“Ben is here to meet with you about liquor distribution.”
I stood and reached out a hand, which he took in a polite handshake. “Nice to meet you, would you like to take a seat?”
“Thank you. I hope I have a quick solution to your problem.”
“I hope so.”
We took our seats and began to discuss his facilities and supplies when yelling and banging caught my attention. I dropped the pen in my hand and darted from the office toward the front, hoping no one was hurt. The second I stepped through the doors, a hand landed on my shoulder, twisting me and throwing me up against the wall.
“Ashton Hawes?”
A cop stood next to me, at least a dozen more throughout the restaurant, tearing the place up.
Just fucking great.
What in the hell were they looking for in the restaurant? Nothing here would be worth their time. I would never taint this business.
“That’s me.” My voice was muffled against the hard surface of the wall.
“Mr. Hawes, we’re bringing you in for questioning in the kidnapping of Mrs. Elena Tolley.”
I tried to swing around to get a good look at his face, but the officers held tight until the cuffs were snapped into place. It never occurred to me to ask about the cuffs if I was only being questioned.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Elena’s down at the theater practicing for the new Sondheim show.”
“We’ll send a car over.”
It took two of them but eventually they had me moving, marching me across the restaurant, toward the door. Most of my staff had looks of disbelief on their faces: mouths open, eyes rounded. Fuck, I’d have to come up with an explanation for them and hoped they didn’t run for the hills. And the customers. This shit could ruin my business. I needed to get it cleared up—fast.
“Dustin, call my father and tell him what happened.”
“You got it, Ashton,” he answered and I was extremely grateful he didn’t have some ridiculous remark to go with it.
The cops pushed through the front door and helped me into the backseat; not easy with my hands locked behind my back. One reason I never used metal cuffs in all of my games, they were way too uncomfortable. Although, I tried to get more information out of the officers, none of them were budging. It wasn’t until we walked through the front doors of the station that so much became clear.
Tolley.
The lousy piece of shit sat at one of the desks. When he looked up, his eyes still black and blue, he gave me a cold smirk. The bastard had orchestrated all of this. Would Elena take his side? A small part of me worried that might be the case, except the rest of my brain pushed it away. Not the new Elena. That worthless son of a bitch was in for a rude awakening when she got here.
Tolley jumped from his chair, playing the victim so well. “That bastard stole my wife.” Two of the cops restrained him, offering him comfort. Thoughts of shaking off the cops’ grip and finishing what I’d started a few weeks ago was more than a little appealing but, unfortunately, if I wanted to walk out of there sooner rather than later, I needed to keep my hands to myself and be on my best behavior.
Grinding my teeth, I didn’t fight the officers as they led me into an interview room, closing the door behind me, two cops still inside. On the far wall, I could see myself in the two-way mirror. They sat me down in the chair and moved the cuffs from the back to the front. A few minutes later the door opened and in walked another cop, dressed in a suit. He took the seat across from me as the other two left.
“Mr. Hawes,” he said opening the folder in front of him. “Where is Mrs. Tolley?”
My natural instinct was to tell this guy to shove it up his ass and get me a phone to call my lawyer. It was what Dad had drilled into our heads from the time we were little.
Not this time.
I hadn’t kidnapped anyone, and the sooner they found Elena, the sooner they would let my ass go.
“Like I told the gentlemen who brought me in, Elena’s at the Canterbury Theater downtown. She’s got a part in the one of the new productions.”
“Damn, you’re making my life easy.” He shook his head, a shit-eating grin on his face.
Arrogant bastard thought he had me. I leaned back in the chair and waited for all of it to play out in front of me. As long as the idiot didn’t figure out the real reason why Elena was currently in my care, I would be walking out of there in no time.
“Want to tell me why you kidnapped Mrs. Tolley in the first place?” he asked, not looking up from his paper, waiting to write down whatever I said for later.
“I didn’t.” It happened to be the only answer he would get out of me, until either Elena or my lawyer showed up.