The Corner Booth (21 page)

CHAPTER 40

As she pushed the button to the sixth floor in the elevator, Cassie yawned and caught herself in the polished brass. Damn, she was tired. Scowling, she stuck her tongue out at herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t go to bed early enough. Stephan had come and got her in the early evening at Sakis’s, dropping her off at her apartment, before he went back to fill in Sakis on God only knew what. Stephan and Sakis both had refused to discuss what had happened, but whatever it was, it shook them both. Sakis in particular had been quiet.

Grimacing at the soreness she felt between her legs, she ruefully had to admit that it wasn’t as if they had much time to talk in between the marathon sex they had. Her fingers ran to her hair. She hated the word sex, but she couldn’t call what they did lovemaking. Oh, for sure, he had been attentive, but distracted. Frustrated with whatever happened, he seemed to need to take it out with his release in her. He was insatiable.

The elevator doors opened and she hesitated. No, it wasn’t the sex but the fact that she couldn’t sleep, stressed at seeing the men with powerful guns pointed towards her and Stephan, and the changes in both men after their meeting. And now, she had to see Greg today and deal with him. Cassie decided that she would confront him first thing as Stephan had told her to.

Her steps slowed as she neared the main entrance to Walter & Cunningham. People milled around the front lobby; some of the women even looked as if they were crying. Brin, catching sight of Cassie, hurried over to where Cassie stood, confused. Her eyes were red rimmed, and Cassie knew that her co-worker definitely had been crying.

“Brin, are you okay? What is going on?”

“Cassie, it’s the most awful thing. Mr. Cunningham was killed in a car accident last night.” As she broke down again, Cassie opened her arms and allowed Brin to collapse in sobs on her shoulder. Eyes wide, she stared at the throng of people in the hallway.

“Dead? Are you sure?” She could hardly speak, and Cassie didn’t recognize her own voice.

“Yes, Mr. Walters received the phone call just a short time ago from the ex-wife.”

“But, how?” Cassie couldn’t wrap her brain around what she was hearing.

“I don’t know. Apparently he was driving on Route 9 and he lost control. They say that he was dead on impact.” Her voice lowered to a whisper, she continued. “Speed was definitely a factor. They think he was doing over a hundred. Who drives like that? Some of the other women think that he committed suicide, because he was devastated over his divorce.”

Cassie knew better than to say anything, but she doubted very much that that was the reason. “Was any other car involved?”

“No. Thank God!” Brin interjected loudly. “Mr. Walters said that they are closing and we will reopen on Wednesday. Oh, here comes Tom. I have to tell him what is going on.”

Cassie breathed a sigh of relief as Brin made her way to her co-worker. Tom had only taken several steps before Brin repeated almost verbatim what she was told. Cassie felt sick to her stomach. It had to be a coincidence. With shaking legs, she approached the owner.

“Mr. Walters. I am so sorry for everyone’s loss.”

Patting her hand, he glanced over his glasses; his mind raced to place her.

“I am Cassie, the receptionist.”

“Yes. Yes. Thank you, Cassie. We are closing; feel free to leave at any time.”

Nodding, Cassie stepped to the side so others could offer their condolences. Hugging herself around the waist, her breathing quickened and she shivered. She had to get out of there. As she ducked through the stairwell door, Cassie knew she would not be missed. Only several weeks into the job, people wouldn’t think twice about the newcomer vanishing.

Her phone rang before she had even reached her car. Holding the phone with her shoulder, she fumbled with the car keys.

“Hello?”

“Cass.”

“Emily? Girl, what the hell happened to you!!? I have been trying to reach you since Sunday.”

“He’s dead, Cassie.” The tiny voice on the other line sounded tired.

“Who’s dead, Em?” Cassie croaked out the question.

“Andre. Someone shot him.”

Cassie heard Emily start to sob.
What the fuck was going on?
“Emily, listen to me. I am coming to get you. Where are you right now?”

“I think they are listening, you know. They are everywhere. They will get to me before you. I need to hide.” Emily’s voice trailed off.

Emily wasn’t making any sense. “No you don’t! You don’t get to hide, ever. I am coming to get you. Just tell me where you are.” Cassie felt desperate and so far out of her element. This all had to be some sick joke. “Em, remember when we talked about being there for each other? Trusting each other? I meant it. Let me come get you.”

“I am meeting Paul at the park.”

Cassie knew that Emily was trying to tell her something but she couldn’t think; her head spun. Pressing her hand to her forehead, she closed her eyes and searched her memory. They had made jokes about codes and what to do if they needed to use them. At the time, it had been done in jest. Two young women, drunk, taking the piss out of the world they were in.

“Emily, I know exactly where you are. I am coming for you, baby. Don’t move, okay?”

Emily breathed out a ragged breath of relief. “Please don’t tell anyone, Cass.”

“I promise,” Cassie responded.

