Hot Mess 5 (The Stormy Glenn ManLove Collection) Page 8

  “We already have,” Clarke said. “He’s clean.”

  “Then how did they know we called for a cab?”

  “We believe they were waiting outside the parking garage for Sal to emerge. When they saw the cab pull up after me and Marcus had left, they put two and two together.”

  My shoulders slumped. I had been so sure I had found a clue. “And came up with four.”

  “We’re going to find him, Lany,” Clarke insisted as he patted my shoulder.

  “How?” I cried out. “We don’t even know who took him.”

  “Because that’s what we do.”

  I wish they would do it a little faster.

  “So, the dispatcher wasn’t involved, and the cabbie probably wasn’t either then.”

  Clarke shook his head. “We don’t think so, no.”

  “And these tapes I keep hearing about, what about them?”

  “I’ve gone over that op a hundred times, Lany,” Clarke said. “It was just a simple hostage situation. I can’t think of one damn thing that would garner this much interest.”

  “We’ve previewed the body cam tapes backwards and forwards,” Lyn said. “There is nothing on them. No drugs. No guns. No stolen items. Nothing.”

  I cocked my head. “If this guy was holding his family hostage, how was he doing it?”

  “A really big Bowie knife,” Clarke said. “That’s why no one was killed. It was just a knife. Sal was able to easily disarm him.”

  “And the police didn’t find anything?”

  “I don’t think they were looking, Lany,” Clarke replied.” It was a domestic disturbance call, not a murder. The crime scene techs weren’t even called.”

  “I want to see those tapes.”

  “Lany,” Clarke began. “There’s no point in—”

  “I want to see those tapes.”

  Clarke sighed and I knew I would get what I wanted.

  I was stubborn like that.

  I also think Clarke was placating me, but I didn’t care. I wanted to see those tapes. I was hoping I would see something they might have missed. It was doubtful, but I could hope.

  I sat down at the dining table where Lany had set up his laptop. My throat thickened when I heard Sal’s voice come over the speaker as he called for a radio check. I couldn’t see him, but I could see the others on his team standing in front of him.

  “This is Sal’s body cam?” I whispered.

  “Yes,” Lyn replied. “I’ll show you the others after this one is done. Each recording only lasts about ten minutes.”

  I nodded, blinking to dispel the tears gather in my eyes. Watching Sal move into position and send out orders to his team was hard. Not being able to see his face was even harder.

  I tried to take in every little thing I saw, concentrating less on what was happening and more on what was around Sal as he moved through the house. I heard Sal call out to the perp to lower his weapon and get down on the ground, but I ignored it.

  Something else had grabbed my attention.

  “Lyn, can you back this up to where Sal is coming down the hallway and then play it forward slowly?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Lyn pulled the laptop close to him and tapped away on a few buttons.

  I watched intently as the video moved forward at a much slower pace. I waited for it to reach the point where I had spotted something. It was probably nothing, but I had to be sure.

  “There.”

  Lyn hit a button and the video stopped.

  I pointed to the pictures on the wall. “Can you zoom in on these?”

  The angle was weird because we were seeing the pictures on the wall from a camera attached to Sal’s vest, but once Lyn zoomed in, I was positive of what I was seeing.

  I just had no idea if it was relevant.

  “That man there in the picture with the perp”—I tapped the picture in question with my finger—“that’s Dr. Cruz. He was my doctor at the hospital.”

  “Are you sure about this, Lany?” Clarke said as he grabbed the laptop and turned it toward him.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever forget his face.” Considering he was one of the first people I had seen after waking from my fall, the guy kind of stuck with me.

  “Lyn, come do your magic.” Clarke climbed to his feet to get out of the way. “I want to know everything there is to know about Dr. Cruz.”

  Lany plopped down and started tapping away at his keyboard. I watched for a minute, but quickly lost interest when the screen began displaying code. I turned my attention to Clarke, who stood behind Lyn, watching what he was doing.

  “Do you think this means something?”

  “I have no idea, Lany, but it’s more than we had two seconds ago. If Cruz is related to that scumbag, it might give us a direction to go in.”

  I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Then this is all my fault.”

  I had so been hoping it wasn’t.

  “No, no, of course not.”

  “If I hadn’t slipped in the bathroom…”

  “This would have happened if you had slid or not, Lany. Sal was on his way to testify when you slipped, remember?”

  I frowned and then slowly shook my head. That part of my memory never had returned. I was missing about twenty-four hours.

  “Sal was headed to testify in this guy’s case when we saw an ambulance fly past us like it was trying to break the land speed record.” Clarke gave a little chuckle. “Sal just knew it was you. He had me flip around and come back to the penthouse.”

  Despite the truth of Clarke’s words, I didn’t feel any better.

  Go figure.

  “Uh, guys.”

  I turned to look at Lyn, the ominous tone in his voice sending chills down my spine. “What did you find?”

  “It’s what I didn’t find,” Lyn said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t find Dr. Victor Cruz.”

  I pointed to the screen where he had a picture of the doctor who had treated me. “He’s right there, Lany.”

