Captured Lies by Maggie Thom

longer being in control. It was so foreign to him now. And had been for a
very long time. There was one thing he knew that would make him feel better.
The one thing that had been caught in a photograph. The one thing that would
bring him down.
    Clearing his throat, he lowered
his voice making it sound like a heavy smoker’s, as he picked up the phone and
dialed a number he knew well. I will not be beaten at the game I invented!
     
    ****
     
    Bailey snatched the ringing phone
off the hook just before heading out the door.
    “All right dammit. I said I’d
meet you.”
    A raspy, breathless sound greeted
her.
    “Listen dammit–”
    “No, you listen.”
    Chills shook her body.
    “Your mother got too big for her
britches. Demanding too much. So you give me what I want. You give me her
little cash daddy.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking
about. You have the wrong person.”
    “No, Bails. You are the one!” His
raspy, echoing laugh slithered over her like slime.
    Bailey slammed the phone down and
rested her head on her arm, waiting for the shakes to subside. The only person
who ever called her Bails was her mom.
    Pushing away from the wall, she
squared her shoulders and headed out the door. She was going to get some
answers as to what the hell was going on.
     

 
     
    CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
     
    Bailey got in her car and drove. Right, off of Macleod, onto
Shaughnessy Blvd. Then look for Shaughnessy Way. Several blocks later, a right,
a left and one block down, there it was on the left hand side. Bailey looked
again at the address on the page she’d ripped out of her mom’s phone book when
she noticed the sign high up in the air. She whipped into the parking lot and
pulled into the first stall she could find.
    With a quick glance at her watch
she noted she was right on time, not her usual ten minutes to half an hour
early. But then she usually had her computer to Google a map for directions.
    She jumped out of the car. Her
next rental would have GPS. With the new job she was starting, she’d be able to
afford it. As she approached the front of the restaurant, she stopped. To her
right was the entrance to the patio, which looked to be open with only a few
people there. Or at least what she could see through the eight-foot palms and
vines they had circling the place. To her left was the front entrance – large
enough for Paul Bunyan to enter. The beautiful, fourteen foot long mahogany
door made a very bold statement against the grey stone wall.
    The patio seemed less
intimidating so she walked through the black wrought iron gates and up the two
steps. Slowly she wound her way through the high tables. Four people occupied a
table off to her right. Two sat in the middle and two were at the bar. None
were her guy.
    She shivered, pulling her spring
jacket tighter around her as a cool breeze seemed to have followed her into the
place. Ahead was an outdoor area enclosed with a three-foot high lattice fence
and ceiling with vines interwoven through each of the holes.
    She climbed the two stairs. The
back of her neck started to tingle. She peeked over her shoulder. Lounging back
in a cushioned chair, he tilted his beer to her. Something she would have
dearly loved to have but since she wasn’t sticking around, she’d pass. Her gaze
met his. She’d never worked in a grocery store but she felt scanned, weighed
and priced. He got to his feet as she approached the table. She put up her hand
before he decided to do any more gentlemanly deeds, like pull out her chair.
    “I’m not Cassidy. I’m really
sorry you’ve gone to so much trouble only to find the wrong person.” She
dropped her arm to her side. “I just want you to know I’m done playing your
game. Too many nuts are coming out of the woodwork.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean you,” she stared
pointedly at him, “and the nut case who called me. And I don’t know how many
others. What I do know is that I’m done. I’m going home. So leave me