“You’re such a wonderful fiancée to send her on an adventure like that. I can’t believe she’s called and pretended to still be in the States. Her own mother and she won’t tell me where she really is.” Mary sighed. “To be honest, I’m a little bit hurt she didn’t think to take me with her, since you couldn’t take time away from your main office to go. I’d have loved to travel around Europe. It must be nice.”
Oh, of course she would. Mary Hall lived in a modest ranch house on the edge of suburbia in one of the least affluent neighborhoods in this part of California. She’d never been across the country, much less an ocean. A single woman of limited means and from no background worth noting, it’d been amazing she’d managed to raise a flower as exquisite as Elisa.
But Elisa was his now and Mary Hall was only useful as long as there was a chance to tie Elisa to him through her mother.
“Maybe she knows how disappointed you are.” He smiled. “But it is entertaining to hear what different places she’s pretending to be visiting. Please do keep me up to date on the latest locations. She’s got such an imagination.”
“It’s been a while since she last checked in. Couldn’t Elisa at least remember to call me—”
His phone rang, cutting her off. He retrieved it from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “Excuse me, I’m expecting an urgent call.”
Mary stepped back, a flush in her cheeks. “Of course. I’ll just be in the kitchen.”
Putting the phone to his ear, Joseph didn’t take his gaze from the hallway mirror. The reflection showed him Mary standing in her kitchen space, busying herself with straightening postcards and pictures on her refrigerator.
How quaint.
“Yes?” He answered his phone.
A man cleared his throat on the other end of the line. “Got a hit on Elisa Hall, sir.”
Finally. It’d been days since he’d last had a confirmed report on her whereabouts.
“Is the item of interest accessible?” Conscious of Mary still within earshot, he kept his choice of words ambiguous.
Locating and reacquiring Elisa was becoming critical to his business interests. He’d given her time to run, but he was done waiting for her to come back to him on her own. And she should have. She would understand that once she was back under his supervision.
“No. I mean, not currently. Sir.” The man didn’t have the quality of his usual employees but Joseph had hired him more for intimidation than for professional polish.
“Explain.” Joseph allowed his impatience to come through in his tone.
“I tracked her to a hospital in Pennsylvania.”
“Is there damage?” Joseph stood and began to pace. She shouldn’t have been injured. He needed to know if it was permanent, if there’d be scarring of some sort. The nature of her injury was important.
“Don’t think so.” The man coughed. “I can send you the name of the hospital, but it looks like she went into the ER and left the same night. She wasn’t admitted. I found her car in a nearby town parked in a shopping center.”
Joseph stopped pacing. It couldn’t be serious if she hadn’t been admitted. Good.
“I’m watching her car now. It’s only a matter of time before I have eyes on her,” his employee continued.
“We’ll want to have a means to track the shipping container.” Hopefully unnecessary, but his Elisa was perceptive. She might run again, and there was no time to waste searching for her further. “Then keep an eye on the item for me. If you have the opportunity, collect it and hold it for me. I’ll pick it up personally.”
“Understood.” There was a pause. “Should I still send you the hospital details along with the location of the car?”
“Send all of the information to my phone.” Joseph ended the call and turned toward the kitchen where Mary stood, peering around the doorjamb. “It seems I have to leave now.”
“So soon?” Mary stepped back into the living room. “It must be hard, your work. Always so busy.”
“Yes.” He didn’t deny it. His work was a priority, and so was retrieving what was his. “I’ll have a word with Elisa the next time I speak with her and make sure she knows to give you a call.”
Chapter Eight
Okay. Sleep had been good. Better than good. Elisa felt rested for the first time in a while. But no epiphanies had come to her in the middle of the night. She still wasn’t sure what her next step should be.
So here she was standing in front of a donut shop a few doors down from Revolution MMA. Gary had been in the office, but on the phone when she’d come downstairs. He’d given her a wave as she pushed out the front door, and it’d felt awkward, but she’d returned it with a smile. He and Greg were genuinely nice people, and she hated just slipping out the front door without even a thank you.