Narrow Escape Read online

  “Thanks.” Monica climbed into the SUV to examine Nathan’s arm. “I wish you’d let us meet at some nice, brightly lit McDonald’s,” she grumbled.

  “Cameras,” Shaun and Nathan said at the same time.

  “You law-enforcement guys are so paranoid.” Monica got a good look at the wound. “Just a graze.”

  Just a graze? It had seemed like an awful lot of blood.

  “Don’t get me wrong, you won’t be swimming the butterfly stroke anytime soon,” Monica said. “But at least the wound is minor enough that it wasn’t the height of stupidity for you to drive three-and-a-half hours for someone to dress it.”

  Arissa tried to hide her smile but failed. Nathan glared at her, which only made her smile more. “I think I like your friends, Nathan.”

  Monica smiled at her. “I think I like you, too.”

  Nathan rolled his eyes.

  “So you want to tell me why the LSLs shot at you?” Shaun asked.

  “I’m surprised they shot at all,” Arissa said. “It’s apparent they need both me and Charity alive.”

  “For what?” Shaun asked.

  Nathan nodded at her. “I didn’t expect them to grab Charity first, but it was obvious they needed her even more than they needed you.”

  “Which means the reason they’re after us might have to do with something Charity might have inherited from her father,” Arissa said. “The problem is that she didn’t get anything from Mark. He didn’t have her in his will.”

  “Anyone else he mentioned in the will?” Nathan asked. “Something he gave to someone else?”

  She shook her head. “He gave everything to our parents. He didn’t even mention me in the will.”

  Nathan dropped his head back against the headrest, then winced as Monica did something to his arm.

  “When the gang members first captured us—”

  “The LSL gang captured you?” Shaun demanded.

  “They took us off the street near my parents’ grocery store in broad daylight. I woke up in a dingy house. I heard the two men say something like, they had taken both of us because they hadn’t wanted to leave ‘her’ screaming in the street. I thought at the time they meant Charity, but I’m guessing now that they meant me.”

  “They may not have thought they needed to take you before,” Nathan said, “but they definitely needed you tonight. Otherwise they could have left you in the storage unit when they grabbed Charity.”

  “So maybe it’s not something Charity inherited,” Shaun said.

  Nathan nodded. “Maybe it’s something she’s entitled to as Mark’s daughter, but they need you because you’re her legal guardian.”

  Arissa met Nathan’s eyes. “The safe deposit box?”

  Shaun, however, looked skeptical. “Arissa, you or your parents could have eventually gotten access to Mark’s safe deposit box since he left your parents everything he owned.”

  “He’s right,” Nathan said. “Besides, I don’t think the gang knows about the safe deposit box.”

  She had forgotten about that. “Yes, the teller wasn’t suspicious like she probably would have been if someone else had already tried to get into the box and failed.”

  “And, if they knew about the bank, the best way to capture you again would have been to camp outside that bank and wait for you,” Shaun said.

  With his last words sounded a beep, and Nathan stared in surprise at his cell phone. “I got a text from Steve.”

  The name rang a bell for Arissa. “Steve, the detective in the LAPD? But I thought you suspected him of being a mole?”

  “Another one?” Shaun said.

  “He hasn’t done anything to make it obvious he’s a mole,” Nathan said quickly. “It was just an uncomfortable feeling I had. And I didn’t want to be careless and trust him completely when I suspect someone in the LAPD is helping the LSLs.”

  “What does Steve want?”

  “If I’m awake, he has info on the LSLs.”

  Shaun frowned. “He’s texting you at this time of night, a few hours after the LSLs attacked you?”

  Arissa bit her lip. The timing was certainly coincidental. “He doesn’t know you’re with me, does he?”

  “No, I didn’t tell him anything about you.”

  “Maybe you should call him.” Arissa licked her chapped lip. “He might have some useful information.”

  “Or he might try to pump you about where you are,” Shaun said.

  Monica said, “There, I’m done with your shoulder. How’s your leg?”

  “It’s fine,” he grunted, and shifted his leg slightly away from her.

  Monica didn’t respond right away, simply gave him a kind look that wasn’t concerned enough to embarrass him. Finally she said in a low voice, “I can give you something for the pain, if you want.”

  He pressed his lips together for a few terse seconds, then jerked his head in a nod.

  “Are you going to call Steve?” Shaun asked.

  Nathan pondered that for a while, then said, “Yes.” He dialed, putting the phone on speakerphone.

  “Hey, Nathan.” The man’s voice had a lilt, as if he was normally fun-loving and easygoing, but now he had a serious tension to his words. “I’m glad you’re up. I just heard something from a detective who came back from some undercover work tonight.”

  “Was he undercover with the LSLs?”

  “No, nothing like that. But he heard some rumors being spread around by a rival gang. When we talked earlier, you asked if there had been any rumblings about the LSLs uprooting and heading north. At the time I thought it was far-fetched, but I was working late tonight and Detective Kim came in. He said that there are rumors that the LSLs are moving north.”

  North? Sonoma? Was this why Mark was in Sonoma?

  “Does he know where?” Nathan asked.

