Inseparable (18 page)

“I can do better than a name. Will you take her?” She handed me Anabel before I could answer. I cradled her in my arms, her little face peering up at me curiously. My heart melted. She was so cute. I felt something I’d never felt before.

Clucky.

Kids had never been on my radar, but holding this little girl made me realise I did want them. Maybe not now, but in the future. Abby and I used to talk about getting married and having babies when we were little, but once she got sick, there was no future to talk about. Not for her, and not for me.

Eva came back. She handed Dane a card, and took Anabel off me.

“His social security number,” she smiled proudly, gently bouncing the baby on her hip. I looked at Dane in surprise. Holy shit. His social security number? What were we going to do? Call the police? That was the obvious answer.

“He covers his tracks,” she added, “call the police and I guarantee your chance will be gone.”

Dane stood up and grabbed my hand. Something was bothering me though. Something that just didn’t add up.

“Eva… how are you so sure that this number is correct? Surely if he’s as smart as you say, he wouldn’t leave that kind of information just lying around,” I said softly.

“I know it’s his number because…”She paused, looking away, “he’s my father.”

What? Her father?

“Look, I know what you’re thinking, but you don’t know my father and what he is capable of,” she cursed in Spanish, “I came here looking for him. He left my mom when she was pregnant with me. I found him through a private investigator. He wouldn’t meet me, and then, suddenly he had a change of heart. We arranged to meet…” She paused, tears in her eyes, “he couldn’t even meet me in person. He set me up with some cash, but then said I had to work off the money I owed him…I got away from him as soon as I could. I didn’t want my little girl growing up around
him,
” She spat, wiping her eyes.

“So why not call the police? Once you got away? Why let all those other girls suffer?” I asked, unable to comprehend her lack of empathy toward the other girls.

“Because even though he’s my father, he still wouldn’t hesitate to kill me to protect his interests,” she spat angrily. Anabel started crying in her arms. “Look, I’m sorry, but you need to go,” she walked toward the door, her baby screaming hysterically.

“For what it’s worth, I hope you stop him. I hate myself every day for not doing anything, but I need to put my baby first.” Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to calm Anabel, “Oh, and Lily?” I turned around.

“If you so much as mention my name to the police or my father, I will deny everything, then I’ll hunt you down and kill you.” She spoke softly, but with such conviction, it sent shivers down my spine.

“I hope you find your sister, Dane,” she said, and with that, she shut the door in my face.

Dane and I walked silently back out to the car (which was surprisingly still there). Once safely inside, I let out a long sigh.

“Wow,” I murmured. My mind was overheating with the amount of information running through it.

“What do we do now?” Dane asked quietly. He looked overwhelmed. Not that I blamed him. Eva had pretty much said he father was running some kind of sex ring.

“We go back and speak to Fraser and Kella. Regroup. Then see where we’re at. Maybe Reece can dig up some info on this guy.” I said, waving the card. Dane’s eyes lit up. He grabbed the card, and his cell.

“Reece. Yeah, it’s Dane,” he paused, glancing at me, “Yeah, she’s here,” he said stiffly, “Yes, just as cute as before.” I stifled a laugh, clapping my hand over my mouth. This must be killing Dane.

“Dude, can you dig up as much as you can on a ‘Rafel Feluca’. Apparently well known in the drug and illegal sex circles. Uh huh. Right. Sure, I’ll tell her,” He sighed. He hung up his cell.

“Tell me what?” I was almost afraid to ask.

“Tell you that he’s looking forward to seeing you,” Dane sighed, raising his eyebrows as he shook his head. “Seriously, sexy, do I need to punch this guy?” He groaned, as I dissolved into giggles.

Chapter Twenty

Dane rapped loudly on the bathroom door.

“Lil, hurry up before we miss the reservation!” He yelled. Grumbling, I continued drying myself. We still had a good half an hour to get to a restaurant that was two blocks away. Where I was late to everything, Dane was the complete opposite, always early.

Wrapping the towel around me, I opened the door and ran to the bedroom, but not before earning a low whistle from Dane. He followed me into the bedroom.

“Can I watch?” He asked, eyeing me appreciatively.

“No.” I said, pushing him out of the room. “If you watch, I’ll never get dressed and then we’ll be late. And we don’t want that, will we?” I said sweetly, closing the door.

