Chapter twelve

The police quarter wasn't as rowdy as Vivienne had expected. The only people walking about were officers, a few mail men and civilians who had probably come to make a few reports and statements.

She parked my car, stretching out her hand to pick up her shades and a face mask to conceal her identity. Her popularity had gained her a few public recognitions and Vivienne didn't have the chance for autographs and pictures from excited customers and likes.

Once Vivienne was well covered, she opened her car and stepped out into the California sun. Thanks to the rose colored glasses hanging on her ear, Vivienne didn't squint her eyes. Quickly, she locked her doors and headed for the entrance of the station.

Nodding at one of the very few officers she was acquainted with, Vivienne pushed open the glass doors and stepped in, welcoming the chilliness of the lobby.

If she couldn't get Marcus through the phone, she would surely get to him through his door. Making a turn, Vivienne greeted a few of the female police officers who had an idea about her brand. They were smart enough to read her countenance and gauge that I didn't come here for the smiles and the -graphs.

The step leading towards Marcus' office isn't a long one and luckily for Vivienne, she met him coming down the stairs.

Immediately Marcus saw her, he gave her a small smile. An older man was walking beside him, a manila file in his hand.

"Hey, Marcus. How's the day going?" Vivienne asked, falling in line with him.

Marcus bent low to give me a hug and she swore, she needed that. "Going quite fine. I hope you're okay?"

Shrugging, Vivienne looked him dead in the eye. He understood immediately and asked the man beside him to see him later. As soon as the man went down the stairs, Marcus took her by the elbow and led her to his office.

"What's wrong?" He asked as soon as they got into the confines of his office.

Vivienne sighed and went to take a seat on one of the couches scattered around his office. Bending her head low, she slipped her fingers into her hair. "My secretary got kidnapped."

"How were you informed?" Marcus asked, immediately switching to detective mode. He hurried to his table and took out a book.

"She sent me a string of coded text few moments ago." She replied, sighing tiredly. Right now, she didn't know what emotions were running through her body. She was angry, sad, frustrated and close to feeling betrayed and they had all merged together to weaken her to the bones. "God, a lot is happening at the same time and I am so confused. There's a fire at my company in Santa Monica and I don't know if the fire service was able to save anything."

"Calm down." Marcus said and she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let's focus on Eva right now. If we try to tackle a lot of things at the same time, I don't think we'd be able to solve any problems. And I'm sorry about the Santa Monica incident but I am sure that it's being taken care of. Insurance would cover it up."

Vivienne shot up from her seat. "We have no insurance coverage! It's all gone!" She threw off her glasses from her face and it landed on the ground before Marcus.

Marcus stood to the side and let her explode. She needed to let off steam but that wasn't going to solve the problem at hand. He held her firmly by the shoulder. "Listen to me, Vivienne. I want you to tell me about Eva and everything surrounding her being kidnapped."

Like she had just been plunged out of a trance, Vivienne nodded slowly and went back to her seat. She took deep breaths before she began.

"I honestly don't know. I just saw a text," She opened her phone and tapped on Eva's contact.

Help!

!napped.

Stranger!

Kid.

Crapshoot.

Marcus held Vivienne phone in his hand, peering intently at the string of quite coded words. The words weren't really complicated and would be easily understood by anyone. He gave Eva the credit of being so smart even if she had no idea of how coding worked.

"I'll ask my men to check out for a lady dressed in— what's she wearing?"

"I have no idea." Vivienne responded weakly. Her voice came out coarse. "I didn't go to the office."

"It's going to be not really easy but I assure you that we'll try our best." Marcus informed her. Then he began to type away at her phone. "I'm going to send her a text, similar to the one she sent, by asking her what she's putting on. If she's still with her phone, she'll get it but I assure you, it's very risky owing to the fact that she's in the hands of her abductors and they might have their phone." He explained.

"I just hope they aren't. I just hope Eva is safe. She doesn't deserve all these coming to her. Why are they attacking my staff and my establishment? Why don't they come to me and tell me what the want?"

Marcus took a seat close to Vivienne and patted her comfortingly. "It's okay. But I want you to be alert. Can you tell me if you noticed anything strange in the past week? In your office and at home. It doesn't have to be about Eva because I am so sure that her kidnap has something to do with you."

"My friend and my lover." Vivienne started. "She talked about not liking my secretary for a petty reason and asked me to fire her which I refused to. Remember Antonio?" Marcus nodded. "He returned and started giving me problems so my best friend suggested that she helped me employ guards to watch over me. I they resigned this morning—"

Marcus cut her short. "Why did they?"

"They didn't resign on their own accord. Amelia asked them to…" I went ahead, explaining the reason to him and a small smile was on his face. I found it annoying that he was looking amused in a situation like this.

"How about Gavin?" He asked.

"I already mentioned him making the insurance seem like it wasn't important. He talked about focusing on that later and while I was driving here, I told him."

Marcus inched closer. There was a new light in his eyes. "Told me to come to the office first. He told me that alerting the police might be really dangerous for Eva."

"Which is not really a lie. But, I am connecting dots." Marcus said. "We'll focus on finding Eva before coming back to something that seems like a conspiracy between your lover and your best friend."

Marcus saw the helplessness that coated her face. She was really confused and it was normal. Also sad that she was surrounded by nothing but backstabbers in the guise of genuine friends.

"What dots are you connecting?" Vivienne asked.

"Something fishy. I'll get back to you." Marcus said and went to his door. He opened it and alerted one of the officers who came into the room. He dished out instructions, asking that the officers alerted others at the checkpoint to be wary of any suspicious drivers, filling him in on what had just happened.

When the officer left, Marcus turned to her. "Go to your office, Vivienne. And I want you to be careful around your boyfriend. Do not tell him anything relating to what we just spoke about. Apply the same rule to your best friend. Go attend to your company crises while we solve the one we can."

Vivienne stood to her feet. She felt weak in the knee and as she walked out of his office, Marcus gave her back her shades. She gave him a look of appreciation and Marcus asked her to text him if Eva replied the text.