

# Two for Justice

K.J. Rivera

# .

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 K.J. Rivera

License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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# Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

EPILOGUE

# CHAPTER 1

I pressed the lipstick applicator gently against his chapped lips. I stood back to inspect my work. He looked like a clown. I held in my laughter. I knew once the wig and the dress were on he would look the part. I clearly remember how I felt when I put on makeup, a dress, and heels for the first time. I was 16 years old and felt an unbelievable sense of power. I walked into the wedding I was attending that day and everyone's gaze locked in on me. The gaze held until I took my seat. When I rose and took my first steps in my high heels, once again everyone took notice watching my every move. For the first time ever the thought of women ruling the world made sense to me. I didn't know if a man could authentically replicate this feeling but I was hoping Sebastian could pull it off. Of course my confidence dropped that night at the wedding when my grandma Jazzy said, 'I didn't know your knockers had finally arrived!' in front of a handful of family members and random people. With the aid of my padded bra my grandma who hadn't seem me in awhile thought my boobs had finally grown. That was enough to bring me down to earth for the evening.

I smeared one more coat of the lipstick on Sebastian's lips and touched up his eyelashes. I stood back once again to inspect my work and this time I couldn't hold it in, I fall on the bed laughing hysterically.

"Leah, come on!" Sebastian barked. Sebastian walked to the mirror to look for himself.

"Sorry," I said.

I buried my face in the covers to get all the laughter out of my system. Sebastian was on edge. He always gets like this when we're getting ready to go on an assignment. I sat back up on the bed after gaining my composure.

"Not bad right?" I asked.

"Get me the wig," Sebastian said. He kept his eyes locked on himself in the mirror working on a feminine posture.

I handed him the long dark brown wig. He adjusted it and brushed my hand off when I tried to help. "Easy bitch," I said playfully.

Sebastian ignored me and kept trying to get the wig to align perfectly. I let him be. Sebastian is a perfectionist. This probably would take awhile I thought. I went over to the computer and surfed the web. After about 10 more minutes of fidgeting Sebastian had accomplished what he wanted with the wig and let out a whistle.

"Damn I am a sexy woman!"

"You do make a beautiful woman," I said.

Sebastian was tall, with light skin, dark hair and stunning blue eyes. He looked a little like a taller, muscular Enrique Iglesias - at least that's what my friends told me. Sebastian was gorgeous and he's all mine. I shook my head at the sight of him, he was only wearing briefs, his muscular manly body looking irresistible - then I looked up to see the head of a woman. I giggled.

"You are going to drive everyone wild in the club tonight," I said.

Sebastian blew a kiss to himself in the mirror and mouthed I love you. He then looked in my direction.

"Leah can you go check to see if Shaggy is still in the kitchen?"

I nodded to him and walked out of our bedroom. We were living with Sebastian's dad, who we affectionately called Pops and his stepmom Yara in Orlando, Florida. We had lived with them for a little over a year having moved here from Phoenix when Sebastian lost his architecture job. Both Pops and Yara went to bed early every night but we had visitors, Yara's parents were staying here for a bit. They were elderly, we called them Shaggy and Gloria, I'm not quite sure if that was their real names or not. I was the only non-Spanish speaker in the house so I went by what my husband relayed to me which most of the time he made up just to mess with me. I could hear the TV as soon as I opened the door that led to their newly finished dining room that was adjacent to the kitchen. I peaked around the corner to see if Shaggy had fallen asleep in the chair. Shaggy was pretty much deaf. He tried wearing a hearing aid but all it did was buzz at a high pitch. Sebastian tried to fix it for him but it was unfixable. Shaggy was still up. It was only 9:30 p.m. Gloria went to bed a few hours ago. Besides patting Sebastian's butt when she was in the kitchen the other day Gloria was harmless.

It didn't matter that Shaggy was in the kitchen. I could guarantee we could sneak out of the house without him catching a glimpse of Sebastian dressed as a transvestite. Sebastian was more worried about Pops walking out and seeing him. Pops would have a heart attack at the sight. Plus he already had his suspicions about what we were up to. I walked back to our bedroom.

"Shaggy is still watching his lucha libre—," I stopped as my eyes fell upon a naked Sebastian. He was bending down slightly so he could cross his legs over each other hiding his man junk. He struck a pose by waving his hands up in the air. I keeled over in laughter.

"You like?" Sebastian said in a lisp. "I am going to get me some man meat tonight."

I had tears coming out of my eyes as I kept looking up at him in shock.

"Oh my gosh, wow!"

Sebastian laughed, un-tucked his package and got serious again.

"Hear anything from Pops bedroom?"

After a few moments of regrouping I was able to respond. "Nope, all quiet."

"We're pretty shitty private eye's if we can't sneak out of the house without Shaggy hearing us," Sebastian said. "We could have sex on the kitchen counter without him seeing or hearing anything."

"Yeah I am not worried about that," I told him. "I am more worried about how we're going to hide your man junk. You want to tape it?"

"You crazy?" Sebastian answered. "Do we really need to do anything with it? I know I have a big package but maybe guys go for that."

"I doubt it," I smirked. "At a tranny bar you want to see guys that authentically look like chicks. At least that's what I assume."

Sebastian shook his head. "I told you before Leah I am not tucking or wearing a gaff. I'm not getting scrambled eggs for this dude."

"You have to at least wear the Spanx I bought you."

"Did you just say Spanx?"

Sebastian said this sarcastically but reached for the Spanx I had extended in my hand.

"Yes Sebastian. I told you I picked you up some, you have to try to contain your ding a ling if you want to pull this off."

This night was personal. One of our recent clients had neglected to pay us and was ignoring us. We were going to show him tonight that you don't do that to S&L. S&L stands for Sebastian and Leah. My name is Leah Reyes and I am 24 years old. Sebastian Reyes is my husband of nearly two years and for the past six months we had been making money by being self-proclaimed private investigators.

We fell into this profession while we were in our broke and desperate stage. After Sebastian lost his job we couldn't pay our mortgage, credit cards, and car payments. At rock bottom we were forced to either move from Phoenix to Orlando to live with Sebastian's parents or become homeless. After months of not finding a job in Orlando I did what I dreaded - I became a part time waitress. After one of my shifts I had a chance encounter with Shirley Campbell in the parking lot. Shirley was in her 50's and she offered me $200 to take a picture of her husband inside the restaurant with another woman. Sebastian was there to pick me up that night and together we pulled off Shirley's request. After being flat broke for so long getting a hold of $200 was like winning the lottery.

That encounter led to Shirley asking us to do more work for her and we leaped at the chance. After months of being broke and depressed the thrill of doing undercover investigative work captivated us not to mention it almost got us killed. The thrill outweighed the danger and we got a taste of being alive again. Our hearts became set on making this a profession.

We led our family and friends to believe we had started a cleaning business. Not only was my husband hot but he was ridiculously anal as well. His one rule when I finally persuaded him that we could make consistent money as private dicks opposed to a husband and wife cleaning crew - which was his business idea by the way - was that we would keep our identities secret at all times.

I didn't hesitate complying with Sebastian's rule, although it did suck not being able to tell my two best friends Gwen Sanders and Nelly Conway what we really did. Not so much because I felt like I was deceiving them but it sounded lame when I told them I cleaned houses. I had to leave Gwen and Nelly behind when we packed up our vehicle and moved to Orlando. I played college volleyball with Gwen and Nelly at Arizona State. We were roommates for three years. Gwen is from my hometown of Denver, Colorado. We have been friends since grade school. I missed them but we kept in touch frequently - most of the time it was a drunken dial or the sending of random grotesque pictures but I took what I could get. I am sure they thought I lived a pretty pathetic life living with my husband's parents, broke and cleaning houses, little did they know I was a badass PI.

Our success in our new profession was owed a lot to Shirley's husband who was the prominent judge John Campbell. Knowing he owed us a debt of gratitude for what we endured from Shirley and for literally keeping his perfect life from falling apart he offered to pimp us out so to speak. A pillar in the community with limitless connections he liked the fact that we wanted to remain anonymous. John agreed that he would keep our identities secret when he would recommend our services to his colleagues. Our set up was pretty sweet. We got our assignments from the missed connections section on Craigslist. When we located an ad that said 'S&L sorry we missed you' we contacted the person through a temporary email we set up and found out what we were being hired to do. John didn't seem to like calling us private investigators instead he called us 'Lassies', like the dog. John said our super secret demand worked perfectly with the need a lot of law firms had - locate a person, place or information - keep your mouth shut, don't get noticed and provide them all the details. Sebastian and I felt like we were helping people and we were starting to make decent money doing it.

Sebastian almost fell over trying to get the Spanx on. He gave up instantly throwing them toward the trashcan. He then walked over to his underwear drawer.

"I guess I have to go finish the job you couldn't pull off," he said with a mischievous smile. "Free Willy didn't think you were women enough, he needs a real woman to rock his world."

I laughed. It was less than a week ago that I was getting dolled up in a short mini-skirt, heels and a short red wig for the client we dubbed Free Willy. Our policy was that half of our fee is paid up front - the other half is paid when we complete the job, no exceptions. Willy paid us our half up front but neglected to pay us after we had completed the seven days of service he requested. We weren't shocked this happened, Willy was a client who hired us from our own ad we put on Craigslist. We had been having a hard time weeding out legit requests we got from our own ad. When we respond with our price and let them know the rule is that we collect half of the fee up front, we see who really is serious about using our service. The people who contacted us through John's instructions had all been solid. Our goal was to eventually have enough jobs through John that we didn't have to do our personal ad anymore.

Back to our guy Willy, he was being a pain in the ass demanding we confirm our findings before he handed over the other half of the money. After we told him that was not part of the deal Willy went silent and wouldn't return our calls. We had just spent a full week working for Willy and we were out $1500. We started tailing him and quickly confirmed that he had some dirt of his own he was trying to hide. He frequently hit clubs and bars after hours. Our plan was to turn the tables on Willy and threaten to expose his secrets to his wife if he didn't pay us our money.

Our plan was delayed when I approached him at the bar at one of his frequent after hour spots and he didn't give me the time of day. Not that I was ever good at picking up guys but I am a rather good-looking chick. Willy was in his 40's, I'm young, fit and my husband says I have an ass to die for. I know he is biased but it melts my heart that I come up as 'look at that ass' on his cell phone when I call. I thought I could just sit down next to Willy and it would be hook, line and sinker. I felt dejected when he didn't acknowledge me when I sat next to him. He barely looked my way when I blurted out 'who's horny?' It was all I could think of to say. I felt like I needed to announce myself in a way that would get attention. That is the line one of my friends used when we were out at a bar one night in college. I know for a fact it got her laid. I was embarrassed that my line didn't get any play. To make myself feel better I thought maybe we were wrong about Willy - he may just be an alcoholic. I looked around and upon further inspection saw that the bar consisted 90% of guys and half of those guys were dressed as transvestites. I caught myself staring, the transvestites looked so much like women and I was in awe. I slipped out the front door after I finished my Long Island Ice Tea. I smirked as I walked back to Sebastian who was parked in the far corner of the parking lot. I couldn't wait to tell him he would have to be the one to seduce Willy. He was not thrilled at the time but looking at him as he checked himself out in the mirror had me convinced he was enjoying this.

"You will be more than enough woman for that jack hole. What's your pick up line going to be? Oh wait do you have the name you will use tonight?" I came up behind Sebastian and slapped his ass. "How about Missy?"

"Missy? Miss Understood maybe."

Sebastian put on his tight red dress we picked up at the mall. He was embarrassed to try them on in the store so we took a bunch home for him to try on. After four trips to the mall Missy finally had settled on one. He was totally acting like a chick this week. Not just a regular chick either but a diva. He wouldn't let me help him with his dress as he struggled to zip the back up himself. I snapped a picture of him on my phone and sent it to Nelly. Nelly who always was glued to her phone texted back almost instantly. "Who's the slut?" I laughed out loud.

"What?" Asked Sebastian.

"Nothing," I said. "Come on let me help you with your pretty red dress Missy."

"What is so funny? Tell me."

"Relax it wasn't about you, it was something Nelly texted me."

Sebastian would be pissed if he knew I sent a picture of him to Nelly.

"Okay fix my dress," said Sebastian in his best womanly voice.

"I can't believe your not going with heels. I want you to see how it feels for one day."

"Ah no thanks, I am good."

"You wait, you'll see you're going to be the only bitch up in there with no heels on."

"I am 6'2" Leah I don't think I need to be any taller."

"Oh nice, you make me wear heels and I'm 5'8", I don't really need to be any taller. Hypocrite."

"Yeah but heels prop your butt up nicely, drives me wild."

I shook my head and smiled at my husband who was approaching me. I am so in love with him. He gave me a sweet hug and gave my ass a squeeze. I lifted my chin toward his face.

"Watch the makeup!" he squealed in his woman voice, it startled me and I started laughing.

"I scare you?" Sebastian asked in his lisp.

"Yes!"

Sebastian sat on the bed and struggled to put on his red slip-on shoes. It looked like his size 12 feet would bust through them like the hulk at any moment. I placed my hands on his legs and rubbed up and down. His legs were silky smooth. Sebastian shaved his entire body this morning, talk about getting into character, I swear he was enjoying this way too much. Sebastian gave himself a once over in the mirror then started doing a dance. The finished product was something special. I was hoping Willy didn't see right through our first time transvestite. The first test would be walking out of the house unnoticed.

I walked out to the kitchen and hit the button to have the garage door come up. Shaggy barely moved until he saw me walk to the pantry that was near him. Shaggy was always monitoring what food we took from the pantry. Sebastian kept eating the little cans of sausage links, I guess Shaggy was a big fan of them too because he started storing them in his room. We laughed when we walked by his room the other day and saw them lined up on the dresser along with a loaf of the Cuban bread that was usually devoured the moment it hit the kitchen counter. To calm Shaggy down I shut the pantry without taking any food out. Next I opened the door to go into the garage, I gave Sebastian who was standing in our hallway a thumbs up and opened the refrigerator - this would obstruct Shaggy's view of seeing Sebastian if he happened to lean up in his chair to see what I was taking from the fridge. I saw a red blur scoot by in a flash. I shut the fridge and quietly slipped out the door to follow Missy into the night.

.

Our life had changed immensely since getting married two years ago. I would never have imagined that we would be living in Orlando with my in-laws and I would be dressing up Sebastian as a woman so we could collect money. It's crazy how life works. We were supposed to still be living in Phoenix in our sweet loft overlooking Tempe Town Lake, Sebastian a licensed architect by now and me finding my dream job. That life seemed so far away.

To be honest, even through all the pain of hitting rock bottom and having the economy take our feet out from under us, I wouldn't change our life for anything. I am in love with my best friend who I get to be with 24/7. We're working for ourselves doing something that was thrilling and fun. As much as both of us had once longed to get back to our old life I couldn't imagine us doing anything else. I didn't want to go back to a 9-5 job and have a boss, not after living how we have been living for the last 6 months. Even Sebastian who wanted to be an architect ever since he touched his first Lego is on the same page. Our new profession has given us a new start. We have already paid off the debt we were in and are slowly getting back on our feet. Last week we bought a 2003 Jeep Wrangler with cash. Our Range Rover was repossessed a few months after moving in with Pops. We had been driving around in Pops Expedition ever since. It felt good paying for the black Jeep and driving off in it. When we hightailed it out of Phoenix I longed for the day when we would have money to start rebuilding our life. That time was now and we were starting to put the pieces back together. It felt good.

Sebastian was being quiet on the drive from Pops place down to the club near International Drive. This didn't surprise me. I knew he was calculating his game plan for tonight. Sebastian is smart. I may not have been exposed to a vast array of people in my lifetime but Sebastian is the smartest person I know. He isn't just book smart, he is street smart, he's quick on his feet, and a deep thinker. What always impresses me about him is that he can make a strong point without losing his cool. He is also the most observant person I know. Sebastian is extremely cautious. I think a little bit too much but every one of his qualities makes him an excellent private investigator.

"Leah we didn't dress you up!" Sebastian said alarmed.

"I didn't know we were going to Sebibears. What's wrong with what I have on?"

"You look like you."

I was wearing my usual outfit of skinny jeans, a simple black spaghetti strapped tank top and flip-flops. This was the norm for me when I wasn't in disguise for one of our assignments, except by day I always wore shorts - the Florida humidity was unbearable. I had my long dark hair up in a high ponytail since we liked to have the windows down in the Jeep.

"I didn't know I was going to be part of the action tonight."

"Well hopefully you won't be," Sebastian said. "But what if you need to come in to take pictures?"

I looked over my shoulder and started digging around in the back seat. "I have a few things back here. Yep got a pair of heels and there is a skirt back here."

"Okay," Sebastian sighed. "Well hopefully I won't need you to come in. If I do wear your hair down and put on some makeup, you look like your 12."

I smiled at Sebastian. He put his hand on my leg and squeezed, I put my hand over his. "I love you Sebibear."

"I love you too sweetie."

I feel so lucky to have a husband who truly adores me. It was love at first sight for him. For me it was love at second sight. I fell head over heels with the guy I met by chance through a Craigslist ad. It's not what you think. Nelly and I put an ad on the website to sell extra ASU football tickets. Sebastian responded and the rest of the story is our story. Sebastian loves to tell our falling in love story to everyone.

After a few moments of silence Sebastian gave me his usual spiel. "Leah, remember if anything happens tonight you take off and don't look back."

"I know Sebi, but don't worry all will be well. Willy isn't going to suspect what's coming."

"Anything can happen Leah. You never know what Willy will do. We always have to be prepared for the unknown. I will text you right when I get in the club to let you know all is good."

"Then what?" I asked.

"I'll get comfortable, blend in, maybe flirt a little bit, hopefully with Willy and then try to get a few good pictures of him in action."

The parking lot at the club was packed. Sebastian parked the Jeep then flipped down the visor to make sure his made up face was still holding up. He blew himself another kiss in the mirror before flipping the visor back up.

"Do your thing you hot piece of ass," I said. "Don't forget to shake your money makers!"

"You are really enjoying this aren't you Leah?"

"Yep."

I grabbed his boob gently as to not mess up his construction. He had on a heavily padded bra stuffed with a few socks. Luckily his dress didn't reveal his cleavage or his authenticity would be thrown out the door with one gaze.

"I can't believe I won't be able to see you in action."

Sebastian turned toward me with a serious look. "Okay, I am going to text you right when I get in when I spot Willy, if I need you to come in at any point I will text you. I don't want to use the phone much so don't get worried if I don't text you at all."

"I got it Seb. Be safe and smart. How long you thinking?"

"However long it takes, it may be awhile I want to get into his circle so I have real evidence to use against him."

"Alright. Hey keep my purse nice, I just bought that."

"I will darling," Sebastian said. "I love you gurrrl."

"Love you too Missy."

.

An hour had passed and I had already riffled through the few magazines I had brought with me. I moved on to playing poker on my phone. I hated having to wait in the car. I could only imagine Sebastian in the club totally knocking his act out of the park. Just when I had my first flush of the evening my phone rang, it was Nelly.

"What up girl?" I yelled.

"Hey Leah what's shaking?"

"Not my ta ta's, just working."

"That's right it's like after midnight there," Nelly said. "Oops I always forget. Is that why you usually don't answer my calls right away, am I interrupting the Reyes' sex time?"

"Not usually," I said. "We have actually started cleaning for some companies so we are working a lot of nights now."

"Wow look at you two," Nelly mocked. "Cleaning commercial toilets now. Making it up to the big leagues, nice!"

I hated having to lie to Nelly. Hopefully one day I will be able to share with her what we have really been doing.

"Yeah yeah yeah Nelly. We're making big bucks though so keep making fun."

"Those big bucks going to get your butts back to Arizona?"

"Eventually we hope it does."

"Sweet it better."

"So Nelly how is single life treating you?"

"I had a dream about a fucking cucumber last night Leah. Does that answer your question?"

I laughed loudly. Nelly broke up with her boyfriend a few months ago, while she never thought he was marriage material they had been together over two years.

"Lee it really sucks being single again."

"You will meet the one some day and it will all be worth it Nel."

"I hope so, that or I will die an old maid."

"No you won't. I am surprised you haven't dated since the breakup, you still hoping you can work things out with Brandon?"

"Hell no, he can suck it. Why am I attracted to losers Leah? I have to get me an older man like you did. I am done with immature boys."

It made me smile when Nelly said that. Sebastian is four years older than me. I was lucky. I had met and married the man of my dreams already. My single days before I met Sebastian were far from fun. I had sympathy for Nelly.

"Amen sister!" I sang into the phone loudly. "Get yourself an older man."

"Alright Leah good talk. I just wanted to call and say hey."

"Okay later sleazy."

"Bye beeotch."

.

I started getting impatient. It had been nearly two hours since Sebastian, aka Missy went through the club doors. A lot of people had started to leave and it looked like a three ring circus in the parking lot as drunk transvestites started to fight, shout, laugh and sing. We never talked about an exit strategy. I assumed Sebastian's plan was to slip out unnoticed. I couldn't stop fidgeting and thinking of what was going on inside the club. Finally I saw a text pop up from Sebastian. "In the bathroom, be out soon!"

I wondered if he went in the men's room by habit. Ten minutes later I spot Sebastian coming out of the club doors walking like a model on the catwalk. He slung his purse over his shoulder and licked his lips as he approached the Jeep. He looked tall and striking with his long hair. His shoulders are so thick and I laughed looking at him.

"The guys love them some Missy!" Sebastian said as he got into the drivers seat.

"Tell me everything!"

Sebastian played the part to perfection. As we drove back toward Baldwin Park to the bedroom we called home - at the back of Pops house, Sebastian told me every detail. Not only did he get a picture of himself with Willy, he even got a picture of Willy in the bathroom getting his willy some action. Sebastian said he stood up on the toilet seat so he could snap the picture. Willy was oblivious and had no idea. I could just see him standing on the toilet seat with his red dress snapping pictures. Sebastian said Missy had been a hit and everyone was buzzing about the new queen in town. Sebastian told everyone he met he was visiting from Miami. Even though I know he exaggerated some details I was in awe of him like always.

Sebastian stopped at the 7-Eleven on Semoran Blvd before heading home so we could pick up some Cuban sandwiches. Of course he wouldn't go in dressed as Missy. It was just after two in the morning and the store is swarming with people who had just gotten out of the bars. It wasn't the best neighborhood and Sebastian made me put our handgun in my purse. A month after we starting doing investigative work we purchased two guns. We hid them in the closet and took them with us when we left the house on any assignment. Since we did what we did and worked all hours of the night Sebastian said we needed to have a gun for protection. I agreed even though I was uneasy at first. We spent hours at the shooting range so we would know how to use it properly and still go there once a week to practice. It was over powering in the beginning, the force too strong for me. After a few months of practice I gained a lot of confidence and my accuracy has improved immensely.

I went in and out of the 7-Eleven with no problems. I tend to avoid eating any food from a gas station but the Cuban sandwiches here were too good to resist. When we got back to Pops house I got out the sandwich press and started toasting our sandwiches. Sebastian went directly to our bedroom to change and scrub off his makeup.

Pops had a 50's ranch style house. When you walked into the house from the garage you walked directly into their recently remodeled kitchen. They had a big island in the middle. There was a door in the back that led to their backyard where there was big pea sized pool that was enclosed by a screen. The screen was a necessity so you don't lose a pound of blood to the state bird - the mosquito. All the bedrooms were on the other side of the house. Sebastian and I spent a lot of nights hanging out in the kitchen when Pops and Yara were sound asleep.

We ate our sandwiches and discussed ideas on how to confront Willy to get our money. After going back and forth we finally agreed. Sebastian came up with a genius idea. There was no doubt in my mind that we would have our $1500 in our possession tomorrow.

.

"And action! You're clear my love."

I hung up on Sebastian and put my phone in my purse. I walked toward the elevators. I could see Sebastian walking through the doors in my peripheral vision but I avoided glancing his way. I went to my spot in front of the bulletin board that I scoped out when I had first walked in and did my best to act like I was fully engaged with one of the colorful print outs. I didn't want to sit out again so I begged Sebastian to allow me to witness this. Sebastian was next in line at the security desk. This was going to be good.

I could hear him clearly ask for Mr. William Fortney and tell the guard that he was a college buddy from FIU here to surprise him. Sebastian was wearing a hat, a pair of glasses and a mustache. He had on one of his dad's jackets on and it was big on him.

I grabbed my phone out of my purse and pretended to make a call. Our pal Free Willy must have worked on the top floor of the skyscraper business building because he had yet to come down. My acting probably sucked and I was sure Sebastian would make a comment to me later. I started talking out loud into my phone to an imaginary caller. I acted my best to look perplexed as if I was trying to resolve an issue. I made eye contact with Sebastian and he looked away with a slight eye roll – he was not impressed at all with my acting.

The elevator dinged and finally our man had arrived. Willy looked different suited up. We only knew him from his late night outings when he was sporting more casual attire.

Sebastian approached Willy with a big smile on his face.

"Hey there Willy remember me?"

Willy frowned. "No, have we met?"

"I am the one you owe money to."

Sebastian opened his coat to reveal his tee shirt that had a nice picture of Willy leaned up against a wall while he had a transvestite engulfing his midsection.

"Oh fuck," Willy said.

He had a look of horror on his face. His voice got lower as he started talking to Sebastian. It was in such a hush tone that I couldn't make out the words. He started forcefully ushering Sebastian towards the door. He didn't want anyone in that building to see Sebastian's shirt. I could tell Sebastian was trying to linger in the building for as long as he could before he finally obliged and walked outside with Willy nervously glancing around like he had a tick.

I counted to five before I made my way to the revolving door to follow after them. I was surprised to see how far they had gone with a mere five-second head start. Willy must have been going absolutely crazy. He couldn't get to the bank fast enough.

I passed the bank and waited at the bench that we earlier designated as our meeting spot. I didn't wait long. Sebastian came walking down the sidewalk with a smile on his face and a swagger in his step.

"I got our money," he said. "That was a piece of cake. Dude was almost in tears at the end."

"Really?"

"Yeah he is all paranoid that I will still send the pictures to his wife and co-workers."

"Damn, what did you say?"

"I told him I wouldn't, I said I just wanted the money he owed us and now that I have the money it's over. This is why we don't ever tell people any personal info or reveal our identities Leah. He kept asking for my contact info."

"Wow, how did you end the conversation?"

"He said how do I know your telling the truth about not emailing his wife and I said I guess you don't and I walked away."

"Badass, love it Basti!"

"Come on let's get out of here, go celebrate our payday."

Sebastian grabbed my hand and swung me in close to him for a kiss.

.

"Ven aqui! Ven aqui Sebi!"

I rolled onto my back and nudged Sebastian as if he didn't hear Pops yelling at the top of his lungs. I had no idea what he was yelling about but it didn't sound like his usual yell - it was lacking the playfulness tone that shines through when he was trying to be hard on Sebastian when he was merely joking.

Sebastian yelled something back.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Sebastian replied that he didn't know and grabbed a pair of shorts on the floor. He left the room in a hurry. I grabbed my phone to check the time, 11:32 am. It was a beautiful day. The sun was flooding our room on this fine Sunday morning.

Friday morning after we received our payment from Willy we celebrated by eating at our favorite Puerto Rican café and spent the rest of the afternoon fishing. Since our sleep schedule wasn't exactly consistent we ended up falling asleep at seven o'clock that night. We awoke at 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning we packed a bag and headed for Daytona Beach. We made it just in time to see the sunrise. It was a much-needed day off for us and we made the most of it.

I walked into the hallway that led to our bedroom. I opened the door into the dining room slightly and put my ear up to the door. Sebastian and his dad were all the way in the kitchen and I could here Pops yelling. Damn, I wondered what was going on. I had not heard Pops raise his voice like that before. I heard Sebastian's voice as well but it was soft and calm. I could tell he was trying to get Pops to understand something. I went back in our bedroom to wait for Sebastian to return from his ass reaming and translate why Pops was going off on him.

I checked our emails to pass the time and saw a legit request from a woman named Patricia. Her request was simple and one we got a lot. She wanted us to find out where her husband was going at night. Patricia said he leaves their house a couple nights a week. She would pay us for one nights work and would like us to do this Monday night since his routine on Mondays were like clockwork - he left around 6:30 p.m. and would be back at their house no later than 8:30 p.m. Seemed easy enough.

I heard the door in the hallway open and knew Sebastian was finally returning. He opened our bedroom door slowly.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

I could tell by his face it wasn't good.

"Yara found our guns."

I shook my head. "What? How?"

"I guess she was in our closet looking for some of her sewing stuff she has in there and she found them."

"Oh shit!"

A sick feeling filled my stomach. I could only imagine Yara's horror when she came across our guns while she was trying to find yarn. I could imagine her talking fast and yelling in her thick Puerto Rican accent. When we moved in this was a guest bedroom and the closet was full of Yara's old clothes and sewing supplies. We were able to move most of it into the other spare bedroom's closet, but not everything fit.

"Yep," Sebastian said. "Pops is livid."

He leaned against our dresser and crossed his arms.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him we didn't feel safe working nights and that we wanted to have protection. He could care less, he wants them out of his house."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well I guess they put them in a small safe they have for now. I said we can keep them locked up in the car and he said no because the neighbor kids hang out here so often he doesn't want to take any chances. I told him we could keep them in our storage we use for our cleaning supplies and he didn't really answer to that. I don't think he trusts us."

"Damn this sucks Sebibears."

"Yep. I mentioned to Pops that we are looking at apartments to rent now that we can afford it."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah we are but we aren't employed, we don't have any credit for an apartment. All we have is a drawer full of cash."

"I know," Sebastian sighed. "We have to work on how we're going to do this."

After going back and forth for over an hour we agreed to call John Campbell for advice. In the last six months John had become our go to guy. He always had an answer to our questions and he was the only one we could talk to about our work. John had money, power and respect. He knew he could buy anything he wanted because of who he was and the wealth he had. This both intrigued and disgusted me. Since being fired by a boss who came across as a father figure Sebastian didn't trust easily. We had agreed our goal was to keep John an arm's length away, not becoming that close to him but not doing anything to have him distance himself from us.

Sebastian and I played rock, paper, scissors to see who would be the one to speak to John on the phone. I celebrated as my paper covered Sebastian's rock. I got comfy on our bed while Sebastian made the call. Sebastian coyly got around to the reason he called and for the rest of the time he is on the phone with John he was beaming like he was talking to the president. He kept saying the words awesome and great. Whatever it was it sounded like John gave him good news.

When Sebastian hung up he put his arms up in the air.

"Who is moving into their own place?"

"What did he say?" I said impatiently. Sebastian always liked to make a production when he told me big news.

"He said. You ready for this Leah sweetie, my sweetie?"

"Oh my gosh just tell me Sebastian!"

"Okay so it just so happens that one of his daughters is going overseas to work for a year, some kind of program she is doing. Anyway John owns her condo downtown and they have been trying to sub-lease it. They have not had any takers and he said we can live there and pay him cash monthly."

"Sweet! Are you serious? That is perfect for us!"

While I have thoroughly enjoyed our time staying with Sebastian's parents it would be nice having a place of our own again. I could walk around our place in my underwear.

Sebastian picked me up and swung me around.

"You didn't think I would ever get you out of this place did you?"

"Yes I did. I just had no idea when it would happen." I kissed him. "I love you so much."

Sebastian kissed me back and put his weight into me so we both were thrown on the bed.

"I love you too. I told you we would get through this Leah."

# CHAPTER 2

It was 6:15 p.m. on Monday night. It was time to work.

"You sure you got this Leah?" Sebastian has one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on my leg.

"Yes Sebastian, quit worrying. I said I got this one."

We were finally doing a job that I got to take the lead on. I had emailed Patricia the day before and confirmed the details of the job. Earlier this morning I went to her home, disguised of course in my favorite blonde wig and collected the upfront fee of $150. Of course Patricia tried to justify to me why she was doing this. Her sob story was that she had a gut feeling something wasn't right with her husband. She wanted to believe that he had started participating in a bowling league but she just couldn't accept it - this wasn't like him and he had never showed any prior interest in bowling. While I usually felt for these people because that is the type of person I am I never engage in a conversation. It was none of my business. I politely confirmed our deal and let Patricia know I would be back tomorrow morning to give her our findings and to collect the other half of the payment.

Sebastian parked down the street from Patricia's house. She assured me that her husband would not leave the house before 6:30 p.m. I was nervous which was normal. I always got nervous anticipating the mission. I am a competitor by nature and once it is time to perform I am locked in. My nervousness leaves and I am completely focused.

"So this lady just wants us to tell her where her husband goes tonight that's all?"

"Yep," I said. "That's all."

"This may be an easy $300," Sebastian said.

"Let's hope."

I put my hand on his and squeezed.

"Relax Leah you will do fine I kn- there's our guy!"

A yellow pickup started backing out of the driveway. Sebastian put his seatbelt on and placed the Jeep in drive. Sebastian has become highly skilled at tailing people. He's a car guy so to him it's a challenge and a craft. We followed the truck through a few blocks of residential neighborhoods before he turned onto a major street. There was a certain thrill that came with having no idea where you're going. The yellow truck took us south of downtown. He stopped at a gas station to fill up and get a can of soda. After a short drive the truck parked in a small parking lot to the side of a medium sized building. The building did not have any signs on it. There were a few people standing around in front and I saw a few people walk inside the building.

"What the hell is this place?" I asked.

Sebastian pulled over on the street to park so we could watch our guy.

"I don't know," he said. "It looks like it's just a regular building. Maybe it's bingo night."

"It does look like a sort of a place for bingo or wedding receptions. Obviously there is some sort of an event going on tonight."

Sebastian grabbed our camera from the back seat and started taking pictures of the building. Our guy walked to the entrance and after speaking briefly to a gentleman standing outside he walked into the building. Sebastian snapped a few up close pictures of the guy - we don't even know his name, Patricia never told me.

"So Leah I guess it is game time."

"You think I should wait a few minutes?"

"No," Sebastian said. "Don't be scared, just do it."

"I'm not scared I just thought maybe we should scope the place out first, I have no idea what is in there." Maybe I was trying to stall a little.

"Nothing much to scope. Here let me Google this address." Sebastian quickly typed in the address on his phone. "It's an American Legion Building. So more than likely it's getting rented out and there is some sort of meeting or gathering. Whatever it is we have to complete the job by getting the details."

I sighed. _Suck it up Leah._

"Ok I got this. I'll be back."

"Leah remember, be smart and if anything goes wrong just bolt. I'll be right out here."

"Alright. But what if I walk out with people," I said. "You want me walking to the Jeep?"

"No, if you walk out with people I will call you, act like the call is important and excuse yourself. I'll give you instructions over the phone."

"Got it. Love you Sebastian." I gave him a kiss then went on my way.

As I crossed the street my heart was racing. My hands were shaking as I grabbed the door handle. When I walked in I could see to my right there was a big open room. There were people in there. I walked down the hall to see if any other room was occupied with people. The other rooms were dark. I walked into the bathroom to wash my hands and get a grip. I splashed some cold water on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. _You can do this Leah._ I had on a shoulder length blonde wig. It actually looked quite real. When we started making money our first purchases were legit disguises. We didn't skimp on it. I had pink lipstick on but it was calm. I was wearing light blue jeans and a white and turquoise striped top. I smiled into the mirror. I knew I could do this.

I walked back to the front of the building and poked my head into the room with all the people. The room was buzzing with small talk. I would guess there were a total of 20 people in the room. The seats in the room were lined up in a classroom like setting. I spotted the yellow truck guy. He was sitting up front. I found an empty seat in the back row. Just as I sat down a guy to the right of me jumped out of his seat and greeted me. I left two seats in between us but I guess that wasn't going to happen as he sat down right next to me with his hands on his knees gazing at me with coke bottle glasses. All he said was hello and welcome, thank god I thought as I heard a man at the front of the room clap to get everyone's attention.

The man at the front introduced himself as Roger. He started to ramble on and on about where they may have to move the meetings to. Something about this building being renovated, blah blah blah, it reminded me of being in school and how boring most classes were. I just needed to know what this meeting was for. Finally Roger ended his announcements and started to talk about himself. This was not anymore interesting than the information on the building. After talking at length about his move from Vancouver to Florida 16 years ago he said his sobriety had been hard but he was growing as a person and he was taking it one day at a time. _Oh lord I am in an AA meeting._ Well at least now I knew where the yellow truck guy was going at night and I could try to slip out unnoticed. Mission accomplished, I thought, I was not sticking around for rest of this meeting. Too much depression was in the air. I grabbed my purse, turned to get up but I didn't stand, I stay hunched down until I was out of the row of chairs and into the open. I took two steps and heard Roger's annoying voice. My heart skipped a beat.

"Excuse me miss."

Really, this guy is going to give me a hard time about leaving?

"Yes?" I said. I slightly turned my head to look at Roger. Everyone in the class had their head turned looking at me.

"Please take your seat, we all know it is very scary coming to your first meeting. All of us in this room have been in your shoes. You are taking the first step of many and we are all here for you."

Ah shit. This guy wants to do this. Fine, it's on.

"Actually I have been to meetings before I am just in town visiting," I said.

"Okay, well than welcome and we are delighted you have join us this evening. How long have you been in the program?"

"Um 3 months."

"Oh that is great you're a newbie. Please come to the front and share your story if you feel comfortable doing so."

If this weren't a part of my job I would have told Roger I had to leave and when he asked why I would tell him I had just got my period. I have learned if you say you have your period or you have diarrhea nobody will start asking you questions they will let you be on your way. Since I didn't want to cause a scene and blow my cover I went along with Roger. I walked to the front. I would be brief.

"Ok go ahead," Roger said.

My mind started to race. _Is this really happening? Wow. I won't see these people again just act the part Leah, just act! Here goes._

"Hi my name is, my name is Gwen Sanders."

Loud gasps were heard echoing off the legion walls. _Shit, what did I say?_

Roger frowned. "Gwen there is a reason we call it sex addicts anonymous. We only use first names here."

_Oh fudge!_ A lightning bolt went through my body. This was not a meeting for recovering alcoholics but for recovering sex addicts.

"It's okay Gwen," Roger said. "Go ahead and start over."

Roger was peering at me through his wire frame glasses. His mustache now seemed creepy to me.

"Sorry I forgot. I'm from out of town so nobody knows me anyway."

I tried justifying my slip up by acting blonde. Please people don't Google my name I thought, you'll find a very tall chick that rewrote most of Arizona State's volleyball records.

"Hi my name is Gwen and I am a nymphomaniac."

I always wanted to use that word in public.

"Hi Gwen!" replied the rest of my fellow sex addicts. I imagined that the tone they just used would not be the same tone used if this were an AA meeting. _Now what do I say?_ Everyone was looking at me. I looked at Roger and he nodded at me indicating I should keep talking. I looked at the audience. It was mostly middle-aged men. There are only four other women in the room. In the far back close to where I was sitting there was a guy who had to be over 70. I looked down at the ground then said, "I love sex." Oh wow this is so weird I thought. I gazed up, everyone was sitting quietly, all eyes on me. _Okay just go with it Leah._ "I have sex 3-4 times a day."

A few guys started to clap and then everyone clapped. _What the hell? Seriously what is happening?_ I looked at Roger for help on this.

"That is great Gwen. One step at a time is our motto. If you don't mind sharing can you tell the group what it used to be?"

I got it, they clapped because I only had sex 3-4 times a day and that is an improvement. Damn, 3-4 times in a day - that is a lot for one week!

"Um at my lowest point," I paused. I needed to sound believable but I had no idea what number to throw out. _Go big._ "It was in the double digits." I got some head nods and looks of sympathy.

"Multiple?" Asked Roger.

Did I hear that right? Multiple? And does he mean multiple orgasms? I did a double take and give Roger a perplexed look. My face had to be an even brighter shade of red than it was when I first started to talk. It felt like it was going to burn off.

"Multiple partners?" Roger said.

"Oh yes. At my lowest that is. Not anymore."

I held up my hand to show off my wedding ring. Everyone clapped. I needed to end this now.

"One day at a time," I said. "That's all that I want to share. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your group tonight."

"Thanks Gwen." The whole group responded.

Roger clapped and waved his hand out indicating I could take a seat in the front row. I sat down and took a deep breath. Roger mentioned that before anyone else shared he would like us to join in saying the serenity prayer that is usually done at the beginning of class. I guessed my failed getaway had interrupted the flow of the class.

_Yes give me serenity now!_ I wanted this meeting to be over. The big clock on the wall was teasing me, as the hands seem to stand still. I tried not to listen as the guy with the thick coke bottle glasses talked about his sexual sobriety. It gave me the heebie jeebies hearing him say the words masturbate and pornography. Roger gave a presentation about getting victory over lust. I tried keeping my mind busy with other things to block out his voice. SAA is run similar to AA with a 12-step program and all. A pamphlet about hope and recovery was passed around at the end of the class and so was a collection basket.

Roger gave a closing prayer and urged us to help ourselves to another cup of coffee before leaving. Our yellow truck guy who had been quiet during class walked over to a lady that was sitting near him. They seemed like they were familiar with each other. Roger walked up beside me and stuck out his hand. I reluctantly shook it. He thanked me for joining the class and for sharing. Another guy approached me and blocked my view of the yellow truck guy. Both Roger and the new guy wanted to engage in small talk. I said I really would like to stay and socialize but I needed to go. Nobody appeared to be heading to the door. I figured I could slip out and into the jeep with nobody noticing me. I head for the door and just my luck the guy who greeted me in the back row came up behind me calling my name. Or should I say Gwen's name. I didn't want to be rude but I couldn't handle anymore tonight.

