Jake Read online

  “A cute name.”

  “And here is a chilled glass of house wine for the cute lady.” He flashed her his dazzling smile. It covered his sadness well. Most people would never even know it was there. But she wasn’t here for him. She wasn’t here to listen to Jason’s life story. Although, she doubted he would tell it anyway. Not to her. Not to a stranger.

  “Perfect.” She looked around the bar once more. Damn it. Had she come all the way to Bear Creek for nothing?

  “I don’t get many strangers in here,” the bartender said. “So when I get two in one day, I’d likely assume they are meeting each other here.”

  Lana turned to face him and arched an eyebrow. “You might be right.” She accepted her drink and handed over some cash, which included a generous tip.

  He held up the notes and raised an eyebrow. “I’d have given you the information for free.”

  “I know, but it’s not often a lady walks into a bar and gets taken care of so…entertainingly.” She sipped her wine and flirted with her eyes. She might be out of practice, but she hadn’t forgotten how men and women interacted.

  “That’s always been my problem,” the bartender replied. “I can make a woman laugh. But they just don’t take me seriously. I’m not a keeper.”

  Lana laughed. “I don’t believe that.” She lifted her glass. “Here’s to you finding the woman of your dreams.”

  “And the man of your dreams is around the corner in the lover’s alcove, as I like to call it.” He winked and turned away before she had a chance to tell him the man in the alcove was not her lover.

  Maybe it was better the bartender thought they were lovers. It was a good cover story and more believable than the truth that she was here to get information on a missing woman. Or women. Lana dared not let herself hope that the man she was about to meet knew the whereabouts of Kiki and Mr. Jefferson’s daughter.

  Rolling her shoulders, she rocked her head from side to side, letting go of the tension building in her neck. If he knew how much this mattered to her, he could ask a high price. A price she could not afford. That price was not always money.

  As Lana crossed the bar, more eyes watched her, but she didn’t feel unsafe, especially when she cast a glance over her shoulder to see Jason watching her. Bringing Jake along for protection might have been a waste of his time. However, it was good to know he was out there. Listening.

  Color flushed her cheeks and she involuntarily closed her hand around her smartphone nestled in her pocket, Jake had heard every word between Lana and Jason. Did it matter that he’d heard her flirting with the bartender?

  Yes, it did. She didn’t want him to think she spoke to every man that way. Not when she’d protested her lack of dating skills.

  Focus. She rounded the corner of the alcove, time to put her game face on.

  “Elliot?” Lana took a mental snapshot of the guy who did not look like an Elliot. Aged around thirty, Elliot had mousy colored hair that needed a good cut. In a failed attempt to neaten it up he’d slicked it back with…she sniffed the air…mint styling gel, resulting in a greasy, unwashed look. Lank tendrils curled around his ears, the left ear had a couple of empty piercing holes, but they were worn enough she suspected they had been taken out for the same reason his hair was slicked back, to make himself look more presentable.

  Or maybe to impress her.

  Or to hide a part of himself he didn’t want her to see.

  Which might not be for any nefarious reason. Her eyes flicked down to his hands, which were placed on the table, with a half-filled glass of liquor between them. His nicotine-stained fingers curled as he looked up at her, the bitten-down fingernails scraping across the clean surface of the table.

  “I’m Lana Ross. Blake Jefferson asked me to come and meet you.” She smiled warmly and extended her hand. “And you are Elliot?” She arched an eyebrow as Elliot stared at her.

  “I was expecting Blake himself.” He hesitated, his hand halfway to hers as she caught a whiff of stale deodorant.

  “He couldn’t make it on such short notice. Maybe if this interview goes well, if you can give me something more than a photograph of his daughter, he might meet you in person.” Lana had no authority to promise this. However, if Elliot really did have information, surely Blake would meet the man in person if it might lead to his finding his daughter.

  Lana would go anywhere or do anything if it meant getting Kiki back. Or even finding answers to the burning questions of why, what and how her daughter vanished with no trace.