  “No, and a lot of people discredit the rumors because it’s such a huge move for a drug gang. But after what you said, I thought you ought to know.”

  “I appreciate that, Steve.”

  “I hope you don’t mind, I’ve been keeping my ear open about anything else to do with the LSLs. Mostly just the normal stuff, but something came up earlier today. I wasn’t sure if it means anything, but after hearing this about the LSLs...” Steve coughed. “Well, I guess I’ll just tell you. Your ex-partner, Mark Tiong? He was killed by LSLs, right?”

  Arissa began to feel a tightness in her chest. She pressed her lips together.

  “Yeah,” Nathan said.

  “His sister is wanted for questioning.”

  What? Arissa clapped a hand to her mouth. Her fingers dug into her cheeks.

  “For what?” Nathan asked harshly.

  “A young woman, Malaya, is missing. They were friends, apparently.”

  Her parents had told her about Malaya. But why did they want to talk to Arissa? Just because the two of them were friends?

  “The detective thinks Arissa knows where Malaya is?” Nathan asked.

  “Maybe. The girl’s parents called—they’re out of town, but they rattled some cages even though she’s been gone only a couple days. There isn’t much to go on, but the officer sent to Malaya’s house just found Arissa’s cell phone in there, and the last call to the phone was from an LSL gang member.”

  Arissa drew in a sharp breath. How could that be? She’d completely destroyed her cell phone before heading north—took out the battery, smashed the SIM card, and threw the pieces out the window of her car when she was on the freeway.

  But...her old cell phone, the one she had before which didn’t have internet accessibility like her new Smartphone, had still worked. The old SIM card hadn’t been compatible with her new phone, so she’d left it in and had been able to sync her new Smartphone with her computer to transfer over he
r contacts. And it had been in her parents’ apartment—she’d left it in the bedroom in case her mom’s ancient cell phone suddenly up and died. She hadn’t thought to destroy it. Instead, she’d left it to be used by the LSLs to frame her.

  Nathan’s answer was in a cool voice. “I didn’t think Arissa was close to any of the gang, on account of her brother.”

  “Yeah, me too, but they have to investigate. There aren’t any other leads.” Steve paused, then said, “You knew her pretty well, didn’t you?”

  Nathan hesitated a fraction of a second before answering, “Yeah, I knew her.”

  “If you know where she might be, you should tell her to come in.”

  Arissa bit her lip and tasted blood.

  Steve continued, “If she’s innocent, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Nathan’s eyes narrowed as he regarded the cell phone. “Steve, I’ve got to go. My mom’s complaining I’m on the phone so late.”

  “Oh, sorry.” Steve’s voice became jovial. “Say hi to your mom for me. You’re in...Mendocino, right?”

  “Sacramento,” Nathan said smoothly, but Arissa heard the edge to his voice.

  “Oh, that’s right, that’s what you said.”

  “Bye, Steve. Thanks for the info.”

  “Boy, I didn’t expect you to be right about the LSLs. Bye, Nathan.”

  As soon as he disconnected the call, Arissa’s knees buckled, and she grabbed the frame of the car to keep herself standing. Being framed by the LSLs suddenly seemed so much worse. She had nowhere to go.

  How could she possibly protect Charity against the LSLs? Even with Nathan’s help, they barely stayed one step ahead of the gang. She felt stretched thin, like a rubber band about to break.

  * * *

  “Aunt Rissa, why’d Uncle Tito have to go?”

  Nathan glanced around First Sonoma Bank at all the customers who overheard Charity’s question to her aunt and then shot Arissa a warning glance, but he shouldn’t have worried.

  “Uncle Tito had to go home, nene.” Arissa tried to smile, but it was strained.

  Nathan knew she was worried about Tito, but he had deliberately chosen that rest stop because it was near the junctions of several highways. After Shaun helped Tito disable the GPS chip on his SUV, Arissa’s cousin had kissed her and Charity goodbye and then headed back south, intending to shoot east across the northern portion of Los Angeles and head toward Phoenix, where he had a few friends.

  “But I wanted him to stay with us.” Charity pouted. “I want Grandma and Grandpa, too.”

  Her rising voice made Nathan glance around them again. They’d been extra careful in coming to the bank this morning, watching for any gang members who might be waiting for them, but Nathan hadn’t seen anyone suspicious. However, he also didn’t want to draw more attention to themselves, and Charity’s plaintive voice struck a chord in him that he didn’t understand or want to investigate too closely.

  He knelt in front of her and caressed her cheek with his hand. “Nene, don’t you like being with Uncle Nathan? You’re going to make me think you don’t want me around.”

  She flung her tiny arms around his neck and squeezed. “I want you here, Uncle Nathan. Don’t leave.”

  The sob at the end of her word made him hug her back a little tighter. “I won’t.”

  In holding the small body, he marveled at how well she was holding up considering all the terrible things she’d had to endure. But he also felt a pang of guilt that he might have to leave them if they had to skip town and go into hiding. How would it affect her to have him break his word to her?

  It would feel like Nathan felt when he’d seen Mark pass that folder to the LSL gang member.

