Front Page Affair

“Did you know your manager was questioned?”

The girl shook her head.

Arizona shared a look with Braden, finding that piece of information suspicious.

“Can you tell us where Julian Blake lives?” Braden asked.

“On the other side of the island. Big house. You can’t miss it.” She told them how to get there.

After thanking the girl, Arizona turned with Braden.

“I wouldn’t go there if I were you.”

Stopping short at the sound of the girl’s whisper, an urgent warning, she turned with Braden.

“Mr. Blake doesn’t like uninvited visitors,” the girl continued.

“Why doesn’t he like visitors?” Braden asked.

“Uninvited visitors. Guess he prefers his privacy.” She glanced at the office door again.

Why did he need privacy? So he could hide what he was doing? Arizona rubbed her arms, sensing danger rising. How far would Julian go to preserve his privacy? The last place Tatum was known to be is his house. Was he hiding something sinister?

“What does he do if someone comes to see him anyway?” Arizona asked.

“Escorts them off his property. That’s what I hear anyway. Rich people live in their own world.”

The way the girl said escorts gave Arizona an image of being forced away at gunpoint. “Thank you. You’ve been a tremendous help.”

The girl glanced at the office door again. Why was she so nervous? Didn’t she want her manager to know what she’d heard on her way into work? And if not, why? Were they both afraid of Julian Blake?

Arizona walked with Braden out of the hotel. “This is really getting weird.”

“We have to go to Julian’s house.”

“Should we talk to the manager again?”

“Not yet. He probably won’t tell us any more than he has, and I don’t want to cause trouble for that clerk.”

She agreed. Not yet.

Wondering about the escort they’d receive, she didn’t let it sway her. “What are we waiting for, then?” They’d never get anywhere doing nothing.

Arizona hurried with Braden to a waiting taxi. The driver gave them a funny look when Braden told them to take them to Julian Blake. The man knew how to get there. Another oddity. Or not. This was a small island. Everyone knew everyone.

Pulling out Crawford’s card, Braden pressed in the number. Shortly thereafter he explained what the clerk had told them, particularly about the hotel manager.

“He said he’d check into it,” he told Arizona.

The taxi driver turned onto a narrow dirt road. A sign read Keep Out. Another read Private Property. Arizona shared a long look with Braden. Dare they meet Julian Blake on their own?

“We’re just going to talk to him,” Braden said. “What could possibly go wrong?”

* * *

The taxi bumped over the uneven road. If this was a driveway, it was long. At last, they passed an open, elaborate iron gate. If Julian didn’t welcome visitors, would he leave the gate open? Seeing cameras moving on each side of the gate, she understood why it didn’t necessarily have to be closed all the time. The security was tight here.

The thick forest of trees opened in a clearing and a stone villa came into view. It was breathtaking. A main section with large windows jutted forward in front. Windows lined two levels on the back portion. Above the entry, a balcony had tables and chairs. The drapes were closed in whatever room it was.

The taxi stopped in a circular driveway, just in front of wide stone stairs leading to a courtyard entrance.

“Wait for us,” Braden said.

One of the double front doors opened and three men emerged. The man in front exuded an aura of power. Average in height, thick brown hair, eyes covered by sunglasses, he wore white pants and a white vest over a long-sleeved pink dress shirt. Showy.

He stepped down the stairs, the two other men following.

Arizona stopped on the flagstone driveway, Braden beside her.

“Mr. Blake?” Braden began.

“What business do you have coming to my home?” he asked in an East Coast accent. He wasn’t from here. He was American and must have moved here at some point.

“We apologize for arriving unannounced,” Braden said. “But we have a rather urgent matter we’d like to discuss with you.” When Julian didn’t respond, he explained who they were and why they were here.

“Tatum McCrae, you say?” the man repeated, making a show of ignorance. He shook his head. “I haven’t heard of her.”

He was lying. He had to be.

“We know she came to see you before she disappeared. How do you know her?” Braden demanded. “Where is she now?”

“I don’t know your sister. I don’t know anyone named Tatum McCrae. Why have you come here?”

