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  Giselle watched him leave the room as he sped down the stairs to the front doors. The club was much brighter, and he was hurrying too fast to notice it. As he pressed on the exit doors, sunlight blasted him in the face. It was early morning.

  Chapter 13

  Jace

  My Bentley was flying down the freeway, oblivious to the speed limit. I felt like something had gone terribly wrong, and usually my gut was good at telling me these things. I pulled out the phone and connected it to the car’s speakers.

  Dialing Ben, I hoped that the theme difference in Europe would work in my favor, and he’d be available.

  After seven of the longest rings of my life, an excited voice came through on the other side.

  “Hello, Ben here!”

  “Ben, it’s Jace. Can you hear me?”

  “Hey, what’s up, bud?”

  “Listen brother, something bad happened and I need your help.” I rattled off.

  “Slow down, slow down,” he said, “what happened?”

  “Get this, last night I went to meet up with Xavier at his club and he pitched me some bogus deal asking for half a million. He then drugged me and when I woke up Giselle was sitting on top of me saying Kate is gone and I spent a large amount of money.”

  “Holy shit man, what the hell were you doing?”

  “I swear to you Ben, I had two drinks of something Xavier gave me and the next thing I knew I was out. I don’t remember a thing. Listen, I am heading to Kate’s apartment right now, can you check something for me?”

  “Sure, anything.” Ben said.

  “Please log into my Amex accounts and see what the charges are for last night. I can’t find my black card.”

  “Jesus man, you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “I hope not, but it’s best to be prepared. See if you can trace who the payments were made to.”

  “Will do. Anything else?”

  “Is Olivia around? I tried to call Kate but it goes straight to voice mail, could you ask her if she knows anything?”

  “She just stepped out to get us some food, should be back anytime now. I will have her call you. I’ll run your account while I wait.”

  “Great, thanks brother.” I put the phone down.

  I pulled up to the brown brick building and walked up the steps to buzz Kate’s apartment. No one answered. I buzzed again and again.

  “Shit.”

  I looked down at my watch, it was 9am. I tried her cell again resulting in the same automated message.

  I gotta try the old methods.

  I counted the windows on the building until I calculated which must be hers. I shouted “Kate! Kate Simms!” The curtains didn’t move.

  Nearby someone passed by walking a large black dog.

  “Kate!” I shouted again. Nothing was adding up.

  I looked again at the dog and did a double take. The big brown eyes were looking at me.

  “Cesar!?” I cried.

  The dog wagged my tail, startling the person holding the leash. It was a young guy in his 20s.

  “Hey, is this dog’s name Cesar?” I approached.

  The stranger looked at me, and then the wagging tail. “Uh, Yeah.”

  “I thought I’d recognized him, I am Jace, a friend of Kate’s. Do you know where she is?”

  The guy added up something in his brain. Finally he said, “She’s gone.”

  “Gone?” I said. “Where?”

  “Not sure, she left earlier today. She said she was going out of town for a little while and asked me to dog sit.”

  “Strange, we had plans. Did she tell you where?”

  The guy looked at my car, then back at me, wondering who I was asking so many questions. “Look man, I don’t know, she just called me to come get the dog. Then a guy pulled up and she got her luggage into his car and took off.”

  “A guy? What did he look like?”

  “Uh, man I don’t really remember. He was older, may be early 40’s. Red Ferrari cap. Lot of cologne.”

  “Did he have a name? Xavier…?”

  “Let me think,” he paused. “That does sound familiar. I think she called him that once or twice.”

  I looked down at Cesar again, trying to process all the things that ended up to a big pile of confusion.

  “Christ. Did she leave her number?”

  “It’s the same one she always had as long as I’ve known her.”

  “Yeah, I have that one.” I muttered and paused. Something clicked. “You said luggage, right? Do you know which airport they were leaving from?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t know man, sorry. Just looking over Cesar here.”

  The dog wagged his tail again.

  “I took out a $100 bill and handed it over. “Thank you bud, if you hear anything from Kate, here is my card, please call me.”

