Accounting for Lust (18 page)

Once their breathing returned to normal, Jake lowered her to the floor and framed her face in his hands. He kissed her softly before shoeing her out of the room. Sated and satisfied, Cassie showered and dressed. Ten minutes later
,
she joined Jake in the kitchen. 

“I made you coffee. It might be a long night.”
He glanced at his watch. “Make that morning.”

“Thank you.”
The clock against the wall showed just after one in the morning and Cassie doubted she would get any more sleep before starting her meetings for the day.

She sipped the scalding liquid while retrieving her handbag from the table.
This time Jake drove and as t
hey pulled into the underground parking at the office
,
Cassie eyed the darkness
.
The overhead lights had been switched off and the only the headlights of their vehicle pierced the darkness.  

“Who turned off the lights?”

“I did. As soon as we alight, I’ll give you a suit to put on before we enter the building. It’s easier to remain unseen in the darkness.”

Claustrophobia threatened to overwhelm her as Jake switched off the headlights of the car and drove the last couple of meters in the dark. She heard the door opening
, but the interior light remained off.

After fumbling in the dark to don the suit
she managed to pull the headpiece over her head, effectively shutting out the rubber and damp smell of the underground parking. Jake took her hand and managed to reach the closed elevator doors without once losing his way
.
Cassie suspected he had some way of piercing the absolute darkness.

She heard the elevator doors opening, but total darkness still prevailed. The doors closed again and Cassie’s claustrophobia returned. She struggled to breathe and a great weight sat on her chest.

“Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth.” Jake squeezed her hand and waited until she complied. She couldn’t close her mouth, she couldn’t breathe. Didn’t he understand?

“Come on, Cassie. You can do this. Another twenty seconds and we’ll be out in the light.”

She nodded and hoped he could see. Talking was impossible when just breathing was difficult. When she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, the doors swooped open
and the dim emergency lights lighted the corridor. A few steps further and Cassie relaxed.

“Come.” Jake let go of her hand and hurried to her office, but
stopped before entering
. Instead he walked to the supply closet
next to her office
. Muffled voices sounded through the closed door and Jake knocked softly, calling out before he opened the door.

Inside the overhead light buzzed and Cassie blinked at the sudden surge of light. Rows of cleaning supplies sat tightly packed on steel shelves with brooms, mops and vacuum cleaners resting against the wall next to the door. In all
,
the room measured no more than two metres by three metres.

Jake pulled her
further into
the room and behind some shelves, several people stood huddled over a computer screen standing on a small table. Only when Matt stood to the side, did Cassie manage to see the picture on the screen . . .

Depicted in a sickening shade of green and grey,
she could see
her desk, chair and door. One of the technicians touched the screen and the picture enlarged with astonishing clarity. Matt turned to her and smiled.

“It took us just over an hour to find this. Do you recognize any of them?” He held an envelope out to her. Inside the photo depicted a boy of about sixteen and a woman she assumed to be his mother standing in front of a dilapidated camper. Both the woman and child were as filthy as the surroundings.

Cassie concentrated on the boy, trying to recognise any features. Something rang familiar, but she couldn’t place it. She had no idea who the people were. She shook her head.

“No. The boy seems familiar somehow, but I can’t place him. ” She handed the photo to Matt. “
Where did you find the photo?”

Matt pointed to the keyboard. “It stuck to the underside of the keyboard.” He swivelled round to face her. “
Who works in this cubicle?”

“I don’t know.”

“
No matter, w
e’re getting the records from Joshua as we speak.” Matt tilted his head to the side. “You’re sure you don’t know any of these people?”

“Quite sure.
Like I said, the boy is somewhat familiar, but I don’t know why. It’s not someone I deal with regularly – that I’m sure of.
”

A
hiss
sound
ed
behind her
and Cassie jumped
. One of the technicians held up a can of detergent and mouthed a
silent
apology
before carefully replacing it on the shelve
. Several people were busy unpacking the shelves and checking the contents, taking care to replace every item exactly as they found it.

Jake pulled Cassie out the door and walked her towards the personnel office. Inside, Joshua huddled over the keyboard, typing furiously only to stop and stare at the screen every couple of seconds.

Cassie sank into one of the chairs. She knew Joshua wouldn’t notice them
until he found what he was looking for. She was so tired. If she could only close her eyes for a couple of minutes, she would feel better.

She woke with Jake towering over her. Damn, it was the second time tonight he had to wake her. Indulging in staring into the inviting brown eyes for a second or two, Cassie pretended to wake slowly. She wanted nothing more than to pull his head to her and kiss him senseless. Her body stirred at the thought and she shifted in the chair. Stifling a yawn, she sat up straighter.

“Sorry, I must have dozed off. What time is it? Have you found anything?”

Jake laughed. “You haven’t missed much in the . . .” He checked his watch with much ado. “
T
hree hours that you supposedly dozed off.”

Cassie’s eyes widened. Three hours. She couldn’t have slept for three hours. That would mean it was nearly five in the morning. A glance through the window confirmed that dawn had indeed arrived. Her face coloured.

“Sorry. I must be more tired than I thought.” She rose from the chair and winced as her stiff muscles protested against the sudden movement. “Well, have you found him?”

Jake nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“I detect a ‘but’ in there.”