Braden stepped forward with his picture. The two men behind Julian moved in front of him. Braden stopped, extending the picture.

The two men didn’t move to take it. And Julian put his hands on each of his henchmen’s shoulders, who stepped aside to make room for him. Julian stepped, closer to Braden and Arizona. Removing his sunglasses and holding them in his hand, his dark, fathomless gaze drifted down and up Arizona, and then shifted to meet Braden’s indomitable eyes.

But Julian wasn’t affected. “You came here for nothing.”

Braden continued to stare at the man.

“And unless I tell you it’s all right to come to my home, I suggest you stay away. Next time I won’t wait to ask questions.”

“Where is my sister?” Braden asked again.

“This is the last warning you’ll get. Leave now. Never come back.”

Another stare down commenced, Julian mocking, Braden calculating.

“Let’s go.” Arizona had a bad feeling about this.

After a few tugs on his arm, Braden went with her back to the cab, looking back at the villa until it vanished from sight. Dust billowed up from the dirt road. Flowering evergreen trees and a variety of others, perhaps white cedar and mango, gave the illusion of paradise.

When they reached the gate, two Jeeps waited just inside, angled toward the road. Four men stood outside of the vehicles, all of them armed. They each held some sort of automatic weapon, the barrels long and pointed to the ground at the moment. Around their waists, pistols hung.

Fear shot into Arizona as the driver began to slow.

“Don’t stop,” Braden said.

Arizona could hear the driver breathing and his eyes were round, the green of them stark against his dark skin and the whites of his eyes.

“They must want us to drive through the gate,” she said, trying to calm him.

He drove past. The men outside the Jeeps moved as they did, facing their departure. But then they all climbed inside the Jeeps.

The taxicab driver’s eyes remained wide as he looked into the rearview mirror.

“Drive faster,” Braden said from the backseat.

The driver complied, as eager as them to get away. The dust cloud behind them rose higher.

The cab fishtailed around a turn and raced up a hill. On the other side was Soper’s Hole. Cresting the hill, it came into view.

The Jeeps stopped at the top of the hill. Arizona waited for gunfire. None came. She waited for them to chase them again. They didn’t.

“They’re not following.” Why weren’t they?

The driver slowed as they reached town. Then he pulled into a gas station and parked.

“Get out,” he said.

Braden tried to pay him but he waved his hand. “Get out. You walk from here.”

She and Braden did as the driver asked. When the taxi drove away, she said, “Gave him a pretty good scare.”

“Julian Blake gave him the scare.” He turned to her, each thinking the same thing. Why? Why was Julian Blake someone to fear on this island?

He started walking toward the center of Soper’s Hole. She jogged to catch up to him and then walked beside him on the sidewalk. Five minutes later they reached the busy town center. It was clean and beautiful. The street wasn’t in very good condition, but cars parked along the side and the sidewalk was dotted with black streetlamps. Big flowerpots were placed between, and multicolored, wooden benches offered seating along storefronts. People entered into and emerged from shops, walked along the street, talking, smiling, peering into store windows.

Then those that weren’t tourists began to take notice of them. At first Arizona thought she was mistaken. Why would they single them out? A man leaning against the enclave of the entrance to a gift shop puffed a cigarette as they passed, his dark eyes following them eerily. Two women sitting at one of two tables on the patio of a café spoke quietly together between glances at them.

A dark blue Cadillac slowed on the street, rolling beside them on the other side of parked cars. The window moved down. Crawford was driving. Why was he here?

“Everything all right?” he asked.

When she and Braden stopped walking, he stopped the car.

“We were just chased off Blake’s property,” Braden said.

Crawford looked from him to Arizona as though digesting that announcement. “Why don’t you both get in the car?”

Braden touched his hand to Arizona’s back and opened the back door for her. She climbed in and he got into the front passenger’s seat.

Crawford began to drive. “I can appreciate your concern for your sister, Mr. McCrae, but I’m going to have to ask that you leave the investigation to me.”

“His goons had guns,” Braden retorted.

“The more stormy weather you stir up, the harder it will be for me to do my job.”

Braden didn’t argue.

