Who's calling now?

I pick up. "Leon."

"Stefon found her. Come get me."

"On my way." I leave enough to cover the bill and a hefty tip. McKinsey has no idea what she's done for me. I wave her down as I put on my coat and grab my handbag. Pointing down at the money, I tell her, "Keep the change."

She smiles.

I nod, hurrying off to the truck. "Glitter" by Benee plays on the radio as I jet out the parking lot.

Careful girl, we are not trying to hydroplane.

Can't get there fast enough.

Against my better judgement, I floor it. All the way there.

I arrive at the hospital and Leon is waiting out in front.

"Where to?" I ask.

He walks to the driver's door. "Nowhere for you. Move over." He shakes his head.

"What?" I ask.

"Screeching in a hospital parking lot? You trying to send some unlucky pedestrian to the E.R.?"

"So, where's Brooke?" I ask.

He smiles. "Stefon has her in the dungeon."

"Dungeon?" I ask.

"It's like panic room, so to speak. Not listed on the building blueprints. It's for emergencies like this."

"Oh. He didn't turn her over to police?" I ask, frowning.

"No, we want to question her first." He pulls off.

***

We arrive at Prescott Realty. Cops are still there. The yellow tape barricade is still there. The crowd has thinned out, but the police are still conducting business on the premises. Leon drives past the scene.

"I got this." He drives around to the parking structure entrance. We park on level near the top. We get out and go to a door marked "Authorized Personnel Only." He takes out a badge, presses it on a pad and the door unlocks."

We enter a dark hallway, the motion-activated lights blink on. We turn right and enter a series of locked doors until we arrive at what looks like an interrogation room. There's Stefon seated at a table and across from him is Brooke, sitting there in a white, oversized man's dress shirt, no shoes. She looks disheveled. I step into the room and off to the side. Leon takes a seat at the table.

"Got your ass." Leon sucks his teeth. "So, you thought you could take my man out, huh?"

Brooke refuses to make eye contact. She toys with the zip tie around her wrists. "I get a phone call."

Leon laughs. "She thinks we're cops." He slams the table.

She jumps.

"We're not cops, doll. We don't follow any kind of rules here. We do what the fuck we want to do. Just like you did."

Brooke looks up at everyone around the room. She starts screaming.

Leon cocks a half smile. "Room is sound proof. Scream all you want." He laughs. "Go ahead. But before this is all done, you're gonna tell me everything I want to know." Patiently, he rests his chin on hand.

Brooke looks to me. "Please. Please! Please help me! Don't let these guys hurt me."

Incensed that she would even think she could manipulate me, I step back. "This is out of my control. You got yourself here, get yourself out. Right now the only way that's gonna happen, is if you tell them what they want to know."

Her rapid, short breaths make her look as if she's about to faint.

"Who are you?" Leon demands.

Stefon pages through a tablet. "Says here, her name is Brooke Fox."

Leon shakes his head. "Do a deep dive. That name sounds made up." He looks at Brooke. "You can hide all you want. We've got resources that go far and wide."

"On file, it says she attends Marquette University." Stefon swipes through a few pages. "But she's not listed as a student in their system." Stefon takes her hand and places it on the tablet screen.

"What is that, Stefon? I ask.

"A biometric scan." He continues tapping and swiping. "Let's see who you really are." He presses a device in his ear. "Calling Martin C. to P.R."

"Who are you working with? I know there's somebody behind this. Why would a young girl like you wake up one day and decide to drug the CEO of a billion-dollar company? What would you gain from that? There's someone else involved, isn't there?"

Brooke looks at Leon. No words.

A knock on the door. Stefon opens the door. "Martin. Hey, man. I hit a wall." He lets Martin into the room and gives him the tablet. "Take this bio scan and find what you can."

Martin pulls a chair to the corner of the room and gets to work on the tablet. His hands move at warp speed.

Brooke watches Martin.

She's scared of what he'll find.

This is crazy. It's an episode of NCIS or some shit.

"The harder you make me work for the answers I'm looking for, the worse this will be on you. And you don't want to see my worse."

Everyone in the room looks up at Leon and then at each other.

What kind of shit has Leon done?

My face gets prickly. Suddenly the room feels hot.

Should I leave?

Leon knocks on the table. "Name." He pauses. "Your real name."

Brooke just stares at Leon. Indifferent. 

He nods. "Wanna be a hard ass." Leon pulls out a glock and sits it on the table within Brooke's reach. He stares at her with menace in his eyes.

Brooke looks extremely uncomfortable. I step back as far as I can. Both sides of the wall hug my back.

Get out!

My palms and pits start to sweat. "Answer him!" I prompt her. I stare at her, hoping she understands.

She's fucking with the wrong person.

Brooke clears her throat—

--"Found it!" Martin speaks up. "Her real name is Brooke Bautista. 19 years old. She's not a student. Has no work history." Martin continues swiping.

"Bautista? Where have I heard that name?" Leon looks around. He turns around to me. "Bautista. You heard that name before?"

I shake my head.

He puts his hand on his glock. I freeze. He looks back at Brooke and takes the glock off safety.

Red means dead.

"So, we know who you are. Now let's find out who your connected to."

Brooke's shallow breaths, the constant biting on her lips. The girl is unraveling. "You're gonna find out anyway." She looks down at her hands. "She—"

Leon leans in. "What did you say?"

"Sheila Reed." Brooke says loudly. She pauses. Gulps. "She's my aunt."

Leon slams the table. "Fucking Sheila?" He stands up, looks at Martin. "Can you confirm that?"

"Sure," Martin replies. "Let's take a look at maiden names." He swipes and taps. Nods. "Sheila Bautista. Been married to Nixon Reed for 10 years. Sheila is sisters with Brooke's mom, who passed away 2 years ago."

Leon glares at Brooke, leans over the table. "Phoenix know this?"

Brooke looks at her hands. "No. Anna hired me."

Leon's eyes narrow. "Anna, Phoenix's assistant?" He commands Stefon with his eyes.

Stefon presses the device in is ear. "Locate Anna Conway. Is she in the building." Stefon listens to a response. "She's being interviewed by the cops. Dalton will bring her here when she's done."

Leon turns back to Brooke. "So, your aunt put you up to this?"

Brooke nods.

"Prove it." Leon rifles through Brooke's handbag, pulls out her phone. "Call her. On speaker phone." He slides the phone to the middle of the table next to his gun before tapping the gun. "And no games. I want you to talk to her like you always do. One false move, and you will regret it."

Brooke blinks nervously. "What do you want me say?"

Leon looks at the guys in the room. "Any news crews out there? Has this hit the news?"

Martin swipes on the tablet, looking through security footage around the building. "No news folks outside." He then does a search on local news stories. "Nothing broke yet." He looks up at Leon.

"OK." He scrolls through Brooke's call logs and text messages. "Looks like the last time ya'll talked was yesterday?" He glares at Brooke.

She agrees.

"Mention the drug and confirm what she wants you to do. Act like you're having second thoughts."

Brooke gulps. Leon finds Sheila in the call log and presses her name. 

******************************

Please remember to TAP THAT STAR! And the plot thickens. What do you think will happen when Brooke speaks to Sheila?