Chapter Twelve


	Simon paced the floor.  It was an hour since he’d arrived at Logan’s apartment to
find it ransacked and Logan missing.  Twenty minutes since he and Officer Bracken had
been joined by another investigator bearing the news that fingerprints matching Jake
Zimmerman’s had been found in the apartment.  Simon closed his eyes and tried to
shake the image of Jake facing off against Logan back at the canyon.  He’d rescued her
then. This time he’d let her down.
	Damn!  Simon cursed, for the hundredth time.  Why hadn't he taken her with
him?  Her life was more important than any damn photographs.  He'd let his guard
down, assumed the danger had passed.  The same thing that had happened every time
Randell had quit drinking.  Things would settle down into a nice normal life.  Margie and
her kids would let down their guard.  Life would be good.  But it was always just a
fantasy.  The day would come when the demon would return.  The last few days with
Logan had been like that fantasy.  He'd let his guard down and the demon had walked
right in to this apartment and taken another one away from him, and this emotional
turmoil that bounced him back and forth from the past to the present was killing him
inside.
	"Look, Mr. Crestwater, we're doing the best we can.  If Jake Zimmerman has her,
we'll find them."  Bracken was standing by his side, and although his words were
encouraging, his tone belied his doubts.  Simon shook his head.
	"I just wish there was more to go on."
	Bracken shook his head.  "We've been over this place with a fine toothed comb. 
We've looked at everything three and four times. We’ve checked note pads for 
impressions in case anyone wrote anything down.  We’ve checked the windows, the
doors and the floors. Even the message on the answering machine gives us nothing. 
We’ve dusted the entire place for fingerprints and sent everything in for analysis.  We
should hear about that before long, but other than that there are no clues at all."
	Simon raked his fingers through his hair and groaned. He felt completely
useless.  He couldn't just hang around there doing nothing any longer, yet there was
nothing he could do to speed up the investigation.  Nothing at all that he —
	Suddenly he straightened and reached for Bracken's arm.  "What did you just
say?”
	Bracken looked confused. “We should hear about the fingerprints as soon as
possible.”
	“No, not that — about the answering machine. What did you say about a
message on the answering machine?"  He stared at the policeman.  When he'd left that
morning, there had been no messages on the machine, and when he'd called earlier,
there had been no answer.
	The officer shrugged.  "There was one call on the machine.  From some girl
named Candy."
	Simon stared at him. "What was the time on that message?"
	Bracken pulled out his notebook and flipped through the pages while casually
motioning towards the bedroom.  "I know I wrote that down myself.  I remember the girl
didn't talk long. Oh, here it is — 3:08.  Hey, you shouldn't be touching that Mr.
Crestwater."
	Simon shot a defiant glance over his shoulder as he reached for the button on
the machine. "I called McCoy just before I left Tucson, around 2:30, maybe a little later.
There was no answer.  I let it ring about twenty times, the answering machine never
picked up. "
	"I don't get it," the young officer said, shaking his head as Simon pushed the
buttons and they both listened to the sweet voice on the tape.
	Hi Logan, it's me, Candy.  I must have left my bag at your place last night. It's
safe there, I'll drop by and pick it up later.  Bye.
	Bracken walked up beside Simon just as the beep went to signal the end of the
message.  "See, nothing there that can help us at all."  But when Simon turned to look at
him there was a strange look on his face that Bracken could have sworn was almost
relief.
	"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Simon said, a thougthful look on his face.  "First,
there’s the matter of the answering machine not being on just over a half hour before
this message came through."  
	The young officer raised his brow.  "What do you make of it?"
	He picked up the phone and turned it over, looking at it closely.  "It means  either 
McCoy was able to turn on the machine before she disappeared, or Jake did it. Either
way, it means one of them, or both, were still here around 2:30 this afternoon.  There's
also the matter of  Candy's message being so cryptic."
	Bracken still looked confused. "What do you mean?"