  With a furtive glance, Elliot scanned the bar area before nodding once. “Sit down.”

  “Thank you.” Lana pulled out the chair across the table from him and sat down. Before placing her glass of wine on the table, she took a large gulp. If first appearances were anything to go on, she was going to need it. “So, Elliot. Why am I here?”

  Shifty eyes glanced at the door as if he were expecting someone to be outside listening. Ah, damn! Was he paranoid? Would the whole trip turn out to be a waste of time?

  No. Of course, it wasn’t a waste of time. Ursula had made new friends and her dad looked the happiest he had for months. Then there was Jake. He offered her love and companionship, two things she thought out of her reach.

  Lana still needed to pinch herself to make sure he was for real. But pinching herself only told her she was awake. It didn’t prove he wasn’t making the whole thing up.

  Focus. She pulled her attention from the future and her relationship with Jake, who was still listening to the conversation, and placed herself firmly in the present.

  “Elliot?” Lana asked, her voice soft and encouraging. “I’ve come a long way to meet you here.”

  The guy leaned forward, his voice low as he said, “Someone took my daughter.”

  Lana kept her cool and didn’t jerk back at his words. Maybe because she’d heard them plenty of times before. Usually, they were cases where the mother left an abusive relationship and took the children with her.

  “I’m sorry. Have you informed the police?” Lana asked, opening her purse and taking out a notepad and pen. She hadn’t come here to help Elliot with a missing person, but she couldn’t just walk away. Not when she experienced the same pain and loss. Although, what this had to do with the photograph of Amber and Kiki, Lana had no clue.

  Sometimes, you just had to let people talk. Everyone had a story to tell and they usually wanted to tell it.

  “No. It’s not that simple.” His shifty eyes roamed the bar in a constant sweeping motion.

  “It rarely is.” Lana held the pen over. “So when you said someone took your daughter, are you saying she was kidnapped?” If so, this was a job for the police. Lana was good at tracking people down but dealing with the intricacies of kidnapping was not a thing she was comfortable with. Unless the same person who took Elliot’s daughter had also taken Amber.

  “No. She’s been adopted.” The guy looked her directly in the eyes. Lana didn’t what she saw there. If the eyes were the windows to the soul, Elliot had a dark, dark soul.

  “Adopted?” Lana allowed confusion into her tone before she could stop it.

  “Yes. A social worker decided my daughter’s mother was not fit to care for her own child. I had no idea until it was too late. The child was adopted against my wishes. Against her mother’s wishes. All for money.” He leaned forward and she smelled the nicotine on his breath as he said, “A woman at social services sold my child to the three men who adopted her.” His hand thumped the table, rebounding back as the wood vibrated. “Three men and my little girl.”

  Lana glanced around the bar. Now all eyes were on her. Or on Elliot. He’d gotten everyone’s attention, including Jason, who was on his way over. Lana raised her hand and mouthed, “I’m okay.” Jason halted his approach, frozen to the spot for a moment before he turned his attention to a couple of nearby tables and began wiping them down, even though they were already clean.

  “And you have proof the baby was sold?” Lana asked
, her heart thumping in her chest. Elliot must be talking about Milly and the Harrison brothers. The chances of three other men adopting a baby were slim.

  “Of course I don’t have proof. If I did, I wouldn’t be here talking to you, I’d be down at the sheriff’s office.” His eyes flashed with malice. Lana didn’t answer, she let Elliot fill the silence that stretched out between them. “All I know is my request to know what happened to her was ignored. I was told I had no rights. It took me several months to track my baby down which was when I found out she’d been adopted by three brothers over in Bear Creek.” His blunt fingernails bit into the palm of his hand as he curled it into a tight fist.

  “Bear Creek. That’s why you are here?” This was the confirmation Lana needed. He must mean the Harrison brothers. His daughter must be Milly.

  Lana didn’t usually judge people. Everyone was innocent until they were proven guilty. But the happy child living with the Harrisons deserved more than the life a man like Elliot could give her.

