She handed a file over to Hayden and he began to rifle through it. He saw Marie's driver's license photo and copies of the police reports and a picture of Austin. He saw the McMansion where they used to live, the wide, empty, dusty Arizona town they used to call home.
"That was until recently," Spencer continued. "But Marie has not been seen in a long time and no one has any idea where she is." The private investigator looked at Hayden waiting for him to say something, but he remained perfectly silent waiting for her to continue. "This is all hearsay, but a few weeks ago Marie took her daughter Cate and skipped town. The last place anyone saw her was at a used car shop in Alabama. She sold her car for cash and then ghosted. No one has seen her since."
"Where does her husband think she is?" Hayden asked.
"Marie and Austin weren't married."
"They had a child together."
"Yes, that does happen sometimes," Spencer said. "There's no law that they have to get married after having a kid. The strange thing is, Austin hasn't notified the police that his daughter is missing. He has a case against Marie; she took his child without notifying him. That's kidnapping."
"But he hasn't called the cops?"
"No, he's private security. They have a tendency to not get along with the cops. That's the other thing I found out: Austin St. Clare is looking for his girlfriend. Every place I went looking for info on her, he had already been there."
"Does he know you are also looking for her?"
"No, I kept it quiet. You don't have to worry about that. I'm good at my job. I can keep looking for Marie-"
"No," Hayden interrupted. "No, thank you. What you've given me is perfect." He stood up, the file in his hand. Spencer stood up and Hayden shook her hand. "I can trust you won't tell anyone about this, right?"
"Of course, discretion is my middle name."
"Glad to hear it." She walked him to the door and he put his wet jacket and stepped out into the rain again. He hurried to his car and once inside he removed the wet jacket and threw it in the back. He started his car and turned it on, his headlights illuminating the rain in front of him. He checked his phone and saw Axel was still at Marie's house. He was spending the night and breaking every rule they had made for themselves.
Hayden had given up everything for Axel. He used to be a fighter too, but he gave it up to help train Axel. Hayden's entire life had been spent propping up another man. He trained Axel, pushed him, made sure he ate right and got enough sleep, he made sure Axel had ways to amuse himself. Hayden still lived in their crappy hometown so he could run Axel's gym. It was Hayden who had made Axel a champion and this was his reward. Axel was going to throw it all away to fuck some housewife from Arizona.
He had worked his ass of for years to get Axel here and now it was going out the window. He didn't have control anymore. Axel wasn't listening to him, but was instead doing whatever he wanted. Didn't Axel understand what was riding on all of this? Both of their careers were on the line, but Axel didn't seem to care.
Axel could have any woman he wanted. Tiffany, the beautiful Tiffany who treated the gym like her own personal runway wasn't good enough for Axel, but this runaway chick was? No. Hayden was not going to lose everything over a woman. He refused.
He headed back to Harksburg, jumping on the highway and leaving Philadelphia behind. He would need to get rid of Marie DeSantos. She was too dangerous; she was threatening everything they had worked for. It would be for Axel's own good. He might be mad for a few days, but, after enough time, he would forgive Hayden. He would have to. Once Axel was a champion he would forget all about the girl who lived in the museum. He would move on to movie stars and models.
Hayden was the real man in charge. He was the one who had to make the tough decisions so they could both survive. No one likes being the bad guy, but sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes the ends justify the means. Hayden understood that and Axel would, too, in time. He looked at the file on the passenger side seat. The phone number for St. Clare Security was right on top. One phone call and she would be gone for good. One phone call and Hayden would have his champion back.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
"What's his name?" Austin St. Clare demanded. He looked at his cellphone and scanned the email for a third time.
"Didn't give one," his second in command, Charlie Wills, said. "We can't trace the IP address either. He must have accessed the dark net via tor and signed up for a new email that way. I've had our best tech guys on it since this morning, but they're still coming up with nothing concrete on where or who this guy is."
"Fucking computers," Austin said shaking his head. "Business was easier without them." Austin ran his hands through his short dark hair. He handed the phone back to Charlie and began to pace up and down the room. He always paced when he was thinking. There was something about the step and repeat that was almost hypnotizing to him; it cleared his mind and helped him focus. His hands behind his back, he walked up and down his office while Charlie followed him with his eyes.
"It's come to my attention that you are looking for Marie DeSantos and her daughter. I know where they are and I would be more than willing to share that information with you. I think twenty-thousand is a fair price for what I know. I've attached a photo to prove I've seen her."
The email ended suddenly. There was no sign off, no contact information. Nothing.
"It could be a trap," Charlie said. "She might have gone to the police and now they're trying to prove you're dangerous. Paying information to know where she is, that doesn't look good."
"Comes too close to entrapment, the cops would never do it," Austin said shaking his head. No, Marie wasn't that smart. She would be too scared to reach out to the police, scared they would take Cate away. Marie was hiding somewhere. She was probably holed up in some motel watching trashy TV and being lazy while Austin searched the world for her. She was enjoying it, no doubt. She always loved to push his buttons.
He thought she would have come home by now. She liked to argue with him and she had threatened to leave before, but Austin knew she could never survive in the world on her own. She was too weak and delicate. She let people walk all over her. She was too easy to please. The real world was going to chew her up and spit her out. Austin had been ready for her to come crawling home, begging him to take her back but she still hadn't.
He had started looking for her right away, of course. That bitch was not leaving and taking his kid with just a note for an explanation. Didn't she have any idea all of the work that Austin did for her? Did she really think she could treat him like this? And what was she doing for money? Did she think money just fell out of the sky? She certainly spent it like she did. Austin worked hard all day and what did Marie do other than play with Cate? She had claimed once that taking care of one kid was just as hard as running a company. Austin had laughed right in her face when she said that
Then she ran off crying, of course. She was always crying. In a small way it had been nice having her gone at first. But the house quickly grew messy, he missed having a home cooked meal every night, and after a week he had no clean clothes. Now he had to take his laundry to a service and hire a cleaning lady. Clearly things had gone too far. It was time for Marie to come home and get back to work. This was enough playing around.
"You return the email?" Austin asked. He had no idea how this person had got in touch with him, but the picture was legit. It was Marie and Cate; she was wearing workout gear and they were walking down the street hand in hand. It could be an elaborate fake, or an old picture, but there was only one way to find out.
"Not yet. I was waiting to hear what you had to say."
"Tell him I'm interested, but he's kidding himself if he thinks I'm paying twenty-thousand dollars for Marie. She's not worth all that. Get a phone number."
Austin handed the phone back to Charlie. They were in his office, mid-level in a tall Phoenix skyscraper. A bright window to his left gave an impressive view of the skyline. There was a set of dumbbells by his desk and he grabbed twenty-five pounds and began to press.
Within ten minutes his phone was ringing. Austin took his time putting his dumbbell down, walking over to his desk and sitting before answering the phone with a slow, drawn-out, bored sounding, "yes?"
"Hello, I'm the gentleman who sent you the email earlier today. It's good to hear from you."