“I know,” Ollie said. “And I’m all over that. But first, I need to talk with her parents.” He gestured at the table and Trevor nodded, clearly understanding him. Trevor would hand out the rest of the assignments while Ollie went to make the call.
It was nice, that silent communication. They’d had a rhythm going for a while now, just as friends. But it had definitely ramped up. And in the midst of a hellish day like today, that was at least one ray of sunshine.
* * * *
Ollie was fighting a low-grade headache when he walked into the third-floor kitchen and sat down at the table across from Nikki.
“They’re devastated.” He could still hear the sobs of Courtney’s mother echoing in his head.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, taking his hand.
“They’re in Europe. Some business trip. I told them they should stay put for now. At least they’ll have some distraction from the worry. I told them we’d contact them the moment we knew anything, but they were worried they wouldn’t be able to get a flight that would get them here fast.”
He stood up, then moved to the coffee machine and programmed a latte. “I told them that we’d take care of getting them home. That Damien would send one of his jets. I’m sorry. I should have asked first.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. And just like that, he felt a little better. No matter what other shit he was dealing with, he knew that Nikki would always be his rock. And through her, even Damien.
“Did they have any ideas as to who could be behind it?” She asked as Damien walked into the room.
“The parents?” Damien asked.
Ollie nodded. “Just got off the call. And no. Nothing. As far as they know, she’s got no enemies, there have been no new boyfriends, no angry old ones.” He reached up and massaged the muscles in his neck. “The bottom line is it’s because of me. It must be. Someone is doing this to punish me.”
“Or just for the money,” Nikki said.
“Nikki has a point,” Damien said. “Courtney has a connection to us, and she’s a lot easier to grab than Nikki or the kids. Especially now.”
Ollie nodded slowly, seeing where they were going with this. “But people know you. They know you’re generous. So it wouldn’t be a bad gamble that you’d pay the ransom for your wife’s best friend’s ex- fiancée.”
“Which doesn’t help us at all,” Nikki said. “If that’s the case, it could be any psycho who reads gossip columns. And that doesn’t narrow the field.”
“No. It doesn’t.” Ollie rubbed his temples, feeling like they’d come full circle back to nothing, then grabbed his latte. As he did, Bree came into the room. “Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to get a snack for the girls.”
“No interruption,” Nikki said. “This is your home, too.”
Ollie had the impression Bree was going to say something else but then Damien said a soft, “Damn.”
“Bad news?” Nikki asked.
“Nothing about the case. It’s Ash,” he said, referring to Ashton Stone, the adult son that Damien only recently learned even existed. “He was going to come in this weekend, but he had to cancel. Then again, considering all we have going on, it’s probably just as well.”
Beside him, Bree shifted and Ollie got a look at her face. There was an odd expression on it, something a little bit soft. It almost reminded him of how he’d felt about Trevor before he could do anything about it. Except on Bree’s face, there was relief there, too. And he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.
Chapter Eight
Trevor took a sip of the black coffee he’d just poured, then sighed with pleasure. The day had been whipping by, and he needed the buzz.
Leah reached around him to grab the pot from the Mr. Coffee they’d set up in the work area. It wasn’t as high-tech as the machine on the third floor, but it brewed coffee, and as far as Trevor was concerned, that was good enough.
She poured a cup, then took a sip, her eyes on his face.
“What?”
She lifted a shoulder, then let it fall. “Just wondering how you’re doing.”
He was tempted to respond with a terse fine, but this was Leah, and she knew him better than anybody. “Honestly, it’s rough.” He leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling completely exhausted. “Ollie’s broken up. And at the same time he seems to be avoiding me. I mean, I want to comfort him. Help him. But there’s this gap.”
“A gap?”
He shook his head as if trying to organize his thoughts. “We were in bed. I mean we’d finally leapt over the giant elephant in the room, but there’s absolutely no indication that ever happened. We haven’t even brushed fingers this morning.”
“I get that. But under the circumstances...” She trailed off with a shrug.
“I know. But I want to be there for him. Hold his hand. Put my arm around him. He hasn’t touched me once since we left the condo. As far as anyone else is concerned we’re nothing more than friends and co-workers.”
He could hear himself talking and felt like a total jerk. Of course there were bigger things to worry about. More than that, it shouldn’t bother him. But it did. Especially since after so many years, the kidnapper had drawn Ollie in, as if he and Courtney were still intertwined.
“I guess the crux of it is I’m jealous. I’m jealous of a woman who’s been kidnapped, and I hate myself for it.”
“Would it help if I said that sounded pretty natural? And so long as it’s not screwing with your head enough to keep you from leading this operation, I say cut yourself some slack.”
“You’re right. I know you are. And yet my mind keeps spinning.” He set his coffee cup down and ran his palms over the stubble on his jaw and chin.
“You should tell me. Maybe letting some of it out will shut down the noise.”
He hesitated, then shrugged. “Fine. I heard him talking to Damien. Basically the conversation boiled down to the fact that Ollie loves her.”
Leah took a step closer, then took both his hands in hers. “He probably does,” she said gently. “They were close for a long time. And love has a lot of permutations. Hell, I love you, even when you are being dense and emotionally overwraught.”
Trevor smiled. He needed that.
“Seriously, I get what you’re saying. But Ollie basically came out five minutes ago. So what were you expecting? For him to cry on your shoulder in front of everyone at the SSA? Did you think he’d hold your hand while we work?”
“No. Of course not.” He frowned. “Honestly I don’t know that I was expecting anything. I just...” He trailed off, then sighed. “I’m just afraid that this was an experimentation for him. And now he’s got cold feet.”
“Would that be the end of the world?”
He wanted to say no. There were other men out there. But instead he told her the truth. “I think it might. It broke me when Greg left, but he wasn’t the one.”
“And you think Ollie is.”
“Yeah, I do. But that doesn’t mean he sees it, too. Ultimately, it has to be up to him. And maybe he’s already made that choice.”