"Thanks for sharing Gwen." He said in an overly loud voice. He had greasy hair, way too tight maroon pants on and a white shirt that had food stains on it.

"My pleasure. Hey it was great being here but I have to go now."

"Oh come on stay and socialize. There's free coffee."

"I have to go. Next time."

"What's the rush?"

_Seriously dude!_ "If you want to know the truth I have to go because I just got my period."

His eyes got big and he took a step back. "Okay, bye."

He turned and walked away. Home free. I came bounding out of the front door so glad to be breathing fresh air. Sebastian was not parked in the same spot. I looked around and saw the Jeep parked down the street. I walked briskly toward it.

"Looks like your trying to flee the area why did you walk so fast?" Sebastian asked.

I slammed the door with force. "Oh my gosh Sebi, that was torture! I'm not sure the $300 was worth it."

"Why what happened?"

"It was a flipping SAA meeting."

"A what?"

"An SAA meeting. Sex Addicts Anonymous!"

Sebastian laughed. "Awesome, did our guy speak?"

"Ah no but I did."

"What! You spoke in front of everyone? What did you say?"

I told Sebastian what I said and left out a few details that I didn't want to relive. He thought it was hysterical of course. We waited for our suspect to come out of the building so we could follow him home to ensure he made no other stops. After awhile he walked out along side the woman he had been talking with inside. I didn't know what this guy was up to. He may be a legit sex addict or he may not be. I really didn't care. My job was to tell Patricia where he went tonight and that's all.

Less than 20 minutes later the yellow truck guy pulled into his driveway. When the lights went out we waited a few minutes then turned around to head back toward Pop's house. Sebastian told me that John called him while I was in the meeting and that we would meet him downtown at the condo tomorrow so he could give us the keys. I couldn't believe this was happening, we were finally getting our own place. We talked on the way home about all the things we needed to buy. After we checked out the place tomorrow and took measurements our plan was to go straight to IKEA.

We stopped to pick up take out on our way home. I hadn't really eaten anything for dinner because I was so nervous. When we got home Shaggy was in his usual spot in the kitchen watching his wrestling. Pops was getting ready for bed, he was at the refrigerator getting his glass of ice and soda like usual. Sebastian told him about the condo and he was happy for us. Pops hugged me goodnight and slapped Sebastian on the back of the head before exiting the kitchen. I loved Pops. He had a big heart. I would miss living here but I knew we are always welcome here. With Pops out of the kitchen we took our food to our bedroom. Sebastian ate on the fly as he started to pack up our belongings. I ate my conch fritters with a smile on my face thinking of Gwen Sanders the sex addict.

.

The next morning after collecting our $150 from Patricia, who was surprisingly calm upon hearing her husband was at a sex addicts meeting, we met John at his condo. When we pulled up we were like two children getting ready to open presents on Christmas morning. The complex was right by Lake Eola. From the outside it was an impressive looking building in a prime location. Both of us pointed out the grocery store that was on the bottom level. Having a Publix grocery store beneath our condo would be convenient. John met us in the lobby and led us up to the 5th floor. The place was like a resort and I couldn't stop smiling. John informed us that there was a concierge service and a twenty-four hour doorman.

John opened the door to the condo and we fell on top of each other trying to get the first look. It was beautiful and the perfect size for us. There were floor to ceiling glass windows in the living room giving us a great view of the lake. The place was empty besides the kitchen. John's daughter put all her stuff in storage. Apparently she wasn't a fan of the kitchenware so she left it. That was one less thing we would have to buy. The kitchen had granite countertops and sleek cabinets. It had a big island with four cushioned stools. Next we made our way to the bedroom.

"Yes! A walk in closet!" I yelled.

"Alright so you two can handle living in this place?" John asked with a laugh as he walked in the bedroom.

"Oh my gosh yes!" I said.

"Yeah I think we'll take it John." Sebastian said. "This place is great."

John told us all the details of the building. I was excited to hear the complex had a pool, a fitness center, and our own storage space. John said he would cover all the utilities and we could pay him $800 a month. This was a steal and we knew he was giving us a deal. We gave John the cash for our first month and he left in a hurry telling us he had to get back to work.

Sebastian and I took measurements and discussed how we would furnish the place. We unloaded the Jeep with the boxes we had stuffed into it. After doing so we drove straight to IKEA. Two hours later we checked out. We would have all our things delivered to our new condo later in the day. Next we went to the electronics store to pick out our new TV. Sebastian talked me into a 52inch flat screen. I thought it was rather much since our condo wasn't big to begin with. It didn't take much to persuade me though, we had waited a long time for this and I wanted Sebastian to have the best.

We dropped off our new purchases at our new place and went over to Pop's house to get the rest of our stuff. Yara like clockwork had food on the table when we arrived, they barbequed and the house smelled like chicken and fried plantains. I would definitely miss the food the most. Sebastian and I were spoiled living here. Both of us ate a big plate of food. I went to our room to make sure we had everything packed while Sebastian stayed in the kitchen talking with Pops. They were in a deep discussion and I had no idea what it was about. Since living here over a year I have picked up quite a few Spanish words but nowhere near enough to have a conversation or understand one.

I realized I forgot our stuff under the bathroom sink. I got a plastic bag and started throwing in all our belongings. We didn't have much but now that we were moving it appeared to have added up. I heard my phone ringing and I saw Nelly's blonde headed mug on the screen.

"Hey Nels!"

"Hey Lee, you busy?"

"Not really what's up?" I asked.

"You will never guess what happened," Nelly said.

"Probably not," I said. "What happened?"

"Have you heard from Gwen?"

"No Nelly I haven't. What's going on?"

"Her and Tom broke up!"

"Oh wow!" I said. "Finally."

"I know good for her right?"

"Yeah I guess," I said. "Is she okay?"

"You know Gwen she doesn't really let on too much but she seems okay," Nelly said. "She said it was mutual."

Gwen and Tom had gone out for years now. Nelly and I thought Tom was all wrong for her.

"Damn. Well if she's cool I say good for her. I'll have to call her."

"No don't. I don't want her to know I told you. At least wait a couple days, she just told me today."

"Fine Nelly. Hey how's the cucumber?"

Nelly let out one of her cackles. Her laugh is classic.

"Funny bitch!"

"Hey I am sure Boyd's single!"

"Ew Leah!" Nelly screeched. "No, you know what? I heard that he has a girlfriend. He likes her because she can drink him under the table. That's what Tom told me."

"That's funny," I said. "Good old Boyd."

"Yeah good ole Boyd, good ole pain in my ass Boyd."

Boyd was a friend of Tom's that Nelly and I hung out with one summer in college. He was always causing trouble.

"Oh Nelly I got big news."

"You guys are moving back here?"

"No."

"Dammit."

"We are moving into our own place. It's a condo downtown and Nelly it is sick! It's like a resort. I'll send you pictures."

"That is awesome," Nelly said. "Good for you guys. Dang I should start cleaning toilets for a living. Sure it pays better than teaching little angels."

"Probably."

"Alright Leah I have to grade papers. I'm out!"

"Okay, keep those cucumbers cool, they get all flimsy if you don't."

"Leah you know I do miss you but you can seriously suck it."

"You love me Nels. Later!"

"Bye bye."

Nelly made me laugh. I thought of the night in college when we were only 19 and she used her friend's ID to get in to a club. The girl was Mexican. Nelly is blonde with blue eyes. It was hilarious. The guy checking the ID's never said anything. We couldn't believe we all got in using fake ID's. It was easily the best night of our freshman year.

"You got all our stuff ready?" Sebastian asked.

He appeared out of nowhere hovering over my shoulder.

"I think so. Luckily we don't have much stuff. Did you get our guns back from Pops?"

"Yep they are in the Jeep. I'll take theses boxes out. We have to get going I want to make sure we are at the condo when the furniture comes."

We hugged Pops and Yara promising we would try to make it over at least once a week to have dinner.

Later that night we got the furniture arranged how we wanted and our boxes unpacked. By the time we were done it was 1 am. I sprawled out on our new leather couch placing my head on Sebastian's lap. I was wearing only my underwear and a tank top. This was the life I thought. I felt freedom. It's the little things that you come to appreciate. I fell asleep to a movie Sebastian put on. He woke me up to go into bed. I looked out our floor to ceiling window at the lake with the lights of the city shining on it.

"Is this real?"

"Yes Leah." Sebastian put his arms around my waist, pulled my hair back and kissed my neck. "This is our new home."

# CHAPTER 3

I slept soundly in our new bed in our new condo. However we would need to get darker shades. The brightness from the sun woke me up. I knew Sebastian had watched the rest of the movie last night and more than likely he would stay sleeping for a few more hours. I quietly got dressed, grabbed my laptop and snuck out the door. I wanted to go explore our new neighborhood. I walked a few blocks and decided to go into a quaint little coffee shop. The street I was on was made of bricks. This area had a historic feel and I was digging the vibe.

I order an iced coffee and a bagel. I find a seat by the window and get my laptop out. We didn't check our emails at all yesterday. I will try to weed through them and pick out our next job. First I check my personal email. Gwen sent me an email yesterday about her break up with Tom. I responded to her then sent a mass email to the family members I had in my contact list and gave them my new address. I knew this would spark a call from my mom I just didn't know it would be so soon. I filled her in on our new condo and she was overjoyed for us. She filled me in on everything that was going on back in Colorado. My grandma and grandpa who we called PBJ, which stands for Pretty Boy and Jazzy, were going on their first trip to New York City soon. That was scary to think about. I couldn't imagine them in NYC. My brother Adam had a serious girlfriend and my mom thought she might be the one. Adam is four years older than me. After he graduated from CU he went to the marines and was now a cop in downtown Denver. I rarely heard from him but knew it was due to his demanding job. I let my mom know that Gwen and Tom broke up. Since I grew up with Gwen she was practically part of our family. My mom said she would send her a care package. I laughed, told her I loved her and said I had to get going.

I read through the emails for our ad and nothing seemed real promising. I checked out the missed connections email to see if any of John's contacts had requested our service. _Yes, finally an email!_ It had been almost three weeks since we worked a missed connections job. The request was to find a person ASAP. I logged out and put away my computer. I would have to discuss this with Sebastian before replying with our terms and a quote.

I stopped by the grocery store before going up to our condo. Sebastian would be hungry when he woke up and we had no food in our kitchen. I was going to thoroughly enjoy having a grocery store below us. Sebastian was still in bed when I get home. I went into the bathroom and put my swimsuit on.

"Sweetie?"

"Yes my Sebibears." I whispered.

"What are you doing?"

"I went on a walk to the coffee shop around the corner. I am going to go take a dip in the pool then I will be up to make you breakfast."

"K." Sebastian flipped over and put his pillow over his head. "So fricken bright in here."

"I know."

The pool was nothing short of amazing. I was glad I could start swimming laps again. Pop's pool was too small for that. I had always loved the water and missed the Olympic size pool at the health club I worked at in Phoenix. I enjoyed swimming it allowed me clear my head. I thought a lot about our business and one idea I had I was going to bring up to Sebastian over breakfast. I was anxious to talk to him about it. The one thing that was difficult about the work we did was that I could never stop thinking about it. It wasn't like a 9 to 5 job where you could leave everything behind when the clock hit five. I toweled off after only 20 minutes.

It's the little things in life. I was cooking for the first time in a year and a half. I couldn't stop smiling as I prepared pancakes and cut up fruit. I was in _our_ kitchen making breakfast. I called out for Sebastian to come eat breakfast. He walked out groggy and looking cute in his underwear. He drenched his fruit pancakes in syrup.

"So...we got an email from a John contact."

Sebastian yawned, "Yeah?"

"Yes the job is to find a person ASAP. They want us to respond with a quote and if they agree they will give us the details. Sebastian I have been thinking and I think we need to up our price."

"Oh you do huh?"

Sebastian still had sleep in his eyes. It always takes him awhile to come around in the mornings.

"Yes I do. I think we are quoting low for the jobs we get through John's contacts."

"I have been thinking about that too. I have been doing research and our fees are rather low. Let's do it. Respond to the email and say we'll do it for $10,000."

"Seriously?"

"Yes Leah. You said it yourself we are quoting too low. We have a legit service and if these people are requesting us to find someone for them, you know the task is hard for them to do themselves. All the missed connections jobs we have done have been complex. They will pay for the service."

"Deal," I said. "I'll respond right now."

I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen and started to unpack a box when Sebastian yelled from the bathroom that we got a reply already to the email. I ran in to the bathroom. Sebastian was on the toilet with the computer on the counter next to him. Electronics had replaced magazines in our bathroom.

"They said yes!"

"Yes?" I asked.

"Leah they're agreeing to pay us our quote of $10,000!"

I let out a scream. Both of us were surprised that they accepted our quote. It confirmed what we had suspected - we should be charging a lot more for our services. We were selling ourselves short. Right away Sebastian started to get dollar signs in his eyes. He went straight to Ebay to look at sports cars for sale.

"We're going to have to work a lot of jobs to get a Ferrari Seb!" I laughed at him.

"Not that many at 10K a pop!"

.

The missing person was Megan Bell. The email we received provided little details about her. We only knew she was a 21-year-old college student at Rollins College in Winter Park, majoring in child psychology. The person who hired us said he needs her location as soon as possible and that we need to stay under the radar. We had done a few missing persons cases like this before. John told us when we started that many law firms have to track down witnesses or people to stand trial. A lot of times those people don't want to be found and they go to extremes to stay hidden.

Step one was to receive the first half of our payment. To do this without revealing our identity always took some creative thinking. For this assignment we would be collecting our 5k by using a homeless man. That homeless man was Sebastian. To pull this off we stopped at a consignment store and picked out his clothes. Then we went to our trusty costume shop and picked up a few supplies. With everything we needed Sebastian pulled our vehicle into a parking garage. He got in the back and started dressing. Sebastian struggled to get on his new attire in the small space of our backseat.

"Do I make a hot homeless man?"

"Right now you do."

Sebastian only had worn plaid pants on. I was turned around in my seat looking at him. "Look at those pecs." I leaned over to put my hands on his chest and stomach. He grabbed my hand, kissed it and moved it out of the way so he could put his shirt on. "You have to blow your nose on your shirt or something. Make this more believable."

"Good idea, it looks old but nice huh?"

"Yes. Hey let's run it over to make it dirty."

"Good idea." Sebastian took off the shirt and hands it to me.

Our Jeep's tires were filthy and they made the already old shirt look icky. Sebastian put it on and I helped him put his beard on. He put a hat over his short hair and he was ready to go. Sebastian stayed in the back seat while I drove to our destination.

"Drive a block over," Sebastian said. "I don't want anyone to see me get out."

I followed Sebastian's instructions. "Let's go over this one more time. So I need to go wait at the east bound lane for the I4, correct?"

"Yes," he replied. "The exchange is going to be made at the northbound ramp. Take pictures of the car and if you can the driver."

"Okay I got it," I said. "Take your can and your sign."

"It's supposed to happen at 5:00 which is rush hour so I wouldn't be surprised if it is after. All I know is that it's a white car. The driver is going to give me a peace sign."

"Be safe Sebibears."

"Sweetie have the handgun ready just in case."

"I'll cover you."

Sebastian laughed nervously. "Okay Axel Foley."

I waited on the side of the eastbound lane. I had a clear view of Sebastian on the northbound ramp. I had my binoculars locked in on him. Damn he was cute even dressed like a bum. After Sebastian received our payment from the guy in the white car his plan was to jump over the rail and run down to where I was parked. This would make it impossible for the white car to follow us. Yes we took being anonymous to the extreme and maybe it bordered on paranoia but it was part of the fun. Plus it helped us sleep better at night.

It was after five the exchange should happen soon. I had the camera in my hand ready to start snapping. _Uh oh, I see another bum. This might not be good._ Panic set in. _What if the white car gives the money to the other bum? Is the bum a fake dressed up so he can see where Sebastian goes?_ We didn't cover this when we were plotting the exchange. Our email instructions said our homeless guy would be holding a sign that read 'I need a beer.' The new bum had a sign as well but I couldn't read it from where I was. _White car, I see a white car, it's slowing down at Sebastian, phew - got the right bum._ I snapped pictures nonstop during the whole exchange. After the white car drove off Sebastian kept on with the act. I saw the other bum start walking fast to approach Sebastian. Sebastian was saying something to him then started to jog away. Luckily the bum didn't follow after him. I snapped pictures of Sebastian as he came running towards me.

"5k baby!" Sebastian hissed. "I got it!"

I didn't react I was concentrating on pulling onto the road so we could speed away with no incident. I wasn't used to being the driver.

"Sweetie did you see that homeless dude? He came to bum rush me. I guess I was on his territory."

"Yes," I respond. "I was so scared when I first saw him. I thought the white car may give him the money by mistake."

"That would have sucked!"

"What did the bum say?"

"He just started yelling 'this is my home!' I yelled back that he could have it. Dirty bastard."

"What was the white piece of paper with the cash?" I asked.

"Oh it's just some information on the girl and a picture. Just says she is not living on campus anymore and they have no idea where she is. Possible that she has changed her looks."

I glanced at the picture. It was a headshot. Megan Bell looked like a normal college student. She had auburn colored hair, which may not have been natural, a blemish free face and hazel eyes. She looked a lot older than her 21 years of age.

Sebastian started to strip out of his clothes as I fought traffic to cross lanes.

"Damn I thought you could leave everything on," I said. "We could role play for awhile."

"You're funny sweetie," Sebastian laughed. "You'd want me even if I looked like this wouldn't you?"

"Oh yes!" I growled at him. "Rawr"

He laughed and shook his head. "We have to get started on this job, we have a girl to find."

"I know, I know."

.

While Sebastian showered I walked down the street and picked up Thai food. While we ate both of us were on our laptops doing an extensive search to see what we could find on Megan Bell. I uncovered few details. After an hour we compared notes. Megan worked part time at the WP Kids Club. She was a senior at Rollins College. That was all we had.

"Time to call Pauly," Sebastian announced.

He went to the fridge and opened a beer.

"Call him up," I said. "He'll be all over it."

Pauly was our tech geek. In the beginning we knew that we needed to be schooled in computer programming. Sebastian saw an ad in the paper for a gaming café near UCF. He went there asked who was the best gamer. Everyone told him 1337knight69 aka Pauly. He was a hacker extraordinaire and we've been paying him for his expertise since the day we met him. Pauly fit the typical stereotype of a computer wiz. He was a shy skinny zit faced genius and I didn't know what we would do without him.

"Pauly is on it," Sebastian said. "He gets out of class at 10:00 tomorrow morning he said we can meet him at his apartment at 10:20 and he'll give us everything he finds."

"Cool. Well since we can't do much more tonight you up for that role play idea?"

"Sure but I am not being a homeless guy. What about I am a smoking hot private eye and you're a gorgeous, breathtakingly beautiful private eye?"

"Ah I guess I can make that work."

I said this in a joking manner and Sebastian leaped towards me. He picked me up and swung me over his shoulder.

"Is this a bum rush?" I asked.

I was laughing uncontrollably as he took me into the bedroom and threw me on our bed. _Yeah this would work._

.

Pauly's apartment smelled like college boys. It also looked like a geeks paradise. He had every gaming system imaginable, two computer stations set up and wires that went on for miles. It was like a control tower and Sebastian's eyes lit up every time we came here. He walked around slowly, gazing at all the machines and poking at them. I always asked a million questions about all the gadgets and Pauly responded as if he was annoyed by my lack of knowledge, like I should know this stuff. Sebastian got my attention and pointed to the poster on the wall. It was a swimsuit model. I rolled my eyes. I wonder if Pauly had even been laid yet. My money would be on that answer being no.

Sebastian engaged Pauly in gamer talk while Pauly set up his computer. It bored me. I snapped a picture of a bowl on the end table that had macaroni and cheese in it. Looks like it has been there for weeks. I sent it to Gwen and Nelly with the caption 'Does this remind you of anything?' Nelly was notorious for leaving dishes around our house with food left in them. She quickly replied her favorite and overly used comeback 'Suck it.'

"Here is everything I found on the subject," Pauly said. "You have your memory stick?"

I grabbed the memory stick out of my purse. "Here you go."

"Okay," Pauly said. "I will put it on here and I can also print it out if you'd like."

"Yes please."

Both Sebastian and I started reading the file Pauly wrote on our subject. Megan's background search revealed she was a foster kid. Her last known foster family lived in Sanford. Pauly obtained the address and the name of the foster parents, Mike and Carol Johnson. She was valedictorian of her high school and received an academic scholarship to Rollins College. Pauly found her cell phone number but there had been no activity.

"I can go further if needed," Pauly said.

"Can you do financial activity?" Sebastian asked.

"Sure thing."

Pauly's magic fingers went a mile a minute. He flipped back and forth between different screens. I had no idea how he was getting information but every few seconds he would sigh or groan with frustration.

"Nothing!" He exclaimed. "No credit cards or checks in her name. Zilch."

I sighed loudly and looked at Sebastian. This job wasn't going to be as easy as we thought. Pauly's searches usually returned at least 2-3 different routes to explore.

"Thanks Pauly." Sebastian handed him three hundred dollar bills. I grabbed my purse and all three of us walk toward the front door.

"No problem guys," Pauly said. "I'm always around."

When we got into the Jeep we wasted no time discussing our next steps. We agreed that we would start with her foster parent's house in Sanford. More than likely the people that hired us had not dug deep enough to discover this information. And this was the only information we had to go on. We drove back to our condo so we could plot our stake out. Sebastian printed out a map of the area where the Johnson family lived and started studying it. I packed a bag of clothes and toiletries. I grabbed two pillows off our bed. Before leaving we stopped by the grocery store to get snacks. Snacks were essential on a stake out. We bought granola bars, fruit snacks, licorice, pretzels, gum, bottled water, and some magazines.

Sanford is twenty miles from downtown Orlando. We stopped at a Puerto Rican restaurant along the way to eat lunch. Traffic was light since it was early in the afternoon and we made to Sanford quickly. The Johnson's had a modest house with a two-car garage and a nicely manicured lawn. The neighborhood was by no means lower class but there were a few broke down pickups in the lawn and tattered boats. There was a park at the end of their road with a good-sized playground and baseball diamond. Sebastian drove around the block and looped back to their house. He parked a few houses down from the Johnson's behind a Ford Focus.

"Now what?" I asked.

I was already bored and dreading being confined to our car for hours.

"We wait Leah," Sebastian said. "We wait."

"We may be waiting awhile Sebastian it's only 2:16."

"Part of the action."

Sebastian put his hand on my leg. I tended to be impatient and we both knew it. I knew stakeouts were 99% waiting but I didn't like sitting still and I knew per Sebastian's thoroughness we may be here all night. I grabbed a magazine I bought earlier and started flipping through the pages. I stopped when a thought came to me. "Hey what about calling WP Kids Club just to see what they say. Might as well give it a shot, right?"

"Yeah, go for it."

"Okay," I said. "I'll just pretend I am one of Megan's friends from high school."

I dialed the number and hoped that Megan would be there. It was wishful thinking but I am an optimist. An older lady answered the phone. Megan wasn't there and the lady did not know when she worked next. I was put on hold while she checked the work schedule. She finally came back on the phone and said she didn't see her on the schedule at all for the rest of the month.

"I tried," I said. "No dice."

I sighed and looked out the window. For the most part all the houses on the street were similar to each other. The house outside of my window had a gaudy pink flamingo in a flowerbed under the living room window. Sebastian was on his laptop doing searches on the Johnson's. I read my magazine and thought about where I would hide if I didn't want to have to testify in court. Megan went to college. It must be a pretty serious case if she was missing classes to avoid having to testify. If that is even why we were being hired to find her. When we're given details on a job they are so sparse. I liked it that way because it allowed us to just do our jobs and remain private. However it would be interesting to know all the situations.

Sebastian nudged me awake. I had dozed off. Finally we had action at the Johnson home. A maroon four door Taurus pulled into the garage. It was 4:47 PM. A lady got out of the car. I assumed it was Carol the foster mom. Two kids get out as well. I placed the girl at around 12 years old and the younger one, a boy around 7 years old. Both kids had book bag in their hand. They tinkered around before going into the house. The garage door was left open.

"What do you think the chances are that Megan is inside the house?" I asked Sebastian.

"Not sure," he said. "If she is here there will be something that gives it away."

"Maybe," I said. "If I were hiding here though I wouldn't come out of the house to risk being seen. I may step out in the backyard a few times to get sunshine but that's it."

"We'll have to scope out the backyard tomorrow," Sebastian said. "Case the place while they're gone."

At 5:40 Mike Johnson arrives home and parked in the garage. He shut the garage door after walking into the house. And that was the end of any action at the Johnson house that evening. All lights were off by 10:00 PM. I want to go home to sleep in our bed but Sebastian insists we stay the night because Megan could come here in the middle of the night. I tried to refute that idea because I wanted my bed but it didn't work. I grabbed my pillow and sulked.

"It's part of the job my beautiful partner in crime." Sebastian put his forefinger on my lip and flipped it down so it made a sound. "You do look cute when you are all pouty."

I tried not t o smile but I couldn't help it. I put my head on Sebastian's shoulder. He kissed my hair and breathed in my scent. He was always telling me how good I smelled. I asked him to tell me a story so I could fall asleep. Sebastian told me the story of the day we first met. He was a great storyteller and after he told it I started to give my version of that day. At the time the day was nothing out of the ordinary. Nelly and I were selling football tickets, so I guess it could be classified as out of the ordinary but that was a different story. It was amazing to think that this day was the start of our life together.

I pleaded with Sebastian to take me to the gas station so I could pee in a toilet and not in the empty water bottle he was urging me to use. The gas station was not far from the Johnson's and we were back to our same spot along the curb within 15 minutes. Sebastian took the first shift and I got in position to go to bed. It's not easy falling asleep in a parked car. My sleepiness finally became too much and my tossing and turning body finally gave up. I slept hard and when I awoke I crossed my fingers hoping it was close to 5 AM. I checked my phone it was only 3:41 AM. My neck was sore from the way I slept. Sebastian was watching a movie on his computer. He looked like he was half asleep. I gently grabbed the computer out of his hands. It startled him.

"Go to sleep," I whispered. "I'll take over."

"I was up, I was up," he murmured. "No action. All quiet."

"Alright my Sebibears, get some sleep."

"If you start getting sleepy wake me up Leah. I am serious."

"I will."

I kissed him on the cheek and below the eye. His skin was soft. I gave him one last kiss on the lips.

"Love you sweetie," Sebastian whispered as he wiggled around trying to get comfortable.

"Love you too."

I started watching the movie Sebastian had on and ate a granola bar. I only took a sip of water. I didn't want to chance having to pee. They never said stakeouts were glamorous.

.

"This thing is hot as hell and it itches!"

I was itching and rubbing all over trying to make it stop. Sebastian laughed and tried to fix my bun. We were at the park down the street from the Johnson's house. It was day five of our stakeout of the Johnson family. We had absolutely nothing on the girl we were supposed to find. There had been no sign of her here and we didn't know where else to look. She had no other known family. We spent some time lurking around the kids club on two separate occasions but that rendered useless. We were back at the Johnson house and had a plan. It involved me wearing a long stuffy skirt, with a puffy button down shirt, and my hair in a bun. I would be posing as a church lady going door to door. We were desperate. Sebastian put a call into Pauly earlier to run the Johnson's credit card history. Our theory was if she wasn't staying at their house maybe she was staying somewhere else and borrowing one of her parent's credit cards. I was hoping Pauly called before I had to go through with my church lady impersonation.

"You ready Gertrude?" Sebastian grabbed my bun and shook my head.

"Very funny," I said. "This outfit is horrid and so are these flyers."

"Just keep it simple Leah. More than likely if she is in the house she won't come out. Try to inquire about all of their family members. But don't come across as nosey."

"Thanks for that Sebastian," I said sarcastically. "Anything else?"

Sebastian gave me a dirty look. He left me standing outside the Jeep while he took a walk in the park. I instantly felt bad that I snapped at Sebastian but I was tired, frustrated and dirty. My threshold for agitation was at its limit. Living in a Jeep would do that to you. I was going to burst into tears at any moment. Everything we had tried so far had failed and I felt like we put all are eggs in one basket by spending 24/5 in this crappy neighborhood. Now I had to go up to this house acting like my name was Catherine from the Baptist Suffering Sister's group. Like that was going to work. Megan would come bolting out of a bedroom when I mentioned I had goodie bags for everyone in the household. She wouldn't want to miss my goodie bag or my prayer flyer.

Sebastian came back from his stroll. He completely ignored me and sat in the Jeep. I leaned inside the Jeep's window. "Pauly call back?"

Sebastian looked down at his phone and said "No" without looking up at me. The sun was setting and it was time to get this over with. I grabbed my canvas bag with the flyers and goodie bags. I shut the door and started my walk down the street. We had rehearsed this for the last two days. I had the plan down pat and I knew it was all about execution. Anything could happen and change the script. With boldness built up from being confined to a Jeep for five days I walked confidently down the street like the spirit of the nunnery I was hatched out of was upon me.

I practiced my pitch line over and over as I walked past dim lit houses getting closer to the Johnson household. If I could give an impromptu talk at a sex addicts meeting I could get through this. I slowed my pace as the Johnson house neared. I saw the Jeep in its spot. It's too dark to see him anyway but I don't look toward Sebastian. I put a little hop in my step as I got into character. Catherine had to be zealous in her calling.

Finally I was at the driveway. I gingerly took a couple steps on the driveway. Lights! A car's headlights were shining on me from behind. It startled me and I froze. I was in my own world prepping for my presentation and did not hear a car coming at all. With no time to think I angled back down to the sidewalk awkwardly getting out of the path of the car. My heart was in my throat while I continued to walk on the sidewalk past the Johnson house. I turned to walk up to the door of the house I was in front of. I felt like the person who parked in the Johnson's driveway was watching my every move. I gave the motion of knocking on the door without actually having my fist touch the door. I looked to my right and saw that the person that was in the Johnson's driveway must already be in the house.

I walked down to the sidewalk at a faster pace and crossed the street to go back to the Jeep. I opened the back door and slid in.

"Who is it?"

"Not sure," Sebastian replied. "It's a younger guy. Wondering if it's maybe one of their older foster kids or a relative."

Sebastian glanced back at me. I was taking off my clothes at a rapid rate. I was sweaty and itchy.

"How did you like my diversion?" I asked.

"Um that was graceful."

Sebastian said this sarcastically. I took offense.

"What was I supposed to do? I didn't know who it was. It could have been Megan. I didn't think I should go through with the plan."

"Sweetie! You made the right decision. You just looked like a deer in the headlights."

There was silence for a few moments then I broke it by laughing. Sebastian started laughing. I felt like an idiot while I was in the moment, now I am imagining what I looked like from Sebastian's view.

"You looked like you were out trick or treating," Sebastian said. "And your face you made when you looked at the car! That was classic."

"The headlights were so bright!"

"Look, look!" Sebastian yelled.

I sprang up from the backseat and looked toward the house. The front door of the Johnson house was opened and out walked the guy from the car. He had on tan cargo shorts, a white tee shirt and had a suitcase in his hand. He looked young. My guess was he was somewhere between 18-22 years old. Carol held the screen door open while they chatted for a few moments before the guy walked to his car. Finally something was happening at this house.

"Finally we have something!" I exhaled.

A surge of adrenaline refreshed my mind and body.

"Hopefully he's taking us to our girl," Sebastian said.

Sebastian started the Jeep and pulled away from the curb to tail the car. I crawled from the backseat to the front. After the difficulty of the last five days I was not going to get my hopes up on our new lead but I was elated we were finally leaving the neighborhood.

# CHAPTER 4

Sebastian kept a safe distance behind our guy and followed him all the way to a duplex right by the UCF campus. He young man parked his Buick Century on the street. There were two cars parked in the driveway of the duplex. The man grabbed his backpack and two Wal-Mart bags from the backseat.

"Why isn't he taking the suitcase in?" I asked.

I was getting frustrated. I wanted this whole mission over. I wanted it confirmed that Megan was staying at his place. Then this job would be over and I could have my bathtub and my bed back. I knew I had to let that wishful thinking go because nothing was definite in this type of work. Patience was not my friend.

"I don't know," Sebastian replied. "Maybe it's heavy and he'll come back out for it."

Two hours passed and the guy had not come out for the suitcase. Sebastian called Pauly right after we arrived and gave him the address. We had been waiting on him to call us back. He said he was in the middle of something at the moment. Which I took to mean he was playing Xbox online or watching porn.

I was glad I had not let myself get overly excited earlier dreaming of my bath and my bed. I prepared mentally to endure another long sleepless night staking out the new location. I guessed that if Megan was in the house they might have wanted to sneak in the suitcase at a later time so nobody would see. I really didn't know anything though. Maybe this guy had nothing to do with Megan Bell. I was sure hoping he did though. I was hungry and I talked Sebastian into letting me take the Jeep to the fast food joint around the corner. He took one of our long boards out of the back so he could keep an eye on the place - while acting as if he is taking a mellow night ride through the neighborhood on his board. He would fit right in. It was a Monday and I heard loud yells from college students, cars driving by and groups of people walking around. To the east of the duplex was a large apartment complex and college age kids had been walking in and out of it since we got here. The look of it reminded me of smelly laundry and ramen.

I was not surprised to learn that nothing happened while I was on my food run. We ate our chicken sandwiches and fries without saying much to each other. It had been about 9 hours since we last ate. I savored every bite. After I finished I leaned my seat back and rested my eyes. I tried to get comfy. It was 10:51 PM. I felt myself fading in and out of sleep until Sebastian's phone vibrated. It had to be Pauly. Sebastian grabbed a notebook and fired off question after question. I heard him tell Pauly thanks and that we would drop by his payment by the end of the week.

"Bingo! Pauly found a connection."

I brought my seat upright and nodded for Sebastian to spill the beans on what it was.

"So with the address I gave him he had to do extensive searches because it brought up three different names. Long story short he found one of the guys has a connection to Megan Bell. They lived in the same foster home for four years."

"So the guy is like her foster brother?

"Yes at least at one point," Sebastian said. "His name is Robby Snedden, he's 19 and goes to UCF. Get this Pauly did a background search, the kid did time in juvie for two years for getting caught dealing drugs. His adult record isn't spotless either he was charged with a DUI less than a year ago and reckless endangerment four months ago."

"Wow tough life," I said. "You think maybe he is a partner in crime with Megan? Maybe she is wanted for something?"

"Who knows," Sebastian said. "It's possible."

I knew John Campbell's connections reached further than his law firm pals. He had friends in all positions of power. What if we are actually working for the FBI or the police right now I thought to myself. That would be pretty cool to know we helped catch bad guys.

Sebastian continued with Pauly's findings. "Per the dates it looks like they were in the same foster home for four years, it would have been when Megan was 11 years old to 15 years old. Robby is two years younger."

"When did Robby go to juvie?" I asked.

"Ah let's see," Sebastian said. "He was 15 when he went."

"Interesting. Sweet we have a connection now we just have to find out if Megan is staying at his place."

This girl was harder to find than Waldo and I was grateful we were at least making headway with some of Megan's connections. Robby Snedden might be the key to locating her.

"You want to go to the door?"

I gave Sebastian a puzzled look.

"What? You want me to just go up to the door?"

"Well put on a wig."

I kept looking at Sebastian with a what the hell are you talking about expression on my face.

"What there are lights on," Sebastian responded. "They are up. Just say you must have the wrong address you were looking for a friend."

I didn't like this idea at all. "I agree that we need to try to confirm if Megan is in the house but I don't think me going to the door at this time of the night the best idea."

"Okay."

Sebastian said that in a way that implied he would like me to explain. I could read my husband, I knew him inside and out. "If one of us is going to the door it should be you," I said. "Three guys are more likely to be able to describe a chick better if interrogated. I go to the door and they will remember a caramel-eyed gorgeous blonde. They won't forget this face or body. You go to the door and they will quickly forget the details of what you look like."

Sebastian chuckled. It was his fake laugh. He looked so sexy at the moment. The light from the street lamp illuminated his face. I couldn't wait till this job was over so I could enjoy that body of his. It had been too long.

"Leah sweetie you're funny."

"Ha ha you don't have a comeback."

"Whatever," Sebastian sighed. "Fine you don't have to go but I don't think I should either. It's late and I don't want them to suspect anything. I say we stake out the place tonight. Remember the suitcase is still in the back seat. We have to stay on Robby tomorrow, follow him everywhere. If he still has the suitcase in the car tomorrow night we will make a plan to go to the door."

"Deal," I said. "Now what?"

"We wait and watch. You can go to sleep if you want."

"Okay. How about a quickie first?" I leaned over to grab his junk.

"Leah stop!" Sebastian grabbed my hand and kissed my lips gently. "I promise once we finish this job we'll catch up."

"Nice, I'll be waiting Mr. Reyes."

I slipped back into my seat and browsed through a few websites on the computer. I wanted to brush my teeth but that was out of the question. I hated going to sleep without brushing my teeth. Gwen's face popped up on the phone she was calling me.

"Hey there Gwenie Gwenster."

"Leah! What's up, it has been awhile."

"I know. How's my newly single friend?"

"Oh you know me I am slutting it up now."

Gwen had a great sense of humor. She was always sarcastic. She made me laugh.

"Nice, hey did you get the care package from my mom?"

"Yes! That is why I called. She is so funny."

"Did she send you a dildo or something?"

Gwen let out a laugh. Her laugh was different from Nelly's. She had more of a giggle laugh.

"Oh God no. She sent a bunch of chocolate, a gift card to Starbucks, a little stuffed animal puppy dog and a CD of songs." She busted out in her giggle when she said the last part.

"She sent you a mix tape?" I was able to ask in between laughing. "Did she put love songs on it?"

"No upbeat songs like 'Another one bites the dust' and some jock jam type songs."

We both shared a long laugh. Like Nelly, Gwen's laugh was contagious and it was nice to hear from my friend. Sebastian put his finger to his mouth. I guess I was getting too loud for him.

"Your mom is so cool," Gwen said. "It was nice of her to send me that. She included a card and in it she said that Jazzy told her to tell me there are plenty of dicks and balls in the sea."

I almost spit out the water I just sipped. When I heard Gwen mention Jazzy I knew the next part would be good. I could see my grandma saying that. I think both Gwen and I had tears coming out of our eyes we were laughing so hard. I finally composed myself and told Gwen I would talk to her later.

I was not sleepy anymore so I engaged in conversation with Sebastian. We talked about a wide range of things from the best odds in Vegas to him explaining to me how the Grand Canyon was formed. Sebastian was always teaching me something I didn't know. When it was 12:45 AM I put my head on his shoulder and after a few minutes of him explaining falling stars I dozed off. I felt him lean me back in my seat so my neck wouldn't be sore. Then I crashed out completely.

"Leah, Leah wake up!"

"What?"

We were no longer parked.

"Get up, Robby's on the move."

"Huh?" I rubbed my eyes and brought my seat back to its upright position. I looked outside to study my surroundings. "Where are we? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" It didn't look like we are by UCF anymore.

"I didn't want to startle you I was concentrating on watching Robby. I have only been following him a few minutes."

I rubbed my eyes again and tried to snap out of the fog I was in. "So he decides to leave at 3:51 AM?"

"I guess so," Sebastian said.

With my eyes in focus and finally feeling alert I could tell where we were. What I suspected to be Robby's car since it was the only car in sight veered to get on the 417 going north. This was a good thing. It was hard to tail someone when there are no other cars around. When we got on the 417 the traffic was light, but steady enough that Sebastian sped up to keep our Buick Century in clear sight. The car exited off of Red Bug Lake Rd. What a great name of a road. I had been in this area once to go to the mall that we just passed by. It wasn't that far of a drive from Pop's house. Sebastian slowed down and put what I thought was far too much distance between the Buick and us. One turn and we would lose him.

Robby finally turned off Red Bug Lake Rd and drove north. Sebastian sped up. I had the map of the area on my lap. We might be in trouble; we were heading into a residential area with a lot of different streets to choose from. I give Sebastian a heads up and he acted like I was accusing him of being an amateur. Sebastian killed the headlights while making the turn onto Eagle Circle. Robby's lights were visible. Looking at the map there was a golf course that stretched a great distance to the right of us. Of course there were lakes all around here as well. I am not sure why Florida's motto isn't land of 10,000 lakes.

Robby took us on a long voyage along Eagle Circle before turning left. The street he turned on is Dew Drop Cove. We barely caught a glimpse of Robby's lights before he turned left again onto Laurel Way. This neighborhood sounded rich and it looked rich too. I wondered whose house we were going to and what they did for a living. Maybe Megan had a rich uncle or aunt that she was staying with. Robby continued on before taking another turn. _Uh oh._ After the last turn there were no car lights. More than likely he turned right. Sebastian approached with caution. He pulled to a stop at the t-intersection and both of us looked to the right. There was a car stopped along the right side of the road. The break lights were still on. Robby was parked on the side of the house. After a few minutes Robby stepped out of the car. He had his cell phone to his ear and was looking around. It appeared that he was lost. I saw movement from the left side of the street. Out walked a girl. It was Megan Bell! It had to be her. I grabbed our camera that was on the floor and started snapping away. With the aid of the streetlight the pictures should come out perfect. I did my best to keep my hand steady. Robby grabbed the suitcase and a Wal-Mart bag out of his backseat. He crossed the street to where Megan was and followed her. It looked like they were going through a backyard of a house. At our angle we couldn't tell where they went.