“I understand you feel helpless and you need to do something. Time is of the essence. But I assure you, I’m doing everything I can to find Tatum. Tortola is a quiet community. A safe community. I intend to do my part to keep it that way.”

“Are you going to talk to the hotel manager?” Braden asked.

“I just left there. And he explained what I suspected. Most around here like to leave Julian Blake alone. They prefer not to have any contact with the man.”

“Why is that?” Arizona asked. “Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“No one will ever say Julian is a friendly fellow. But that doesn’t make him a criminal. He prefers seclusion. Many come to islands like this for that reason.”

“But he has armed guards,” Arizona argued.

“I have seen no evidence of that. He is good at concealing his activities.”

Hearing the detective’s frustration, Arizona sighed. “You have to agree that it’s strange.”

“Oh, I do agree. There’s just not much I can do about it right now.” Crawford checked the rearview mirror. “Where am I taking you two?”

Braden told him the name of their hotel just as Arizona’s cell phone rang. She dug into her purse and retrieved it. Lincoln.

“Lincoln?”

“Hey, Arizona. How are you?”

“Fine, you?”

“Doped up on pain medication, enduring Mom’s care at home and working. And I just found something big.”

“What? You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I rest. When I’m awake, I work. You want to hear this or not?”

“What have you got?” Her words made Braden twist in his seat to see her and Crawford glance in his rearview mirror.

“A news report of a missing woman in Tortola. Three months ago. The article said she checked in at the Frenchman’s Point Hotel and was never seen again. She has a sister in Oregon. I gave her a call and she had something very interesting to say.”

“What was that?”

“The missing woman was having an affair with a man who lives in Tortola. His name is Julian Blake.”

Sucking in her breath, she met Braden’s eyes, which hardened at her reaction. “We were just chased away by the very same man. Tatum went to see him before she disappeared.”

Lincoln cursed.

Had Braden’s sister had an affair with him? Both women had disappeared.

Crawford kept looking in his mirror.

“Can we talk to her?” Arizona asked her brother.

“She’ll come to you. She’s on her way to Tortola now. I gave her your hotel information.”

The woman had been looking for her sister just as Braden now was.

“Thanks, Lincoln.”

“Glad to help any way I can. Vengeance for my knee.”

She ended the call and stared at Braden.

“What?”

She glanced at Crawford. “There was another woman who disappeared three months ago. She was having an affair with Julian.” She allowed Braden some time to process that. “She has a sister in Oregon.”

“I’m familiar with that case,” Crawford said. “If Julian is behind both disappearances, he’s covering his tracks well. He checked out when I questioned him.”

“Tatum would have told me if she was seeing someone,” Braden said.

“Would she have? Julian doesn’t seem like a typical boyfriend.” Far from it. And Arizona wondered why Crawford hadn’t told them about the other missing woman.

Chapter 4

Braden sat with Arizona inside the busy hotel restaurant. The first missing woman’s sister had called Arizona’s cell number when she’d landed and asked to meet them here. Braden didn’t want to put the woman in danger, but he was curious to see if one of the hotel staff would say or do something. The manager, perhaps.

A short, plump woman in her early thirties appeared, her peppered dark hair cut above her ears.

“That looks like the woman in the picture Lincoln sent.”

“That’s her.” Braden lifted his hand.

Charlene Andrews nervously approached. “Mr. McCrae?”

Braden stood and shook her hand. “Thank you for coming all this way.”

“I’ve been looking for Courtney for weeks. I’m glad to help in any way.”

“This is Arizona Ivy.”

“Yes. Ivy.” The woman took her hand in polite greeting and then sat. She made no show over her obvious recognition of the name.

Putting her purse on the floor, she changed her mind and hung it over the back of the chair. She removed the light sweater she wore, letting it drape over the handbag. Sliding the roll of silverware over, she curled her hand around the glass of water on the table. Nervous.

Braden reached over and put his hand over her wrist. “We’re very sorry about your sister.”

“I can’t believe she’s still missing.” Tears glistened in her eyes.

“Mine is missing, too,” Braden said. “We’ll find them both.”