	Simon turned away from the phone and walked out of the room.  "I'd say Candy
is trying to tell me something.  Or McCoy is."  He tossed a glance back over his
shoulder.  "There was no one named Candy here last night.  There was no one else
here at all, but she says she left her bag here and that it’s safe."  He grinned at
Bracken's confusion.  "If my hunch is correct, things aren’t as bad as we’ve been
thinking because Jake Zimmerman doesn’t have McCoy after all."
	The young officer's face lit up and he grinned. "I think I’m getting what you’re
saying now.  You think that message was Miss McCoy's way of telling you she's safe?"
	Simon nodded.  "She must have known Jake was here before she left though, to
get Candy to leave a message like this.  It was specifically designed not to let Jake know
where she was,  just in case he was still here when the call came through. But she knew
I'd know the message didn't make any sense."
	"So where do you think she is then?"  Bracken was eager now, ready for action,
but Simon shook his head. 
	"I'm not sure. My guess is, if we find Candy, we’ll find McCoy.  We ran into a
woman in the grocery store the other day.  She said her name was Candace, that must
be who this Candy is.  I just wish I could remember the woman’s last name."  Simon had
strode purposefully into the kitchen and was scanning the list of phone numbers Logan
had pinned to the wall beside the phone there.  There was no Candy or Candace on the
list.  He wracked his brain trying to remember anything about the woman that could be at
all helpful. 
	"Not here," he said, shaking his head.  "I'm pretty sure the woman said she and
McCoy worked together.  McCoy wasn’t acting like they were good friends though, so
this list of regular phone numbers isn’t going to be of any help to us."  His mind was
racing to try and remember the missing name.  He was growing more and more certain
that Logan was safe, and somewhere with this woman, but how and why — and where
—  was still a mystery to him.  Pacing once again, he wrung his hands together while
muttering under his breath. 
	"It was a short name, rather nondescript.  Nothing distinctive about it.  Wait, it
was a colour.  That's right!"  He looked at Bracken studiously.  "It was a colour. What
names are colours?"
	"Brown?"
	Simon shook his head and spoke under his breath.  "Candace.  Candace what? 
	"White?"  Bracken offered, and again Simon shook his head. 
	"Candace ... Candace ... " He punched one fist into the other hand and grumbled
to himself, then suddenly spun around to face the police officer.  "Green!  That's it.
Candace Green!   Now all we have to do is find her.  How hard is that going to be with a
name as common as that?" 
	“We’ll check with DMV.”  Officer Bracken had already pulled out his radio and
called in to headquarters, and within minutes the search was on for anyone named
Candace Green in the Phoenix area. 

	Candace looked at Logan in surprise.   Although they worked together, and often
shared a lunch table and carried on casual conversations, they weren’t friends.  Not that
they disliked each other, but they simply did not socialize together outside working
hours.  Though they lived only a few blocks apart,  they’d never been to each other’s
apartments.  Until now.  Finding Logan at her door had been a surprise.  Seeing the look
of panic on the girl’s face and hearing she was in some kind of danger had been a
shock.
	“Thank God you’re home,” Logan had panted when Candace had opened the
door.  “I didn’t know where else to go!”
	“What’s up girl?  You look like you’ve just run the Boston Marathon!”  Candace 
looked over Logan’s shoulder, half expecting to see whoever or whatever it was that the
girl was running from.  “Are you alright?”
	Logan’s heart pounded in her chest and she was breathless.  She’d made the six
blocks from her apartment on foot, weaving in and out of shops on her way, and keeping
her eyes over her shoulder at all times.  She hadn’t thought anyone was following her,
but she hadn’t wanted to take any chances either.  Candace led her into the living room,
looking at her visitor with narrowed eyes. 
	“You aren’t running from that big hunk o’ man I saw you with last week are you? 