  He closed his eyes tightly for a moment before releasing Charity. He hoped they wouldn’t need to disappear. He’d do everything he could to keep it from coming to that. But what if it did? His mind shied away from the possibilities, the ways his life could change, the way those changes would hurt more and more the deeper he’d let these two people into his heart.

  He cleared his throat and rose to his feet. “Try not to attract attention,” he said gruffly to Arissa.

  Her brown eyes blinked with hurt, then it was gone and she turned away from him.

  He was exhausted. After arriving back at Liam’s in the early morning hours, he’d taken the two boxes of Mark’s things to Mr. Brummel’s side of the duplex and pored over the paperwork again for an hour, trying to see if there was something he’d missed. He’d finally fallen asleep with the paper under his cheek, and Liam had shaken him awake midmorning.

  A teller freed up and they approached. Arissa provided the same documents she’d given the first time and asked to see the safe deposit box. This teller scrutinized the documents less than the first one had. After a moment she indicated they should follow her and she led them behind the front desk to the back.

  The safe deposit vault was tiny and almost claustrophobic. Arissa produced the key and the teller produced the bank’s master key, and with two quick twists the door was unlocked and the box slid out. Arissa held it close to her while Nathan held Charity’s hand as the teller showed them to a small windowless room next to the vault. “Just come out and let me know when you want to put the box back,” the teller said before closing the door and leaving them alone.

  They sat at the rickety table in the center of the room. As Arissa set down the box, something softly thumped inside.

  Nathan’s heart rate climbed. This had to be related to what the gang wanted with Charity. He couldn’t think of any other reason Mark would bother to take out a safe deposit box when he obviously had had an unknown apartment somewhere in Sonoma to hide his secrets in. This had to be something extraordinarily special, something that would enable Nathan to bring in the police and free Arissa and Charity from the LSLs forever.

  She flipped open the top of the metal box with hands that shook. Charity, sitting next to her, leaned over eagerly to peek over the edge and see what was inside.

  Arissa’s brow creased. Nathan’s stomach flipped.

  She pulled out a small velvet jeweler’s box.

  In a flash, Nathan realized he’d been entirely wrong.

  * * *

  Arissa didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.

  She opened the jeweler’s box and the diamond engagement ring sparkled up at her, brilliant even in the feeble fluorescent lights of the room.

  “He was going to propose.” Her voice was soft.

  “Pretty,” Charity said. “Can I see?”

  Arissa hesitated, then plucked out the ring and gave it to her. It belonged to her now, the last—the only—gift from her father.

  Charity handled the ring carefully despite her fumbling fingers. The diamond fascinated her, maybe because she’d probably never seen one. Mom had sold her rings long ago, and Arissa had also sold any jewelry she had had of any value. Charity might have seen diamonds when she lived with her mother’s parents, but Arissa wasn’t certain she would remember if she had. Charity’s wide brown eyes crossed as she held up the ring in front of her nose. Her mouth hung open as she saw the diamond catch the light in a prism of color.

  “Charity, could I see it?” Nathan held out his hand. His voice had an edge of anxiety. Charity slowly handed it to him, and he looked it over, squinting inside the band.

  “Is there an inscription?” Arissa asked.

  “‘Mark and Jemma forever.’”

  “He probably intended to propose soon because her official due date had been a month after he died.” Arissa remembered Johnny Capuno’s bitter words as he told her about his sister’s death three years earlier, giving birth to a cop’s child. “Johnny...” She glanced at Charity, not wanting her to know how much her uncle hadn’t wanted her. “Johnny said that the events at the chop shop made her go
into labor early.”

  “He told you this when he brought you Charity?”

  She nodded.

  “He obviously didn’t know at the time that the gang needed Charity for something.” Nathan almost smiled. “The LSL leaders probably weren’t too happy with him for giving her to you.”

  Johnny had told Arissa that if she didn’t take Charity, he’d dump her at the nearest orphanage. What kind of a person would do that to a three-year-old?

  Nathan looked at the ring. “Johnny wouldn’t have been happy about Mark proposing to his sister.”

  The implications suddenly hit her like a dash of cold water. “Oh my goodness. What kind of implications would there have been?”

  “The LAPD wouldn’t have been happy about him marrying the sister of the captain of a dangerous gang. I don’t know exactly what they might do in a situation like that.”

  “Even though he was giving information to the gang, the LSLs wouldn’t have been happy about it, either.” Arissa patted Charity’s shoulder as Nathan gave the ring back to the little girl. “If it cost Mark his job at the LAPD, they’d have no use for him.”

  “Is there anything else in the box?”

  “Just this.” She took out the jeweler’s receipt for the ring and an authenticity certificate for the diamond. “I had hoped for so much more.”

  Nathan flipped through the paper. “If the LSLs don’t need Charity to get access to this safe deposit box, what do they need her for?”

  “Maybe they didn’t know what was in the box and needed to check?”

  “I don’t think they’d go through so much trouble to try to kidnap her when they didn’t know what was actually in the box.”

  “Unless what they’re looking for is extremely important to them, and they knew Mark hid it somewhere. They’d look everywhere possible for it.”

  “It must not have been something they missed right away, because Johnny...” Nathan cut himself off and glanced at Charity. “And they waited three years after Mark’s death.”