Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (16 page)

Jason pulled up to find Abigail Pruitt tending to her garden in front of her home. He and Alex stepped out of the car and walked up the small driveway to approach her. She looked up at them with wide eyes and a huge grin.

“Hey there handsome!”
She stuck the tiny shovel she was using into the dirt and slowly stood brushing the dirt off of her knees. “What brings you here? More cookies or did you realize how lucky little Amour was to be in the company of such a fine young gentleman so you’ve decided to bring me one as well?” She winked at Alex and he nervously grinned back at her. “And I do like ‘em blonde.” She turned to face Jason and gave him a quick wink as well. “I guess that’s one thing we have in common sugar.” She turned back to Alex. “Hello, I’m Abigail. What’s your name sweet cheeks? Are you single?”

“It’s nice to meet you Abigail, I’m Alex and yes ma’am, I am single.” He grabbed her hand when she held it out and kissed the back of it.

“The pleasures all mine, especially now that I get to stare into those big beautiful blue eyes of yours.” Alex smiled and looked at his feet as she turned to face her garden. “Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing the two of you?”

Jason stepped closer to her. “If you don’t mind ma’am…”

She turned to face him. “Hey now, I told you to call me Abigail didn’t I?”

Jason’s lips curved in a smile. “I’m sorry…Abigail.” She gave him a nod. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to ask you a few more questions about the day Carly Graciette died.”

“Sure sweetheart, but I’ve told you everything I know.”

“I know but there are a couple of things that we were just made light of that you may or may not have been aware of.”

She frowned. “Alright.”

“Captain Westfield said that he and Daniel Riley had spoken to a young Asian couple that lived in the area as well as a few kids that lived across the street from here. Do you happen to know anything about those people?”

She scratched her head and her forehead wrinkled. “Well there are the Okinawa’s about five houses down from here that way.” She pointed in the direction to the left of them. “As far as any kids are concerned, there weren’t many on this street besides the ones they had and little Rachel Monroe that lived in the house directly across from this one but she’s all grown up now and living in another state.”

“Do you know any of them? Do you think they’ll be willing to talk to us?”

“Honey, I know everybody in this neighborhood. Everyone’s so nice here. They’ll talk to you.”

“Thanks Abigail.” Jason leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “We’ll see you later.”

As he and Alex began to walk away, Abigail gently grabbed Alex’s arm. “What, I don’t get a kiss from you handsome?”

“Sorry Abigail.” As Alex leaned in to kiss her cheek, she quickly turned her head causing his lips to meet hers. Alex’s eyes widened.

She looked at him suggestively and said, “A kiss on the cheek is fine from him, he’s already taken. You get a special kiss.”

Alex chuckled. “Thanks ma’am.”

“Abigail.”

“Sorry…Abigail.”

All Jason could do was laugh at how unbelievably horny this old lady was and how incredibly delusional she was about he and Amour. “Thanks Mrs. Pruitt. We’ll see you later.”

“Alright.
Don’t be strangers now.”

The Okinawa’s didn’t have much to say about that day so Jason and Alex decided to make a stop at the home of the little girl that was questioned. Even if she wasn’t living there anymore, Jason figured if her family was still there maybe they would have some sort of insight on what went on that day. After ringing the bell and knocking a few times, an older woman with shoulder length blonde hair answered the door.

“Hello, what can I do for you?” the woman asked.

“Hello ma’am. My name is Jason Kincaid and this is Alex DeMarco. We are private investigators and we’ve been hired to work on a case that a young woman who lived here once may have been a witness to when she was a child.”

The woman frowned. “How long ago was this? No one’s lived here but us in the last thirty-five years.”

“A young lady by the name of Rachel Monroe.”

She looked at the two of them in total surprise. “That’s my daughter but she hasn’t lived here in years. She’s in New York now. What’s this all about?”

“Ma’am do you recall the day that Carly Graciette died? She was one of your neighbors that lived across the street.”

The woman looked away briefly and then back up at them. “Yes, I knew her. She was a sweet girl. Very beautiful but also very weird.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well I would always see these limousines pulling up to pick her up at least two or three times a week. She’d get flowers and all kinds of gifts coming to her house on a regular basis as well. I use to envy her so much. Not that I wasn’t happy with my Frank but gee, her husband really treated her like a queen. But it was the strangest thing though.”