“Oh.” The woman covered her mouth with her hand, stopping herself from crying. When she regained her composure she straightened with a few blinks of her eyes. “The kind gentleman who called me explained about Tatum. I’m sorry, as well, Mr. McCrae.”

“Can you tell us what happened to your sister?” Arizona asked.

“She told me that she went on a trip to Tortola to see a man. She met him online. Which I always thought was strange. Courtney isn’t the type to do that sort of thing. But she’d been complaining that she wasn’t going on many dates and she was ready for a relationship. The fact that she found someone long distance bothered me. But she claimed to like this man very much.”

“That’s when she went missing,” Arizona helped her.

“Yes,” Charlene replied with a quiver in her voice.

“Can you tell us anything about him?” Braden asked.

“His name was Julian Blake. My sister said he was a retired high-risk insurance underwriter. She never said anything bad about him. He must have fooled her well.”

“Can we have copies of their email correspondence?” Arizona asked.

“Her computer was stolen shortly after she disappeared. The police haven’t been able to find anything. My sweet sister.” She wiped her eyes. “Our mother died a few years ago and she’s all I have left.”

“Was anything found in her house? Any evidence at all?”

Charlene shook her head. “She was living with me. Nothing else was out of place. Only her computer was taken from the guest room.” She looked from Arizona to him. “She just lost her job and was looking forward to going to the Caribbean. She even thought she might move there. To be with him.” Her face soured with the injustice. “That evil man. I don’t know what he did to my sister. That’s the worst part. Not knowing. Is she alive? Is she dead? It’s torture not knowing. I want to believe she is alive, but too much time has passed. She’d have called by now. If she could call, she would.” Then she looked imploringly at Braden. “Have you learned anything? Did Julian kidnap your sister?”

“She was seen getting into a taxi that took her to his house. It appears she was willing.”

“At first. That monster is up to something. He lured my sister, and now he’s lured yours.” She breathed through her anxiety. “Lord only knows what he’s done with them.”

Braden saw Arizona slump with empathy. “We’ll do everything we can to expose him.”

She definitely was a crusader for victims. She may be offering a false promise. Julian was evil, all right. But he was also dangerous.

* * *

Arizona watched Charlene leave the restaurant. She wasn’t staying here. She had a room in Road Town and was flying out in the morning. She passed the hotel manager. Only then did Arizona notice him. He’d been watching them.

She glanced at Braden and saw he’d noticed, too.

He stood and she stood with him, trailing him out of the restaurant. The manager saw them, his face going deliberately blank, faked nonchalance and then he strode toward the reception desk. The clerk wasn’t there.

“Do you think he’s working for Julian?” she asked Braden when they emerged outside.

Charlene had gotten into an unmarked cab.

“I don’t know. Let’s not take any chances.” He flagged a taxi, this one marked.

“Follow that car,” he told the driver when they climbed into the backseat.

“This isn’t the way to her hotel,” Arizona said as they passed the turn.

In the backseat of the car ahead, Charlene began talking to the driver. She then tried the door handle, or searched for one, her hands going over the doorframe and lower. She twisted in the backseat, looking through the rearview mirror with stark eyes and an open mouth to accommodate for what must be frightened breaths.

“What’s he doing?” Arizona whispered, eyeing their own driver. He didn’t appear to notice anything unusual, or if he had, he kept it to himself.

The car ahead approached Julian’s driveway and turned.

Their driver didn’t slow.

“Turn!” Arizona shouted.

The driver glanced back at her. “This is Julian Blake’s home. We do not go there.”

“Turn, damn it!” Braden shouted.

Flustered, the man turned onto Julian’s driveway. “We are not to go to this home. I take you to gate and that is all.”

“Fine.” Why was everyone so afraid of Julian?

Maybe that was a stupid question. Tatum had disappeared and the last time anyone saw her, she was on her way to see him.

“Look.”

She followed Braden’s point. At Julian’s gate, several men stood. One of them was Julian Blake. The unmarked taxi had stopped just before the gate.

Julian noticed the second car approach and didn’t seem surprised. In fact, he seemed to have expected this, for Arizona and Braden to follow.

The driver stopped the taxi behind the unmarked one containing Charlene.

