I call my mom next and ask her to meet me to take Coop. I don’t tell her why. I don’t want her to worry, although her tone on the phone suggests it’s too late for that.
While I’m waiting for everyone to arrive, I scroll through Nia’s phone, glad she doesn’t have a passcode on it. When I get to the last calls, I see she spoke to someone called ‘Harry Fenwick’ at about six-thirty.
I dial his number. He could be involved or be one of the last people to talk to her.
“Nia, did you get the insurance sorted?” he asks as soon as he picks up.
“Uh, this is her…” I pause. We haven’t declared what we are to each other, but I’m sure we’re official now. “Boyfriend.” I settle on the word, which feels so useless in this moment. “Who are you?”
“An old friend. Does Nia know you have her phone?” He sounds pissed, and I don’t blame him. I just came across like a grade A controlling asshole. Considering her ex…
“Her phone was dumped and there’s no sign of her. You’re the last person she spoke to. Did she seem weird to you?”
There’s a long pause, then a muttered, “Fuck.”
“What does that mean? Do you know something?”
He sighs, sounding agitated. “Of course not!”
“What were you in contact about?”
“A portrait she’s having appraised. It’s worth a lot of money.”
This makes me sit up and take notice. “How much?”
“None of your business.”
I resist the urge to lose my temper on this guy. “I think Nia is in danger. Please, if you know something, I need to know it.”
I hear him audibly swallow down the line. “She’s in trouble?”
“Her car is still parked outside the store, but someone dumped her phone in the trash. I’m guessing that wasn’t Nia.”
“Especially not after she just learned she’s sitting on a million-dollar fortune.”
My eyes flare. “What?”
“The portrait I’m appraising. It’s worth a fair amount, but I only told her this last night. How would someone else know?”
Hmm… that’s the question.
“Did she tell anyone else about the portrait?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Where did it come from?” I press.
“A storage unit sale, I believe.”
“So, someone could have known about it being in the storage unit?”
“It’s possible.”
“Fuck,” I spit out just as I see Slider’s car pulling in behind mine. “Do you know anything about the storage unit?”
“No, but she’ll keep a record of it in her books. She’s always been meticulous about record keeping.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Please, call me when you find her.”
He sounds genuinely worried, so I soften my tone as I assure him, “I will.”
I hang up and climb out of the car, casting a brief glance at my son as I do. I don’t want him here, not even a little. I wish my mom would hurry up.
“What do you know?” Beanie asks as he and Slider approach.
I quickly relay everything I know to both of them.
“It seems coincidental that your woman is sitting on a million-dollar fortune and gets broken into twice.” Slider rubs a hand over his face.
“You think the break-in could be related to the painting?” I ask, grateful they’re both here. We all have analytical minds, but mine is misfiring right now. I need clear heads and that’s what Slider and Beanie are giving me.
“It seems a weird coincidence if it’s not.”
“I’m with Slide,” Beanie adds. “Seems likely the two are linked.”
“How would anyone find out about the painting?” I ask. “It’s not common knowledge.”
“Someone had to know it was in the storage unit, which means either the owner of the storage unit company, or whoever owned the storage unit itself before it was auctioned off.”
Both sound like good starting points.
Another car pulls in. My mom. It’s a bad sign that everyone has arrived before the police. It tells me the cops aren’t taking this seriously at all.
I quickly unstrap Coop and carry him over to her car. Give my kid credit, he doesn’t complain or make a sound while I do this. I think on some level he knows something bad is going on.
“What’s happened?” Mom asks. “I thought you were going to the zoo.”
“I’ll explain later,” I tell her.
Time is ticking. Nia could have been missing since last night and that thought makes my blood run cold.
“I need you to wait here for the police. Tell them Nia’s missing, that she was last seen yesterday evening and last spoke to Harry Fenwick, a valuer, about a highly priced painting she has.”
“The police? Nia’s missing? Son, I don’t understand.”
“I don’t have time to explain right now, Mom, just tell them her purse was found in the dumpster.”
I take the store keys from Nia’s purse. If she has notes inside, I want to find them before the cops get here and cordon everything off.
“Okay, I will, but where will you be?”
I glance up at my mom.
“Trying to find Nia.”
26
Nia
I’ve been afraid many times in my life. I thought I knew fear, but I never did. This, what I’m feeling right now, has surpassed afraid and is racing into terror. I’m tied to a chair by my hands and ankles in a dark, dank space that looks like it might have once been a house. Now, it’s abandoned and from what my kidnapper has told me there’s no one around for miles, so screaming would be pointless.
My blood is pounding through my arteries at a million miles per hour and my heart is racing to a beat that is far too fast. I can barely think, my mind focused on one thing: this is where I’m going to die.
No one knows where I am and no one will notice I’m missing until the morning, whenever that is. Time has lost meaning here.
Jared will start to wonder where I am once I don’t turn up for the zoo trip we planned with Cooper, but even if he wonders, what can he do?
I don’t even know where I am. The last thing I remember was coming out of the store. Then, I woke up here… wherever here is.
“You’re awake,” a deeply masculine voice says to me from the shadows—a voice I recognize.
When he steps into the light, I know why he’s familiar. I’ve met him before. It’s the man who came into the shop and creeped me out. The guy looking for decorations and pictures.
“What do you want?”
“You took what’s mine. I want it back.”
His statement confuses me. I’ve never taken anything that wasn’t mine. “What are you talking about?”
“You bought a storage unit that should never have been up for sale.”
My stomach fills with ice. When I first opened the store, I did buy a storage unit. It’s the same storage unit with the million-dollar portrait in it. I keep this to myself, but a horrible suspicion is starting to grow in me that the portrait might be the reason behind my abduction.