"I am going to go find out which house they went into," Sebastian said. "Stay here."

"Okay," I said. "Don't get caught."

"I'm taking my board as a decoy."

"Hey take a gun!"

Sebastian put the gun in the back of his shorts and took off down the street with his long board in hand. We didn't have any time to plan this. I put the camera down and grabbed the other gun from the glove compartment. I felt safe holding the gun. Sebastian was already nearing the bushes close to where we saw Megan and Robby disappear. I watched Sebastian sneak into the bushes and disappear. I didn't like this. I waited on pins and needles feeling helpless. I calmed myself down by reminding myself that I may need to react quickly and I needed to remain focused. I relaxed the grip I had on the gun. After nearly 10 minutes that seemed like an eternity to me I saw Robby walk back to his car. The suitcase was gone and Megan was not with him. He turned his car around so he could go back the way he came. I slouched down in my seat low enough that there was no way he will be able to see me. I heard the car pass and I breathed a sigh of relief. I slowly sat up.

I waited a few minutes and there was still no Sebastian. I thought about texting him but figured he was scoping out the house that Megan was in. I wondered if he needed back up and worried that something happened to him. Just as I was about to send him a text Sebastian emerged out of the bushes and walked toward the Jeep keeping a stoic look on his face.

"Tell me what happened!"

"Shhh Leah," Sebastian said. "Just wait. Let's get the address first. I am going to drive slowly past the front of the house, it's the 2nd house from the end. Try not to make it obvious but look as hard as you can to get the house number."

Sebastian turned to go down the street Robby was on. After we passed the area we turned left and slowed down by the 2nd house on the left. There was no outside door light to help us out but I could still see the bold black 2306.

It was a maze trying to find our way back to Red Bug Lake Rd. Once we did Sebastian told me what he saw. Which wasn't all that much. He waited in the bushes until he saw a fence in the backyard open and Robby step out. He was able to confirm which house they were in. He looked through the wiring in the fence and saw Megan go back into the house. She didn't have any lights on at all, outside or inside. The backyard was massive with a swimming pool that was empty and a sand pit that he guessed was used to play beach volleyball.

This was by far our most difficult and draining job in our short time working for the Judge's people. I was glad it was finally over and we could go home to sleep in our bed. I didn't even have any energy to celebrate a job well done. It was a few minutes after 5:00 AM. I was exhausted. I wanted to eat something and go to sleep.

On the way home I sent Pauly an email with the address asking him to search it thoroughly. I also sent one to the person who hired us saying we had the information and we could do an exchange tonight anytime after 5 PM. I didn't plan on leaving the condo at all during the day.

Like a zombie we walked into the grocery store below our condo and got some doughnuts and breakfast sandwiches. It was so nice to open our door. Ah the joy of being home. We devoured our food and then I brushed my teeth. I was too tired to take a bath or a shower. Both of us stripped off our clothes and sprawled out on our king size bed. Finally we slept.

.

Cloud nine was what you called it. And it felt good. We were a few minutes away from collecting our well-deserved $5k and after that we would be a few rows up watching a Magic playoff game. The exchange of the money and the Megan Bell location was being done at will call window at the arena. It was the best decoy exchange we had come up with by far. Waiting at will call were two basketball tickets and a packet of what would appear to be Magic material. In actuality it was our $5K. We would take it and leave behind an envelope with the print out of the address where we found Megan Bell and two clear colored pictures of her.

Sebastian and I got eight uninterrupted hours of sleep when we arrived home this morning. It didn't matter that sunlight lit up our bedroom we were out cold. I felt refreshed and ready to party. We ate downtown before making our way over to the arena.

Sebastian's phone rang, he answered and said "Hey Pauly." It was our reliable cyber geek. They talked for a while then Sebastian hung up the phone. "This is interesting."

"What is?" I asked.

He thought for a minute before answering. "Megan's address. Pauly said that the house is foreclosed, nobody lives there."

"Is he sure?"

"Yes, he said he did multiple searches and confirmed it."

"Huh," I said. "Maybe Megan is a fugitive on the run. She must have done something pretty major to risk adding breaking and entering to her record."

"It makes sense," Sebastian said. "I would never of guessed she would be in that kind of neighborhood. That explains the empty swimming pool. Oh and Pauly invited us to a Rave downtown."

"Seriously?"

"Hey it might be fun. It will be like old times when we went out to the clubs in Scottsdale and you tried to get me to dance."

"And I could barely get you to dance! But you will dance tonight Seb?" Most of the time is was Nelly, Gwen and I making fools of ourselves on the dance floor while Sebi laughed and pretended not to know us.

"Hey I made $10,000 in less then two weeks. I'll dance!"

"Sweet!" I exclaimed. "We'll go."

The will call plan worked like a charm. Sebastian waited in the Jeep watching for anything or anyone who looked suspicious. The $5k was all there. It was over. Mission completed. We drove back to the condo so we could add the money to the growing collection of green bills in our safe inside our paddle locked storage room. We then rode our bikes back to the arena so we wouldn't have to worry about parking or driving home after the rave. It was a rush weaving through the hordes of cars that were heading to the game. I screamed a lot on the ride and had a smile plastered on my face the entire time.

The Magic came from behind in the fourth quarter to win. The crowd erupted and the jubilation overflowed to the streets outside the arena. Sebastian and I hopped on our bikes, bobbing and weaving between the over animated fans. We stopped to grab a beer and a slice of pizza before going to the so-called rave.

"Cheers sweetie!"

I smiled and put my can up against Sebastian's. "Cheers my love."

"Let's shotgun these, you in?"

"Sure," I said. "But I may get a DUI on my bike."

I rarely drank. Sebastian always makes fun of me because I usually proclaim I am drunk after having only one drink.

Sebastian shook his head and smirked. "1-2-3 go!"

It went down rough. I was not a fan of beer. I finished it though and slammed the bottle on the table. "Woo! I love you so much sweetie. Let's have a blast tonight!"

"Yes!" Sebastian yelled. "When was the last time we actually went out?"

"I don't remember."

"Exactly. Let's have another beer then go find the rave."

We slammed another one. "Oh my gosh I am so drunk Sebastian."

Maybe I was not quite drunk yet but I was buzzing big time and cruising down the street on our bikes with the wind in my hair felt amazing. I yelled 'Go Magic' as I passed by groups of people. They cheered and screamed back. The club that the rave was at was underground and the line for it went all the way up the stairs and nearly to the stop sign at the end of the street. Sebastian sent Pauly a text. He replied to go around back to get in because our name was on the list. Wow, Pauly had the hookup. I felt like Richard Grieco in the movie A Night at the Roxbury.

The VIP line at the back of the building was much shorter. It took only a few minutes to get in the door. All I could see were lights and people. There was a DJ in a big glass enclosed cage doing his thing and I could tell from back here he was dripping with sweat. This was going to be fun. I was not sure how we were going to find Pauly in the sea of people but I didn't care I started dancing. Sebastian was trying to tell me something in my ear but I couldn't hear him. He took off toward the bar.

I can't dance. I like to think I can but I can't. Sebastian likes to remind me of this. The good thing about the music playing was that everyone was merely jumping around. Sebastian grabbed my hand and made me follow him. He let me to a table where Pauly was sitting with a few friends. Sebastian handed me a beer.

"Pauly!" I shouted over the noise. It was weird seeing him outside of his apartment.

"Hey Leah glad you guys could make it."

"Yeah thanks for the invite. This is a popular place!"

"You can thank my buddy Dustin. He does promotions for this place, he's the man who got you on the list."

I looked toward the guy Pauly was referring to. "Hey Dustin. Dustin." The guy was talking to somebody and it was so hard to hear. Pauly yelled at him and he finally turned. "Thanks for getting me on the list Dustin, appreciate it."

Dustin ignores who he was talking to and stood up to shake my hand.

"No problem. Glad you could come. What's your name?"

"I'm Leah."

"And you're a friend of Pauly's?" Dustin Asked.

"Yeah me and my husband know Pauly." I was surprised he was a friend of Pauly's and by his expression I knew he was surprised I was a friend of Pauly's as well. I had just met him and it seemed like he was the complete opposite of Pauly. Dustin was personable and outgoing. "We work with him some."

"Damn you have a husband?" Dustin said smiling.

I laughed and smiled at him. He was one of those tall goofy guys who isn't attractive by his looks but by his carefree attitude. I could tell he was a blast to be around.

"Sebastian, Sebastian meet Dustin." I pulled Sebastian over to us. "This is Pauly's friend who put our name on the list."

"Nice to meet you Dustin," Sebastian said. "This place is impressive."

"Thanks man. It's like this every week. Let me know anytime you guys want to come in and I will hook it up."

I took a big pull on my bottle of beer and almost spit up half of it. Both of them laughed. "Let's dance!" I screamed.

"Let's go!" Yelled Dustin.

"Come on Sebibears dance with me."

I grabbed Sebastian by the arm and followed Dustin who pushed his way to the middle of the floor. Dustin was Mr. Popular. He started doing these hilarious dance moves and everyone cheered him on. It seemed like everyone in the club knew him. Who would have thought our guy Pauly had friends like this?

The next 3 hours I felt like a windup toy. Booze, lights, dripping sweat and jumping around. I only took breaks from the dance floor to pee and drink. The last time I worked up this much sweat was in fifth grade when I played the Nintendo Power Pad for 4 hours straight.

At closing I walked out the back door of the club feeling like I had lost 10 lbs. My clothes were stuck to me, my hair was all sweaty and my flip-flops were nasty. I was sad it was over. Pauly finally let us drag him out to dance at the very end of the night. Dustin brought out the regular human being in him. I now saw Pauly in a different light. I actually had a normal conversation with him and he confided in me that he had a crush on a girl named Sarah. He pointed her out but he was too shy to go approach her. With the help of Dustin and myself Pauly at least got to be in the same vicinity as her, even if I talked to her more than he did. Sarah didn't seem like the type of girl Pauly would go for. Sarah was intelligent but her hippy vibe kept her from falling into geek status. She would be good for Pauly though. He had potential that he didn't even know about. If he could tap into it I think he may have a shot with her.

I rambled on and on about this to Sebastian as we unlocked our bikes and started to ride home. I was drunk. Sebastian wasn't drunk only slightly buzzed. We got into a playful argument over if Pauly could get Sarah to go on a date with him. That led us talking about relationships, which eventually somehow led us to argue over if thin crust or thick crust was the ultimate winner.

I had no idea how long it took us to get home or which route we took but all of a sudden we're in our parking garage locking up our bikes. I stumbled into the elevator and when it goes up it made my stomach turn.

"Oh wow."

"You going to make it lightweight?" Sebastian asked.

"Yes. Sebibears I had an amazing time tonight." I was talking with slurred speech. The elevator was spinning.

"That makes me happy sweetie."

"Now all I want to do is make love to you." I winked at Sebastian. It must have looked more like a twitch as Sebastian busted out laughing. His laugh made me laugh.

"Love," he said. "Who even invented that saying?"

"It just sounds sweet," I said.

"It's sex. Just call it sex."

"I don't care what we call it. I just know I want you."

Sebastian laughed.

"Don't laugh," I said. "I am trying to be romantic."

"Oh yeah? Well you look like you are about to puke. You are pretty though and have a smoking body." He looked me up and down checking out my short daisy duke jean shorts. He then gazed up at my pink spaghetti strap tank. "Turn around let me see that ass."

I licked my top lip. "Rawr."

"Shh," Sebastian said as he put his finger to my mouth. "Don't talk you're ruining it."

I laughed uncontrollably as I stumbled down our hallway. I grabbed the wall for support. Sebastian rolled his eyes and picked me up.

"Leah I swear you are lucky you're beautiful." He put me over his shoulder and slapped my ass.

"You love me and you know it. Will you make sex to me?"

"Shh. Stop talking and maybe I will."

I started laughing again and couldn't stop. Sebastian opened our door and rushed to flip me over on the couch. This made me laugh even harder. I started to sing. Sebastian wasn't amused and he went into the bedroom to give himself some distance from the screeching. After a few love ballads I fell off the couch and staggered to our bedroom. I stopped at the entryway to our bedroom and started in on a new song. "Signed, sealed, delivered I'm yours."

Sebastian couldn't help himself and a gorgeous smile beams across his face. "Come to bed sweetheart."

"Fine." I surrendered. My throat was getting sore anyway and I was sleepy. Sebastian helped me take off my sweat-drenched clothes. I got under the covers and put my head on his chest. He held me and stroked my hair.

"This right here is making love Sebibears. I love being in your arms."

"Shh." I heard Sebastian say. Then I passed out.

.

We were on our 2nd movie in our movie marathon when Sebastian blurted out that we should go on a vacation. The word vacation had not been used in our marriage. We went on our honeymoon to Hawaii and since then we had never taken an actual vacation. We never had a chance. Since moving to Orlando we had not left the area besides visiting Sebastian's mom and siblings in Miami. We were always broke and couldn't afford to take a vacation. But now we had money. I was mentally fatigued from the work we had been doing. We had not taken more than a day off since starting our venture. Now seemed like the perfect time.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked.

Sebastian thought for a few minutes. "I want to go to Puerto Rico. I want to take you there, show you everything. And I want to invite Pops and Yara."

"Sweet! I can handle hanging out in the Caribbean. Let's go!"

"Flights should be cheap, look online while I call Pops."

Surprisingly I woke up that morning with only a slight headache. Sebastian switched my drink to water towards the end of the night and I knew that was what saved me.

"I am so excited Sebi. This is going to be so much fun. I finally get to see Puerto Rico. I'm going to lie on the beach all day and do nothing. What did Pops say?"

"He's excited he said they can leave tomorrow after work. Book their tickets anytime after 4:00 PM tomorrow. Book ours ASAP."

"Today?"

"Yes, as in the next flight."

"Okay." A wave of sheer joy went through my body. "Woo-hoo we're going on a vacation!"

# CHAPTER 5

Our vacation to Puerto Rico was amazing. The island is beautiful and the water crystal clear. I spent hours laying on the beach, drinking, reading magazines and doing absolutely nothing. It was perfect. I met family members I had only heard Pops tell stories about. We rented a boat one day to fish and snorkel. I ate way too much food. From mofongo to land crab. I had a fresh cut coconut for breakfast. I ate enough empanadas to feed a football team. We spent five days in paradise and it was exactly what we needed.

Sweat was dripping off my face when I leaned over to lock my bike up in the parking garage. After arriving home from the airport earlier in the afternoon I talked myself into going on a bike ride. I needed to sweat out all the food and rum I consumed on our vacation. It was back to the real world.

I walked into our condo and Sebastian lept off the couch with a look on his face I had never seen.

"Oh my gosh what is wrong?" I asked. "You see a ghost what the hell?"

"Megan's dead," he said loudly.

My mind raced, which one of us had a relative named Megan? Nothing clicked. "Megan who?"

"The chick we were hired to find by the missed connections job. That Megan!"

"Megan Bell! How? What happened?"

"Her face popped up on the fucking news. I flipped off the video game I was playing and the news was on. Her face came on the screen and they said Rollins College student found dead in South Orlando this morning."

"What happened?"

"They think it was a robbery," Sebastian said. "Police found her in her car with a gunshot wound. No purse or belongings and all the car parts were stripped. I can't fucking believe this."

Sebastian was pacing around the apartment franticly.

"Wow that is awful," I said. "Must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Sebastian looked at me dumbfounded. I didn't know why he was taking this so hard. It's not like we even knew the girl.

"Leah please think about this for a minute, use your brain."

"Why are you flipping out Sebastian?"

"It's not a coincidence that we find this girl and a few days later she's dead."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I just think it is rather strange that we were paid $10,000 to find her. Then after we find her she shows up dead. Who else could have found out where she was?"

I didn't want to believe this. How could we know for sure if this was linked to us finding her? I started to feel nauseous. "We have no way of knowing if this is linked Sebastian."

"We have to find out Leah. We have to find out who hired us. I want to know why Megan was killed and who did it. Her car was a '94 Mercury Topaz, it's bullshit that they are calling it a robbery. She couldn't have had much cash on her if any."

"People kill people over $150 shoes," I said. "You don't know for what petty reason she was killed."

Sebastian shook his head and kept pacing. I wanted so badly to believe that this girl was in the wrong part of Orlando and a very unfortunate crime happened. Sebastian was paranoid about everything. I hoped this was Sebastian just being Sebastian.

"I am calling John," Sebastian said. "I am going to ask him who hired us."

I knew when Sebastian was irate like this it was best to let him be. He continued to pace the condo as he called John. I walked over and looked out our window. I thought about Megan Bell. Her short life was over. Criminal or not she suffered this morning and her life was taken from her. I thought about her foster parents and where they were when they heard the news. I thought about the young boy and girl that live with them, was Megan a foster sister to them?

"That fucker's lying to me."

Sebastian threw his phone on the couch and rubbed his face with his hands.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He said he has no idea who hired us, he said he's given our information out and we're hot right now...he can't help it if others are passing on our information. I don't trust him, he sounds different. He got defensive when I questioned him. He said he would do me a favor and put a call into the police chief to see if he can get an inside scoop to confirm it was in fact a robbery."

"You don't know for sure Sebi, John may have no clue who hired us."

I didn't want to overreact and I like to believe that most people were good people. Plus John had treated us like gold up to this point and I didn't want this to ruin our relationship with him.

"I have a gut feeling about John," Sebastian said. "He comes off as too good to be true. And the way his tone changed with me, I don't trust him at all anymore."

"I am not sure I have ever really trusted John," I said. If I were to be honest with myself I was always leery of him and had tried to persuade myself that he was decent. He was a judge I would always say to myself he is honest and noble.

Sebastian's phone rang loudly and he answered instantly. I heard him say okay multiple times. He was friendly and I assumed he was able to confirm the robbery.

"He has proof it was a robbery?" I asked Sebastian with hope in my voice.

"Oh yeah of course John comes up with proof. He says the police chief said they have a suspect and it is supposedly a guy Megan was seeing. It's not being reported in the news because there is a witness and they don't think she will talk if the details are released."

"You don't believe him?"

"No I don't," Sebastian said. "I tried to act like I did. Call your brother let's confirm John's story."

My brother the reliable cop. I still couldn't believe he was a cop. I would have never imagined when he was playing with GI Joes and eating his boogers when we were kids that he would one day be a police officer. I got a hold of him and begged him to get me the details of Megan Bell's murder. I told him I took yoga with Megan and I needed to know the truth about her death. It didn't take much for Adam to agree. I have never asked him to do anything for me before and he could tell in my voice I was desperate. He said he would call me later that night or the next day depending on when he had time to obtain the details.

Sebastian immediately started to research all the online news stories about Megan Bell's murder. All of them displayed the same sentiment - an innocent, bright college student a victim of South Orlando violence. We took a break to drive down to the scene of the crime. Besides a few marks on the ground that looked like blood stains and tire marks there was nothing indicating that a young girl was murdered. We drove around the neighborhood. I couldn't figure out how or why Megan would come down here. How did the killer get her to come down here? Did she know him? Did he lure her down here? We knew she was at least spending her nights up near Red Bug Lake Road, which was at least an hour drive from here. Maybe Megan only spent the one night up in that house. After all it was a foreclosed home. She might have been spending her nights in different places. We saw Megan Bell for all of 20 seconds the night we found her. There was no way for us to know what happened. Sebastian and I discussed scenarios the whole time we were driving around. There were so many what if questions that were driving us mad. What if the person who hired us is Megan's killer, this was the question that resonated the most. The one thing we agreed on was that we would not rest until we figured out how Megan was killed, why Megan was killed and who killed her.

Sebastian stayed up sifting through online news stories and looking at Pauly's information he gave us on Megan. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I went to bed feeling empty, sad and wishing I was still in paradise.

.

My phone woke me up. I grabbed it off the nightstand and answered it without looking to see who it was.

"Hello."

"Hey little sister."

"Hey Adam."

"Get your butt up! You were sleeping weren't you?"

I held the phone away from my ear for a moment. Adam's loud grizzly voice was too much this early. "A yeah Adam it's early."

"Early? Whatever. I have real shit to do today so listen up. I have the information you requested. This friend of yours must have pissed off the wrong gang member."

"Why?" I asked.

"She was brutally tortured."

"The news report only said she was shot," I said. "A robbery gone bad."

Adam laughed sarcastically. "Yeah right, not according to the full police report. This girl was executed after being beaten. She was placed in the car after she was already dead."

Chills ran down my spine. "Why wouldn't they put that on the news?"

"Different reasons," Adam said. "They may have sugar coated it by request of the police department while they work on finding out all the facts. It could also be due to the nature of the killing, respecting the family's wishes or covering up how bad the crime is in that area. Who knows, crazy shit is happening in the world Leah. Hope you aren't in this girls circle of friends because it doesn't sound like a random robbery sounds to me like someone wanted her dead."

"She was more of an acquaintance I just thought it was odd how the murder was portrayed on the news."

"Alright geekoid I got stuff to do, ever seen the show Chips?"

"You're such a dork Adam. Oh hey was there anything about suspects?"

"No."

"Nothing at all?" I asked.

"Did I stutter? No there are zero suspects."

"Are you sure? Is there anything you may have missed? Is this something that may be kept secret by lets say the police chief?"

"Leah please," Adam said. "I checked the case thoroughly. If they had a suspect they may not release it to the public right away but they would not keep it off of the official books."

"Any witnesses?"

"Nope nothing about any witnesses."

I sighed. "Okay. Thanks Adam."

"Yep, later Leah."

"Oh hey one last thing, mom tells me you met the one - when am I going to hear about this girl? Is she the future Mrs. Gates?" I really didn't care at the moment but I seldom got a chance to talk to Adam so I did not want to miss an opportunity to razz him.

Adam totally ignored my question. "Bye Leah."

Sebastian wasn't in bed next to me. I assumed he fell asleep on the couch last night. I peeked out into the living room to confirm this and then shut the bedroom door. Sebastian was right John couldn't be trusted at all. He lied to Sebastian about there being a suspect and a witness to the so-called robbery. A sinking feeling in my stomach set in and I was suddenly scared. Why did John lie to us? Did Megan Bell's murderer find her through us? My mind raced. We had to find out who hired us. I couldn't stop thinking bad thoughts. What about all our past missed connection jobs we had completed?

It wasn't that early so I dialed Pauly hoping he would pick up. He must have thought I had gone wacko the way I was talking so fast and the edge I had in my voice. I told him I was going to email him a zip file and I needed him to look up all the names on the list to confirm they were alive. Before Megan Bell we had completed 9 cases for Judge Campbell's missed connections ad responders. I suddenly felt like I was in a horror movie. I envisioned Megan motioning Robby to follow her that night we found her. I see it clearly in my mind. Her auburn hair had been cut shorter than it appeared in the picture we had of her. I thought back on some of the other people we followed to get information on. What if they were all dead? I tried to clear my thoughts and focus on Pauly who was shyly talking about Sarah, he finally got the nerve to ask her out and she said yes. I did my best to act excited for him but I had killers on my mind. Pauly asked if I would take him shopping for a new wardrobe before his date. I couldn't help but like the kid and he could definitely use help in this area. I agreed to it and told him only if he could rush my request.

I sat on our bed and attempted to gather my thoughts. After a half an hour I couldn't take it anymore I needed to talk to Sebastian. I walked out into the kitchen and made some noise hoping it would wake him. I drank a glass of water. Food sounded disgusting to me. My stomach was doing summersaults from anxiety. I sat by Sebastian on the couch. I stroked his hair and kissed him on the cheek. I finally hit my breaking point. I nudged him and whispered for him to wake up. He moved around and stretched his legs out.

"Sebi wake up," I said as my voice breaks.

Sebastian's eyes open. "Sweetie what is it? Why are you crying?"

Tears were streaming down my face. "Adam called." Was all I could get out before bursting into tears.

"Oh sweetie come here." Sebastian sat up and pulled me into his arms. "What did he say?"

It took me a few minutes to finally speak. "He said Megan was tortured." I let out more sobs. "She was executed."

Sebastian held me tight and rocked me back and forth in his arms. "What did he say about the suspect?"

"There aren't any."

"Is he sure?"

"Yes," I said. "I asked him if he was sure, if maybe it was not on the report and he said no they may keep suspects out of the news in the beginning but they wouldn't keep it off the official records."

"I suppose there are no witnesses either."

"No."

"That son of bitch."

I felt comfort in Sebastian's arms. We both fell silent. I knew Sebastian was marinating this new information and he would come up with a plan of action. I was right, after a few minutes he propped me up against the couch and stood up. He paced while he talked to me. We discussed all the details that Adam told me. I filled him in on what he had said about Megan being killed and placed in the car afterwards. I let him know I already called Pauly to do a search of the past people we were hired to get information on. I could see the rage in Sebastian's eyes.

"That's it Leah we are done with John. We can't trust him. It's a fact that he lied to us and he could be involved in Megan's murder."

I knew Sebastian was right and I had been thinking the same thing since hearing my big brother confirm that John deceived us. It was difficult hearing this spoken out loud. John was the only one who knew what Sebastian and I did. Suddenly I got the feeling that we were on our own. With John came the security of knowing jobs would be flowing. John being a trusted judge in the community gave us our legitimacy as private investigators.

"Do you really think John is involved in the murder?"

I didn't want to believe that John was evil. I always thought he was a creeper since he was cheating on his wife but I never truly thought he was a bad guy. Could he be living a lie and underneath the surface he is pure evil? I couldn't fathom that thought.

"For all we know he is Leah so we have to act like it. I am not taking any chances. At the least he is lying to us to cover for shady people he works with."

"Sebastian I feel sick to my stomach."

Sebastian nodded his head in agreement. "Me too. We are going to find out the truth. Let's shut down our online ad I want to devout all our time to this. I can't work another job until we find the truth. If we get any missed connection ads we will decline them."

"What about John?" I asked.

"Fuck John."

"No I mean...we don't want him to suspect we are working on Megan Bell's murder."

"John has never once called us to discuss our jobs," Sebastian said. "If he happens to ask us now I will be even more suspicious. And if he does ask us why we are not accepting any jobs I'll tell him we are working on a job we found on our own or tell him we are taking a vacation."

"Okay," I said. "Where do we start?"

Sebastian sat back down on the couch next to me. "I say we start with Robby. See what he knows."

"Sounds good," I said. "Let's shower and head to his place."

"You shower first," Sebastian said. "I am going to call Pops see if he wants to meet for lunch since he is working near UCF."

.

A call from Pauly interrupted our meal with Pops. Sebastian took my phone and stepped outside of the café. It was hard to put on a happy face while so much speculation was circulating in my mind. Pops made me smile though with his deep laugh and handsome smile. My mofongo had no chance and I took my last bite when Sebastian walked back through the door. He was disappointed there was nothing on my plate for him to clean up. He finished what was left of his food and after ordering two flans to go we parted ways with Pops.

After getting situated in the jeep Sebastian gave me the overview from his conversation with Pauly. My eyes got big and my jaw dropped while I listened to my husband tell me Pauly's findings. Of the nine people we were hired to either find or get information on, three were dead, two were in jail, two have moved out of the state and two have dropped off the grid. One death was a house fire and the other two were carbon monoxide poisoning not related to each other. I was in shock as I tried to comprehend what this could mean. Sebastian and I talked a mile minute each of us trying to wrap our heads around all of this. Were we working for the bad guys when all along we assumed we were working with upstanding law firms? Anger washed over me. I felt deceived and used. I felt guilty.

Pauly opened the door for us and I was close lined by the smell of ramen noodles. Two of his friends were at the kitchen table with big salad bowls full of noodles. The ramen smell is mixed in with a boys locker room smell. I tried not to gag. Pauly handed Sebastian a stack of paper. He printed off all of his findings. We prodded Pauly for specifics. He believed the two people that he couldn't locate probably changed their identity. This is the only thing that made sense to Pauly. He was the master if he couldn't locate you online you succeeded in ceasing to exist.

As Sebastian grilled Pauly I sifted through the paperwork. I froze when I saw a picture of Vance. Our job was to dig up everything we could on this man's daily routine. We worked for two weeks and when we finished we had a binder full of information. The picture was of Vance and his wife. They were discovered in there bed both dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. The article pointed out that this was a silent killer. There was nothing silent about the killer. I knew these deaths were masterminded. Vance was murdered. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at his wife. Nothing out of the ordinary was found when we were detailing them. They had financial troubles but nothing more. They seemed like a happy couple. I wiped my eyes with my shirt so Sebastian wouldn't notice and set the paperwork back on the coffee table. I couldn't focus on Sebastian and Pauly's conversation. My thoughts drifted. Horrible thoughts. I tried to think of ways that we could have this all wrong. There had to be chance we are wrong on this.

Unlike me Sebastian was fully convinced of our fear. After giving Pauly past email addresses and phone numbers we had used for the missed connection ads we drove over to Robby's apartment in silence. Robby's car was there. We discussed going to the door but we didn't want to scare him off. He would be less confrontational in a public setting.

Sebastian read through the paperwork. He was seething with anger. I heard it as he breathed and flipped the pages forcefully. A half hour later he was done reading. I looked at him with his fist to his chin staring blankly out the window. I knew I would be waiting awhile if I let him be the first one to speak.

"This is messed up." I looked at Sebastian. He stayed in the same position looking out the window. "I can't believe this. We got played."

Sebastian kept quiet, which meant that he was too mad to talk about it. Robby walked out of the house with a backpack over one shoulder. He locked the door behind him and climbed into his beat up car. We followed him staying a few car lengths behind him. I guessed he was going the short distance to the UCF campus. After two blocks he turned right and confirmed my hunch. The parking lot was filled to the brim. Robby found a spot. Sebastian turned to go down another row and advised me to follow him on foot while he parked our car. I jumped out and weaved through a row of cars. I spotted Robby. I jogged to catch up then kept him a safe distance in front of me. He passed two buildings before he went into the library. I followed him in all the way to the 3rd floor. Robby threw his backpack on the table and sat down. I went back down to call Sebastian and let him know where I was. When he showed up we went up the flight of stairs and agreed we would simply sit down at his table and let our questions fly.

Robby was around 5'10" and husky. At 19 years old he had more of a baby face than a man's face. He looked angry but he had on a Spiderman shirt that softened the intimidation I was feeling as I followed him earlier. Sebastian and I sat at the two chairs across from him. Robby looked perplexed but didn't hesitate assuming we were here to study. He continued looking at the notebook he had opened in front of him.

"Robby Sneden?" Sebastian asked.

Robby looked up not amused. "What do you want?"

"We have a few questions about Megan Bell."

Robby's facial expression changed. "What about her? Are you cops?"

Robby was acting defensive and I didn't blame him.

"No we aren't cops."

"Why would I talk to you?" Robby snickered.

"Look Robby," Sebastian said. "We know you were with Megan at the foreclosed home up north near Red Bug Road."

That got Robby's attention. He had a look of fear on his face. With Sebastian looking and sounding like he could be an FBI agent I tried to ease Robby's fear. "Robby we are not accusing you of anything. We are just trying to find answers. We don't think the authorities are completely accurate on their assumptions on how Megan was killed."

Robby softened his gaze but remained silent.

"We are seeking the truth and nothing else," I said. "We want justice for Megan and we need any help we can get from you."

"Look I don't know what you're digging for I don't know shit."

"What was she doing living in the foreclosed home and why did you bring her a suitcase?" Sebastian asked.

Robby fidgeted with his pen while he answered. "She called me and said she needed her suitcase. So I brought it to her. She said it was important and gave me the directions."

"And?" Sebastian said impatiently.

"I asked if she was in trouble and she said she was working on something and she needed to lay low for awhile. That is it."

"And you didn't ask her what she was working on?" I asked.

"No."

Both Sebastian and I gave him a look that implied he must explain.

He took a deep breath and elaborated. "I have fucked up so many times in the past and Megan never once questioned me on the details. I felt I had no right to question her. She has never been in any kind of trouble before."

"How close were you two?" I asked.

"Look I considered her my sister," Robby said. "She was the only family I had."

"Sorry for your loss Robby," Sebastian said.

Robby looked down and nodded. "We were kind of close but we are also both private. She was not one to discuss her personal life and neither am I."

"Did you see her on other occasions in the last couple months?" Sebastian asked. "Did you guys talk on the phone often? Did you speak to her before her death?"

"Before that night the last time I saw her was a few months ago," Robby said. "We would text once or twice a week but that's about it. She sent me a thank you text after I dropped off the suitcase. That's the last contact I had with her."

"What about the story of her murder," I said. "You think it was a robbery?"

Robby looked down and I could tell talking about Megan was making him emotional. I felt so bad for him. I wanted to give him a hug.

"Yeah. I guess I never thought about other options. I mean the cops told her parents that they think she was dating a guy who lived down there. That would put her in the area and Megan was not one to discriminate. When I saw her that night at the house she had a semi black eye. My first thought was that she was living at this foreclosed house because she was hiding from a guy. I figured the suitcase was for her plan to get away from him. So when the cops said what they said about a guy she was dating living in the area I figured the guy found her or she confronted him."

"Did Megan have a lot of boyfriends over the years?" I asked.

"No. She had maybe two boyfriends in high school. If she had one in college she kept it quiet."

"Did the police question you?" Sebastian asked.

"They just asked general questions about when I spoke to her last and if she mentioned any names of people she was hanging around."

"You tell them she was staying at a foreclosed house?"

Robby looked to his right then up at the ceiling. He sighed. "No."

"Why not Robby?"

"Megan was a good person," Robby said. "Her parents view her as the perfect daughter. Megan got lucky she found a foster family that took her in and treated her as their own child. I didn't want her parents to look at her in a negative way. I didn't want the cops saying shit about her breaking a law. I knew the fact that the cops were saying she was dating a thug is painful enough for them."

I nodded my head in approval. He was protecting his sister and her loved ones.

"You were in that house," Sebastian said. "Did Megan have a lot of stuff in there? There could be clues that point us to who she was hiding from."

"The day after I heard the news I went up there. I wanted to take all her stuff out so it would not be found and reported. It was completely empty."

Sebastian and I exchanged glances.

"So just to be clear," Sebastian said. "Megan never told you about any other places she may have been staying at?"

"No she didn't."

"Thanks for your time Robby and again we are so sorry for your loss."

Sebastian wrote the number for his throw away phone that we used only for work on a piece of Robby's notebook paper and told him to call if he thought of anything. We left a subdued Robby alone with his studies. Although I doubted he would be able to concentrate on anything but his foster sister. The same could be said for Sebastian and myself. We walked out the front door of the library and stepped into the bright Florida sunshine. The humidity instantly blanketed me. However it was not as strong as the feeling that washed over me - life is just not fair.

# CHAPTER 6

"Stop crying Leah."

Sebastian had been huddled over the laptop in our kitchen for hours. I could hear him slowly stand up and walk over to the couch where I was lying face down. He peeled me off the leather couch flipping me over forcing me to look at him.

"Come on Leah. Crying and feeling like this is not going to do any good. We can't change the past. What we can do is make it right going forward. We get justice for Megan and we put a stop to these bastards that have used us."

I wiped my eyes. "I know. It's just hard not thinking about it." The weight of all the guilt, anger and frustration was overwhelming. "I feel like shit."

"Sweetie it's not going to do any good dwelling on it. Right now we have get strong and fight. We have to block it out and use all of this to focus on getting to the truth. Now I am all in. I don't care what we have to do. I am not letting these people harm another person. Are you with me?"

"Yes," I said. "I just don't know how we are going to find these fucktards. Everything has led to a dead end. You heard Pauly say they were professionals. You know they are when he can't find shit off the emails and phone numbers they have used. It's kind of scary to think of who we are dealing with here."

Sebastian took a deep breath. I knew he was getting frustrated with my negativity but I was only being realistic. We had nothing and had just spent eight days of chasing wishful leads that all led to dead-ends.

"You want to quit? You want to let it go and just go on living like nothing happened?"

"No Sebastian! I am just frustrated."

Sebastian stood up and walked over to our floor to ceiling window. It was overcast outside. It looked like the sky could erupt in thunder and lighting at anytime. He turned back to look at me.

"Look I know we have chased all the possible leads we could think of but we can't give up. There are still people and clues that can help lead us to who killed Megan." Sebastian walked over and sat next to me again. "Leah I know this sucks but do you want this happening to another person like Megan, a young girl who had her whole life in front of her? To an honor student who didn't have a record? Hell she never even had a speeding ticket. Come on we have to fight because nobody else is fighting for this girl. Everybody thinks it was a robbery and they're satisfied with that. Come on Leah I can't sit back and do nothing. Can you?"

"No, of course not. I am in Sebastian. I'll do whatever it takes. I will never be able to live with myself if we don't get justice for this girl."

"Leah we can do this. I know we can. Leah you're the only person I have and I love you more than anything. I believe in us."

Sebastian took my hand and pulled me off the couch. He hugged me and kissed my neck. His pep talks to lift me up never failed.

"You're the best Sebastian. I love you so much."

"I love you too Leah."

Sebastian held me in his arms before declaring that we had to get to work. He had seen in the Winter Park newspaper that a candlelight vigil for Megan was being held at 9 pm that night. While we had checked out her family already we were hoping she might have some classmates who could tell us something we didn't know about her.

.

To take our mind off everything we drove over to Pops house around 5 pm. Yara was starting to prepare dinner. To keep us busy before the food was ready and to keep Sebastian from eating all the side dishes Yara had already prepared we went over to our old fishing spot. It had rained for a couple hours this afternoon and the sun was fighting to show through the clouds. I always liked this time of the day here and enjoyed going fishing after a good rain. The gars always came out when it was rainy and we spotted five of them lurking near the brushy area of our fishing hole. We fished and enjoyed this moment knowing all to well not to take anything for granted. For at least a short period of time our thoughts were not on Megan Bell or her killer.

Dinner was delicious. It was always a joy to be served one of Yara's home cooked Puerto Rican feasts. I had not cooked anything besides spaghetti since we moved into the condo. It was always grab and go for us. It was nice gathering around the table with family and having a normal conversation. After dinner we sat in the kitchen watching TV like we used to do pops told Sebastian a few work stories and I helped Yara clean up.

At 8pm our relaxing evening was over. We took turns showering and putting on the dress clothes we brought for the vigil. I kept it semi casual with a black skirt and a beige sleeveless top. Sebastian wore the only pair of khakis he owned and a collared blue short sleeve polo shirt.

"Looking good Mrs. Reyes." Sebastian told me as he stood behind me at the mirror in our old bedroom.

"Thank you Mr. Reyes. You are looking hot yourself. That blue shirt makes your eyes pop."

"Thanks my love."

We shared a passionate kiss and for few seconds we were lost in each other. I knew it wouldn't last long and before I knew it we were walking out to the kitchen to tell Pops and Yara bye. We told them we were going on a date in Winter Park. They took a picture of us since we looked so fancy.

The vigil was held in a courtyard on the Rollins College campus. There was a nice turn out with at least 150 people. I scanned the crowd and had to believe somebody here knew personal details of Megan's life. What I couldn't get over was what would make a young girl hide in a foreclosed home. Who or what was she hiding from?

Her parents were up front. I called my brother Adam back a few days after I spoke to him and begged him to let me know if any new details emerged on the case. He had nothing of any significance to report. The parents were shocked. They said they kept in touch with Megan on a weekly basis and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They did mention that Megan always gave general information she was never one to express any feelings always keeping them to herself. My heart ached as I watched her parents next to their two young children.

A few of Megan's professors spoke along with one of her classmates. It was hard to hear them talk. I nudged Sebastian and told him it may be helpful to interview the classmate. He agreed and told me to check out the girl who was near Megan's parents. I didn't recognize her. At the end of the vigil ceremony some people lingered around talking and praying in small groups. The parents were approached by a number of people who gave them their condolences. Both of us kept our eyes on the blonde girl that was standing next to Megan's parents during the vigil. I watched Robby embrace her and they talked for a while. Sebastian told me to go talk to the classmate who spoke during the vigil.

I quickly found the girl who spoke. She was young looking like she could still be in high school. By her speech I knew she was intelligent and her whole college world revolved around striving to be the best student possible. We would not have hung out in college. She was the type of girl Nelly, Gwen and I would have made fun of, behind her back that is. Well I guess Nelly would to her face if provoked. I excused myself and got in front of the girl. I told her how touching her speech was and that I was sorry for her loss. The girl said thank you and I sensed an attitude. Screw it I had to be bold I told myself. I let her know I was an independent private investigator and I would like to ask her a few questions. She changed her tone but kept the attitude. She asked for identification and I got short back with her saying I was doing this for Megan's family. She bites and answered my questions revealing nothing at all. Turned out she happened to share classes with Megan and that was the extent of it. I pressed her on why she spoke if she was not even a friend of Megan's. The girl replied that nobody else offered to speak because Megan didn't have any friends so she volunteered. How she said the last statement made me want to get justice for Megan even more. Megan was the type of girl I probably would have been friends with. I told the girl with the superior demeanor good luck and turned to walk away.

Sebastian was nowhere to be found after my conversation with the campus queen. The crowd had diminished. I saw Megan's parents huddled with a few people in prayer. No blonde girl and no Robby. I called Sebastian and there was no answer. I walked briskly through the grassy courtyard towards the parking lot. I walked by a few aisles of cars before I spotted Sebastian at the end of the row talking to Robby.

"Hello."

"Hi." Robby said to me and looked back to Sebastian. "Like I said please don't scare her and don't tell her you talked to me. I want to stay out of it."

