FOREVER MINE (21 page)

“I am not wearing anything.  Are you sure you want to see?” She looks him up and down; begging with her eyes for him to say yes.

“Yes.” His voice is a husky whisper.

“What’s in the bag Brody?”

“A present.”
  He hands her the bag.

“Why did you buy me this if you’re only going to take it off again?”

“I’m not; you’re going to leave it on.”

She giggles and pulls him in the house by his shirt.  He spends the rest of the afternoon extinguishing the undeniable burn left behind by Charlie.  It’s no cure, but it helps.

Brody opens his eyes when he hears his phone ring. “Hey, I’m at my apartment.”

“Oh, God, Charlie, I am so glad you called.  I was so worried.  Do you want me to come get you?”  I feel like I could cry from relief, just hearing her voice.

“I have my car.  I don’t know if I want to leave yet.”

“Is it because you don’t want to come
here
or because you are sad about having to move?”  I want her to want to be here, I won’t force her.

“I’m not sad.” 

“Oh.  Well I won’t bother you.  I know you need time.  I can give you time, just don’t shut me out.  Please.”  I need her now, more than ever.  I have had a taste of what it could be; I won’t lose that without a fight.

“Ok.  Please come get me.  I want to come home.”  Her voice cracks, I think she is crying, and my heart breaks even more.

“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”  I can’t keep the relief from my voice.

“Ok.” 

“Charlie, I love you.”  I have to tell her I need her to hear it.

“I love you, too, Brody. 
Very much.”
  She sniffles, and I hang up rushing out the door.

I call Patrick and tell him I’m going to pick her up at her apartment.  He sounds as relieved as I am, and that he will meet me there, he is closer.   I drive as fast as I can.  I am going to get her, I am bringing her
HOME
.

Patrick pulls up outside Charlie’s apartment, its dark inside and it looks like no one is home.  The curtains, that were hanging yesterday when he was helping her, are now gone.  Even from the street, it seems lonely and abandoned.  With a sick feeling in his gut he climbs the stairs, two at a time.

When he reaches the top of the stairway, he stops and pulls out his gun.  He walks slowly to her door and pushes it open.  He walks in and clears all the rooms and corners.  He is alone.  He puts his gun away and goes to the window.  He is trying to find any clue as to where she could’ve gone, when Brody’s truck pulls up out front.

“Fuck.  This is going to be bad.”

Brody comes up the stairs; he looks frantic, his hair is a mess, his eyes are blood shot, and he passed five o’clock shadow hours ago.  He stops dead at the open apartment door.  He looks expectantly at me, “Well, where is she?”

“I’m not sure, I was hoping she left with you already, and then I saw your truck pull up out front.” 

“What do you mean?  I don’t understand.”  He looks a little paler if possible.

“I just got here, looked around, and when I didn’t find her I thought she left with you.”

Brody walks into the apartment and straight to her bedroom he looks in the closet, and turns to go into the bathroom.  Patrick moves in front of him and puts a hand on his chest.

“You are wasting time.  I checked the whole apartment.”

“Fuck you.  I didn’t.”  Brody pushes me out of his way.

“Brody, you need to help me find her; not waste time doing what has been done, already.  We cannot waste time.  If Michael has her we need to find him.”

Brody turns and lunges for me.  He grabs my shirt and throws me against the wall.  He slams my head and
back
into it a couple of times while he screams at me, “If Michael has her we failed. 
We
did.  I cannot live with that.  He will kill her.”

“Brody.
You need to calm down and think.  I know this is hard we need to do as much as we can as quickly as we can.  We have 24 hours until we can report her missing.  She could be dead by then.  He was able to move her to a second location; that is what we need to focus on, what we need to find.”

Brody lets go of my shirt and sits on the bed with his head in his hands. He is breathing like he may hyperventilate.  He is trying to calm himself but I don’t think
its
working.  “I failed her.  I always felt like I wouldn’t be there when she needed me.  I never should’ve let her leave.”

I walk over to him and place a hand on his shoulder “I think the best place to start is trying to trace her phone.  You will feel better doing something, you can’t just sit around.  Come on, I have some calls to make.”

