Get You Good (19 page)

“Why?” Lissandra asked, even as she followed Sydney to the coat closet.

Sydney slipped on her jacket and gloves before opening the front door.

“We need to get into his voice mail.”

 

“So in less than a week you've figured out where this girl was staying, figured out she called her brother, and managed to jack his cell phone. Man, I should have you all working for me.”

Sydney handed the phone to her aunt, then took the chair next to Lissandra's.

“Lissandra stole the phone, not me,” Sydney said. “If anyone ever asks, I'm throwing her under the bus first.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Lissandra said dryly.

“So I have a few ideas, but what do you want me to do with this?” Essie asked, her eyes on Sydney.

“First, we want to get into his voice mail,” Sydney said. “I think she's too smart for it, but there is a possibility that Sheree may have left him a message there.”

“You can do that. Right?” Lissandra asked.

Essie laughed. “Sugar, you can't imagine some of the things I can do.”

“Well, let's just limit it to that for now,” Sydney said, as she watched her aunt connect Hayden's phone to her computer.

It wasn't long before she had accessed the voice mail and was going through the most recent messages. She asked Sydney if she wanted to hear, but Sydney declined. The less she knew the better. The only thing she was concerned about was information about Sheree.

“OK, I got something,” Essie said after a few minutes. “Listen to this.”

Essie disconnected the headset so all three of them could listen to the audio.

“Message received at seven thirty p.m.: I can't believe you called Mom. Now she's blowing up my cell every ten minutes. I can't deal with her and your girlfriend's people on my back. Look, don't worry about me. I'm fine. But I'm ditching this phone. I'll call you when I can.”

“When was that message?” Sydney asked.

“Last week,” Essie said. “After the missed call you guys caught.”

“So you can bet she already got rid of the phone,” Lissandra said.

“And she's probably not at the Best Western anymore either,” Sydney said. “Do you think they would have a record of her, though?”

“Probably not under her name,” Essie said. “And she probably paid cash. We don't how long she was staying there, if she was actually staying there, or if she was just using the phone.”

“Great,” Lissandra said with a huff. “So we're back to square one.”

Lissandra got up and went onto the little balcony to light a cigarette.

“I don't get it.” Sydney got up and began pacing. “Sheree stole that money a week before she made that call to Hayden. Why was she in Mississauga, just an hour away from here? Five hundred thousand dollars can get you far far away. Why stick around?”

“Maybe she wants to be close to her brother or mother,” Essie volunteered. “Maybe she has other ties to the city that we don't know about.”

“I couldn't care less why she stuck around,” Lissandra chipped in from the balcony. “I just want to know where she is with my money. Essie, you said you had ideas.”

“I do,” Essie began. “This girl said she would call your man back. She may have already done that. But in the event that she hasn't we may be able to track her through your boyfriend's phone.”

Sydney stepped closer to her aunt's desk. “How.”

“There's software we can download onto his phone that will allow us to connect into his calls and messages. He won't even know it's there, but if she calls again, we may be able to listen in.”

“That's great,” Lissandra said. “Let's do it.”

“That's your sister's call.” Essie turned her eyes from Lissandra to her other niece. “What do you want to do, Syd?”

Sydney paced the floor behind the chairs again. First they were just looking at text messages and call records. Now they were tapping into Hayden's phone. What was she doing? Hayden had promised her he would tell her if he heard from Sheree. He knew how much what had happened had affected her family. He told her he was there for her. He cared about her.

However, he had also told her he hadn't heard from Sheree, when the voice mail message they had just listened to said the opposite. She knew he wouldn't intentionally hurt her, but she had seen the look in his eyes when he talked about Sheree. He wanted to save his sister. Just like she wanted to save Dean. In the end, blood was always thicker than water.

“OK, put the tap in,” Sydney said. “But no one listens to those calls but you, Essie.”

“You got it.”

“And I only want to hear about the stuff that has to do with Sheree. Nothing else.”

“You have my word.”

A sudden feeling of anxiety swept over Sydney. But as she waited for Essie to finish loading the software onto Hayden's phone, she ignored it. What she couldn't ignore was the smirk on Lissandra's face.

“Well, well, look who grew a backbone.” She gave Sydney a once-over. “Good job, big sister. I knew you had it in you.”

Sydney turned away. Now she knew she had crossed over. Because if Lissandra thought it was a good idea, it was definitely all bad.