  “Yeah. I was going to contact them and ask to see her. But then I found out who I was dealing with.” His top lip curled up with distaste. Lana suspected Elliot wasn’t the letter-writing kind. His tone, his body language…there was no sincerity.

  “Was your name on the birth certificate?” Lana asked calmly. “Did social services try to find you?”

  “How should I know?” Elliot snapped. He took a deep breath and began again, talking slowly as if she were stupid. “The baby’s mom and me were…estranged at the time she gave birth.”

  “I see.” Lana sighed. “Listen, Elliot. I’m not sure I’m the right person to speak to about all this. You requested a meeting because you had information for my editor, Blake Jefferson, about his daughter, Amber.”

  “That’s right. It was our baby who was taken.” Elliot’s forehead creased. “Amber Jefferson is the mother of my child.”

  Lana bit down hard on the inside of her cheek as she fought to keep the shock off her face. Amber had a child. Blake never mentioned a child.

  “Why hasn’t Amber contacted her father personally and asked for help?” Lana asked,

  Elliot tapped his head with the palm of his hand. “They don’t talk. He used her. He wanted her to marry some rich guy. She doesn’t want to see him. She doesn’t even know I’m here. But we need his money. We need to fight for our child and then build a new life. And this social worker. She needs to be exposed. Isn’t that what your magazine does?”

  “It is. We do write exposés. But this isn’t the kind of thing we publish.” Lana tapped her pen on her pad. This was all too farfetched. But stranger things happened. She had to do her job. She had to find out if Elliot really knew Amber and if she was safe. And she needed to find out why Elliot thought Milly was Amber’s child when Jake believed Milly was Sally’s baby.

  “He can’t make an exception for his own daughter?” Elliot asked.

  “That isn’t my decision. Mr. Jefferson will want to see Amber and know she is okay. As far as I am aware, he has no idea she has a child. So, as you can see, he’ll need more than an old photograph of his daughter as proof.” Lana poked the hornets’ nest. “For all he knows, this is just a way for you to extort money from him.”

  “Extort money! I thought he’d want to know he had a granddaughter. And he’d want to help me get back on my feet and raise my child. I just need a hundred grand or so…to give my child a good start. The kind of life I never had.” He jabbed a finger at his chest as he spoke.

  It was all about me. Not about us. Was Elliot making the whole thing up just to get money from Blake? But the photograph… And why involve Jake? Unless Elliot planned on blackmailing Jake if his plans to extort money from Blake didn’t work out.

  Of course, Elliot had no idea Lana had met Jake and knew the truth about Milly’s mom. If it was the truth. Lana had to keep her personal feelings out of this meeting. Jake might be a liar. Although, the thought did not sit well with her.

  “Do you have any concrete proof about any of this?” Lana placed a copy of the photograph of Amber on the table. Her eyes strayed to the reflection of Kiki in the window. She wasn’t going to get any answers today. Not about Kiki. She had to focus on Amber’s safety. If they could find Amber, she might hold the missing pieces to Kiki’s disappearance. “Where is Amber? Where is the proof that she has a baby, let alone that social services took her? Do you even know Amber?”

  Lana stared at Elliot, trying to sort through the facts and put them in some kind of order. His story about Amber having a child taken away was mixed up with that of Sally. It was Sally’s child the Harrison brothers were raising as their own.

  What was Elliot’s game? Was he simply after money?

  “I know Amber. She had my child and the person from social services took her and gave her to three brothers. Fact.” Elliot sat back in his chair. “Isn’t that a big enough story for Revealed? Isn’t it worth a large fee? A social worker selling babies to the highest bidder!”

  “If it’s true. Yes. But you haven’t even given me a name, yet alone proof.” Lana studied Elliot. His story didn’t match up with what Jake had told her about their adopting Milly. Jake had resisted the adoption at first before coming around to the idea. She certainly couldn’t imagine Jake paying for a baby. That didn’t mean the social worker part wasn’t true. During her time at Revealed, Lana had learned some people would do anything for money. “So far, what you’ve given me is so vague you’ve wasted my time.”

