Authors: JJ Ellis,TA Ellis
**********
It
was after midnight when the phone rang in the dark hotel room. The man in the
bed on the right side sat up and dug through his pants pocket for his cell
phone. “Hey Boss. Do you have any idea what time it is?" the man asked
sleepily.
“I
don’t give a fuck what time it is for you, Joe. It’s only 10:30 here. Get your
partner on the line too, douche bag.”
The
man leaned over to the other bed and smacked his business partner on the head.
“Wake up Frank. Reggie’s on the phone,” Joe said as he hit the speaker button.
“We’re
both here boss. What’s up?”
“What
did you assholes find out about this Harper guy who’s panting around my woman?”
Joe
spoke first. “He owns a grocery store, has two brothers, a mother and a niece
who live here in this shithole. The town is named after his family and as you
already know, he’s the cousin of the park ranger who got you arrested. That’s
it, Boss.”
“I
want you guys to search every property touched by this guy and his family."
“Fuck,”
Frank mumbled.
“Boss,
that’s a lot of places. There are five or six homes on the ranch itself. That
doesn’t include the hunting cabin and the grocery store.”
“I
don’t give a flying fuck how many places that is. Check every single one of them!”
“Oh,
come on Reggie. This guy reportedly hasn’t been to the hunting cabin since his
brother blew his brains out there. It’s an hour up curvy roads in the
mountains.”
“What
do you two
not
get about me not giving a flying fuck? Just get it done!
I don’t care if you are distantly related to me, I’ll bury you if I find out
you’re slacking on the job!”
“Yes
Boss,” they agreed in unison.
“Good.
Oh, and you can feel free to use the mom or the niece to get what I want.
Understand?”
“Yes
Reggie,” Joe said. “We’ll keep you updated.” He hung up the phone and sat down
hard on the bed. “It looks like I’m going up the mountain tomorrow while you
visit the houses on the ranch. I hope you remember how to be a good missionary.”
“I
do, my son. May the lord be with you.” Frank and Joe both laughed as they
settled down to go back to sleep.
“Hey
Joe,” Frank whispered from his bed.
“Yeah?”
“How
did the boss know his girl was here in the first place?”
“He
didn’t for sure. When Miss McIntyre didn’t appear at the Park Ranger’s house he
knew they would help her somehow. He sent guys to places where they had friends
and relatives. We were just the lucky ones who happened to see her."
Jayna
had fallen asleep nursing CJ and when Logan opened his eyes, he couldn’t help
but smile at the picture before him. Mother was carefully snuggled up against
baby, the love for him evident on her face, even in sleep.
On
his way downstairs to the bathroom, Logan heard nothing coming from outside.
The usual morning noises of birds and woodland creatures were absent.
Something, or someone was outside. Now he truly did believe that by answering
the phone, Jayna had accidentally give away her hiding spot. He quickly and
quietly called Andrew and his suspicions were confirmed. None of the store’s
management had called the night before.
Logan
grabbed his brother’s highest powered rifle and loaded it. He quickly ran
upstairs to warn Jayna. “Hey Sleeping Beauty,” he said, putting his hand on her
shoulder. “Jayna, I need you to wake up.”
“What…What’s
going on?” she said, coming suddenly awake.
“There’s
someone prowling around outside. I saw his shadow on the porch. Get the pistol
and stay away from the windows. And above all else, stay as quiet as you can.”
Jayna
hurried to get the pistol as Logan headed downstairs. “Be careful,” she
whispered.
Just
as Logan reached the front door, there was a quiet knock. He set the rifle
within reach and opened the door. “Can I help you?”
“Yes,
I’m sorry to bother you, but might the lady of the house be here?”
Logan
gave a harsh laugh. “There is no lady of this house. At least not anymore. I
met a pretty little filly with flowing blonde hair a couple of weeks ago. My
cousin from Nevada set me up with her. Man have you ever had a pregnant
woman…insatiable!"
“Oh
yeah, I remember my wife when she was knocked up. I’m sorry she left you. Might
I ask what happened?”
"Yeah,
the bitch left me high and dry in Nebraska yesterday afternoon. I got tired
heading home since I didn’t have a second driver anymore, so I stopped here at
my brother’s place. Good riddance I say.”
“Well,
I’m very sorry to hear that. If you hear from her, give me a call,” he said,
pulling a business card out of his pocket. “Her family has been searching for
her for a long time. They are very worried about her safety.”
Logan
took the card and looked at the man. “How do you know it’s the same woman?”
