Nate, page 4
She hesitated when she accepted it and asked in a meek voice, “Who will I owe for all this? I was heading to Bullard for a reason, and it’s called a job.”
“Right,” Nate replied. “I don’t have a clue. For now, it’s just on my expense account.”
She snorted. “Nice to have one of those.”
“It absolutely is,” he agreed, with a smile. “Now, let’s go get some food, and then we’ll check into a hotel.”
At the word hotel, she froze.
“A different hotel,” Nate clarified gently. “We all need to get some rest for the night because tomorrow is likely to be more of the same.”
“God, I hope it’s not anything close to the same,” she cried out.
“That’s not my intention. We just need to confirm that we don’t have any more trouble and that whatever is going on stops.”
“Good.”
*
As they sat in the car in the parking lot, setting up her phone for her, Brody’s phone rang.
Terkel’s tone was hard. “Where are you?”
He explained, and Terkel continued in a harsh tone. “Stay where you are. The police are on their way.”
“What?” Brody asked, “Why?”
*
“I’ll explain, but confirm she can’t hear you.” At that, Brody looked over at the other two and got up. “I’ll just step out and take this.” He exited the vehicle, leaving Nate to look at him with an eyebrow raised. He looked over at Madeline, but she was studying her phone, trying to remember key phone numbers.
Nate told her, “Not much chance of getting your other phone back, though it’s hard to say for sure. Maybe it will be found in the hotel room or something.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I have a couple numbers in my head because I use them all the time, but, other than that, I don’t remember much. I’ll have fun trying to figure out other numbers.”
He chuckled. “You’ll probably find that one number will lead to more.”
“I hope so,” she agreed, “but then I guess people lose their phones all the time, don’t they?”
“They sure do, and, as you know, we’re on it.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you. I really didn’t have a clue about what to do, outside of calling Bullard or the cops, you know?”
“You did the right thing. Bullard then called my boss, who sent us to come over and find you.”
“That just blows me away.” She shook her head. “I told Anna that we were lucky to escape and that we should tell the authorities about what happened to us, but she didn’t want anything to do with it. She didn’t want to talk to the police or anybody. … I didn’t know what to say to her. She was so adamant and just wanted to run.”
“Think about everything you’ve been through and how you felt when you saw us. It’s the way you handle the situation that makes all the difference,” he pointed out. “I’m sure Anna felt she never wanted to dredge up any of this again.”
“Maybe,” she murmured. “I just hope she’s okay.”
“I do too.”
Just then the car door opened, and Brody looked down at her. “Hey.”
“What’s up?” she asked.
“The police are on their way, and they need to talk to you.”
She stared up at him, the color fading from her cheeks. “Why?”
“Outside of the fact that you were kidnapped,” he began, with a smirk, “because they found a body in a hotel room.”
“A body? In a hotel room?” she asked, staring up at him, shocked. “The same room I was in?”
He shook his head at that. “No, a different one.”
She blinked. “And that has something to do with me, why?” she asked, staring at him in shock. “When will this nightmare ever end?”
“It will end,” Brody declared in a smooth voice. “With any luck, it will be fairly quickly. However, at the moment, the police need to talk to you.”
“Of course they do.”
Just then two cruisers pulled into the parking lot, and Brody went to meet them. She grabbed Nate’s hand. “Will you stay with me?” she asked, pleading and squeezing his fingers.
“Of course. We won’t desert you. That’s not happening.”
She nodded but didn’t look at all convinced.
When the first cop came over, Nate could see why she was scared because nothing but judgment and anger were in his expression when he spoke to them.
Nate knew this would be a disaster.
Chapter 4
Madeline stared up at the cop, who seemed to think she was solely responsible for this blight in his day, and absolutely nothing she told him again for the third time now seemed to be anything he wanted to hear. After the first conversation in the parking lot, the police had insisted they head down to the station and give a formal statement, which she’d done, and thankfully Brody and Nate had stayed close by.
Only recently did Brody get up and leave, but Nate, true to his promise, had stuck with her. He’d also fielded as many of the questions as he could, giving them numbers to trace and people to contact, all regarding why and how they had gotten to her. Thankful that many of the Parisian police were bilingual and even multilingual.
When the same questions came around yet again, she yawned and shuddered. “I need to rest,” she whispered, her voice fading.
The cop just glared at her, but Nate wasn’t having anything to do with it. “That’s enough,” he declared, with finality. “Either charge her right now—though rest assured we’ll be all over the media sharing how you treat your victims around here, without giving her a fair chance, even though she’s answered every single one of your repetitive questions—or you let her leave now.”
“You say she’s a victim, but we don’t have any proof that she’s a victim. And neither is there any proof that there was ever this Anna person in there with you.”
“Did you run a DNA sweep on the room?” she asked. “Short of that housekeeper cleaning up the doorknobs and things, the proof has to be there, and that can tell you all you need to know about Anna being there with me.”
