Fury, page 6
“I went to where Holly’s body was found. I just wanted to see the place. I don’t really know what I was looking for, but I wanted to go there.”
“And?”
“And Oscar drove by while I was there. He went slowly, then took off when I saw it was him.”
“What?” Frannie breathed.
“It was weird. I mean, that area is pretty abandoned. I didn’t think much of it when I heard the car approaching, but he was going really slow. Like he was watching me and knew it was me. I turned around and looked because I thought maybe someone needed directions or something, but he just smirked and took off.”
“So, he definitely saw you?”
“No question.”
“Wow. What was he driving? Did you get the license plate?”
“No, I didn’t think to do that.”
“What was he driving? We can look and see if it’s registered to him.”
“It was a light blue sedan. Not very unique. It looked like every other car out there.”
“Do you know what kind of car?”
Stacey thought for a second and shook her head. “I’m not very good at this espionage thing.”
“You’ll get better. If he was down there, there’s a chance it wasn’t the first time. I know we believe he killed Holly, but driving down the same road does not prove anything. So, what’s in that area? What could he have been doing there?”
Stacey shook her head. “Nothing seemed to be open. The warehouses were all pretty abandoned looking. No cars, no activity.”
Frannie tapped her finger against her lip. “Sometimes people use abandoned warehouses to hide what they’re doing. What does Oscar do for a living?”
“I have no idea.”
“Let me see what information Marcus has about him.” Frannie pulled out her phone and called Marcus.
Stacey tried not to eavesdrop on their conversation and busied herself with paperwork she intended to do the day before. She reviewed the file for Raina’s discharge, noting the intended date was two weeks away. There was also a form requesting Karli Sloane attend a therapy session with Raina on Monday. Stacey signed it, happy Raina had found a safe place to live. Stacey would follow up with Raina after she left Shelter in the Storm, but after Holly, it was good to know another woman wouldn’t be on her own and vulnerable to the monster who thought he could use her as a punching bag.
Frannie hung up and met Stacey’s gaze. “Oscar doesn’t drive a blue sedan. And he doesn’t work or live anywhere near where you saw him.”
“So, what was he doing there?”
Frannie shrugged. “I think we need to find out.”
Oscar Hyatt walked into the warehouse with a grin on his face. He not only shook the bitch who was following him the day before, but he got her into an accident. He hadn’t been able to stop smiling since.
She thought she was going to find something on him, but she was dead wrong. He was too smart to get caught. He’d proven that more than once over the years. And with the people he was working for, there was no way he’d get caught. They’d make sure of it.
“Did you make the delivery yesterday?” his boss, Damon, called out.
Oscar hurried to the office Damon used in the far corner. The rest of the warehouse was storage. Oscar wasn’t sure exactly why there were so many car parts in there, but he supposed it didn’t really matter as long as the work was getting done.
“Yeah, boss. All good.”
“Did you run into any issues?”
Damon looked up at Oscar. The slice through his dark brow not moving with the lift of the rest of it. Oscar knew his boss was a badass, but he also knew Damon didn’t get his hands dirty. That was Oscar’s job. One he was more than happy to prove he was ready to move on from.
“All good,” Oscar lied. He’d been on his way to the pickup when he spotted that shrink lady on the sidewalk. He thought about running her down, but it was too careless after he’d been driving the car around. He could torch it, but he didn’t have time to take care of her, the car, and get his job done. She almost blew it for him when she followed him, but she got hers.
“Good. I’d like you to do another run for us. The shipment is coming in on Friday at ten pm. You need to meet the driver and take the product to the warehouse up north.”
“What’s the product?”
Damon glared at him. “Does it matter?”
Oscar shrugged. “Nah, man. Just curious.”
“Do you know who’s curious?”
Oscar shook his head.
“Dead men and cops. Which are you?”
Oscar’s cheeks heated at the implication. He shuffled his feet and shook his head, hoping his boss didn’t really think Oscar was a rat. He’d rather be dead than have someone think he would join the Company only to try to take them down.
“Neither, man. Neither.”
“Then stop asking questions.”
“Yep. Do you have an address for me to meet the driver?”
“I’ll get it to you Friday by nine.”
“Sounds good. You got anything for me to do between now and then?”
“No.”
Oscar waited to see if Damon elaborated, but he didn’t.
“Okay. Good. Well, I’ll talk to you Friday.”
Damon arched that eyebrow again, dismissing Oscar.
Oscar nodded and got the hell out of there. He wasn’t afraid of Damon or anything, but Damon was a scary dude. You know, if someone was afraid. But Oscar definitely wasn’t. Nah. Not at all.
Stacey spent the next few days looking into everything she could about Oscar. Because Vera was living with him, she had access to Vera’s records, which included an address.
Stacey drove by the house a few times during the week, wondering if Vera was safe. She never saw either Vera or Oscar, but lights were on once it got dark outside and the mail appeared to be collected every day.
Stacey didn’t like stalking someone, but Oscar was a dangerous man, and Stacey was not going to let him hurt Vera.