“Really, Lil? You’re going to use my own words against me?” He chuckled on the other side of the door. Giggling, I grabbed the dress out of my bag, glad I’d packed a couple of dressy outfits to wear. The dress, a spaghetti strapped, charcoal chiffon, flowed down mid-thigh, and looked hot. Curling my hair into a high loose bun, I quickly put on some make-up, and I was ready.

I walked into the main room. Dane was sitting on the sofa, facing away from me.

“I’m ready.” I said, the nerves catching in my throat. He stood up, turning to face me.

“Holy shit.” He smiled, his eyes drinking me in. Walking over to me, his hand reached up and touched my face. “You’re so beautiful. You’re always beautiful, but this is…” He trailed off as his lips met mine.

“We better get moving.” I grinned, slipping into my low heels. Dane made a face.

“You sure you don’t want to stay in tonight?” He joked, though I wasn’t convinced he was actually joking. As I went to answer, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, his expression changing.

“Hi. Recce.” He said, his eyes meeting mine. “Sure, now is fine. Okay, see you in a minute.”

“Well?” I prodded, after a moment of silence.

“Reece is downstairs with some news.” Dane sighed. “Maybe you should change?” He suggested. I laughed. Was he serious?

“Dane, I’m not changing.” I giggled, knowing the only reason he wanted me to change was so Reece wouldn’t ogle me. “Besides, he will take a minute, and then we will go.”

Dane sighed, clearly not happy. The knock on the door stopped the conversation though. I waited by the sofa as he went to answer it.

“Hey Reece.” Dane shook Reece’s hand, standing aside to let him in.

“Hey man. Hey…holy shit.” He gaped at me, his intruding eyes making me wish I’d listened to Dane and changed.

“Hi Reece.” I said loudly, interrupting the staring contest he was having with my breasts. He grinned, not out of embarrassment that he’d been caught out staring, but the same cocky smile he wore whenever he looked at me.

“You're one fucking sweet assed babe.” He said, running a hand through his hair and adjusting his crotch.

“Thanks." I said, cringing, forcing myself to be civil. "You said you had something for us?” I pushed, still determined to make our dinner reservation.

“Yeah, I do.” He said down and pulled out his laptop. “So I was able to track Rafel Fernandez to a rather interesting website.” He swung his laptop around. I glanced at Dane, alarmed, and back at the screen. Images of naked women filled the screen, one after the other, but all in the same pose. Sitting on a chair with arms tied behind their backs. Each girl was numbered.

“What is this? Some kind of porn site?” I asked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

“This is an auction site.” Reece replied, almost proudly. “These numbers down here are unique to each girl. If I wanted to enquire about a girl, then I’d call this number, and quote her number.”

“How is something like this up? Why wouldn’t the police have taken it down?” I asked, glancing at Dane. His face was stony.

“Most likely they don’t even know it exists.” Reece explained. “Look, there are probably thousands of sites just like this that nobody knows about. It’s not hard to make a website virtually untraceable. I’m awesome at what I do, and it took me about six hours to crack this, and even then it was only thanks to the info you guys’ had to start with.”

“So, what now?” Dane asked. It was the first time he’d spoken. Reece shrugged.

“I have no idea. I can give you the website, and the number, as well as the address I tracked the website to, but I can pretty much guarantee the address will lead to a dead end.” He said, shrugging.

After Dane had let Reece out, he came and sat next to me on the sofa. This was our strongest lead yet, and I was beginning to feel like we were getting in over our heads.

“What are you thinking?” Dane asked quietly.

“What the hell we are going to do next? Where do we go from here, Dane?”

He shook his head. He had no answers. “I have no idea.” He hesitated. “Do you mind if we skip dinner? I don’t really feel up to going out.” I nodded, not sure what to say. He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to have a lie down. I’ll come back over later?”

“Sure,” I said, forcing a smile. He was pulling away from me, and I had no idea what to say, or do, to get him back.

After texting Kella with an update, I changed out of my dress, and into my pajamas. It was barely eight in the evening, but I was tired, and too depressed to even bother trying to fight off my tiredness. I climbed into the bed, trying to ignore how lonely I felt lying there alone. Tucking the covers up under my chin, I closed my eyes.

