saw keys besides a cell phone on the passenger’s seat. She tried the door handle. The car was unlocked. She knew Dom would never leave the car unlocked.
Annie stood up straight and looked around the area. She saw teenagers playing basketball in the playground down the street. She secured Dom’s phone and keys. Then she locked the Porsche’s door and turned towards the playground.
She walked her shapely, five foot, seven inch frame over to the teens. They stopped playing to notice the extremely slender, beautiful looking blonde, in a red alluring jumpsuit coming towards them.
One of the tall, buff players asked her if she wanted to join them. Annie shook her head. “No, I don’t want to embarrass anyone! Besides, these designer sneakers would fall apart on my first dunk!” Those comments drew a collective laugh. A buff player began his challenging response, but was warned off by the seriousness in Annie’s eyes.
Annie quizzed them if they have seen her friend who owns the Porsche along the street this morning. She pointed to Dom’s car. “She’s about 5’8”, 130 lbs. She has long, wavy, brunette hair. Have you seen her?”
One kid says, “She's a fox. Are you sisters?”
“We’re BBFs. Did you see her today?” Annie said hopefully.
“She left with some friends in a dark SUV about forty minutes ago,” the kid answered.
“Which direction,” Annie instantly peppered.
He pointed north towards the road leading to the highway.
The tall, slender player stepped towards her. In an intimidating tone asked, “What’s the information worth, lady?”
Annie flashed a huge smile and started turning. Not a bit intimidated, she returned, “My eternal gratitude!”
She sashayed back to her Miata and sped northward. She pulled out her cell phone and hit Juan’s speed dial number.
Juan saw Annie’s caller ID and immediately answered his phone. “Did you find Dom?”
“No,” Annie countered nervously, anticipating his first question. “She left the beach with some friends in a dark SUV according to the kids playing basketball across the street. “Who does she know that has a dark SUV?”
Juan shook his head looking puzzled at the floor. “I have no idea,” he responded sitting back in his chair baffled.
“Listen Juan, I’m heading in the direction the kids said the SUV took. I’ll stay in touch.” She had a secret with Dom that even Juan didn’t know.
Chapter 8
A mystified Juan thinks something may have happened to Dom. He spots Detective Mike Rizzo’s card on the desk. He considers, am I overreacting? He tightens his lips and answers, ‘no’. He calls Detective Rizzo only to get his voicemail. Frustrated, he left an urgent message.
Juan decides to take the short drive to Dom’s vortex beach. He walks by Nancy’s desk. He says, “You can get me on my cell.” She nodded as she reloaded her hand gun. “I’m getting ready for our next client,” she half-laughed as a serious looking Juan opened the door to leave.
Juan’s black Range Rover found its way to Dom’s beach. Still dazed on how he got there, he sees her silver Porsche. He unlocks the car’s door with his set of Dom’s Porsche keys. He retrieves Dom’s keys and phone from the glove box. As he relocks the car’s door his phone rings. It’s detective Rizzo. “Detective, thanks for calling me back so soon.”
Mike Rizzo barks, “What’s this stuff about your fiancée?”
Juan states his and Annie’s suspicions. “Dom’s missing. I’m standing next to Dom’s car now. Her car keys and cell phone were with the car. Earlier her friend Annie found the car unlocked. That’s not like Dom.”
Detective Rizzo says that he’s about to leave a homicide on the east end of town. “It will take me an hour or so to get there. Text the address ASAP. Don’t touch the car any more than you already have. Why don’t you walk the area? Maybe she’s made some new friends or something like that.”
Juan locked his Range Rover and began to walk the street. He started by canvassing the basketball court, its two-sectioned stands and beyond.
Sitting in her car, Annie opens the ‘locate me’ app on her phone. Like Dom, she had an implanted tracking chip under a thick layer of skin. A ‘gator’ tattoo on the inside of her leg’s right thigh partially covered the skin over the tracker.
Both their father’s are high ranking ‘capos’ in the Providence and Boston divisions of New York’s Colombo, organized crime family. They feared a family kidnapping more than a gangland shootout. She and Dom kept their chips a secret between BFFs. To seal their secret, they had identical ‘gators’ tattooed near their daddy-placed tracking chips.
Annie's phone app took longer then usual to locate Dom’s tracker. Dom had never been over these roads before. Finally, Dom’s tracking dot showed on I-75 North. Annie Google maps her Miata on the quickest route to Dom.
Ninety minutes later, Detective Rizzo pulls in behind Juan’s Range Rover. He walks over to Dom’s Porsche Carrera and looks inside. He hears a voice yelling, “Rizzo!” Juan comes running from the beach side of the street. “Am I happy to see you.”
Rizzo asks, “Any word from your fiancée? You know I did a background check on Dominica Bianca. Did you know her father is big in the northeast mob?”
Juan smiled to himself. “Yes I did. Why do you think she’s living in Tampa? She still has strong family ties up north, but she wants nothing to do with her father’s business. Neither do I, for that matter.”
Rizzo thoughtfully pressed his lips together. “Well, this may be bigger than a missing persons situation.”
“What are you saying? Do you know something I don’t know? ” Juan quizzed.
“I’m in the dark as much as you at this point. BUT,” He emphasizes with a clearer voice, “mob kidnappings happen regularly. Maybe a rival has a beef with Dominica’s father.”
Juan’s Spock-like, logical demeanor kicked in. “Logically, we have no proof Dom’s been kidnapped. But we need to investigate this dark Ford SUV thing.”
“What dark Ford SUV thing?” Rizzo questioned.
Juan explained that Dom’s best friend Annie had been on the scene about three hours ago. “She talked with a kid playing basketball over there.” He nodded at the local beach courts. “The kid said that Dom left in a dark SUV heading north. He thinks it was a Ford.”
“Well, there you go. She’s with friends,” Rizzo deduced.
“No, Annie, Dom’s best friend and I really doubt that. Annie and Dom share brains. Annie knows no one that owns a dark Ford SUV. Neither do I.” He continues his thoughts looking for evidence of a SUV. “I noted traffic and store security cameras along this street. Can we get video from them? We could solve this right away.”
Rizzo hesitated, unsure of his seriousness level. He thought