"What's going on?" I looked at Sebastian.

"The blonde girl by Megan's parents is Megan's roommate."

"Her roommate? I thought she wasn't living on campus."

"She was until she started living in the foreclosed home," Sebastian said. "She told her roommate she would be spending a lot of time at a friend's house. She never asked questions said it was rare they saw each other anyway. Robby said they were not super close."

"They weren't," Robby reiterated. "Like I told him Megan never mentioned her much. She brought her to Thanksgiving and I met her. They got along fine but she wouldn't know anything about Megan's personal life. I have to go."

Robby opened the car door and got in.

"Wait Robby." Sebastian knocked on the window. Robby rolled it down halfway. "Tell me the location of the dorm."

Robby gave a sour face but he didn't resist long. "It's building K room 205."

"Thanks. Take care."

Robby pulled his car into reverse and we watched him take off out of the parking lot.

"Did you get her roommate's name?" I asked.

"Yep. Only her first name, Robby didn't know her last. Her name is Tara."

"Let's go see what Tara knows," I said. "Sounds like probably nothing which is the theme for people who claim to be in Megan's life."

Sebastian and I walked toward the front of the parking lot to read the campus map. Building K was not near here but instead of driving to a closer parking lot we decided to walk. Cutting through the courtyard we saw Megan's parents talking with an older couple. Their two young kids obviously bored were playing in the grass together. The rest of the courtyard was empty except for four college students playing hacky sack near the sidewalk where the light was brightest.

Building K looked like a typical dorm and it brought back college memories. I thought of the nights we would order pizza at midnight, make fun of the goofy girls on our floor and talk about boys. Sebastian knocked softly on room 205. Two seconds later a bubbly blonde opened the door. Tara looked surprised like she was expecting someone but clearly not us. She asked if she could help us. Sebastian started talking and I immediately thought that I should have been the one to talk. Sebastian's presence and tone can come off as intimidating if you don't know him. He was tall and serious looking. Sure his face was soft and gorgeous to me but he still came off as a badass not to be messed with.

Tara told us that a detective came to comb the room and later two policemen came to inspect the room before letting Megan's parents in to take their daughters belongings. The detective left with a small box of her belongings. She strained to recall what it was but thought it was a few notebooks and maybe a planner. Sebastian and I shared glances and I knew we were thinking the same thing - that the so-called detective was probably not a real detective but possibly one of the people in on the murder. Tara stated that she had no information for the police on Megan. Despite being roommates they rarely saw each other and when they did it was for short spurts of time. Tara said Megan told her she would be staying with a friend for a while and not at the dorms. Tara had never seen her bring anybody to their room and she never talked about any friends or boyfriends. Tara seemed innocent and I didn't think she was lying about anything. Tara had yet to fill the space that Megan once occupied. One side of the room was completely empty. Sebastian asked her a few more questions pressing for any sliver of information that may lead us to something. Tara seemed less than cooperative and pleaded that she had to continue studying for an exam she had in the morning.

Sebastian let down his guard, told Tara thanks for her time and apologized for interrupting her studying. She warmly said no problem and shut the door as we walk out defeated. We walked down the stairs in silence. Just as Sebastian opened the door to go outside a thought popped in my mind. "I am going to go up and talk to Tara one more time."

"Why?"

"I think she would be more comfortable talking if it is just me. And I am not that much older than her. I remember what it was like in the dorms."

"So?" Sebastian said. "You think she may know more than she is leading on?"

"Maybe not but I know girls like her. She is bubbly. Even if Megan was ultra private Tara is the type to bring something out of her. They had to have had a least a minor heart to heart. I want to at least try."

"Okay go! I will wait down here."

I wanted to at least give it a shot and there was nothing to lose by doing so. I walked the steps and thought about what I should say. Tara opened the door and gave me a half-hearted smile. She was annoyed but is too sweet to dismiss me.

"Hi Tara," I said. "Sorry to bother you but I just want to talk to you a little more about Megan."

While she looked reluctant she waved her hand motioning me to come in. I had to talk girl and put myself in her shoes.

"Look I know you said that you have no other information and I believe you but I have to try to learn more about Megan. We want to find out who killed her and I know you have heard what has come out in the news but we don't believe that is the truth."

I could see this frightened Tara. Megan's death being anything but her being in the wrong place at the wrong time had never crossed Tara's mind.

"You think someone intentionally murdered Megan?" Disbelief and shock washed over Tara's face.

"We are not for certain but we have discovered things that don't make sense and we want to be sure."

Tara gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

"I am not telling you this to frighten you Tara. I am telling you this because we want to do everything it takes to make sure we find out the truth and if that is the truth we want to catch the bad guy. Any detail that you may think is not relevant we need to know. What you may think is of no importance may help us."

Tara nodded and I could tell I had her full attention.

"Now I have not been out of college that long," I said. "I know living with roommates can be difficult because they can be so different from yourself. Tell me about Megan. How would you describe her?"

"Megan was nice. She was a good roommate. She kept to herself and was considerate. We always got along well but we never had much in common. Megan was very focused on her schoolwork and was always studying. Even on Friday nights when I would be getting ready to go out she would be reading a book or at her desk. She was very focused."

"What did she want to do after college?"

"She wanted to be a child psychologist. She worked at a kids club and she spent a lot of her free time there."

"You ever go there with her?"

Tara shook her head.

"She talk much about the kids or people she worked with?"

"Not much no," Tara said. "She would talk about the events they held at the club but just in passing. Once she showed me a picture of her with two little girls, she told me they were her buddies."

"What about boyfriends. She ever talk about any guys?"

Tara thought for second. "No not really. We would make comments about some of the guys on campus but I never remember her bringing up anyone specific."

"In the weeks leading up to her death did you see her at all?"

"No. A few weeks before she died she told me she was going to be spending some time at a friends place."

"You didn't think that was weird considering she never brought any friends by?"

"We didn't hang out with each other outside of the dorm. I rarely brought anyone by here either. We were roommates who got along we weren't really friends though. For the first half of the semester I spent nearly every night at my boyfriend's house off campus. So when she said she would be spending time elsewhere I didn't think anything of it."

It made me think of Gwen. She spent way more nights at Tom's than she did at our house. Gwen could have been missing for weeks if the only indicator was her not being at our house. The difference was Gwen and I were friends so we talked constantly.

"I see," I said. I tried to think of what else to ask. I wanted to trigger something that may be of importance. I couldn't think of anything though. "Anything else about Megan that other people might not know?"

A nice smile comes across Tara's face. "Megan was the nicest person I have ever met. She had a realness about her. She was honest. I don't know...we were different but I had this feeling that she would do anything for me just because I was her roommate. She was strong and stuck to her beliefs. I liked how it never bothered her to be different."

"Different how?"

"Most of the girls on our floor are into having fun, partying, staying up late doing crazy things. We have chick flick marathons in our common area down the hall. Megan never had any interest in any of it. Some of the girls would make comments to her but it didn't bother her. She had a focus nobody else had. It was like she was already an adult. I think it may stem from her being a foster child." Tara sighed. "Something I never knew until I went to her house for Thanksgiving."

"Did she say much about being a foster child?"

"Nope. She just introduced her parents to me as her foster parents. I didn't ask questions. But it seemed fairly normal. I mean they interacted like a normal family."

"You have any pictures of Megan?"

"Um. Hmm. You know what I have some from our Oktoberfest party we had on our floor. We dragged her to it. She actually had fun for the whole 20 minutes she stayed."

Tara walked over to her backpack and brought over her laptop. While it loaded up I made small talk and asked her where she was from and what she is majoring in. She made a quip about Megan hating that she had so much light purple in the room. Tara loved lilacs and Megan would always joke with her about how it made her gag when she would buy a bouquet of lilacs for the room.

Her computer finally loaded up and she clicked on her photos scrolling through them rapidly. The girl had thousands of pictures and after a few minutes she finally found the pictures of Megan. Megan had a plastic cup that looked like punch in her hand. Her eyebrows were raised like she was forcing a smile. Tara and two other girls were standing behind her posing for the picture. The next picture was of Tara and Megan. Tara had her arm around Megan as if she was proud of the fact that her roommate had joined her. Tara showed me a group picture and said Megan ducked out before the picture was taken. Tara had a smile on her face while she told me all about the Oktoberfest party. She was on the party committee for the floor something I was not surprised by. I smiled at Tara and felt a connection. I think both of us needed that little bonding moment to help us with Megan's death.

"I appreciate you opening up to me Tara. I know even though you two were not super close you lost your roommate and I know that has to be tough."

I could see tears well up and Tara stood to her feet. "Yeah it is. It was nice to share a little bit about Megan with you. I hope you find out the truth and when you do please let me know."

"I will do that. If you don't mind can we trade phone numbers that way you can call me if you think of anything else?"

"Sure."

Tara grabbed a sticky note off her desk that was in the shape of a strawberry. She jotted down her number and handed it to me.

"Thanks Tara."

Without even thinking about it we hugged. I left the dorm room feeling closer to Megan and even more motivated to hunt for the truth.

Sebastian was sitting on the steps when I walked outside. He asked me how it went and I said great. He was confused when I told him I had no information that could help us but that it was therapeutic for Tara and myself. He shook his head in frustration but placed his hand in mine as we walked across campus.

"You have a good heart Leah. I can tell how much you hurt for Megan."

"I just feel so bad Seb. The whole time we were trying to find her I assumed she was a criminal. Now I find out who she really was and it just breaks my heart."

"I know sweetie. Remember you didn't pull the trigger and these people who did this, they would not have stopped at anything to find her and brutally torture her the way they did."

That didn't help me feel better but it was nice to have Sebastian in this with me holding my hand through this.

It was late but neither one of us was tired. We drove to International Drive and stopped at the Ale House to have a drink. We watched the sports channel that had the day's top highlights on. I sipped on my mixed drink and Sebastian chugged his beer. My phone rang and Nelly's face popped up on the screen. I laughed and knew this ought to be good. All I heard was a lot of loud voices on the other end. I stayed silent knowing that saying anything would not be worth it. Finally the noise went down a level and I heard Nelly.

"Leah. Skank-a-dank-dank you there?"

"Hey slut," I said. "Let me guess you are wasted?"

"Ding ding ding," Nelly slurred. "Oh my gosh Leah you are missing out. Gwen and I just had a monumental night out."

I heard Gwen yell something in the background. I could tell by their voices that Gwen was the drunken one and Nelly was only semi drunk. "Oh yeah where did you go?"

"Mill Avenue," Nelly said. "Anyway Gwen got lucky!"

"Huh? She and Tom have breakup sex?"

Nelly giggled uncontrollably. Then finally managed to talk. "She had breakup sex just not with Tom."

I laughed out loud.

"You are funny Nelly."

I could hear Gwen in the background she took the phone from Nelly. "Leah! Leah my love. Don't listen to Nelly. I didn't score I just had a guy who is like 4'10" follow me around the bar all night. Nelly had a blast with that. She is out of control."

"You sound more wasted than her Gwen."

"Here she is I have to go find my short lover."

"Hey Leah," Nelly yelled. "You still there?"

"Yep I am here."

"Oh good. Hey settle a bet for Gwen and I. The game against U of A Gwen only had 22 kills right?"

I knew exactly what volleyball match she was talking about. Gwen set her personal record that night. "No she had 25 kills Nelly."

"Ah shit. Are you sure? I thought it was 22. I bet her $50. I swear it was 22. You are wrong Lee."

"Nope 25 Nels. I know for a fact. Google it."

"I'll Bing it bitch! It's 22. Gwen is drunk please tell her it's 22. Gwen! She's not responding. We miss you Leah. Wish you were here!"

Oh how I wish the only worry I had tonight was wondering if Gwen had 25 or 22 kills while I was out on the town with my friends. "Wish I was with you guys too. Please tell me you are not driving."

"No we are taxing it," Nelly cackled. "We be taxing it Leah not to worry. I got a -"

"Bye Nelly. I am hanging up now. Talk to you later."

Nelly said something I couldn't understand. I hung up as I heard her say bye because I knew that wasn't the last of her talking. I had to cut her off or I would be having a pointless conversation with her for the next hour. I put my phone on silent and laughed thinking of those two drunk.

Sebastian and I split a burger. We talked about our next steps. Both of us were reaching in our suggestions. I thought it was time we pressed John for details of who he provided our information to. Sebastian didn't like that idea. He wanted to try to figure out the person who hired us by finding the owner of the white car who gave us the up front payment for finding Megan. Sebastian was a car guy and he insisted the car was a white Lexus a 2008 model. I believed him I just didn't know how we would find that exact car in a city this big. The driver was wearing a black hat and dark sunglasses. Sebastian thinks he would be able to recognize him if he saw him. Sebastian was good at observing every little detail of the people he came across.

We played a game of pool and went over all the details of the 10 missed connection jobs that we had performed. By the time Sebastian ran the table on me we came up with very little details that stuck out as being significant. We played one more round of pool and this time we kept our eyes on the multiple TV's that were streaming different sporting events. Trying to drown out our thoughts with TV helped only for a little while. When I put my head to my pillow when we got home from the bar I couldn't turn off my thoughts. I thought and dreamed all night about the endless possibilities for the truth we are desperately searching for.

.

Without a license plate we had nothing to lead us to the white Lexus. Driving around on the lookout didn't seem productive. I had spent the last hour trying to zoom in on the photos I took the day Sebastian dressed as a homeless person to receive our initial payment for finding Megan Bell. No luck. I could guess what the first two letters might be but it was only a guess. I had the laptop on the bed. It was nearly noon and Sebastian was still under the covers sleeping on and off. With nowhere to be and no leads to sniff out both of us were in slack mode. Feeling like I should do something I got out of bed an hour ago when I thought about the pictures I took of the Lexus.

I needed to try to relax so I went down to the pool to swim. To my delight I was the only one in the pool. There were a number of people sunbathing along the edges. I put my earplugs in, my swim cap and goggles on to obtain complete silence. I was alone with my thoughts. Which was not a great thing. At least I couldn't hear anyone else and a sense that the world had been shut off suited me just fine. It was peaceful. I kicked my legs and carved my hands into the water, gliding smoothly and effortlessly. It was an escape and I tried to enjoy every minute of it. I extended my stay as long as I could and finally pause my lap swim when I saw a blurred Sebastian at the edge of the pool.

"What's up?"

"Nothing you have just been down here so long I wanted to check on you."

I slumped my shoulders over the edge of the pool and catch my breath. I was hoping he had good news. "Oh sorry I just kind of got lost in my swimming."

"No worries," Sebastian said. "I am going to the workout room to lift."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too my sweeties."

Out of my rhythm I climb out of the pool and lay out until I am dry. I went back up to our room and showered. Hungry from my long swim I went down to the grocery store and bought some groceries. I made spaghetti and meatballs because it was easy. I had no desire to cook even though I was craving one of the dishes Yara taught me how to make.

I flipped the burner on high and placed a pot of water on it. I grabbed my purse and took out my cell phone. Sure enough I had five missed calls and three voicemails. I listened to the voicemails. One was eight minutes long. I listened to one minute before I deleted it. I couldn't handle seven more minutes of Nelly and Gwen's screeching. The second voicemail was just noise. I faintly heard Nelly's voice. It must have been a butt dial. I was surprised by the voice of on the third voicemail because I didn't recognize it at first. It's not till I head her say her name that it registered. It was Tara and she said she thought of something and that I should give her a call. _Shit I had my damn phone on silent since Nelly's drunk dial last night._ Tara called this morning at 9:21 am. It was nearly 3:00 pm. I called her.

"Hello."

"Hey Tara. It's Leah. Sorry I missed your call this morning. What did you think of?"

"After you left last night I was going through other pictures and thinking about all the memories I have of Megan. I remembered something. Her computer wasn't working a few months ago. She had problems with it. It was a cheap old laptop. She asked to borrow mine and she set up a shared file on my laptop so she could work on mine when hers froze up."

"Cool and you still have the file?"

"Yes. I mean I don't know if there is anything you could use on it. There is a ton of files but it seems like it is all school related. I thought you might want to take a look."

"You never know," I said. "Can we come by and look at it today?"

"Sure," Tara said. "I have a night class at 6 pm so if you can make it over here anytime before that I will be here."

"Okay thanks Tara. We will be there in an hour or so."

I pumped my fist in the air. It was something and after all this time of coming up empty this was enough to get excited about. I ran down to the weight room to told Sebastian. We took the spaghetti to go and ate it on our way to Rollins College.

.

"Did you share this with anybody else Tara? Did you mention it to the detective or the cops?"

"No I had not even thought of file until last night." Tara bit her nails as she stood behind Sebastian who was opening the file.

"They did not ask to look at any of your stuff?" I asked.

"They went through my stuff but my laptop was in my backpack and they didn't go through my backpack."

The laptop is a MacBook Air. It's tiny at 11.6 inches.

"Wow there is a lot of stuff in here." Sebastian exclaimed. "And this is all hers?"

"Yep that file is all her stuff. I skimmed through it. Looks like all school stuff. She was rigid with her school work I wouldn't be surprised if every note from every class she took is in there."

"Was her computer here when they searched the room?" Sebastian asked.

"Nope."

"So how often did she use your computer?" I asked. "Do you remember when the last time was?"

"She used it every once in awhile. I am not sure when she used it last. I think she was afraid that her computer would all of sudden blow up and she would lose everything."

"I see."

"Is it fine if we take the file Tara? I would like to put it on our memory stick and then wipe your computer clean so there is no trace of it on yours. I wouldn't want anyone coming back and accusing you of keeping information from them."

"Go right ahead."

"Thank you so much Tara."

"You're welcome. I hope something will be helpful in there."

We were like two kids in a candy store. We anxiously drove back to our condo ready to devour the files that Sebastian said contained a dozen of folders and hundreds of pages of information. Finally we found a flash of hope.

# CHAPTER 7

We put a copy of the file on another memory stick so both of us could sift through the information on our laptops. Sebastian started from the top while I started with the bottom folder. We yelled back and forth to each other when we came across information that stuck out. It felt like we had an exclusive look into Megan's world and in a way this was exactly what we had. The first impression was that Tara was right about Megan's focus on her studies. She was meticulous.

"Sebastian!"

"What?"

"Come here you have to see this."

I came across what would be classified as a journal. Although it was sparse for a real journal the date confirmed that the last entry was three days before she went into hiding. Sebastian and I read through the entries that start only a month ago. The skeleton entries don't reveal specific details of her day-to-day life but you get the sense reading them that Megan was perplexed. She wrote a lot of historical quotes and gave her interpretations of them. One entry is a poem that I was guessing was not written by her. The entries were deep and somewhat dark. Sebastian not seeing anything that pops out goes back to his computer to continue digging through his files.

This girl had notes from a class she took her freshman year. There were hundreds of pages. Sebastian in his anal ways insisted we comb each page. This could keep us busy for days. It was nearly 9 pm when my stomach couldn't take it any longer. I needed food and while I didn't want to break from reading I forced myself to walk down to the Thai restaurant across the street. Sebastian ordered the food and stayed working while I went to fetch it.

We fueled up with Thai food while continuing to work. Besides comments here and there we were too engrossed in our work to talk to each other. I found more documents all centering on her classes. There were hundreds of pages of research and I was bored reading them until I found one paper titled 'Why I want to be a child psychologist.' It was painful to read. Megan wrote about her childhood and not knowing what happened to her parents. She wrote about being a seven year old and feeling alone in the world. The paper was well written and I could tell she wrote it from the heart. It was like I was being told a secret that the person never wanted anyone else to know. I skimmed through the last part of the paper feeling like I was being respectful to Megan by not reading it.

I took a stroll down to the grocery store to grab energy drinks. We were on a mission and I didn't see sleep in our near future. I started in on one while I rode the elevator back up to our place. When I walked in Sebastian yelled for me. His yell was one of urgency. I rushed to his side to see what he found. He stood up and told me to sit down and read.

"What is this?"

"Just read it. Megan must have been doing therapy sessions for a class project. The document chronicles the sessions she had with numerous boys and girls. Start reading there where Myra's name is listed."

I started reading Megan's notes. Not long after reading tears rolled down my face. Megan stated that this little girl named Myra who was 9 years old was being sexually abused. She exerted the signs of sexual abuse and had given Megan enough information that she fully believed this is to be accurate. She even had the name of the known sexual predator - Mitchell. Megan went on writing that two other young girls at the club, Sally and Becca exerted the same signs although she couldn't confirm if it was true.

"Now look at this." Sebastian said clicking another tab on the computer that went to a separate document.

The pages were full of research on sexual predators. Megan was onto something. The last written entry on the document listed the name of a law firm - Cain, Niles, & Associates. Chills were running through my body. I was freezing and tears kept trickling down my face.

"Holy shit Sebastian." I managed to say as I wiped my tears and tried to breath normally.

"I think we found a motive and who hired us." Sebastian dabbed my face with a tissue.

I read all the entries Megan wrote for her sessions with Myra. It dated back to three months ago. The first month of entries there were only minor details about the sessions. Myra was a typical nine-year-old girl who liked to jump rope and ride her bike. Megan stated that she was shy and reserved during their sessions. As I read the entries got longer and Megan had obviously formed a bond with the young girl. I came to the entry where Megan first suspects Myra had been sexually abused. Myra cried out of nowhere when they started her session and Megan finally was able to get Myra to tell her she was crying because she was scared. It was not until several weeks later that Megan finally figured out why this girl was fearful.

The details were gruesome and made me sick to my stomach. Myra told Megan little about the abuse only how she was touched 'down there' and it hurt. Megan writes that Myra refers to her abuser as a boy but she does not know if it is only due to the fact that Myra refers to everyone of the opposite sex as a boy. I read how Myra told Megan that the boy took pictures of her naked. I couldn't bear to read anymore and walked away from the computer.

I ate a cupcake I bought downstairs at the grocery store and wondered why life was so cruel. A damn nine-year-old girl was being sexually abused. I felt shock and sadness. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Myra. When I was nine I didn't have a care in the world. I was just a kid being a kid. I couldn't imagine the pain this little girl was in. I forced myself to sit back down and finish reading every entry on Myra. The last entry stated that Myra told Megan the boy's name was Mitchell. Megan writes that Myra doesn't want to talk about him and shuts down when Megan attempts to pry more information out of her.

I felt anger. I wanted to find this Mitchell fucker and put an end to him. I knew Megan felt the same way. Megan knew a little girl's secret. A secret that a sexual predator assumed a nine-year-old girl would keep to herself. Megan uncovered the truth. I didn't know how it played out exactly but Megan ended up dead and it was probably because she knew the truth. I wished Megan had left us more to go on. I didn't know why she was researching Cain, Niles, & Associates. Did she go there to see how she could press charges? Could this be the law firm that hired us to find her? Did she find out Mitch worked at the law firm? Or has John Campbell been giving out our information to criminals?

.

After staying up late into the night both of us woke up early the next morning eager to get to work. Cain, Niles, & Associates was a large law firm located on the northern tip of downtown Orlando. The website only showed the pictures of the partners. Sebastian took his time studying each of the 125 partners to see if he recognized the man who drove the white Lexus and handed Sebastian our upfront payment for finding Megan.

"I am not surprised you don't spot him," I said. "I am sure the lawyer has a runner that does his errands. Maybe like a paralegal or even someone off the books."

Sebastian kept his eyes on the computer screen. "Probably but I want to cover every base." He kept his eyes glued on the screen for five more minutes, meticulously studying the faces. He jotted down a few notes then shut the laptop. "There is a lawyer for the firm named Gary Mitchell. Maybe it is the Mitchell Megan is referring to in her notes."

"You think the lawyer could be the sexual predator and that is why they did Megan in, so she wouldn't expose him and ruin the firms rep?"

"Leah I have no idea at this point," Sebastian said. "The Lexus guy could be Mitchell. Maybe he is one of their clients. All we have are theories at this point."

"What about the girls named in the journal, do you think we should pay a visit to the Winter Park Kids Club?"

"No way. Not now. They aren't going to answer questions we have about the possibility that three of the girls that go there have been sexually abused. From Megan's notes I doubt the abuse was done at the club."

I walked over and gave Sebastian a shoulder rub.

"Makes sense. We have to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together and it starts with finding out if this law firm hired us."

"I want to go stake out the firm to see if I recognize anyone," Sebastian said. "There are still 86 associates who I have not ruled out as the Lexus guy and who knows how many paralegals."

"You want to go over there now?" I asked.

I leaned down and kissed his neck. He reached his hand over my head and played with my hair.

"Yeah now." Sebastian pulled my head down so I was staring right into his eyes. "You sure are a hot wife Mrs. Reyes."

"Come on lover boy we have work to do."

.

Cain, Niles, & Associates was located in a tall office building in downtown Orlando. It looked like one of those buildings that you see in the movies where there are hundreds of big name companies occupying one high rise. The restaurants and shops on the block were trendy and hip. After driving around the block at least six times Sebastian snagged a parking spot and put money in the meter. We watched the building for ten minutes before going to the coffee shop that was conveniently located next door. It would be a little sticky sitting out front at a table in the humidity but it would allow us to see people walking in and out of the law firm. Over coffee and banana bread we brainstormed.

"So all we have is a name. Mitchell. And a law firm Megan was researching. But why?" I was thinking out loud. "We know Megan uncovered details of three young girls getting sexually abused."

"True," Sebastian said. "From her notes she was logging interaction with 12 different kids for one of her classes. She comes across these three girls. From her notes she was only able to get details out of Myra. She put a name to the abuser. Maybe Megan was researching the law firm to see how she could bring up charges against the guy Mitchell."

"Why would the law firm in turn have her murdered?"

"We don't know if they did," Sebastian said. "We have to find proof this law firm hired us."

He gazed over my shoulder at a group of people going into the office building.

"Recognize anyone?"

"No," he said. "We need to find out if the law firm has Megan Bell on file. We need to see if she was here. Did she meet with a lawyer? Was there a potential case pending?"

"How do we do that?" I asked.

"Our guy Pauly."

"Pauly has to be thinking we are criminals with the stuff we ask him to do for us."

Sebastian smiled. "No. Pauly trusts us. The cool thing about Pauly is he never asks questions."

"I know," I said. "He never even acts surprised when we ask him to do stuff."

"He's a college kid as long as we give him some green it's all good with him."

"Uh oh. I don't think I told you but he has a new demand." Sebastian gave me a disappointed look. I smiled coyly. "He wants us to take him clothes shopping for his date with Sarah."

"Clothes shopping for another dude? That's not going to happen. That is all you sweetie."

"No way! You are coming with. It's Pauly! We have to hook that boy up or he will have no chance with this girl. Plus you are better at coordinating clothes than I am."

Sebastian growled to show his distaste. He didn't say anything but I knew he would go along and be fine with it. I didn't know how he did it but Sebastian gave good fashion advice. He would spot a woman walking down the street and tell me exactly why she shouldn't be wearing the kind of jeans she was wearing and what style she should be wearing. It's scared me at times.

Sebastian called Pauly. He walked back and forth in front of the skyscraper that was home to the law firm. I finished my coffee and cleaned our table off.

"Here Pauly wants to talk to you."

I giggled because I knew Sebastian couldn't fathom having a conversation about shopping with Pauly. He handed me the phone and I kissed his cheek. Pauly asked if we could meet him at the mall that night at 7 pm so he could give us the black box and I could help him shop. I inquired about the black box and cut Pauly off as he started trying to explain it. I told him I didn't speak tech. Pauly adjusted the way he spoke but I cut him off again and told him to just give me the gist of what the black box did. Basically he had a little device that can be hooked up to a computer and it can hack into the computer. I had no idea how it worked but Pauly insisted it would be able to scan everything Cain, Niles, & Associates had on file and we would be able to search everything with Megan Bell's name on it. I didn't ask questions. I did ask Sebastian a question when I got off the phone. How were we getting Pauly's device on a computer inside the law office? He had no clue.

I went back to the jeep while Sebastian went into the office building to see how it was set up. I called Nelly while I waited for him to return.

"Hello Leah."

"Hey Nelly, you recover yet?"

"Oh my gosh Lee, I am so sorry. We were hammered."

I laughed. "Ah yeah you were. Some things never change."

"No that is the first time in a long time I have been drunk. Did I fight with you about something?"

"Yeah the number of kills Gwen had against U of A."

"Laugh out loud."

"Yeah," I said. "You told me to Bing it bitch."

Nelly let out her loud cackle laugh. "Hilarious. We had so much fun. Gwen was in rare form. Leah she had this short guy following her and trying to dance with her all night. You should have seen it."

"I am sure it was classic."

"When are you coming to visit us?"

"No idea Nel." Taking a trip was the furthest thing from my mind. Although escaping for a weekend getaway was exactly what I wished I could do at that moment. I knew there was no escaping the hell that I had found myself in.

"You are going to Vegas for Tabby's bachelorette party right?"

"Tabby is getting married?" Tabby was a girl Gwen and I went to high school with.

"I guess," Nelly replied. "She's your friend. Gwen told me about it. Maybe Tabby doesn't have your address to send an invite."

"Probably not."

"Gwen told me I am going with her," Nelly said. "And of course I am not turning down Vegas. You have to meet us there!"

"We'll see. Don't count on it though."

"Oh Leah you party pooper. Come on you said you are making big bucks cleaning shitters."

Nelly giggled and a light bulb went off inside my mind. Cleaners. That is how we could put Pauly's device on a computer in the law office.

"It's not so much the cost Nelly. We're really busy and I like being married."

Nelly snorted. "Little miss innocent Leah wouldn't do anything bad in Vegas would she?"

"No but I don't want to get arrested for being with Tabby when she does something stupid. That girl is crazy!"

"Whatever. You are going Leah!"

I spotted Sebastian walking out of the building. "We'll see. I gotta run Nels. I'll talk to you later."

"I'm not letting this go Lee. You are going to Vegas."

"Yeah yeah yeah whatever Nel.

"Oh how rude."

"Goodbye Nelly!" I yelled so she would get the point that I was done talking.

"Fine. Bye Leah."

As soon as Sebastian opened the door I started telling him my idea about going into the law office as cleaners. He agreed without any persuasion. Sebastian did a lot of research on cleaners when he was seriously considering us going into the cleaning business. This information was coming in handy. He knew that there were only three corporate cleaning companies in the area that competed for the large business' downtown. Sebastian came up with a plan quickly. He knew that all of them employed a number of workers who were here illegally. His plan was to bribe the person in charge with money to let us work with them for the night and if they resisted we would threaten to call ICE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We planned to be back at the law office at 9:30 to await the cleaning crews. Cleaning crews usually started shifts no earlier then 10 pm.

We switched parking spots and watched as the people filtered in and out of the building. I kept searching Megan's files on my laptop while Sebastian looked for the white Lexus guy. The afternoon went by at a snails pace. We stayed outside the law office until 6 pm. I went through three of Megan's folders without anything sticking out and Sebastian did not spot the Lexus guy. Hungry and only having an hour to spare before meeting Pauly at the mall we drove over to Pops house to eat. It was close to the mall and both of us were craving some home made Puerto Rican food.

After dining and dashing we met Pauly who was in the parking lot leaning on his car like it was Night Rider. First thing Pauly did was hand us the black box and explain how it had to be connected. I spaced out his talking since Sebastian was the one who was going to install it. I chimed in at the end to get a guarantee this thing wouldn't get us arrested. Pauly assured me that it would run silently while the computer was on. All Sebastian had to do is hook it up to the USB outlet in the back of the computer. Attach it tonight and detach tomorrow night as easy as one, two, three Pauly told us. We gave him a cash payment and then started in on the shopping spree. I took him into H&M. Pauly didn't know his size. All the clothes I saw him in appeared way too big so I guessed and started grabbing. Pauly moaned at all my selections unless Sebastian voiced an approval.

Pauly came out to show us his first outfit - a pair of grey jeans and a striped tank top. I knew going tank top was bold for Pauly since his upper body lacked a muscular tone, but I really thought he could pull it off. He looked a little bit like a skater dude, which Sarah might go for I thought.

"Looking good Pauly!"

Pauly looked into the mirror and frowned. "This is not me."

I shook my head in frustration. "Exactly. I thought that was why you wanted me to help. If you want to dress like you, than dress like you. You don't need help from us to do that Pauly."

"No you are right. It just feels and looks weird. You think Sarah will like this?"

"I think she will. I like Sebastian wearing that style." I blew Sebastian a kiss.

Sebastian winked at Pauly. "She can't keep her hands off me dude."

I smiled at Sebastian. He sat down by me and we gave each other a quick kiss.

"Pauly if you're not feeling the tank top that's fine but the jeans look good. Try on the other stuff, the clock is ticking."

For the next hour and a half Sebastian and I acted as judges. Debating which clothes made the cut and which ones didn't. It actually was a lot of fun and it took our mind off Megan Bell for a while. Sebastian even enjoyed it. He acted bored at one point so I tried on a few skirts for his pleasure and pulled him into the dressing room for some hands on approval. He was all smiles for the rest of the fashion bonanza.

Pauly left the mall with a whole new wardrobe. Along with clothes we hooked him up with a new watch, wallet, sunglasses, belts, shoes and cologne. Pauly acted cute the whole night and it was like we were taking our little brother shopping. At the end of it he was exhausted. Each of us had our hands full of bags as we walked to our cars. Before going our separate ways I suggested Pauly get his haircut before his date. When he looked perplexed by this I assured him he needed one. I gave him the number to the guy I used making him promise to make an appointment. Pauly was grateful that we took him shopping. We wished him luck on his date and told him to be prepared for us to drop off the black box in a few days.

Sebastian and I stopped for snacks at 7-Eleven before arriving at the law office. I was ready for action. Hopefully the cleaning crew would arrive for Sebastian's plan to work. The office was in the middle of a somewhat happening night scene. We parked in the parking lot across the street from the office building. The view from the jeep was not helpful. With the parking spots on the street all occupied this was the best we could do. Sebastian and I walked toward the office building. I ducked into the coffee shop to get us a drink while Sebastian kept his eyes on the building. There was a guitarist and a singer at in the back of the shop. The place was packed. The doors were open to the seating outside and every table was taken. I took our iced coffees outside. We sipped our drinks slowly acting like we were just there to chill and listen to the music.

An hour went by and no cleaning crew had showed yet. I started to get impatient and worried the cleaning crew might not come at all. At least we had the music, which was quite good. The two musicians must be popular because the crowd didn't decrease at all. It kept growing and we were no longer the only two watching from the sidewalk. This definitely beat being confined to the jeep while we passed time. When another hour passed both of us thought the cleaning crew might work a midnight to 5 am shift or they were not coming at all. I went to stand in line for the restroom.

When I walked back outside Sebastian was not there. I panicked. I must have missed the arrival of the cleaning crew. I didn't see Sebastian anywhere. I walked toward the office building and went past it. I peeked around the edge of the building and saw Sebastian talking to a guy outside of a van. There was a downhill ramp that the van was on and my guess was that there is an underground parking garage down below. This would make sense since we did not see that many people leave out the front of the building between 5 and 6 pm. The exit must go to the street on the south side of the building. The streets around here were all one-way.

I walked down the ramp slowly. I didn't know if Sebastian would want me to stay back. Sebastian glanced at me and kept talking. He didn't motion me away so I kept walking towards him. He nodded at me as he talked to the gentleman that was in a dark blue outfit.

I stopped when I was close enough to hear Sebastian talking to the man in Spanish. I loved hearing Sebastian speak Spanish even though I had no idea what he was saying. It sounded beautiful. I heard the man raise his voice and Sebastian raise his back to him. Sebastian was smooth. I had no doubts that we would be going in with the cleaning crew tonight.

Sebastian motioned me over. "We're in. Come on we're jumping in back."

I followed Sebastian to the rear of the van. He introduced the man to me his name was Carlos. He nodded to me as he swung the door open. Carlos and Sebastian exchanged more words before he shut the back door. Sebastian and I crammed in tightly. There were cleaning supplies everywhere. It smelled back there. There was only one row of seats behind the driver. Four women were sitting in the row. There was a man sitting in the passenger seat and like Carlos he looked scary to me.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He said the shirts are in this box." Sebastian opened a small cardboard box near where we were sitting.

"What did you say to get us in?"

"Doesn't matter," Sebastian said. "We're in and there is not going to be any problems." Sebastian dug around the box checking sizes. "Men's small will be a little big on you but it will have to do."

I held the shirt up to me. It was dark blue with pockets on both sides and a square patch with the name of the cleaning company above the left pocket.

"This will work."

Sebastian unzipped his backpack. The underground parking garage was dimly lit and I had to believe it went on dimmers to save energy after hours.

"Do we actually have to clean?" I whispered.

Sebastian smirked. "No not really. We may want to act like it for a while though. Carlos will let us out when the first group goes on a smoke break."

"Is this the whole crew?"

"No he said another van should be arriving any minute."

"You sure we are not going to have any issues? Do I need to know anything Sebibear?"

"Trust me Leah we have nothing to worry about."

"Okay, lets rock and roll." I looped my hand around Sebastian's arm and squeezed. The back of the van was opened and we rose out of our awkward positions.

I was excited to be in action. It felt like we had been stuck on the pause button and I didn't like that feeling. I didn't like feeling helpless knowing someone was playing us and had been playing us like puppets for months.

Everyone came to the back of the van. Carlos handed out supplies to each one of them. I could tell by the way they lined up this was all too familiar for them. Carlos handed me a spray bottle and paper towels. We walked the short distance to the elevator. I kept my eyes on Carlos. I did not feel safe. He slid a card into a small contraption and the elevator opened.

On the ride up Carlos barked orders or so I assumed. I looked at Sebastian to translate but he just puts his finger to his mouth for me not to talk. I heard Sebastian say a number. My guess was that he was double-checking that Carlos was starting on the floor we needed to be on. I was relieved when the elevator door opened. I took a big breath in and out when I stepped off. Fresh air. The smell of BO and cigarettes were strong in the elevator.

"Follow me," Sebastian said. "Wait. I am going to grab a rag and bucket."

We walked down a hall and to our left was a big glass door. It had Cain, Niles, & Associates in silver letters. There was a crest below that covered the door. The law firms mascot so to speak. Carlos came up behind us and swiped another card. He yelled to his workers and they filed into the office. I looked at Sebastian and we shared a slight nervous smile. He nodded and I followed his lead. The reception area was stunning. It looked like the Ritz Carlton. Leather chairs lined the waiting area with three large flat screens on the wall. There was a large area for reception. I looked behind the counter and saw that there were three computers. There were floor to ceiling glass doors to the right and left of the receptionist's area. Both doors had been propped open by Carlos. Sebastian inspected the computer while I took a look through the door on the left. I walked down the hall to check it out. Offices lined each side. I walked back to where Sebastian was I didn't want to stray that far from him.

"Did you do it?" I asked.

"No not yet," Sebastian said. "I ah." He paused as a dozen more of Carlos' crew walked in with equipment. "I um. I want to check out the place more."

Sebastian took my rag and started wiping the counter. He motioned me to follow him as he walked to the door on the left.

"Why what are you thinking?" I asked.

"That area back there is just reception. I am afraid they won't have all the files on those computers. We need everything."

That made sense. I nodded to indicate I was in agreement. I worked as a receptionist for two weeks the summer before my freshman year at ASU. It was at a resort. It lasted two weeks because it was boring as hell. The files that were on my computer were sparse. There was no way they were going to allow a receptionist to have access to the companies business files.

While we inspected the place we tried the best we could to show a sense of belonging. I used my spray bottle to wipe stuff down. Most of the doors to the offices were locked. Carlo's people zipped in and out of the rooms that were open, taking trash bags and giving them a quick clean.

"We can't do an office," I said. "We can't be sure it will be opened tomorrow night."

Sebastian nodded as if I was late to discovering this. "This way," he said.

Just down the hall there was an open area. There was a longer desk up front with a big plant on it. The rest of the desk is covered in sticky notes and paperwork. Compared to the receptionist desk up front this desk looked like work actually got done. I guessed they were desks of secretaries. There were four desks pulled together behind the main desk.

"This one," Sebastian whispered. "I am going to put the device on this computer. Leah clean around the front of the desk and keep an eye out. Tell me if anyone without a blue shirt comes."

My nerves kicked in. I went around front with the rag and spray bottle. Nobody was around. I saw a light down the hallway and heard faint sounds of voices.

Sebastian popped his head up. "Leah give me your phone. I need more light."

There was not much light where we were. Carlos only turned on a few lights here and there when he came in. I handed him my phone and asked if he wanted my help. He didn't respond so I went back to fake cleaning. After a few minutes he got my attention again and told me he needed my help. I looked in both directions to make sure nobody was around before going around the desk and getting under it to help Sebastian. He had the computer pushed out so he could get to the USB access. He has me hold the two phones near him so he could place Pauly's device on it. The little black box was in. Sebastian pushed the computer back to its spot and we crawled out from underneath the desk.

I felt relief that this part was over. Sebastian inspected the desk to make sure nothing was out of place. He moved the chair a few inches and I shook my head at him. He was in OCD mode. I whispered, "Let's go!" Sebastian kept his eyes on the desk for a few more moments until finally feeling satisfied.

"I swear Sebi, sometimes you drive me nuts."

Out of our peripheral vision both of us saw motion. A figure was walking down the hall and I didn't see a blue shirt. Sebastian kneeled down like he dropped something. Out of reaction I did the same thing.

"Leah be cool," Sebastian whispered. "Play along. Keep your head down."

I tried to position myself so my back was toward the mystery walker.