  “No.” Lyn tapped a button and the picture of another man came up. “This is Dr. Victor Cruz of Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated from John Hopkins University in 2012 and has been a practicing medical doctor at Phoenix Medical for the last five years. He died in a car accident six months ago.” Lyn tapped the button again and the previous picture came back. He waved his hand at the picture of the doctor who had treated me. “I have no idea who this is.”

  Oh shit.

  Clarke nodded to Lyn. “Send that picture to my phone.”

  I was kind of stunned by how quickly things worked after that. I just kind of sat there as the place whirled around me. There didn’t seem to be much I could do.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  I was an office assistant. I babysat the office and filed stuff. I did not crack down on the bad guys. I didn’t even track down the bad guys. I sat in an office and made sure my boss—Uncle Jerry—had everything he needed to track down the bad guys, or at least order other people to do it.

  “Should I call Uncle Jerry?” I really didn’t want to. Now that I remembered Aunt Sally had passed away, I didn’t want to bother the man if I didn’t really need to.

  “He’s already on his way, Lany,” Clarke said. “He would have been here already, but he wanted to stop by the office and grab a few things.”

  Okay then.

  “What can I do?”

  I felt useless.

  “Finish going through those tapes”—Clarke pointed to Lyn’s computer—“and see if anything else sticks out to you.”

  I could do that, although I wasn’t sure what good it would do. Lyn scooted his laptop over in front of me again and hit play. I watched the video intently, looking for anything else that might stick out at me.

  “There’s another picture of Cruz.” I pointed to one of the pictures on the fireplace mantel. It showed Cruz, the perp, and an older man standing between the two of them who basically looked like an older vers
ion of the two men combined. “I think they might be brothers.”

  Or at least related in some manner, maybe cousins.

  “Damn it,” Clarke snapped as he leaned over my shoulder. “How did we miss that?”

  “You weren’t looking for it.”

  “No, but we should have been. I’ve looked over these tapes a hundred times. I never once looked at the pictures on the wall.”

  I grinned as I looked up at the man. “Yeah, but what you know about home decor wouldn’t fit in a thimble. I, on the other hand”—I waved my hand around to encompass my penthouse—“inherited the gay decorating gene.”

  Clarke deadpanned to me, “There is no gay decorating gene, Lany.”

  I grinned evilly. “Wanna bet?”

  Okay, there might not be an actual gay decorating gene, but if there was, I clearly got more than my fair share. My penthouse was fantastic.

  Sal said so.

  “Look at the other tapes, Lany. I need to know if you see any other pictures of them together or alone. Anything you can find.”

  “I’m on it.” I was so glad to have something to do. I was going out of my mind just sitting there. As Clarke walked away to make a phone call, I went back to looking at video. Each time I came across a picture of either Cruz or the perp, I pointed it out to Clarke. All in all, I found seven pictures, some of the men by themselves, some of them with others.

  It was clear that they were related in some manner. We just had to figure out how, and why that impacted us. There was something we were missing, but I was positive it had to do with the fake Dr. Cruz.

  “Clarke?” I glanced over my shoulder to look at the man. “What reasons would someone have to fake being a doctor?”

  Clarke walked closer to me, a frowned on his face. “What do you mean, Lany?”

  I wasn’t sure what I meant. I was even less sure I could explain it.

  “Well, I can understand faking being a fast food server or something, but a medical doctor is pretty specific. You’d have to really have to have some level of medical training in order to fake it. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Lyn?”

  “On it,” Lyn replied as he grabbed his laptop.

  I glanced between the two men. “What?” I asked. “What’d I say?”

  “You’re right, Lany,” Clarke said. “Cruz has been at City General for a few months, not long enough for anyone to really get to know him well, but plenty long enough for anyone in the medical field to know if he knew what he was doing or not. That means he had to have medical training somewhere.”

  That was actually kind of a relief. I didn’t want to think of a complete novice having worked on me when I was in the hospital. I still wanted to get another doctor—a real doctor—to check me over. I’d call later and make an appointment with my doctor. I hadn’t seen him in a while before my hospital visit, which was kind of cool.

  Sal was thrilled, my parents ecstatic.

  Clearly, they were overreacting.

  Chapter Ten

  Salvador

  I knew the moment I opened my eyes that I was in trouble. For one, I was groggy.

  Big clue.

  And two, I was in a six-by-six room with no windows and only one door.

  I assumed it was locked.

  My hands weren’t bound, so it made sense.

  I had been tossed in on the floor. There was no bed, no chair, not even a blanket. I pushed myself into a seated position and scooted around so I could lean back against the wall. I rubbed my hand down my face, trying to chase away the grogginess.

  I know whoever took me had darted me with something. I had felt the sting of it hitting and pulled it out just as my entire body went lax. I hoped someone found it and figured out what it was. Damn stuff should be illegal.

  Probably was.

  My stomach knotted, and it had nothing to do with whatever drug they had given me. My fear for Lany was growing by the second. I couldn’t remember what had happened to him.