A
fter leaving Essie, Sydney swung by the shop to check in. Things had been pretty slow in the past two weeks, since Sydney had stopped taking jobs past the date when Decadent would close. Dean had sold all the equipment with the store, so there was no way she would be able to fulfill the specialty orders she used to. Her oven at home could only handle smaller jobs. She could still swing a couple wedding cakes or simple specialty cakes if she had enough lead time. But cakes like the one she had made for the Raptors party were absolutely out of the question.

It had been even harder to be in the shop over the last week since the sign had gone up about the closing. Sydney couldn't deal with the stream of “why” and “what will you do next” questions that seemed to flow from people who had patronized the shop for years. She knew it was unfair to leave it all to Wendy and the other staff. But they had been trained in what to say, and at least there was no risk of them breaking down when people started to tell stories about the good old days when Leroy Halton used to be there.

After a brief meeting with a client for a birthday cake and cupcakes, she went into the kitchen to prep for the job, which she would complete early the next morning.

“Hey, boss lady, how's it going?” Mario asked from the sink where he was washing down some tins.

“I'm hanging in there,” Sydney said with a small smile. “How have things been going here?”

“Same old same old,” Mario said. “Sad staff, sad customers. It's a regular pity party.”

“I know,” Sydney said. “I was thinking maybe we should have a farewell event for our staff on the last day. What do you think?”

“I think it's too early to be talking about farewells,” Mario said. “Where's your faith, Syd?”

“It disappeared with the last of my bank balance, after I paid our last Hydro bill yesterday,” Sydney joked.

“Seriously, Syd.” Mario turned off the pipe. “Don't you believe God will find a way to save this store?”

“I believe that faith is for people who have a strong relationship with God.” She measured out sugar into a glass container. “And honestly speaking, I can't say I have that.”

Sydney had come to this sad realization recently when she had started praying for Dean. She had realized that she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten on her knees to talk to God personally about anything. She had even begun to ask herself what she bothered going to church for. Maybe it was just a routine. Something she did because she was supposed to do it. But as for a relationship with God? She wasn't even sure what that looked like.

“Then what's stopping you now?”

“It's not that simple.”

“Why not?” Mario leaned against the sink to watch Sydney. “You go to church. . . .”

“Just because I go to church doesn't mean I have a relationship,” Sydney said. “Look at Lissandra. She used to go to church all the time, too. You think she has a relationship with God?”

“Don't judge your sister,” Mario said. “She's on a path of her own, and when God's ready he'll get to her. You need to worry about yourself, because all this happening around you right now may be God's way of trying to get to you.”

Sydney covered the sugar and moved to the spices.

“Well, he sure has a funny way of doing it.”

“Hey,” Mario said, wiping the counter. “Some of us he calls in the silence, others of us he calls in the storm.”

Sydney was still thinking about Mario's words hours later as she got off the elevator at the hospital on Dean's floor. Visiting hours would end in a few minutes, but the staff at the hospital had overlooked the policy for Sydney and her family, as long as they didn't make too much noise coming to and going from Dean's room.

Jackie was dozing in a chair by Dean's bedside when Sydney slipped inside the quiet room. Jackie had all but shut down the dress shop she ran with JJ since Dean had been hospitalized. Not once in Sydney's hospital visits had she found her mother absent.

Instead of waking her, Sydney sat down in the chair on the other side of Dean's bed. He looked a lot better than that first night. The swelling around his face had gone down, and the bruises looked less gruesome than before. A little hair had begun to grow back where they had shaved his head for the initial surgery and he was finally starting to look like the Dean she knew.

She took his hand in hers and squeezed it.

“Dean, it's me,” she said quietly, hoping not to wake her mom. “I know you can hear me, so you can quit it with the silent treatment.”

She smiled, knowing that if her brother was awake, he would have given some smart-aleck response followed by the handsome grin that he had inherited from their father. Dean had always been carefree like that. He did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Though it often drove Sydney crazy, sometimes she envied him for it. Maybe it had to do with being the younger of several siblings. He always knew that there would be someone to take care of him in case anything happened.

“I'm sorry for the way things ended between us,” Sydney said, still holding her brother's hand. “You know you drive me crazy, but it's only because I love you. I guess I just took it for granted that you would always be there.”

Sydney sighed. “You have so much life ahead of you. I didn't always get your music thing, but I know how talented and passionate you are about it. The world needs to see that. So, whenever you're ready to come out of this, we're here.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jackie said with her eyes still closed.

“Mom!” Sydney scolded. “I was having a private conversation with my brother. Were you awake the whole time?”

“Of course I was,” Jackie said. “Just because my eyes were closed doesn't mean I was sleeping.”

“Yeah, OK. Guess that snore was just you clearing your throat.”