Sebastian was feeling around the carpet and talking in Spanish. He was acting as if he was scolding me for missing a spot in the carpet. I nod at Sebastian as time seemed to slow down. I could hear the man's steps approaching and the brushing of his pants as he walked. I saw his shadow. I kept my eyes on Sebastian. I saw him glance at the man as he continued his dialogue with me. I looked toward the man once he past us. I could see he was wearing black nylon workout pants and a black tank top. He had on a black backwards baseball cap. He looked around 5'10" and was in good shape. He didn't look like a lawyer and I wondered if he could be supervising Carlos' crew.

Sebastian stayed with the act speaking in Spanish. "Has he looked back?" He whispered.

"No."

Sebastian stood up and looked down the hallway. I stood up and could tell something wasn't right.

"What is it? I don't think that guy suspected anything Sebi."

"I know. It's not that Leah. He's the guy that was in the white Lexus."

"Seriously?" My stomach dropped.

"Yes."

"Are you sure Sebi?"

"Leah the fucking hair on my arm is still standing up. Yes I know for sure that was him."

I didn't doubt what he was telling me was true. I knew Sebastian was particular on every detail of the people he comes across. I was more shocked at the confirmation.

"Should we go after him and try to get his plate or something?"

"No," Sebastian said. "We can't risk messing up our chances of getting the information on the computer. We don't need that guy to be suspicious in any way."

"Deal. Wow. Well at least it confirmed who hired us."

Sebastian gave me a look of frustration. "Maybe, maybe not."

"What do you mean Sebastian?"

He shook his head in what he must think was my naivety. "Do we know for sure the Lexus guy works for or with this law firm?"

I slumped my shoulders down. "No."

"So we really don't know for sure if he is on their side or if he works for someone else. While it is more likely than not that he is associated with the law firm there is a possibility he could be in here without permission just like we are."

I hated all the obstacles. I didn't know why I was always assuming things should be easy. After all I had been through I should never expect things to be what they seem on the surface. I didn't think it was so much my naivety as it was the hopeless optimism I tend to have.

"Okay," I said. "We should go down the hall to try to see where he could have been."

We walked down the hallway that curved slightly to the right. At the end of the hallway there was another reception area. It was as stunning as the main entry but a quarter of its size. A large painting of a grey haired man was above the receptionist's desk. I grabbed a card from the elegant cardholder atop the desk. It read Frank Cain, attorney at law, Cain, Niles, & Associates. Established 1985. There was a large wooden door to the left that I assumed was the prestigious office of Mr. Cain.

There was no way of knowing where the white Lexus guy came from. Sebastian and I searched around the desk. It was spotless just like the main receptionist area. The drawers were full of supplies. Before turning to walk back down the hallway I looked up at the painting. The man had waves in his hair that bordered on curls. You could see the top of his bright red tie. I had distaste for the painted face of a man I never met. Maybe it was due to my hunch that his law firm was behind a murder or it was from the similarity the face had to John Campbell's. While the two didn't look anything alike they both possessed the same demeanor. One that said I am superior and you are not.

# CHAPTER 8

The night before we went back to the law office via the cleaning crew to retrieve Pauly's device. We just dropped off the device at Pauly's house. Now we would have to wait out Pauly finding concrete evidence that linked Megan to the law firm. Pauly got annoyed with both Sebastian and I pacing back and forth asking him endless questions. He kicked us out of his apartment saying he would summon us back when he was finished with his work. His system was scanning all the documents in the USB device and he told us it could take quite some time to finish.

Since his apartment near UCF is not far from Pops house we cruised by our old stomping grounds. After looping through Baldwin Park twice we went to get our fishing gear we kept at Pops house. We realized it could take awhile for Pauly to go through all the files. We stopped at Publix to buy bread and snacks. It was quiet when we got to our bridge. This was probably my favorite spot in all of Florida. Sebastian rigged our poles and I started the task of catching a brim with bread to use as our bait. It didn't take long to catch a brim. The brim I caught was too big to use as bait though so Sebastian threw it back. I didn't touch the fish. It grossed me out. It took time to catch a small brim. I tried to relax and enjoy the moment.

Two medium size bass were lurking. Sebastian snagged a brim that was smaller than the one I caught. He pierced the outer edge of the brim with the hook on our pole we had rigged to catch bass. He slowly lowered the pole and handed it off to me. I slowly moved the pole around allowing the brim on the end of my pole to do the work. The brim swam around. I was sure he was trying to break free from the hook on the top of his fin and he had to be confused by what was happening. Sebastian threw pieces of bread into the water and the brim fought each other to snag a piece. This was where we sucked the bass in. The bass wanted to eat and they could care less about the bread. The bass were hunting for brim, hoping they could feed on a weak one that was waiting on the next piece of bread to fall in the area. I pulled my little brim over to present him to the bass. Sebastian threw in the next round of bread chunks and in a split second the weight of my pole yanked my hand down.

"Sweetie!" I screamed. Sebastian was instantly behind me taking over the pole. "Sebi I got it! I got the bass."

Sebastian was laughing and concentrating on pulling the bass out of the water.

"It is huge Sebibears. It feels like its 15 pounds!"

Sebastian gave me a playful look of disbelief. "It's not 15 pounds sweetie. But it is a good size bass."

"I just caught King Kong Sebi, what you talking about?"

He pulled the fish over the ledge of the bridge and I jumped back. It was squirming around on the floor of the wooden bridge.

"Come on grab the pole let's get a picture of you and then get this fish back in the water."

I grabbed the pole and give a cheesy smile.

"Come on smile for real Leah."

I obliged and flashed him a normal smile. He snapped a picture with my phone. Then took a short video. I hammed it up and bragged about my catch.

"You are so pretty sweetheart."

While Sebastian unhooked the fish to throw him back in the lake I sent the picture and video to Gwen and Nelly. Of course always with her phone near and a comment to give Nelly texted me back in under 30 seconds. "Is this your audition for Swamp People?"

On our way back to Pops I texted Pauly for an ETA. He couldn't give me one and told me no time soon. We dropped off our fishing gear then went to our old library we used to frequent to kill some time before Pops got home. We got back to the house just as Pops was pulling into the driveway. Sebastian hung out with him in the kitchen while I went out by the pool. This place brought back so many memories. I couldn't believe it was not that long ago that I was sitting out here crying because we were broke and homeless. I was startled by the noise of the door opening and piercing screams. The two neighbor boys that were Yara's nephews fought each other to get to the pool first. Both Vincent and Marcos launched their bodies into the air and I held my breath to see if they cleared the pool. Both made it in without incident and I exhaled. Once in the water the loud yelling continued accompanied by non-stop splashing. Pops opened the door and told them both to keep it down. He kept the door to the house open so he could monitor them. The boys saw me and came over to the ledge to tell me hi.

Sebastian peeked his head outside. "Yara's home! She's going to make empanadas for us!"

My eyes lit up. "Yes!" I put my fist up in the air to signal victory.

"You are so cute Leah. Let me give you kisses all over."

Sebastian walked over to me and covered me in kisses. The boys whistled and laughed.

"Sebi likes Leah. Sebi likes Leah." Marcos starts singing.

"Ew you two lub each other," said Vincent the younger of the two.

"Yes I lub Leah," Sebastian said. "Isn't she pretty?"

The two boys blushed and said yes. There voices were too cute and I couldn't help but cave in to their persuasion when they begged me to swim with them. The pool was refreshing. I pushed the boys around on the floats they each had then grabbed an extra one for myself. I dozed off for a few minutes opening my eyes when one of the boys splashed me.

The pool relaxed and energized me while the empanada's satisfied my palate. They should be illegal. Sebastian and I devoured them. All Yara could do was laugh with amazement and delight. Pops just shook his head and called Sebi a pig. After dinner Sebastian called Pauly. He told him the scanning was still going on at a snails pace and that he guessed it would take another three to four hours. When Sebastian got off the phone he declared that he was taking me on a date. He took me over to the Winter Park movie theater. We bought popcorn and slushies. It was nice to do something normal. A night at the movies used to be one of our favorite things to do. Now we spend nights on stakeouts and sneaking into buildings. We walked hand in hand back to the jeep after the movie was over.

"Leah I had a lot of fun with you today."

I smiled brightly. "So did I Sebastian. It was nice." I kept my gaze on him. "I love you so much Sebastian."

"Love you too sweetie."

I called Pauly and he said it still wasn't done. We stopped for ice cream then drove over to Pauly's apartment anyway. When we walked in he reiterated that it wasn't done it had at least a half hour. I told him that would give him time to tell us about his date. At the sound of that he lit up. He gave us no details though. He would only say it went well and he asked her on a second date. We let it go and Sebastian asked him a technology question that got them into a heated debate. I closed my eyes to rest but the bickering was too loud. I asked Pauly if I could play a video game. I started playing Super Mario Bros. No matter how much time has passed since I was eleven years old playing this game always brought back the same nostalgic feeling.

When I got to a phase I couldn't pass Pauly or Sebastian volunteered to help me. Pretty soon both of them overtake the game and after awhile they decide to play Halo. I didn't even attempt to voice my plea that I was playing first. I was too tired. I curled up on the couch and fell asleep.

.

"What time is it?" I mumbled.

There was no response. I could hear and see Halo was still on.

"Sebastian. I am asking you a question."

"What?"

"What time is it?"

"It's like 1 am."

"Is the thingy done scanning?"

"Um I don't know. Hold on Leah we are almost done. Pauly is a super freak on this game. Leah watch us. Our team is kicking ass."

Both of them were talking back in forth and had headsets on. Which meant they were playing online with other people. Both of them started yelling instructions to one of their teammates. Then they stood up to celebrate. Annoyed I asked if it was over and they both ignored me. Pauly walked over to his computer station.

"Hey this bastard is finally done running."

"Cool," I said. "It's done, done?"

"Yep."

Sebastian and I stood behind Pauly.

"Let's take a look at what we find for Megan Bell." Pauly typed in her name and hit a few buttons on the keyboard.

Data popped up on the screen and I quickly start scanning it for Megan's name.

"What's this?" Asked Sebastian.

"Well it seems as though her name is not on here."

"What?" Sebastian said. "Did your search cover all the files?"

"Yep," Pauly said. "Everything on here was searched."

"Dammit!" I yelled. "Pauly are you certain this worked right?"

"Yes. What is on here is everything that was on the computer you put the device on."

"Maybe the computer we placed it on did not have the entire firms files on it."

"No I think it did," Pauly said. "The file was massive. It contained the P drive."

Sebastian and I shared blank frustrated stares. I couldn't believe this. Maybe Megan Bell was about to seek legal counsel and the white Lexus guy got to her before she could.

Sebastian rattled off searches for Pauly to conduct. He did a search for Gary Mitchell, which of course brought up many documents. To narrow it down he did a search with multiple keywords together: Gary Mitchell, sexual abuse, Myra, Sally, Becca, Winter Park Kids Club, Lexus, Rollins College, Sexual predator. The searches generated nothing of any importance.

Sebastian walked over to the patio's sliding glass door. He walked out and I followed him.

"I am going to take a walk, clear my head." Sebastian said as he looked at me over his shoulder while he kept walking.

"Okay," I replied.

I looked up at the dark sky. It was cloudy and only a few stars were visible. I sat on a beach chair with my head in my hands. We couldn't catch a fucking break. I was so sure Megan Bell would be on their computer.

"Hey Pauly," I yelled.

"Yeah?"

"You smoke?" I saw an ashtray on the table next to my chair. "Looks like you do."

Pauly poked his head outside. "Rarely. That's my roommates ashtray."

"Does he have a cigar I could borrow?" I didn't smoke but I felt the urge to now for some reason.

"I'll check his stash."

A few moments later Pauly brought out a fat cigar. There was no way I could smoke this whole thing but what the hell I would give it a shot. It tasted sweet. It burned my lips a little as I puffed in and out. I remember having candy cigarettes in my mouth as a kid. I felt cool. In this moment I didn't feel cool only angry. I think back to Megan's journal and recalled her writings about the law firm. Nothing stood out. Both Sebastian and I interpreted it as Megan doing research on the firm. It had to be for finding out what she could do for Myra. What else would she be researching the law firm for?

The smoke wasn't clouding my thinking I was just at a loss. We had been going through all the scenarios for this case for weeks and nothing made sense. I thought back to all our missed connection jobs again. The setup for exchanging payments and information was the same for each case. Both parties remained anonymous and we always met in public places that didn't allow the chance of knowing many personal details. That was by our choice though. I wondered if that was why John Campbell had been so supportive of us keeping anonymous. His clients needed to be anonymous as well. I took a puff of the cigar and tapped it over the ashtray. I took another puff and stand up to peer in at Pauly.

I kept the cigar behind my back so the smoke didn't seep into his apartment. "Hey Pauly."

He looked over at me startled. It's like I just caught him watching porn. I guess maybe my voice was loud and it startled him. "Do a search for Sebastian and I. See if our names come up."

He nodded and started to type. "What's your last name?"

"Just use our first names."

We had never given John our last name. Although I am sure he could very well have found out our last names if he wanted to. I closed the patio door and walked out into the back yard. I saw Sebastian walking back towards the apartment. I put out my cigar. I filled him in on the search I had Pauly running. He agreed that it was not out of the question that John could have found our last name. We go inside to check on the search.

"Find anything yet?"

"Nope," Pauly said. "You want to try it with your last name?"

I looked at Sebastian. We had not told Pauly our last name and we didn't want to.

"Look it's cool," Pauly said. "You guys don't know my last name either. You can put it in yourself I won't watch."

"Okay," Sebastian said. "Leah go ahead."

I sat at Pauly's desk and he told me how to do the search. Then he walked into the kitchen. I typed in both our names. Sebastian Reyes and Leah Reyes. I liked being a Reyes. Leah Reyes. Mrs. Sebastian Reyes. Mrs. Leah Reyes. I remember doodling this name all the time after Sebastian proposed to me.

Sebastian was leaning over my shoulder as the results generated. I could smell him. I loved his smell. He noticed me sniffing his neck and turned his head for a quick kiss while he kept his eye on the computer screen. He then motioned me to get up and he took my spot. Nothing turned up for our names. He put each of our names separately. Nothing.

I sighed. "Maybe we should get going Sebastian. We can go back to the drawing board tomorrow after we get some sleep."

Sebastian swirled his chair so he was facing me. He had his arms crossed. "Pauly!"

"Yeah?"

"Can you scan the files for the finances?"

Pauly came out of the kitchen with a bowl of ramen in his hands. "Sure. I guess."

"Leah," Sebastian said. "Go on the laptop and look through our emails. I need to know the date of the first payment."

"First payment for what?"

"When I posed homeless off the highway exit to get our first payment."

I quickly set up our laptop and logged into our email account. I yelled out the date. Sebastian told me to find the date of the second payment at the Magic game. I found that date. The first date we put into the computer pulls up 237,000 entries. Pauly said he should be able to narrow it to financial related items only. Pauly did this and Sebastian started to sift through all of the 1800 entrees.

Waiting around was getting old. I stepped out on the patio to get some fresh air. I thought about lighting the cigar back up. More than half of it was still left. I decide against it. I was hungry. It had been over 7 hours since we had Yara's empanadas. I asked Sebastian if he wanted me to go get food for us. He asked Pauly if he has any ramen left. That didn't excite me but Sebastian insisted I don't take off by myself. I settled for ramen.

After eating I did the dishes and Pauly opened up to me about his date. I figured he was too embarrassed to talk about it earlier with Sebastian around. He took Sarah to an Italian restaurant and then they went to a late movie. He said he wasn't shy and he tried to act normal. Pauly sounded surprised when he told me he thinks Sarah really might like him. I tried to give him some advice about his next steps. The date was last night and he said he hasn't called yet. I told him he should call her. The waiting three days rule was bogus. He did say he sent her a text today telling her he had a great time and he would like to take her out again. I was impressed with Pauly. It was cute how he had a crush on this girl and he was trying his best to win her over.

"Yes," Sebastian yelled. "Hell yeah! Leah sweetie I got it."

Both Pauly and I quickly darted out of the kitchen.

"You found it?"

"Yep. Two $5000 petty cash entries match the dates we received our payments." Sebastian stood up and I hugged him. "We got proof Leah.

"Cool," Pauly said. "So you got what you needed?"

Both Sebastian and I nodded without saying a word. I thought about what this meant. Now we have 100% confirmation that somebody on the inside of this law firm hired us to find Megan Bell. It was nothing to get overly excited about. We still had to figure out why they wanted to find Megan Bell and if they found her so they could kill her. This was the confirmation we needed though and it would allow us to move forward in our search to find the truth. We thanked Pauly and drove back to our condo discussing our next steps.

.

We came to the library to be able to have space to spread out all our notes and work in peace. I liked working at our condo but there was too much temptation to turn on our giant flat screen or eat something every fifteen minutes. When we got home the other night we stayed up talking. We were running on adrenaline from learning the truth about the law firm. Yes it confirmed that the law firm hired us to find Megan Bell but it was driving us crazy not knowing why they needed to find her. Were they trying to protect her from her killer? Because of John Campbell's need to lie to us both of us stick to our gut instinct - the law firm played a part in her murder.

It was already 4:30 pm. Our sleep schedule was jacked up, last night we went to bed at 4:30 am. We started at the top of the law firm with the co-founders, Frank Cain and Jack Niles. I dug up everything I could find on Cain while Sebastian focused on Niles. Three and a half hours later we both had multiple pages of notes on the founders. Unfortunately the library closed at 8 pm. We gathered our stuff and walked over to a bar that we knew had Wi-Fi. Sebastian briefed me on Mr. Niles, giving me an overview of his background including his college, law school, past job history, family, and big cases that had made headlines. I chimed in to say that Mr. Cain also lived in Winter Park on the lake and that he was also a former prosecutor turned top rated defense lawyer in the city just like his co-founder. I went on to give Sebastian the run down of Frank Cain. Ending my presentation with what I feel is a jaw dropper.

"Frank Cain graduated from Florida State in 1980. Which, if I may add is the same year Mr. John Campbell graduated from Florida State."

"Interesting," Sebastian said.

"That's it? Don't you think this is huge?"

Sebastian took a long pull on his beer. "Leah FSU is huge. We are in Florida. It's a popular place to go to college. I am not saying it is insignificant we just don't know for sure."

I looked down in defeat.

"We don't know for sure yet! Don't look so frazzled Leah."

"I just think it is a good possibility that these two have been cohorts in nasty shit for awhile," I said. "Who knows?"

"Look Leah I don't count that out I just want to see facts before I get all excited. I hope you are right and if I had to put money on it I would side with your assumption."

That made me smile. I always went with my first instinct and assumed it was true before finding out the facts. I would always be the dreamer and Sebastian the realist. We balanced each other out.

"They could be friends now without having known each other in college. We need to find lock down facts Leah."

"I hear you Sebibears. Let's move on. Now what do we do?"

"Lets start watching these two. I say we start with Frank Cain. Let's stake out his house, figure out his routine, do more research on him. Keep watching the firm. We know the Lexus guy goes there. Does he only go at night? This Megan Bell thing is over for them. If they are truly shady they are going to do something like this again. Let's try to catch them in the act."

We ate the greasy bar food and went to our condo to get our vehicle. Sebastian called Pauly on our walk home to have him start conducting a complete file of all Mr. Cain's online activity. On our way to Winter Park I looked up Frank Cain's address and zoomed in on the map. He lived on Lake Maitland in a house that looked like a mansion. I showed Sebastian Mr. Cain's home and he shook his head. He commented that it looked like a compound.

Cain's house was on the southeast side of the lake, just south of the prestigious Isle of Sicily - a tiny island that extended into Lake Maitland. I counted the homes on the map and there were ten unless some were guesthouses. I scoured the web for information on the area. I found out there was a park on the south tip of the lake that would give us a good look at his house. I could tell by the satellite view on the map that the park was filled with tall trees. We should be able to stay incognito while we did surveillance.

Within 15 minutes Sebastian was driving down the street the Cain residence was on. Every house on this street was gorgeous and immaculate. Sebastian slows at the Cain's and we did our best to notice all the details. The front yard was awesome with different kinds of trees scattered around all beautifully manicured. Tiny lights hung from the palm trees. It looked like an entrance to a resort. There was a driveway leading to a four-car garage. The driveway kept going by the house and looped to the other side of the compound. I was blown away by the house and imagined it being our house. How I would love to enjoy a mere week of living like these people.

There were lights on in the house but nothing to see. The trees obstructed a clear view and most of the windows had the shades drawn. We drove to the park. The Cain residence had no trees in the backyard so we had an unblocked view from across the majestic lake. Our high-powered binoculars worked well but it was too late to see anything. There were only a few lights on and the shades were drawn. It was just past 10:00 pm and it was unlikely there would be anything to see tonight. Our goal was to have our eyes on his house in the morning to be able to pick up Cain's routine. We headed home to get some sleep so we could be back at 5 am to start surveillance.

# CHAPTER 9

I couldn't wait to take a hot shower. I had a layer of grime covering me from head to toe. In the last three days we had been biking, boating, running and sitting for hours all in an effort to scope out the two main men behind Cain, Niles, & Associates. In that time I had gotten a total of 10 hours of sleep. I had a heat headache and I was hungry. But in the moment all I cared about was taking a shower. Sebastian and I were in zombie mode as we stared straight ahead in silence on the elevator ride to our floor. While our surveillance of the two men had not been a total failure it could have been going better. Our big discovery was that Frank Cain and John Campbell were indeed friends. We figured that out when Frank left the house yesterday morning at 5:30 am. He met John at a downtown racquetball club where the two stayed until 8 am. Both came out in their business suits and expensive briefcases. Them being an item didn't surprise us but nonetheless we were certain the two were buddies. What we couldn't figure out was the law firm's connection to Megan Bell. Or who Mitchell was. Or who the Lexus guy was. Tailing Cain and Niles only confirmed they along with their loved ones lived an extravagant life in beautiful houses on beautiful lakes. Jack Niles lived on Lake Virginia and the back of his house looked across the lake at Rollins College. I didn't like doing surveillance on his house. It was too close to where Megan spent her days.

Our plan was to regroup - shower, eat dinner, and discuss our next step. I could feel it in my legs as I walked down our hallway. They felt like jello. I was beat. Maybe a night off would do us good even though we had an urgency that came with running in place.

"I call shower first." I told Sebastian as I leaned against the wall while he opened our door.

"Did you lock the bottom lock?" Sebastian asked. He fiddled with the doorknob lock then opened the door.

"No. Why would I do that?"

I started to walk in. I was prepared to make a beeline for the bathroom. Sebastian grabbed my shirt from behind then pulled me close and covered my mouth. He put his finger to his mouth motioning for me to stay quiet. Because of the force he used and his demeanor I knew this wasn't foreplay. Sebastian kept his finger to his lips while he took his hand off my mouth.

"Damn Leah we forgot to get the beer!"

By the tone in his voice I knew this was an act. I played along. "Oh yeah, we did forget."

I stayed frozen in the stance I was in when Sebastian grabbed me.

"Come on Leah let's go down to the store and get some quick."

We headed down to the grocery store in silence. I knew exactly what was going on. We never locked the doorknob, only the deadbolt above it. Same thing as our old loft in Arizona we would only lock the deadbolt. Someone was in our condo today. Of course John Campbell had a key to our place since he owned it. It was him he was in our place. I felt violated. I followed Sebastian all the way to the bakery section in the back of the Publix. Sebastian tried to act as normal as he could. He positioned himself between me and the pastries on display.

"Leah pretend you are trying to pick something out."

"Did someone follow us in here?" I whispered.

Sebastian took a few steps so he could peer around the corner. "I don't think so but I want to be sure. Leah listen very carefully. Somebody was or is in our apartment."

My stomach was going crazy with butterflies. I tried to get a hold of myself to focus. I nodded and gave Sebastian a look that indicated I knew exactly what was going on.

"My guess is John bugged it. I don't know if it is only audio or video as well. We are going to buy some beer in here and when we get back upstairs I am going to go in first. I want you to wait at the door with your gun in your hand. I am going to scope our place out and make sure there is no dude hiding out anywhere."

"Do you-

"Leah no time for questions. While I do that you mess around in the kitchen get out glasses for beer. If all is clear I am going to come into the kitchen and we are going to have an upbeat conversation about the vacation we are going on. I want you to ask if I found your favorite t-shirt. You really want to take your t-shirt on the trip. I am going to comb the place looking for it - while I really look to see if I can see anything suspicious. We are going to the airport tonight. We're going to back pack Europe like you have always wanted to do."

I nodded and a slight smile came across my face.

"Leah we're not actually going on vacation."

I took the smile off my face but still envisioned Sebastian and I leaving on a trip to Europe. It was a comforting thought.

Sebastian continued. "You are excited about the trip, pretend to call your mom. All the while we are packing up Leah. Only essentials so make sure we don't forget anything important."

"Where we going?" I asked.

"I have no idea. We can't go to pops place and a hotel with get expensive fast."

Megan Bell's living situation crossed my mind and the desperation she must have felt. "We can find a foreclosed home."

Sebastian raised his eyebrows indicating this was a possibility. "Might be our only option. We'll figure it out later. I want to get out of the condo as soon as possible. We have to sell that we are really going on vacation. Let's make it sound like the $10K got to our head. For all John knows we have no idea someone came into our condo today. He thinks he got us."

I nodded and didn't ask questions even though I had a hundred. Sebastian was wicked smart and I knew he was in survival mode. He was like an animal in how his senses became keen, his focus sharper and his thinking precise.

"We have one line of defense I know he can't get to our phones. Me being anal making us both take the batteries out all the time doesn't seem so over the top anymore does it?"

All I did was nod letting him get in his 'I told you so' quip.

"Act normal," Sebastian continued. "Unfazed. Remember you are ecstatic about this trip. You have been dreaming of this day. Let's fill up the two big duffle bags and both our backpacks. We are going to take our luggage down to the jeep. More than likely he put a GPS locator on it and maybe an audio recording device. After the jeep is loaded we are going to go come back in here to get snacks for the trip. While you get them I am going to make a call to Pauly and have him pick us up at the airport in two hours outside of terminal two."

We walked over to the beer aisle and my head was spinning with all the information I was trying to absorb. I went over the details in my head. I told Sebastian I would like to take my shower before we left. The only worry I had a little while ago was making it into the shower as quickly as I could. To complain about the layer of filth seemed pathetic now that we were facing this turn of events.

On our way up to the condo I became tense. There was no time to be scared and I kept thinking about the act we had to sell that might just save our case. At the door Sebastian took a moment to inspect it. He had his gun drawn at his side. He motioned me to get my gun out and whispered for me to put the beer down as soon as we got inside. Sebastian slowly opened the door. He paused to listen before swinging it open and turning on the lights.

Sebastian let out a big whistle. "Finally Leah I am giving you the vacation you always wanted."

It was more believable than I would have imagined it to be and I was impressed with my husbands acting. I thought he was going to wait till he inspected our place first but I assumed he wanted to announce our arrival. I let out a slight yell of joy in reply to Sebastian's statement. The kitchen and living room were clear. There was no hiding because it was open. Sebastian turned the light in our bedroom on and walked in gun first. I tried to make some noise in the kitchen but I had my gun at my side and my eyes glued on our bedroom. Sebastian let out a whistle and came out of the bedroom. He gave me a thumbs up sign to let me know it was clear. I felt relieved but I still felt like someone was watching.

I cracked open two bottles of beer and we made small talk about our vacation. The relief of knowing there was nobody awaiting us in our apartment had allowed me to relax a bit. I was still freaked out and whispered into Sebastian's ear that I wanted him in the bathroom while I showered. He started to make the play about the t-shirt and scoured our condo in search of any devices he could detect. I put away some dishes then got out my phone to pretend I was calling my mom. I fake tell her I was so excited to see the Eifel tower and Sebastian couldn't wait to have a Guinness in an Irish pub. I think I pulled off a pretty convincing act. I even assured my mom that we would be safe, I would wear sunscreen and I would call her when we landed.

Sebastian was covering every inch of our small condo. I grabbed our duffle bags out of our closet. I threw them on the bed and the magazine on my nightstand caught my eye. _Damn!_ I lost my breath. The night before after getting home late we sat in bed unable to sleep. We brainstormed ideas. I didn't like to sit still so I started doodling on a piece of paper. I grabbed the piece of paper out of the magazine. I wrote the words Megan, law firm, and Kids Club on it. I doodled around the words and the paper looked like a jumbled mess. I wrote our names all over the paper - Sebastian and Leah Reyes. I made squiggles and designs. No doubt if someone was combing our condo they spotted the piece of paper in the magazine. It didn't reveal a lot. It could have been notes from when we were looking for Megan Bell. I coyly showed Sebastian when we came into the bedroom. He looked pissed off. My saving grace was that he couldn't say anything about it.

I gave him a hand signal that I was going to shower. I told him I wanted to talk to him while I showered. I had to hear his voice while I was secluded behind the shower curtain. I told him about my fake conversation with my mom. We talked about the long flight and if our electronics were all charged. Earlier I was set on taking a nice long hot shower. Not anymore. I hurried through washing my long hair. I skipped the conditioner and chose to go the leave in route. Shaving would have to wait even though I had already put it off three days too long.

I kept my towel on while I gathered up all the items to pack. The idea that a camera could be on me was mortifying. I knew I had to skimp on what belongings would make the trip and I had a mini draft in my head. I kept talking out loud to Sebastian who had jumped in the shower.

When he was done we quickly picked out clothes to bring. It was hard for me to decide. I had no idea where we would be sleeping later that night. I knew Pops place was out because we didn't want to lead John or his people to our family. I thought of Megan Bell. I was sure this is how she must have felt along with a more intense feeling of fear since she was alone. Sebastian and I at least had each other.

We filled our military style duffle bags to the brim before packing up our backpacks. I took one last look before going out the front door. It was fun while it lasted but I couldn't imagine us sleeping another night in this condo ever again. Sebastian locked the deadbolt and the doorknob. We walked down the two flights of stairs to get to our storage unit. All our valuables were there. Which was only one box but part of it was all our cash we had saved up from our PI jobs.

The underground garage was dimly lit and I got chills thinking that John or one of his cohorts probably watched us pull into our parking spot earlier. It freaked me out and I keep looking around to see if I could spot anybody suspicious. Sebastian carefully opened the back of the jeep and carefully inspected every inch. After we loaded the jeep Sebastian walked around to the driver's side and purposely fumbled his keys having them drop to the ground. It didn't take him more than ten seconds to stand back up and unlock the door. Sebastian pierced me with a look letting me know he saw something.

After pulling out of the garage Sebastian pulled over right in front of Publix. I vocalized my need to run in for snacks. Sebastian made sure to voice that he was going to try to get a hold of his mom. I walked down the isles in Publix trying to stay towards the front so I could view the entryway. I worried about Sebastian out front. He was going to see if there was any car waiting to tail us. My phone rang loudly and I almost pissed myself. It was Sebastian and he started giving me play by play of the activity outside. He said there was a dark four-door car that looked suspicious and three guys on the corner but he thought they were clean. I asked him what he saw under the jeep and he said there was a GPS tracker. He called Pauly and he will meet us at the airport in three hours. I wondered why he was not picking us up sooner but I didn't say anything. Sebastian reminded me to not say anything in the jeep in case they had audio on us. Sebastian hung up after I asked him what snacks he wanted. He didn't like the question and I got a 'snacks?' reply then a click. With that attitude I picked out all my favorites and quickly check out.

When I jumped in the jeep Sebastian cranked up the music. We jammed to reggaeton music all the way to the airport as both of us had our eyes locked on our rearview mirrors.

.

We made it as realistic as possible. Sebastian drove into the long term parking area at MCO and we hopped aboard a shuttle with all our luggage. I eyed everyone who got on the shuttle after us and while we don't know who could be working with John both of us felt relieved when the driver took off. I whispered to Sebastian and he shook me off. Sebastian didn't want to do anything that would blow our act. Hell he may even purchase flight tickets when we got to the airport I thought to myself.

What do you know Sebastian did want to purchase airline tickets and I didn't argue with him at the ticket counter even though I wanted to tell him it was wasting money. At least he found the cheapest tickets and we are only out $600. After we got through the security checkpoint Sebastian told me he knew what I was thinking but it was better to be safe than sorry. After he rambled on about making this believable and having John's guys watching our every step I regretted my frugal thinking.

Sebastian and I walked the terminal with our luggage in hand. We found a sitting area and finally spilled out all the thoughts we had locked up since arriving home to our surprise. It felt so good to talk about it with Sebastian and I immediately felt better. Still a little scared and nervous but so much better than being bottled up with my own nightmarish thoughts. Sebastian always made me feel safe and he comforted me with his touch. He gently brought me into his chest and held me tightly. After an hour of talking we went to the window and watched planes take off in silence. When enough time had passed we walked to the other checkpoint to leave the terminal and meet Pauly. As we slowly walked we continued to discuss our situation.

"You think John wants us killed?"

"I don't know Leah. Maybe he noticed us at the gym the other morning and he wanted to scare us with a beat down I don't know thought. Maybe he got a call about a missed connections email not returned. Have you checked the account lately?"

I shook my head no. Damn I should have been checking our email for them but it made me feel better avoiding it.

"Shit Leah we have to check it. Fast."

We went straight to the nearest bench and I got out our laptop. Sure enough there was a missed connections email in our inbox from the day before. It was one line question - are you available? Sebastian told me what to reply. It was short and sweet. Letting the person who was inquiring know we are going out of town on vacation and won't be available.

Did the client who emailed us alert John that we were not responding? Or was it a bait email from John to see if we were available to work a job? Could John have just wanted to make sure we were okay today by stopping by our condo? All the prior missed connections emails were replied to within an hour. We were so eager to work a job that I monitored the email like a hawk. He could have called us though instead of coming into our condo. Plus we knew there was a GPS monitor underneath our jeep so I could stop my reaching thoughts that John hadn't crossed us.

The fact that John was bad was all that I could think about as we walked through the airport doors and into the dark of the night. I smiled as I thought of John gathering all the information on us. He thinks we are going to Europe on vacation. Our jeep is parked in a long-term parking lot. If anyone followed us into the airport they saw us go to the ticket counter and then pass through the security checkpoint. I sat on the bench by the curb outside with my duffle bag on my lap. I smiled. "We got you bitch!"

Sebastian was leaning against the wall. "Huh?"

"That rat bastard John Campbell. He thinks were out of Orlando."

"Yeah." Sebastian flashed a semi smile. "But now we have to watch our backs and we need to figure out what the slime ball is up to."

Pauly pulled up and we put our bags in his trunk. Pauly and Sebastian started talking non-stop. I listened wondering what the plan was. Obviously they must have discussed the next steps in detail on the phone earlier when I was in the grocery store because Pauly was driving to a specific place. At first I thought he was taking us back to his apartment at UCF but he turned west five miles before his street. He drove deep into a neighborhood that seemed a little shady. There were pickup trucks parked on lawns and Christmas lights still up flashing. I guess they preferred to stay in the spirit year round. Pauly parked on the street and Sebastian opened his door telling me to come with him.

"What are we doing here Sebastian?"

Sebastian grabbed my hand. "See that Buick on the side of the driveway? That's our new car."

"Oh."

We walked up and Sebastian rang the doorbell. It was nearly 11 pm. I was guessing Pauly called earlier to inquire about us checking out the car. A man with a wife beater and jean shorts answered the door. He came outside with the keys and hyped up the old car. He talked with a toothpick in his mouth and I wondered if this neighborhood was the one we saw on Cops recently. The man let us take the tan Buick for a drive around the block. The car had a light stench inside. Nothing some air freshener couldn't take away. At least it was not smoked in. The car passed Sebastian's test and he handed the man $800.

Pauly helped us transfer our bags into our new temporary cruiser.

"Thanks Pauly," I said. "Appreciate the lift."

"Anytime," Pauly said. "Here this is the map Sebastian and the key. Just like I told you hold it like this and when it clicks you should be in."

Pauly handed Sebastian some papers and a metal device that looked like a type of key.

"Thanks man," Sebastian said. "Oh give me the printouts of those two other cars you checked on."

Pauly leaned into his car and handed Sebastian more papers. We told Pauly bye and jumped into our new ride. It was a junker but for $800 it would do. I sifted through the printouts of the other cars Pauly had looked at. I laughed at a turd brown van for $650. You would have to pay me to drive that.

"You laughing at the Van Leah?"

"Yeah."

"Don't laugh I am buying that tomorrow."

I looked at Sebastian calling his bluff. "Yeah right."

"I'm serious."

"Why? We just bought this piece of shit."

Sebastian laughed. "With all the surveillance we do we have to mix it up. Plus we can do a lot with a van. You saw how many vans were in those two Winter Park neighborhoods. Lawn people, glass people, air conditioning peeps. We will blend in."

"You seen the color of the van though? It's turd brown! And where we going to park our two vehicles? Better yet where are we living?"

Sebastian only smiled and looked at me lovingly.

"What? Don't tell me we are living in the van!"

Sebastian laughed. "No my love." He winked at me. "I have everything under control. Just trust me sweetie."

Sebastian pulled into the Wal-Mart near UCF. Inside we bought tarp, two sleeping bags, bed sheets, pillows, two candles, two flashlights, bagels, peanut butter, energy bars, apples and water.

Back in the car Sebastian had me pull out Pauly's map and give him directions to the address listed on it. Sebastian told me he had Pauly find us a foreclosed home in a neighborhood that we could easily go in and out without suspicion.

Twenty minutes later we were in a Winter Park neighborhood but was nothing like the neighborhood that Mr. Cain and Mr. Niles lived in. It was a modest middle class neighborhood and I could see why Pauly thought we would be able to go unnoticed. Cars were parked on both sides of the street and it took ten minutes of driving around to find an open spot. It was open parking if you could find it and our Buick would blend in. With our hands full with all our stuff we walked around the block and down the street to our borrowed home. When we found it we went around to the back of the house. Pauly did good finding this place. Trees that would camouflage our entrance surrounded it. Sebastian put down all his stuff and pulled out the key device Pauly gave him. He had me shine the light from my phone on the door while he worked the lock the way Pauly instructed him to. After a few moments I heard a click and Sebastian opened the door. The moonlight provided enough light into the un-shaded windows to get a look at where we were standing. We were in the kitchen. There was an area to the right of us where a kitchen table would go. Both of us dropped our bags and walked a few paces to see that the living room was adjacent to the room we were in. Sebastian grabbed his flashlight and turned it on. He walked through the living room and down the small hallway. The house was small. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

We decided to sleep in the living room. We placed the tarp down on the hard brown carpet then made ourselves a bed with the sleeping bags and bed sheets. It was late and I was tired. It didn't feel like we were home but I did feel safe next to Sebastian. He always slept on his back. I cuddled in close to him on my side, placing my face on his chest and bringing my left leg onto his. He put his arm around me and we both fell asleep.

# CHAPTER 10

Our new living arrangement sucked. To shower we traveled to the nearest YMCA. To avoid any neighbors becoming suspicious we left the house before sunup and returned late into the night. I slept glued to Sebastian's side and woke up often feeling as though a key was going to turn in the lock of the front door. We kept the windows open when we slept but it gave us little relief to the heat of the house and I fell asleep sweaty every night. Living like this was becoming a real inconvenience and was adding to our frustration in trying to make progress on our case for Megan's murder. The frustration of getting nowhere was setting in. I felt like I knew Frank Cain and Jack Niles' family better than my own. We knew what cars they drove, where their wives liked to shop and what sports their children played. Hell I was even getting familiar with their neighbors routines. I knew what kind of toilet paper Mrs. Cain bought but still had no idea how the law firm was connected to Megan Bell.

We had just experienced yet another setback. Gary Mitchell could be eliminated as the sexual predator Mitchell that Megan referred to in her journal. We had Pauly dig up everything he could on him. Gary Mitchell left Cain, Niles, & Associates to work at a law firm in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama eight months ago. I guess the law firm hadn't gotten around to updating their website.

I didn't have hope that we could find a smoking gun anytime soon by the luck we were having. I had my legs extended onto the dashboard of the turd brown van Sebastian bought. We were parked in front of the law firm hoping that the Lexus guy would show tonight. I could say one thing though using this turd brown van did make me feel safe. It was one of those vans that gave off a scary vibe that makes you want to look away when seeing it.

It was 8:40 pm when I started to lose my cool. What were we even doing? All this work and we had no leads. I was starting to feel the stress. Thoughts of giving up had been creeping into my mind a lot. Maybe we were not cut out to do this sort of stuff. Sebastian was an architect and my last job was as a waitress. I couldn't stand sitting for hours just to be disappointed again when nothing happened. All the while having the guilt of a girl's death continuously in my mind.

"Sebastian I can't do this anymore." I couldn't keep it to myself any longer. "What are we doing? We haven't found shit."

Sebastian looked at me with disappointment. "Leah think about Megan. What she wrote, how she died, who found her hiding out in a foreclosed home."

"I know but seriously we haven't uncovered shit. Maybe we should hand over her documents to a detective. Somebody who has the power and resources to uncover the truth. I could see if Adam has a name of a contact."

"Really Leah?" Sebastian stared at me for a few moments before continuing. I stared back at him. Sebastian raised his voice when he continued. "Don't you understand nobody gives a fuck about Megan Bell's death? We are all she has. We are the only ones who can give her justice. The police have already closed her case they are not going to listen to us. Leah if Megan was right there are young girls getting sexually abused by someone. I can't imagine a sexual predator stops if he is not caught."