Late Friday night, Stacey decided to do one more drive-by to see if she could see anything. Next week, she planned to watch his work. Not that she expected to catch him doing something illegal out in the open, but she needed to get an idea of his routine.
Then maybe she could think about searching the house. Even thinking it was crazy, but Stacey couldn’t get the idea out of her head that she would find something.
Stacey turned down Oscar’s street just as a car left his driveway. Stacey’s heart skipped. Her palms dampened on the steering wheel. Should she follow him? Or should she just go home like she planned?
She debated for five minutes as she followed a dark car, different from the other day, from a distance. It wasn’t easy so late at night when her headlights announced her presence, but she hoped it was not as obvious as she felt.
Oscar turned into the parking lot for a big box store that was open twenty-four hours. He parked toward the back of the lot. Stacey parked closer to the front, where she could watch him, and turned off her car, watching for him to do the same.
She sat there for ten minutes, staring at his parked car. The engine was still running, and the lights were on. She debated getting out and going into the store to make it more credible that she ended up there, but he didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her. He was staring at something in his lap.
His face glowed for a minute, then he lifted a phone to his ear. Stacey didn’t know what it meant that he parked in a lot like this and waited for a phone call, but it was odd.
A minute later, Oscar pulled out of the lot again. Stacey waited a few seconds, then followed him.
She stayed a little farther back this time, not taking any chances at getting into an accident again. She was already driving a rental, and a second accident in a week would not go over well with her insurance company, or her wallet.
Oscar turned into a fast food place and got in line for the drive-thru. Stacey debated what to do. If she followed him, it would be harder to hide the fact that she was following him. But if she didn’t, how did she explain her presence?
Stacey drove around and parked in one of the reserved parking spots. She opened an app on her phone and put in an order for a coffee and fries, hoping it would be done quickly. She paid and closed the app.
Stacey watched the cars go through the drive-thru one by one. It wasn’t overly busy, but there was a steady line of vehicles. She watched for the car Oscar was driving and started to panic when he was the second to get his food.
She stared at her mirror and watched as Oscar smiled at the girl in the window and accepted a bag of food from her. He said something that made her laugh. She nodded, tilting her head to the side and biting her lip.
The girl couldn’t have been much older than Vera. What a sleaze. He finally pulled away from the window with a wave. The girl stared after his car until he turned to the left and out of sight.
Shit. Stacey was still waiting for her order. She didn’t really care about the order, but she didn’t want it to be obvious she was following Oscar.
She debated for a few seconds if she should stay and wait or just go. She was about to pull out when someone knocked on her window. The bag of food in her view prompted her to roll down her window.
Stacey started to reach for the bag when the person holding it snatched it away and slammed her arm back. Stacey called out as pain radiated down her arm.
“Why the fuck are you following me?”
“Oscar,” Stacey breathed. It was all she could do to push his name out past the pain she felt.
“Yeah, and I know who you are, you fucking bitch. You have no right to follow me. And if you don’t stop, you’re going to end up like my ex-wife.”
“Holly. You killed her. I know you did.”
“Cops said I didn’t.”
“You son of a bitch. If you hurt Vera—”
“That’s my daughter,” he snapped. “She’s mine. I’ve never laid a hand on her. You don’t get to decide anything about her. You have no right to talk to her. I’ll make sure you never see her, or anyone else again, if you don’t back the fuck off.”
“You killed Holly, and I’m going to prove it.”
He pressed a knife to her throat, so tight Stacey couldn’t swallow without it cutting into her skin. She felt the blood trickle down her neck. A tear fell from the corner of her eye. She didn’t even see the knife in his hand before she felt the cold steel of it against her skin, and then it was too late to do anything about it.
“You’re not going to prove a damn thing. Because I’m smarter than you are, and I’m not going down for anything. They’ll never let it happen.”
“Who?” Stacey rasped, risking a deeper cut to ask the question.
The blade was gone, but before she could breathe a sigh of relief, he punched her in the cheek. Pain splintered through her face and stole the breath from her lungs. By the time the tears cleared from her eyes, he was gone.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” someone asked from right outside her window.
Stacey jumped and nearly scrambled over the center console to get away from the voice.
“Whoa, I didn’t mean to scare you. I have your order.”
“Did you see that man?” she rasped.
“What man?” the kid with the food asked, turning away from Stacey to look around at the empty lot. All the vehicles were in the drive-thru line.
“The one who was just here?” The pain was sinking in deeper, echoing through her entire body like a poison.
“There wasn’t anyone out here when I walked out. I’m sorry. Um, do you need to call someone?”
Stacey looked past him to the road that ran in front of the store. Dead quiet. Not a car in sight. Did he knock her out?
“I’m good. Thanks for bringing the order to me.”
He handed over the bag and hurried away from her, looking back at her car when he got to the door. He could think she was crazy all he wanted, but Oscar was there. She knew he was.
She lifted her hand and touched her cheek. She’d never felt that kind of pain before. It stung her cheekbone and made her entire face hurt. She gently touched the cut on her neck, wincing at the thin line that oozed blood. Her arm hurt where he slammed it against the doorframe, but she could move it and didn’t think it was broken.
