“But we do. Elliott has a meeting with his parole officer tomorrow, and if he misses it, he could be sent back to prison. I doubt he would risk going back.”
∞
The McCall home was more conservative than the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. My guess was Delilah had something to do with it. From the day I first met Delilah, I found her to be a simple woman. She was raised by parents who held white-collar jobs. Her mom was a kindergarten teacher, and her dad a car salesman. Yet, even after she married Crosby, she still knew the value of a dollar. Crosby, on the other hand, could never get enough. The more money he had, the more powerful he felt.
Turning the wheel, I drove up the long driveway and parked behind her black Lincoln MRX. I doubted that Crosby’s BMW was parked in the two-car garage and had to believe Delilah when she said he was away on business. Soon she would know what business pulled him away from her.
Something in my gut told me to make sure Crosby’s car was gone. Closing the car door, I rounded the front of my car and headed to the side of the garage, where I knew there was an entrance door. The door was locked, but it didn’t matter. I could see between the slats of the mini blind covering the glass window to know that Crosby’s car wasn’t parked inside.
After satisfying my curiosity, I moved away from the side door and headed to the front door. I wasn’t sure how the conversation between Delilah and me would go, but I was confident that after I told her the information I had on Crosby, she would know exactly what kind of man he was.
No sooner than I rang the doorbell, Delilah opened the door. She hadn’t changed over the past five years. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a chignon bun, not one hair out of place. Her make-up was done up to perfection, accentuating her features. There was no mistaking that Delilah was a beautiful woman and didn’t deserve to marry a man as ruthless as Crosby.
Something about the way Delilah looked at me told me that she also had something to share. Taking me by the arm, she pulled me inside and looked down the street to the right and then the left. “I think something terrible is going on.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, assuming she didn’t know about Crosby taking Reyna.
Delilah shut the door and turned the lock to the deadbolt before turning toward me. “Come with me. I’ll show you.” Heading down the hallway, I followed her to Crosby’s study. “After I hung up with you, our conversation got me thinking. I think you’re right about Crosby.”
Delilah rounded Crosby’s desk and pulled open his top drawer. I focused on the document she held in her hand. Stepping closer to the large desk, I gazed down at the piece of paper as she held it out to me. “I found this in Crosby’s safe underneath some other papers he kept in there.”
As I looked at the document, I knew that Delilah found out about Crosby’s true identity. It was better that she found about it herself instead of hearing it from me. A thought crossed my mind as I looked from the legal document to Delilah. “It’s strange that you didn’t know about this before, considering that you found it in Crosby’s safe.”
“I’ve never had any reason to question who my husband was until you planted the seed in my head. For the first time in thirty years, I opened his safe,” she stated defensively as she pulled the document from my hand.
“I wasn’t insinuating that you knew about it, Delilah. I just find it strange that he would keep it in his safe. It’s as though he wanted you to find it.” Pausing for a moment, I gauged Delilah’s reaction. Nothing in her expression indicated she agreed. Instead, only worry spread across her face. Even though it would add another layer to her concern, there was no other way to break the information I had on Crosby except to tell her. “Gwen is alive, and I think Crosby had something to do with her disappearance.”
“What do you mean, Gwen is alive?” Delilah fell to the chair behind her with sincere confusion.
“Rui Salko had kept her hidden and only just recently let her go. Why is beyond me, but I do believe his initial intention was to sell her to the highest bidder. Maybe somewhere along the way, he fell in love with her. I know this is a lot to digest, but there is something else you need to know.” I wasn’t sure if she could handle what I was about to share, but she needed to know what a scumbag Crosby was. “It was Rui Salko who kidnapped Reyna several months ago, and now Crosby has done the same thing. The only way he will release her is if I exchange her for something he wants. Diamonds. I want to avoid giving them to him. So, if you know where he might have taken her, please tell me.”
“I’m not sure, but maybe using his car’s assist app, we can find out. All I want is for Reyna to come back safely.” Tears filled Delilah’s eyes, and it was then that I knew she had nothing to do with what Crosby did.
~5~
Davian
Thanks to Delilah’s cooperation, we tracked Crosby’s BMW. Delilah had accessed the records online covering the last three months. They showed where Crosby had driven the car using the BMW assist feature. We could have reported the BMW stolen, but filling out a police report wasn’t a good option.
After learning that Crosby parked his car in the parking garage near the McCall Agency and hadn’t driven it since yesterday, the best move was to stake out the parking garage. Sooner or later, Crosby would return to the garage, especially since he told Delilah he would only be away for a couple of days. With Marcus watching Hugo Elliott’s home and Axe watching the parking garage, we had all our bases covered. One way or another, one of them would lead us to where Crosby was holding Reyna hostage.
Heading back to the warehouse, I couldn’t help but think about what Reyna was going through. Once again, I had been blindsided. It seemed like, at every turn, the Salko family was one step ahead of me. Not anymore. I needed to put an end to this once and for all so that Reyna and I could get on with our lives.
I was two blocks from the warehouse when a call rang over the speakers in my car. Axe’s deep voice filled the interior when I pressed the hands-free button on the steering wheel. “Hey, boss, I wanted to let you know that Hugo Elliott and another man showed up at the parking garage. He was driving the black sedan they forced Reyna into. It looks like they are switching vehicles and taking Crosby’s BMW. As soon as they head out and it’s clear, I’ll put another tracker on the sedan. With the tracker in place on the BMW, we’ll know his every move.”
“Don’t let them out of your sight. I’m headed to the warehouse. Hopefully, after Elliott meets with his parole officer, he’ll lead us to Reyna.” Finally, a possible break. Good thing. There was no way Elliott would do anything stupid like miss his meeting. That would send him back to prison. His need to meet with his parole officer just gave us the break we needed.
Shortly after ending the call with Axe, I was pulling into the warehouse. Knowing that Reyna wouldn’t be inside to greet me triggered an emptiness I thought I would never feel again. The last time they took her from me, a part of me died. I swore I would let nothing happen to her again, but once again, I stood defeated, helpless, with her in the company of danger. I wasn’t a religious person, but I found myself looking up for some kind of guidance.
There was a light tap on the window, breaking me from a moment of invocation. Patton was standing on the other side of my car door. I opened the door and watched him take a few steps back. Then, before I could ask him what was up, he said, “I think we just got the break we needed.”
“What kind of break?” I asked as I pushed the driver’s door.
“Evidently, Elliott’s parole officer was a no show. He and the guy that drove with him are on the move. They’re heading away from Atlanta.”
“Get the men together while I change. I don’t want to waste any more time than necessary.”
As I headed up the stairs to change clothes, I could hear Patton’s voice behind me. “I’m on it, but I would like to leave two men behind this time to watch the girls. No reason for a repeat of last night.”