Chapter 17
Everything inside Cole ached. The unknown and the what ifs surrounding Dina swirled through his mind, similar to how the twister spiraled down the street, causing confusion and leaving heartache. The penguin-dressed men inside Café Coffees didn’t have any evidence to point them in any direction, much less the right one, only exacerbating the mounting anxiety in his chest. He still couldn’t believe in this day and age with modern technology five women had disappeared and the authorities didn’t have any clues. Or was it they didn’t want to share with him?
“Five!” He swiped a hand through his hair. “Now six.”
His Dina.
Her flowing blonde hair, beautiful violet eyes, and gorgeous smile stayed in his mind’s eye, the mere idea of something happening to her weakened his knees. He braced a hand against the wall outside the coffeehouse and gazed at the sky changing from gloomy to night. The scent of rain and fumes stayed in the air, adding caution to the unstable surroundings.
If he had any hope of finding her, he’d have to shove down the emotions boggling his brainwaves and exchange it for his unfeeling, no nonsense business approach where he forged ahead until he reached his goal, no matter the consequences.
Cole dropped his hand and did a three-sixty, scanning the sidewalk and stores along Lexington Avenue for some sort of clue, anything to give him direction on what to do next.
“Hey!” Vince raced toward him. Blood stained his hands and clothes. “Did you find her?” His nervousness and worry in his shaky voice resembled what Cole felt.
“No,” he sighed, wishing he had some good news. “You’re a mess,” Cole said, checking out the debris, torn magazine articles, a plastic bottle, and a ripped umbrella, caught along the front of the store as he headed toward the police taped-off area on the street corner.
“Monique bled a lot.” Vince eyed his spread fingers. “She insisted I help you find Dina and not go to the hospital. I hated to leave her, but Monique’s right. There’s nothing more I could do for her.”
“She’s in good hands.” Cole knelt next to the tape and squinted to examine the area in the diminishing light.
“Where’s Silo?” Vince crouched next to him, lifted his cell, and shined a light, illuminating the wet, particle free area.
Cole grunted in frustration. His concentration was so off he didn’t think to use the flashlight app on his cell. “He escorted a woman and her children home.”
“Good man.” Vince lifted his chin toward the blocked off space. “What’s this?”
“Not sure. The suits inside aren’t coughing up much information. My gut tells me this was the spot Dina disappeared.”
“Suits? FBI is involved?”
“Yep.”
Vince dragged a hand over his crestfallen face. “So, the authorities suspect the Caffeine Junkie abducted Dina?”
Cole lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know what they think. They were looking for a missing agent.” He paused, waiting to see if Vince had the same knee-jerk reaction as Cole did.
“A fucking agent abducted her?” Vince asked, the tightness in his voice suggesting he could go on a warpath any second.
His reaction confirmed Cole’s assumption. The emotions he worked hard to detain flooded back to the surface. “Looks that way.” Grinding his teeth, he shoved the emotional-fuckers back, and tried to think about the situation from a business standpoint. “When the fire alarm was pulled, the customers rushed out of the coffeehouse and onto the sidewalk, preventing the sales girl from seeing what happened next.”
Damn, it was hard talking about the possibilities of what happened and what could occur. Cole cleared his gravelly throat. “I hate saying this.”
“Then don’t,” Vince barked. He pressed his lips into a fine line and shook his head, staring at Café Coffees’ entrance over his shoulder.
The only way to make sure everyone was on the same page and knew the gravity of the situation was to put all the cards on the table. “There might not be much time before she’s hauled somewhere else or…”
“Don’t talk that shit,” Vince vehemently demanded, nailing Cole with a glare. “We’ll find her.” He shined the light over the taped off area again. “With all the rain we’ve had finding evidence will be next to impossible,” Vince said, putting words to Cole’s fear.
A sensation that something was right under his nose struck. He rose and scanned the area once again. “Ever feel like you’re missing something?”
Vince straightened and slid the light around the sidewalk, slowing where the buildings met the concrete. “I do, but I don’t see shit.”
Cole’s gaze locked onto the cell. Nowadays, everyone had one and there was nothing better than videotaping tragedy to post on the web. He tugged out his phone and hit the search button. “Check for videos posted today. A fire alarm was set off moments before Dina was taken.”
“On it,” Vince said, swiftly moving his fingers over the screen.
