Beneath These Lies (4 page)

“Sorry, Valentina. Your girl got hooked up with a guy in the wrong crowd.”

My concern for Trinity mounted exponentially. “So that’s all the more reason to investigate that she’s missing, right? I mean, who knows what could have happened to her? She’s in danger. Clearly.”

My voice was rising with every word, and I could only imagine what my face looked like right now as panic zipped through my system, but Hennessy never lost his unflappable calm.

“She’s eighteen. She’s made her choices. Keep calling her, and if you don’t hear from her by tomorrow, get her grandmother to give us a call to file the report. For adults, it’s usually best if a close family member is the one to report the disappearance.”

“But—”

Hennessy stood, cutting off my words. “The girl is probably holed up with her boyfriend somewhere and will more than likely show up today. If she doesn’t, then we can worry.”

I shot out of my chair, crossed my arms, and stared down Hennessy. “You don’t know her. This isn’t like her at all. And I swear to God, if something happens to her, I’m going to rain down hell on this police department for refusing to take me seriously.”

Hennessy’s gaze dropped to the floor as he debated what to say in the face of my threat. Capitalizing on his inattention, my eyes shot to the computer screen where Derrick Rockins’s information was listed—including his address. If the police wouldn’t take me seriously, I’d do my own digging.

Without waiting for a response, I spun and took a step away from Hennessy. When his big hand caught my elbow and pulled me to a stop, I met his bright green gaze with my determined one.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Valentina. This isn’t something you want to get involved in. Get the grandmother to call me tomorrow, and we’ll figure it out.”

I hoped my face was set into an unreadable mask, because I had absolutely no intention of following his directive. Shaking off Hennessy’s arm, I straightened my shoulders and gripped my handbag.

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want. I care about her, even if it’s clear that you guys don’t.”

Whatever Hennessy was going to reply was lost when the doors to the room swung open and a loud group of officers entered.

I slipped out behind them. I was on a mission.

I
SHOULDN’T BE HERE.

I knew it the minute I drove into this neighborhood, and so did the men on stoops eying my red Tesla roadster. I had a feeling they weren’t admiring its awesome engineering. But to find Trinity, I was willing to do whatever it took.

Driving slowly, I searched the fronts of the dilapidated houses for the address I’d memorized from Hennessy’s computer screen. Most of the house numbers were barely hanging on. I checked the slip of paper I’d written the address on. I was in the right place.

Psyching myself up, I parked and pushed open the door to the car, locked it, and hugged my purse close to my body. I swore I could feel eyes on me from every direction.

Doesn’t matter. I’ve got this
.

Mental pep talk complete, I glanced back at my car, hoping it would still be there when I got back. Hennessy was right. I had no business being here, but that wasn’t going to stop me.

Forcing confidence into my stride, I headed for the sidewalk and the gnarled chain-link gate blocking the walk up to the house. Luckily the metal latch was in good working order, which meant I probably wouldn’t need a tetanus shot from touching it.

After opening the gate partway and sliding inside the yard, I took a deep breath and strode up the cracked concrete to the porch. At least the steps had been recently replaced, so I wasn’t at risk of falling through them as I climbed up. The screen door also looked relatively new, but the doorbell I pressed looked ancient.

I listened for the telltale chime from inside that would let me know the thing actually worked, but heard nothing. Pressing it a few more times for good measure, I continued to wait. Nothing.

“Ain’t fixed yet.”

I spun around at the deep, rough voice coming from behind me. A man leaned against the inside of the gate, watching me. I hadn’t even heard him come through it. Clutching my purse closer, I thought about the Smith & Wesson inside and prayed to God I never had to use it.

Something about this guy told me I might need it. Menace. It came off him in waves. But under it, he was also strangely gorgeous, which didn’t make sense.

I took in his light caramel-colored skin, hair buzzed to a dark shadow, his T-shirt stretching across a broad, well-muscled chest. Intricate designs in black ink wrapped around thick biceps and forearms. I dragged my gaze back to his face, finding his piercing silver eyes assessing me as carefully as I did him.

Swallowing, I got to my purpose for being here. “Do you know Derrick Rockins?”

The man’s carved features gave nothing away. Jesus. Was his going to be the last face I saw before I ended up in the trunk of a car and my parents had to file a missing person’s report for me?

My heart hammered and my palms sweat where I held on to the leather of my purse.

After a long silence, he finally responded. “This ain’t the kind of neighborhood you come to and start asking questions. Woman like you? It won’t take long before someone decides not to let you leave.”

I gritted my teeth, willing myself not to show fear. Instinctively, I knew that would only make things worse. I would face down the devil in hell to find Trinity; I just hoped I hadn’t found him.

I tried again. “I’m looking for a girl named Trinity. Someone said Derrick Rockins might know where she is.”

Something flashed through those silver eyes, and I was willing to bet my Tesla it was knowledge.

Resolve straightened my spine, overcoming the fear, at least until he pushed off the gate and crossed his arms. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they were big. The muscles strained against the cotton of his T-shirt.

“Who is she to you?”

Decision time. Tell him more or offer as little information as possible? I decided at this point, I had nothing to lose by going with the truth.

“My employee, and someone I’m very worried about.” When he said nothing, I filled the silence instinctively. “She didn’t show up at work and she’s not answering her cell. Her grandmother hasn’t seen her either, and since I care about her and the police won’t let me file a missing person’s report yet, I’m doing what I can to find her myself.”

His expression hardened to granite as soon as I mentioned the police.

“You went to the cops?”

His ominous tone threatened my resolve. If he was connected to the same gang as Derrick, then obviously I’d just said the wrong thing. There was nothing I could do but brazen it out. Show no fear.