“I’ll let Matt explain. It’s not going to be easy to catch him with enough evidence to convict.”

“What do you mean? We found his equipment and the photo. What more do you need?”

Jake sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Let’s find Matt. He’ll know how to explain.”

Cassie nodded and followed Jake out the door. The corridor contained a fine mist and Cassie silently thanked Jake for the foresight to have her put on a protective suit. She once made the mistake of walking in on the spraying process and itched for days afterwards. After that
,
she never complained when the shutdown took two days instead of just the one it took to spray the building.

They found Matt
still inside the supply closet busy helping the technicians install miniscule microphones and cameras. His big body perched precariously on the edge of one of the chairs as he stretched to place a microphone in the ceiling.

“Have you found anything that we can use to stop this guy?”

Matt
stared
at Cassie and finished placing the device before answering. “Yes and no. We have a strong suspicion who it is, but we need evidence to prove it.” He pointed to the small device barely noticeable in the ceiling. “Hence our own surveillance equipment. If he comes here and we are sure about his identity, we’ll catch him. No use alerting the police if we don’t have enough proof.”

Cassie nodded. “Fair enough. What do you plan to do?”

He stepped
off
the chair with his protective suit
crackling. “We’ll monitor the cameras and when he uses the computer we’ll nail him. Hopefully this will be over soon.” Matt glanced towards Jake before he continues.

“Until then, you’ll be assigned a new bodyguard. Someone we can pass off as a friend visiting from out of town. Our man here knows who and what Jake is and we need to lull him into thinking he’d won.”

Jake squeezed her hand. “I’ll never be far.”

However re-assuring that was supposed to be, Cassie still felt uncomfortable knowing that Jake would
n’t
be there to shield her with his own body. A body she would love to use to forget the nightmare she currently experienced.
Liar
, the voice inside her head whispered. She needed Jake for much more than physical protection. He made her feel safe. And normal.

She hadn’t known normal since before her father died
and part of her longed for the uncomplicated life she had. With a small shake of her head
,
she banished the negative thoughts. If she was honest, nothing in her life was ever normal.

“Fine.” She extracted her hand from Jake’s. “I need to get ready for my meetings today. I presume someone will drive me home?”

Jake inhaled sharply. He felt the moment Cassie shut him out. And he didn’t like it one bit. Matt’s plan was sound and he agreed with the methods. If the client was anyone else but Cassie, he would even feel confident in their abilities to keep her safe. Even though he assured Cassie he wouldn’t be far, he knew he couldn’t’ be at her side all the time. Not if they plan to catch the SOB trying to destroy her. He had to do a complete background check on their suspect and that involved traveling to the other side of town.

He met Cassie’s stare and saw the question inside. Frowning he tried to remember her question. Tension knotted his stomach. No, sadly he wouldn’t be driving her home.

“Someone will meet you at the elevator in the underground parking to take you home.
I had your car brought over. T
he agent is
very
capable
and I trust her
.” Jake attempted a grin. “At least she would fit inside your matchbox.”

Cassie only nodded and Jake
ached to
wrap her in his arms and never let her go. For the first time since this ordeal started a couple of days ago, she looked tired and vulnerable. He hated to let her go.

Jake handed Cassie over to the
agent
and watched as she disappeared into the darkness. Only when the car
disappeared from sight
, did he press the button to take the elevator upstairs again. He had work to do and the sooner he finished the sooner Cassie would be safe.

An hour later, Jake pulled into the driveway of his house. Despite the early hour, the front door opened as he switched off the engine of his car
. T
he butler
took the stairs two at a time, scanning the pavement for luggage
. Normally, that would have elicited a smile from him, but this time, it just irritated him. The man
meant well, but he always made Jake uncomfortable with his eagerness to please.

“Breakfast is served whenever you are ready, Sir.”

Jake merely nodded and pounced up the stairs. The opulence of his family home still repulsed him as it did since the time he inherited the place from his parents. He planned to re-decorate the place years ago, but there had never been time. His work kept him f
rom
home most of the time so it wasn’t that he had to live with the décor on a daily basis.

Once inside his suite, Jake showered and changed into casual wear.
People reacted badly to suits in the part of town he planned to visit. He
guzzled
the breakfast and a twinge of guilt panged him for not appreciating the staff’s efforts more. Shoving it aside, he pulled the hood of the sleeveless sweater over his head, shut the door behind him and drove towards the slums of downtown.

The trailer park radiated neglect and despair. Trash lined the unpaved narrow streets and cats competed with rats in sifting through the debris for leftovers.
The stench of decaying garbage cloyed the air and Jake closed the window. In front of one trailer, someone tried to create a garden and yellow marigolds peeked bravely from behind an uncut plot of grass.  A rusted chassis of what might have once been a Chev
rolet
perched precariously on four cement blocks. 

He found the campervan
at the
far end
of the park,
tucked under a tree with broken wooden swing
swaying in the slight breeze.
In contrast to the other lots, no trash littered the yard and
a couple of
stacked plastic
chairs
leaned
against the side of the trailer.
A battered and rusted blue sedan sat in front of the trailer.
A woman
with a cigarette
clenched between her lips, rounded the
corner and Jake slowly drove on, glad he used a company vehicle.