Braxton
“What do you mean my daughter is missing? Was she not with you all this time?” Diego Hernandez’s voice booms through his home office. The meek Mrs. Hernandez sits in an armchair, fidgeting the pearls around her neck. She looks so much like Eliana, it pains me to look at her. I know Eliana isn’t close to her parents, but I can tell that her mother is genuinely distraught. I’ve learned to discern between a put on and reality. She keeps looking between me and her husband, following the discussion, but not seeming to truly understand what I am saying. I imagine that at a time like this, people have regrets. I know I do.
“I had to go out of town, a family matter, so I took Eliana with me. I have no idea what happened. One minute we were in her hotel room talking, and the next I wake up bleeding with her gone. There is no doubt that I was drugged.
“I paid you to do a job. To keep my daughter safe, that was it, and you couldn’t pull that off.” His anger is evident in the flare of his nostrils and the clenching of his fists at his side. I imagine a man like him doesn’t do well with not being in control.
“I’ll find her, Mr. Hernandez. I just need to know if you have any idea who would benefit from kidnapping Eliana. Have you had any threats lately, that kind of thing?”
“I think you’ve already done more than enough, Mr. Hayes. We’ll leave finding my daughter to more competent people.”
My jaw stiffens. I deserve that, but I’ll be damned if I let someone else find her. She is mine to protect, and I intend to do that whether he wants me to or not. I’m starting to think coming here wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had.
“I know I messed up, better than anyone, but I’m going to look for her with or without your permission. The latter will make it much easier, though.”
“I think you should leave,” he says through gritted teeth. “Go back to your pathetic life, and leave finding my daughter to me.” He flings an envelope at me.
I open it, and my eyes widen at the check inside. This is far more than what we’d agreed to. I stand, rip the paper in two, and dump it on his desk. “I don’t want this.”
I don’t wait for a response before I leave their home, climb into my car, and drive back to my folks’.
When I step into the house, my mother wraps her arms around me. “Any news?”
I sigh. “Nothing yet. Eliana’s father doesn’t want me involved.”
“And you’re backing off?” my father asks.
“Hell no. I’m going to go back to the hotel to take a look at the security footage. I may need you to pull a few strings for me with that.” My father and Gregory White, the Captain of the SDPD are old friends. They’d served together, and their friendship continues to this day.
“I’ll call Greg now,” my father says as he walks toward his den.
“You’ll find her, son. If anyone can, it’s you.” my mother offers, hugging me again.
“I have a few things to do before I head to the hotel. Tell dad to call me after he talks to Gregory.”
I haven’t slept, I look like I’ve been dragged through hell and back, but here I am, standing in front of a familiar front door. There’s a faint ache inside my chest when I ring the bell. Stepping back, I can almost remember the sound of her barreling down the stairs.
Willard opens the door, his jaw setting when he sees it’s me. “What do you want?”
“To talk,” I say. “And I’m not leaving until you hear me out.”
He steps aside, letting me in. Stepping inside Ro’s home is like walking back in time. There’s a musty smell that comes with age, but otherwise, nothing’s changed. The same pictures line the wall along the staircase, and the same furniture sits where it always has. He leads me into the living room, much like he did the day I asked for Ro’s hand in marriage. I recall how he’d been just as serious that day, how scared I’d been to open my mouth.
“Spill it, boy,” he’d shouted, and I heard Ro giggling from the hallway.
I look at the man who should have been my father-in-law taking in how much older he is now. And so much angrier.
“What do you want, Hayes?” he snaps as he takes a seat opposite me.
I look at the graduation picture of her that sits above the fireplace. “I want to tell you that I loved your daughter, and if I could turn back time, I would. But I can’t. Ro asked me not to, but with time she understood why I had to go back. I asked her to stay away from those meetings, but she wouldn’t. She said it made her feel like she was doing something for her country.”
“She was stubborn like that. If she got something in her head, she wouldn’t rest until she’d done it, and well.” He stares at me, his expression unreadable.
“I am sorry for your loss, Sir. If I never said it before, I’m saying it now. I’ve spent all these years hating myself for what you lost, but the fact is, I lost her too. Ro was the love of my life, and there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t miss her or wish things had turned out differently.”
“Why are you here now?”
I look at the portrait of Ro again, and it’s as if she’s urging me on. “The girl I was with the other day, her name is Eliana Hernandez, and she was kidnapped last night.”
