Brett Battles - Every Precious Thing

“Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t.”

Sara’s number?

That seemed pretty damn likely, especially given Diana’s reaction. He was so tempted to hit the connect button. The only thing holding him back was the very real chance that, if it was Sara, his voice would scare her off. What he needed was Diana on his side, and then Sara might listen to him.

He turned off the throwaway, switched to the Blackberry, and called one of the few numbers he knew by heart.

Three rings, then a groggy, “Hello?”

“Dad, it’s me,” Logan said.

“What? Is something wrong? Where are you?”

He could picture Harp flipping on a light and sitting up in bed.

“Everything’s okay. I just need-”

“Did you find her?” Harp asked.

“Not yet. I need Callie’s cell number.”

“Don’t you have it?”

Logan hesitated. “Not on me.”

“Hold on.” There was a pause before Harp said, “Can I check a number on here without hanging up on you?”

“Yeah, all you do is hit the menu button-”

The line went dead.

Logan called back.

“Who is this?” Harp asked, once they were reconnected.

“It’s me,” Logan said.

“This isn’t your number.”

“It’s the same one I just called you on.”

“It is?”

“Dad, focus.”

“What happened to your phone?”

“It’s…broken, okay?”

“This is your new number?”

“I’m just borrowing a phone from someone.”

“So I can still call you at your old number?”

“No. Don’t call it, not until I tell you it’s okay. Now, Dad, I really need Callie’s number.”

“Well, obviously I can’t get it without hanging up on you.”

“No. You can.” He talked his father through the procedure, this time getting Callie’s number without being disconnected.

“When do you think you’ll be back here?” Harp asked.

“I don’t know. Soon, probably. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“From this number?”

“I don’t know , Dad. From a number. Now go back to sleep.”

Once he got Harp off the line, he called Callie, but was sent to her voice mail after four rings.

“It’s Logan,” he said. “Call me back as soon as you get this at the number this came in on. Do not use my cell number.”

Less than a minute later, she called back. “Sorry. I didn’t recognize the caller ID or I would have picked up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Can you get Alan on the line right now?”

“You found her?”

“I’m getting close, but I need his help.”

“Doing what?”

“Conference him in, and you can hear, too.”

She was quiet for a moment, then said, “Okay.”

As he was put on hold, he glanced at Diana. She stared back at him, her face a mask of defiance. But it was only a mask. Underneath he sensed a growing uncertainty and confusion.

It took nearly a minute for Callie to come back on.

“Okay, I think we’re all here,” she said. “Alan?”

“I’m here,” Alan replied. “What’s going on? Is she all right?”

“I don’t know yet,” Logan said. “But I think I have someone here who does know. Unfortunately, she doesn’t trust me. She thinks I’m here to hurt Sara. I’m hoping you can help me convince her otherwise. I’m going to put you on speaker, all right?”

“Sure,” Callie said.

Just as Logan hit SPEAKER, Alan said, “Wait.” The rest was broadcast throughout the car. “Who are you with?”

“Her name is Diana Stockley,” Logan said. He looked at Diana. “I have Callie Johnson, the lawyer I mentioned, on the line and Alan Lindley, Sara’s husband.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

“Who are you?” Alan asked angrily.

“She’s a friend of Sara’s,” Logan explained. “She visited Sara in Riverside right before your trip to Tijuana.”

Diana gaped at Logan. “How did you-”

“Tessie,” he said.

“Tessie?” She looked both surprised and sad.

“She told me about following you. She thinks you were cheating on her.”

“I…I wasn’t…” she said, more to herself than to Logan.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Alan asked.

“I’m sorry, what?” Logan replied.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“No, it didn’t come through.”

“I said Sara doesn’t have any friends named Diana. I would have known.”

“Alan,” Callie broke in. “There’s obviously a lot of things about Sara none of us knew.”

Logan had been about to say something similar.

Silence.

“Did she help my wife leave?” Alan asked. “Did you help my wife abandon her daughter and me?”

“I don’t know who you are,” Diana said. “But this isn’t going to work. I’m not going to tell you where she is.”

“I don’t know who you are!” Alan shot back. “Sara’s my wife. She’s Emily’s mother. Who the hell are you?”

Diana shook her head, but said nothing.

This wasn’t going exactly the way Logan had planned. Alan was taking out his weeks of frustration on their only real lead.

“Everyone, just relax,” he said. “I have a feeling we’re all concerned about the same thing-Sara’s safety.”

Diana scoffed, while neither Alan nor Callie said anything.

“Alan, where do you live?” Logan asked.

“What? What do you mean?”

“What’s your address?”

“Why is that important?”

“Please.”

“I live in Riverside.”

“The street,” Logan asked, hoping the information would be the key.

A pause. “1354 Celeste Lane.”

As soon as the words came over the line, a series of stuttering breaths escaped Diana’s lips.

“I live in Riverside,” the man claiming to be Sara’s husband said over the phone.

“The street,” Logan Harper asked.

The man didn’t answer right away, but when he did…

“1354 Celeste Lane.”

Oh, God.

The whole world went into a tunnel, and for several seconds Diana could see nothing but gray.

1354 Celeste Lane.

She’d driven by the house half a dozen times. Hell, she had been in the house with Richard, removing all the pictures while Sara was in San Diego.

It was Sara’s house. Emily’s house.

If Logan was one of them and had the address, he wouldn’t need her or Sara anymore.

When Diana had seen the confrontation back in Flagstaff, and followed them out to the forest, she had thought it was a struggle between two groups ultimately working for the same master. In her mind, it was a game of get-to-Sara-first-and-win-the-prize.

She had wanted to hear what was being said, wanted to see the faces of the others so she’d know what everyone looked like, and could keep an eye out for them in the future. But before she could move in closer, it became apparent the others were actually going to kill Logan and his friend and get rid of their competition. That was more than enough to keep her rooted where she was.

She’d been as surprised as anyone when the two condemned men escaped. Then Logan had walked into the area where she’d hidden. That was an opportunity she couldn’t ignore. She could learn what he knew, then warn him and his friends off Sara a final time.

That hadn’t gone quite the way she’d expected. While she thought at first what he’d told her was a lie to get her to divulge Sara’s location, soon some of what he’d said got a little too close to home.

Afraid to hear more, she’d run, coming up with a million things she could have said, should have said to counter his lies.