But the way her vision was going blurry, she wasn’t sure she should drive.
Stacey drew a breath, wincing when it made her face hurt. She grabbed her phone with her right hand, holding her left gingerly against her body. She called the only person she knew would come and not get upset about it.
“Frannie. I need help.”
Ten minutes later, Frannie and Marcus pulled in. Marcus took one look at her face and declared he was taking her to the hospital.
“No,” Stacey begged. “Please. Nothing’s broken. The bruises will heal. But I can’t go home like this. I’ll scare the boys and Wray will lose it.”
“He needs to know,” Marcus growled.
“I’ll tell him.”
“Why didn’t you call him to come get you?”
“Marcus!” Frannie said.
“What?”
“You’re going to make her think we’re upset she called. Stacey, we are always here for you.”
“You know we are, Stace, but why didn’t you call your husband? I’d be furious if this happened to Frannie and she didn’t call me.”
“If I called him, I’d have to tell him what I was doing. But not only that, he’d have to find someone to watch the boys and someone else to drive him here so we could bring my car home. That would mean getting more people up. Calling you two was easier.”
“Except for the part about wondering what you’re doing,” Marcus said with his cop look.
Stacey didn’t like when Marcus looked at her the way he was. Firm and unbending in a way that made an innocent person squirm. Stacey had no idea how criminals didn’t spill their guts when face-to-face with that look from Marcus. She’d never be able to keep anything from him.
“I was following Oscar Hyatt.”
“The abusive husband? Shit, Stacey. That’s a bad idea.”
“He killed Holly. Holly sent me a letter that said—”
“I know about the letter,” Marcus said. “That letter isn’t proof of anything.”
“Marcus admitted to me that he killed Holly.”
“He admitted it? He said he killed her?”
“Yes. I mean, basically. He said if I didn’t stop following him, I was going to end up like Holly and that the cops couldn’t prove he did it. And he said he’s not going down for anything because ‘they’d’ never let that happen.”
“They? Who’s that?”
Stacey shrugged. “I don’t know. Whoever he works for, I guess.”
“He works for a shipping company,” Marcus said.
“I know, but I don’t think that’s who he really works for.”
“You watch too much TV,” Marcus said.
“And your poker face isn’t as good as you think it is,” Stacey told him.
“All right, you two,” Frannie interrupted. “I think we need to get Stacey home. And we need to get back.”
Marcus nodded. He helped Stacey around to the passenger seat of her own car, then got back in his truck. Frannie got behind the wheel and backed Stacey’s car out of the parking space and turned onto the road.
“Are you really okay?” Frannie asked.
Stacey shook her head. “That was scary. I thought he was going to really hurt me.”
“He did hurt you. And it could have been worse. You’re lucky, Stace. And I know you want to prove—”
“Don’t,” Stacey interrupted. “Don’t tell me to stop.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you to stop. I was going to tell you to be more careful and that I want to help you. He killed Holly, and he’s threatening you. We need to put him away.”
Tears sprang to Stacey’s eyes. She nodded. “Thanks.”
Frannie parked Stacey’s car behind the shelter in the employee lot. Marcus pulled in right behind them. The three of them went to the medical center inside, stocked with basic first aid supplies to patch up anyone who showed up looking like Stacey.
There wasn’t much they could do for her already swelling face, but Stacey accepted the ice pack Marcus gave her and hoped it would be good enough by morning to cover the bruise and cut with makeup. Frannie put butterfly bandages on the cut on Stacey’s neck after cleaning it with antibacterial soap. Her arm had a bruise from where she hit the doorframe, but it hurt the least of all her injuries.
They were heading to the car when Marcus cleared his throat. “I called Wray.”
“You what?” Stacey and Frannie said together.
“I wanted him to know what happened.”
“I was going to tell him,” Stacey said.
“Maybe, but I wanted him to know how bad your injuries were. If you’re anything like Frannie, you’re going to downplay things so he doesn’t worry about you. But he has a right to worry about you.”
Stacey nodded. She wasn’t sure if Marcus knew how bad things had been between Stacey and Wray. It didn’t matter because he was only doing what he thought was best.
Marcus followed them once more, but Frannie didn’t say anything on the second drive. She kept glancing over at Stacey and biting her lip, but by the time they got to Stacey’s house, Frannie hadn’t spoken.
Then Wray was there. He opened the door for Stacey and crouched down in front of her, his eyes red and wet. He brushed his hand over her face and neck, then closed his eyes and slid his hands over her shoulders and grabbed her hands in his. “Are you okay?”
Stacey shrugged. She would heal, but at the moment, she was in a lot of pain. And seeing her husband so upset definitely twisted her up inside and made it all worse.
“Let’s get you inside and to bed.” Wray stood and helped Stacey out of the car.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and let her lean on him. It felt good to lean on him.
Frannie locked the car and handed Stacey’s purse and keys to Wray. He thanked them both and confirmed with Marcus the extent of her injuries, including the punch that might have knocked her out for a minute or two.