“Hush now,” her mother said, straightening up in her chair. “Don't spoil this good day. You know they took him off the ventilator today? He breathed on his own for a few hours.”

Sydney's eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes.” Jackie smiled. “They want to watch his vitals some more and then tomorrow they might take him off it for good.”

“That's great.” Excitement filled her voice. “That means he's recovering.”

“That it does.” Jackie squeezed her son's other hand lovingly. “They keep telling me to not get too excited, that he has a long way to go. But they don't know my God. I've been talking to him and he told me my boy is going to be all right.”

Sydney watched her mother, a bit envious of her certainty.

“Don't look at me like that,” Jackie said. “If you knew God like I know him, you would be sure, too.”

Sydney was starting to wonder if the people in her life had had a meeting about her.

“If you say it's so, Mom, then that's good enough for me,” Sydney said.

“You can't survive on someone else's relationship, Sydney,” Jackie said, getting up and walking toward the door. “You have to have your own.”

“Where are you going?” Sydney asked, watching her mother.

“Cafeteria,” Jackie said, wrinkling her nose. “I'm not a fan of their food, but I haven't eaten all day.”

Sydney frowned. “I can run out and get you something. . . .”

“Don't trouble yourself,” Jackie said, waving a hand at Sydney. “I just need a little snack to hold me over until Zelia brings me something later. You spend some time with your brother.”

Sydney had only spent a few minutes with Dean when she felt her phone vibrate. When she dug through her purse, however, she realized that it wasn't her phone but Hayden's. She had called him at work and then on his house phone and left messages earlier that afternoon, but he still hadn't gotten in touch with her about his missing cell phone. She was beginning to get concerned that he might be missing important calls, and so she left the room briefly to try calling again.

She listened to his line at the clinic ring as she walked to a quiet spot near the end of the hallway where she could still keep an eye on Dean's room. After what seemed like forever, the line finally picked up.

“East York Athletic Clinic.”

“Dub! Finally,” Sydney said, relieved.

“Nini.” The warmth in his voice made Sydney melt. “I got your messages, but I've been backed up all evening. I had a last-minute client and then I had to run over to the ACC for an evening meeting with the boys.”

“No, it's fine,” Sydney said. “It's just that your phone rang a couple times and I was worried that it might be important.”

Hayden laughed. “Baby, that phone rings off the hook. I probably got more done not having it than having it.”

“Mhmm,” Sydney murmured distractedly, as she noticed the door to Dean's room swinging closed. She hadn't seen who had gone in, but it must have been a nurse. Her mother couldn't have made it back that fast.

“So I know this might put you out of your way, but can you bring it to me?” he asked.

“Uh, sure,” Sydney said, taking a few steps closer to Dean's room. “Where will you be?”

“I'll probably be at the ACC until ten tonight. I'll let Robby know that you're coming by and he'll send you up when you get here.”

“Yeah, OK, I'll try to make it by that time,” Sydney said. “Have you eaten? Do you need me to bring you anything?”

“No, they're ordering us dinner,” Hayden said. “Just bring yourself. That will be good enough for me.”

Sydney smiled. “OK, baby, I'll see you later.”

“See you,” Hayden echoed before ending the call.

Sydney was about to slip the phone into her pocket when she saw Dean's door open and a woman with dark hair step out. Sydney frowned. That wasn't a nurse. She knew all the nurses on the floor, and none of them wore their hair out like that. Besides, the woman wasn't wearing a uniform.

Sydney walked faster to see if she could catch up with the person.

“Excuse me, ma'am?”

The woman turned around, caught sight of Sydney, and started running. Without thinking, Sydney took off after her down the hall, barely dodging a food cart and skirting around a group of nurses headed in the opposite direction.

“Wait!” Sydney called out. But the woman kept running down the halls, into the stairway. By the time Sydney got to the stairs, the woman was already two floors down. All Sydney could see was the top of what she now recognized to be a wig.

She went as fast as she could, but even taking the steps two at a time she couldn't catch up with her. The woman finally reached the bottom and burst through the doors to the exit. By the time Sydney made it out the doors, she was gone, swallowed up in the night.

Sydney leaned against the rail of the outside landing and fought to catch her breath as she searched the dark night for any trace of Dean's mystery visitor. There was nothing. Sydney leaned back against the door, more confused than ever, until her eyes caught a figure in the distance standing under a street light. The wig was gone and Sydney was too far to distinguish any features, but she knew it was her. There was no mistaking that short blond hair under the streetlight. Sydney stared at the woman who stood staring back at her and immediately understood why Sheree hadn't left town.

She was staying for Dean.