I lifted my chin. “Yes. And if you’ll tell me where she is, you’ll save me another trip to the precinct tomorrow.”

His eyes narrowed. “Who the fuck goes to the cops when someone doesn’t show for work?”

Squaring my shoulders, I infused my tone with all the confidence I could muster. “I did, because she’s just a kid.”

He uncrossed his arms. “She ain’t no kid.”

Bingo.
He knew her. He freaking knew her. I latched onto that fact like a dog to a bone, and some of the apprehension of facing him down drained away in the face of my determination.

“You know where she is. Admit it,” I demanded.

The thunderous expression on his face told me that no one demanded anything of this man, but I didn’t care.

“Why should I tell you a goddamned thing?”

“Please,” I said, my tone near to begging. “All I want to know is if she’s okay.”

He studied me for long moments. I didn’t know if he read the desperation on my face, but he shifted.

“She’s fine. He took her out for her birthday.”

“It’s not her birthday anymore.”

“Well, it was, and he was out of town,” the man countered.

That was true, but Trinity would have told me if he was taking her out. She’d been moping about him being gone before our conversation about love and penises, and Yve showing up to invite me to the bachelorette party.

“She didn’t say anything about it.”

“Not my problem.”

He might as well have held up a sign that read
That’s all the information you’re getting from me.
But I wasn’t satisfied.

“Where are they?”

His gaze drilled into mine as if he couldn’t believe I was still asking questions. Which explained why he ignored it.

“I’m gonna give you a piece of advice and suggest you take it. Leave the girl a voice mail like any normal boss. Don’t come ’round here knocking on doors. You might be the one needing a missing person’s report if you’re not careful.”

Banked fear curled around my spine, but I refused to succumb to it. The last several years, my life had been a constant battle to try to sort “good guys” into categories of
actually good
and
pretending to be good
.

I’d never faced someone in my sheltered little world who was unapologetically bad. It wasn’t inherently logical, but there was some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t pretending to be anything but what he was. It was the
pretending to be good
guys who struck the most fear into me because they presented an unknown danger.

Take the monster—he’d been a “good guy” from a good New Orleans family. And he’d terrorized both Yve and me.

This man in front of me was unequivocally dangerous.

“Is that a threat?” I asked, idiotically testing my theory. The good thing about unapologetically bad guys? They were usually pretty honest. They had nothing to hide.

“Call it a warning. This ain’t the job for you.” He tilted his head and watched me for my reaction, but I didn’t give him one. “You ain’t lettin’ this go, are you?”

“No.”

He shook his head slowly. “She’s probably holed up with D-Rock in some hotel room. The boy was going to take her somewhere romantic.” He made air quotes around the word
romantic
,
and suddenly he was a little less scary and a little more human.

“Romantic?”

The boy gangbanger was into romance? So Trinity wasn’t missing due to some malevolent deed, she was a young girl being swept off her feet by her boyfriend. Could I have really missed the mark so widely?

Glancing back at the man watching my every change in expression, I knew I didn’t have a choice but to believe him. Which meant I didn’t need to be in this neighborhood at all, and it was time for me to go.

I dropped my gaze to the ground and debated how I was going to get out of this yard. He was blocking the only exit. Nothing to do but brazen this out too.

He’s not going to hurt me
, I told myself.
I’ll shoot him if he tries.

I stepped down from the porch, head held high, not showing a trace of fear except perhaps with how tightly I gripped my purse. “I appreciate the heads-up. I’ll be on my way then, if you’ll excuse me.”

When in doubt, choose manners.
My mother would be so proud. Actually, she’d probably want to lock me up until I was fifty if she knew where I was.

He pushed off the gate, uncrossed his arms, and stepped toward me.

Good grief, he was even bigger up close. In my heels, I was nearly five eight, and I didn’t think the top of my head came to his eye level.
Not important.
I stepped off the path, my heels sinking into the dry grass of the front yard as I attempted to get around him.

“You ain’t leaving until I get a name from you.” His hand shot out and wrapped around my arm.

I froze at the contact. Strange men didn’t get to touch me. I waited for my skin to crawl . . . but it didn’t. All I registered was the heat of his hand on my skin and the light grip that kept me from taking another step.

“My name isn’t relevant,” I said. It was time to retreat to the safety of my car, get home, and leave Trinity another voice mail to call me with a sternly worded reprimand.

“It’s relevant as hell to me.”

The deep timbre of his voice sent shivers up the arm he held, but these strangely weren’t shivers of fear. My reaction surprised me, so I ignored it.

I tugged at my arm, but I couldn’t free myself. “Let go. You wanted me out of your neighborhood, and I’m leaving.”

“Give me your name, and you can walk right out that gate.”

My tugging was getting me nowhere, and I wanted to be gone. In my head I labeled it a form of self-defense when I snapped out, “Valentina. Now let me go.”

His touch was gone immediately, and the absence of the heat of his hand hit me.

“Valentina,” he repeated. “Last name?”

“No way,” I said.

“Don’t need it anyway.”

I said nothing, and I didn’t look at him. I wouldn’t look at him. And I absolutely wouldn’t think about the change in his tone when he’d said my name. Nope. I wouldn’t.

Keeping my gaze firmly glued to the cracked sidewalk as I walked, I reached for the latch. My fingers froze when he said, “This is my neighborhood. My world. You don’t belong here. Don’t come here again. You do, and you won’t like the consequences. You get that,
Valentina
?”

I straightened my spine, and despite my vow, I turned to face him. “I don’t plan on coming back. And as long as Trinity shows up at work tomorrow, I won’t have to.”