The
man looked thoughtfully at Logan. “Well first, the woman I’m looking for is or
was pregnant and second, we traced her here. I’m pretty sure it’s the same
lady. We
are
private investigators."
Logan
looked at the card again and then back to the man. “So it says, right here in
black and white.” He put the card in the waistband of his pajama bottoms. "I’ll
let you know if I see her, but it’s highly unlikely.”
“Fair
enough,” the man said reaching out to shake his hand. “Thank you for your
time.”
Logan
nodded and stepped inside, closing the door. Before it shut all the way, he saw
the man pull his phone out. He raced out to the breezeway and crept to the side
of the house. That was a one-sided conversation he wanted to hear.
“Hey
Frank, the hunting cabin is clear. I guess when they disappeared from Harper's Rock
the other day, he drove her to Nebraska and she gave him the slip.
“Yes
I’m sure. You should see the guy, he’s heartbroken. I just don’t want to be the
one to tell the boss that his girl was cheating on him while carrying his kid.
“I’m
not stepping foot back up here again, Frank. As far as I’m concerned, Reggie
can send someone to Nebraska to search for her. I’m done.”
Logan
had heard enough. It seemed goon one was ready to give up. But just to be safe,
he, Jayna, and CJ would spend a couple of days in Billings. He could visit his
brother in the hospital while they were there.
“Hey
Jayna, let’s get our stuff together. We’re going to Billings for a few days
until things cool off.”
“Does
he know I’m here?” she asked shakily.
“No,
and he never will. As you pack stuff, make sure you leave no
obvious
signs that there was ever a woman or a baby here. We’ll have to leave your
pumped milk in the freezer, but try not to leave anything else out in the
open.”
“Uh…okay,”
she said with a touch of fear in her voice. She would let him explain later, it
didn’t seem that they had any time to waste.
**********
Joe
walked into the hotel room and took his jacket off, tossing it on the bed. “Did
you find out anything?” he asked Frank.
“Hell
no, not a damn thing. It’s like no one in this town has ever seen her.”
“Well
,
we’ve
seen her with grocery store boy but apparently they fled to Nebraska
and she got rid of him.”
Frank
shook his head. “We need proof. I think we should go up to the hunting cabin
again.”
Joe’s
phone rang and he answered it, putting the caller on speaker phone. “Hey Boss,
what’s up?”
“Did
you guys find out anything?” Reginald asked, his voice gruff.
“She’s
not here,” Joe said. “The grocery store owner said he was with her for a couple
of weeks then she dumped him in Nebraska.”
There
was silence for a long time. Joe and Frank braced themselves for what they knew
was coming.
“That
mother fucking slut!” he roared. “I’m going to teach her a lesson she’ll never
forget. And the little brat too.”
“Now
Boss, he’s just a baby,” Joe said quietly.
“Shut
the fuck up, asshole. I think it’s time I switched my search. The grocery store
prick is telling the truth. Her debit card has been used in the Dakotas and
Nebraska.”
“Do
you want us to head out, Boss?” Frank asked hopefully.
“No,
dumb shit. I’ll send Hank and Peter over that way. You two need to stay right
there.”
“But
why, Boss?” Joe asked.
“Because
there might be a bonus in it for you if I decide to end Logan Harper’s
suffering. No one fucks my woman, with my kid in her womb and gets away with
it.”
The
phone went dead. “He’s losing his mind,” Joe said quietly. “Relative or not, it
might be time to find a new job.”
**********
“So,
does your family have a house in Billings too?” Jayna asked as they hit the
highway.
“No.
We have the hunting cabin and the stuff on the ranch,” Logan scoffed. “Which
reminds me, my house should be ready to move into in another week if the
weather holds.”
“You
don’t act very excited about it.”
“I’m
actually quite happy where I am,” he mumbled. “But eventually…”
“When
you grow up?” she chuckled.
“Yeah,
Lord knows I won’t have a family to put in it. But eventually I have to become
a grown man and live in a real house.”
“You
sound bitter, Logan,” she observed. “I figured you would be annoyed by it but
not bitter.”
“I
don’t sound bitter,” he pouted, then changed the subject. “I hope you don’t
mind staying in a hotel suite for a while.”
“You
seem to forget that I spent most of my life in hotels. First with my mother who
worked in them and then when she died, I worked in them myself. Hotels are the
only kind of home I know.”
Logan
nodded and concentrated on the curves in the road while Jayna looked out the
window, daydreaming. CJ began to cry just after they had passed a rest area so
Logan pulled into the median and headed back. While he unstrapped the baby and
took him into the restroom to change his diaper, Jayna visited the woman’s
restroom and took a drink from the water fountain. She was waiting on a bench
outside when Logan and CJ joined her.
