Garret's Gambit Read online

  “Meaning, it doesn’t just happen accidentally. You have to actually focus on it?”

  “Exactly,” he said. “When you think about it, if they don’t like this lifestyle, just identifying that is the start of getting out of it.”

  She nodded. “I know. That’s one of the reasons why my job is shifting,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of traveling around, but I’m trying to stay home more because I’m just tired of the damn airport.”

  “If a lot of the work you do is cyberstuff, can’t you just stay home and do most of it?”

  “I’m more of a liaison for one of the companies,” she said. “I don’t do any of the cyberhacking myself. I do the marketing, and I’m kind of a goodwill ambassador. I go to all these countries that we need cooperation from, in order to keep finding all these predators,” she murmured.

  “Are you dealing with pornography and child trafficking?”

  She nodded but didn’t look at him.

  “That’s tough,” Garret said. “Really tough. That’s the kind of thing most people don’t want to deal with because it’s so ugly.”

  “Which is why it’s so important that somebody does deal with it,” she said quietly. “A lot of children and young women have grown up in that abusive scenario, who don’t know anything else.”

  “True enough,” he said, “but, then again, you’re making a difference, and that changes how you view your job too.”

  “It’s what keeps me in it,” she said, “but again, as far as making a change, I’m trying to scale back from a lot of the traveling.”

  “What brought that on?”

  “Finding out my sister was pregnant, wondering if she would be a single mom,” she admitted.

  He winced at that. “God, I would hope not.”

  “We don’t even know if Gregg’s alive,” she said.

  “He’s alive,” Garret said. “We can’t entertain any other answer.”

  She nodded and sank deeper into her seat, pausing to look out the car window. “If we find her at the cabin, what will you say to her?” she asked.

  “That I’ll be there for her,” he said simply.

  “That would be you, wouldn’t it?” she said, with a nod. “You can’t do any less, can you?”

  “No,” he said. “Hell no. She needs support, love, and understanding, regardless of all the things that happened in the past. The child deserves nothing less than the best efforts from all of us.”

  “That child needs a family,” she said, studying him.

  “I know,” he said. “I know.”

  Yet he didn’t offer to be there, but then why would he? Astra didn’t know if he was upset that the child was his brother’s and not his. Either way, that had to bite. “The crazy webs we weave,” she muttered to herself but didn’t think he heard.

  He looked at her and said, “Often it’s a simple case of lies and deceit.”

  “But she didn’t have to stay on that same track,” she said.

  “No, she didn’t,” he said. “I’m more than ready to get off it.”

  “You should have been off it a long time ago,” she said.

  He chuckled. “You’re right, and I have been in many ways. Something about all this brought it all back.”

  “And it’s a test,” she said, “to see if you’re really over her.”

  “I’m over her,” he said, “but I’m still angry.”

  “But we’re never angry for the reason we think we are,” she murmured, repeating something she’d read somewhere.

  “Sounds like New Age mumbo jumbo to me,” he said. “I know why I’m angry, but that doesn’t mean I’ve shared the reason.”

  “What the hell?” she said, looking at him in surprise. “What’s this? You’ve actually done some deep soul-searching?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I won’t repeat that mistake.”

  “Ah,” she said. “So have you been single ever since?”

  “No,” he said. “Just very much unattached.”

  “There is a difference, isn’t there?” she said, with a nod.

  “What about you?”

  “No relationships that have mattered in quite a while,” she said.

  “How come?”

  “Because,” she said, with an easy laugh.

  “Meaning, if I’m not sharing more, you’re not sharing more?”

  She shrugged. “Hardly the time or place.”

  This time, Kano popped into the conversation from the driver’s seat. “Which usually means that, when it does happen, it’s real.”

  “I don’t know about that,” she said. “Nothing about any of this feels for real.”

  “Just makes it all that much more important,” Kano said. “Whatever you find at this level, that you survive at this stage in your life,” he said, “it’ll be there for a lot longer than you suspect.”

  “Doesn’t mean I want to embrace it though,” she said.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s already too late for that,” he said, and he caught her gaze in the rearview mirror.

  She realized, with a shock, that Kano already understood how she felt about Garret. She didn’t know how Kano possibly could know, but he already instinctively knew. And, if he did, did Garret? Because that’s not what she wanted. She shuffled back and stared out the window, her mind in a whirl.

  Now what would she do? This was all just BS, if that was the case. She gave herself a stern talking to, straightened up as they slowed down, coming into the little seaside village. “If you head forward,” she said, “and take that left up there”—pointing ahead—“it’s about ten miles out.”

  “Interesting location.”

  “It’s where my parents used to come all the time over the years, whenever they got the chance. Also, whenever they were having major difficulties, they’d come here, until they worked it out.”

  Garret looked at her, surprised, and said, “I kind of like that idea.”

  “It worked for them,” she agreed.

  “What happened to them?” Garret asked.

  “My mom had breast cancer, pretty advanced, and she died. After that, my dad pretty well just drank himself to death,” she said. “It wasn’t cirrhosis of the liver or anything, but it might as well have been. He fell down the stairs stone cold drunk and cracked his head. He never regained consciousness and died four days later,” she said.

