“Thank you all. What do I do now?” she asked.
“For now, you stay here with us,” said Margo. “I think the boys are going to want to figure out what Greg wanted from you. Did you know his last name?”
“Jones. Greg Jones,” she said with an embarrassed look. “It probably isn’t his real name, is it?”
“Possibly,” said Quinn. “Did your apartment have another door or entrance?”
“A balcony door. It’s a sliding glass door. I live right on the beach so it’s one of the perks of paying that kind of rent.” The all smiled, trying to make her feel more at ease.
“I’m going to bet you could use a hot shower and a change of clothes,” smiled Margo.
“I don’t have anything,” said April looking down at herself. “What am I going to do?”
She started to cry and before anyone could get to her, Quinn was in his knees in front of her, holding her to his shoulder, rubbing her back. Finnegan looked at River with a smirk, then at his father.
Margo gave them the look that said, ‘shut up’, and then took April’s hand.
“Come with me, honey. I’m sure we have something that will fit you.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Margo, Priscilla, Elena, and Fiona took April upstairs to one of the large suites. Seated on the bed, she twisted her hands in her lap looking frightened and confused.
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” she said looking at the women.
“In a way, that’s who we are,” said Margo. “Quinn, River, and Finnegan just retired from the SEALs. Patrick was also a SEAL. Major was an Army Ranger and Adam was in the Army as well.”
“Oh,” she said with a whisper. “I feel so stupid.”
“Honey, you weren’t stupid. You tried to do the right thing. You get in the shower and we’ll find some clothes to fit you and leave them on the bed. When you’re done, come back downstairs and we’ll have some lunch.”
April nodded at the women, smiling her thanks as they closed the door behind them. They heard the shower start and then returned a few moments later, leaving a sundress, underwear, and a cardigan on the bed. They weren’t sure of her bra size but would worry about that later.
“How is she?” asked Quinn as the women walked into the kitchen.
“Scared. Confused. She thinks she did something wrong,” said Margo. “She’s in the shower right now and we’ve given her some clean clothes. What did Hiro say?”
“Jones is an obvious alias,” said Patrick, “but he did catch her leaving the restaurant on Monday night on security cameras. She doesn’t appear intoxicated or having any dizziness but the moment she pulls away, there’s a car that follows. He must have known where the cameras were located because he didn’t leave through the front door.”
“He must have wanted something from her to drag her all the way from Florida to California,” said Major. “They didn’t fly, we know that for sure. That means our alias rented a car to get her here. Why? She’s a flight attendant. She probably gets free flights.”
They all heard a hair dryer kick on upstairs and knew that it was a good sign. She probably felt better just being clean.
“You know, sometimes men just think they own a woman,” said Fiona. “I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying that maybe that’s all it is. His obsession.”
“Maybe,” frowned Quinn but it felt like there was something more. “If he was obsessed with her, he had every opportunity to abuse or rape her and didn’t take it.”
“I was running,” said the small voice.
They all turned to see April in the borrowed clothing, her hair now hanging loosely down her back. She was beautiful. With the hot shower giving her a pretty pink color to her cheeks, her big green eyes stared at them, the thick long lashes kissing her cheeks.
“You were saying,” said River, nudging Quinn to say something.
“Yes. Sorry, when I was in the shower I remembered that I looked up and saw Greg’s face and jumped to my feet. I just started running toward that big hotel.”
“Hotel del Coronado,” said Margo. “There are always people there, that’s for sure.”
“But that means you were coming from the fenced-in area at the North Island Naval Station,” said Finnegan.
