, leave a message and I’ll call you back,” he said, handing her the
card.

Stacy
smiled.  “You mean if I get lonely I can call and talk to you?”

“You better,”
he said hugging her.  “What’s your number?”  He put the number in his phone as
she called it out.  “I’ll walk you out to your car.”

Niki got
dressed and they walked outside.  “I’ll see you in a few days,” he said. 

“Okay.  I’ll
miss you,” Stacy told him. 

“Me too,”
Niki said, and he hugged and kissed her.

Stacy started
the engine and Niki watched her drive off then went back upstairs to her condo.

As soon as
she was out of the parking lot, Stacy grabbed her phone.  Holly picked up on
the third ring.

“I have a
boyfriend,” Stacy said.

“You do?  Are
you
so
in love?” Holly exclaimed.

“I am
so
in love.  We had the best date Sunday night and then we spent all of yesterday
together and last night.  He’s amazing!”

“Well I need
to meet him!  What if I hate him?” Holly said.

“Not
possible,” Stacy laughed. “But I’m bummed because he’s leaving today for L.A.”

“ But he just
got here!” Holly said.

“I know.  I’m
hoping he’ll be back by the weekend.”

“Oh.  I
thought you meant that he was going, going.  Leaving for three days is no big
deal,” she said.

“He invited
me to his sister’s wedding in New Orleans in a couple of weeks,” Stacy said.

“New Orleans?  Is that where he’s from?” Holly asked.

“Yeah, can
you believe it.  Right next door,” Stacy said.

“You’re gonna
go aren’t you, to the wedding?” Holly asked.

“I told him I
would.”

“Are you on
your way to work already?” Holly asked.

“A breakfast
meeting with a new client. You want to go to a movie or something tonight?”

“Yeah, let’s
do.  I’ll come by after work.”

Stacy made it
to her breakfast meeting with ten minutes to spare.  She liked to get to the
restaurant first when she was meeting with a new client, and she hoped the
client representative hadn’t beaten her there.  The hostess led Stacy to her
regular corner table, then she returned with a carafe of coffee and set it on
the table.  The client got there five minutes later and Stacy stood up and
shook his hand when the hostess brought him over.

“Good morning
Mr. Riley.  I’m Stacy Trent.”

Mr. Riley sat
down beside Stacy and they spent the next hour going over what Stacy envisioned
as his company’s promotion strategy.   When she finished her initial
presentation, she gave him a packet of materials she had compiled for him to
look over.

“This all
looks great,” said Mr. Riley.  “And I have a few more things in my car I’d like
to send with you, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,”
Stacy said.  She paid the bill and followed Mr. Riley outside.

“I’m parked
over here on the side.”  He led her to his van and opened the side door.  He
bent down and was going through a box. He came up with a white handkerchief and
in one motion, he grabbed Stacy and covered her mouth and nose, shoved her into
the van and closed the door.  The chloroform knocked her out instantly and Mr.
Riley got in the van and drove off.

It was 3:00
when Amy called Holly at her office. 

“Have you
talked to Stacy today?” Amy asked.

“Yeah, I
spoke to her this morning.  Why?” Holly asked.

“I haven’t
heard from her all day.  And she just missed an appointment here at the office.”

“You called
her mobile?” Holly asked.

“Yeah, she’s
not answering,” Amy said.  “Holly you know Stacy, and this isn’t like her at
all.  I just know something has happened, otherwise she would have called.”

“When I
talked to her this morning, she was going to a breakfast meeting with a new
client.  Do you know which client it was?”

“No.  But I
can look on her calendar.”

“Why don’t
you do that and call the client and see if she made it for the meeting.  And
call me back on my mobile.  I’m going to drive by her condo and see if her car
is there,” Holly said.  She gave Amy her number and grabbed her keys and raced
out to her car.  She called Stacy’s home number and mobile number on the way
over, but all she got was Stacy’s voicemail.  She left a message on both
telling Stacy to call her immediately when she got the message, then she texted
her for good measure. 

Holly pulled
into Stacy’s condo and drove past her parking slot.  The Viper was sitting
right where it belonged, so Holly pulled in and parked.  She took the elevator
to the top floor and when she got out there was a man sitting outside Stacy’s
door.  Holly jumped, not expecting anyone to be there.

“Who are
you?” Holly asked, in an accusatory tone.

“Who are
you?” the man shot back in the same tone of voice.

“I asked you
first.  Are you with the FBI?”

“No.”

“Then what
the hell are you doing lurking outside Stacy’s door?  Is she in there?” Holly
pounded on the door, “Stacy,” she yelled.  Holly fished her phone out of her
purse.  “I’m calling the police.”

He reached
over and took the phone out of Holly’s hand.  “I’m a friend of Stacy’s,” he
said, stretching the truth. 