  “That must have been really tough on you guys. I’m sorry.”

  “It was,” she said. “What’s also tough is when parents just walk away because life is too hard. If it’s too hard for them, imagine what it’s like for the kids,” she murmured.

  “I don’t think parents, when they’re in that state, actually have the clarity to think things through. They’re so bound by grief and every other emotion that’s tearing them apart that all they can do is react.”

  Garret’s words of insight surprised her. She looked at him for a long moment, then nodded and said, “You know what? That’s as good of an explanation as anything.”

  “If you need one still,” he said, with that gentle smile.

  She hated that she still needed one, but sometimes she did need a reminder.

  Kano pulled up outside a small cabin, twisting around to look at her. “Is this it?”

  “Yes, we don’t actually own the cabin anymore,” she said. “It’s was just this little strip of land.” She opened her door, hopped out, stood there, and stared.

  “Does your family still own any property?” Kano asked.

  “No, my dad drank away most of it,” she said. “Neither of us are flush anymore.”

  “But you were raised with wealthy parents?” Kano faced her now.

  “Not really. They were both working, so we were fine, but it’s not like we could just jet set off for holidays everywhere or anything.” She walked forward with a determined step.

  “You might want to remember that other people could be living here then, right?” Garret offered.

  There was a sligh
t falter in her confidence, and she nodded. Very quickly both men stepped up to her side. The three of them walked around to the front of the cabin. They saw no sign that anybody was in residence.

  “I wonder who even bought it,” she murmured, looking around. “We had a lot of happy memories here.”

  “Sounds like your parents may have had some unhappy memories here too,” Kano said.

  “Maybe they started out that way,” she said, “but they worked it out, every time.”

  “I’ll say it again,” Garret replied. “I really like the idea of just going away together, until you can figure it out. That way, you don’t involve everybody else, and you don’t make decisions without having at least a worthy goal of trying to sort things through.”

  She walked up the steps to the front of the cabin and knocked, but she got no answer. She turned to look around at the lake and saw the other cabins dotting the property, connected by walkways, but it was tranquil, serene. Trees abounded, and a nice peaceful meadow was beyond them. She smiled. “It really does bring back memories.”

  “Maybe,” Garret said. “But is your sister here?”

  Startled and brought abruptly back to the reality of what they were doing here, she turned to the cabin and reached out a hand. The knob turned easily, and she pushed it open. She walked inside, both men at her side. “I don’t know if anybody’s here or not,” she said. “It’s pretty dark and empty.” She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “On the other hand,” she called out, “I see ham, cheese, and milk in here.”

  “What are the dates on the milk?” Garret asked.

  “Expires four days from now.”

  “So somebody is in residence,” he said, and quietly he motioned at the loft above. Nodding, she immediately headed that way, Garret on her heels.

  As soon as she got up to the top step, a cry came from inside.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Amy, it’s me, Astra,” she said, as she stepped into her sister’s room. Amy was inside a sleeping bag, on the floor of the main bedroom in the loft.

  She looked up at Astra, pushing the hair off her forehead. “Why are you here?” she cried out.

  “Maybe I should ask you that question,” Astra said, as she walked over and crouched beside her sister. “Are you okay?”

  “As much as I’ll ever be,” she said bitterly. But then her gaze landed on Garret, and she frowned. “And why are you here?” she asked bluntly. Right behind him was Kano. She shuffled backward, still in the sleeping bag, until she was up against the wall, looking as if she felt threatened.

  Kano smiled at her gently and said, “Hello. I’m Kano, a friend of Garret’s.”

  Her gaze once again shifted back to Garret. She frowned at him. “I didn’t mean for you to come.”

  “Oh, come on. Of course you did,” he murmured, as he leaned against the doorjamb across from Kano.

  Astra turned to look at him and then back at Kano. “Maybe I should talk to my sister alone for a moment.”

  Garret immediately shook his head. “Not happening,” he said. Astra gave him a hard frown, but he just frowned right back.

  “Why did you run?” Garret asked Amy.

  “I needed to,” she said.

  “Maybe so,” he said, “but, by not giving anybody a chance to know where you were, we immediately suspected that you’d been taken, just like my brother. And that’s why I’m here,” he said. “To find out what you know about my brother’s disappearance.”

  At that, Amy’s bottom lip trembled. Still in the sleeping bag, she pulled her knees and the bag up against her chest, wrapped her arms tightly around them and said, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

  “Are you sure about that?” her sister murmured.

  Amy stared at her bitterly. “And just like that, you always have to argue with me, don’t you?”

  “Listen. You’re the one who sent out the warning,” Astra said. “I get over here just in time to find that you’re missing and that nobody knows anything about you. You do know that the police have opened a missing person file on you, right?”

  Amy just looked at her, and tears collected in the corners of her eyes. “Of course not. How would I possibly know that?” she said. “I came here to think.”

  “Well, now you’ll get some help thinking,” Garret said, as he motioned at the sleeping bag. “Why don’t you get out and come downstairs, and we can sit and talk this over.”

