Chapter 48

*Jake*

The week flies by and despite the shit occurring, I’ve never been more content. Payton is still at the apartment and I now know what they mean by ‘the honeymoon phase’. We can’t seem to keep our hands off each other. She is so eager to learn and please me that I often have to tell her to slow down and take something for herself. I never thought that day would come, when I was telling a woman to stop worrying about my pleasure and concentrate on her own.

I have been going to work with Payton everyday. I talked to Roland and told him I was there because of the breakin at Melissa’s house, that I was afraid she may have a stalker. That was one of the reasons I was there, yes but I was also there to keep an eye on him. I bought my laptop and with some type of spyware, once I was on his company’s system, Mike was able to piggyback off that to get on the system himself. To anyone who happened to look in on Payton’s office, I was simply sitting to the side doing my own busy work. I guess Roland’s view of me as useless came in handy for some things.

Payton’s mother is safely tucked away at some remote spa in New Mexico. Rocky is looking out for Melissa, who works at a law firm and has ample security once inside her building. Luke has been there almost every evening under the pretense of checking in on Rocky but we all know it’s Melissa. I already broke the news to him that Melissa’s mother is dead. Mike informed him that the Dianna Smith he was looking into had passed away as well, right here in San Diego. All evidence points to her being the same person. One of them just needs to bite the bullet and sit down and hash this thing out.

It is Friday afternoon and I am going through all of this in my head as Payton counts down her last few minutes of work. Her voice breaks through my thoughts, “I’ve got some files I have to pass along to Roland’s assistant, then we can leave,” she says with a breathtaking smile on her face. She leaves the office and I start packing up my stuff as well. My phone dings and it's a message from Mike. “Got some surveillance photos from our guys you may be interested in. Check your email.”

I curse as I take my laptop back out of my bag and open the email. I know I could open them on my phone but I will be able to see them in more detail on the computer. I am impatient as they load, thinking about getting Payton home. My foot stops tapping at the first one, a person is stepping out of a dark nondescript car parked in front of the Devils’ clubhouse. The second is the man, in some type of uniform, walking into the clubhouse. Okay, this could be anyone I think to myself, while I have this tingling feeling working its way down my spine. The third one has me cursing, “son of a bitch”, as I stare at Dean MacDonald’s smug face as he exits the clubhouse.

I snatch my phone up and call Mike, who answers at the first ring. “Yup,” he says. “I know exactly who that is. What do you want to do?”

I run my hands through my hair. “Fuck man, I know we said we would just keep an eye on him but this raises the stakes considerably. If he is in with the Devils, which it looks like he is, Payton could be in bigger trouble than we ever imagined.” I curse again and slam my hand on the table I have been sitting at. “Why did his name not come up when you were looking into the dirty cops?” I demand.

“That’s the crazy thing. My contacts at the PD told me they had an undercover detective named MacDonald in there. A Joe MacDonald. Apparently, he is Dean’s older brother but he is squeaky clean.” Mike lets out a frustrated breath. “Surely Dean wouldn’t be going to the Devils’ clubhouse in full uniform to see his brother and risk giving him up? That would be a death sentence for Joe."

I shake my head trying to make sense of this new information. “Nah man. If Joe is truly undercover, even Dean wouldn’t know he was there.” I glance at the clock on Payton’s desk and realize over 20 minutes have passed and Payton has not returned. Sudden unease curses through my body. “I gotta go Mike. But keep your phone handy.” I hear him start to speak but I am already pushing the phone into my pocket.

I storm out of Payton’s office and head to Roland’s. His assistant is picking up her belongings preparing to leave for the day. “Was Payton here?” I ask her.

She looks at me startled, “why yes, about ten minutes ago. She came with a file for Roland and he called her into his office.”

“When did she leave?” I demand.

She looks at me and sputters, “I don’t know. I didn’t see her leave. I was in the file room.” She must sense my mood as she asks, “is everything okay?” I don’t answer but instead storm through Roland’s open door.

He is already rising from his desk, a look of concern on his face. “What’s all the commotion, son?” he asks.

“Payton, where is she?” I ask him, not falling for the fatherly concern.

He looks genuinely concerned. “Payton?” He gestures to his desk. “She dropped off a file she was working on. We talked for a few minutes about her mother’s visit with her sister, then she left.”

“How long ago?” I demand.

He glances down at his flashy gold Rolex, “It had to be ten, fifteen minutes ago. She said she was heading out and wished me a relaxing weekend.” There is confusion on his face now. “Jacob, what’s…” he is saying as I storm out of his office and downstairs to the security office.

There is no one at the security booth when I get there and I curse as I shoulder the door and break my way in. I lean over the controls and start rewinding videos. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” I hear someone ask.

I swing around giving the security guy barely a glance, “Payton, did you see her leave?”

“I, you can’t,” he is sputtering.

I am just about to grab hold of him when I hear Roland say, “Just answer the man, did you see my step-daughter Payton leave the building?”

“No Sir,” he glances at Roland. “I was making sure everything was locked up. Most everyone is gone home for the weekend.”

Roland calms the young man down with a hand on his shoulder. Normally this fatherly gesture would irritate me but I have more important things on my mind right now. “These cameras, I need to see all the exits.” I plead with the security guy.

He glances at Roland who nods his head. The guy moves me out of his way and pushes a few buttons. “The camera’s are motion sensored, so we will know if anyone exited through those particular doors. There are four exits, three have recorded movement,” he explains as he pulls up the different cameras.

The main door shows most of the staff leaving over a five minute period. The second one shows one person leaving but it's not Payton. The third gives me exactly what I was looking for. Payton is struggling ineffectually with a pissed off Trixie, who appears to have something pushed into Payton's back as Trixie shoves her out the door. The time is counting off in the right hand corner of the video and I glance at the clock on the wall. Fuck, 17 minutes has passed since Trixie took Payton.