Childfinders Inc - Hero For Hire Part 9

"Is he around?" Neil asked, walking farther in. He looked up the staircase. "I'd

kind of like to see his face when he sees what I got him."

Clutching the gift, Veronica turned around. She started to say that Casey was still at the party, but the words never made it to her lips. Instead, she began to cry.

When Josephine looked at him quizzically, Chad moved forward and slipped his arm around Veronica, pretending to comfort her, keeping up the ruse that Veronica had started. Josephine looked properly placated and just a shade envious.

Fl.u.s.tered, Neil looked from Chad to Veronica. "Hey, it's only a baseball." The pleased look on his face turned to a distraught helplessness. "This wasn't something that Bobby talked about giving Casey, was it? Because if he did, you know I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. Just goes in one ear and out the other." He dragged a hand through his unruly hair, apparently stymied as to how to rectify the situation. "I didn't mean to stir up any memories for you, Veronica, honest."

Trying to regain her composure, Veronica held her hand up to stop him. She shook her head, only marginally aware that Chad had slipped his arm around her in mute comfort. She was behaving like a fool and she hated it. "No, it's just that..."

Lies were only going to complicate things. Thinking fast, Chad decided that someone had to know the truth. Besides, he wanted to see Neil's reaction.

"Casey's been abducted." He watched each of their faces as Neil and Josephine absorbed the terse sentence. Disbelief and shock registered on Neil's, while Josephine appeared as if she was having trouble a.s.similating the information. He could almost see her struggling with the words.

Josephine c.o.c.ked her head, auburn hair spilling over her bare shoulder.

"Abducted. Does that mean he's been-"

"Kidnapped," Neil snapped at her, sobering instantly. "How dumb are you?"

Ignoring Josephine, as well as Chad, he took Veronica's hands into his own. "When?

How?"

"Today, from the birthday party I took him to."

Neil looked as if he i was having trouble breathing. His grasp tightened on her hands. "Are you sure?"

For all the world, she wished she could say no. "Yes."

Neil's eyes darted back and forth between Veronica and the tall stranger standing beside her. He looked as if he didn't trust Chad. "How much does the kidnapper want?" he asked Veronica. Before she could answer, he added, "Can you raise it?"

Because he could see how much it distressed her to talk about it, Chad answered for her. "The amount wasn't specified. The connection broke off before she could find out."

Neil turned to Chad. "Have you called the police yet?"

"No police," Veronica said quickly to squelch any ideas he might have of calling them himself. "He said he'd kill Casey if I called anyone."

Hanging on the fringes of the conversation, Josephine moved forward. "So what are you going to do?"

Drawing on what felt like her last reserve of inner strength, Veronica squared her shoulders. She would not fall apart again, she swore to herself. She couldn't afford to. She glanced at Chad before answering. "We're going to wait."

The answer didn't sit well with Neil, but it was her call. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets in muted frustration. "Want us to...?"

Antic.i.p.ating his offer, Veronica rejected it as gently as possible. Having them here waiting with her would only increase her agitation. She was in no mood for anyone's company-especially his girlfriend's, the latest entry in a long parade of airheads Neil had hooked up with since he'd first reached p.u.b.erty.

"No, that's all right, Neil. Really." She began urging him toward the door. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm better off alone."

Josephine followed without any coaxing. "Doesn't look as if you're alone from where I'm standing." She made no effort to hide her smirk as she gave Chad another long appraising look.

Neil looked somewhat annoyed as he took hold of Josephine's arm and pulled her after him through the front door.

"Okay, we'll leave," he told Veronica. And then his expression softened. "But if there's anything you want, Veronica, anything you need, just call."

Touched, Veronica leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek, knowing he was sincere, if sadly ineffectual. Neil looked enough like Robert to have been his twin, but the similarity between the two brothers ended on the surface. Neil had never possessed any of Robert's ambition or his backbone. The only thing the two had in common when it came to personalities was that both were good men in their own way.

"I know, Neil." Veronica took a step back. "Thank you."

He placed a hand against the door, keeping her from closing it. "Call me if you hear anything. Okay?"

She nodded, praying she would have something to tell him soon. "I will, I promise."

Still, Neil stood wavering in the doorway, wrestling with his thoughts and a conscience he rarely heeded even as Josephine was tugging on his arm to leave. His last words were directed at Chad. "Look, you're new to me so I don't know just how serious things are between you and Veronica. But she's the best, so be good to her or, as puny as I look in comparison to you, I'll find a way to break every bone in your body. Okay?"

The threat didn't bring the expected smile to Chad's lips. "Okay," Chad promised with a sincerity that pretense and undercover work had long since made easy for him.

Chad closed the door behind Neil and Josephine. Flipping the lock and testing it, he turned around to look at Veronica. "You seem fairly close to him."

She supposed she was. "He's a good person. A little misdirected, but good."

That wasn't his point in making the observation. "Then why didn't you tell him who I was?" It seemed only natural that she would confide in Neil, especially after the man had made his not-so-veiled threat.

She bit her lip as she looked at Chad. Something had held her back at the last minute. She shrugged.

"Maybe your caution is rubbing off on me. For the time being, this is easier."

She followed the thought a step further. "If Neil found out you were a private investigator, he'd want to help, and he'd only get in your way. He has a habit of being a little over the top at times."

That was putting it mildly. "How long has he been with that girl?"

She would hardly have called Josephine a girl, but under all that makeup and the volume of hair, she supposed Josephine was only around twenty-two or so. "A couple of months, I think. She's the flavor of the month." Veronica saw Chad raise an eyebrow in silent query. "Neil also has a habit of getting restless. He doesn't stick with anyone or anything for long."

That would describe a lot of men in his acquaintance, Chad thought. "Know her last name?"

Veronica shook her head. "I've only seen her a few times. Neil's never mentioned it. Since he doesn't seem to stay with anyone for more than a few weeks, I didn't think her last name was particularly important to know." Veronica glanced toward the closed door. "She looks as if it's a challenge for her just to remember to put one foot in front of the other when she's walking."

True, Chad mused. "I don't like leaving any rock unturned," he told Veronica just before the phone rang again.

This time it was hers.

Chapter 5.

Hands shaking, Veronica placed the phone to her ear.

"h.e.l.lo?" Straining every fiber of her being to listen, she felt her heart sink at the first words. "No." Veronica bit off an oath as she closed the cell phone. The two ends came together with a sharp snap like two sides of a clam.

"Wrong number," she replied to the silent question in Chad's eyes. Her own began to fill with frustrated tears as she stared down at the phone in her hands. She

couldn't take much more of this. She'd thought she was made of stronger stuff, but she was wrong. She felt as if she was going to fall apart at any second. "Why doesn't he call?"