Secure Location - By Beverly Long Page 0,62
would never get that chance. I wanted her to suffer. I wanted her whole family to pay.”
“Past tense?” Cruz questioned. “You still want her to suffer?”
The man shook his head. “No. She suffered enough. We all did.”
“Why did you leave Maiter?”
“My son, T.J., was struggling in school. Moving didn’t help. Nothing did.”
“What’s your son’s full name?”
“Troy Jamison.”
“Where is your son now?”
“I have no idea. For a while, he moved in and out of my mother’s house in San Antonio. They’d get along for a while, then there’d be some big blowup. But she always took him back. ‘He’s my blood,’ she would say.” The man’s eyes turned bleak. “I had to turn my back on my own mother. Haven’t seen either of them for over five years.”
“What’s your mother’s address?”
The man hesitated. “What’s going on?”
“Someone is terrorizing Meg. Trashing her car, her apartment, her office. Following her. I think it could be your son. For a brief period, he worked at the same hotel that Meg works at. I think that was on purpose.”
The man didn’t look surprised. “Got a pen?” he asked. Then he rattled off the address. Cruz wrote it down.
“Thank you,” Cruz said. “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
Lawrence Percy nodded. “Be careful. I don’t know my son all that well anymore but I suspect he could be very dangerous. The only thing I really know for sure is that I wish to hell he wasn’t my blood.”
* * *
CRUZ DIALED MEG as he ran for the car. It went to voice mail. “Meg,” he said, “be careful. It’s Troy Blakely. Watch out for him.”
The next call he made was to Detective Myers. When he answered, Cruz gave him just enough details for the man to understand the urgency of the situation. The detective said he was an hour outside San Antonio but that he’d leave immediately for the hotel.
Cruz was half that. He drove fast, trying to shave another few minutes. He tried Meg’s office again and got the same busy signal. He pressed zero and got bounced back to the hotel operator who transferred him to Charlotte’s desk.
It rang and rang. He went through the whole routine again with the operator, but this time he asked to be transferred to Security, hoping they could get a message to Tim Burtiss.
He got voice mail again.
Damn it. Did no one answer their phones anymore?
He glanced at his watch. He’d be there in fifteen minutes. He forced himself to calm down. Everything would be fine.
* * *
MEG WAS ON A LONG CALL with a disgruntled guest when a note slid under her closed office door. When she finished the call a few minutes later, she walked over and picked it up. It was from Charlotte. Scott called. He wants to see you right away.
Meg crumpled up the note and tossed it in her waste can. After learning about the baby, she’d gone to see Scott. Hadn’t told him about the pregnancy. Cruz deserved to hear that news first. But she had told him that she was sorry. Sorry that she’d involved him in her deceit, that he was a good man who deserved better. He’d read between the lines and had made it easy for her by saying all the right things. I respect you. I care for you. Of course we can still work together.
Hopefully, he hadn’t changed his mind about that. She needed an income and health insurance.
She looked at her phone and saw that there was a voice mail waiting. She decided to ignore it. She’d see what Scott needed first and then get to her calls. She grabbed a yellow legal pad and hurried out.
When she opened the door that connected her office to Charlotte’s, she saw that the space was empty. She opened the outer door and the security guard sprang to his feet.
“Have you seen Charlotte?” she asked.
“No. I thought she was at her desk.”
She must have left by the other door. Maybe she had to use the restroom and didn’t want to announce it to the security guard. “No problem. She probably just stepped out for a minute. When she comes back, let her know that I saw her note and that I’m in Mr. Slater’s office.”
“I’ll walk you,” he said.
There hadn’t been any issues for weeks. But the memory of her destroyed office still nagged at her. She could lock it but didn’t know if Charlotte had her keys. “Just stay here,” she said. “It’s just up the elevator. Nothing