  “I have nothing to talk about to you or to her,” she snapped, glaring at him. “This has nothing to do with either of you.”

  “It has a lot to do with me, since my brother is missing,” he said in a steely voice. “And you’re the one who sounded the alarm. You can’t just unring the bell and not produce my brother.”

  She started to sob then, and Astra gave a heavy sigh. “Come on. Let’s get you downstairs. When did you eat last?”

  Her sister shrugged, as Astra looked at the men in the doorway. “Look, guys. I’ll bring her down in a minute. Let’s give her a chance to get dressed.”

  She watched as the two men shifted back ever-so-slightly. She motioned with her hand. “Go, go, go.”

  Garret just glared at her.

  “Stop the intimidation tactics,” she snapped. “Let me get my sister dressed, and we’ll come down.”

  “You’ve got five minutes,” he bit off, as he turned and headed down the stairs. “Don’t let her run off again.”

  Astra closed the door, and her sister looked at her and said, “I don’t know what I ever saw in him.”

  Astra, of course, knew exactly what it was because she herself still saw the same thing. “More to the point,” Astra said, “He’s not a man to make an enemy of, so hurry up and get dressed. Then we can go have a talk.”

  “I’m not going,” Amy said. “You can’t make me.”

  Astra stared at her sister, who was acting like a dramatic young child, and said, “Well, I guess I’ll just bring them back up here then, and you can have this discussion while you’re half dressed. But I was thinking you might feel better and have more confidence if you got dressed and came downstairs. Then we can all sit down, and you can tell us what the hell is going on.”

  “And I’m pretty sure that, once again, you didn’t even listen to me,” she said. “I told you. I don’t know anything.”

  “Well, you knew enough to make contact with Garret’s team, and, once you set that into motion, there is no going back.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “It’s got nothing to do with him.”

  “Says you,” Astra said, with a sigh. “Now, are you coming down, dressed, or shall I just call them back up?”

  “Fine,” her sister said, throwing back her sleeping bag and scrambling out. She wore just a T-shirt and panties. She quickly dressed and walked downstairs, ahead of her sister. “I don’t need you guys here,” she said. “You’re just ruining everything.”

  “Well, I guess it depends what you mean by ruining everything,” Astra answered, “because that’s just crazy.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Amy said. “And again you don’t listen.”

  “Says you,” Astra groaned.

  As the two sisters walked into the living room, still wrangling, Garret stood, looked at Amy, and said, “Now tell me the truth. Where’s my brother?”

  Instantly Amy burst into tears.

  *

  Garret remembered the tears. How was it that he couldn’t forget the tears? He just glared at Amy and said, “Stop it.”

  But Amy wasn’t listening, she was too far gone.

  “You won’t get answers out of her that way,” Astra said, as she walked over and motioned for her sister to sit down. She walked into the kitchen, checked out the meager food supplies in the cupboard and the fridge, and said, “Looks like the only thing you can eat here is peanut butter and jam or ham and cheese.”

  “Well, she’s not staying obviously,” Garret said. “So it doesn’t matter.”

&nbsp
; “I am too staying,” Amy said, through her tears. She got up and, walking into the kitchen, she pulled out a loaf of bread, plopped down two slices, cut some cheese, and put it all together into a sandwich. She leaned against the counter, glaring at Garret, as she made her way through the sandwich.

  Once again, she had him wondering what he’d ever seen in her.

  “I don’t know what happened to Gregg,” she announced out of the blue.

  “You said he disappeared,” Garret said. “You knew that I would come. Obviously you had some reason for thinking that.”

  “Yes, he’s not answering my calls or anything.”

  “Did he break up with you?”

  “Of course not,” she snapped. “That’s not something he would do.” He just raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, it isn’t,” she said.

  “Does he know about the baby?” Garret asked Amy.

  She gasped in horror. “What do you know about the baby?” she cried out. One hand went to her belly, as she spun to look at her sister.

  Astra stared back. “Do you think people won’t know?” she asked in surprise. “And, yes, I told him about the baby. For all I know, that’s why Gregg disappeared.”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” she said. “He’s a good man.” Then she shot another sideways look at Garret, as if to suggest that he wasn’t.

  He rolled his eyes at that. “Yes, my brother’s a good man. Especially when he’s not screwing around with someone else’s fiancée.”

  At that, her face turned beet red, and she said, “See? No point in having him here.”

  “Maybe not,” Astra said, “but we’re here because of Gregg, to find out what’s going on with him. I came because you disappeared. He’s here because his brother is gone.”

  “Well,” Amy said, “Garret has all kinds of connections, so he can find Gregg on his own.”

  “Which is exactly why you contacted me,” Garret said. “But I need more than he’s just not answering your calls.”

  She munched away furiously, filling her cheeks like a chipmunk as she chewed, and she said, “It was two days ago.”

  “What was two days ago?”

  “I told him that I was pregnant. He was shocked, but I don’t think he was terribly upset. I just think he didn’t have time to sort his way through it all. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I didn’t know. He got a phone call and told me that he had to leave for a meeting, but we would discuss it when he got back.”