“Yes, I am on it. I am trying to do a little investigating without looking terribly suspicious. I don’t think anyone is on to me,” she answers.
Alex looks at her, trying to figure out who she is talking to.
“Well, nothing around here. Nothing, no yet anyway. What’s going on there?”
The men are holding the limo driver and they have stuffed cloth napkins in his mouth.
Sabrina continues, “Where is Bo?”
Alex turns quickly to see her reaction and response.
“Oh, he is out doing some investigating. Do you know where he went? I need to talk to him about something.”
She looks over to Alex, “I am more than sure he is investigating something or should I say, someone, very important.”
You can see the steam brewing from Alex’s head. His eyes begin to flare and he clinches his jaw.
“Okay, I will let you know,” Sabrina replies to Carter and hangs up.
“I don’t like the sound of that conversation. Where is Brady?”
“Off somewhere taking care of business, investigating,” she responds.
Alex yanks the napkin out of the limo driver’s mouth. He drags him over to the couch, with the help of the two men.
The limo driver finally speaks, “What’s going on man? Who are you?”
“Don’t ask us any questions. You tell me where you took Ms. Williams and I will let you leave here alive and with every bone that belongs to you,” Alex answers.
“I don’t know where she is sir. I have no idea.”
“You mean to tell me, that you don’t know where you dropped off Ms.Williams and you were driving the car.”
Sabrina reaches down to the driver, “Sweetie, I think it will be in your best interest to just tell Mr.Bishop the truth. He has a very short fuse and the games won’t excite him.”
“I don’t know where she is. That is the truth.”
Alex kicks him in the gut and he kneels over in pain. His eyes are squinting and Alex pulls his head up to his, “Let’s try this again. Where is Ms.Williams?”
“Some guy paid me this morning to give him the limo and change drivers in the middle of a busy intersection. He gave me a couple hundred, so I took it. He told me that this was a surprise from her husband and it was all in the plan, so I did it.”
“You, gave a company car to a stranger and put the woman I love in danger for a couple hundred. You idiot, you don’t know who has her,” Alex answers.
“Where did this guy approach you?” Sabrina asks.
“This morning, I guess he was a guest in the hotel. I don’t know. I needed the money, easy money.”
Alex, once again rubs his head in confusion, “Can you pick this guy out for us? Don’t even think about saying no, your life depends on it.”
“Yeah, I guess I could. I swear to you. I don’t know where she is.”
Alex nods his heads at the guys; one goes into the other room with Alex.
“Are you people going to kill me?” The limo driver asks.
Sabrina, bringing her hands
around his neck and caressing softly, “That is a strong possibility.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bo and Hope are still standing at the window kissing. They both pull away from each other.
“I don’t know what you are doing to me,” she says to him.
“I could tell you the same thing.”
“Do you have any idea how much you have changed my life in a span of two weeks? I never let this happen to me,” she replies.
“Yeah, and I am way to macho for it to happen to me but….”
She interrupts, “I don’t regret one moment of it. I regret that all of this is going. Is this a prelude to our relationship, mystery and danger.”?
“Well, I didn’t know we had a relationship,” he giggles, “but I hope it is not all mystery and danger. I may not look like it but I welcome romance and intrigue.”
“Love is definitely mysterious and falling in love can be dangerous but it causes the intrigue and the longing for romance,” she answers.
“Maybe you should have been a poet.”
“Hmmmm,” she laughs.
“Just like you, I am not in the habit of falling for someone so quickly. It would be so easy for me to kiss you right now, go into that other room and make love to you. We can just forget that all of this is happening. I have never wanted to be so close to someone.”
“I feel the same way, I just feel like I shouldn’t be. I don’t know you but you are the most familiar stranger to me and I can’t go through a day now, without thinking about you or wanting to be close to you.”
“What do you suggest we do?” He asks as he goes toward her.
She takes a deep breath, walking further away from him, “We are going to have to stop doing this. We are going to have to stop torturing ourselves.”
“Well, maybe this case is a good thing. It will keep us from each other.”
“I am not happy about that but if it has to happen, then I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“I want this case to be over,” he answers.
She looks at him, the passion is mounting in her eyes, and “I want that too.”
“If we go any further, we are going to just complicate this situation even more. I already want to see you all time and if we do that it is going to make it worse,” he answers.
