Home > Lost & Found (PASS #4)(6)

Lost & Found (PASS #4)(6)
Author: Freya Barker

“For normal circumstances, maybe.” It’s not my style to beat around the bush. “But someone’s got it in for you, and until police find out who that is and stop them, we’ve gotta close this place down tight. That means the right equipment and trained manpower.”

“I’m at my wit’s end. Whatever needs to be done,” he dejectedly concedes. “Can you provide both?”

We set up custom security systems, provide specialized personal security, and a variety of other services, but we don’t generally guard properties. To be blunt, it’s below our pay scale.

I’m about to tell him so when Joe follows up.

“The cops didn’t seem too interested. Even with it being the fourth time I’ve had to call them in the past month. I could really use some help.”

Fuck.

I glance at Radar, who gives me an oh-what-the-hell shrug. It’s not like we’re swamped with work. Especially now that Bobby Lee is out of commission for the foreseeable future and her tour is done. The contract we have with Boulder Records is for her security only, so it’ll be on the back burner until she’s back on the road.

It’ll probably be good for the team to have something to put their teeth into.

I should get in touch with Bree, get her to start working on establishing contact with the Palisade Police Department. Not sure what time she’s coming back today, but if I can’t touch base with her, I’ll catch her first thing tomorrow.

Thinking about Bree brings back the picture of her in that dress last night. It was the culprit for my lack of sleep. If I didn’t know her so well, I’d have sworn she enjoyed flirting with the cameras, but I recognized the discomfort on her face and felt a pang of guilt.

I’m hard on her and I know it. Every time I worry her pull gets too strong, I purposely send her off on some remote assignment or piss her off with one like the red carpet gig. Having Bree angry at me is safer than when she lets that impervious mask slip and I catch a glimpse of the warm woman underneath.

“Okay. We’ll see what we can do.”

Joe looks instantly relieved.

He directs us to an empty tasting room, where Radar can work on his laptop, and I start making some calls.

My first priority is to get some kind of rotation together so the place is covered at night. The existing night guard will keep patrolling the place, but I want one of my guys on site once the place shuts down. It’s less likely they will try something during work hours when the property is not only bustling with staff, but also with visitors.

Bree doesn’t answer so I leave her a brief message to call me. She’s probably on her way back now. Next is Jake, who doesn’t mind doing a couple of shifts. Radar is willing as well, so between those two, Bree, and myself, we can rotate through coverage.

I purposely leave Dimas out of the equation; he’s going to have his hands full with the new baby. Still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact my younger brother is going be a dad.

Shit.

I guess it’s inevitable Ma and Dad will show up in Grand Junction sometime soon. Their first grandchild.

Maybe I should schedule myself for the bulk of the vineyard shifts. I love my parents, but they can be a bit…much.

Radar volunteers for the first shift tonight, and with a plan in place, I head back toward Grand Junction. Since I haven’t heard back from Bree, I try her again while driving. She should be back by now, but her phone keeps ringing before bumping me to her mailbox. It’s not like her to be out of reach for this long.

Once I hit town, I steer toward her building instead of home, but her Jeep is not parked in its regular spot and all lights are off in her apartment. I park and dial Lena.

“Sunday night, Boss? It couldn’t wait ‘til tomorrow morning?” she grumbles when she answers.

“Bree’s flight. What time was it supposed to come in?”

“Her flight was for three fifteen, she should be home.”

I end the call with no more than a grunt.

She’s not home.

An uneasy feeling crawls up my spine. Call me obsessive, but I don’t like not knowing where she is. As far as I know, she hasn’t been with anyone recently but however much that has always eaten at me, I almost wish she was currently seeing someone. It at least would explain why she’s not answering her fucking phone.

I pull the Yukon back on the road and head toward the airport.

If she never made it back from Denver, her Jeep would still be parked in the long-term lot.

 

 

Chapter Four

 

 

Yanis

 

“Doesn’t look like her name was on the flight manifest.”

That uneasy feeling in my gut expands.

I’m standing beside Bree’s Jeep in the airport parking lot and according to the parking attendant, the vehicle hasn’t moved since Friday.

“Can you see if maybe she changed her flight?”

“I’ll have a look, let me call you right back.”

Luckily things are quiet at the vineyard for now and Radar has his laptop on hand.

Not much I can do standing here in the parking lot so I get back in my vehicle and head toward the office. Maybe by the time I get there he’ll have answers for me, but at least I’ll be able to pull the number for Sue Paxton, the singer’s assistant. She’ll know when Bree left. If she left at all.

The gnawing feeling in my gut doesn’t get any better when my phone rings as I walk into the building.

“Nope. Nothing,” Radar says and follows it up with, “Want me to come in?”

My instinct is to say yes, but I can’t leave the client in the lurch.

“No. I’m at the office. Am gonna make a few calls. Stand by, I’ll be in touch.”

Where the hell could she be? It’s already almost ten on a Sunday night and nothing about this feels right.

I try her phone again. No luck. Then I pull up the number for Sue.

“Yanis Mazur, PASS Security. Is Bree still there?” I ask, interrupting the woman’s greeting.

For a moment it’s quiet on the other side.

“Bree? No. She left this morning.”

She sounds confused.

“What time?”

“She changed her flight to seven thirty this morning. The limo picked her up at six twenty.”

“Limo?”

“I hired an airport limo. I didn’t want her to Uber it.”

“And you saw her get in.”

“I didn’t actually see her leave, I was on a conference call, but I heard the limo drive up and moments later heard the front door close. Is everything okay?”

“No. It looks like she never made it here.” My phone beeps with an incoming call. “I’ve gotta go.”

It’s Radar.

“She wasn’t on any flight out of Denver today.”

Ten minutes later I’ve put calls in to Hutch and Dimi, who are both on their way in and am on hold with the Denver PD when Lena walks into my office.

“What are you doing here?”

She puts a box of donuts on my desk.

“I talked to Radar. I’m putting coffee on.”

With that she walks out and I’m reminded why I hired her in the first place. She is one of the most unflappable and organized people I know. You need someone like that in an office like this.

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