  He held out his hand as if to hush her. “I understand what you are saying. But this is a coverup.”

  “A coverup.” Lana paused. She’d lost her objectivity because of her relationship with the Harrison brothers, particularly Jake. She couldn’t simply dismiss Elliot, she needed to push him for facts. “So you are saying that someone from social services took your daughter against her mother’s will. Then she sold your child to three brothers?” Lana hadn’t heard a story this farfetched in a good while. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. If she’d learned one thing in the last few years it was that things could always get weirder.

  Much weirder.

  “Yes.” He raked a hand through his slicked-back hair, and it spilled forward onto his face in lank clumps. “I know how it sounds. I really do.” He raised his eyes to hers. “They bought her. At least the oldest brother bought her. He bought my baby because he wanted my silence.” The hand thumped down on the table once more. “But I can’t be silenced anymore. I owe it to my baby.”

  “Your silence about what?” Lana’s heart thumped in her chest at this new piece of information. Was there some truth in Elliot’s story? Was that why Jake had been so insistent he came with her to this meeting? And she’d let him hear every word.

  “This man is rich. He made his money off the backs of people he victimized and abused. He gets them hooked on drugs and then pimps them out.” He looked at Lana as if he wanted to get under her skin. He wanted to infect her with poison…

  But what if he was the victim here? What if his daughter was being kept from him to secure his silence? What if his daughter really was Milly?

  It couldn’t be true. She’d met the people he was accusing. She trusted them. She trusted every member of the Harrison household.

  With her granddaughter. Lana’s nostrils flared as panic took hold. Had she fallen into an elaborate trap? She had to stay calm, finish the meeting and bluff it out with Jake if she needed to. At least until she had Ursula back.

  “And you are certain of all these facts?” Lana asked bluntly. “I need to know you have proof because these are some very serious accusations.”

  “I’m sure. He used to operate out of a small building of apartments in Ferrymain. Do you know it?” Insidious. This man made her skin crawl. If she had to pick right now, she would call Elliot a liar and side with Jake. But looks could be deceiving.

  Damn, what kind of a mess had she gotten mixed up in?

  “I know the town, but you will need to be more specific.” S
he kept her voice even. She couldn’t give any part of herself away to anyone.

  Elliot dismissed her request with a wave of his hand. “He moved on after a young woman died of an overdose. One of his women.” He studied her, without studying her. She knew the trick. Use your peripheral vision, keep your eyes fixed elsewhere. “You might have heard about it? It was all over the news.”

  “I probably did. But there are so many deaths in the news. We live in sad times.” The death he spoke about must be Sally. Had the person from social services fabricated the details surrounding Milly’s mom? The events Elliot spoke about happened around the same time. What if the social worker…Fiona…had passed Milly off as Sally’s baby when in fact she belonged to Amber? Jake admitted he hadn’t had contact with Sally for some time.

  Elliot’s face contorted in a sneer. “He bought my daughter as leverage. While he has her, he knows I won’t speak out against him. That’s why I need you to speak out for me. I want you to bring him down.”

  “And his name?” Lana asked. “The name of the man who has your child?” She fixed a mask firmly in place so that when Elliot revealed the name of the man he was accusing, she was ready.

  “Jake Harrison.” The guy lifted his eyes. There was that shifty look again. “That’s all I’m giving you until you speak to your editor and arrange for a pile of cash to be brought to me.”

  “I need more than vague accusations.” Lana stood up from the table. The meeting was over as far as she was concerned. “All you’ve given me so far is libelous accusations. If any part of this was printed in Revealed, we would be sued for damages.”

  “I have proof.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a charm bracelet. “This belonged to Amber.”

  Lana reached out for the bracelet. “I’ll have to get that authenticated.” Elliot dropped it into her hand. Lana quickly closed her fingers around it and then said, “But this only links you to Amber. It doesn’t link Jake Harrison to any of this or prove that anyone from social services is involved.”