  “Sure.” the guy shrugged and pocketed the cash.

  I hopped into the car and dialed Bevy, praying someone would be there to answer at this time of day. Ben still hadn’t come through.

  “Good morning, Bevy fashion group.” a female voice answered.

  “Hi, I am looking for Xavier Fontain. I tried his cell but it seems to be turned off.”

  “I am sorry sir, he just left the country and won’t be available until next Friday.”

  “Oh, of course. I remember him mentioning this to me over dinner last week. You see he approached me for the approval on the city zoning for the next shoot, and absolutely needed to know whether we could get the permission from the city. Could you please tell me where he could be reached?

  “What was your name?” the assistant said.

  I figured it was worth the gamble to see if the reaction suddenly changed.

  “Jace Roland.”

  She paused. “I don’t think I recognize it. Please hold one second.”

  The phone went silent. A couple of miles down the road I heard her voice again.

  “OK, Mr. Roland, I am looking at the itinerary, it looks like he will be in Milan first, then off to Barcelona on Friday.”

  “Talk about great timing.” I said. “I’m also leaving the country tonight for Europe, I think we could meet up. Could you tell me which hotels he is staying at?”

  “It looks like he is booked at the Four Seasons. Is there anything else?”

  “That’s it, thank you.” I hung up. “Everything else I was about to take care of myself.”

  The needle on the speedometer kept bouncing off the limiter as I gunned for O’hare. From the flight information pulled online I could see there were a few flights to Milan.

  My phone rang.

  “Hey Ben.”

  “Hey mate, I am afraid I have some shit news.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Amex says you dropped 300 large last night.”

  I tried to do the math in my head.

  “300 bucks?”

  “Try again. 300 grand.”

  “You kidding? That idiot doesn’t think he is going to hustle me trying to say I drank 300 thousand worth of booze?”

  “Not unless you are buying huge bottles of Dom Peringon I suppose.” He said.

  “He showed me some exotic rum and scotch, but that’s complete bullshit.”

  “It gets better. Only a tenth of it comes from Bevy. The other payments are to Greece and Italy.”

  “Holy shit, what? And AMEX approved it?”

  “I guess they saw that you had large purchases recently that you called in about, and assumed it was another one.”

  “Shit,” It hit me. “The boat repairs. I dropped a lot of money to get it ready for the season. You would think they’d at least check with me before sending so much money overseas though.”

  “Looks like getting you incoherent might have helped.” Ben said, “Something here smells, that’s for sure.”

  “Agreed, I wonder how Kate is mixed into this. Is Olivia back yet?”

  “When she comes in I’ll call you right away.”

  I pulled up to the ai
rport drop off, put my hazards on and ran inside the terminal. The flight information showed two United Airlines flights to Italy scheduled for today, both within the last two hours.

  I made my way to the the ticket counter of United Airlines.

  “Good afternoon, I am trying to make sure my friends boarded their flight today, could you please check for me.

  The counter girl must have found me trusting enough by her quick response. “Sure, what are the names?”

  “Kate Simms and Xavier Fountain.”

  “Let me check if we have any tickets under those names.” She started hitting the keys.

  “I am sorry sir, there is no one under the name of Fountain or Simms registered with us.”

  “That’s strange,” I said, “Were there any other flights to Milan today?”

  “I believe we are the only ones today.” She looked over the board.

  “Thank you.” I turned around and started walking towards the exit.

  “Something doesn’t add up.” I thought. “Why would their flight details would be missing. Shouldn’t their names…” My heart dropped to my stomach and rebounded back up.

  I rushed back to the counter.

  “Excuse me miss, have you been working all morning?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think you might remember my friends? The man has an accent and he was wearing a red Ferrari cap. Dark skinned, gray eyes.”

  Her eyes lit up, “Oh certainly, I remember him. He was very charming and exciting. I believe his name was Rico or Ricardo.” She started pulling up the information. “Let me see… Yep, here it is. Ricardo Gomez. Flight 218.”

  Ricardo Gomez. Fake name.