He looked like the perfect gentleman to me!  In fact, I was going to ask you, if you ever
tired of him, could I have him when you were done with him!”  Candace  chuckled, but
when Logan only gave her a strained and fleeting smile, she stopped laughing.  “I’m
sorry, Honey, I didn’t mean nothing.  I was only just joking around, trying to cheer you
up.  What’s wrong? Did your guy try to hurt you?”
	“No, no, nothing like that,” Logan said as she shook her head, finally getting her
breath back.  
	“Well what then?  You look scared half to death.”
	“It’s a long story, Candace, but to give you the condensed version, someone
broke into my apartment and I had to get out.”
	“Broke in!” Candace sat down beside her now, looking genuinely concerned. 
“Honey, what happened?  Should we call the police?”
	Logan’s mind was  reeling.  All she could think about was that she had to get
hold of Simon somehow.  Jake Zimmerman had broken into her apartment and  for all
she knew he could still be there.  She shivered as she thought about how she had
managed to get away at last.
	From the front corner of her apartment her eyes had darted up and down the
street.  No one, from what she could tell, had looked suspiciously like they’d been with
Jake.  She’d slipped quickly away from the building and made a dash to the street,
ducking around a hedge and then making a run for it, looking back over her shoulder. 
Her front door had remained closed, no movement had been seen in any of the front
windows.  She'd hoped she would be able to get away without being noticed, but she
hadn’t been going to stick around any longer than she had to to find out!
	As she’d made her way along the street to the next block and taken the first turn
out of sight, she’d had no idea where she would go.  Simon was in Tucson, and not due
back for several hours yet.  She’d left without grabbing her purse, so she’d had no
money on her to make any phone calls.  As she’d tried to clear her mind to think, she’d
realized the only person she knew on this side of Phoenix was Candace Green, and for
lack of a better plan, she’d  high-tailed it in Candace’s direction as quick as she could.  If
her co-worker wasn’t home, she'd had no idea what she would do next.
	But Candace had opened the door to her knock, and Logan had never felt more
relieved in her life.  Recounting her tale, however,  made her shiver as she  finally
realized just how close she had been to being preyed upon by Jake Zimmerman. 
	“Eew!”  Candace  wrinkled up her nose.  “What did this guy want with you?  Why
was he after you?”
	“Simon and I inadvertently foiled some sort of plan Jake had cooked up when I
was working on the Plateau Project.  All I know is the whole project was cancelled, but
some people think Jake  had something to do with it.  When I got home from the canyon
last week , two guys had broken into my apartment and surprised me when I came in.”
	“Oh!” Candace gasped. “You mean this is the second time it’s happened?  How
did you get away?  Oh my God, how did you stay there?  I would never have been able
to go back in and sleep there after that!”
	Logan  grinned. Candace always had been a talkative sort.  The questions that
were bubbling from her were perfectly natural for her.  “Simon showed up and scared
them off.  He’s been staying with me for the week.  Today he had to go to Tucson, but I
had an important call to wait for so I couldn’t go.”
	Another shiver had run through her as she had remembered Jake’s words. Your
Loverboy isn’t here.  Why don’t we just get to know each other a little better while we
wait for him to come back, hmm?  Jake knew Simon had been staying with her and had
made his own assumptions, whether right or wrong.  And, he knew she was alone.  She
could almost imagine the kind of plan Jake Zimmerman had cooked up.  Have his way
with her while she was alone, all the while knowing Simon was going to be returning,
then brag about what he had done when Simon came back and found them.  Logan  felt
sick at the thought of what she might have narrowly escaped.
	All she had been able to think about after she'd arrived at Candace's was that
somehow she had to let Simon know what had happened, and that she was safe, but
she had no idea how.  She didn’t know the Shellington’s phone number, nor Brandon’s
and she didn’t trust anyone else.  As she huddled on Candace’s couch her mind had
suddenly stopped thinking rationally.  All she could think of was that Simon would be
back, eventually, and he would find out she was missing.  She had to let him know
where she was.
	
	“I hope it worked,” Candace said, as she hung up the phone.  “Now what do we
do?”