Cole hoped his instincts were right. He typed in ‘fire alarm café coffees into his cell phone’s browser.’
Nothing.
“Got it.” Vince moved closer and showed the video entitled, “Fire alarm during a tornado.”
Despite the picture being blurry, Cole could make out people rushing out of the coffee shop into the pouring rain. A small white blur bobbed in the center of the crowd, and he remembered the sales associate’s description of the agent’s white cowboy hat. With the distorted visual, he couldn’t make out the face or see who was near him. “Turn that off and put it away,” a woman’s voice ordered a second before the video went black.
Cole groaned, and clicked through the search results, found nothing and typed in “shooting on Lexington.”
Several hits came up. He opened the first listing. Much like the video Vince found, nothing of importance showed. The rest followed suit. Cole sucked in a breath and touched the last search result.
The movie started. This time, instead of the picture coming from across the street, the angle was from the corner of the street. People filed onto the sidewalk from under the canopy into the rain.
“This person was standing right near where it happened.” Vince tilted his head toward Café Coffees then toward the corner. “He was right there.”
Cole’s grip tightened on the phone. “If that was the case, the photographer stood at the edge of the building witnessed what happened to Dina.” An intense spasm struck his stomach as he focused on the video. Dina stood on the corner, flagging a motorist then turned toward the camera. At this angle, Cole saw Dina’s eyes go wide, and sheer fright crossed her features.
He tensed. The anguish she experienced zipped through him. Anger raged through his body and his tolerance wore thin as he waited to see the son-of-bitch that abducted his Dina. The person holding the camera forged forward.
Dina’s face went pale.
The video ended.
“Damn it!” Cole shouted. Shock resonated through his body.
“The fucker taped her being scared,” Vince blustered and spun in a circle.
Cole closed his eyes on the image of Dina distressed and what she had to feel. Scared, hurt, and alone. “No.” Adrenaline kicked in. “We’re gonna find her. Get your phone back out and look some more.”
“I would,” Vince sighed, “but the battery died.”
Cole looked at the screen on his phone. The battery light blinked off. “Fuck!” Helplessness took hold sending rage through him like he never experienced. As hard as he could, he threw his cell. It smashed into the wall, broke into pieces, and dropped to the concrete.
He raked his hands through his hair, dug his fingers into his scalp, and tried to calm the war of emotions running through his system. “What the hell are we going to do?” Cole locked gazes with Vince, hoping he was setup better than Cole in dealing with a dire situation.
Hands on his hips, Vince’s nostrils flared and his eyes watered.
He wasn’t any better.
Cole had to think of something fast before they both turned into loose cannons. Recalling his earlier declaration to treat this situation like a business one, he tempered the ache ruling him and turned his feelings to stone, the best he could. “We need to get a grip or we’re useless to Dina.”
Vince’s distant gaze sharpened, and he nodded. “You’re right.”
Working on the idea of videos, Cole scanned the exterior walls. “Most businesses have cameras.”
“I’ll check out the businesses across the street, but even if they had electricity during the time Dina disappeared, I doubt anyone’s around to let us take a look at the film.”
“Still worth a try.”
“Agreed.” Vince jogged across the street while Cole knocked on the door to the business next to Café Coffees.
Not receiving an answer, he searched the storefront.
Nothing.
He repeated the process until coming to an unmanned parking lot. Vince trotted back across the road and tugged on the pad-locked gate.
“Find anything?” Cole asked, peering through the chain-link fence for cameras.
Vince gave the gate one last shake before releasing it, looking at Cole in defeat. “Nope.”
“Lose somethin?” A dark-haired, dark-eyed man of Hispanic descent approached, keys dangled from a key ring in his hand.
“Were you here earlier today?” Cole asked.
“N-o-o, no one was here. Storm too much. I send employee home. I recently come back.”
From all his business dealings, Cole learned to read people. Knew the difference between someone stringing him along, hoping for a better deal, and when someone was earnest. The only time this quality ever failed him was with his deceased wife. Lessoned learned on that front.
He studied the man. His right eye twitched and he diverted his gaze from Cole and Vince. The middle-aged man held something back. If Cole had any doubt, the man’s jitteriness firmed it up.
“You’re the owner?”
“Si.”
“Do you care if we check the parking lot?”
The man’s eyes went wide. “You police? You need a warrant before you enter private property.”