  “Miss, one more thing, was there a woman with him?”

  She was completely confident in her response. “He traveled alone, sir.”

  I walked to the car lost in thought. I felt exhausted and was fairly sure the body hadn’t gotten rid of all the toxin.

  So Fountain, or Gomez, was running. But how does Kate fit in the picture? Why would they leave for the airport but not fly together?

  My phone’s ringing brought me back.

  “Hello Jace.” Olivia’s voice chirped on the other end.

  “Olivia, hey. Have you heard from Kate?”

  “Um, not since yesterday.”

  “Did she mention anything about a trip? Or Xavier?”

  “Let me think,” she said, “No trips that I remember. She was going to meet about her job. Why, what about Xavier?”

  “A man saw Xavier pick her up in his car and leave for the airport.”

  “What?! And she didn’t say anything to you?”

  “That’s why I am worried, Olivia.”

  “I am going to call her right now.” she said.

  “Don’t bother, both of their phones are off. I looked into it, she wasn’t on the same flight with him.” I gave it time to sink in. “Olivia, where do you think Kate might have gone?”

  “I really don’t know,” she paused. “This sounds very strange.”

  “Do you think she would have gone back to Minnesota?”

  “I don’t think so, this isn’t like her. Why would she suddenly do this?”

  “Xavier orchestrated a scene. He wanted her to question my fidelity. Then this happened. I think he might be thinking for her.”

  “Jesus, what is going on over there with you guys.” she muttered.

  “That’s what I am trying to find out, I am having a hard time figuring out where to look. The good news is it looks like he flew by himself, so that means Kate might have though it over and decided to go somewhere else.”

  “You know Jace, that gives me an idea.”

  “Oh yeah, what’s that?”

  “You just now said something that made me think. I think I know where Kate is.” She said. “You see, my family owns a cabin an hour outside of Chicago. Nice little place on the lake, peaceful and quiet. I’ve taken Kate there once after we first met. She loved it because it was on the lake and she could think about anything all day long without the cell phones and the cars and the noise. And she knows where we keep the keys.”

  “Olivia you are a genius, thank you! How do I find it?”

  After writing down the directions I was on my way. This was a good shot to find Kate and face whatever has edged itself between us.

  Chapter 14

  ~~~~~~

  Jace

  The paved road turned into gravel as I made a turn towards the cabin. Through the woods I could see that it was a fairly sizable structure and when I pulled up to the front door I was impressed by the large windows and well crafted brown siding. I stepped out of the car asking lady luck to smile at me.

  I rang the door bell and it responded with a soft melody that resonated through the house. My heart beat louder as I saw there was no movement inside.

  I tried again and peeked through the guest room’s window. It looked as if no one had used the beds. Tired of hoping I turned the handle but the door wouldn’t budge. I figured pounding it wouldn’t do much good no matter how much I wanted to at that moment.

  Not settled with the inspection I started my way through the lawn to the back of the house. Olivia’s hypothesis made sense and I just had a feeling in my gut that something would be resolved here. As I turned the corner, I could see the backyard open up to the beautiful lake surrounded by pines. A small boat was sitting by the dock, lifted up from the water. I looked around but the back yard was empty, just a lot of pine trees with a fire pit and a few chairs around it. I could see why Kate would like this place, but my heart was aching because she wasn’t with me to enjoy it now.

  My gaze turned to the opposite side of the lawn where I saw something behind the trees. I walked toward it and could make out a hammock, it was tied between two tall pines. My hope perked up when I noticed something in the hammock.

  I couldn’t tell if it was a person or just a blanket, the green cover made it difficult to see through the trees, so I kept my rattling emotions at bay as I approached it. There definitely was something in the hammock by the way it was weighted down but it could have be anything.

  I came closer and saw a small round shape laying under the blanket. I peered to one of the sides and could see black hair underneath. I lifted an edge of the blanket and saw long black hair underneath. My stomach rose to my throat as I peeled back the cover. I sat down, rocking the hammock slightly. “Kate?” I felt the back of the neck, it was warm and so soft. Her soft.