“I
think he’s hungry. He kept trying to feed off of me,” Logan quipped. “I kept
telling him I don’t have the right equipment.”
“Aww,
my baby wants some milk?” she asked as she reached for him. As she started to
feed CJ, Logan settled down beside them. “We’re not too far from Billings now,”
he said to make conversation. “Maybe forty-five minutes.”
“Okay,”
Jayna said softly looking down at her baby boy. “I’m so glad he’s never going
to remember any of this. Constant moving around and running is becoming a pain
in the ass.”
“At
least you’ll feel at home at the hotel,” Logan said, jabbing at her arm with
his elbow. This earned him a smile. The one sweet smile that made his knees
week for the first time in his life.
“So,
what hotel are we staying at?” she asked as she switched CJ to the other side.
“It’s
an inn run by…an old friend of mine,” he told her. “A quaint little place with
the best luxury suites in town.”
Jayna
watched him while he talked. Something strange passed over his face when he
talked about the owner of the inn. She wondered if it was the woman he’d told
her about. The one he’d gone to for sex when he needed it. It would be
interesting to meet a female version of her rescuer. She couldn’t imagine not
wanting love to be a part of her life, but obviously this woman and Logan were,
or had been, two peas in a pod. “If you’ll burp him we can get back on the
road.”
“Sure.
Come here little man, he said, taking the baby and putting him against his
shoulder.
***********
Frank
was playing a hand held video game and Joe was watching television as they lie in
their beds. “Maybe we should go to the bar,” Joe suggested. “I’m bored out of
my mind."
“If
the boss finds out, we’d be in big trouble,” Frank said, his eyes never leaving
his game. “Just chill out. Take a nap or something.”
Joe’s
phone buzzed and he looked at it. With a sigh, he answered. “Hey Boss, what’s
up?”
“I
had an idea. You were able to get her new number from the manager’s phone,
right?”
“Yeah,
Reggie,” he said, clicking it onto speaker phone.
“Good.
I want you to give the little whore some unwanted attention. A few phone calls,
some threats – let’s make her so scared that she does something stupid.”
“She’s
using her card boss. You should be able to trace her from that shouldn’t you. I
don’t think this is necessary,” Joe said quietly.
“Don’t
you fucking tell me what’s necessary, you little shit!” Reggie raged. “She
withdrew the last of her money this morning in Nebraska. I won’t be able to
trace her that way anymore."
“We’ll
do it Boss. Joe's just a little tired today.”
“You’d
better. I’m not in the mood to take shit from anyone.” The line went dead.
Joe
put his phone away and leaned back against the wall. His boss was really losing
it. He had realized that they had all missed something very important. Jayna
had gone off the radar for days, not spending any of her money and now all of a
sudden she was using it again. Something wasn’t right with that scenario. He
had a suspicion that they were being tricked. He would now bet money that Logan
Harper and Jayna were together. He was also pretty sure that they were no
longer at the cabin.
It
was now decision time. He actually kind of liked the woman and the boss was
getting really sloppy. Sloppy enough to put them all in jail. He finally
decided that for the time being, he would go with the flow, but he was also
going to start protecting his own ass from whatever mistakes Reggie was about
to make. What was it about Miss McIntyre that had made Reginald Sanders go from
spoiled rich kid to crazy ass lunatic?
**********
Logan
and Jayna pulled into a parking spot at the inn. “What the fuck…” he mumbled as
he looked around. “Julia believed in love less than I did and now…”
“She
owns a lovers' retreat inn,” Jayna finished, a laugh sitting at the edge of her
words.
“Yeah."
He opened his door and stepped out of the vehicle. He couldn’t imagine that the
next few days would be fun, but at least they had CJ as a barrier. He
unstrapped the little boy and lifted him out of the car. Jayna was already on
her way to the Inn’s entrance. They caught up quickly and the three stepped
inside together.
“Can
I help you?” a young woman asked from behind the front desk.
“I’m
here to see Julia. My name is Logan Harper.”
“Logan!
I’ve been waiting for you,” came a voice from the back office. A woman with
dark hair and purple highlights walked out and went straight over to him. “It’s
so good to see you.” They embraced warmly.
“You
haven’t changed a bit,” he said with a smile.
“I
wouldn’t say that yet,” she said with a smirk as she turned and hollered into
the back room. A man, carrying a one-year-old child, came out. He smiled at
Julia and kissed her cheek. “Logan Harper, I would like you to meet my husband
Bradley and my daughter Madison.”