	“We wait,” Logan said. “That is if you don’t mind me crashing here for a while?”
	Candace chuckled. “I don’t mind.  This is the most excitement I’ve ever had in
my life. You’re sure he’ll figure out where you are from my message?”
	Logan nodded.  "I'm sure."
	The idea of leaving Simon a message on her own answering machine had been
brilliant, and she’d reached for the phone and dialed before she’d given complete
thought to what she was doing.  The phone had started to ring just as she’d
remembered that of course the machine wasn’t turned on.  You heard it ring after you
got out of the house, remember. It rang and rang — no machine.
	Then, just as she had been about to hang up, she’d  heard the ringing stop and
her own voice begin to speak, and she’d gasped out loud.  “Oh my God! He’s still there! 
He’s turned on the answering machine!  He'll hear what  I say.  I can’t tell Simon where I
am, Jake will come find me!”  In a panic, she’d hung up the phone and stared at
Candace.  The two of them had stood in silence as hearts pounded wildly.  Then the
plan had slowly started to formulate.
	
	Candace opened the door slowly and peered around it.
	"Good evening Ma'am," Officer Bracken nodded politely.  "I'm sorry to bother
you, but we're looking for Logan McCoy.  We have reason to believe she might be
here?"  
	Candace glanced over the young officer's head.  She didn't know him, there was
no assurance that he was a real policeman and not the terrible Jake Zimmerman in
disguise, she told herself, getting caught up in the subterfuge of a James Bond fantasy. 
But her eyes fell on the face of the tall man behind him, and she smiled.  That was a
face she wasn't about to forget any time soon!  She smiled, opened the door wider, and
stepped aside. 
	"What took you so long?" she asked with a nod into the room, and a finger to her
lips.  "She's sleeping on the couch."
	Bracken's face lit up and Simon pushed past them and made the distance from
the door to the couch in only a few strides.  "Is she alright?" he asked as he brushed
past Candace.
	"She's fine. She was pretty shaken up, but she'll be just fine as soon as her eyes
open."  Candace assured him as he knelt by Logan's side. 
	"McCoy?"  he said in a low, soft voice.  The sleeping girl stirred then slowly
opened her eyes with a murmur.  At the sight of Simon's face she gasped and sat up
quickly, throwing her arms around him and clinging to him like she would never let go.
	"Simon!  Oh Simon, you're here!"
	"Shh,"  he soothed her, rubbing his hand over her hair and rocking her slightly in
his arms.  "I'm here. "
	"Oh, Simon!  Jake broke into my house!  He was in there, he was prowling after
me like a cat after a mouse.  Oh God, Simon I was so scared.  Hold me, please, don't let
me go!"
	"I know," he said, glancing over her shoulder at Bracken.  "I know, Sweetheart.  I
won't let you go, I promise."
	When her grip finally loosened, Simon eased himself up onto the seat beside her
and lifted her face to look into her tear dampened eyes.  "The police are here, McCoy,"
he said, glancing at Bracken, who had been standing beside Candace with a smile on
his face.  Can you tell us what happened?"
	Logan lifted her eyes to the young officer.  She recognized him from the first
investigation into intruders in her home, and smiled.  "Where is Jake?  Did you find
him?"
	Bracken shook his head.  "No, Miss.  There was no sign of him when I got there.  
Mr. Crestwater arrived after," Simon felt her stiffen in his arms as she bowed her head to
hide her face in Simon's shoulder.  
	"I can't go back there, Simon.  I can't go back while he's still out there
somewhere."  she said, with a shiver, remembering the sound of Jake's voice as he had
stalked her through the apartment.
	"Shh," Simon whispered, calmly.  "I'm not going to let anything happen to you
again. Just tell us what happened.  The police are doing their very best to find him."  But
as she recounted her story Simon felt the relief he'd felt at finding her safe swiftly fading,
replaced by anger.
