Chapter 2
1991 Words
Chapter Two
Fortunately, Anna was not the least bit offended. And though she laughed as she pulled us both into an embrace, it did little to alleviate my shock when pointy shoulder blades nudged my hands. I winced, noting how small she actually seemed compared to her nearly six-foot frame.
“So, how’re things…going?” Leah asked, her face twisting into a grimace as she worked to formulate the appropriate question on her second attempt.
Knowing her as well as I did, it took a lot of stretching.
Anna released a small chuckle that sounded a bit sad, glancing down at the pile that covered her desk. “Good…good. Business is good. The boys are busy….on a big job in Vegas. All’s good. Everyone’s happy.”
“Not everyone,” Leah replied, causing a tiny shudder to erupt from Anna’s shoulders as she continued looking down, her head almost touching her chest.
“Anna, we’re asking as your friends,” I added. “We want to know…how’re things…with you?”
Anna lifted her chin ever so slightly before pulling the bun loose, allowing her hair to cascade down her shoulders. After a long moment, she closed the office door, collapsed into a chair and stared out the window.
Leah and I each took a seat opposite her, while Nicoh settled on the floor.
“It’s Blaze,” she replied after a few moments of awkward silence.
“What—is he okay?” Leah and I asked, our voices echoing through the office.
In Blaze’s previous profession, the risks were high and the danger extreme, often proving deadly for a few of his comrades.
She waved us off. “Physically, he’s fine…but emotionally…mentally? He seems to have gotten a proverbial case of cold feet.” After taking in our raised brows, she added, “I think he’s cheating on me.”
I shook my head. “No way—Blaze adores you.”
I had witnessed this adoration first hand—beaming when she entered the room, enraptured by her every word—pulling her close as though having her near made him complete. It was clear to everyone within a three-mile radius that the couple was far more than in love—they were in love with life, together.
Anna shrugged, still staring out the window.
“I suppose he does…did. Anyway, now that I’ve finally managed to get you all the way here, let’s not allow my overactive imagination to spoil your visit.” She pursed her lips and shook her head, before adding, “Just forget I brought it up.”
“Nuh, uh, Anna. Be straight with us. If something’s bad enough to have reduced you to”—Leah waved her hand around the room, then at Anna—“then we’re not going to ‘just forget’ it. I mean seriously, you’re the P.I. here. Why don’t you just share your evidence with us so we can pick holes in your theory?”
Anna released a weak chuckle. “Okay, you caught me. By the way, that was quite a wicked trick, using my newly-minted P.I. credentials against me.”
“I try my best,” Leah replied, looking a bit self-satisfied. “Now, please tell us…what’s got you so worked up and—not to come off sounding insensitive or judgey—looking downright wretched?”
Fortunately, Anna didn’t seem to care, as she took the comment in stride.
“It sounds cliché but when you put things into perspective…” She blew out a long breath, shaking her head as she glanced at the ceiling. “First, it was the late night meetings. Soon, he became more and more distracted, was missing our date nights and when he did manage to show up, he was uncharacteristically late and agitated, as though it was an inconvenience and he had more important places to be.
“As you both know, he’s not an angry or mean-spirited person—actually quite the opposed, always so calm and laid back but lately, I can’t say or do anything without eliciting a rude, even vicious, remark. No matter how I try to rectify whatever it is that I’ve done to aggravate him, he snaps at me for no reason.”
“Could this new project be causing him more stress?” I asked. “You did mention that the transition was a bit rough, that not everyone he previously worked with was thrilled about the shift and that several of them walked away when he made the announcement.”
Anna shook her head. “Blaze realized he was getting older and wasn’t going to be able to do that stuff forever, despite what his crew or fans wanted. And if we wanted a family, which I thought he did, he wasn’t willing to continue taking those kinds of risks.”
She rose, moved to the window and wrapped her arms around her middle. “Oh sure, you see those families where the whole lot is into it and they haul the kids all over the world trying to grasp onto every last bit of adrenaline that comes with it, but for Blaze the thrill had slowly been wearing thin over the years, especially after he lost a couple of his best friends.
“So when this new opportunity arose—one that allowed him to use his current skill set in new ways…ways that could make a real difference to future generations…” Her thought trailed off and she was silent for a long moment before finishing, “No, if the project was stressing him out, his reaction would have been much different…a short period of vocal frustration, followed by a shift to dogged persistence until he was able to mitigate, if not eliminate the issue.
“Instead, he’s been stand-offish, even when I try to give him a hug or a simple peck on the cheek. We have separate condos but until recently, he’d pretty much stayed over every night. In fact, we talked about him giving his up until we could find a home after the wedding. That being said, I don’t think he’s even stepped foot across the threshold of mine in four months and when we do meet, it’s always somewhere different and tucked out of the way—places we typically don’t even go—and shortly after arriving, he’s already eager to be on his way.”
“Blaze’s behavior may not be related to issues with the project but it also does not lead directly to infidelity,” Leah replied. “Why even make the leap to cheating?”