Holly
snatched her phone back.  “Well I’ve known Stacy all my life and I’ve never
seen you.  You either tell me who you are and why you’re here, or I’ll have
federal agents all over you like a swarm of bees.” 

“I’m here to
keep an eye on your friend,” he said amused.  “If you’re as good of friends as
you claim, then I assume you know that Stacy may be in some danger,” he said,
not wanting to disclose too much.

“Well if
you’re not with the FBI, then who hired you?”

“Niki
Lautrec.”

Holly threw
her hands up.  “Why didn’t you say that at the beginning!” she said, thoroughly
pissed off.   And then it dawned on her. “You must be Jason,” she said, looking
him over. 

Jason
smiled.  He recognized her from Stacy’s hospital interview.  “And you are?” he
said, holding out his hand.

“Holly Lane.” 

“As in Lois?”

Holly ignored
the remark. “Look, I’m sorry if I was ugly, but I’m worried about Stacy, and
you could have just as easily been some creep here to hurt her.”

“I
understand,” Jason said.  “No hard feelings.”

She found her
keys and opened Stacy’s door.  “Stacy!  Are you here?” she yelled.  Jason
followed her inside and Holly walked through the condo looking for Stacy, but
the place was empty.  Holly turned to Jason, “Stacy’s missing.”

“What?” Jason
said in disbelief.

“It may be
nothing, but her assistant called and said that Stacy didn’t show up for work
today.  I talked to her at 7:15 this morning, but no one’s heard from her
since.”  Her purse rang and Holly dug to find her phone, “Hello.”

Amy was in
tears.  “I talked to someone from the company that Stacy was meeting with and
they had never heard of the person who claimed to be the client rep.”

Holly reached
behind her for a chair and tried to clear her head to think.  “I’m at her place
now.  Her car’s outside, but she’s not here,” Holly said.  “Let me think for a
minute and I’ll call you back, Amy.”  Holly hung up, and by the look on her
face, something was obviously wrong.

“What is it?”
Jason said, and Holly related what Amy had told her.  “Shit,” he said under his
breath.   He pulled out his phone and dialed Niki’s number, but got his
voicemail, “You need to call me immediately,” then he texted the same message.

Jason got up
and paced the room, then he turned to Holly.  “Take me to the restaurant.”

Holly gave
him a look, waiting expectantly, but he didn’t get it.  “
Please
?”

“Please,”
Jason replied, contrite.

“That’s
better.”

They drove to
the restaurant and Holly and Jason both went inside.  They talked to the
hostess, who confirmed that Stacy had been there for breakfast and that a man
had met her there.  According to the waitress, they had been there for about an
hour and had walked out together.  She described the man, as best she could
remember and took Jason’s number in case she remembered anything else.  Jason
walked the parking lot looking for clues, but didn’t find anything.   They went
back to Stacy’s condo and walked over to the Viper. 

“Would she
have taken her car to the restaurant this morning?” Jason asked.

“She would
have had to.”

“So she
either drove it back and she was taken from here, which I doubt, or someone
else drove it back here,” he said, more to himself than Holly.  “Don’t touch
anything.  I’m going to have it dusted and see if we can get any prints.” 
Holly listened as he called Lautrec Investigations in Austin and made
arrangements for someone to come down to dust the car and run any prints.  

When he got
off the phone Holly asked him, “Are we assuming that Stacy’s father is behind
this?”

“That’s the
assumption,” Jason said.

“I’ve known
that man all my life and I just can’t believe he would do something like this,”
Holly said, not willing to believe it.

“He gave us
the name of the man he hired to kill Stacy.  Believe it.”

“Then are you
assuming that she has been taken again, kidnapped,” she said, trying not to
become emotional.

“That’s the
assumption.”

Holly took a
deep breath.  “Well I’m not going to sit around here and do nothing.  I’m going
to her dad’s house and look around.”

She sounded
distinctly like Stacy when she said it and Jason knew better than to argue. 
“We’ll take my car,” he said.

They drove to
Monte Vista and Jason parked in the street two houses down.  They got out and
went around back and Jason was getting ready to pick the lock but Holly moved a
rock beside the back steps and picked up the house key.  The house was dark and
the kitchen smelled musty.  Holly looked in the sink and felt the sponge, then
she turned around and looked at Jason. 

“It’s wet,”
she said.

Jason smiled.
“You’re good,” he said impressed.  “Come on Lois.  Let’s go upstairs.”

“Don’t call
me that,” Holly said irritably.

They went
into Stacy’s father’s bedroom and Holly turned on the light and they looked
around.  A pair of jeans and a shirt were lying on the bed.  Jason picked up
the jeans and searched the pockets but came up empty.  He threw them back on
the bed and picked up the shirt.  He fished out a couple of slips of paper from
the pocket and looked them over: A receipt from a store he had never heard of
with last week’s date, and an old dry cleaning receipt with a telephone number
written on the back.  Jason stuffed the papers in his own pocket and put the
shirt back on the bed.