Role Play (43 page)

I
paid off the cabbie, and told him, “If you wait here, we may need a ride back.”

The guy looked around uneasy. “I can’t promise anything.”

It was the best we were going to get in this neighborhood. I knew the cabbie would prefer a paying fare back to Manhattan, if he could get it. He might stay a few minutes.

“Should I text
Martin that we’re here?” Sierra asked as we approached the door.

“No. Let’s check it out first.”
I hated the fact that Sierra was with me. That made me a lot more cautious than normal.

The glass door was covered by a wrought iron grate, and it was locked. A row of
eight buttons on a silver plate had been awkwardly attached to the stone wall.

“Do you know which floor?”
I asked.

She shook her head.

I backed out to the street again, looking up. A lot of the windows were open, and there was loud music coming from the third floor.

“Let’s try number three,”
I said.

I
hit the third button a couple times, like someone impatient. It worked like a charm. The door buzzed and I grabbed it.

The first floor had two doors in front and two behind the stairwell. There was an apartment on either side with dual access.

Up above, someone poked their head over the railing. “Who you looking for?”

“Martin,”
I said.

“Fourth floor,” the guy pointed and withdrew.

It was not a climb for the faint of heart. Sierra was breathing heavily by the time we crested the top. It was dirty like the other floors. I listened at the door closest to the front of the building. A man was talking inside, pausing as if listening to an answer, then talking again like he was on the phone.

“I can’t believe Lola lives here,” Sierra whispered.

“Stay there, while I knock,” I said.

Martin came to the door, looking expectant. Then he recognized
me, turning to look down the landing at Sierra. “Have you found Lola?” Martin asked.

“No.” Sierra came forward. “My mom hasn’t heard from her either.”

Martin looked tense and worried. “Come on in.”

The apartment was nearly bare, with only a few chairs and a
turquoise couch against one wall. I stopped Sierra from going near it. I could see the flecks of cockroach droppings in the corners of the walls.

S
ierra was looked around as if she was in shock. Her loft was no palace, but it was better than this. I felt sorry for the girls—they were struggling to make it. It made my own situation look pretty cushy, even before I got my promotion. I should have been satisfied with what I had.

But then
I wouldn’t have found Sierra.

I was determined to come out of this with her, and with a better future than I ever imagined.

Chapter 44

Sierra

I hated Lola’s apartment. It was dirty and awful, and it made me sad to see my old couch and kitchen table living here, much less Lola.

It made
me dislike Martin more, but he was acting exactly like one could expect a distraught boyfriend to act. I questioned him about Lola and who she knew, but Martin had already called everyone they knew.

“
Are there any… guys she might be interested in?” I carefully asked.

Martin shook his head. “Nah, she’s more into girls right now.”

I blinked a few times. “Seriously? Then, who did you tell her to stop talking to?”

“Her old boyfriend.
Dick. He’s trying to get money from her. I told her not to talk to him. She wasn’t happy about it, but she stopped.”

“
She
wanted
to talk to Dick?” I asked, incredulous.

“
Yes. She doesn’t like him. But he has some kind of hold over her.”

Vic
was watching Martin carefully, and he gave me a slight nod, to let me know he thought Martin was telling the truth.

“Do you think Dick might have done something to Lola?”
I asked, my voice higher with tension.

“You tell me,” Martin said. “I d
on’t think Lola is scared of him. Not like that.”

Vic
finally spoke up. “Dick hurt Sierra. He knocked her down trying to get Lola’s address. There’s no telling what he would have done if I hadn’t shown up and stopped him.”

Martin’s eyes narrowed, and he stood up straighter. “
I didn’t know that.”

“I told Lola. Why didn’t she tell you that?”
I turned to Vic, putting my hand on his arm. “We have to go see Dick. What if he’s done something to Lola?”

Vic
put his arm around me. “It’s okay. I’ll make sure she’s all right.”

Having his support made
me feel almost dizzy with relief. I could count on Vic! He would help me. When he let me go so we could leave, I almost wanted to protest. It was so comforting to touch him, that I didn’t want to stop.

Martin insisted on going, too, and
I was glad. I can’t say I trusted Martin, but he was proving me wrong in my suspicions. I didn’t think he had anything to do with Lola’s disappearance. The man was seriously concerned about my sister.

It was a tense drive up to
Kissena Blvd where Dick lived. When we got there Martin didn’t try to find a parking spot on the crowded streets. He parked in front of a fire hydrant and jumped out.

Only Vic slowed
us down, urging us to get into Dick’s building on the sly, like we had done with Martin. Since it was a big brick apartment building, we didn’t have to wait long for someone to come out. Vic timed it so we were walking through the open front door in time to catch the second locked door before it closed.

The couple who were leaving didn’t give
us a second glance as we strolled inside behind them.

I
had been to Dick’s apartment before and I took the elevator to the fifth floor. As we approached his door, I heard something.

It was a woman’s voice, yelling.
I stopped.

“Is that Lola?”
I whispered.

Martin and Vic were listening.
“Maybe,” Martin said.

Vic
bent down and pulled out a short black baton from his boot. With a flick, it expanded into a sizable weapon.

“Where did you get that?”
I asked in surprise.

Vic gave it a twirl and looked grim. “Hopefully we won’t need it.”

Martin was on his toes, like he wanted to be the one running the show. But he gave way to the man with the big stick and let Vic go to the door first.