We leave the bedroom, and I call the station.  I talk to the IT guys and place a trace on Charlie’s phone.  If it’s on, or she tries to make a call we will be able to find out where the phone is; and hopefully where the phone is Charlie is.  

Brody is pacing the room.  “What did they say?”

“They will contact us when they have something.”

“I hate this.”  His voice cracks, I can’t imagine how hard this is for him.  I have only known her a week and I already feel a connection with her; albeit friendly, but a connection none the less.  Brody has known her forever and probably loved her for just as long.

“I think before we leave here we should knock on some doors.  See if anyone saw anything.”

“I will talk to the woman next door; she is hard of hearing and loves me.”  Brody embarrassingly admits this with a shrug.

“Ok.  I’ll go in the other direction.  Let me know if you find anything out.”

“I will.  Patrick?  I’m sorry about before.  I shouldn’t have freaked out like that.”

“Let’s just find our girl.”

They go their separate ways down the hallway.  Knocking on doors at 10 o’clock at night, hoping someone remembers something.

I am numb. I feel nothing but emptiness in me where I think my heart should be.  I did this to her.  I hurt her, she left, and now Michael has her.  How did he know she was alone?  How does he always seem to be one step ahead?  The flowers, the picture of Charlie at work with her friend, the visit at night when I was gone, all of it he planned to perfection.  

I knock on Mrs. Clinton’s door.  If she can hear me is anybody’s guess.  I wait an appropriate amount of time and knock again, louder.  I hear moving around so I call out her name and bang again.

“Mrs. Clinton, it’s Brody Harrison, I need to speak with you.”

“I’m coming.  Hold your horses.”  She shuffles to the door and opens the locks.

“Oh. Brody, why didn’t you say it was you, out here?  I thought it was one of those religious types trying to help me into heaven when the end comes, ya know?”   

“At 10 o’clock at night?  Isn’t that a little late for them?”

“Yeah, well you would think, but I wouldn’t put anything past them.”  She gives a little snort of a laugh.  “What can I do for you handsome?”

“Actually, I was hoping you could tell me if you saw or heard anything from Charlie’s place today?”

“I heard her in there this afternoon, but I don’t know who she was talking to.  Then tonight sometime it got kinda loud over there, but before I could bang on the wall or complain, it stopped.  Why, do you want to know?”

“Well I was supposed to meet her here; to help her move more things out and she isn’t here.  I thought maybe you might’ve seen her.”

“You weren’t here with her?”

“No, why?”

“I am positive I heard a man’s voice in there with her. You know now that I think about it, it sounded like she was yelling at someone.”

“You didn’t hear any words that were said?”

“Nope.”
  She is looking around and down the hallway.  “You know it’s a shame that she has to move.  I always liked her.  She is so sweet.  That man that came by last week to put in her security system should lose his job.”

I freeze.  My blood has turned to ice and is having difficulty moving through my body.  “What security system?”

“I never spoke with him but I watched him through the peep hole.  He came when Charlie went to work, used a key and opened her door.  He didn’t see me when I crept into the living room.  He was installing one of those nanny cams, like on Super Nanny, in her books and throughout the apartment.”

“Nanny Cams?”  I think she is going crazy, maybe watching too much TV.

“Yeah, like a hidden camera.  I left as soon as I saw that.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

“He had brown hair, brown eyes, and he was a little chubby.  OH! He had glasses, black rimmed, and plastic.  Like the kind they give you in the army.  Mr. Clinton used to be in the army, ya know?  He was so handsome in his uniform.”

“How tall was he?”

“I don’t know, a little shorter than you?”

“Was he old, young?”

“I think he was between 30 and 35, no older.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Clinton.  You have been very helpful.  If I have more questions can I call you?”

“Brody, you can do anything you want to me.”  She winks at me when she says it.

Um,
ewww
.
  “Thanks, you’re sweet.”

She goes inside for a minute and comes back out with a piece of paper, “Here’s my phone number, don’t lose it.”

“You got it Mrs. C.”

I left Mrs. Clinton standing in the hall and went in search of Patrick.  He needed to know about the security guy.  Maybe we can call around and see if anyone was sent over to Charlie’s.  If not, it is just another dead end, but at least we have a place to start.  I have to find her, and when I do Michael is dead.  I finger the bullet in my pocket.  “I know just how I’m going to do it.”