Sebastian's words made me feel bad about doubting what we were doing or giving up on getting justice for Megan and the young girls in her writings, but I couldn't deny the feelings I was having. I know I vowed my life mission to finding out the truth but we had been running in circles for weeks now. How long can we keep doing this? "Sebastian I know," I yelled. "I am just so frustrated. We're living in a foreclosed home. Last night I had to go outside to take a shit in a trash bag. We have no jobs and now without John Campbell we will be struggling to make money on our own. Where are we going to live after this? How will we make money? And what happens if we do find the truth that Megan was intentionally murdered? What are you and I going to do about it? If the people behind it were able to cover it up to the police how are we going to prove it to them? If we expose the truth we will be the next ones with a target on our backs. We are doing the same thing Megan did - we are in hiding trying to find a way to expose the truth while staying alive." I fought like hell to hold back tears. "I don't want to die Sebastian."

Sebastian sat quietly digesting my outburst. He put his fist to his chin as he looked out his window. I hated feeling defeated and I didn't want to bring Sebastian down. "Sebastian I know we are all Megan has and I don't want to give up. I am just at a loss for what we do next. The frustration and stress is overwhelming me right now."

Sebastian looked at me with his soft eyes and nodded his head. "I know Leah. I feel it too. I think we need a break. Let's get out of here for awhile and clear our heads."

I instantly feel some relief. We needed to step away from this. "Deal where do you want to go?"

"Let's go over to Clearwater," Sebastian said. "We will get a hotel on the beach and relax for a week or so. Forget about this case for a few days before combing through all the information once more and deciding our next steps."

"Deal Sebi-bears!"

"I can't give up though Leah. Not until we have done everything possible. I don't know about you but I can't shake the guilt of Megan's death and thinking that we led her killers to her."

"I feel the same way." I thought about Myra. The young girl Megan wrote is getting sexually abused. Myra was out there and she wasn't a fictional person Megan made up for the sake of a college research paper. Megan was dead, we couldn't bring her back but Myra was still alive and for all we knew the abuse was still going on. "I can't give up either."

"Let's get out of here."

Sebastian turned on the van and the sound of the loud engine made us both giggle. Getting away from this place for a few days sounded so good and I couldn't wait to be on the I-4 heading south out of Orlando.

We swung by the foreclosed home and cleared out all our possessions. I drove the Buick following Sebastian in the van. Alfie was letting us park the van at his company's facility when we were not using it for our 'cleaning' company. Once we were on the road I immediately felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders and for the first time in weeks I felt just a wee bit relaxed.

It took us two hours to drive to Clearwater. We checked into a quaint hotel across from the beach. The king size bed puts us both in a trance when we walked in the room. The hard floor at our old foreclosed home had nothing on this luscious bed with cloud like pillows. We both set our bags down then gravitated toward it collapsing on top of it. After awhile I dragged myself to the shower to enjoy the luxury of having running water. I took a hot shower then curled up next to Sebastian under the covers. On TV a rerun of Cheers was playing. I was able to watch two episodes before I drifted off to sleep in my husband's arms.

.

After waking the next morning I stayed lying in the bed reminiscing about the sleep state I enjoyed throughout the night. It was pure bliss. It was dreamless and heavy. Peaceful, not the restless sleep that I had grown accustomed to. For the first few moments of being awake I felt good. I almost felt like I was on vacation without a care in the world. Then came the reality of what we came here for. I couldn't help but do the complete rundown in my mind - Megan Bell, John Campbell, Mitchell, the Lexus guy, Frank Cain, Jack Niles. A flash of Robby in the library always would come into my mind along with an image of Megan's foster mom at the candle light vigil with tears on her cheeks.

I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to try to relax my mind. This didn't work and I couldn't sit still in the hotel room. I got dressed and leave a note for Sebastian that I took a walk on the beach. I had no idea what time Sebastian finally fell asleep last night. I assumed it was late and that he would stay sleeping for a long time.

Opening the door almost blinded. Our hotel room was completely dark from the heavy shades on the window. We were on the second floor. I looked over the railing and could see the ocean. It was a beautiful view. The air smelled nice and I remembered how much I loved being near the ocean. Sebastian and I would take trips to California once in awhile when we lived in Arizona. They were the best trips. Even the six hour drive was enjoyable. Our favorite spot was Venice Beach. We would eat breakfast then skateboard on the boardwalk. If we were there during the summer we would boogie board. Our trip always ended with a drive along the coast past Malibu to our favorite seafood joint.

The memories made me happy. I thought of them as my feet hit the white powder sand of the beach. I took my flip-flops off and started walking toward the water. The water was semi warm and it made me wish I had a swimsuit with me.

I found a place in the sand and sat with my legs crossed. It was peaceful. It must have been guilt that led my thoughts back to Megan and Myra. I glanced behind me to make sure nobody was around then yelled as loud as I could. It felt good but the stress and weight of my thoughts were still there. I stood up and buried my sandals so only a small portion was sticking out then I started to run.

.

"What happened to you?"

"Went running then jumped in the ocean." I was holding my tank top and flip-flops. "How long you been up?"

Sebastian was in bed with pillows propped up against the wall. A mob movie was on the television.

"Just a little while. I slept on and off. Damn how long have you been gone?"

I looked at the clock next to the bed. "A while. I left here around noon."

It was 3:37 pm according to the red digits of the clock. I showered then waited out the end of the movie Sebastian was watching. We then walked over to a seafood restaurant right on the beach. The food was delicious. We dined outside watching people play on the beach. After finishing the last of our sweet iced teas we walked the beach hand in hand. Little was spoken between us. Both of us were lost in our thoughts and unable to relax even though the picture of relaxation was all around us. We watched the sun go down before we went back to our hotel.

Once inside Sebastian grabbed his backpack and started to take his laptop and folders out. He sprawled everything out on the bed. He looked at me and took a deep breath. "I have to dig back in Leah." He took his laptop out and opened it. "I am going to go through the memory stick with all Megan's files and look at some of the files we just skimmed to see if I can find anything."

"Okay."

I took my laptop out. I needed to check our missed connections email account. Something I had been doing frequently since the day John was in our condo.

"You want to go through Pauly's printouts while I do this?"

"Sure," I replied.

Pauly always gave us sets of printouts from the online research he conducted. Sebastian brought the thick stack of paperwork out of the backpack and set it on the desk next to my computer. I guess I had no choice but to do the tedious task of combing the paperwork. The missed connections account didn't have any new emails. That was a relief. I always got nervous checking it after we got the last email. I guess I feared a threat from John Campbell would be showing in our inbox.

I started zipping through the mountain of paperwork. The reoccurring theme was the lavish lifestyle Frank Cain had. I saw the price tag of his yacht and gasped.

"What?" Asked Sebastian. He stopped what he was doing to look over at me.

Oops I realized that it probably sounded like I found something that would help us but I was only blown away by the amount of money this lawyer has. "Oh nothing it's just the price of the yacht Cain owns. He bought a yacht in 2009 for $979,000!"

The make and model was listed. I did a search on the computer to see what it looked like.

"Yeah. And?" Sebastian was not amused by my reaction.

"It's just really expensive. This guy has movie star money."

"Well he is a lawyer Leah and he started his own law firm. He makes bank."

I nodded and kept reading the description of the yacht. The parties that you could throw on this boat would be unbelievable. Sebastian and I had talked about how we would like to experience living on a boat for a few months. It was a nice diversion but I quickly went back to scanning all the documents. I guessed it was good that Pauly was meticulous I just wished this stack of paper provided something we could use.

After nearly an hour of silence Sebastian found something we could use. He found a file that had two pictures in it. One is of Megan and a young girl. It was Myra. Megan wrote 'Me & Myra' as the description. You could see the fondness Myra had for Megan. The other picture was Megan surrounded by a swarm of boys and girls. The same young girl was in the picture. She had her arms wrapped around Megan's waist while Megan had her arm around her and the boy on the other side of her. You could see Megan's sincere joy in the picture surrounded by the kids she loved working with.

I walked back to the desk to continue working. Putting a face to Myra was an important discovery. She reminded me of a girl who used to live next door to my family when I was growing up. The family was Chinese and only the girl spoke English. Her name was Toon. I had no idea how you spelled it or if I even said it right but she was Toon to me. I was in fourth grade and she was in first grade. I used to walk with her to school everyday. School was only a block away and my big brother would walk ahead of us. I was her protector. In the mornings before school there was a twenty-minute recess before the bell rang. I knew some of the kids in her class made fun of her because of her skin color. It always made me feel bad and I started having her hang out with my friends and I during that time. Her classmates got so jealous that she was hanging out with fourth graders. Anytime I saw her in the hall with her classmates I would make it seem like I was thrilled to see her. I would give her a high five and my friends would do the same. Her classmates took notice and pretty soon Toon was the most popular kid in her class.

Toon's family moved after she finished second grade. I always wondered who would be there to take care of her. Who would walk her to school? Who would fend off the bullies and turn her into the cool kid at her new school? It made me really sad and I had always thought about how Toon turned out. People who you are surrounded with make a big impact on your life. Myra no longer had Megan. Myra wasn't worrying about classmates bullying her though, she was worried about an adult man abusing her sexually. My eyes welled up with tears and I became angry. I couldn't fathom that something like that was happening to a child. It is the most horrible crime there is.

Sebastian noticed my sniffles and I told him about Myra reminding me of my childhood friend. Talking about it turned my tears into an all out bawl. Sebastian hugged me and let me sob into his shirt. After I couldn't possibly cry anymore I went into the bathroom and splashed water on my face. My eyes were red and I looked like crap. I turned on the bath water and filled the oversized tub with bubble bath that came complementary with the room. I felt better after my bath and jumped on the bed next to Sebastian who was still going through the files on his computer.

Once I cooled off from the hot bath I made my way back over to the desk and got back into combing the paperwork. There was a document that showed the vehicles that Frank Cain owned. He owned a black Mercedes S600, a black Mercedes M500, a black Corvette & black Ford GT. I didn't know what a Ford GT was so I did an online search. It sounded like an old vintage car from the 60's.

"That is sick!" I clicked on the images and saw a black matte car. "I want a Ford GT! Sebastian do you like Ford GT's?"

Sebastian who was a car guy responded instantly. "Yes I like Ford GT's. Of course I like Ford GT's. Why?"

"Just one of Cain's cars. I don't think I have ever seen one on the road. Have I?"

Sebastian looked at me confused. "Cain's car?"

"Yeah."

"Cain owns a Ford GT?"

"Yeah it says so right here."

Sebastian got up from the bed and walked over to view the paper I had in my hand. He looked it over carefully.

"Holy shit," he whispered.

"I know right? I think this car may have moved to the top of my list knocking out the turbo I have always wanted."

Sebastian stayed silent and walked over by the bed with the document still in his hand. "Leah I am not saying holy shit to the car. I am saying holy shit because we never saw that car at his house when we were watching it. We only saw the two Mercedes and the Corvette. His house only has a three car garage."

Mr. & Mrs. Cain drove the two Mercedes and their 17-year-old daughter drove the corvette. She mostly drove it to and from school with her 14-year-old brother in the passengers seat. Must be nice having a Corvette in high school.

"Maybe he has a beach home that he keeps it at," I said. "Maybe they have a place on the beach around here or in Jacksonville where they have a home, a yacht and this car to cruise around in."

"That's a possibility but there are others and we have to find out where this GT is."

"Well then let's find out."

Sebastian called Pauly to inquire getting information on locating the Ford GT. Pauly suggested seeing if the car had acquired any tickets. He did some research while Sebastian stayed on the phone. A minute later Pauly said there was site that if we put in Cain's address, his driver's license number and an email address all the tickets issued to the Ford GT would be sent to the email within five minutes. Of course we had to pay $49.99. Before Sebastian could even ask about the drivers license number since that is all we were missing Pauly told him he could get it off the USB device from the night we snuck into the law office. He believed a copy of Cain's license had to be on file.

I pulled up the website Pauly was referring to and started plugging in the information. I created an email account we could use. Pauly was right he located the drivers license and Sebastian rattled off the digits to me. He hung up with Pauly and stood behind me in nervous anticipation. I went back to the email account and kept hitting refresh.

I stood up from my chair and smiled at Sebastian. "We are getting somewhere my Sebibears."

"I hope so."

I climbed on our king size bed and started jumping. It seemed like a good way to run time off the clock and use my nervousness to keep from flipping out.

"Email's here!" Sebastian yelled.

I jumped off the bed and stood behind Sebastian who was sitting at the desk. A few speeding tickets for Mrs. Cain...Sebastian scrolled down until he found the Ford GT. I froze when I saw it. "Oh my god!"

"What Leah?" Sebastian asked.

"Mitch!"

Sebastian looked hard at the screen.

"Right there." I pointed to the screen. "The license plate for the Ford GT is Mitch!"

Sebastian and I looked at each other. A shot of adrenaline kicked into my system. Right below the make and model it said license plate number: MITCH.

"Wow," Sebastian said.

"Is Mitch Frank Cain?" I was thinking out loud. "Is he living two separate lives?"

The list of tickets for the GT was long. Most of them were parking tickets on E. South Street. Two speeding tickets heading onto the northbound I-4 ramp at South Street. More parking tickets on Summerlin Avenue along with a nonmoving citation. The area was downtown Orlando. Sebastian pulled up the map and we knew exactly where it was. It was south of our downtown condo. We frequently used the south street exit when we drive on the I-4. The time of the tickets were all late at night with the exception of three, which happened during the morning.

"We're back in business sweetie!" Sebastian said. "Pack our stuff we are going back to Orlando."

"And I didn't even get to work on my tan," I said. I jumped on the bed as high as I could. "Finally something Sebi!"

.

It was nearly midnight when we exited the highway onto South Street. Sebastian drove east on South until he passed Summerlin. He went around the block and headed north on Summerlin. Both of us had our eyes peeled for a black Ford GT. Right in front of a house on Summerlin Sebastian spotted it. He slowed so we could see the license plate. Bingo it read MITCH. There were no parking spaces available and I could see why Mitch got so many parking tickets around there. It was impossible. We drove by the house a few times trying to pinpoint the possible houses that he could be in.

Without knowing which house Mitch was in and with no parking spots available we decided to go to International drive and set up shop in McDonalds. It was a two-story gourmet McDonalds with free wifi open 24/7. We ordered sweet iced teas and sandwiches then found a table in the back.

We ate while talking about who we thought Mitch was and what our plan was going to be. I suggested we get a mattress for the back of our van so we could be mobile. With places like this that are open 24 hours a day we would have a place to pee and work. Sebastian liked my idea and we agreed to make an IKEA run the next day when we had time. We decided we needed to get some sleep. It was 1:15 am and we wanted be at the house on Summerlin at 7 am. Hopefully by then a few cars would have left for the day and we could get a parking spot. There was a Quality Inn right next door. We checked in and fell asleep to Goodfellas playing on the television.

# CHAPTER 11

It took us until 8:15 am to get a parking spot across from the Ford GT. There was no movement around the car until 9:30 when a thirty-something blonde woman got in and drove off. We kept two cars in between us as the GT headed north on Summerlin and then turned right on Colonial before going north on Mills. The Ford GT was heading toward Winter Park. When the car turned right onto Fairbanks I looked at Sebastian. "You think she is going to Rollins College?"

Sebastian shrugged. The Ford turned right onto French Ave and I got nervous. The road ran right next to Rollins College. For a second I wondered if this girl knew Megan, went to school with her, possibly lived in the same dorms. The car turned right sharply onto Lakeview Drive going away from Rollins and I breathed a sigh of relief. The road was long and windy. It came to a t-intersection and the car went left. I looked at the houses admiring the neighborhood we were in. The houses were a tad more modest than the ones located directly on the lake but they were still very nice. There were a lot of trees around there and it felt like we were driving toward a campground.

The Ford GT pulled into a narrow driveway that led to a two-car garage. Sebastian pulled over and parked on the side of the street. The woman parked in the driveway and went into the house through the front door. From our view it looked like she let her self in. The house looked like a classic lake house. It was a cozy looking split-level cottage.

Twenty minutes later the woman walked back out of the front door and crossed the street to get into a white BMW. Instead of following the girl Sebastian and I bet on the house belonging to the owner of the Ford GT. All the shades were down at the house and by my persuasion Sebastian pulled up alongside the mailbox. A tree branch hung down on the mailbox making it somewhat incognito. I rolled down my window all the way. Yes I actually had to roll down the window - the Buick did not have automatic windows. I slid down the mailbox door and quickly grabbed the top envelope and glanced at the name - Mitchell Arnold. I took a picture of the address on my phone and put the letter back down gently push the mailbox lid closed. Sebastian slowly drove away. We finally had our Mitchell.

.

Pauly started to rattle off the rundown of his complete findings of Mitchell Arnold. He said the information wasn't sparse.

"The guy is loaded," Pauly said. "Five bank accounts, three brokerage accounts all in seven figures."

"What does he do?" Sebastian asked.

"That's the thing he is not actually employed." Pauly flipped to another page. "He does have several LLC's but I can't tell what if anything the LLC's actually do."

"That's suspicious," I said. "Right?"

Both Sebastian and Pauly looked at me strangely.

"Keep going Pauly," Sebastian said. "Who is this guy?"

Pauly stood and flashed us a picture. "Well here is what he looks like."

The picture was a headshot of Mitchell. He had short blondish curly hair. He looked like a wannabe surfer dude who was aging. He had brown eyes and was flashing a crooked grin.

Pauly continued as Sebastian and I took a good look at the curly headed fuck.

"He was born in 1982 out of wedlock. His mom is Lane Arnold and his dad is Frank Cain."

"Aha," I said. "There it is."

Sebastian nodded and motioned Pauly to keep going.

"He has a long rap sheet dating back from when he was in eighth grade. Looks like he has stayed off the police radar since he got out of a short stint in jail when he was 19."

"Wow so for eleven years this guy has had nothing more than some parking and speeding tickets?" Sebastian looked at me and shook his head. "Anything more in there about his relationship with his dad?"

"No not really. But through connecting the dots from his past address history and his schooling Mitchell didn't grow up around here. He was born and raised in Sarasota. It was after his stint in jail that he moved to Winter Park."

"How long has he been at the house he is in now?" I asked.

"Seven years," Pauly said. "Before that he lived four years in an apartment near the mall."

All of us were quiet for a moment. Sebastian and I were taking in all the information on our target.

"Great stuff Pauly," Sebastian finally said. "Again you came through for us. Thank you."

Pauly smiled. "Anytime. I like challenges."

"This is probably cake to you Pauly," I joked. "You are probably working on hacking Facebook on your downtime right?"

"Too easy," Pauly laughed.

"I have your payment," Sebastian said. "And we have to give you a bonus for your quick turnaround time man."

"You know what keep the bonus money," Pauly said shyly. "Can you guys do me a favor instead?"

Sebastian's eyes darted to me and I knew he was thinking he was not going on anymore shopping excursions. "Ah what do you have in mind?"

"Double date with me and Sarah?"

I almost laughed out loud but I caught myself. It just sounded cute and nerdy. I smiled to give him my approval but I could tell Sebastian didn't share my excitement.

"Pauly we would like to but we are working this case and it takes up our nights." Sebastian explained with sincerity.

"You available from 1 am to 4 am?"

"Um." Sebastian paused not knowing if it was a trick question. "We are either working or sleeping. Why?"

"I figured you guys were busy but I know you are night owls. I wanted to take Sarah to the next shuttle launch and it's at 2:30 am. It would be our first date in the middle of the night and I think she would be more comfortable if she knew other people were coming."

Ah," I said. "That's sweet Pauly."

He smiled at me then looked at Sebastian for approval.

"Impressive," Sebastian said. "A night launch date. That is good thinking man. I would love to see the shuttle launch at night. I grew up in Florida and I have yet to see the shuttle launch at night. I'm down."

Pauly was giddy as he hopped to his phone. "Awesome! I can't wait to call Sarah to ask her." Pauly held onto his phone as he walked us to his front door. "I will text you to let you know if she says yes."

"Cool," I said. "Later Pauly."

"Bye Romeo." Sebastian chimed in.

We discussed the new details we had on Mitchell while Sebastian drove us to IKEA. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together. After disagreeing for a few hours we finally agreed we were going to keep an eye on Mitchell and try to locate Myra.

The mattress in the back of the van fit perfectly. It looked a little creepy having a made up bed in the back but it would be convenient to be able to stake out Mitchell's place while getting some shuteye. We parked it at Alfie's AC shop and jumped into our Buick to drive over to the WP Kids Club building.

Sebastian parked in the back of the parking lot at the club. It was half full. It was after 4 pm. On the WP Kids Club website it said during the school year they closed at 7 pm. A bus from surrounding elementary and middle schools dropped the kids off after school. Our plan was to spot Myra, follow her home and speak with her parents. Any parent would want to know if there was a possibility there child was getting sexually molested.

To burn time I sent Gwen and Nelly a text. It had been awhile since I had spoken to them and I had not had time or been in the mood to respond in depth to any of their texts. The last text from Nelly was about a guy she was dating. If she told me another guy was the one again I was going to call her out on it. Since I had known her she had said this about at least five guys. Each time the relationship ended she told me she was done with guys.

Nelly responded to my text of asking what was new with her. "Third date tonight with Corey."

"Nice. Like you would ask me anytime I was even talking with a guy - have you hit that?"

"No! Corey is actually a gentleman. But yes he is bangable."

I laughed out loud and told Sebastian my text conversation with Nelly. He just rolled his eyes and kept his eyes on the club.

I responded, "Wow impressive a third date and no famous Nelly hook up story for me. I might like this guy."

"You are funny Lee! You will like him."

"Keep the cucumber close by."

"LOL! Hitting the farmers market this Saturday."

With Nelly making no mention of Corey being the one he might just have a chance with her. Gwen didn't respond to my text and I assumed she was actually working. Gwen worked as an athletic trainer at Arizona State. She worked long hours and traveled with the teams on occasion.

Since the clock hit 4:30 a few kids had trickled out of the club. With Sebastian staring at the club I played poker on my phone. I got impatient waiting around. Sebastian said I got bored way too easy but when we wait in our car as much as we do it got boring.

Sebastian nudged me. "There is our girl."

Myra had on a light blue skirt and dark blue shirt. It looked like a school uniform. She hesitated looking around, then smiled and skipped to the red Honda minivan that was approaching her. It appeared there were two other kids in the minivan when Myra took off her backpack and ducked to climb in the back row. Sebastian put the car in drive waiting for the van to go by us before turning onto the street.

"Hey that's the neighbor!" Sebastian said.

"Huh?"

"The red Honda Odyssey that is one of Cain's neighbors."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. I swear that is her."

"Good thing you are so damn observant Sebi."

"You are just blind sweetie," Sebastian said giving me a snarky smile. "We staked out the Cain's for how many days? I saw that minivan all the time."

"Now that I see it yes I remember it but I wouldn't have put it together so quickly like you did. Guess I focused more on the Cain's."

"I'm the best," Sebastian said.

It was no surprise to us that the minivan led us back to a house on Lake Maitland that sat across the street from the Cain residence. Sebastian parked under a tree that gave us nice shade and made us somewhat hidden. Our view of the house was slightly blocked due to the trees and the other cars parked in the driveway. The three kids ran out of the garage and over to pet the yellow lab that reciprocated their excitement. The woman who drove the van stood by the door waiting a few minutes before we heard her yell at the kids to come inside.

Nearly 30 minutes later Myra came out with a woman who looked like her mom. They shared the same complexion and dark hair.

"Myra's mom is the hired help." Sebastian looked at me. "You ready to approach her?"

"No choice Sebi, I don't want to delay this any longer. We have to do what we can to get this stopped. Mitchell had easy access with his dad living next door. Who knows how long this had been going on? I was sure the families were friends. And I bet you it was easy for Mitchell to look like the good guy and offer to take Myra to get ice cream. Or help her with schoolwork or hey I'll take her to a movie. Curly headed fuck!"

"Easy sweetie." Sebastian sensed my anger and didn't want it to set me off in a bad state of mind. "We are going to do everything we can."

Myra and her mom pulled out of the driveway in an old Toyota Corolla. Sebastian backed up then did a three point turn. We followed the car to a small house that was at least 15 miles east of Winter Park. The neighborhood was the complete opposite of the neighborhood we had just came from. Sebastian pulled right into the driveway. The woman stared at us and motioned Myra to go inside. She was hesitant and a look of fear was on her face. Rightfully so, two strangers pulled up behind her and were getting out of their car.

"Sorry to bother you miss but can we have a moment of your time?" Sebastian said this in a soft gentle voice as to not scare her.

The woman tilted her head then shook it back and forth. Sebastian started talking to her in Spanish and I could see her soften. Her fear was gone and she spoke to Sebastian comfortably. Sebastian must have made a joke because she chuckled softly and replied. The conversation turned serious and I wish I knew what was being said. From her tone and body language it seemed the woman was getting defensive. Fifteen minutes later the woman headed to her front door and Sebastian walked to get in our car. I followed his lead and got into the passenger seat of the car.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

Sebastian didn't respond.

"Sebastian you do realize I don't speak Spanish. You have to tell me what was said."

"She won't press charges."

"So she knows?"

"Kind of. She is in denial."

"Sebi please tell me everything!"

Sebastian pulled out of the driveway before translating the conversation. "She said that a girl approached her and told her that Myra confessed to her that she was getting abused. The mom didn't believe her. By the way I pressed this I think maybe she does believe her but the reason she doesn't want to do anything is that she fears losing her job. Her and her husband are here illegally. She said they couldn't get deported. The family she works for treats her well and they are paying for Myra to go to a private school."

"But that's her daughter! She doesn't care she is getting sexually abused?"

"Leah, I know but what do we do? I can't make that lady do anything. It's our first talk with her. I think if we can get more we can persuade her. The thing is she mentioned that Myra has yet to tell her this has happened. After the girl told her about the alleged abuse she had a talk with Myra and she could not get her to say if it was true or not."

"Did you mention Mitchell's name?" I asked.

"No but I did say neighbor of the family she worked for and she didn't dispute it. I am sure Megan gave her his name."

"What about seeing if she will let us talk to Myra. We can show her the picture of Mitch and get her to say it is him in front of her mom."

"Leah I know this is frustrating but we can't push."

"Damn Sebastian this is a nine year old girl and her mom isn't even protecting her!"

"Her mom is scared."

"Her mom is thinking about herself and money!"

"Leah we don't know the life Myra and her family will have if they get deported."

"What it could be worse than having a 30 year old grown man force his genitals on her child and get her to do God knows what?" I was yelling and I didn't mean to take my anger out on Sebastian. "Sorry. This just pisses me off."

"Leah I know and trust me we are going to stop Mitchell Arnold from ever hurting another child again."

"Megan died trying."

"We are going to finish her work."

.

For a week we had been following Mitchell's every move. He spent all his time at his house in Winter Park, the blonde's home on Summerlin and at different bars all over Orlando. During the days while Sebastian tailed him in our van I had been visiting the WP Kids Club. Last week, the day after Sebastian's talk with Myra's mom I brought my resume into the club and said I would like to offer free volleyball lessons. My accolades from being an all-state volleyball player in high school and an all Pac 12 performer in college caught their eye. They were thrilled that a former college volleyball player wanted to give free training lessons to the girls of the club. Everyday from 3:30 to 4:30 I took a group of girls through volleyball training. The girls were ages 7-12 so I kept it fun with games and easy drills.

On the first day I gave a speech to all the girls of the club persuading them to join the training sessions I would be giving for the next couple of weeks. When Myra shyly walked away I went up to her and persuaded her to join the group. I had a lot of experience working with kids. I started working volleyball camps when I was fourteen. I had a natural way with kids and they gravitated toward me. Myra lit up when I complemented her and persuaded her she would have fun if she participated. She joined my session and had a smile on her face the whole time. I constantly made the girls laugh and would encourage them to do their best. My goal with Myra was to get her to trust me. Little by little Myra started becoming my pal. As were a handful of the other girls. One of the moms has already asked me if I could be their babysitter because her daughter won't stop begging her to have me babysit. I guess I had a gig to fall back on if this whole catching bad guys thing didn't work out.

When the latest session wrapped up and while the girls went to get a drink I called out to Myra. "Hey Myra."

She walked over with a smile on her face in anticipation for me to make her laugh. "You do know that the volleyball can't bite right?"

She giggled and shyly looked into my eyes.

"Okay so since a volleyball doesn't have teeth when you go to spike it or bump it, it is not going to bite your hand, right?"

She laughed and blushed. "I know."

"Okay so tomorrow we work on getting a little more power behind your hits. Cool?"

"Yes. Cool!"

I smiled at Myra. "You are doing great Myra. Keep up the hard work. You rock girl!"

"Thanks."

She gave me a high five before running to the water fountain. I always waited a little while to leave so I didn't run the risk of having Myra's mom see me if she happened to pick her up. My heartached for Myra. When I got into the car I called Nelly.

"Hey Nelly."

"Hey Leah."

"Question for you," I said. "Have you worked with any kids at your school that have been physically or sexually abused?"

Nelly was an elementary school teacher and I remembered her reading a book in college that a former abused child wrote. I know it made an impact on her because she tried to get Gwen and I to read it.

"Not directly. Why what's going on?"

"Oh nothing there is just a kid at this house we clean and I have a hunch she is getting abused."

"That sucks. I hate hearing that."

"I know. What are the effects?"

"Oh gosh so many. Biggest one is probably fear. Children of abuse have fear. They fear the abuser. They fear what the abuser will do to them if they tell anyone. In most cases the abuser usually uses threats for the child to keep quiet. They usually feel helpless and alone. Lots of effects of child abuse Leah, it is awful."

"What about sexually abused kids?"

"Same effects except they feel more guilt and shame."

Obviously Myra had to be terribly fearful of Mitchell. I could tell she had low self-esteem and I got the feeling that she had lost her innocence. She had gone through what no child should have to. It made me sad talking about it so I changed the subject.

"Thanks Nelly. So tell me about this Corey guy."

Nelly gave me all the details of how they met and how the first three dates had gone. I talked to her all the way to Alfie's where I was meeting Sebastian. It was nice having a distraction for a short while. Nelly's cackle and dirty mouth made me laugh. It felt good to actually laugh.

Sebastian was leaning up against the van when I pulled into Alfie's place.

"Hey sexy," I said. "You want to get in that van and knock those boots?

Sebastian scrunched up his face. "What does that even mean?"

I laughed. "Sorry I was talking to Nelly I guess she rubbed off on me."

"That makes sense," Sebastian said. "Your tone sounds just like it does when you get around Nelly and Gwen."

"Anything new with Mitchell?"

"Just the usual afternoon for him. He was holed up in his house. He did have a visitor, a guy in a suit. He stayed for almost an hour."

"Hmmm."

"How did it go with Myra?"

"Good. That girl is so sweet. She definitely is taking a liking to me."

"Of course. Hey if Mitchell goes into a bar or another public place tonight I want to go in and scope him out."

"Deal," I said. "Wear some disguises?"

"I'll probably just wear a low cap and glasses but I want you to wear a wig."

"Cool. Let's do it. Remember we are meeting Pauly at 1 am tonight to drive over to see the shuttle."

"Oh I almost forgot."

"Yeah it's his big date so we have to be there. When was the last time we went on a double date?

"Hmm" Sebastian said. "Wasn't it with Nelly and Brandon?"

"Oh yes! It was fun. Nelly threw up on her new heels she bought that day."

"Yeah that was real fun Leah. She took them off to throw them at the dumpster and she totally hit that car."

I laughed out loud at the image of Nelly doing just that. "Oh come we had fun laughing at her."

Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Come on Sebibear let's go into our love shack."

Sebastian rolled his eyes again then grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder. He took me into the van and I showed him what knocking boots meant.

.

Mitchell Arnold liked to leave his house around 9 pm every night. He drove directly to a bar or the blonde's house but 80% of the time it was to a bar. On this night it was to the bar. We had watched him enough from afar that it was now time to get a closer look. Sebastian had on dark jeans, a black tee shirt, a pair of reading glasses and a black hat. Only the reading glasses were a disguise and I told him it wasn't good one. He brushed me off saying it was only important for me to be in disguise since I would be the one of us that he noticed. I was wearing a short blonde wig, a Guns and Roses mid rise tank and daisy duke jean shorts. From the establishments Mitchell had been hanging out in I would fit in just fine.

Mitchell parked his Ford GT and got out with his cell phone to his ear. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a cutoff tee shirt. The bar was a hole in the wall near downtown. The parking lot was always full but I couldn't imagine anyone inside coming close to making six figures like our guy Mitchell did. His Ford GT was the lone nice car in the lot. Our Buick fit in perfectly and I told Sebastian we could have been safe bringing Mr. Tan. That was the name Sebastian gave our van. He didn't like me always referring to it as our turd brown van. He said tan was a more distinguished way to refer to the color of it.

Sebastian gave me a once over and adjusted my wig. We did a gun check and phone check then went into the bar. The inside made the outside look nice. It was smoky and loud. The music was coming from the jukebox and the quality was awful. The layout actually reminded me of the Cheers bar. Nobody knew my name in there and I was happy as hell about that.

We sat at a high top table and I brushed off the seat before sitting down. I fought to wear jeans but Sebastian persuaded me I would fit in more if I wore the short jean shorts. I thought it was more for his viewing pleasure though. Mitchell was sitting at the bar in between two leathery chicks with blonde hair. For an hour he drank and flirted with the girls. A friend of his walked into the bar and they give each other a fist bump. Mitchell introduced the girls to him. We had a clear view of them and it was not that we were so close to them that we could hear there conversation Mitchell was talking really loud.

A band had set up shop in the back of the bar and the crowd was getting larger. We watched as Mitchell tried to sway one of the blondes with his charm. It was pathetic to watch. The blonde was resisting a little but I was betting on her leaving with him.

"Son of a bitch," Sebastian said.

"I know this is disgusting to watch," I said.

"He just slipped something in her drink. Did you see that?"

"Seriously Sebi?"

"Yep," he said. "I am going over there."

"No let me. I will take the drink away."

"Leah I don't want him to get pissed at you."

"Come on I can do it. I don't want him to see your identity Mr. Icognito with your damn glasses."

"Fine go quick."

I walked to the side of the bar where they were sitting and snagged the glass.

"Hey what the fuck are you doing?" Mitchell said.

I couldn't stand this bastard and having him talk to me gave me the chills.

"I saw you slip something into this glass. Did you not motherfucker?"

The girl, who before was looking at me with a pissed off glare, turned to Mitchell with wide eyes and a look of fright.

"Did you?" She asked.

"No I didn't put anything in your glass. This bitch is crazy."

The bartender came over and lifted up the glass to inspect. He threw the beer in the sink then filled up a new glass. "Problem solved."

I walked away disappearing into the crowd of people so I didn't have to have any more interaction with that creep. I felt a hand on my back and I instinctively grabbed my purse as I turned forcefully to confront the person. It was only Sebastian. He turned me so I was facing the other direction and led me out of the bar.

"You okay?" Sebastian asked when he opened the door to the outside.

I could finally hear and see without a haze of smoke coating my eyes. "Finally I can breathe! I need to shower Sebi. I have to wash this filth off me."

"Okay."

"What a complete d-bag this guy is. You think she still goes home with him?"

"I saw her and her friend storm off so hopefully not but I am sure he has more date rape drugs on him. This guy is pure sleaze."

"He scares me Sebi."

"His day is coming sweetie. How about going over to the hotel we stayed at on I-drive. We can get ready for our date then come back after and sleep until check out time."

"Aw yes! Great idea."

.

Pauly and Sarah were waiting outside his apartment for us when we pulled up. We were just a few minutes late. They looked like two kids waiting to get picked up for the prom. Both of them were nervous and jittery. I whispered to Sebastian to be nice when we were climbing in the backseats of Pauly's car. We stopped on the way out of town to get some snacks. Sebastian and I ran around Wal-Mart like we had not been let out of the house in weeks. We both jumped on one scooter in the skateboard section and took a lap. We crashed near the tennis section knocking down stacks of tennis balls. Pauly and Sarah laughed at us and Sarah commented on how cute we were together. Before we checked out Sebastian asked Pauly if he needed us to buy him condoms. I playfully hit Sebastian as Pauly's face turned bright red.

Sebastian and I cuddled in the back of the car on the drive to the coast while feeding each other gummy worms and M&M's. I saw why Pauly wanted us along. He was shy and had not been able to open up around Sarah. With Sebastian springing question after question on them they both brought their guards down and opened up a bit. Sarah asked us what we did for a living. Sebastian told her we owned our own cleaning company then diverted the attention and started bragging on Pauly's technology skills. I wondered if Pauly has told her anything about what we have him do for us. I assumed he hadn't since Pauly knows we want everything kept confidential.

There was a ton of traffic, as we got closer to reaching Titusville, the beach town that sat directly across from Cape Canaveral. Pauly had a slight freak out because he thought we would be late. The shuttle launched at 2:35 and it was 2:20. Sebastian and I giggled telling him to relax. Yes there was chaos even though we were a few miles away from the beach as cars were parked along the road but there was no way we were missing the launch. I didn't drive an hour in the middle of the night just to be a buffer on Pauly's date. I had never seen the shuttle launch in person and I was getting geeked out with anticipation. People were camped out like they were getting ready for fireworks. It was like a tailgate party before a college football game. The atmosphere was kick ass. I had my head out the window watching all the people. Sebastian directed Pauly who was having a panic attack where to park.

"Just launch it right here dude."

"This isn't a parking spot and I will be blocking the other cars."

"Pauly, trust me. It's fine if it sticks out a little. No cars will be on the road during the launch anyway."

Pauly huffed and puffed while he followed Sebastian's orders.

"Come on we got 12 minutes to lift off!" I yelled as I opened the door before Pauly turned the car off.

Everyone followed my lead and scrambled out of the car.

"Shit we better hurry," Sebastian said.

Sebastian grabbed my hand and we ran through hordes of people who are all in their designated spots to witness the shuttle launch. There were motor homes lined up with people who had come from all over the US to see this. Sebastian found a spot with a clear view and he put me in front of him so I had a better view.

There was a pickup truck behind us that had a radio broadcast of the launch. I felt like we were going to be a part of history. I smiled at Sebastian and told him how cool this was. He told me to keep my eyes looking directly across from where we were. It was dark and you couldn't see anything except for two dots of light.

After a few exciting minutes of waiting we heard the countdown playing in the background. 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, 0 and liftoff. The light that filled the sky was so unbelievably bright and powerful. It lit up the whole area. I was in complete awe. I squeezed Sebastian's arm and screamed. Everyone was cheering and gasping at the intensity of the light and of the sound. We kept our eyes on the shuttle the entire time until it turned into a small ball of light as it rocketed out of the atmosphere.

"That was so flipping cool!" I yelled. "Wow!"

"That was amazing," Sebastian said. "This is a once in a lifetime moment Leah. I will never forget this."

"Me either."

Sebastian whispered, "Listen to this." He took a step toward Pauly. "Shit Pauly your car we better go get it before it is towed."

Pauly's eyes bugged out. "Really? Let's go."

Pauly grabbed Sarah's hand and started sprinting in the direction of the car. Sebastian grabbed my hand and we laughed as we ran to keep up. The majority of the crowd had stayed still keeping their eyes on the shuttle as it slowly disappeared into the night sky. By the time we got to the car I was out of breath and couldn't stop laughing.

"It's here Pauly," Sebastian said. "Imagine that. Last ones to get here, first to leave. Don't go down the main drag let's go around else we will be stuck in traffic for hours."

We got out of town in less than twenty minutes thanks to Sebastian directing Pauly through the back roads to get back on highway 50 that led us back to Orlando. We were all still lit up when we hit Orlando's city limits. Sebastian and I took the new couple to breakfast before we got in our Buick and drove over to our hotel as the sun was starting to rise.

# CHAPTER 12

Like clockwork Mitchell left his house at 9:17 pm. Sebastian and I waited until 9:45 to approach the front door. Sebastian had been watching this house everyday for a week. He knew Mitchell's routine and he knew how to get in. Sebastian saw the blonde chick that borrowed his GT come to the house yesterday after Mitchell had already left. When she lifted a plant up to grab a key and let herself in Sebastian put the wheels in motion for operation breaking and entering. I didn't hesitate to jump on board with his idea. We needed proof that Mitchell was behind Megan's murder and that he was a sexual predator. I couldn't say I wasn't scared. The walkway leading up to Mitchell's front door was bright from the outside light. We were both dressed in black from head to toe and had our guns on us. If someone happened to see us we looked suspicious. Luckily this road was quiet and the neighbor across the street had trees everywhere that prohibited us from even getting a visual of the house.

"Here goes." Sebastian turned the key in the door and cracked it open.

I braced for an alarm and let out my breath when I didn't hear one. "Sweet no alarm."

There was a light on in the kitchen over the stove. I could see it from the living room where we were standing. There was a big flat screen TV and two leather couches. We walked toward the hallway to check out the rooms.

"Let's make this quick," Sebastian said. "He could come home anytime."

I got goose bumps thinking of the front door opening or hearing a car pull up. "Really? I thought you knew his routine?" I wish he hadn't said that.

"I do but who knows he could get lucky slipping a date rate drug into a lucky girl's glass."

We both had out flashlights as we walked down the wide hallway getting feel of the house. The master bedroom was on the left and it was the size of our downtown condo. He had ceiling mirrors and I almost gagged. I took only two steps into the room. Sebastian looked around briefly.

"Come on let's find his computer," Sebastian said.