“The room was cleaned and cleaned thoroughly.”
At that, she frowned and turned to Nate. “That’s a little suspicious, isn’t it? Have you ever known housekeeping to give a crap about things such as doorknobs?”
Nate studied her and slowly nodded. “A very valid point.”
“What? So now you think the housekeeper is involved?” the cop asked in disgust.
“Yes. Since you’re not charging me, I’m leaving.” She stood and added, “It’s clear you don’t really want to hear anything I have to say, so you figure it out. One way or another, I’m about to collapse, and you can bet I’ll have a heyday reporting your abysmal behavior once this is all over.”
“Go ahead and report it,” he replied, with an insolent tone. “We’re trying to keep our citizens safe, and here you are making up stories and wasting our time.”
At that, her fury boiled over. “Making up stories?” she cried out. “I was snatched from a bus in your city heading from the airport to downtown, where I’d booked a hotel for my layover. A tourist coming to your town, and you’re blaming me for this?”
He just snorted, then got up and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
She sank down into the chair beside Nate. “What do they want?” she cried out.
“Answers, but we have no idea why, but they seem so convinced you’re involved.”
“I don’t either,” she muttered. “So the dead man in a hotel room is disturbing in itself, but then they’re thinking … I’m somehow connected?” She shook her head, feeling faint. “How does that make any sense?”
“It doesn’t, unless they’re not telling us something.”
She stared at him. “I didn’t do anything,” she declared. “You’ve got to believe me.”
He wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. “I do believe you.”
When her shudders eased some, exhausted tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done if Bullard hadn’t sent you guys. I hate the fact that I’m coming apart at the seams,” she muttered. “That’s really not my style.”
He chuckled. “When somebody hits the wall, their own style is revealed—whether they like it or not. We all have a breaking point. The fact is, you were also drugged, and the cops can check with the hospital to get those records too.”
“But he doesn’t want to.”
Just then Nate’s phone buzzed. He looked down and smiled. “That is the hospital right now. They just sent over the reports.” He looked at it and whistled. “That should ease up some of the cop’s panic. You were definitely drugged.”
“Not likely with this cop,” she muttered. “All it’ll do is make them more suspicious of me.”
“Maybe.”
As the door opened, a different man entered this time.
Nate told him, “I just got the results from the doctor, so presumably you did too.”
The newest cop nodded slowly. “It appears she was drugged.”
“Yeah, ya think?” she quipped bitterly. “Nice way to treat your tourists.”
He winced at that. “We still haven’t cleared you, but this goes a long way to making your story credible.”
“I’ve told you the truth, whether you choose to believe it or not.” She shook her head, shuddering again. “I’m about to drop, and I really don’t want to go to the hospital again, nor do I want anything more to do with the Parisian police.”
He nodded. “You can leave for now, but I need you to stay in town though.”
She stared at him. “For real?”
He nodded. “Yes, for real, until we can get to the bottom of this.” He handed them a card. “I’m Detective Manshue. I’ll be conducting the investigation.”
She looked over at Nate. “Do they have the right to make me do that?” she cried out, her voice quivering. She held up her hand, already shaking so badly that she wasn’t even sure she could remain standing. Thankfully Nate was here helping her.
“Are you diabetic?” he asked sharply.
She shook her head. “No, but I do have blood sugar issues at times.”
“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
The detective watched them go with a frown on his face.
When they got outside, Brody was there waiting, with their vehicle. He took one look at her, and concern filled his expression. “I’ve got a hotel for us nearby. We’ll get some food right away. You don’t look so good.”
She nodded. “Food will help a lot,” she whispered, sagging into the back seat and closing her eyes. When Nate’s arms wrapped around her, she turned into them and whispered, “I just need a few minutes.”
“Take as long as you need,” he murmured against her ear. “You’ll be fine.”
“Maybe, … but it doesn’t feel like it’ll be fine.” And her tears came then. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m trying to hold it together.”
“Don’t bother,” Nate replied, his voice gentle. “This happens after being drugged, and I’m surprised it didn’t happen before this. You’ve held it together really well, but the gates have opened. You just need to let it pour out.”
And, with that, it did.
*
Nate held Madeline close and ushered her through the lobby area and straight up to the hotel suite that Brody had already arranged. When they got into the room, Nate led her to one of the bedrooms and pulled back the covers and just held her. Her sobs slowly relaxed, and soon he realized that she’d fallen asleep in his arms. Easing out from under her arms, he grabbed the blanket, covered her up, and tiptoed out of the room.
As he walked into the main room, he told Brody. “She’s asleep. Whatever is going on has really hit her.”
Brody nodded. “Do you find it interesting that they didn’t ask her to ID the body?”
Nate frowned at that. “You’re right. Why the hell not?”
“Maybe they just didn’t get there yet, or maybe they’re still trying to sort out who’s good and who’s bad in this whole deal.”