“What was?”

“I remember one day I was out walking the dog that I had at the time and I saw him outside watering his grass. I went over to say high and to tell him how wonderful I thought it was that he’d done all those things for her. I even joked about how he should give Frank a few pointers but he just acted as if he had no idea what I was talking about.”

“What did he say to you?” Jason asked.

“Well he just snorted and told me that he didn’t have any idea where I could’ve possibly come up with that because he could never afford to do any of those things. It seemed as if he thought Carly just made it all up to make their marriage seem more glamorous or something. I thought that maybe she was having an affair so I just kept my mouth shut after that. I didn’t want to stir up any more trouble than what I probably had already. What does any of this have to do with Rachel though?”

“Well my client believes that Carly was murdered and your daughter may have been a witness.”

“Oh my god! She was killed? I thought she had a stroke or something.”

“A heart attack actually. But my client believes she was murdered.”

The woman’s mouth flew open. “Oh my! That’s terrible! Well, Rachel was just a little girl then. I don’t know what she could’ve possibly seen that would help you. But if you want I can give her a call in New York and see if she’s willing to talk to you. But she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to does she?”

“No ma’am she doesn’t but if she has any information it would be very helpful to us.” Jason pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it to the woman. “Please tell her to give me a call if she’s willing to talk.”

She studied the card for a few seconds. “I will.”

“Thank you ma’am.
Have a nice day.”

As Jason drove back to Alex’s house, an eerie feeling suddenly came over him. He couldn’t help but think of Amour. He couldn’t explain the feeling, it was just…there. He pressed the phone button on the dash of his truck and dialed her number. After six rings, it went to voicemail. He dialed three more times, voicemail again. Why wasn’t she answering? Was she in trouble? Maybe she wasn’t by her phone. She
is
with Shyla, maybe their having girl talk or something. He was pretty sure it was nothing, but he couldn’t help but worry.

“What’s up man?” Alex asked.
Obviously picking up on Jason’s concern.

“Something’s not right. I told her to answer whenever I called. I don’t know why the hell she’s not.”

Alex snorted. “Probably because she’s with my sister.”

“So what?”

Alex grabbed his phone out of his front pocket. “So what? Man you know my sister. She tends to walk a little on the wild side. I’m sure by now she’s talked Amour into doing something crazy. Why do you think I made you put that tracking device in her bag?”

Alex definitely knew his sister but would Amour be that risky? He certainly didn’t know her as well so maybe she would be. “I suppose. We need to hurry home. I’ve got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

“Yeah good idea because Shyla’s not answering either.”

They’d arrived at Alex’s to discover that Amour and Shyla were gone just as they expected. Jason’s fear of her being in danger was also mixed with anger. He’d told her to stay here until they got back. Why hadn’t she listened? Where on earth could she be and why hadn’t she called to at least tell him what she’d planned to do?

He took in a deep breath to calm himself down. “I pretty sure they went to the bank. There’s no reason for her to go anywhere else. She probably thought it would be safe.”

Alex grabbed his cell and set beside him in the kitchen and placed his laptop on the table. “I’ll log into the tracking system. Provided she’s not in an area with a bad signal, I should be able to get her location sent to my phone in five minutes.”

Jason did his best to ignore the painful clench in his stomach and force the thought of something horrible happening to Amour out of his mind. “Okay.”

After pressing a few keys, Alex pulled out his cell and sat it down on the table. “Alright I’m logged in. It should send me her location any minute now.”

The few minutes it took for Alex’s phone to alert with Amour’s location seemed like an eternity. He hated just sitting there doing nothing. He had to find her. He
needed
to find her. “Is that it?”

“Yep.
It’s saying she’s in Mid City.”

Jason quickly rose to his feet. “What the hell is she doing down there?”

Alex stood as well. “I don’t know but let’s find out.”

The loud ringing of a cell phone snapped Amour out of the slight haze he’d put her in when he’d slapped her a second time before flipping her onto her back and began putting rope around her ankles. When she felt the heat of his body dissipate, she realized he had gotten up to answer it and hadn’t finished what he’d started. Her legs were still free. She needed to do something with that knowledge and fast. She didn’t want to alert him of his screw up so soon so she remained still and quiet in the off chance that maybe he was under the impression that he’d knocked her out. Her head was still ringing from the blows she’d suffered so she pushed back the pain and dizziness as hard as she can in order to devise a plan or at the very least, make out what he was saying to the person on the other end of the phone.