I nodded. “When we last spoke, you mentioned Blaze was having problems getting some of the necessary permits. Couldn’t that have something to do with the way he’s been acting? You also said he didn’t want to have to reach out to his family for help pushing things through. Perhaps he’s feeling pressure—from somewhere—to do so?” I paused, before adding, “I agree with Leah. I just don’t see Blaze as the cheating type—definitely not on you.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so either until I saw it with my own eyes,” she replied, frowning.
I glanced at Leah. ”Saw what with you own eyes?”
“The other woman.”
Anna reached into a leather tote bag sitting on the floor and pulled out a file folder. From it, she extracted the contents and tossed them on the desk. A few shifted off the edge and I caught them before they fell and got an eye-full of what had put our friend on high alert.
Leah and I pulled our chairs forward and after I placed the stray photos alongside the others, we peered at each shot.
Blaze and a voluptuous blonde in a fitted black pantsuit, dining in what appeared to be an outside bistro on sunny California day.
Blaze and the same woman, sharing drinks at the bar inside a crowded dance club.
Blaze and the woman, in a random parking lot.
Blaze and the woman, this time clad in leather riding gear, outside a biker bar, their heads bent together.
For each scenario, there were dozens of shots. There were no date or time stamps but clearly, there had been several meetings between the two. Nothing, however, about any of them that suggested intimacy or even a budding relationship.
“One of his employees?” Leah suggested after we gave each image a second glance.
“Not to my knowledge. In fact, I’ve met most of them over the years and none of them have ever looked like this,” Anna replied, her tone sour as she stabbed at one of the images. “And did I mention that this is only a sampling of their activities?”
“Who took these?” Leah asked.
Anna looked away, but not before her pale complexion was mottled with red splotches.
Leah nodded and for once, thought before speaking. “Okay, so you’ve spent a lot of time tailing the two of them—what about when they’re not together? Did you follow her or get any details that could help identify her or that explain why Blaze is spending so much time with her?”
Anna shook her head. “She’s good…never leaving any tracks…always disappearing into the shadows. Either that or maybe Abe and Elijah have overestimated my abilities. I’m probably going to need to take a leave of absence, anyway, to deal with this. Perhaps I should consider making it permanent.” She sighed, before adding, “I was just hoping I’d get it all handled before they returned and before I had to divulge all of my dirty laundry.”
“Did you confront Blaze about her or show him…these?” I gestured toward the pictures.
“Gawd, no.” Anna pressed her eyes shut and frowned.
“What about Abe and Elijah? Did you share any of your suspicions with them?” I asked, wondering how her change in appearance had escaped their notice, but decided this was not the time to bring it up.
“Double Gawd, no. You’ve seen Blaze. They’d snap him in half.”
Both Leah and I nodded. That was probably true. While Blaze was no twig and was an exceptional athlete, he was no match for a pair of former collegiate-level football players. And, knowing how the Stantons doted over Anna—treating her as they would a sister—they would have crushed him first and asked questions later.
“I don’t know, Anna. I still think you should talk to Blaze.”
Anna pursed her lips at my suggestion and started to answer when there was a knock at the door. Sarah popped her head in.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but there’s someone here to see you. She said it was important.”
Anna frowned. “I don’t have any appointments scheduled this afternoon.”
“No, she confirmed she didn’t have one but said it was imperative that she see you,” the assistant replied.
“Did she at least provide you with a name?” Anna asked.
Sarah shook her head. “She wouldn’t say.”
Anna blew out a breath and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “Fine. Give me five minutes and then bring her back.”
“Sure thing, Boss.” Sarah started to exit but looked back and added, “I should probably note, she’s kind of…scary.”
“Scary?” Anna blinked. “As in we need to call the police scary?”
“Noooo, more like I’d-rather-kick-your-butt-in-a-cage-fight-than-allow-you-to-waste-any-more-air-or-space scary.”
“Uh, thanks for the clarification, I think?” Anna let out a small chuckle as Sarah closed the door behind her.
“What do you make of that?” Leah asked.
“Who knows—you see all types in this business,” Anna replied, straightening her clothes and pulling on a blazer before attempting to make her office a bit more presentable.
We had just helped her tuck the last of the mess away when there was a knock at the door and Sarah re-entered with the visitor in tow—a tall, formidably built, sun-bronzed goddess in her late twenties to early thirties.
A mane of platinum cornrows cascaded down her back and ended at her waist, where they were loosely tied with several black leather strands. The combination of her hair and deep tan made her eyes her most striking—and unnerving—feature, a blue so light it could have easily been carved from ice. She was clad head-to-toe in leather riding gear, which seemed unseasonably warm but given the way she perused each of us, I wondered if anything warm ran through her veins.
After Sarah exited, the visitor strode across the room, stuck out her hand and started to speak, when Anna surprised us by ignoring her outstretched hand, instead opting to slap her hard across the face.
When that yielded no response, Anna surprised us again.
This time, she slugged the woman, hitting her squarely, in the jaw.
- Writer
