Page 79 of Give

“And, Luca?”

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Bring Harry Lane.” He ends the call but I won’t wait, not for anyone.

“Shaelyn,” I call out, and she startles at my tone. “Get Harry. I’m sending you the address. I want him to meet me there.”

I’m out the door before she can acknowledge me because this is my Anisten,my forever Anisten.

The press is at the doors of the precinct when I try to get through the crowd. How the hell did they know I’d be here? The questions they ask are personal concerning Anisten and me.

“No comment.” The words don’t belong to me but to Penn as he ushers both of us in.

We bypass the front desk, and we’re alone in an office space of the main vestibule. “Where’s Harry Lane?” he asks, his face turning redder by the second.

“I was worried about getting here for Anisten. Shaelyn contacted him. He should be here soon.”

A text comes in, and I pull for it immediately.

Shaelyn:Harry Lane hasn’t been found. His office is cleared out, and I can’t reach him or his wife.

I throw my phone across the room. I can’t believe it. Heaven has been right about Harry this entire time.

* * *

I can feel a pull to Anisten, who is in a holding cell on the other side of the police precinct. Penn assured me Anisten was his top priority when I broke my phone in the middle of the conference room. The empty bench in the front of the precinct is boring, and I can’t order anyone to do anything with the state of my broken phone.

The click of heels has me whipping my head to the front door, hoping it’s Anisten and the police have figured out she’s being set up. My eyes land on the shorter body of Shaelyn, a black device in her hand.

“Mr. De Santos, I’ve downloaded all your contacts I keep for this reason.” She powers it on, and it’s set up like my old one. “Is there anything else I can do?”

Shaelyn has always been kind to me, never wavering with my foul moods.

“Have you located Harry?” I know the answer to the question by the way Shaelyn’s lips turn downward.

“No, Sir, I haven’t. I reached Tucker Owens, as per Penn Coultier’s request since he and Caroline are in the middle of figuring how to get Ms. Atkins out on bail. Mr. Owens will meet you here.”

I’m touched by her immediate effort which has nothing to do with her typical workload.

“Is there anything else you need, Sir?”

A thought hits me. “Harry’s secretary?”

“Mr. Coultier has been in contact with her. Velma has worked for him for years. She was in tears this morning. Hysterical, really,” she continues. “I can’t believe she would be in on this. Maybe it’s simply my hope because Velma has always been someone I looked up to.”

“Anisten tried to warn me about him. He’s been with me from the beginning before we were a name in the industry.”

She’s watching me, listening to me, hanging on to each word. “I’m very sorry, Mr. De Santos. I can’t fathom the betrayal you feel right now.”

This isn’t in Shaelyn’s job title to sit with me as I worry about my girl’s fate. “Thank you, Shaelyn, I appreciate it.”

We sit in silence a little bit longer. “By the way, I called Mr. Murphy. He’ll meet you here or the courthouse, wherever we end up when he gets into town.”

Her gestures are thoughtful and compassionate. “I’ve not always been kind to you, Shaelyn. Never said please and thank you and have probably been a little more demanding than I should have been.” This is my way of saying sorry.

She turns her face to mine at my confession. “For the record, you’ve always been very generous when it comes to my salary and bonuses. You have standards, and I try to live up to those standards. A few missed thank-yous aren’t the worst thing.”

“You live up to those standards, and then some. But, moving forward, I’ll attempt to work on those pleases and thank-yous, how’s that?”

---