	"I can't believe you got out of there," he kept saying.  Then it was time for him to
tell his own story, of how Brandon had finally found out what had been going on, the
missing money, and how Jake had slipped away from police surveillance that morning. 
Logan shivered again.
	"And he went straight to my place."  She cringed.  " I have no idea how long he'd
been watching the place, but he knew you'd been staying there and that you had left
today."
	"We'll find him, Miss,"  Bracken insisted. "It's only a matter of time."
	"Who is this guy anyway?" Candace piped in.  "Has he got a police record or
something?"
	Bracken shook his head.  "As far as we know, he's just someone who got a little
too greedy for power and money and hooked up with the wrong crowd.  He has no prior
record that we know of."
	Candace hugged herself close.  "Well, he sounds like the type of guy I wouldn't
want to meet up with in a back alley!"
	Logan glanced at the other woman.  "He had it in for me already.  I think he
figured he was going to teach me a lesson.  You'd just better make sure you're not in
that back alley with me, that's all."
	Simon brushed Logan's hair from her face.  Amazingly, she still had some sense
of humour left.  It was more than he could say for himself, he thought.  He couldn't
guarantee Jake Zimmerman's safety if he were to show up anywhere near Simon
Crestwater right now. 
	"That's all I need, Miss McCoy.  I'll leave you now and go make my report."  He
glanced toward Simon.  "I'll leave her in your care."
	Simon nodded, and Candace saw the policeman to the door.  Logan giggled as
she watched her co-worker flirting with the young officer before he left.  That was typical
of Candace, she thought. Then she sighed  and turned her attention back to Simon.
	"I can't go back there," she repeated, "but I can't stay here either.  It's not safe for
Candace.  
	
	It was late when Simon deposited Logan into the Shellington's car beside Hector,
with Andrew capably at the wheel.  The sight of her apartment had upset her more than
she had wanted to let on, Simon was certain.  He'd taken her home to pack some
clothes and wait for the car.  Hector, who had arrived in Phoenix some time before,  had
called Simon's cell phone from the police department.  It seemed like the best plan —
the only plan — and Simon wasn't about to let anything talk him out of it.  Until Jake
Zimmerman's whereabouts were known, Logan wasn't safe anywhere in Phoenix, and
until she was safe, Simon couldn't get her out of his life.  And for her own good, that was
something that was going to happen soon!
	 Besides, he knew Dolores would fuss over her like a mother cat, and with the
advanced security system at the Shellington's mansion, there was no better place for
her.  Until things settled down, she'd be safe there.  In the mean time, Jake Zimmerman
was on Simon's hit list.  Whatever criminal activities the man was involved in, whatever
beef he had with Simon for messing things up, Logan was an innocent bystander
accidentally drawn into the center of the storm.  Simon was determined to settle the
score. 
	The night wore on, and as Simon lay alone in Logan's bed he knew beyond a
shadow of a doubt that he had become far too comfortable with the woman in his life. 
When a man rolls over and expects to find a woman lying next to him, when he groans
in disappointment when he finds only an empty bed beside him instead, he's in big
trouble, he told himself.  Especially a man like Simon Crestwater!  
	What did he have to offer a woman like Logan McCoy?  A cabin in the bush in
the Canadian Yukon?  A suitcase in the back of a truck somewhere in the desert, or a
duffle bag in a tent in the jungles of South America?  Sure, she had a passion for nature 
photography, she'd enjoy the travelling and the exotic places — for a while.  But
eventually she'd tire of it, and then what? Sooner or later somebody would get hurt, and
he'd vowed to himself years ago that he would neither let anyone else get hurt, nor allow
himself to be hurt like that again.  
	When he'd thought Jake had Logan, he'd felt that old guilt and terror building up
inside him again, and he'd never wanted to feel that again. Where had things gone
wrong?  When had he let down his defences and allowed her to mean too much to him?  
He knew, of course, what he had to do, and with Logan safely behind the Shellington's
electronic fences, it was going to be much easier to do.  He should have done it from the
very beginning!