Now Cole understood. The man’s ethics in his business or lack of didn’t concern him, another day, another time, maybe, but not today. “We’re not police. A friend is missing.”
The attendant relaxed in his the chair. “Eh?”
“Do you have a camera that watches your lot?”
“Si.”
Feeling like he was about to win a prize, Cole kept his voice neutral. “May we see it?”
“Ah.”
Vince tugged out his wallet.
Paying the man probably would help get what they wanted. Cole reached into his back pocket and came up empty and remembered leaving his wallet on the dresser when he went back to his apartment to change clothes before heading to Dina’s.
“Have you seen her?” Vince’s question pulled Cole out of his head and he moved beside the attendant to look at the picture on Vince’s cell phone.
A younger Dina and Vince sat on a couch, his arm around her, and another man stood behind them.
The man groaned and stared openmouthed at the picture, his tan skin paling.
“You’ve seen her?” Cole asked.
The man walked away from them and slid his key into the lock. “No. I don’t get involved.”
“Please, we’re afraid she’s been taken.” Vince opened his wallet. “I’ll pay you.”
“Your money no good to me,” the attendant said loud enough for them to hear over the screeching of the gate opening.
“Stop,” Cole pleaded.
When the man clicked the lock shut around the wires in the fence, he looked at Cole. His eyes not friendly, but not cold either.
“I feel like the world is closing in around me,” Cole said without thinking. “I just found her. I can’t—” He darted his gaze to the ground and rubbed a hand over his mouth and chin. He’d never left himself exposed by admitting his feelings to a complete stranger. Doing so, without thinking proved his feelings for her had become a way of life. “I can’t lose her. The longer she’s missing, the less chance we’ll find her.” Tears stung his eyes and his throat burned. Cole wanted to shake the man into telling him what he knew. “I can’t function without her.”
“I understand.” The man walked inside the gate.
Cole followed the man across the gravel lot, passed a few cars and into the shed.
The light flicked on and the attendant sat in the only chair. He stared at his hands, resting on the table in front of him.
Cole and Vince exchanged glances.
The realization hit Cole in the gut. Another fucking loose end. The heavy weight of failing Dina pressed on his shoulders and chest as he walked out of the gated lot, Vince beside him.
“Wait!” The attendant motioned for them to come back.
As they approached, he opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. “Here.”
Three letters followed by four numbers were scrolled across the sheet. “A license plate?” Cole asked.
“Si.”
Vince’s eyes narrowed. “Did you see it happen?” When the man remained quiet, Vince demanded, “Why didn’t you call someone?”
“No one believe me.”
Cole touched Vince’s shoulder and shook his head. Yelling at the man wouldn’t do any good. At least he gave them a license plate number. “Do you know what the vehicle looked like?”
“Red Ford pickup. Dent in driver’s fender.”
“We need to call this in,” Cole said to Vince.
The man shook his head so fast in vibrated. “No. You can’t. You not police that’s why I gave it to you.”
“Eventually, they’ll come by to talk to you,” Cole said, sticking the number into his jean’s pocket.
“Si. By then, I think more to know what to do. I small business man. Don’t want trouble.”
“I understand.” Cole nodded. “Which way did they go?”
“Left.”
“Thank you,” Cole said. Once again, they headed toward the gate.
“I need to call the police,” Cole whispered to Vince when they were out of the attendant’s ear shot.
“Agreed.” Vince stopped. “We have no wheels!”
They twisted to the man who grinned. “I have car. Junker.” He pointed to a white car in the far corner. “Person not come back.”
Vince’s eyebrow arched. “You have a key?”
The attendant disappeared inside the shed and returned a few seconds later. “They left in car.”
“Stolen?” Vince asked.
The attendant shrugged. “What it be?”
They had no choice. Their options were limited. “We’ll take it.” Cole reached for the key and the man pulled it away.
“Cost ya.”
“What happened to our money’s not good here?” Vince asked.
“This is business deal. That wasn’t.”
“How much?” Vince opened his wallet.
“How much you got?”
“Not much. Five hundred.”
“I’ll take it. You return car and I’ll give back three.”
“Done.” Vince handed him the cash.
“Too many missing girls. You find yours.”
“We plan to.” Cole accepted the key, slid behind the wheel, and went in search of a phone to call the FBI.