“You look tired.” Abby smiled at me. I was relieved to see her. I really needed her advice on what to do next, with finding Steffy
and
supporting Dane. I needed my sister’s advice.

“I am tired, Abs. What do we do?” I asked helplessly.

“It will all work out, you will see. You’re so close now, just go with your gut. If something doesn’t feel right then
listen
.” Her tone made me shiver. There was something in her voice, almost as if she were warning me.

“And Dane?” I asked softly. “How can I support him if he keeps pushing me away?”

“He’s not pushing you away, Lil. He’s tired, that’s all. You can imagine how hard all this must be on him.” She added. Abby lay down on the bed beside me, her hands brushing over my hair. Though I couldn’t feel her touch, I could feel her presence, and it was comforting.

“Lil? Are you still awake?”

My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness, and to process the familiar voice.

Kella.

“Yeah, I’m coming.” I said, yawning. What time was it? I felt my way to the door, using the tiny crack of light peeking through the bottom as my guide. Tripping over what I think was a shoe, I cursed.

Kella and Fraser both stood in the hallway. I moved to let them in, turning on the light in the process. The brightness stung my eyes.

“We got your message.” Kella said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Dane is asleep. I don’t know how he is coping, but I’m okay. What time is it?” I asked.

“It’s nearly one in the morning.” Fraser replied sheepishly, sitting on the sofa with Kella, while I sat in the arm chair. “So, Reece came through?”

“He did.” I began, filling them in on what had happened. “So now we have a website, a number, and no freaking idea what to do next.” I shrugged helplessly.

“I know you’re reluctant to call the police-.”

“Eva said calling the police would not be a good move, and as crazy as it sounds, I believe her. And what the hell am I supposed to tell the police about Abby?” I said, cutting Fraser off mid-sentence.

“Let me finish.” Fraser said, shaking his head. “I know you’re reluctant to call the police, but I know a guy.” He paused and raised his eyebrows at me as I groaned. Another guy? “Aaron is a family friend, who works for the fraud department of the FBI. He’s a good guy.” He finished.

“Fraud?” I repeated. What the hell does any of this have to do with fraud?

“Well, I’m sorry I don’t know anyone in the ‘
Special Victims Unit
’.” He huffed, annoyed at my reaction. “He is in the FBI. It’s better than nothing.”

He had a point. “Fine.” I sighed. “I suppose there’s no other option right now, is there?”

The next afternoon, we all sat in Fraser and Kella’s room waiting for Aaron to arrive. Dane was looking good. He looked refreshed, as though he’d had a decent sleep. Catching my eyes, he smiled at me. My heartbeat fastened. Even with all this, his smile still sent me into a spin.

Fraser stood to answer the knock on the door.

“Hey man, thanks for coming.” Fraser gripped Aarons hand firmly. He had already filled Aaron in on the basic story.

“Anytime, Frase.” Aaron replied. I immediately like him. He was genuine, polite, and he looked like he wanted to help, the complete opposite to Reece. “Hello guys.” He nodded to us, smiling.

“Aaron, this is Kella, my girlfriend, Lily, her best friend, and Lily’s boyfriend Dane.” Fraser announced. Once all the formalities and small talk was out of the way, we sat down.

“Okay, Dane.” He began, laptop poised. “Explain as much as you know about Steffy’s disappearance.”

Dane ran through everything systematically, so as not to miss anything. He included our visit to Cole, Eva, and what Reece had found.

“Good, that’s great.” Aaron began. He then turned to me. “Lily, Fraser said you were the one who was alerted to the possibility of Steffy being alive?”

“Yes. My, uh, sister, who died last year. I still see her in dreams. Only their not dreams…” My voice trailed off as I felt everyone’s eyes on me, burning through me. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to continue. “Abby told me that Steffy was still alive. She also gave me Eva’s name, and where to find her.” I waited to see Aaron’s reaction. He was nodding, and tapping into his keyboard. I saw no judgment, or amusement in his expression. The pounding in my chest began to subside as I breathed out.

Aaron hesitated. “I’m not here to judge you, Lily. I’ve never had a twin, so I don’t really think I’m even in the position to have an opinion on your situation, much less comment.” He said to me. Smiling, I nodded, appreciating his honesty.