CHAPTER 41

The Green line was packed with early morning commuters. Cassie was glad for the crush of people headed for work. Normally the bodies pressing against her would send a feeling of panic to rush through her. Right now, she needed the masses. It allowed her the opportunity to scan the crowd for any familiar faces or strangers who seemed to be headed in the direction she was. Twice, she had hopped off the train at different stops, reversing direction twice to err on the side of caution. She felt incredibly stupid, but her mind was crazed. First Greg dying and then Emily informing her that Andre had been shot. The sick feeling that had formed in her stomach wouldn’t go away.

The moment she had hung up from her initial call with Emily, she had raced back to her apartment and threw on sweatpants, T-shirt, sneakers, and a hoodie. Removing her business attire and makeup in addition to throwing her hair into a ponytail would only help her to blend into the crowd better. As an afterthought, Cassie grabbed her savings can, dumped out several hundred dollars in cash and shoved it in her backpack, along with a change of clothes for Emily.

Cassie had no idea what she was facing. Not once, in her scramble to reach her new friend, did she doubt what she heard over the phone. Everything fell into place: the men with the guns, Stephan ordering her to her bedroom at the mansion, the distracted conversation with Sakis. Of course he was distracted. The man he had partied with was dead. Shot, no less. Cassandra was furious with both Stephan and Sakis for keeping her out of the loop. They must have known that Emily was out there somewhere, all alone, and yet they said nothing. Well, she wasn’t going to call them now until she got some answers first.

When she reached Government Center, she ran up the stairs, tearing towards Faneuil Hall. If she understood Emily, her friend would be waiting for her somewhere near Durgin-Park. Her eyes scanned the area. After twenty minutes, she sat on the bench. She couldn’t find her, which meant that Emily had left or she wasn’t in the right spot. But she was so sure….

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Frantically, she pulled it out. At Stephan’s name on the caller ID, she hit the Ignore button before she shut the phone off completely, unwilling to compromise her promise to her friend until she could figure out what the hell was going on. As she rose to her feet, she glanced up at the Durgin-Park sign and frowned. She was so sure.

“Cassie?”

“Em!”

Emily was partially hidden in the stairwell that led downstairs. Her hair was a mess, and Cassie was horrified to see that she wore the same dress she went out in Saturday night. Rushing to her side, Cassie turned her to head downstairs to the bathroom. Emily fell into her arms immediately. Cassie half dragged, half carried her into the bathroom and locked the door behind them.

Emily seemed unable to function. Shaking her, Cassie needed her to focus.

“Listen to me. We can’t stay here. I brought you a change of clothes. Let’s get you out of that dress first and then we will go from there, okay?” Emily stared at Cassie with a blank look. “Come on, Em. I can’t do this by myself.” Cassie felt the panic rising.

Finally responding, Emily took a deep breath and nodded, slipping the dress off her shoulders to fall at a puddle at her feet. Cassie tried to not look at the dark stains that were visible against the black fabric as she helped her friend to put on the clean shirt and then pants. As each article of clothing went on, Emily seemed to come alive, and became more herself. Cassie handed her a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap. The relief on Emily’s face brought tears to her eyes.

“I know, baby. Finish, and then we will go get some coffee, okay?” Chewing her bottom lip, Cassie felt horrid. This was all her fault. She dragged Emily into this world and now these were the consequences. “I am sorry, Em. Sorry for all of this.”

The hint of a smile formed on Emily’s face as she nodded. “That’s okay. Nothing like the miracle cure of Starbucks to set the world straight. You are the best, Cass.”

By the time the two women made their way upstairs, Emily seemed almost back to normal on the outside. Her face was freshly scrubbed, hair combed neatly. The clothes Cassie had brought were a little too big for her tiny frame, but with the hoodie, it made Emily look younger. Cassie knew all too well that looks could be deceiving. How many times had she put on a brave face to cover the internal horror that she had felt at different times in her life?

Grabbing a couple of lattes in Quincy Market, she handed one to Emily before they made their way towards the Dome, set in the middle of Quincy Market. There were plenty of seats as the breakfast crowd had left and the lunch crowd had not arrived. They sat down, with her back to the wall so Cassie could have a full view of the room but near the doors in case they needed to make a quick escape.

“Talk to me,” she demanded.

Emily turned haunted eyes towards Cassie. “I don’t know, really. After we split up at the club, we watched you and Sakis dancing and then Andre said he was hungry and asked if I wanted to go for a bite to eat. I had joked that I couldn’t because I would be breaking the most important clubbing rule women make, by splitting up.” Emily smiled ruefully as she ran her fingers through her hair. She was visibly shaking. “Needless to say, he was very persuasive, so we left. God, Cass, we had such a great time, and if Sakis is anything the way Andre was…” She choked on the words as she realized she would never see him again.

Cassie reached out and clutched Emily’s hand for support.

