Page 34 of Levi
“Sir, I think we’ve found something.”Dean and William barge into my home office.Dean has been with the firm since the beginning; he researches and is a computer guru when cases come in, and we need to find hard evidence that will help our cases out.William was brought on when I screwed things up with my wife.
Papers are scattered everywhere across my desk at my penthouse.Mugs of coffee, coke cans and tissues are littered on every available surface.Tina, my housekeeper and cook, always tries to sneak in here to clean up, but I’m always pushing her out so that something doesn’t get moved or lost in the organized mess I’ve created in my home office.
“What do you have for me?Did you find her?Did you find my family?”I shakily ask.I’ve been running on caffeine and rarely leave these four walls.
“We aren’t a hundred percent sure but it’s the best lead we’ve had all year.We’ve sent our P.I.to check it out and confirm our suspicions,” William answers.
“Where are they?”
“Montana, sir.A little town south of Helena,” Dean says.“They are with Brody, Burt Buttons’ nephew, who is retired from the military and was interviewed after Buttons died.”
Montana?My parents and grandparents have a place around there.So do her grandparents.How could she be right under our nose and not know it?Did Sharilyn and Alan know this entire time?
Dean passes me the grainy black and white photos of a woman and child entering a Mom-and-Pop grocery store.She has on a hat and sunglasses to shield her face, but when I look at her from head to toe, my body gives off that tingling spark whenever she and I are in the same room.It’s her.It’s the woman who has turned my world upside down for the past two and a half years.As I examine each photo, I take notice of the man beside her.The one who is continually touching her and my child, as if they belonged to him.
“MITCH!”I bellow, he appears in the room within seconds.“Call and get a jet ready, we are headed to Montana.”
“Yes, sir,” he responds, and whips out his phone as he makes his way out the door.
I leave the office and head to my bedroom, which has gone untouched since my world fell apart.Walking into the closet, I start to find some clean clothes when I catch a glimpse in the mirror.I look so ragged.My beard has filled in, since I haven’t bothered with it in months, and the dark circles under my eyes show how I haven’t been sleeping.How can I?I’ve lost the two most precious things in the world.
Deciding that I don’t want to scare them, I grab for my jeans, polo shirt, and boxers while making my way to the bathroom to clean myself up.Grabbing for the shears and razor, I step into the hot steaming shower and start to groom my body, and rid myself of the beast that has consumed me for so long.
After a very long, hot shower I step out and put on my clothes before looking into the mirror again.Looking back is the man who once had it all, but foolishly sent it away thinking it was for the best.I just hope she will forgive me.Forgive for everything that I’ve done.I hope that I haven’t ruined everything.The man looking back at me is slightly different from two years ago.After everything I’ve been through, I’m definitely a changed man.
“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’m coming to bring you home.”
I’m sitting on the plane, heading for Montana to get my family.Family.A word I’m proud to say out loud.Years ago, I thought it was something that didn’t have a lot of meaning but now I can almost taste it.My knees bounce with anticipation, and I think it’s the cause of the plane shifting and not the turbulence leaving California.
The flight is only two hours and forty minutes, but it seems to take all day before the wheels come down on our private chartered jet.Mitch has been in the front with Dean, William, Jacobs, and Colbert, our new security on this trip, going over the town and any information we might need once we head in to get my two girls.
I’ve dreamed of this day for the last two and a half years.I’ve made so many mistakes that I can only hope Saylor will forgive me for.The first, being a dick at the restaurant that fateful day.Dr.Blake, my new therapist, says that I need to start from the beginning when opening up to Saylor, even if she doesn’t want to hear it.She needs to know that I’m no longer going to keep her in the dark on anything anymore.Tell her the smallest of things, even if I think it doesn’t matter.Trust is going to be the key factor and the foundation of our relationship once Saylor is done pelting the hell out of me verbally.She might even decide a good beating is in order and I’d take every lick she offers, as long as she comes home with me.
Turning my phone on once we are taxiing down the runway, my phone starts to blast with text messages, voicemails, and missed calls.All from my mother and Linc.I hear the panic in her voice from a voicemail, and don’t finish listening but call her immediately.Something has happened.
“Mom, what is it?What’s wrong?”
“Levi.”She sounds relieved to hear my voice but I can tell she’s trying to muffle her talking.“I need you to get on a plane and come to Grandma and Grandpa’s vacation house.Right now.”
“I just landed in Montana for some business, Mom.Is Grandma okay?Did she fall?”
I haven’t been in contact with my grandparents in a long time.Once I came out of my coma, they came out to their Montana home after they all learned Saylor had left.I’ve seen them a handful of times over the last two years but most have been quick visits.They don’t know everything that happened and that everything was a ruse to catch the person responsible for the car bombing.They took it very hard when Saylor was taken from the jail without a trace and came out here for some solace.They’ve invited me out here multiple times, but I always give them an excuse that I’m working on a case, even though I haven’t stepped foot in the firm in almost two years.
“No, but you need to get here immediately,” she stresses with a whisper into the phone.Her voice is almost panicked and it makes me take a pause.“Please hurry.”
“My plane just touched down here in Bozeman.We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Is it a coincidence that Saylor is possibly near the same town as my grandparents or hers?
“Good, good.I…” there’s some voices in the background but mother tries to cover it up, placing her hand over the phone.“I can’t talk but get here.”
The phone call ends and I’m on alert as to what is happening right now at my grandparent’s vacation home.I let Mitch know, and after discussing it for a minute, we decided to take a quick detour before checking in to our rooms at our hotel.
An hour and a half later, we pull up to my grandparent’s ranch style home and see all the lights on in the house.The sun has been down for a few hours and the stars are shining bright tonight.The front door opens as we all pile out of the SUV, and Mom comes hurriedly towards us, putting us all on high alert.
“Baby boy, I need you to prepare yourself for what you’re about to walk in to.”
“Okay,” I say slowly, wondering what my grandparents have gotten themselves into.A dead body, maybe?Mitch would definitely need a raise if that were the case.
