Beautiful Bounty(64)
“Where is she?” he demanded to know.
When he asked where Ronnie was and Lou couldn’t meet his eyes, his stomach sank. When he asked a second time, Lou looked furtively behind her, and stuttered when she finally answered.
“She . . . she went shopping.”
“How? With what car?” he asked quickly putting her off guard, counting on her not telling her mother she dumped a vat of barbecue on him, or stole his car. “Jay went to work, and your car is here.”
“Um, she went with a friend,” she murmured, beginning to shut the door.
“What friend?” he put his arm against the door blocking her attempt.
“Nikko, please. The neighbors,” Lou begged with her eyes.
He moved his arm guiltily, but as soon as the door was firmly shut behind him, he pounced again. He wanted answers. His eyes swept the room and Ronnie’s open bedroom door. He saw her bed. She hadn’t slept in it. His heart sank with his suspicions. “Lou, I know she took off,” he announced. His eyes narrowed to look past her. “You have to talk to me and tell me everything. If the police find out she’s gone, her bail will be revoked, you could lose your house, Jay his bike. But if I find her, bring her back, before they realize she is missing, then I can keep this between us. My brother’s will be quite upset if they lose their bond,” he warned her.
He saw Lou’s shoulders visibly sag, and she stepped back. Shit. He was right. Again, he pushed past her further into the house, and stood tall in the middle of the living room.
“What happened Lou? Why did she run?” He was hoping it wasn’t just their misunderstanding, and seeing Lou’s fear, felt now more than ever it wasn’t. When Lou didn’t speak he went on.
“The more I know, the quicker I find her. I’ll keep her safe. I love her, Lou.”
He didn’t mean to say that. But he knew it was true the moment the words left his lips. She could be in serious danger. He had to help her. Who knows what this whacko Gary is capable of or even if he was acting alone. A thousand scenarios were running through his head.
Lou’s eyes went wide at his words. “You love my daughter?”
He hadn’t meant to say it, it just slipped out. He nodded, and met her eyes.
“I haven’t told her yet, and I’m not sure I will for a while after the stunt she pulled last night, but I do. I want her here and safe, just like you do,” he added. “So please, tell me everything I need to know to find her.”
Lou looked into the younger man’s eyes. Could she trust him? She did want Ronnie home with her. God knew what she was getting herself into. She saw the fear in his eyes and made her decision.
“Um, let me get you the note.” Lou turned towards the kitchen and went towards where her purse sat on the counter. “She went to Maine. I talked to my parents twice this morning. Once to tell my father I thought she would go there first, then again, just twenty minutes ago. I know he lied to me when I called the second time, said he hadn’t seen her, but his voice sounded strange, but proud. So, I knew he was lying. She probably went to get her bike as I suspected she would.”
“Maine? Her bike?” he questioned. “Already! How the hell . . .” he stopped as she placed the note in his hand. He scanned the few lines.
“Lou . . . this is not good. This guy, Gary, he could be dangerous if she tries to corner him. He could . . .”
He felt like he swallowed a lead ball. Fear for Ronnie, and the situation she was putting herself in, gutted him like a fish. He looked to Lou, and he saw his words were scaring her as well. He remembered Ronnie revealing she was pregnant, and immediately felt guilty.
“Lou, have a seat. If I can get there quickly, before she finds him, things will be okay. I also have to do this before my brothers find out, or they will send in the posse. Hell, they will be the posse. Will you tell me where to look, where she might go?” he asked following her to the sofa.
Lou saw the concern and love in his eyes, and nodded. Nikko took a pad of paper and pen he saw on the table and sat next to her on the sofa. Lou began to tell him all her thoughts about her wayward daughter’s possible hideouts, and all she knew about Gary and the places he hung out in. Places they had gone together. Nikko had a good start when he left thirty minutes later. He was in a taxi, and headed to the Tampa airport. His ticket on the eleven thirty flight to Bangor, Maine was already booked thanks to his iPhone.
A little research on his cell told him she had a ten to twelve hour head start on him since there were only two other flights that had gone to Bangor. A little more digging and he was able to access the manifest. It wasn’t legal by any means, but his brothers had some friends who knew how to get around the firewalls of many of the airlines, and if that failed they had friends who worked there who would give such information for a price. And his suspicion that she was on one of those flights was confirmed. He saw the name Louisa Russell on Flight Five-Sixteen. She had taken her mother’s ID. Yes, twelve hours, but he knew she had to sleep, and he knew she had to travel much more surreptitiously than he did. He was already closing the gap. He’d find Ronnie, he vowed to himself. He would find her before the night was over. He just didn’t know where he would put his hands on her first when he found her, her ass, or her throat.