I follow Sebastian into the next room. There was a large glass desk with two computer monitors on it. Two oversized love sacs are in front of it. There was an elliptical machine and a 40-inch flat screen in the corner. One of the walls of the room had a map of the world that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The other wall had framed pictures of athletes and celebrities. It caught my attention and I took a closer look.

"Yuck," I said. "John Campbell and Frank Cain standing next to Shaq. Ew, Mitchell with two playmate models."

"Leah let's focus on what we need to do."

I walked over and stood behind Sebastian who was sitting at the computer. He put a memory stick in the computer so we could put any evidence on it that we could find. The computer booted up and Sebastian started scanning the folders Mitchell had in his documents file. He clicked on one that said JFM LLC. There were multiple folders within and Sebastian clicked on a folder that had financial statements all with outlandish figures listed on them. Sebastian clicked on a folder that said 4-6. I let out a sound of shock and Sebastian cursed while quickly closing the file. I knew from Megan's writing that Myra said Mitchell took pictures but I didn't prepare myself for what we would actually find on this slime ball's computer. I guess I couldn't fathom it actually being true - that there were individuals in our society capable of this.

"Oh God I am going to throw up." I kneeled down, my emotions and nausea overcoming me. "Oh God."

"This sick bastard. Well I got proof enough that we have the right guy. Myra is telling the truth." Sebastian looked down at me. "Leah you okay?"

"Not really. It feels like I got the wind knocked out of me. You going to put proof on the memory stick."

"Hell no. We can't. If we get caught with those pictures on our computer we go to jail!"

"Oh true."

"I want to see if I can find other information in these folders but I am afraid to open anything else."

"All those folders have numbers on them," I said. "I think they are by age. Click on the 18+ folder."

Sebastian clicked on it. I was right. The pictures in that folder were of girls and guys who were older. No matter the age it was grotesque and he clicked out of it. I was disgusted. Sebastian put the mouse over the folder that was labeled 4-6 and right clicked on it to get info. The size of the file was 50.3 MB. The 18+ folder was a sliver of the size of the 4-6 folder. He checked the other folders that are marked 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-17,18+. The size goes down dramatically as the numbers go up.

"You think he is running like a child porn site or a prostitution ring?" I asked.

"Something like that. Maybe both. He definitely is on the production side not only does he have pictures but he has video. Look at these folders." Sebastian clicked on a folder that showed hundreds of video icons. "Remember how much money Pauly said this guy has in all his accounts? He is running a major operation using child porn and he has a lot of customers."

I shook my head. "So Megan confronts him about Myra and with her on to his schemes he can't risk getting exposed and losing his empire. With the money he makes from this he definitely has a motive. If she goes to the police he's done."

"Yep," Sebastian said. "She knew too much."

Sebastian clicked on the Internet icon and looked at past history. The last site Mitchell went to was his email account. Sebastian clicked on the site but we had no luck - Mitchell logged out. It did show his username: mitcha8plt7. Sebastian copied it to our memory stick. The sites he previously visited are all porn sites that require a log in to access. Sebastian copied the URL's and placed them on our memory stick.

"He has a land line." Sebastian followed the phone's cord inspecting it. "We can see if Pauly knows how to tap the phone. Sure it is only used for business."

"Good idea. Can we go now?"

"Yeah."

Sebastian shut the computer down and we headed toward the front door. Sebastian abruptly stopped.

"You hear that?"

"Are you messing with me?" I whispered.

"Shh. Listen."

I heard a faint clicking coming from the kitchen. "Maybe the refrigerator?"

"Maybe," Sebastian said. "Stay quiet."

We tiptoed with our guns drawn. Both of us turn into the kitchen and put our guns down when there was nobody there.

"Phew. That scared me." I looked at Sebastian and we took our first step toward the front door. A loud clunk then a grinding sound came from the kitchen. Both of us jumped. "Damn!"

I laughed at Sebastian who was pointing the gun at the freezer.

"That is one loud ass ice maker," he said. "That scared the hell out of me."

We made it out of the house, locking the door behind us and leaving the key under the plant in the exact spot we found it. Back in the Buick I took off my black gloves and hat. I was sweating from wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt. I still felt ill from what I saw inside. I needed to vomit.

.

Myra had a big smile on her face as I approached her. I had instructed all of the girls to work on their serves. I told Myra I needed to talk to her. We sat down against the wall next to my backpack. I was hoping us talking helped her feel like she had someone who cared about her.

"Myra I want to talk to you about something really important."

Myra only nodded.

"Do you know what happened to Megan Bell? I know you were friends with her."

Myra's face gazed down to the ground and she nodded again.

"I know Megan really liked you a lot. Right?"

"Yes."

"And you thought a lot of her too?"

"Yes. Megan was my best friend."

"I know Megan and I know she thought the world of you. I want you to know that she would have done anything for you."

Ultimately Megan gave her life for this kid's cause. There needs to be more Megan's in this world.

"I know," Myra said.

I wondered what she was told about Megan's death. I avoided the topic and kept going in the direction I had planned.

"Now Myra I need to ask you something and it is something that is not easy to talk about. Megan left me notes about the time she spent talking with you. The only reason I know these things is because Megan cared very deeply about you and she wanted to make sure you were protected."

Myra shook her head that she understood.

"Myra I am going to show you a picture. I want you to tell me if you know this person and if so what his name is."

I took out the 5X7 picture of Mitchell from my backpack. Myra saw it and glanced down. I put the picture back in the bag. Her look was enough for me to know this was the Mitchell she told Megan about.

"You recognize him?"

"Yes," Myra said. She kept her eyes on the ground. "His name is Mitchell. I don't know his last name."

"That is okay. Megan told me you knew him. Myra I want you to know that he is never going to hurt you again. Myra he has hurt you hasn't he?"

"Yes."

"Myra when did you see Mitchell last?"

"I don't know."

"Has it been a long time?"

"Kind of."

"Has it been at least a month?"

"Yes."

This assured me Megan had at least scared Mitchell into leaving Myra alone for a while.

"Have you seen him since you told Megan about him?"

Myra shook her head no.

"Myra I want you to know that he isn't going to hurt you ever again."

Myra tilted her head up slightly and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "I know. Megan promised me he wouldn't."

"Megan is pretty special isn't she?"

Myra straightened out her posture and finally brought her head up. "Yeah." A slight smile came across her face.

"Tell me what you liked to do with Megan."

At that question the young girl brightened up.

"We would play games together. She taught me how to play chess." Myra was now animated and had a wide smile on her face. "I beat her in chess."

"Really?"

"Yes. I am really good. She also taught me how to braid hair." Myra grabbed the tail of her braided hair. "This is called a fishbone braid."

"Wow. Very pretty Myra. You did that yourself?"

"Yes. She taught me how to make these bracelets too." Myra held out her wrist. "Megan made this one. I wear it everyday."

I let Myra continue to talk about Megan before gathering the girls and breaking up into teams for a scrimmage. It felt good to finally be able to talk to Myra. Not that I ever doubted Myra telling Megan about the abuse but seeing the filth on Mitchell's computer with my own eyes sparked a fury inside me. It maddened me that he hurt helpless innocent boys and girls.

After ending the practice I spoke to Myra asking her if she had a picture of herself and Megan. I remembered the picture Megan had of the two of them in one of her computer files. It was such a nice picture. Myra said she didn't have one. I told her I would bring her the picture that Megan took. She had a bounce in her step as she left the WP Kids Club to jump into the minivan that would take her back to the neighborhood where Mitchell had made her a victim. I had to keep my promise to Myra that the evil man would never hurt her again. With Megan out of the picture I wondered how long it would be for him to make another move. We had to take him down before he was able to.

Sebastian was in the parking lot waiting for me when I walked out of the club doors. He went to pay Pauly a visit and looked into the URL's we copied off Mitchell's computer.

"How did it go?"

"I talked to her," I said. "She confirmed his name and said he hurt her."

"You get it on tape?"

"Yep," I said. "Hey I want to go to her house as late as possible I want to make sure she is already in bed. I don't want her to have to overhear anything."

"That's fine."

Sebastian put his hand on my leg. "Love you Leah."

I smiled at him and rested my head on his shoulder. "I love you too Sebastian. It was really hard talking to Myra. It just breaks my heart."

"I know sweetie."

"She is only nine. I just -"

"Sweetie I know." Sebastian wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. "She will not be harmed again by him."

"It's just that the horror she experienced doesn't go away though. She has to live with this."

Sebastian put his arm around me. "Just think of all the lives Myra is saving by being brave enough to tell Megan and you."

I wiped my tears away using Sebastian's t-shirt. "She did say she has not seen Mitchell since she told Megan about him. Megan scared him off. Which is such a relief. But I fear with Megan gone it is only a matter of time before he goes back to her."

"We're not going to let that happen. We are going to take this monster down ASAP. By any means necessary."

"Oh so what happened with Pauly?"

"Not much with the URL's because everything is masked. He is going to keep working on them. He says wire tapping the phone in Mitchell's office is simple. He gave me what I need to do it and gave me a how to lesson."

"Nice!"

"Hey I called Pops while I was waiting for you he wants us to come over for dinner since we are in the area."

"Cool I'm down."

"Yeah I thought some home cooked Puerto Rican food would hit the spot and be a nice distraction."

I picked up the aroma of the food as soon as I stepped into the garage. Pops greeted me with a big hug and smacked Sebastian on the back of head before embracing him. Yara was busy on the deck tending to the grill. She walked in with fried plantains. Sebi and I fought each other to get to them first.

I dipped a plantain into the ketchup-mayo-garlic sauce. "Pure bliss."

Sebastian chatted with his dad in Spanish while we waited for the barbeque chicken to come off the grill. We both ate like wolves. I suggested to Sebastian that we should stay here for a few nights but he said he didn't want to chance it. He said John Campbell could have people watching this place. I thought John Campbell was to slow for that. I knew he took the bait on our Europe vacation. Better safe than sorry and I would never want to put Pops and Yara in danger. I was dreaming of not having to sleep in our van outside the AC shop but that was okay. It was not so bad and sleep would be hard to come by even if we were staying at the Ritz Carlton.

We waited until 9:45 pm to leave Pops house and head over to Myra's. Sebastian wanted to talk some sense into her mom and play her the tape recording. Her mom had to keep her away from Mitchell.

The front light of the house was on and there was a pickup truck parked in the driveway. A few men were talking with beers in their hand. I guessed one of them was Myra's dad. The men all turned to look at us as when we got out of the car. One of the men started walking toward us acting all tough. Sebastian started talking in Spanish and he put his guard down. The man separated himself from the other two men as Sebastian talked in a lowered voice. The man abruptly started calling out for Lupita who was Myra's mom. The man went into the house.

Sebastian looked in my direction and I approached him.

"That is Myra's dad," he said. "His name is Juan. He is livid. I told him about talking with his wife a few days ago. He had no idea what I was talking about. I assumed he knew."

"Oh snap."

The front screen door creaked open loudly. Juan came out followed by Lupita. I took a few steps back to assume my position as an outsider. Juan said something to the two men who were still standing by the truck. They walked toward a pickup truck that was parked on the street and took off.

I had no idea what was being said but by body language and the tone of the voices Juan was in the dark over Myra being allegedly abused. And upon hearing this news he was going absolutely ape shit. Lupita was trying to state a case but Juan kept dismissing her. Sebastian was the mediator. He was keeping a cool head as the visibly upset parents were reacting on emotions. I heard the name Megan and I assumed he was telling them everything that led us to this point. He then took out the small tape recorder and played the conversation I had with Myra earlier in the day.

I keep looking at the house making sure I didn't see a little face at the door or at the window. I hoped Myra was fast asleep dreaming of pleasant things normal nine year olds should be dreaming about. Maybe after our talk today she was playing chess with Megan or learning a new braid pattern.

After over an hour Sebastian wrapped up his talk with Juan and Lupita. As Sebastian walked away Juan called out to him and they talked for a few more minutes.

Juan looked my way. "Gracias."

I nodded.

When we were in the car I asked Sebastian to tell me everything. For the entire drive to the AC shop Sebastian told me about the conversation he had with Myra's parents. Juan was clueless about Myra being sexually abused. Lupita didn't want to tell him because she did not know if it was a fact and she was scared of what he might do. They both broke down a little when they heard Myra say Mitchell hurt her on the tape recording. Lupita said Mitchell's mom was Myra's third grade teacher last year. Mitchell would volunteer for field trips and would be at the house a lot on weekends when Myra and the daughters of the family she works for would have sleepovers. Lupita met him and he seemed like a nice young man to her. She could not imagine him doing anything like this and thought Megan might be trying to get money from the wealthy family by making this claim.

I asked Sebastian what Myra's parents planned to do. Lupita still feared losing her job and if they go to the police they were here illegally, so they both feared being deported. Sebastian told them about Megan Bell and how Mitchell's dad had enough pull with the police that any attempt to bring him down through the court system was useless. For the time being they agreed that Juan would pick Myra up directly from the WP Kids Club and Lupita would avoid bringing Myra to work when she wasn't in school. Both of them worked weekends occasionally and they agreed that she would be dropped off at the kids club if both parents were working instead of going to work with Lupita.

I was sure Sebastian left out a slew of details in the long conversation he had with Myra's parents. It was frustrating not knowing all the information that was exchanged but it was part of the deal. I felt relieved that Myra's parents knew the truth and would take steps to avoid any contact with Mitchell. Sebastian said they were sincere in their gratitude for us telling them and working on bringing this monster down.

I was not enthused by Sebastian insisting we go over to install the wiretap on Mitchell's phone that night. The day was stressful enough capping it off by tiptoeing around the sleazebag's house fearing the front door opened didn't sound fun to me. Of course I had no argument because we needed to keep moving forward and we didn't have time to waste.

It was nearly midnight when we arrived at Mitchell's house. It was dark inside and only the outside light was on. After many nights of watching his routine we know that his eta after a night out varied. Sebastian was adamant that he had never come home before midnight. I was nervous taking a chance like this so I persuaded Sebastian to go in while I waited outside so I could call him if Mitchell pulled up. He agreed with my idea so while he went through the front door I waited in a bush by the garage. It was grassy and swampy on the side of the garage. I hoped there were no snakes slithering around. I grabbed my flashlight and shined it on the ground. I didn't see any snakes but noticed the window above me. I got on my tippy toes to look in. My heart skipped a beat. The Ford GT was in the garage. I panicked. I grabbed my phone but didn't know if I should use it to call Sebastian because I doubted his ringer was on silent. Sebastian had been in the house nearly five minutes. He surely had to know Mitchell was home. Unless Mitchell was sound a sleep. I drew my gun and walked around to the back of the house. I knew Mitchell's bedroom was on this side. His bedroom light was on and I heard faint voices. There was shouting and loud noises. I knew Sebastian had walked in with his gun to his side so I was not worried about who would win a battle.

I ran around to the front door. I opened the door quietly. The dim kitchen light was on and I saw a ray of light coming from the hallway. Mitchell had his bedroom door shut. I took a few steps into the hallway. The voices coming from the bedroom were a guy and at least two girls. The shouting and noises were sexual. I was relieved that I could tell by the voices that they were all adults. I didn't hear Sebastian and figured when he heard the noises he thought he would be able to tap the phone without getting caught. I walked past the bedroom door and peered into the office. I saw the light from Sebastian's flashlight. He was under the desk.

"Sebastian," I whispered.

I saw the light go all over and a blur.

"Holy shit Leah. You scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry."

"Give me 30 seconds and we can go."

I heard the slaps and the grunts. I couldn't believe we are in this perverts house. Sebastian stands up and shuts off his flashlight. We quietly passed the bedroom door and snuck out the front door. Sebastian lightly locked the door and returned the key.

It wasn't until we were in our car driving down the street that we finally talked.

"That was flipping close," I yelled.

"When I opened the door I started walking toward the hall then I saw the light then heard a loud yell. Leah I nearly had a heart attack."

"I can imagine. I was on the side of the garage and I looked in the small window and saw the GT. I nearly pissed my pants."

Sebastian laughed then screamed out the window. "Damn that was such an adrenaline rush."

"I can't believe you stayed in there and hooked up the phone tap."

"I could tell Mitchell was completely wasted. I figured why not. I put my face mask on and figured if he came out I would just kick his ass."

"How many chicks were in there with him?"

"Two or three. I think they must have a videotape going that's why all the loud effects. It was almost like they were acting out a scene. One of the girls kept directing them on what to do and Mitchell kept overriding her saying he was paying for this shit so he would be the one to say what would happen. I think he must be producing a porno with himself as the star."

"Lovely."

.

Later that night while lying in our bed in the back of our van Sebastian and I talked about how to bring justice to Megan and the countless other victims of Mitchell Arnold.

"Well we can't kill him Sebastian."

"I know," Sebastian said. "And we can't go to the police directly. I think we need to get concrete proof and go public with it."

"Expose him," I said. "Nice. But how?"

"I have an idea I have been kicking around."

"Well?"

Both of us were looking up at the ceiling of the van. We slept with the van windows open and the shades down. We had two small battery operated fans blowing air on us. It was not so bad. The heat actually put me to sleep quicker and it did cool off a tad during the night. The neat thing about sleeping in here was that it reminded me of camping. I camped every summer growing up. Colorado has endless opportunities for camping spots and when the weekend came I would persuade any family members I could find to take me camping. My favorite was camping right next to the river then waking up and going white water rafting all day. The bonus of sleeping outside Alfie's AC shop was that he gave us a key to his office. His office has plumbing. It was nice having a bathroom and a shower to use. The first employee didn't arrive until 7 am so Sebastian and I woke up at 6:30 to give us enough time to take quick showers and bolt.

"Well?" I asked Sebastian again.

"Sorry I am just thinking. You know Leah if Mitchell would have been in the house alone tonight I don't think I would have hesitated, I think I could have shot him without feeling any guilt."

"Yeah, but if you get caught your life is over."

"If it meant saving lives of innocent children it would be worth it."

I turned on my side so I was facing my husband. He turned on his side too and ran his hand through my hair.

"You have a good heart Sebibears. We are smart enough to take down this predator without killing him. Plus who else is working with him? If he is gone it doesn't mean his cohorts will stop their wicked ways. The business would go on."

"I know sweetie."

Sebastian stayed silent and turned onto his back once again. He stared up at the ceiling.

My eyes were getting heavy. "What's your idea Seb?" I didn't want to fall asleep if Sebastian still wanted to discuss his idea of taking down Mitchell.

"Let me sleep on it. I'll tell you tomorrow and we will prepare."

"Deal. Love you Sebibears."

"Love you too sweetie precious."

Sebastian turned on his side and forces me to turn the other way then pulled me in close to him. He buried his nose into my hair and wrapped his arms around me. Spooning in Mr. Tan. Not a bad way to end a long draining day.

# CHAPTER 13

My hands were sweaty and clammy in the gloves. It didn't help that the gloves were designed like Isatoners. They would not help me if I was snowboarding back in Colorado but here in Florida they felt like hell. My whole body was warm. I was on my stomach in a forest so to speak covered head to toe in black fatigues. I had no complaints it was a must to wear this attire I just didn't think I should have to wear a bulletproof vest but Sebastian insisted. I was burning up. I felt like I might faint at any moment.

My walkie talkie beeped.

"Leah keep your aim steady."

"Sebastian I was arranging my glove that's why it was all over the place. Plus my temperature right now would not be a digit it would simply read hell. My body temp is set at hell right now. I am not feeling so good Seb."

Sebastian didn't respond. He was at the side of Mitchell's garage waiting for it to open. Unlike Mitchell's return time we knew that his departure time was no earlier than 9:00 pm and no later than 9:50 pm. We had been perched in our spots for almost an hour. It was 9:33 and both of us were getting antsy. The forest was what I nicknamed the across the street neighbor of Mitchell's. I guessed they just liked their privacy and it was a good thing for us.

"That's good cut the laser. Just don't freak out when it is go time. Stay steady you're a good aim Leah. And block out the burning up stuff you can take it."

"Got ya," I said. "Over and out."

I shut off my handgun laser. I took off both gloves quickly and wiped the sweat off on my pants. I quickly put the gloves back on not wanting to be out of position when the garage door opened.

When the garage door did finally open I grabbed my gun and calmly turned on the laser. The light from the garage was bright and it was hard to get a read of the red dot. It was easy in the dark practicing on Sebastian. All the while I was trying to locate the dot Sebastian had popped into the garage like a ninja. He had on a Darth Vader helmet. With his voice changer he probably sounded like him. Mitchell was surprised and I saw him put his hands up. Sebastian had him turn and flip off the light in the garage. _Good thinking Sebi!_ My hand steadied and I aimed the laser of my handgun directly on Mitchell's chest. The light from the street and the moon was strong enough to see both men.

Sebastian handed Mitchell a piece of paper. Mitchell handed him his cell phone and Sebastian slammed it to the ground. He then instructed Mitchell to walk toward the door of the house. He kept his hands up and walked slowly. Sebastian started walking backwards out of the garage door. The garage door started shutting and Sebastian took off in a sprint toward the Buick that was parked down the street. I kept my handgun up but shut off the laser. I slowly rose to my feet and kept an eye on Mitchell's house while running along the trees. Once the house was out of my sight I ran to the car, when I was in Sebastian sped off.

.

Mitchell fell right into to our trap. With no cell phone to use Mitchell called his dad Frank Cain on the landline. I listened to the conversation five times and printed up the transcript to read over. I studied it while Sebastian with his ear buds on listened to the conversation over and over. We were camped out at the Winter Park library on the top floor. I studied the transcript jotting down notes as I read it line by line.

.

Mitchell Arnold: Dad. Dad. (Yelling)

Frank Cain: Mitchell what is it? Calm down.

Mitchell Arnold: Dad I was just held at gunpoint in the garage.

Frank Cain: What? By who?

Mitchell Arnold: I don't know he had a mask on.

Frank Cain: Jesus Christ! Was it a robbery? (Yelling)

Mitchell Arnold: No dad the guy knew about our business, he knows about the girls. He even knows about Megan Bell's murder. He gave me instructions for the next step. He wants $1 million.

Frank Cain: Dammit Mitchell! Was it Ronnie?

Mitchell Arnold: I don't think so. It was hard to tell though he was dressed heavily in combat gear.

Frank Cain: Ah fuck. You, me, John and Ronnie are the only ones who know about Megan Bell. I don't think Ronnie would have the balls to attempt extorting us.

Mitchell Arnold: I don't think so either but he is the only one that is not truly on the inside even though he does a lot shit for us and has access to everything.

Frank Cain: Ronnie can't be that dumb to try anything like this. We have set him up for life by letting him be a part of this. I will have a nice little chat with Ronnie tomorrow and determine if he is clear.

Mitchell Arnold: You think maybe it is one of the dead girls family members?

Frank Cain: No idea. Son did the guy have a Spanish accent?

Mitchell Arnold: He used a voice changer.

Frank Cain: Julio or whatever the fuck he changed his name to is the only one in the wind.

Mitchell Arnold: What about Peterson sending someone from the pen?

Frank Cain: Campbell made sure that spineless fuck has no privileges. I don't think he can piss without a guard holding his johnson.

Mitchell Arnold: What about the two dicks Campbell got to track our threats?

Frank Cain: Doubtful. He said they are out of the country on vacation. And they're not even private dicks. Just two dumb fucks Shirley met at a Cheesecake Factory.

Mitchell Arnold: What do I do? He said if I involve anyone else he'd go public.

Frank Cain: Look just lay low. Don't make any moves with the business. Don't even get on the fucking computer. You hear me Mitchell?

Mitchell Arnold: Yes.

Frank Cain: As of now it is as if the business is shut down. All of it! And you need to get that goddamn security system installed like I keep telling you. Get some video cameras installed on the perimeter. If Ronnie is clean I will send him over tomorrow to work on it.

Mitchell Arnold: Want me to call Campbell?

Frank Cain: No let me talk to him. John has entrusted you with a lot son. You fuck this up and he won't hesitate to cut you out of this.

Mitchell Arnold: What if these people do go public?

Frank Cain: To who? We own this fucking town. You just better not be holding any information back from me that would put us in any hot water. Mitchell I swear anything comes back on us, it will be you taking the fall.

Mitchell Arnold: I know.

Frank Cain: Have all debts been paid?

Mitchell Arnold: Yes.

Frank Cain: Do what I told you. Lay low.

Mitchell Arnold: Okay.

.

It bugged me that Frank Cain did not show any real fear of this bringing him down. What an arrogant prick. We own this fucking town. Frank thought he was untouchable. So did John Campbell who may be the mastermind behind Mitchell's business. When we are through with them their thinking would be much different.

It also bugged me that he called us dumb fucks. It made my blood boil knowing that we were pawns used in their sick game. All the missed connection jobs we got were to take down any threats they had to their child prostitution ring/porn business. I thought back to the couple that died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Vance was the man we were hired to find information on. The only red flag we could find was that he had financial issues. Could they have murdered him and his wife because he couldn't make payments on the services he was getting? What about Juan Gomez? A former schoolteacher from Maitland who we found working for a pool cleaning company. Did he find out a young girl's secret like Megan did and when he tried to act on it he was threatened with his life? Juan Gomez is one of the guys Pauly could not locate. Pauly suspected he changed his identity.

The Peterson guy from the pen is Mahlik Peterson. When Pauly said he was in jail I was not surprised. He fit the description of a criminal. Sebastian and I dug up enough dirt on Mahlik that we handed over a heavy binder on the day we collected our pay. It would have been simple for Campbell and Cain to put him away for years at the state penitentiary.

If Mitchell followed the instructions on the piece of paper Sebastian handed him he will be emailing us soon. We gave him the email address gotusckr@gmail.com. After he contacted us we would reply with specific instructions on where and when to hand over the $1 million. That kind of money is pocket change that could be spared out of the near billion-dollar empire they were running.

In the quietness of the library Sebastian and I went over the details of the plan. We discussed what to do in different scenarios since most plans didn't go accordingly. I came up with different ways that it could backfire on us. Sebastian always came up with an answer and persuaded me that we were the ones with the upper hand. I wanted to agree with him but from my experience with playing poker sometimes you believe that your hand has to be unbeatable and in the end you lose it all.

.

We were playing the waiting game and it was about to stop. It had been two days and no email from Mitchell. I had two days to let the information from the call between the grotesque father-son duo set in. Two days for the rage to set in. Both Sebastian and I were ready. We had nothing to lose in the sense that if we didn't try to take down these dirty bastards we would not truly be able to live our life normally. Some things were worth giving up everything for. It was go time. Since Mitchell didn't want to cooperate we were going to Godfather his ass.

"Thanks for helping us Pauly," I said. "I know this is just what you wanted to do on your Saturday."

"Ha," Pauly said. "Going gator hunting is a first for me. This is cool."

We couldn't avoid bringing Pauly into our scheme to get Mitchell's attention. His roommate owned a pickup truck. We needed the truck and Pauly's breaking in skills.

"There!" Sebastian yelled. It scares both Pauly and myself. "Pull over Pauly."

Pauly veered the truck onto the side of the dirt road. We were in the middle of a marshy swampland.

"Ew," I said. "You sure it's dead?"

"It's dead Leah."

Sebastian and Pauly quickly jumped out of the truck to inspect the gator. I stayed in the middle seat of the truck hesitant to get out. Looking at a road kill gator was not settling well with my stomach. Sebastian walked back toward the truck with a smile on his face. "Leah you have to see this. Come on. It's not that bad."

The four previous gators we found were big and scary. I got out slowly and walked over to get a look at the dead gator.

"Ew. That is gross."

"Poor thing," Pauly said. "This one is a young pup. Only what? Four feet?"

"Yeah I'd say," said Sebastian. "I think he will do."

"Yuck," I said. "Don't ask me to help carry him."

"You don't have to. Just get out the gloves in the truck."

I watched Sebastian and Pauly struggle as they decided how to pick up the gator. Once they got it in the back of the truck they threw a tarp over it.

"Done." Sebastian said when he shut the truck door.

"Finally," I said. "Now let's go eat."

"Yara is making empanada's. We will go fuel up for tonight's escapade. Come on Pauly you can experience some authentic empanadas for the first time."

"Sounds good," Pauly said.

"Hey you want to invite Sarah," I asked. "We have time to kill since we are going to do the drop off when it's dark and late."

"Um I am not sure I want to explain to Sarah why we have a dead gator in the back of the pickup truck."

"She won't see it," Sebastian said. "Have her drive over to my Pops house. She can bring her bathing suit. You see her in a bathing suit yet?"

"No."

"There you go Pauly. Me and Leah are assisting in getting you to the next base with this girl."

Pauly rolled his eyes and thought on it for a minute. "Okay I will call her."

"Just tell her we needed the truck to move stuff," Sebastian said.

"Sebi he doesn't want to have to lie to his girl."

"Yeah but he is only doing it because we have a confidentiality agreement. He is bound to keep the truth to himself."

"True," I said. "Call your girl Pauly. So what do you tell Sarah about what you do for us?"

Pauly smiled and hesitated to tell us.

"What Pauly?" Sebastian said. "Damn man what do you tell her? By that face you have me worried."

"No it's just. I tell her I am helping you two set up your own porn site."

Both Sebastian and I laughed.

"What?" I asked. "Sarah is going to think we're freaks."

"I had to," Pauly said. "When she was over the other day she saw the URL's you guys gave me. The URL name gives it away. She looked at me in shock and disgust. I had to think of something on the spot so I told her you two are paying me to build you a site and I have to research these other sites. I told her you two want me to code the site so it makes it impossible for anyone to know you guys are behind it. I told her she had to swear to me that she would keep this to herself."

"Nice," Sebastian said. "She bought it?"

"Yeah," Pauly said. "She said that explains why I get all weird when she asks about you two and the work I do for you."

"She pissed you are doing it?" I asked.

"Not really but she did ask if I would have to be involved once the site was running. I told her after it is made I won't have anything to do with it."

"Poor Sarah."

"Yeah it sucks keeping stuff from her," Pauly said. "I don't like lying to her."

"Confidentiality agreement Pauly," Sebastian said sternly. "Don't fuck with it. As tempting as it is to tell and you may be able to trust Sarah but you can't give out any details."

Pauly kept his eyes on the road. "Never."

By the time we got to Pops house Sarah was parked on the street. Our road trip to find a gator took us over an hour outside of Orlando. There was a race on the kitchen TV and the smell of empanadas in the air. Alfie, Maria and the boys came over shortly after we arrived. Maria had homemade flan in her hand when she walked through the door and Sebastian nearly tackled her. Yara slapped his hands and told him he had to wait until after he ate the empanadas.

I jumped in the pool with Vin and Marcos. It was climb all over Leah time and I couldn't say I didn't enjoy it. I loved being around kids. I couldn't wait to have a few with Sebastian although with our lifestyle I didn't see that happening anytime soon. Sarah and Pauly got into the pool. They eased into the cold water. I told them they needed to do what I did every time, just jump in. I could see the comfort level between the two had grown. It was nice to see and like an older sister I felt joy for Pauly finding a girl that made him happy. Marco and Vin had new victims, they surrounded Pauly and Sarah splashing them with all their might. Pauly grabbed the little one and threw him in the air. That started off a nonstop demand from both boys to continue to throw them over and over.

Sebastian was talking to Alfie in the kitchen. I popped my head in and told him he needed to get in the pool. I always had to beg Sebastian to go in the pool with me. After awhile he came out but he wouldn't get in the water. He did relieve Pauly of his duties and started throwing the kids into the pool from the ledge. Yara announced from the house that the empanadas were done. All of us besides Vincent and Marcos started making our way into the house.

.

Pauly was at Sarah's car door telling her goodbye.

"Kiss her already we have to get going," Sebastian yelled.

Pauly looked over and shook his head. Both of us laughed then cheered as Pauly plants a kiss on Sarah's lips.

"Aw look at our boy all grown up," I said. "He's even kissing a girl. He's come along way Sebibears. Look at what he is wearing, all compliments of S&L."

"Our Romeo," Sebastian said.

Pauly walked over to the pickup truck where I was standing in front of Sebastian who had his arms wrapped around me.

"Some day we tell her?" Asked Pauly.

"You two get married then we will discuss it," Sebastian said. "We should probably draw up a contract huh?"

"Since I pretty much know everything you are doing?"

"You don't know everything and you don't need to know. Just know that we are the good guys."

"I know," Pauly said. "So you going to tell me why we are putting a dead gator in someone's house?"

"No," Sebastian said. "What's with all the questions all of sudden?"

"Just taking a page out of your book Sebastian. There are two in mother goose now. I have to think about Sarah. I really like her. I want what you two have and I know it is early but she may be the one."

"Aw that is sweet Pauly," I said. Hearing him say the one made me think of Nelly. I had not heard from her in awhile. "Hey you two can keep chatting about love I am going to call my friend."

I walked over to the side of the house and dialed up Nelly. No answer. I called Gwen.

"Leah!"

"Hey Gwenie."

"Hey what's up kid?"

"Nothing I just heard a friend of our say the words she might be the one and I thought of our lover girl Nelly. I tried to call her but no answer. She out?"

"Yeah she's on a date with Kyle."

"Kyle? I thought his name was Corey."

Gwen let out her infectious giggle laugh. "That was last week."

"Damn Nelly," I said. "That girl is something. What happened with Corey and who is Kyle?"

"I have no idea what happened with Corey," Gwen said. "She met Kyle at a club last week. I look over and see her sucking face with some guy. She didn't say he is the one yet but she did say he is amazing!"

"Of course she did," I said. "Gotta love our Nelly."

"She's all giddy. He is taking her on a date to do pottery tonight. She watched the pottery scene from Ghost before she left the house."

"Laugh my ass off," I said. "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah," Gwen said. "Speaking of laughing your ass off have you talked to your grandma Jazzy yet about her trip to Mexico?"

Sebastian called my name and motioned to me that we were leaving. I guess their bro talk was short lived. I started walking back to the truck.

"Oh my no! I haven't heard about their latest trip to Mexico," I said. "What did she say?"

My grandparents go down to Mexico every year to pick up prescription drugs when they are visiting relatives in Texas.

Gwen was giggling as she started to talk. "Well I was back home for break a couple of weeks ago and I ran into Jazzy at the grocery store. She said they just got back home from Texas and she said she got a new set of teeth in Mexico."

Both Gwen and I started laughing uncontrollably. I was sandwiched between Pauly and Sebastian in the trunk. They looked at me funny.

"Oh my gosh," I said. "No way."

"Oh yes," Gwen said. "She told me the whole story. She said they were the first ones there in the morning when the office opened and the dentist told her the teeth or dentures wouldn't be ready until later that afternoon and she would have to leave her old set of teeth with him. She told him she couldn't go out with no teeth and she needed a mask to wear so he gave her one."

I had tears coming down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. I was picturing my grandma in this dentist office in Mexico getting into a verbal war with the guy over going outside without teeth.

"So did they give her like a hockey mask or a nacho libre mask?" I asked Gwen in between laughing. "She walk around Mexico like one of Michael Jackson's kids?"

"She didn't say what kind of mask it was," Gwen said. "I can only imagine Jazzy in a mask in Mexico."

"That is scary that PBJ are getting dental work done south of the border," I said. "Who does that?"

"That's your grandparents Leah! They're quite the pair."

"Never a dull moment with them," I said. "Damn that is crazy."

My grandma has had false teeth ever since I remember. My brother Adam and I would tell her to take them out and she would. Then she would make faces at us - popping them in and out of her mouth. We both would be laughing hysterically daring her to do different things with them. I couldn't stop laughing thinking of PBJ in Mexico.

"Speaking of crazy you are coming to Tabby's wedding right?" Gwen asked.

"First off I didn't get an invite. Second Vegas is not close to Florida."

"Oh please you can get a cheap flight to Vegas from anywhere. And Tabby told me to tell you that you are invited."

"Yeah thanks for telling me now I don't even know when it is."

"Next weekend. Nelly said she told you everything."

"No she never gave me a date or details."

"It's been too long since we have seen you," Gwen said. "And it's Vegas. You have to come Leah."

"Just so you are not shocked I probably am not going to make it Gwen but I will try."

Sebastian gave me a look of confusion. "Probably won't make it Leah?" He said. "Try? Just tell her you can't."

I put my hand over the phone. "Shh! I told her probably not."

"You suck Leah," Gwen said. "It is going to be so much fun."

"I know," I said. "Hey I will talk to you next week about it."

"Okay. Get back to cleaning Mrs. Belvedere."

"Ha ha. Bye Gwen."

"Bye Lee."

After telling the guys about Jazzy getting new teeth in Mexico we started to focus on our upcoming mission. Pauly exited at E. South St. Our destination was close. I got butterflies in my stomach, which was normal for me. Before every volleyball game I would get butterflies too. It was the anticipation that came with performing. The unknown awaits and you have to prepare yourself mentally for anything that could happen. The butterflies were a way to remind me that the moment was real and it had to be seized. When the pickup truck came to stop on Summerlin I said to Pauly and Sebastian what I used to say to my teammates before going out onto the court.

"You only see obstacles if you take your eye off the goal. Let's get it!"

Both Sebastian and Pauly looked at me awkwardly. I put up my fist up for Sebastian to bump but he just stared at me.

"Oh-kay," Sebastian said. "Easy Tom Brady. Stay here while I make sure nobody is home."

We had been by Mitchell's house the last two nights. The blonde lady had been staying nights at his place and going home in the mornings. Our guess was that Mitchell was scared to stay at his house alone since our little visit. We spotted two cameras set up on the outside of his house. Ronnie must have been cleared by Cain and had them installed. Our hunch was Ronnie had to be the man in the white Lexus. It made sense since Cain said only the four of them knew about Megan. We knew the man in the white Lexus definitely knew about Megan.

"All clear," Sebastian whispered into Pauly's window.

Pauly was startled. Sebastian snuck up to the truck from behind. He let out a relieved sigh. "Damn you scared the crap out of me."

"Okay here is my motivational pep talk," Sebastian said. "Let's get in, get out and go home. Pauly back the truck into the driveway then get started on the front door. Leah help me prep the gator."

A few minutes later with no problems at all we were in the blonde chicks bedroom looking at our dead gator on the bed. A piece of paper on the pillow had a message to Mitch. It was basically a threat that he needed to answer his email or this dead gator was only the beginning of what we had in store for him.

"I can't believe I am doing this," Pauly said.

"Sorry Pauly," Sebastian said. "Leah couldn't help me carry the gator and you are all we got pal."

"No worries," Pauly said. "It's actually pretty badass. I just can't believe I am actually doing something this crazy. It's kind of cool. I can't lie though I am scared shitless."

"Don't be."

It was funny how doing this sort of thing was becoming second nature to Sebastian and myself. To Pauly this was the craziest thing he had ever done.

"What's that?" Sebastian asked. "Did you guys hear that?"

Pauly jumped while I stayed still. Sebastian went to the window to peek out.

"Stop Sebastian," I said. "Pauly he is messing with you."

"Damn Sebastian that's not funny!" Pauly let out a breath and a slight smile.

"Leah why did you say anything I could have had him going for awhile. I wanted to see a pee mark go down his leg."

"Not funny man."

"This gator stinks," I said. "Let's get out of here."

.

Godfathering his ass worked. It was before noon and as instructed Mitchell sent a message to our got you sucker email address and we replied with instructions:

.

Read this very carefully. Tomorrow night at midnight you are going to park your car in the Celebrity Lounge parking lot. You will hand over black duffle bags that contain a total of $1 million. Once I confirm the money is all there in return I give you all the evidence I have including pictures and thumb drives. Come alone or the deal is off. Check your email tomorrow night at 11:15 pm for further instructions on how the exchange will go down. Reply with a simple yes by 5:00 pm today. If I don't get a reply I will assume you have declined the deal and I will stream all the evidence on Channel Four's website.

.

After hitting send Sebastian and I decided we should get out of town until tomorrow night. We can't snoop around any of Mitchell, Cain or Campbell's stomping grounds. With their heightened sense of alert on full tilt I was sure they had made adjustments and would be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Campbell could have hired men looking for us and we couldn't take any chances of being seen. Last night after parting ways with Pauly, Sebastian and I went to the Celebrity Lounge. We did a couple dry runs of how we would execute our plan. I got into my position and tried to visualize how it would unfold. I found that preparation was the key. When I felt prepared I felt my confidence rise. Sebastian was in combat mode. He had his game face on already and we were more than 24 hours away. This gave me confidence. I knew my knight in shining armor was locked in and will do everything in his power to make sure we win the battle.

We stopped by the AC shop before heading out of town. Sebastian talked Alfie into letting him park Mr. Tan in the back garage. Sebastian in his paranoid ways did not want our van in plain sight. He thought if they pulled videotape from the security camera outside the law office the turd brown van could be suspicious.

I instructed Sebastian to drive to the WP Kids Club. I told my volleyball girls goodbye on the last day of training but I did not have Myra's picture done at the time. I didn't know when I would see Myra next and I wanted to make sure she had the picture in her possession. I was hoping she would be at the club. I looked through the gym door and spotted Myra playing double-dutch with a group of girls. I walked over and start cheering her on. My cheerleading made her laugh and the rope got caught up under her feet. Myra put her shoulders down with embarrassment and smiled widely at me.

"Leah you made me mess up," she laughed.

"Sorry girl. You didn't like my little dance cheer?"

"You are funny."

"How are you Miss Myra?"

"Good," she said. "I won a chess tournament yesterday. My dad has been taking me with him after school and I beat all his friends."

