Consume Me (Devoured Club Series) (18 page)

“Which set of buns are you tempting me with?” I asked
, smiling at her.

Laughing, Emma placed the hot pan on the stove top
. “Are you always that cheesy?”

“Nah. Just couldn’t think of anything better at the moment
, except maybe one thing…” I stood and headed to her only to be met by her extended hand.

“Whoa, down cowboy. I’ve got to be at the bakery in a couple of hours
, and I still have to swing by the market for ingredients.”

“You know how to make a man cry.” She placed a cinnamon roll on a plate and slid it
over to where I had retaken my seat.

“You aren’t a big
, in control Dom all the time, are you?” she said, as I took a bite of the roll and looked back at her.

“Don’t tempt me
, pet. I might have to show you exactly how dominant I can be.” I finished eating the roll, and helped myself to another one, as Emma sat by my side, watching me eating her breakfast. “Can I ask you something?” I leaned back in my chair, and moved so that she was looking directly at me.

She shrugged her shoulders
. “Yeah, I guess. What is it?”

“What happened last night in the club?” I watched the color drain from her face as she stared at her plate. “Tell me now
, Emma.”

“Nothing, I received the text and gave it to Mac.”

“Don’t lie to me.” My voice was deep, controlled. “I don’t like lying, Emma. You know what I am referring to.”

Emma stared at her plate, occasionally pushing the bun with her fork
. “Really it was nothing; a misunderstanding.”

“Not according to Mac. Now stop lying to me
, Emma. Tell me or I will punish you.” I watched as her back stiffened, and she slowly raised her eyes up to meet mine.

“It was a person from my past.”

“One that had you pale and upset.” I waited for her response.

“It was Colin.” She looked back down at her plate. “I didn’t think he would ever find me
.”

“What did he say?” I was growing impatient. I needed to speak with Devlin and Mac.

“That I could count on seeing him again.” She looked up at me. “I never want to see him again.”

“And you won’t. I will promise you that.” I took her into my arms and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. “Come on, let’s get dressed. I want to take you to a Bruins game tonight
, and you have work before that.”

“Don’t you have to be at the club tonight?”
she asked, tilting her head back.

“Usually
, yes, but I think we need some fun.”

“Okay
, sounds like a plan.” She kissed me quickly and headed to shower. I found my shirt and sent a quick text to Devlin. Twenty minutes later, we were saying good bye and leaving in separate cars; she to the market and bakery, and I was headed to Devlin’s office.

*****

“What do you know?” I asked, as I barged through the door to Devlin’s downtown office. Kieran and Mac were hunched over a computer screen. I had just received a text letting me know that they might have a lead. “Where’s Devlin?”

“He’s following up on that lead. He should be here shortly
,” Mac responded without looking up from his computer. “As you know, the text was sent from a burner phone, and was untraceable. Anyway, we started watching the feed on the doors, and finally were able to pick up the same type of body frame a few times over, one of those being an hour before the last note was delivered. He’s young.” Mac punched up the image on another screen that was hanging from the wall. I looked at it. The perp didn’t seem like he could mastermind an entire plan of stalking.

“That’s not him. Call it a hunch or not, but he isn’t behind it.” I looked back at Mac.

“We know. But look here…” He punched up another photo, taken about thirty minutes before the roses had appeared at the store. The guys had tapped into security footage from around the bakery. The image was of the same guy, holding the box, but he was positioned a few stores before the bakery.

“He delivered the flowers?” I asked
, not sure where they were going with it.

“Yes. See this.” He zoomed in on a logo that was on the box. “Devlin’s at the store now.” Mac added photo shots to the wall monitor.

“Oh.” The thought hit me as Devlin entered the office with the kid in tow.
The kid was hired to deliver the flowers. Only, he had also been seen in footage of the bakery once or twice, around the bakery, and at Rumor. Not technically a stalker move, or out of the norm for a college age kid, but this had a different feel to it.

The kid was about twenty-two
, and his name was Carl. He was the perfect person to blend into the environment that was Quincy Market. He was a typical college student, working his way through school. Not overly attractive, just plain and blend-able. He could come and go without being noticed. Sad really; I used to be similar to that kid. Part of me felt bad for him. The other part was ready to rip him apart.

“Sit.” Devlin’s voice was curt and demanding
, as he slid a chair next to the boy. Carl was nervous; his hands were trembling, and he kept rubbing them together.

“I…I…don’t…know what you want
,” he said, his voice stumbling.

“We have a few questions for you. First of all
, why are you hanging around Malorie’s Bakery?” Devlin had now sat down in a chair opposite Carl, straddling the back of it.

“What are you talking about?” the boy asked
, as Mac handed Devlin copies of the snapshots.

“These. You have been seen hanging around the shop right before certain things happen
, or around the time things have been delivered. And here you are, holding one of those packages, watching from outside of the store.” Devlin shuffled through the photos. Carl was holding the long flower box while looking into the window of the shop.

“I deliver flowers from a flower shop centered in Quincy Market. I don’t understand what you are insinuating.” Carl
looked around at us. Four men, all dressed in black, surrounding him.

“We are insinuating that you were waiting for a specific moment to deliver the box
; maybe a moment when no one was at the counter.” Devlin said, and we all waited for the kid to answer.

“Those were the instructions.” Carl looked at the photo and then back
at Devlin. “The instructions were to deliver the box and leave it on the counter, but to make sure no one was up front.”

