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“Have a hard time getting out of bed?” I glance at Travis with a smirk. He shakes his head with a sheepish smile, confirming the truth of my words.
“Later,” Xavier snaps, his glare focused on the man who has got to be his uncle. He’s right. All teasing aside for the moment, I turn my full attention back to the screen to watch the i
nteraction play out.
The man stands to leave and Margot rises with him, gesturing pleadingly with her hands. Later we’ll be able to add the audio so we can replay the whole conversation. Last night when I set up surveillance I was mostly worried about video so I didn’t set it up for live sound. That’s something I’ll take the time to fix today. I’d love to know what she’s saying. The man turns toward the door and camera, his phone in hand, and says something over his shoulder on his way out.
It’s Dominic. Xavier tenses beside me, a growl slipping past his lips. Margot lifts her own phone out of her pocket as the door closes, looking at the screen briefly before dropping heavily back into her chair and lowering her face into her hands as her shoulders shake with sobs for a few brief moments. Watching her pull herself together on the monitor I can’t help but admire her strength. She stands and stares straight at the camera and gives a weak smile and wiggles her phone before making her way out the door. She is bringing her phone to me as we agreed last night. It’s time to see what clues we have to work with.
We meet her in the hall and Xavier leads the way to his office. No one says anything until we are behind closed doors. Travis quickly sweeps the space for listening devices. It’s highly unlikely that Dominic has anyone else working for him in a position to access secure areas, but better safe than sorry. When he nods the all-clear the tension drains from the space. Margot hands me her phone and slumps on the end of the sofa, her head in her hands, looking more tired than she did yesterday.
It only takes a few minutes to send the single photo that Dominic sent to Margot’s phone to my email so I can pick it apart for information. We can also use the number that he sent it from to see if it will help lead us to him, but Dominic isn’t new to this game. I’m sure it’s a burner phone and he’s most likely already disposed of it. The picture is crystal clear, a small girl bowed forward, hugging her thin knees against her chest. She is dressed in a dirty pink tee shirt and underwear. There are bruises on her arms and legs and fear in the big brown eyes that seem to be looking right at me.
As much as the condition of Margot’s granddaughter tugs at my heart, it’s the uncovered window above her head that holds my interest. The view out the window is a little blurry, but nothing that I can’t fix. A smile pulls at my lips. I have been clearing up pictures worse than this one for years. It’s a talent I honed overseas when using blurry intel helped us locate and neutralize enemy targets. I’m not being cocky when I say I’m one of the best. It’s just the truth. Not to mention that with the availability of reverse image searching online most anyone can do this. To some extent anyway. I’m surprised Dominic didn’t know that. I can’t help but wonder if maybe he’s just too proud to believe we could find him from something as simple as a photo.
As I make the final adjustments to the picture and upload it into the search program I smile reassuringly at Margot. The screen flickers with images before stopping and pulling up pages of results. Woodlawn Cemetery. The rest is easy. She’s obviously in a house, not in one of the industrial buildings in the area. The window, walls and dingy carpet are evidence of that.
“She’s still in the city,” I say to the assembled group.
Margot releases a small cry of relief, “You will be able to find her?” her voice is trembling.
“We will find her,” Travis lowers himself onto the couch beside her and wraps an arm around her comfortingly. “Blake and I are really good at this.” He tells her reassuringly. Her eyes dart to mine and I nod my agreement. We are good at this. Better than good.
Pulling out my phone I quickly send a text, dispatching the men I called earlier to the general location I think Grace is being held. If they see anything suspicious, they will let us know.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ellie
“Elinor,” Ms. Smith’s voice is breathless as she hurries down the hall behind me. I stop to wait for her. It’s almost lunchtime and I just want to park this monster of a cart and find a quiet place to put my feet up and eat my lunch. Ana texted me a while ago about maybe meeting up for lunch, but I’m a little behind on my rooms so that isn’t going to happen. I have got to stop thinking about Blake. If I wasn’t missing him so much, I wouldn’t be so distracted, and I wouldn’t be behind on my tasks.
“I got a call from Mr. Stone,” she says, looking pointedly at me. I did ignore a call from him about ten minutes ago and deleted a text without reading it. “You are to meet Mrs. Cerelli and Miss Faye at the café and you are excused from the remainder of your shift.”
I open my mouth to object. What the heck is going on? I can’t afford to miss half a day of work.
“You will still be paid.” Her voice is stern and serious. “Now go on, Elinor.”
She doesn’t wait for me to respond, just takes control of my cart and begins wheeling it away from me, leaving me standing in the hall wondering what the heck is going on.
She glances back over her shoulder at me and looks annoyed to see that I haven’t moved. “Go, Ellie.”
Her firm voice and usage of my nickname holds an undertone of something I can’t put my finger on so I nod, whispering my agreement to her retreating form. Unsure about what is going on I turn and head back in the direction I just came from, making my way through the crowd to the café. I slip inside and glance around until I see my friends seated in their usual corner booth in the back of the busy eatery.
“Margot got a call from Blake and she sent me here to meet you two. I guess I have the rest of the day off and I’m still getting paid. What’s going on?” I squeak in a rush as I slide into the booth looking back and forth between my friends.
“Dominic is here.” Faye gasps in a horrified whisper.
“Here?” My eyes whiz around the crowded room looking for the boogey man. I have no clue what Dominic Cerelli looks like, but from what I’ve heard about him I can’t help but imagine that I would recognize him if I saw him.
Ana waves her hand toward the busy card game area, “Well not here, here. Out there,” she says. “He was sitting at the blackjack tables when we were coming to find you.”
“Oh, my goodness! What’s going to happen now?” I worry out loud. Wondering what this means for my friends and their men. For Blake.
“Nothing that you need to worry about, angel.” Blake’s voice rumbles over me, igniting all my nerve endings at once. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until I heard his gruff voice. Tears prickle my eyes, but I ruthlessly blink them back. This is for the best. I can’t allow myself to rely on him to fight my battles for me. I’ve relied on everyone else for a long as I can remember and it’s time for me to learn to fight them on my own.
Before I can formulate a response, Xavier speaks from beside him. I wasn’t even aware of him being there, all my attention was focused on Blake.
“Ellie, I’d like for you to take the rest of your shift off and spend it with these other beautiful ladies upstairs in the penthouse.” He carefully assists his pregnant wife to her feet and lovingly kisses her cheek, holding her close for a long moment.