“Yeah,” he said in a low voice. A few seconds had passed before he’d spoken again. “Yes I have her.” A few more seconds had passed. “But I’m not done with her yet boss! Let me do my thing first. I don’t wanna let this hot little number go to waste.” She could hear someone screaming on the other end of the phone but couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Fine! I’ll do it now but you owe me.”

The time he’d spent of the phone allowed Amour’s head to clear enough to focus, making her suddenly aware of exactly how restrained her hands were. After he’d wrapped the duct tape around both her wrists, he’d tied rope around each of her arms and attached it to the large metal poles on each side of the mattress. She’d suspected that he had a similar plan for her ankles but that was not going to happen as long as she could help it.

She felt the end of the mattress dip and then the musty smell of booze mixed with cologne as he lowered himself onto her body. His sweat drenched body and hands covered hers making her feel as if she was rolling around in mud.

“Well blondie, it looks like we’re gonna have to cut our little party short. Boss has another assignment waiting for me so I’ll have to get rid of you quickly. It’s too bad that we won’t have much time to play.” He placed his hand on her outer thigh and started to slowly rub it. “I’ll have to make this quick.”

Her body trembled and her heart pounded through her chest. She didn’t want his hands anywhere on her body. She squirmed underneath him trying to find some way to get him off of her to no avail. He was too big and too strong for her to push him off.

He started to laugh. “Come on sweetheart; don’t make this any harder than what it has to be. Just lay back and enjoy it. That will make this much easier.”

The smirk in his voice made her go from being frightened to being pissed. There was no way she was going to let this disgusting pig have his way with her. Then she reminded herself that her legs were free. Maybe if she could somehow get him to rise off of her body, she could buy herself a few seconds to change positions. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt his hands at the waistband of her jeans trying to unfasten the button of her fly. She squirmed again, this time kicking her legs hoping they would somehow connect with his body.

“Stop kicking me! Now you’re starting to piss me off bitch! Usually by now all the other ones would’ve realized it wasn’t worth it to fight. But you, you have to be super woman. ” He reached up and wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed. “You cooperate or you die! Take your pick!”

She felt the heat rise on her face as her throat began to close and oxygen slowly became limited. She fought to move as well as to breathe but the grip he had on her neck grew even harder. He released one large hand from her neck while the other remained tightly wrapped around it. His hips rose off of her body and she felt his hand moving between her thighs. Once she’d heard the sound of a belt loosen, she knew what was coming next. He was about to rape her.

She quickly took advantage of the small space between them and bent her knees pressing them hard into his stomach causing him to lose his balance and fall to the side of her while also causing him to lose his grip on her neck. This is what she’d been hoping for. It was her only chance. She had to act now or it was going to be too late.  Catching her breath and quickly repositioning herself to lie in a straight line, she waited the few seconds it took him to compose himself and finish what he’d started. He’d done what she’d expected of him by lowering himself onto her again but this time, instead of feeling his hands around her throat again, she felt the handle of his gun strike hard against her face. Stars formed before her eyes and her head began to spin. She blinked several times trying to maintain her focus. She couldn’t give up, not now.

“I told you to stop fighting me bitch! Now you’ve just fucked yourself!” He kneeled down and grabbed one of her ankles. “When I’m done with you, you’re gonna beg me to kill you!”

With her hands tied up, she used her lower body to scoot up slightly on the mattress while continuing to squirm and kick. He rose up and reached over her to grab the rope that had fallen to the side of the mattress near her head. Just as his lower half lined up with her legs, she scooted up a little more, quickly took in a deep breath and using all of her strength,
she kicked her legs in every direction she could think of trying to connect with any part of his body…nothing. He tried to tie the rope around her ankles but she’d managed to evade it with her movements. Taking in another deep breath, she mustered up all the strength she could find and kicked up her legs up again hard and fast and this time, she’d connected. She didn’t know where, but judging by the loud squeal coming from his throat, she was pretty sure she’d kicked him in balls.