“Who ordered the flowers
?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Honestly
, I don’t. There was an envelope with money and the instructions sent to the shop. I just followed through with them. I swear.” Devlin nodded.

“Then why are we seeing you in the shop and at the club
, at the same time as Emma?” Devlin showed him another couple of photos.

“Listen, I like the tarts at the bakery. I’ve been going there since I started to work at the flower shop. And I was with friends the other night. Rumor is a popular club. Everyone goes there at least for an hour on Friday nights.”

“You better be talking about the pastries, and not the women that work there,” I interjected, ready to punch the kid.

“Yes, the pastries.” The kid looked like he was about to shit his pants.

I looked at Devlin and then back at Carl. “Dev, can I see you for a moment?” I nodded in the direction of the office. Devlin nodded back, and stood up. We headed to the office and shut the door. “I think he’s telling the truth. I do.”

“
I agree. That means there is still someone behind the photos and threats.” Devlin looked at his phone and back at me. “Right. Back to the camera feeds.”

“Let’s go.” We went back out
to the conference area of the office, which was basically the main area where Kieran and Mac had all of the computers and monitors set up on desks and walls. It looked like they could control a missile attack from that office.

“Carl, you’re free to go. But I’d stay away from Malorie’s bakery for a few days
, okay?”

“Um…okay
.” The kid stood and headed for the door as fast as he could.

Devlin turned to us
. “Alright, back at square one. Let’s run the feeds from the clubs again.”

“Mac, I want you to focus on the guy Emma ran into at Diablo. The guy doesn’t sit well with me
,” I said, as I pulled out my phone to text Emma.
Checking in on you. Pick you up at 6.
I looked up to see Devlin looking at me. “He’s her ex-boyfriend,” I replied to the question I knew he wanted to ask.

“Then run the image against feeds from the market. He could be a suspect
,” Devlin said. We all agreed, and got back to work. I desperately wanted to find the fucker.

We spent time looking over footage. Although this Colin prick hadn’t been seen in the bakery, he had been in Quincy Market. Again
, not an uncommon thing living in Boston, but a quick background check showed his address and employment in New York as current as the week before. When we ran the footage from Rumor against his mug in the facial recognition software, we had a hit on him at the club, hidden away among the patrons.

A few hours went by when my phone went off. I looked at the number not recognizing it. “Di Giamato.”

“Marcus?” The voice was not Emma’s, and it had occurred to me that I hadn’t actually heard back from her since this morning.

“Yes, can I help you
?” I responded, turning my attention to Devlin as his phone went off. Something was wrong.

“It’s Nikki. Listen. Have you heard from Emma? She was due in over two hours ago
, and I haven’t heard from her, and she’s not here. And she’s not answering our calls.”

“No. I left her this morning around eight thirty. She was going to the market.”

“She never came in.” There was panic in her voice, and from what I’d learned about Nikki, I knew she never panicked.

“I’ll call you back
, Nikki. Do me a favor; if you hear from her, call me immediately, okay? We’ll look for her.”

“Okay. Please
, Marcus. Find her.”

“I will.” Devlin and I hung up at the same time. “She’s missing,” I said.

“I know. Let’s go.” He grabbed a bag, his side arm, and the keys to the Suburban. Throwing me another side arm, we headed out the door. “Let’s find her.”

Mac texted us the address of the market that Emma had gone to. He’d been able to track the GPS in her car, and, according to said GPS, it was still there. That meant the fucker took her from the market.

“We’ll find her
, Marc.” Devlin’s voice was reassuring. I knew, deep down, that we would, but I hoped it would be sooner rather than later. Devlin and I had worked a few security details together when he’d needed extra help, and I’d needed something to do. Lucas, Devlin and I had made a vow to each other years ago, one sort of similar to the Three Musketeers. We stuck together better than any family or friends that I knew of. Always looking out for each other.

“I know we will. Any word from the boys on the fucker?” Devlin had shot off commands into his ear piece about finding out more information about this asshole
, Colin.

“Not yet.”

We arrived at the market and parked near her car. Her purse was in the car, as were the groceries, so we knew that he’d taken her on her way back to the bakery. I dialed Kieran. “Hack the feeds. I want to know when she checked out. We can pinpoint how long she’s been gone.” I hung up abruptly, and looked at Devlin. “It’s my fault. I left her unprotected. What the fuck was I thinking?”

“It’s not your fault
, buddy. We should have had one of the guys with her. It’s my fault as much as it’s yours, if that’s how you are going to be.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s focus on finding her, and not on blaming ourselves.”

“I’ll try.” We headed back to the office to see if Mac had come up with anything.

The drive felt like an eternity, and w
hen we got there, Mac and Kieran were on their phones, pulling up more information on the computers. “Tell me what you have,” Devlin demanded, as he slammed the bag on the table.

“A little lead we
think. Sloane was able to track down some holding of his family, and we might know where he could have taken her.”

“Where?” I asked
, walking around the back of the guys to look at the screen in front of them. “Didn’t take too long, did it?” I asked.

“Not when you have the right connections. Once we ran a more thorough background check, we found the restraining order Emma had on him years ago
, and a few other inducements. I had Sloane run a list of property holdings for him and his family. “

“And…” Devlin was more impatient than I was.

“There’s a warehouse over on Chapel Street. It’s listed under his grandfather’s shipping business, but nothing has been in there for years,” Mac said, pulling up a satellite image on the wall monitor.