“He was very respectful at all times…I was the one who was probably the more aggressive. He was so hot. I was all over him. He asked if I wanted to go back to his hotel room.” Emily’s voice softened. “I said yes, with no second thoughts.” Emily could feel the bile rising in her throat and she swallowed hard. “He stepped out of the limo, turned to me to help me out, and it was like firecrackers were going off.” Tears streamed down Emily’s face. “The look on his face. He knew, Cass. He knew he had been shot, and he knew he was going to die and do you know what he did? He told me to get down on the floor. He fucking saved my life, even knowing he was going to die. This was shit you see in the movies. It doesn’t happen in real life!” Her face pressed in her hands, Emily sobbed quietly.

Gripping Emily’s wrist, she yanked her friend’s hands away from her face.

“You’re going to be okay. Do you hear me?”

“What if they come after me? Do you think they will kill me?”

A chill rushed through Cassie at Emily’s words. She had to be logical about this. “Listen to me. If they wanted you dead, you would have died with Andre.” Sakis’s words rang loudly in her head.
“You were just collateral damage, Cassandra, nothing more.”

“Collateral damage.”

Emily stared at Cassie. “What did you just say?” she whispered.

“Something happened once when I was out with Stephan, and Sakis’s answer to me was that I was just collateral damage. I am such a fucking idiot and I am so sorry to have gotten you into this mess.”

“You? You didn’t shoot Andre! I am glad we are friends, and as sick as it sounds, I am glad I got to know him.” She still looked terrified. “What are we going to do, Cassie?” Emily whispered.

Shaking her head, Cassie had no idea how to respond. “I honestly don’t know. I just need to think for a second.”

From across the room, Derek watched the interaction between the two women. Something was really out of place. They looked skittish and the dark-haired woman couldn’t seem to stop crying. His first instinct was to approach them, but something held him back as he continued to observe them. Karl picked up on his distraction right away and looked in the direction of the two women sitting close together in deep conversation.

“What’s up?”

“Don’t know yet. Trying to figure out if it is something, or just my imagination,” Derek responded. On a hunch, he pulled out his phone and quickly scanned the wanted pictures. A hand sketch of a dark-haired woman caught his eye immediately, and even though it wasn’t a good match, he had all the confirmation he needed. She was the witness to the shooting of the Albanian crime boss. Sliding the phone back into his jacket, he forced himself to relax and turned back to Karl. “Never mind. Thought I saw something, but didn’t.”

“Do you ever take a break?” Karl responded sarcastically.

As he finished his coffee, he rose to his feet and threw Karl the keys. “No, actually, I don’t. Why don’t you head back to the office? I have a couple of errands I need to run.”

Karl stared at his partner suspiciously. “You’re not going to Sakis Carras’s office, are you?”

Derek laughed. “No, definitely not this morning, but we will be hitting him up soon, probably after the briefing this afternoon. It’s personal, Karl.” Derek waited another five minutes after his partner left before he approached Cassie.

_______

“Hi, you have reached Cassie. I can’t take your call right now….”

Gripping the phone tightly, Stephan wanted nothing more than to slam it against the wall. The first thing he was going to have her do was change her voice message.

“How many times?”

“I don’t know. I stopped counting after ten.”

Both men fought their own internal demons of guilt. There had to be a logical explanation to all of this. Cassie wouldn’t just disappear.

They were seated in the conference room off Sakis’s office with several other men assigned to find Cassie.

“We don’t know where else to look.”

Sakis raised his hand at the head of security’s comment.

“What do you have to tell me?” Sakis snapped.

“We know she went to work, and then left to go home after being excused for the day. She received a call from Emily Chambers, which lasted less than two minutes. She then drove back to drop her car off at the garage in Brookline. From there, we have no idea where she could have gone.”

“What about her friend, Sean?” Stephan questioned. His heart sunk when he heard that Cassie had spoken to Emily. Right there was the answer and catching the look that Sakis threw him, he knew his boss had the same thought.

“He is out West with his boyfriend.”

“Okay, have someone go to her apartment. If she returns, contact me immediately. Other than that, there is nothing that we can do from here.” Stephan escorted everyone out the door.

“So. She spoke with Emily.”

“Cassie is smart, Sakis. She will contact one of us soon.”

“I sure hope so, for her sake. Because until we hear from those two, there is nothing we can do to protect them.” As he ran his fingers through his hair, he wanted to scream. “I should have told her, Stephan…about Andre and that Emily was missing. She should have heard it from me, first.”

Stephan sat for a long time and stared out of the conference room windows after Sakis went back to his own office. They both should have warned her on Sunday. For months, she had begged for honesty and trust, and they both let her down, even after she had shown time and time again she could be trusted. Cassie was smart. To first find out that Greg was dead after her incident at the club and then to learn from Emily that Andre was dead also, Stephan could only imagine what she was thinking and what conclusions she would come up with. Unfortunately, her line of thinking would be that they were somehow responsible for both lives, but the danger lay in the fact that they were only responsible for one of those deaths. And the people who were responsible for the other may be out to get her also.