“I agree with you. Just tell me what the plan is for Alex,” she quickly changes the subject.
“Well, I have a feeling he is going to try something at the Federico showing. We just got the word that the same thing is going down over there with the jewelry.”
“That is strange, Mr. Trevor is behind that show too. He worked out the deal with Federico and jeweler to use the pieces too.”
“I thought he only did your shows and no one else’s,” Bo asks.
“No, I mean, knock on wood, I am his biggest seller but Federico is under him too and his line is second biggest. We are going to do a show together. We were going to talk about while I am here this week.”
“So all the jewelry involved are ones that were purchased or borrowed from Mr. Trevor himself. Something around here is rotten, Hope.”
“That is all I know. I mean as far as I knew, the jewelry thing was all new to Alex. He really acted like he knew nothing about this stuff.”
“He is a great pretender.”
“Aren’t you all,” she responds?
“Ouch, I think I should take offense to that.”
“Well, Mr. Husband of a Boutique Owner. You are subject to ridicule.”
“But I had a reason and you know it,” he says to her.
“That’s what they all say, I mean Alex is not a bad looking, not in the least, but your job is working with beautiful sirens. Oh the pain,” she pouts at him.
“Well, this job is bringing us closer together.”
“That’s for sure.”
“This is what I want you to do, I hate to say this, but….”
“You want me to hang around Alex, act like he and I really have a chance and get the goods on him.”
“Beauty and brains, you are a dangerous woman,” he answers.
“I can do that,” she answers.
“Now, I don’t want you to kiss him and,” Bo is going on, she quickly interrupts.
“Wait a minute, I don’t tell you how to do your job so you will just have to trust me. I think, for what it is worth, I can handle Alex and he will never suspect a thing.”
“I am serious Hope.”
“So am I, I don’t like what happened to Mr.Trevor and I would like to know who is trying to frame me,” she responds.
“I am going to be watching you like a hawk.”
“I will be watching you too,” she answers.
“He is going to try something, we have to be a step ahead of him.”
“And we are going to have to lay low, he is going to know something is wrong that you showed up here.”
Bo laughs, “Yeah that is what paranoid people do. They always think that something is wrong.”
“Is this officially our last evening together?”
Bo takes her hand and kisses it, “No, we are still going to pass those notes remember and I have us a hiding place.”
“You do, where is that?”
“I don’t know, I was hoping you could come up with something,” he says almost red cheeked.
“Well, I will figure something out. Since you brought me to this lovely cottage, I will be happy to oblige.”
“Good.”
“I guess we need to get back to the city. I am pretty sure Alex is going nuts looking for you and I will be missed soon.”
“Ah, the beautiful siren is probably anxiously waiting for you to return.”
“I hope you are,” he answers.
She blushes and he kiss her.
“Do you have to kiss me like that?”
“What? What’s wrong?” Bo asks looking confused.
“There is nothing wrong. It is always like heaven with you.”
“I haven’t shown you that yet,” he answers.
She walks away from him, “Neither have I.”
He grabs her from behind and they kiss again as her phone rings.
“Hello,” she answers quickly.
“I have been looking all over for you,” Alex says to her.
“Well, you found me. What’s going on?”
“I want us to have dinner tonight.”
She answers quickly, “After the last few days I have had, that would be wonderful.”
Alex looks startled.
“Where are we going?”
“I’ll let it be a surprise,” Alex answers.
“Okay, dinner tonight then,” she replies.
“Well, Plan A already in motion. Listen, you have to find a way to let me know where he is taking you.”
“I will, I promise.”
“If something happens,” Bo continues.
“Nothing will happen, okay.”
“Tell me that after you have made it back to the hotel,” he answers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex is grilling the limousine driver and throws all these pictures out; one has Bo’s face on it.
“Did one of these guys pay you?”
The limo driver looks over the pictures. He keeps staring at the photo of Bo and then looks on. He comes back to the photo and keeps looking. Alex is already looking assured that Bo is the guy.
“I don’t see him. He is not in here.”
“Look at the photos good. Are you sure?”
“I am sure.”
Alex looks at Sabrina who almost has a smirk on her face.
“Well, darling, you are having dinner tonight with her. Maybe she was really shopping and it was all a joke.”
“This was not a joke,” he answers as his eyes flare with rage.
THE END