  Had he been shot?

  Taken like me?

  I didn’t think he was dead because I was still breathing. I was positive I would die the second Lany took his last breath, so he had to still be alive. I just wish I knew what had happened to him.

  The last thing I remember, Lany was hiding behind a car, being shot at. I prayed he had escaped unharmed. I was going to destroy the man who had shot at him, assuming I figured out who he was.

  I had no idea how much time had passed. I had no idea where I was. And I had no idea who had taken me. Not a lot to go on.

  I had worked with less.

  Before standing, I did a quick check of my body, making sure nothing was broken or injured. I was actually surprised to find I was fine. I had a few aches and pains, but nothing a good soak in a tub wouldn’t cure.

  I was again not surprised when I stood and checked myself over and found that I had been stripped of all my weapons and communication devices. They had even taken my clothes, leaving me in nothing, not even my underwear.

  Well, that was a little disconcerting.

  Not only did I not have any way to contact anyone to come get me, if I did find a way out of this tin box, I would be hoofing it in the nude.

  Yippee.

  Okay, time to figure out where I was. I walked to the door and tried the handle.

  Yep. Locked, just like I had suspected.

  I glanced around the small room to determine what I had to work with. The walls were metal as was the door. There were no air vents, giving me the impression that I was either in some sort of storage closet or a shed. It definitely wasn’t a normal room.

  A listen at the door gained me nothing either. There was no sound other than my own breathing. I did notice that the room was rather hot, not something that made me thrilled. If it continued to heat up, I could be baked like a potato in the microwave.

  But maybe that was their intention.

  I didn’t relish being broiled alive, but escape wasn’t looking that easy. I searched every square inch of the room I was locked inside of. It was definitely metal, but it made a hollow sound when I knocked on the walls. I was really starting to think I was in some kind of shed or metal container. And that made me about as thrilled as finding out I was buck-ass naked.

  I punched the back wall in my frustration.

  What was this?

  I looked closer, and then started to smile. My fist had not only made a dent in the metal wall, it had loosened a screw. If I could get the other screws loosened, maybe I could take this damn tin can apart from the inside.

  Unfortunately, I’d more than likely end up with a few broken knuckles by the time this was done. I balled up my fist and started slamming it into the wall around the screw. A half-dozen punches and the skin on my knuckles broke, but the damn screw was totally out.

  I lowered the direction of my punches and went for the next screw. I lucked out. It snapped off after three punches. By the time I had loosened or broken five screws, my hand ached so much, I was almost positive I had broken it.

  I switched to the other hand.

  My rage at being locked up and not knowing what had happened to Lany helped spur me on as I worked my way down the line of screws. By the time I reached the bottom, the metal wall had dented enough that I could see dirt.

  So, storage shed then.

  I pushed my shoulder into the side of the shed and pushed until the metal gave some more. Once there was enough room to fit through, I stepped into the space I had created, grabbed the edge of the shed, and lifted. It took a couple of tries before it began to move.

  I crouched down and slid my legs out of the opening I had created, and then little by little, wiggled the rest of me out under the broken edge of the shed until I was free. I wasn’t that thrilled about where I found myself when I got out.

  It was like a storage yard burial ground. There was metal storage shed after metal storage shed, all stacked together. Most of them were rusty and dilapidated.

  At least the shed I had
been in was at the back of whatever hell I had found myself in. Unless someone opened the one I had been in, they wouldn’t know I had escaped. That might actually give me a little more time to get away and get help.

  Running through the neighborhood in all my naked glory wasn’t something I was looking forward to. I moved between the sheds at the back of the storage area until I found a spot I could go over the fence. With a little maneuvering and a piece of wood, I was pretty optimistic that I could get over without ripping off anything vital.

  I was glad I had too. Just as I was climbing over the broken spot in the top of the barb-wired fence, I heard dogs barking, and they were getting closer. Guard dogs more than likely.

  Porca troia.

  Lany always said if he didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. I suddenly knew how he felt.

  I dropped down on the other side with just a few small scratches, and everything important still attached to my body. I didn’t wait to see if the dogs had tracked me. Their barking could rouse whoever might be out there. I had no intention of going back into that tin can.

  I took off running toward the tree line behind the storage shed compound. At least there I had a chance of hiding, or at least hiding the important parts. Having my “all-together” swinging in the wind was not my idea of a good time, at least not without Lany around.

  Once I reached the trees, I ran through them until the sound of the dogs barking faded. Eventually, it faded all together. I hoped that meant they had given up and gone on to chase something else or take a nap, and not that whoever their master was had quieted them so they could hunt me down.

  When the ground beneath my feet began going up, I kept running until I reached a nice plateau. With Lany, a blanket, and a picnic basket, it could be a nice place to spend an afternoon. Since I had none of those things, I wasn’t really interested in sticking around.

  I did take a few minutes to try to gain my bearings.

  I could see a cloud of lights off in the distance and suspected that was where I was headed. I just didn’t know exactly how I was getting there. I estimated that the city was a good fifteen to twenty miles away.