"Wow. That is awesome Myra! So I got you something." I pulled the wrapped box out of my backpack. I kneeled down and gave it to Myra.

Myra's eyes light up. "Really this is for me?"

"You know it."

She opened the box as fast as she could. A sentimental smile appeared on her face.

"Oh wow!"

I had the picture of her and Megan blown up to an 8x10 and professionally framed. I also had a wallet size picture made and put it in a cute pink wallet for her. Lastly I had a locket necklace made with the tiny picture of her with her hero in it.

"Thank you so much Leah!"

"You are welcome sweetie," I said. "Now Megan is with you wherever you go."

I grabbed the necklace out of the box and twirled her around so I could put it around her neck.

"This is awesome," Myra said. "I love it."

Myra was a fighter. She was no victim she was a survivor. Her attitude inspired me. Myra turned back around toward me. I was wiping a tear from my eye. She hugged me, squeezing me for a few seconds before letting go.

"Thank you for all this stuff Leah."

I wiped away a few more tears and tried to keep it together. "You're welcome Myra. You're an amazing young girl."

Myra nodded her head and smiled. "Bye Leah."

"Bye sweetheart."

I watched Myra skip back to her friends then I turned to walk toward the door. I heard Myra's quiet voice call out. "Leah! Wait Leah."

Myra skipped toward me with a smile. She unlatched her yarn bracelet from her wrist and put it around mine. I smiled. I couldn't get out any words. Myra smiled sweetly back at me before turning around to skip back to her friends. I walked out to the car and when I sat down I couldn't keep it in any longer. I burst into tears and buried myself in Sebastian's arms.

# CHAPTER 14

Daytona Beach was crowded. It was a Sunday so the overpopulated beach made sense. Cars and trucks were parked on the beach like sardines. We emptied the contents of the fast food bag onto the car's trunk and started to dig in. I sipped my cold sweet ice tea and sat next to my best friend.

"What a long strange trip huh?"

"Yep," Sebastian said in between bites of his burger. "You ready to end what we started?"

"Yes. I can't wait."

"Justice for Megan sweetie. I said I wouldn't rest until we got her justice."

"I just wish we could have prevented all this."

Sebastian hadn't finished taking a swig of his tea before he responded. "Leah we have to move forward. We can only change what we do today. We can't look back."

"I know," I said. "I just want it all over so we can move on."

"It will be and we will go forward with strength Leah. I don't know about you but I have learned a hell of a lot about this world and each other while going through this bullshit."

"Me too. This world is messed up Sebastian."

Sebastian wiped off a spot of ketchup on my cheek. "You and your ketchup. Remember that time you had ketchup above your eyebrow. I had no idea how ketchup got there."

"Yeah whatever."

I put a fry in front of his mouth and he snapped at it.

"Sweetie this world is corrupt but there is good people worth fighting for," Sebastian said. "Megan was just a girl trying to make a difference. Little Myra has her whole life in front of her even though she has already had to go through the worst this world has to offer. But Myra knows the goodness of a true friend and the heart of a stranger. Hopefully that is enough to keep her going each day."

"True Sebastian," I said. "You know I like you a lot. I am so thankful I have you as a best friend."

"Ditto my love."

I put my head on his shoulder and let him finish my burger.

.

We spent the afternoon walking along the water with our shoes off talking about life and the last couple of years we had spent together. I couldn't believe that the biggest worry we had on our drive to Orlando from Phoenix was making it here without running out of money. It was nothing close to the worry I felt now as we prepared to collect $1 million from a killer/sexual predator in an attempt to halt his evil ways. I laughed and told Sebastian how I used to do yoga daily when we were living in Phoenix. Now I take lessons at the shooting range and lifted weights to build strength. Our excitement used to be taking a trip to California or going to a sporting event. Not anymore. Now it was uncovering secrets, solving crimes and bringing down bad guys. It was sneaking into a house and putting a dead gator on a bed. It was dressing up my husband as a woman to collect our paycheck from a deadbeat client. Sebastian laughed as we reminisced about that night.

After walking along the beach for hours we arrived back in the area we left our car. We sat on the beach and watched the light from the sun fade. I thought about how tomorrow night was going to be and when I would get unnerving thoughts I thought of Myra. My focus always came back when I thought of Myra. She reminded me of how real this was. Before it got dark we got in our car and searched for a hotel nearby.

We found a hotel a few minutes away. After bringing our bags into the room we walked across the street to a seafood restaurant. There was nothing on our minds except tomorrow night. There was a boat race on the TV in the bar. Both of us kept our eyes on it. Our conversation about tomorrow night was getting redundant. I just wanted tomorrow night to come. Both of us finished everything on our plates and left without watching the end of the boat race.

Back at the hotel we spread out everything we would need for the next night. Our guns, binoculars, bullet proof vest, hoodies, gloves, hats, flashlight, pepper spray, walky-talkies, voice changer, the prepaid phone we bought off Craigslist to use only for tomorrow night. We did an inventory check to make sure we had everything we needed. We went over the plan from start to finish one more time. Preparation was key and we both wanted to be on the same page.

I was tired but I feared I wouldn't sleep well. I used to feel this same way the night before important volleyball games. Except this wasn't a game and a real fear of the unknown was scaring me.

"Come on Leah," Sebastian said. "Let's try to clear our mind and get to sleep. We need a good nights sleep."

"I haven't gotten a good nights sleep in awhile."

"I know. Me either. Come over here. I'll hold you."

Sebastian held me close while flipping through channels. Goodfellas was just starting. It was one of our favorite movies. I fell asleep half way through. Maybe it was the bed or maybe the feeling that the end of this nightmare was near, whatever it was I slept hard and peaceful.

.

This was the longest day of my life. And I had even slept in. We booked the room two nights so we could sleep through check out. After waking up around 11 am we laid in bed another hour snuggling and keeping our thoughts to ourselves. We then walked across the street to the same seafood restaurant and ordered the same meal as the night before. After lunch we took a short walk on the beach before taking showers and going through the night's game plan one last time.

Once back in Orlando we exchanged the Buick for Mr. Tan and put all our supplies in place. We went to Pauly's apartment it was only 6:30 pm. Anxious and paranoid we called in a pizza for dinner instead of eating out. We made Pauly drive while we shot the shit with him trying to keep our minds off the exchange. It helped being around Pauly who had no idea what was going down later. He only knew that we were doing something important at midnight and it was nice that he was acting normal. Not like Sebastian and I who were totally flipping out.

I knew the feeling all to familiar even though this was on a much grander scale. At ASU we played the #2 team in the nation. Before the game everyone was freaking out. All of us were scared and nervous. Deep down we knew we didn't have a chance. We were really just hoping to come out of it alive, which in the sports world means unembarrassed and with a few ounces of dignity left. We got beat bad, which was expected, but if there was a moral victory it was that we played respectably - we survived it. We avoided being completely embarrassed. Later on that season we played the #10 team in the nation - USC who is in our conference. We faced them every year. While USC was still a powerhouse we had more confidence going into the match. We were still nervous and we knew we were without a doubt the underdogs. ASU beating USC would be a shocker. But we knew what to expect and instead of playing scared we gave goliath all we had. We played with no fear. We slayed the giant and won. This was how I felt tonight. I knew we were the underdogs but that was to our advantage. Instead of playing scared we were going to play to win with nothing to lose.

When we got back to Pauly's I poked at my pizza but I had no appetite. Both of us couldn't sit still and Pauly kept looking at us weird. We went outside and walked around the yard. I bummed a cigar off Pauly's roommate and took a few puffs. It didn't calm me down. If anything it made me more wired. Sebastian grabbed the cigar from me and put it out in the ashtray. To keep from fidgeting we started throwing a football to each other. It helped. Sebastian got a call on his cell phone and he took a walk while he talked. I flipped the football to myself and then called Pauly out of the house. We chatted about Sarah and threw the football back and forth.

Sebastian wandered back after he got off the phone, he said it was his brother. The three of us tossed the football around until the clock struck 10:00 pm. Sebastian and I start getting dressed in Pauly's room. It was the usual black outfit and I put on each article of clothing like it was a sacred ritual. Sebastian helped me with my wig. I went super short so it was completely out of the way. I looked in the mirror when I was done and could hardly recognize myself. Sebastian stopped shaving a week ago so all he did was put on his plain black baseball hat low to his eyes.

Sebastian and I nitpicked at each other's attire and I used my nervous energy to flirt with him. Our energy changed as time went by and we knew it was nearing our go time. I kept thinking back to my volleyball games. The anticipation was similar in some ways. In the locker room before our volleyball match we would hit a point where the energy went from nervous energy to focused energy. We would still joke and talk crap with each other but our minds were starting to get focused on the first whistle from the referee to indicate game on. I always enjoyed messing with Nelly in the locker room because she was an easy target. I would put her tube top on over my uniform or lace up the knee high boots she came in with - doing my best Nelly impersonation would draw huge laughs from my teammates and calm everyone down for a moment. Nelly would try to come back with a verbal jab and we would go back in forth. All in good fun and all part of the sisterhood of being on a team together. When it got closer to leaving the locker room the joking would subside and the fierce competitive look would appear on our faces. We were going out to battle and all we had were each other. My fierce competitiveness was starting to set in.

"Keep our eyes on the prize Sebi. Time to get this."

I jumped into the side of Sebastian doing a chest bump. I guess he was not the pump up type. He let me bounce off him and kept his eyes on the mirror. If anyone had a problem focusing it was not Sebastian.

"You are one good looking man." Sebastian blew a kiss to himself. "I love you."

I laughed at him and slapped his ass. "This is it Sebi. We slay the beast tonight!"

We walked out into the living room and Pauly dropped his mouth open.

"What the hell? You guys part of the Navy Seals and didn't tell me?"

"Ha ha Pauly," I said. "We have important S&L business."

"You two look mean as hell."

"Good."

"Leah go to the van I will be out in a minute."

"Okay."

I saw a college student go into the house next to Pauly when I walked outside. He gave me a double take. I looked like SWAT and I hoped he didn't start any rumors for Pauly's sake. Sebastian didn't come out after a few minutes so I sent a text to Nelly and Gwen. I debated if I should call them to say if they don't hear from me tomorrow to tell my family I loved them. No we are going to be fine I assured myself. I feared for Sebastian. I knew he was the one who was going to approach Mitch and I would stay back. If anything happened to Sebastian I was going to go apeshit on Mitchell's ass and would shoot until that bastard died. I was prepared to pull the trigger tonight if I had to. Sebastian hopped into the van and we took our time crossing the city to get to the Celebrity Lounge.

"What did you talk to Pauly about?" I asked.

"He is going to send the email to Mitchell at 11:15 with the phone number to call us. I just wanted to make sure he knew how important it was to send it and I told him to be alert for communication with us just in case we need him for something."

We didn't talk for the rest of the ride. My mind was going a million miles per hour. I gazed out the window realizing this was actually happening. In less than an hour our plan would be in motion. I had butterflies in my stomach and I wish I had peed one more time back at Pauly's.

Sebastian drove by the Celebrity lounge then swung back around and turned in the car dealership across the street. We kept looking for any suspicious vehicles. No cars we recognized were in the area. I kept my eyes peeled for a white Lexus. Sebastian drove south down Tampa Avenue. We did a check of the Citrus Bowl's parking lot. All was clear so we headed back to the dealership to keep watch over the lounge. Sebastian's regular phone rang and it startled both of us. It was Pauly calling to say that he sent the email at 11:15 and Mitchell replied with a 'yes' a minute ago. It was on. There was no turning back. The waiting was the worst part. My teeth were rattling and I sat on my hands. Sebastian took his gloves off and blew into his hands.

"Leah just like all the other times. You know the drill. If anything happens get the hell out of there."

"No Sebastian I am not leaving you. I don't care what you say. We are in this together. I will not leave without you. And if you go down, I go down. You are all I got in this world."

Sebastian gave me an agitated look then softened when he realized there was nothing he could do to change my mind.

"You really do love me," Sebastian said.

Now I gave him an agitated look.

"Okay we are all in Leah. Up against evil with nothing and everything to lose."

"That's when I am at my best," I said.

The dealership was lit up and there were cars parked all around us. It was a good way for our van to blend in. Both of us had binoculars scoping the cars around the area. We had an unobstructed view of the Celebrity Lounge across the street. In less than fifteen minutes a Ford GT was supposed to pull up. Just because Mitchell replied yes when our email stated to come alone and without a gun we know he had a plan of his own. Somebody could be hidden in the backseat or a gun could be a short reach away. We had no idea what Mitchell and crew had up their sleeve. I was fearful of what they were capable of. I kept thinking of Megan and Myra saying to myself if we go down at least we go down fighting for them.

"What do you see Sebastian?"

"Nothing," he said. "Just checking out a truck over in the parking lot. I think it's clean."

Sebastian had been glued to his binoculars since we parked.

"Leah when we get to the bowl's parking lot there should be zero cars there. When we pull in and instruct Mitch where to park if there is any movement or any cars drive by suspiciously the deal is off."

_Mr. Paranoia._ "Okay."

I had to pee. I probably didn't really have to but my nervousness was causing the sensation that I did. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. Five minutes to midnight. Now I had the sensation that I might need to go more than just pee. I knew once it was go time my nervousness would subside but at the moment it was on full tilt. I fidgeted in my seat. I rolled down my window further and breathed in some fresh air.

"You okay Leah? Relax."

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Seriously?" Sebastian said with annoyance.

"I'll be fine."

"Damn Leah. I need to know you are going to be able to do your job. Because this isn't sneaking into a bar to take pictures or going into a sex addicts meeting this is guns and shit. This is a fucking killer that I am exchanging shit with."

"I know!" I yelled. "I am ready."

"There he is." Sebastian grabbed the prepaid phone off the dashboard. "Time to play Mitchell."

The Ford GT was parked facing the lounge. Both of us scoped out the surroundings to see if any other cars had parked in the area. There was a car creeping to the right of the Lounge.

"Silver Honda on the street to the-"

The phone rang and my ears start ringing as my heartbeat reverberated through my chest. Sebastian grabbed the voice changer and answered giving Mitchell instructions.

"Go South on Tampa Avenue to the Citrus Bowl. Go to the southeast parking lot and park butt first on the southwest corner. Park five spots north of the corner. Go now. Call me back when you are parked."

The Ford GT delayed backing out. Both of us exchanged worried glances. Could he be tipping somebody off to where we were sending him? Sebastian started to call Mitch back but stopped when the GT slowly started backing up and took off toward Tampa Avenue. Sebastian slowly reversed Mr. Tan and departed the dealership parking lot while I scoped out any suspicious cars. When we turned south on Tampa Avenue we saw the taillights of Mitchell's GT. There were no other cars on the road.

"You think he really came alone?" I asked as my heartbeat slowed down and I started to focus.

"I don't know."

"Be careful Sebastian."

"I will," Sebastian said. "My gun will be near. Leah keep your gun pointed at Mitchell. Don't be afraid to shoot. I have a vest on so if something happens and he overpowers me shoot him."

I blew out a deep breath. "Okay."

"You are aces Leah. Shoot with confidence."

"I got it."

We pulled into the west side of the parking lot. We drove over to the east side. The lot was completely empty. This reminded me of Back to the Future when the van pulled into the mall parking lot and they shoot up the doc. Sebastian backed the van under a tree near the edge of the west side of the parking lot. We were looking directly at the driver's side of Mitch's Ford GT. I saw his curly head glance in our direction.

The phone rang and Sebastian gave the final instructions to Mitchell. Mitchell was to hold the duffle bags out the window with both hands. Sebastian would inspect the bags first before handing over all the evidence we had. Sebastian hung up the phone. For a few seconds there was silence. We both turned to look at one another.

"Guess this is it," Sebastian said.

"Yep. I believe in you Sebibear. I love you so much."

"I love you too sweetie." Sebastian grabbed an envelope from the center compartment and handed it to me. "Leah if anything happens you call Pauly and drive straight to Alfie's shop."

I took the envelope. "What's this?"

"Just information you will need."

"Sebastian!"

"Relax Leah it's just in case. You never have to question what I do Leah. Know that everything I do is for your best interest. I am always looking out for what is best for you."

"Sebastian you are getting back in this van," I said. "That is what is best for me."

His gorgeous smile flashed across his face while my stomach was doing back flips.

"Yes I am," Sebastian said. "And sweetie after this I am going to take you on that vacation to Europe. We'll backpack all over. I'll drink my Guinness nonstop and you can beach hop all over."

"Deal."

I smiled brightly and looked at my husband with affection. I was so in love with this man. Sebastian leaned over and we kissed quickly. It was too quick. I grabbed his hand. "I love you so much." I leaned in for another kiss and felt his soft luscious lips on mine. I savored the moment.

"Love you too my beautiful wife."

Sebastian opened his door and straightened out his vest that was below his jacket. He looked so handsome in all black. Both of us did a quick look around to make sure there were no cars creeping around. Sebastian grabbed the small duffle bag with all the evidence we had on Mitchell.

"I'll cover you," I said.

Sebastian winked at me before he shut the door. I grabbed a hold of my gun and opened my door slowly. I had a clear view of Mitchell who was dangling two black duffle bags out of his window as instructed. Mr. Tan was parked at least 15 yards from the Ford GT. I stood on the ledge of the van floor and put my right leg up on the armrest of the door to get leverage.

Sebastian was walking slowly with the bag in his left hand. He has his right hand up slightly as a sign of peace. Mitchell kept both hands on the duffle bags like he was instructed to do. If I saw one hand go in the car I was shooting at his tire. Sebastian stopped about 10 feet from his car. It obstructed my view of Mitchell. I stepped down to the ground and quietly walked forward and to the right to get a clear shot. I inched as close as I could without being seen and camouflaged myself by kneeling behind a bush. The nice thing about where we had Mitchell park was that he was backed up against trees and bushes. Nobody from the west side can see us and nothing much was within vision to the east of us.

I heard voices but couldn't make out sound. Something was not right though. I didn't understand why they had not exchanged bags already. Sebastian was still standing away from the GT. I saw movement in the bushes behind the GT on the passenger side. _Shit!_ The worst-case scenario was coming true - Mitch brought a buddy. My hands were so sweaty from fear that my gun would slip. I adjusted my hands and refocused on my target. I breathed deeply and thought of Megan's last moments. My fear was gone. I clinched my teeth. I heard commotion. I couldn't see anybody but someone had to be at the passenger door of the GT because I saw Sebastian put the bag and his right hand up in the air to surrender. Mitchell turned his head dropping the bags out of the window. Why would he drop the bags if it were one of his guys? I heard shots ring out. I saw Sebastian cover his head with the bag he had in his hand and turn to the left. A car was speeding toward him.

What was coming toward Sebastian was a white blur. It was one of those moments that happened in the blink of an eye as well as in slow motion. In volleyball you had to be in a zone to be able to dig a powerful spike. You had only a millisecond to react to it. Only in the zone can you actually be focused enough that time seems to slow and you can position your hands exactly where they need to be to keep a spike in play. When I would miss getting even a hand on a spike I would say that all I saw was white blur. I had no chance to even comprehend what happened with the volleyball. I always looked at that as a challenge and I learned how to lock in to be able to dig a hard hit spike. After much practice it became an automatic reaction. I didn't have to think I just went through the motions and it was effortless. This is one of those moments where I was in the zone. Everything slowed down and I saw that the white blur is the white Lexus. I saw two people in the Lexus. The man in the passenger seat with a gun aimed out the window was John Campbell. He was shooting off wild shots. Sebastian dove to the ground and rolled. I angled myself so I had my gun positioned right at the two men. I had a steady confident grip on my gun. I aimed at John Campbell, the man who not that long ago gave us a new start or so we thought. I pulled the trigger and saw the glass shatter and John go back against his seat. I started shooting at the car's tires. The driver stopped the car and leaned out of the window pointing the gun in my direction. I started shooting and before he had a chance to shoot back he fell to the ground. I knew I hit both men in the center of the chest.

Sebastian hurried to the duffle bags that Mitchell dropped outside his car door.

"Let's get out of here Leah," he yelled. "Get in the car!"

I still had my gun firmly in my hand as I scope out the area.

"Is it safe? Is the shooter by the car gone?"

I never saw any movement from there since the first shots were fired.

"Yes let's go!"

In the van I sat stunned. Adrenaline was pumping and I had a weird feeling of calmness. Sebastian drove normal but fast and immediately got on his cell phone. I only heard him tell somebody that we were on our way. When he hung up he put his hand on my leg and breathed in and out heavily.

"You okay Leah?"

"Yeah I think."

I didn't know what to think. I couldn't feel anything. My ears were ringing from the gunshots. I felt a rush of so many emotions.

"You saved my life Leah." Sebastian's voice was a mix of shock and joy. "You fucking saved my life."

"I didn't know if you were shot," I said. "Those first shots I heard. What happened? Who was by the passenger door? Did Mitch get away?"

"No Leah," Sebastian said. "Mitch is dead."

"What?" I asked. "Who shot him?"

"Juan shot him."

"Juan! How did he-"

"Look I'll tell you everything later. Right now we have to get ready to get all our stuff out of the van. Pauly is meeting us at Alfie's. We need to get all our possessions from both vehicles out."

"Oh my god Sebastian my gun," I said. "I just shot two people. I just killed two people."

Saying it out loud sounded so unreal. _I shot two people. I shot two people._ I keep saying it to myself. My mind was racing.

"Sebi! The bullets they are going to find the bullets and trace them to me. That piece of shit is a judge I am going to get fried!"

"Leah listen to me calm down! You shot those two men in self-defense they were shooting at me. You saved my life. If you had not shot them they would have killed me and you. The bullets can't be traced to this gun. We bought it last year from a guy on Craigslist who doesn't even know our names. It can't be traced back to you."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay."

"Leah don't feel guilty about this or scared!" Sebastian said. "You were unbelievable! If you had panicked we'd be dead Leah."

I smiled at my husband. For a split second I feared getting caught. I thought of how those men with money had disguised Megan's death into something it wasn't. I definitely didn't feel guilty about it. I did what I had to do and made a split second decision that saved both our lives.

"You saved your man's life," Sebastian gushed. "And we got justice for Megan, Myra and the countless other victims these monsters harmed. And trust me nobody is going to hold the judge in high regards once the truth comes out."

"How is the truth coming out?"

"I'll tell you later we have to move fast when we get to the shop."

Pauly was pacing next to his car when we turn into the shop's parking lot. We moved fast unloading the van and going through our belongings in the Buick. I was caught up in talking about what went down back at the parking lot that I never asked Sebastian what our next move was.

"Where are we going Sebastian?"

"Far away from here."

I didn't prod any further. I was relieved we were leaving. I continued to gather my stuff. I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I wanted this behind me, all of it.

"What about the stuff in our condo?"

"I got that covered," Sebastian said. "Pauly is opening the door tomorrow for a non profit organization to come in and move out all the furniture and stuff."

I looked at him with confusion. "What? We got out all our necessities, right? And we have no paperwork in there that would link us to it?"

"I was thinking of all my little gadgets and my bike. My swimsuit, my clothes, my body board."

"Leah all that can be replaced."

"I know. That's just twice now."

Sebastian laughed. "It'll be okay. We'll get you a better bike, better gadgets, and a better body board."

I looked around Mr. Tan one last time to make sure we didn't forget anything. As repulsive as this van was at first we had some good times in it and it did make for a nice temporary home. Sebastian kept our little getaway a secret from me as well. He set up two buyers for the Buick and Mr. Tan. He talked to Alfie about it when we were having the pool party. Tomorrow both vehicles would have new owners.

Pauly drove us to Pops house. It was late into the night and we were anxious to leave town but we couldn't without telling him bye. On the way Sebastian sifted through the two duffle bags of money. By the size of the duffle bags I knew there was no way there was a million dollars loaded into them. Sebastian growled and swore quietly. He said the top is layered with real money and everything below is fake money. In a way I was glad. I didn't want anything from those evil men. Sebastian told me there was maybe $10-15,000. Both of us shared glances - we knew being alive and having this come to an end was all that mattered.

Sebastian opened the door to the side of Pop's garage with the key they had us keep when we moved out. I wrote a short thank you note telling Pops and Yara how much we appreciate everything they had done for us. I opened the back door and took one last look at the pool. So many great memories we had at this house. A groggy Pops walked into the kitchen and gave me a big hug. Who knows what Sebastian told him about us leaving at this hour of the night with no notice?

"You take care of this boy for me," he said. "Let me know if I need to slap him around for you."

"I will Pops."

"This one is my lifesaver," Sebastian said. He grabbed me and twirled me around. "I love this girl."

"You better she's the best."

"Love you Pops." Sebastian embraced his dad. "We'll be back to visit."

Pops wiped a tear off his face.

"Bye Pops," I said. I gave him another hug. "Thanks for everything. Love you."

Pops walked us out to the driveway. He gave Sebastian a playful slap on the back of the head as he was getting into the car. Pauly drove toward the airport and all of us were silent. When he turned into the long-term parking I felt sadness come over me. Pauly had become a real friend and I was going to miss him. I guess I felt sadness because we were leaving Orlando too. This place was our home for a long time. Pauly pulled up behind our jeep. Sebastian opened the door as soon as he stopped and dashed to the jeep to take off the GPS locator from underneath. Pauly did a sweep to see if any other sort of device was placed on the car. When he said it looked all clear we loaded our luggage into the back of the jeep.

"Well this is it Pauly," Sebastian said. "You don't know how much it means to us to have you in our corner. You came through for us every time we asked you to."

"Pleasure working with you," Pauly said. "I thoroughly enjoyed every minute." Pauly stuck out his hand and Sebastian shook it.

"Leah," Pauly said. Pauly aimed his hand toward me and I pushed it away.

"A handshake?" I hugged him tightly. "Thanks for everything Pauly.

"Damn is that a tear Leah?" Sebastian asked.

"Yes Sebastian. Stop it." Embarrassed I wipe my eyes quickly. "I am going to miss you a lot Pauly."

"I'll miss you guys too."

Pauly looked like he was going to start tearing up like me so Sebastian motioned that we needed to go. He slapped Pauly on the shoulder then handed him a stack of the money. Pauly pushed it away but Sebastian insisted.

Sebastian got into the car but I stayed outside looking at Pauly. An idea came to me. I leaned inside the car and had Sebastian get out some of the stacks of money that were legit.

"Pauly can you do me a huge favor? I am going to text you a name and address I want you to go to a flower shop by the end of the week. Order a big bouquet of lilacs and put this money in an envelope to have them deliver it with the flowers. I am going to text you another address and I need you to drop off one of the stacks of money to this address. It's not far from your place. Put it in a pizza box or something and ring the doorbell."

"Okay I can do that for you," Pauly said.

I hand him the money and walked back to the jeep. I stopped and turned to him. "Stay golden Ponyboy."

Pauly smiled and gave me a nod. "Will do."

As we drove out of the parking lot raindrops start hitting our Jeep, Florida's little way of saying goodbye.

.

I fell asleep not long after Sebastian got on highway 75 going north. I was too drained to talk about the events that had just unfolded. I needed time to process everything and I was too tired to think. Instead I disappeared in sleep and I dreamed all kinds of thoughts and visions. I saw the white Lexus approaching us. I saw the evil on John Campbell's face. I saw the driver of the Lexus fall out the window after I put a bullet in his chest. But then I saw Myra jumping rope, her and Megan practicing braids, I saw Pauly and Sarah holding hands. I saw Pops and Yara taking a trip to Puerto Rico. I saw Sebastian and I cuddling on the beach. When I woke up it was sunny and I saw the ocean. It looked like paradise.

"Where are we?"

"Good morning Sunshine!" Sebastian said. "We're near Pensacola."

"What a sight to wake up to," I said. "It's beautiful."

"I need some sleep Leah. I want to get some breakfast and then take a little nap on the beach before we get going again."

"Sure thing Sebibears."

We bought breakfast burritos and had a picnic on the beach. Sebastian had the two duffle bags full of money beside us. He gave me a lecture about not wandering off while he slept. I could tell Sebastian was exhausted. He fell asleep quickly before even finishing his burro. I lay down beside him and held him. I had my feet covering the duffle bags. I dozed off a few minutes later. When I woke up Sebastian was still fast asleep in the same position. I walked down to the water and waded in it, nervously looking back every so often to eye the duffle bags. It was early in the morning and I had only seen one jogger run by since we got there. The water felt nice on my feet. I played in the water for a while then went back to sit by Sebastian. I tried to relive each moment in my head from last night. I could see it clearly. It played like a movie.

Sebastian finally woke up. Once he was alert he stood up and declared that he was ready to get back on the road. I offered to drive but he said he was refreshed and good to go. Once we were on the highway I felt it was time to inquire about all the details of last night that I was unaware of.

"So tell me everything," I said. "Juan was the gunman at the passenger's side of Mitchell's car?"

"Yes," Sebastian said. "Sorry I didn't tell you but that night I met with him he made me promise to bring Mitchell to him."

"Wow. So did it go down as planned?"

"Juan was supposed to wait until Mitchell gave me the bag and I was back in the van but he jumped the gun."

"Did you know Juan was going to shoot him?"

"Honestly I didn't ask what he would do but I assumed he might. If that was my daughter I can't say I wouldn't do what he did."

"Damn," I said. "I saw your hands up and I freaked. I figured Mitchell brought backup. Then I saw the Lexus coming at us like hell on wheels and I heard more gunshots. It was loud and so unreal Sebastian. I reacted and focused in on the targets."

"It's a good thing you didn't hesitate Leah or we wouldn't be here."

I shook my head in disbelief. "I don't think it has sunk in Seb."

"I think what threw them off Leah is that they figured everything was actually going down at Celebrity Lounge. That's why Campbell was late getting there. Remember Mitch paused in the parking lot for awhile I think he was trying to get them a message with the new location."

"Definitely," I respond. "So tell me what you meant when you said the truth about Campbell would come out."

Sebastian had his left hand on the steering wheel and was slightly turned towards me. His face lit up.

"This is so good Leah. Right about now people who go to the Cain, Niles, & Associates website or the channel 4 news website will hear snippets of the recording from Mitchell and his dad's phone conversation we got on the wire tap. Pauly hacked into the sites to set it up."

"That is genius," I said. I was a little surprised that I was left out of the loop. "So now the police can do an investigation on the real reason Megan Bell was murdered and uncover the truth like we did. Why didn't you tell me about all this?"

"I needed to plan this to cover all our bases in all scenarios," Sebastian said. "Especially worst case scenarios and I didn't want you getting all worried about stuff you don't need to worry about."

"You thought we might die last night didn't you?" I asked.

"Yes I had to think about that and we almost did. You didn't think much about that possibility last night did you?"

"No not really."

"You see," he said. "If I had talked to you about putting stuff in place in case we don't survive you would not have been thinking the same way last night would you?

"Your right my mindset would probably been a little clouded."

"Trust me Leah everything I do is to protect you."

"I do trust you Sebastian," I said. "I guess it was good you didn't tell any of this. So did Juan know about us asking for $1 million?"

"Juan said he didn't want any of it. My thought was that we could put some of it into a trust for when Myra was older if they had actually given us that amount."

"Fricken d-bags," I said. "That sucks they stiffed us on the money I would have loved to do that for Myra. I guess I really didn't believe they would hand us over their precious money anyway."

"Hey we're alive sweetie," Sebastian said. "We got each other, those greaseballs are dead, Myra is free, Megan got justice. That's priceless Leah."

Sebastian grabbed my hand and brought our hands up over the middle console.

"What is this our Thelma and Louise moment?"

"Oh no," Sebastian said. "S&L is not done. No way. I'm not ready for this to be over. We have a lot of work to do still."

"Agree," I said. "But what do we do now?"

"Well I think we learned some valuable lessons and we won't make the same mistakes again."

"For sure," I said. "Remember the reason we started doing this Sebastian? It was to help people. We learn from our experience and we do stuff the right way. Maybe we actually get licensed to be private investigators."

"Exactly," Sebastian said. "We can do it. Are you in sweetie?"

"Yes Sebastian I am in this with you. There is nothing I would rather be doing. How about you, are you all in?"

"I am all in Leah. As long as I am holding this hand I will take whatever the world throws at me."

We crossed the Florida border - our past behind us and a part of us.

# Epilogue

Bright light filled the room and I pulled the covers over my head.

"It's time Leah."

I groaned and put my pillow over my head. This was our third day in Vegas and I assumed Sebastian was getting tired of hearing the constant sound of girls laughing. I shouldn't have been surprised when Sebastian informed me we were driving straight to Vegas. He was sweet like this - he didn't want me to miss out on my friend's bachelorette party. The bachelorette weekend was the farthest from my mind the week before and I would never have thought I would be going. It had been so long since I had seen Gwen and Nelly. Even longer since I saw Tabby the bride to be. Besides Gwen and Nelly almost getting kicked out of the airport in Phoenix for having 16 Ziploc bags of tiny bottles of liquor they had stayed out of trouble. When you brought a carry on bag they want you to put any liquid under 4 oz in a Ziploc bag but I guess TSA frowned upon the quantity of bags when the liquid was alcohol. The agent said they had the right idea but just too much and let them take all the bags since he assumed they would not be returning with any bags. They only had 7 Ziploc bags left when they landed. We all shot gunned the remaining mini bottles before we hit the strip on the first night of their arrival.

It had only been six days since the night in the parking lot. Pauly called us when we were near New Orleans and told us Frank Cain committed suicide in his office. He said every news channel interrupted programming to talk about the details that were emerging about two of the most influential men in the city. The recordings on the websites drew a massive investigation into the lives of John Campbell and Frank Cain revealing their corrupt lives. In the following days as we drove cross-country Pauly would fill us in on all the new details. Pops called Sebastian to tell him all about the scandal that had unfolded. He could not believe that two highly prominent men in the community were linked to murder and child pornography.

Everything was still fresh in my mind but time was giving way to hope and a new beginning. On the long drive to Vegas Sebastian and I talked at length about where we wanted to live. The freedom and thrill of picking a new location was exciting. After much debate though we both agreed that we wanted to move back to Phoenix - our original stomping grounds. We knew and loved Phoenix. Our friends were there, it was close to California, the weather was amazing and it was where we met.

"Come on Leah I want to get going so we don't have to drive at night."

"Ah man we have to leave Vegas?"

"Yep party is over." Sebastian ripped the covers off the bed. I curled up and he slapped my ass. "Come on sexy. Let's go. I promise we'll come back here."

"Yeah we have to come back with more cash I am addicted to playing black jack."

"We have to leave before you spend anymore of our money. You tried walking out with about five grand last night."

"When?"

"You stumbled in here all tipsy last night you had Nelly wait at the door and you started opening the duffle. I was half sleeping you scared the shit out of me."

I laughed loudly. We had all the cash we saved up from working past jobs in the one duffle bag. It was a pretty good chunk of money. Enough that Sebastian had been hanging out in our hotel room as much as possible paranoid it could be stolen.

"Oh gosh now I remember," I said. "Last night was so much fun. You should have stayed out with us longer. Alex thought it was weird you left him."

Alex is Sebastian's old co-worker from the architecture firm he used to work at in Tempe. They stayed in contact and when Sebastian told him he would be in Vegas it gave Alex an excuse to make the trip.

"I think Alex was fine. He had his friend with him and he was getting pretty fresh with Nelly."

Nelly and Alex took a class in college together. Nelly gets defensive whenever I hint that they're more than friends. They both we're seeing other people and she said they were just study buddies.

"He was? I didn't even notice him and Nelly. Interesting since she tells me he is like a brother to her. I was busy daring Tabby to do stupid shit and she did. Just like high school. Sebastian she took a leak in the fountain out front."

Sebastian shook his head. "Disgusting," he said. "Poor Caesar." Sebastian fell on top of me. He kissed me all over my face and neck. "Come on Leah let's go! Take a shower you smell like smoke and booze. It's like I am married to a carnie."

"Fine!" I yelled and slowly got out of bed.

When I got out of the shower Sebastian told me to go tell the girls bye and see if we could crash at Gwen and Nelly's for a few nights before we leave on a vacation to Hawaii. The Europe trip would have to wait until we could afford it. I took the elevator up a floor and knocked on Gwen and Nelly's room. It was 11:30 am and I was sure they were going to be pissed I was waking them up. Nelly looked like a sleepwalking zombie when she opened the door.

"Leah what?"

"Sorry to wake you Nelly but we're leaving and I want to tell you guys bye."

"Leaving? Already? We're here until tomorrow afternoon just stay until then."

"Sorry Nels can't. Got places to go. We're going to Hawaii for a few weeks. I told you this a few nights ago."

"I must have been drunk," Nelly said. "Okay. Must be nice. Well it was great seeing you. We went out with a bang last night. It's a blur but from what I remember it was fun."

"Yeah it was. You see Tabby? I lost track of her towards the end."

Nelly cackled. "I think she got married and it wasn't to her fiancé."

"It was great seeing you Nels I had so much fun."

"Yeah it was a blast just short though I feel like I barely saw you. You guys doing okay?"

"Yeah we actually are going to move back to Phoenix so you will see plenty of me now."

"Really," she said. "Awesome I am so excited! When?"

"Now."

"Yes! But what happened to your cleaning business?"

"It ran its course," I said. "We're going to try something new."

"Wow," Nelly said. "That is awesome."

We looked in the room when we heard Gwen's voice. She was wondering what all the commotion was about. I peeked in the room without leaving the hallway and saw a guy in Nelly's bed.

"Damn Nelly," I said. "Is that-"

"Yes and shut your mouth."

"Alex! When did this happen?"

"It's complicated," Nelly said. "Don't start your crap."

Gwen was finally stumbling to the doorway to join us.

"Hey Gwen nice hair you got going," I said. "Looking fresh."

"It's way too early to be up. We're supposed to sleep all day and be up all night. It's Vegas people!"

"Leah is leaving," Nelly said. "But she is going to Phoenix. To live!"

"Oh my gosh what did I miss?"

"Go back to bed Gwen," I said. "Nelly will tell you later."

"Okay," Gwen said. "Bye Leah. Love you girl."

Gwen gave me a hug and I backed up from the smell of booze and smoke. "You smell Gwenie get the hell off. I just showered."

"Bite me Lee."

Gwen took a few steps into the room and looked back at us. "Hey Nelly what is this?" She pointed to Alex asleep in the bed.

"Nothing," Nelly said. "It's nothing. Both of you don't start."

Gwen fell onto her bed and Nelly stepped into the hallway leaving the door open slightly using her foot.

"So where are you guys going to stay? You can stay at our place if you need to."

"Thanks Nelly I was actually going to ask you if we could crash at your apartment for a few nights before our trip. When we get back we'll get our own place."

"Yeah let me grab you my key we'll use Gwen's when we get back if your not there."

I held the door open while Nelly searched for her purse in the dark of the room.

"Here you go. Hey you two have to join our sand volleyball team again. League is about to start. And margs, us three have to have a girls night out ASAP."

"For sure."

I said this while thinking to myself I couldn't see Sebastian and I committing to a volleyball league. We would be out at the shooting range during our free time or casing a building. I didn't know how we would relate to our friends with our new lifestyle.

"You seem different Leah," Nelly said. "I don't know what it is. You just seem different."

"Well it's been awhile since we've seen each other."

I didn't know what else to say, if Nelly only knew what I had been through. The things I had seen. The people I had come across. The lives I had touched for better and for worse. I had killed. Oh my gosh I had killed! I couldn't believe I had shot and killed. A chill ran through my body at the thought. It was still surreal to me. I was not the same naïve girl that left Phoenix a few years ago. I was different. Sebastian and I might never fit into our old world again. I suddenly felt overwhelming sadness. The saying what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger came into my mind and for the first time in my life I questioned that saying. I always viewed it as a rally cry for overcoming adversity now it sounded so wrong. What doesn't kill you doesn't automatically make you stronger. It can make you sad and angry. What doesn't kill you can haunt you. The vision I had of Megan Bell the night I saw her and the kick to the stomach I felt when reading Megan's journal entry on the abuse Myra experienced ran through my head daily.

"Well drive safe Leah." Nelly had a half smile on her face and I knew she didn't know what to think of me. Her best friend had changed.

"Thanks Nelly." I tried to put on a happy face. "Have fun tonight." I started walking toward the elevator.

"Hey Leah!" Nelly yelled.

I turned back to look at her. "Yeah?"

"See you at _home_ bitch."

I shook my head and smirked. Nelly and I would always be friends no matter how life changed us. The thought of being home warmed my heart and gave me hope that everything would be okay. Life goes on and you had to look forward not back. I had friends that wouldn't let me forget where I started and a best friend for a husband that I get to do life with for better or worse.

"See you at home Nelly bean. We'll have to double with you and Alex sometime."

Nelly gave me her classic appalled look, which was a glare with her eyebrows raised then said "Suck it!" while doing the suck it gesture that I hadn't seen done since watching an arena football game a decade ago.

Nelly made me laugh. "Gosh I have missed you. Love ya Nels!"

She laughed and blew me a kiss using her middle finger. "Of course you missed me. Kisses Lee."

.

In the elevator I checked my phone. Sebastian sent me a text saying that he already checked out and loaded the car. I walked through the lobby of Caesar's Palace looking at all the lucky vacationers who were arriving. I spotted the jeep when I walked outside. Sebastian came around to the passenger side and opened the door for me. It was a beautiful sunny day in Vegas. Sebastian cranked the music and we both sang along loudly. It didn't take long before I could see the Vegas skyline in the rearview mirror, the windy path to Phoenix ahead and everything we needed in the world in each other.

