Detective Green regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. “Earlier this evening, Ms. Holland and several other au pairs were holding a birthday party at Waterfront Park. Apparently, it’s something they do frequently for the kids they take care of. Regardless, a driver brought one of the kids without her nanny, a woman named Anna Medina. The kid didn’t know where Anna was and your girlfriend got concerned when she couldn’t reach her by phone. According to Ms. Holland, Anna is devoted to this kid.”
“I’m guessing Talia went looking for Anna?” Lennox asked
He wasn’t sure why, but he got the feeling that Green didn’t believe any of this.
“So she claims,” Green said, skeptical. “According to your girlfriend’s statement, someone started following her the moment she got off the bus near Anna’s apartment and chased her through a few alleys.”
“But you don’t think that happened?” Lennox asked, looking Green straight in the eye and deciding to stop beating around the bush.
The detective didn’t seem surprised that Lennox had called him out. He simply shrugged and continued.
“Oh, Ms. Holland was definitely chased by a big man in dark clothes,” Green admitted. “We had several calls to dispatch with that exact description. Anna doesn’t exactly live in what anyone would call a nice neighborhood. No, the thing I have a problem with is that your girlfriend claims she recognized the man who chased her from Waterfront Park. She said that she saw him hanging around there while they were having the party and that she’d seen him there before. According to her, he’s been watching her and the other au pairs for the past few days. She believes he’s responsible for Anna being missing.”
“The woman’s missing?” Lennox repeated, more baffled by the minute. What the hell was going on here?
“According to Ms. Holland,” Green said. “But when we called John Fredrickson—the man who employs Anna—to ask when he’d seen her last, he told us that she’d left to take care of a family emergency in Bolivia this morning. Since they bought her a plane ticket, they were even able to send us a copy of the receipt.”
Lennox wasn’t sure what to think now. This night was getting too strange for words. “Did you explain that to Talia?”
“I did,” Green confirmed. “She thinks the Fredrickson family is lying and that this supposed trip out of the country isa sham to cover up the fact that the family is involved in Anna’s disappearance.”
“Why would she think that?”
The detective sighed. “She says it’s because she and Anna, along with some of the other au pairs, have stumbled on something nefarious their employers are up to—something Fredrickson might even be willing to murder to keep hidden.”
“Wow,” Lennox muttered.
As a SEAL, he’d seen some bizarre stuff, but this was pretty out there.
“Now I think you see my problem,” Green said, drawing Lennox’s attention back to him. “So, I’m asking you. Does your girlfriend frequently say things that might make her seem unbalanced?”
Lennox didn’t know what he was supposed to say to that. Should he admit that Talia wasn’t his girlfriend and that he didn’t even know her very well? Or at all?
But then something twisted in his gut, telling him that he couldn’t do that. He had no idea what the hell was going on with Talia, but until he talked to her, there was no way he was going to give Green anything that he could use against her.
So instead, he opened his mouth and started lying his butt off.
CHAPTER TWO
“You’re sure it’s okay if I stay here tonight?” Talia asked as she glanced around Lennox’s apartment.
She was fully aware she’d asked the same question a number of times already, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She was still rattled after everything that had happened tonight and her mind could barely function.
“Of course, it’s okay,” Lennox assured her, closing the door behind them, the suitcase she’d recently stuffed full at her place a little while ago in hand. “I understand why you don’t want to stay at the cottage after the scare you had. Even though it’s on the Rybak’s property, it’s still kind of isolated that far from the main house. And with no one home at the moment, I don’t think being alone is what you need right now.”
She snapped her head around to look at Lennox, more than ready to tell him that she could decide for herself what she needed. After that patronizing Detective Green, she was done with anyone telling her what they thought was good for her.
Then she caught the look of genuine concern on Lennox’s handsome face and in his blue eyes, and the anger that had been building immediately melted away. He wasn’t like that detective. He’d cared enough to come get her when there’d been no one else for her to call. Then he’d gone even further and agreed togive her a place to stay for the night even though they barely knew each other.
And if Talia was being honest, she had to admit that Lennox had been right about her cottage at the Rybak residence. While it was nice and comfortable, it was also on the backside of the property, a whole football field away. If she screamed, no one would have heard her even if the Rybak family were home, which they weren’t. Bogdan and his wife, Vera, were away, while Maria and her older sister, Sofia, were staying with their respective friends for the weekend.
Talia had considered staying with a friend for the night, but quickly realized that wouldn’t work. Like Anna, all of her closest friends were au pairs. Unfortunately, unlike Anna, all of them lived with their employers. Staying with any of them would generate a lot of questions that she didn’t want to answer. So, it would have to be Lennox.
“Well, I’m grateful for the offer,” she said quietly.
There’d been a few times tonight when she wasn’t sure if she was going to live to see morning. But she was safe now. That was all that mattered.
“Let me put your stuff away in the guest bedroom,” Lennox said, heading down the hallway on the far side of the living room. “I have a bed set up in there for when my sisters visit. I just need to put on some fresh sheets.”
