The Auction House Deal: Bought by A Billionaire

"What about a stalker?" I asked Harry on the phone after I couldn’t think of any of Hannah’s acquaintances.

"Had anyone left her any calls? Texts? Following her?" Harry asked.

"Not exactly," I said. "But that black car. It keeps popping up."

"Usually there’s a progression with stalkers, so..."

I sighed. "That’s what the police said. Okay, so what’s the next move?"

"I’m going to check out some of the people in her circle. You never can be too sure."

"Well, keep me posted."

I hung up, not totally convinced Harry had any more of a handle on the situation than the cops, but what he said did make me think.

I had wondered how anyone else had known Hannah had even left the house. Not only that, the person had to anticipate Hannah being outside by herself. It all sounded like someone familiar with her movements.

I really couldn’t think who it could be. Everyone close to us was helping us solve the crime, even Hannah’s brothers.

I looked in the mirror and ran my hand through my damp hair. It was time to do a little sleuthing on my own.

I texted Lori and asked her to come over. Perhaps there was more to the family history I was unaware of. For some reason, I was starting to think that Hannah’s disappearance wasn’t just related to the Auction House, but might go all the way back to the days when Court trotted Hannah out like a trophy.

"Who are you?" a deep voice growled, and I looked down the hall toward the back door. Stan was standing there glaring at slender and innocent looking Lori.

"It’s okay," I said. "She’s allowed in. Anytime."

"I’m Hannah’s sister, Lori." She held out her creamy palm for Stan to shake.

He looked at her, unmoving, and then brought his ginormous hand up to hers. As they shook, Lori’s hand was virtually swallowed in Stan’s giant grip.

"Hi Roman," she said as she trotted down the hall. "Any news?"

"No." I shook my head. "Stan, thanks. Make sure to get some rest. We might have some work to do tonight," I warned.

He grunted and retreated to the security room.

"I didn’t realize you’d hired another hulking attache." Lori pointed her thumb to where Stan had retreated.

"Well, ever since the last guys ran so blindly after a hoax like dogs clamoring at a shiny new ball, I had to let them go. Ed delivered Stan," I said.

"I see," said Lori.

We walked into the living room. Lauren was just finishing up, showering, then changing into one of Hannah’s pair of stretch pants and a matching top. For a second I thought it was Hannah, and the insides of my body buzzed with excitement. Then I remembered - Hannah was kidnapped. It was just Lauren in one of Hannah’s outfits.

"Sorry," Lauren said. "I borrowed some of Hannah’s clothes. I hope you don’t mind."

"It’s no problem," I said, even though I was slightly perturbed.

"Hey Lauren," Lori called over my shoulder.

"Hi," she waved at Lori.

"Now that you’re with Roman, I’m going to use the office. See if I can get some work done," said Lauren. "You know those designs I was working on before?"

Lori nodded.

"I think I’m onto something. Stop by later and check them out?"

"I will," said Lori.

I could sense Lauren felt like she had just orchestrated a kind of hand-off or something, and Lori and I sat down on the couch.

"What do you want to talk about?" Lori asked.

"It’s about Hannah’s past."

"Her past?" she asked as if it were a silly question.

"I just - well, it seems like this kidnapping is kind of personal." I wasn’t ready yet to tell anyone about hiring a private investigator.

"You mean someone from her past might have kidnapped her?"

"Yeah, like, did she have any old boyfriends? Or maybe one of your dad’s business associates that he introduced Hannah to?"

Lori shook her head. "I don’t think so. I mean, everyone was enamored by Hannah. You can see that. But most of those men had wives, families. They wouldn’t risk all that, including their business reputations."

"You’re probably right. What about your brothers? Did they have any friends who might have taking a liking to Hannah?"

"No. We led pretty separate lives."

I slapped my hand on my thigh. There had to be something I was missing, something Hannah had told me.

After a minute, Lori thought of something. "I mean, I can remember being little kids. We kind of got along then, but our father always treated us girls differently. It was Martin who was the one who spent time with us, who was always so protective of Hannah and me. He was the rebel - Freddy and Edward were too straight-laced, they did what daddy said and never got into trouble. And weren’t close with Hannah." Lori had a smile on her face, talking about her dead brother, Martin. "So I doubt it’s related to Freddy or Edward - even if they’ve made some new enemies, no one would think to target her because of them."

"Thanks Lori. I just thought, maybe there was someone..."

"I’ll think about it some more. If I knew of someone, I’d tell you. You know that."

"I know. I know. I just can’t stop thinking about Hannah."

"We’ll find her," Lori sat up straighter. "You look tired. Maybe you need a rest."

"I can’t. I have to find her," I stood up and rubbed my hand on my forehead. "Can you at least ask your brothers about it? Just in case?"

"Sure. Yeah, no problem. I’ll call them." I nodded and despondently walked away.

It didn’t seem like there was anyone from Hannah’s past that could have kidnapped her. Besides, New York was a big place, and it wouldn’t be easy to find out where she’d been taken, even if I did know of someone who had interest in her.

After hitting what seemed to be another dead end, I retreated to my home office to catch up on some emails, waiting to hear from either Harry, the cops, or Ed and Marcus.

I finished responding to some inquiries and looked at some spread sheets, but I couldn’t focus. My mind kept thinking about Hannah and her past.

Someone had made the comment that it wouldn’t have been easy to drag someone up the street to a waiting car if they didn’t want to go, but what if Hannah knew the person? What if she had actually gone willingly?

It was a crazy thought, but one that no one had yet considered.

I didn’t even want to think that Hannah had left on her own. If she had, she would have called, which made me believe she was forcibly kidnapped, along with the surveillance footage.

I decided the best course of action would be to start at the beginning and ask around at the club. Some of the patrons were regulars who might have been there last night. They’d already established that the same black car that had been terrorizing Hannah and Roman had been in the vicinity. Maybe someone saw something else or who had been in the car.

"Hey, Stan," Roman called his bodyguard. "Time to do some real work. Can you drive me to the Roundhouse?"

"Sure thing, Boss," he said, but, hearing that name, I thought of the Auction House boss.

"Just call me Roman," I said.

We headed out in my luxury SUV with Stan driving. He liked to go fast, pushing down hard on the gas pedal. I didn’t know if it was his muscles that kept the accelerator to the floor or he just had a need for speed, but we arrived at the Roundhouse in record time. I reminded myself that Stan’s quick velocity might come in handy in the future.

We opted for valet parking, and before the valet took the car away, I asked if he had been working that night. When he nodded yes, I slipped a $100 bill into his palm.

"Did you see a black car, had a dent on the side, a luxury sedan?"

"I didn’t park a car like that, that I remember. There are a lot of black cars." He seemed to give me an expression that showed he was sorry he didn’t have more information.

"It would have been driven by a man? Alone."

The valet shrugged. "Sometimes people come and meet their friends here. I wish I could be more help."

"That’s okay," I said.

"But I’ll take real good care of your car, sir," he smiled and climbed into the driver’s seat.

His smirk and the way he gunned it away from the curb and screeched down the street made me doubt his words. With Stan by my side, we walked toward the entrance of the club.

Seeing the door and the sidewalk in front of it made me think of Hannah in that video.

She’d been like an innocent fawn, left without her group. Separated from the herd, the Big Bad Wolf had attacked.