Vic listened
at the door, then nodded back at us. He mouthed:
Lola
.

I
wrapped my arms around my stomach, so afraid I didn’t know what to do. Seeing Vic holding that baton scared me. He had gotten the best of Dick the last time, but what if Dick hurt Vic? I had gotten him into this mess. It would be my fault.

But Vic
didn’t hesitate. He gave a sharp knock on the door with the stick, meaning business. “Dick! Open up. We’re here for Lola. We know she’s in there. We can hear her.”

After a few moments of silence, Vic knocked harder and raised his voice. “Dick! Sierra is ready to dial 911. If you’re holding Lola in there against her will, it’s twenty-five years to life. If you don’t want your neighbors to hear the rest of this conversation, you’ll let us in now.
”

I
pulled out my phone and got ready to dial 911 on Vic’s say so.

Vic was standing close to the peephole so Dick could see him. Likely his baton wasn’t in view, though.

“Lola!” Vic called through the door. “Sierra is here to see you. If you don’t come out, we’re calling the cops.”

The bolt on the door shot open.
In spite of myself, I felt a deep thrill to see Vic master the situation, and make Dick do what he wanted. That was power. That was the man I knelt to.

The door opened and Dick was standing there sneering at
us. “You brought a posse?”

Vic
shoved Dick’s chest, driving the big guy off balance. Dick took a swing and Vic swiped Dick’s arm with the baton, knocking it aside. Dick let out a cry at the pain. It was quick and brutal, and Vic didn’t give Dick a chance to strike.

My
breath caught as Vic drove Dick back inside the apartment in a short, sharp struggle. Vic got him against a wall, holding one hand on Dick’s chest to make sure he didn’t move as Martin and I entered. Vic’s other hand lifted the baton high, ready to brain him.

Lola was wringing her hands at the other end of the room. “
Stop it! Leave me alone, Sierra—“ Lola broke off to stare. “Martin! What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been looking for you.”

Lola’s defiant petulance disappeared in a flash. I was surprised to see Martin’s affect on my sister. Lola turned pleading eyes on him. “I’m sorry! But I had to settle things with Dick.”

“What things?”
I demanded.

“She owes me
fourteen hundred dollars,” Dick said. Dick looked from me back to Vic, who was still holding the baton ready in his hand.

“I thought it was two thousand,”
I countered.

“That was yesterday,”
Dick said with a smirk.

Lola paled under Martin’s stern gaze. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed.

I was outraged. “Lola! You don’t owe Dick anything. He gave you that money because you were going out together.”

“Breach of promise,” Dick declared. “She was supposed to marry me.”

“You were never engaged,” I denied. I turned to Lola. “You weren’t engaged.”

Dick laughed
but it sounded sick. “Yes, we were. But Lola didn’t want you to know.”

“Lola?”
I asked in confusion. “Is that true? Why wouldn’t you tell me you were engaged to Dick?”

“Because I only said yes
to get the rent money!” Lola exclaimed. She glared at Dick. “I wasn’t going to
marry
him.”

“That’s why she owes me
fourteen hundred dollars,” Dick insisted. “She lied to me.”

In the silence that fell over them, Vic finally spoke up. “That’
s bullshit.”

“It’s not—
“ Dick started forward.

B
ut Vic stuck the end of the baton in the center of Dick’s chest to stop him. “You’ve got something on Lola, or she wouldn’t pay you off. What is it, Dick?”

Dick
gulped for air as he looked over at Lola.

That’s when
I realized Vic was right. I turned on my sister. “Why are you playing Dick’s game, Lola? What’s in it for you?”

Lola blew out her breath. She looked
even more contrite than she had over being caught cheating on Martin. “I didn’t want you to know, Sierra.”

“About being engaged?”
I asked, confused.

“No. It’s worse than that.” Lola scrubbed a hand across her face. “I knew Dick wasn’t a cop. I found out a couple weeks after he brought me home that night in handcuffs. But I knew if I told you that you would make me stop seeing him.”

I took a step back, shaking my head. “You knew? The whole time? You knew that he was pretending to be a cop? And you lied to me about it?”

“I’m sorry, Sierra! At first it was because I wanted to keep seeing him, and then it turned into this
huge power struggle. And I knew you’d be mad that I lied…”

“
So you lied to me for over a year?” I repeated. “Including when I told you I knew he wasn’t a cop, and you yelled at me for trusting him?”
“It got so messed up, Sierra. I couldn’t tell you I was using him for rent money. You would have made me stop.”

“Hey!” Dick protested. “You don’t have to be
such a bitch—“

Vic jabbed his
stomach hard with the baton. “Shut up.”

Dick
let out an oof! and clutched at his middle, bending over. Vic had caught him perfectly. Dick couldn’t catch his breath. Vic was smiling slightly, but he refrained from hitting Dick again.

“Don’t feel sorry for him.
” Lola told me as she made a face at Dick. “He’s a con man, a real jerk. I gave him a taste of his own medicine.”

“Why didn’t you tell me when you broke up with him?”
I asked, still trying to understand it.

“
I couldn’t stand how
disappointed
in me you would be. The lectures I’d get. And I wasn’t sure you’d forgive me. I guess it was easier for me to leave you then to see you leave me behind again. Like you always do.”

I
felt their eyes turn to me. How did this suddenly get to be about
me
? But somehow Vic’s eyes were the worst—he didn’t blame me for not forgiving him.