None of the men at the gate were armed, or so it appeared. They wore stylish dark suits, contrasting with Julian’s pristine white. The man had a thing for white. Did he enjoy how it made him seem pure? A cloak to his inner darkness.

One of the men moved forward to open the rear door of the other car and reached inside. He dragged a struggling Charlene from the backseat.

Arizona climbed out of the cab with Braden. And stood beside him, watching Charlene being manhandled while Julian moved closer.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Charlene shrieked at Julian. “What have you done with my sister?”

“Let her go,” Braden said.

With a wicked grin, Julian took hold of Charlene and shoved. Braden caught her.

“You’re an animal!” Charlene choked out as she regained her balance and stood beside Braden.

Julian kept his gaze on Braden. “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear before. I don’t like trespassers.”

“You forced me here!” Charlene retorted.

“According to whom?” He glanced behind him.

The driver of the unmarked car had gotten out and was now leaning against the closed driver’s door, taking cash from one of Julian’s henchmen.

Julian leaned to look through the windshield of the taxi she and Braden had ridden in. That driver put up his hands and said through his open window.

“I want no trouble.”

In other words, he’d lie if he had to. He’d lie to protect himself and his family. Everyone feared Julian that much. It was appalling.

“We just want our sisters,” Charlene said. She’d likely done this before, pleaded with Julian for her sister.

“I don’t have your sister. How many times do I have to say it?”

“Liar!” Charlene yelled. “What have you done with her?”

Julian moved his look back to Braden. “Leave this island, or next time I won’t be this generous. Next time—” he stepped closer “—I won’t let her go.”

While Arizona’s stomach churned in disgust, Charlene slapped him. Two of the suited men reached into the folds of their jackets and stepped forward.

Julian raised his hand and they stopped, just like in one of her father’s movies. Except this was real.

Seeing Braden’s fists clenched at his sides, Arizona decided it was time to go. She slid her arm on the inside of his.

“Let’s go.”

“The voice of reason,” Julian taunted.

“We’ll be back,” Braden said, unafraid. “If you have Tatum and Courtney, I’ll find out.”

“You won’t find her here. If you were smart, you’d look closer to home.”

What did he mean by that? The man in the white BMW flashed in Arizona’s mind. Did Julian know him? Was Tatum being held somewhere in the States? Were they wasting their time looking here? That couldn’t be. Why drag Tatum all the way back to the States?

Julian walked to the driver’s window of their taxi and leaned down. “Take them to the airport. If they don’t leave, let me know.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver answered as though he worked for the man.

“We’ll be sure and tell the police all about this,” Arizona said. Did he think he could get away with anything?

“Go right ahead,” he said with confidence. “I will simply tell them you were trespassing.” He spread his arms to indicate the people around him. “I have witnesses.”

This was ridiculous. The taxi driver would lie for him? Lie to police?

“If you value those close to you, you will not return.” To the taxi driver, he repeated, “Make sure they leave the island. If I don’t hear from you, I will send someone to your home.”

“I’ll take them to the airport. You have my word.”

“Very good.” Julian clapped his hands together, moving back to where he had stood in front of them. “Then we have no issue. We all can go on with our lives and you will leave me to my privacy.”

If it weren’t for Charlene and the taxi driver, Arizona would refuse to go. She and Braden could stay and continue their search, but innocent lives were at stake.

She looked beyond the gate, wishing they could get inside the villa. There had to be a way.

“Let’s go,” she said to Braden and Charlene.

She urged Braden back to the taxi. They had Charlene, which was enough for now.

“Have a safe trip home,” Julian called, accentuating the word safe.

If they stayed, they’d no longer be safe.

Inside the taxi, Charlene sat in the back with Braden, who stewed with anger. He’d kept quiet, but she could feel him brimming on the edge of control.

What Arizona didn’t understand about all of this was that if Julian wanted something from Braden, why hadn’t he asked for it when he’d had Charlene? Wouldn’t he have used Arizona for the same purpose? Unless Julian wasn’t linked to the arms deal.

Then why had Tatum gone to see him?

Braden’s cell phone rang and he answered, displeasure changing his frown.