He’d fallen face down right next to her feet alternating between cursing and groaning. There was no way was she letting him get off that easily. She took in another breath, turned over to the side as much as her restrained body would allow her to, pulled her leg back and with the remainder of her strength, kicked him as hard as she could in the forehead with the heel of her shoe.

* * *

Shyla had returned Alex’s call soon after he and Jason had gotten in route to find Amour. She informed the two of them that while waiting for Amour to come out of the bank, she’d gotten worried and went inside. She’d said the employees as well as a couple of customers had told her that they saw a woman matching Amour’s description leaving out of the opposite door with a tall man wearing a baseball cap but by the time she’d gone inside the bank to check on Amour, she and the man were already long gone.

After leaving the bank, Shyla had driven around the neighborhood and even asked several of the residents and business owners around the area if they’d seen anyone matching Amour’s or the man’s description but they were of no help to her. That’s when she’d thought to call Alex only to find out after pulling her cell out of her purse, that he’d already called her. Alex had demanded, using a lot of rough words, that she return home because he didn’t want her in anymore danger. She protested a little, but she’d eventually done as she was told.

Jason didn’t blame him. She was his sister; he didn’t want to lose her. His mind then drifted to Amour.  Jason was worried sick as well as angry. Why would Amour do this? Why didn’t she just trust him enough to do what he’d told her? What if she was hurt?
Even worse, what if she were…dead? No…he can’t think about that right now. She’s alive; he wasn’t going to lose her. He couldn’t lose her.

Once they’d arrived at the location the system had tracked her to, they got out of the car and walked in the direction indicated on the system’s map. It led them to a mid-sized black Chevy Malibu with tinted windows.

“This is it, at least this is where her bag is,” Alex said.

Jason stepped in front of the car and peeked inside the windshield only to find that the car was empty and her bag lying on the driver’s seat. “She’s not in here just her bag. Where the hell is she?”

“Let’s walk up a few blocks and see if we see or hear anything,” Alex said. “If her bag is here, then most likely she’s in this area.”

After quickly and quietly checking around about four houses, Jason suddenly heard a loud bang coming from what sounded like the back of the house next to the one they’d stopped in front of. “Did you hear that?”

“Yep, let’s go”

They raced up the small driveway and through the narrow walkway leading towards the backyard. Pausing, they listened carefully for anymore sounds like the one they’d heard in the front…nothing. Jason leaned in and whispered to Alex, “Let’s look around.” 

They started to walk towards the back door leading to the inside of the house when they heard another loud bang coming from the old rusty shed to the right of them. Rushing over to it, they slowly drew their guns and Jason opened the door.  He and Alex rushed inside to find Amour lying completely still. She’d been gagged and tied to a filthy mattress and her jeans were unbuttoned and slightly pulled off of her hips. His eyes immediately went to the unconscious man lying on the floor beside her in a crouched position. Did he rape her? Is she dead? Please god no. Rushing over to her, he quickly removed the duct tape and rope from her wrists before slowly removing it from her mouth. He held her tightly in his arms turning her face to his. “Amour!” He pressed the tips of his index and middle finger to her neck. She had a pulse. Thank god! He stroked her hair and gently kissed her on the temple. “Amour…sweetheart please wake up!”

Alex walked up beside them. “Is she breathing?”

“Yes, she’s alive.”

“Good. I just called 911. The ambulance and the cops should be here soon.”

Amour let out a low moan as she began to awaken. Jason continued to stroke her hair as her eyes slowly opened.

“Jason?” she said in a lethargic tone.

“Yes sweetheart, it’s me. You’re going to be fine. Just stay with me.”

Her eyes slowly closed again as Jason scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the shed towards the small bench that sat in the middle of the grass. He wanted to get her outside in the fresh air while they waited for the ambulance. He looked up at Alex with anger in his eyes.
“Who the fuck is that asshole?”

“I don’t know but whoever he is, she sure did a number on him. She must’ve kicked the shit out of his face. That’s most likely how he passed out.”

“I want to put a bullet in his head but I’ll hold off for now. That piece of shit is gonna tell me who he’s working for even if I have to beat it out of him.”

Alex sat next to them on the bench.
“Works for me.”