Nate snorted at that. “They asked the same damn questions three times. I don’t think they gave a crap. She seems to be a good suspect to target to close this case, and that’s all that they were concerned about.”
Brody nodded. “That’s quite possible too. Unfortunately it happens.”
“A little too often for my liking,” Nate replied. “I would feel better if she was a hell of a long way from all this.”
“I wish we’d gotten her out of here right away.”
“Yeah, but the locals would have been after her anyway,” Nate pointed out. “At least we have the hospital records, initial police reports, and the consulate visit to show that her story has been consistent all along.”
“Yeah, you’re right there. So, we’ll have to see what we can come up with from here. Hopefully the police will be on it a little bit more now, instead of seeing her as their only suspect.”
“I’m not sure they are there yet, based on the third degree they gave her,” he muttered. He checked the time on his phone and asked, “Did you order food?”
“I did, but it’ll still be a little bit though.”
“That’s fine. She’ll need it when she wakes up. She’ll also need clothes, unless we can we find her backpack.”
“Did she leave it at the airport?”
Nate shook his head. “No. She didn’t want to check any bags and had everything in her backpack. So my guess is that she carried it with her everywhere.”
“Except we don’t know for sure. We’ll ask her about that when she wakes up. She might have checked it right through maybe, with her long layover.”
“Yet it had her clothes in it, so she needed that bag. Plus, the airlines may not have accepted it for that long of a time period, especially for an international flight,” Nate noted.
“It’s probably with her purse and her passport,” Brody suggested.
“I didn’t ask her if she had a purse,” Nate grumbled.
“And that would have disappeared very quickly in a kidnapping case.”
“And yet it could have been left in a dumpster near where she woke up too.”
Brody pondered that and nodded. “You stay here and look after her, and I’ll head over to the hotel and take a look to see if it was dumped or found anywhere.”
“Also the police could have it and just haven’t shared anything about that,” Nate muttered. “I can’t say that anybody at the Paris PD was too concerned about her welfare.”
“Which really surprises me,” Brody noted. “We have ego problems with MI6, but not everywhere.”
“Maybe the locals got their feathers ruffled, since she didn’t contact the police right away. Plus, we found her and took her to the embassy. Maybe it would have been a different story if she called the cops from the lobby on the hotel phone, but I’m not so sure about that. It seems to me that they’re looking at her as being culpable or somehow involved in this case.”
With that, Brody got up. “I’ll go talk to them now. Then I’ll see what else I can find when I search the area. Food will still be about an hour, and I should be back by then, If not, I shouldn’t be too far off that timing.” And, with that, Brody walked out.
Nate grabbed his laptop and sat down at the dining table to search for any news about the body found at the hotel. The fact that they hadn’t asked Madeline to ID him already made Nate very suspicious. Maybe they didn’t need her. Maybe they had pictures of her with him or something like that. “What would that entail?” he muttered, as he thought about it. “Hotel cameras maybe?”
As soon as he opened up telepathic communications with Terkel, he asked him, Do we have any idea what’s going on with her bags, her luggage, her purse, or anything? Do we have access to the hotel cameras?
What would the hotel cameras tell you? Terkel asked.
The police never asked her to identify the dead body found in another room in that hotel or whether she recognized the man, he explained. In fact, they view her as enemy number one. So I’m thinking maybe they saw something on the cameras, and, if that’s true, I think we should know what it is too.
I will have my team send you the feed. And, with that, he jumped out of Nate’s mind.
Sure enough, Nate got an email about ten minutes later, and there was the feed. As he sat down and pulled it up, he watched as Madeline was walked in, obviously drunk. She had been drugged, after all, as confirmed by the hospital, so that was on point. She was with one man, assisting her greatly, but his hat was pulled down over his face. It was pretty-much impossible to see who he was. But, as Nate continued to watch the feed, a second man joined them, with no disguise at all. That was probably the dead guy in the morgue.
He contacted Terkel again. Do we have a face for the man in the morgue?
I do. Sending it now.
Sure enough, it matched. So, the cops assume she knows him, even though it’s obvious from the security feed that she’s completely out of it.
Yeah, I would say so, Terk agreed, and that’s disturbing in itself.
Or they’re just fishing and figured that this man had been a case of something gone wrong, even if she was a captive, or maybe the cops think she killed the man trying to escape.
Terkel confirmed. That would be my assumption as well, but they’re certainly not considering her a victim in this, and they should be.
Yeah, I would have thought so, but you know as well as I do that just because we have one take on it doesn’t mean law enforcement has the same.
Terkel snorted and ended the telepathic connection.
Nate was drained after that short telepathic exchange and would use the phone if needed later. Then he heard a sound and looked up to see Madeline at the bedroom door, staring at him, rubbing her eyes. “Hey, you need to come see this.”
She stumbled over to him, sat down, and watched as he ran the feed again. “I was walking?” she cried out.
“Yeah, but obviously you were not in good shape. You can tell that you’re drunk or drugged but completely out of it.”
