She let out a breath, along with a small hum. "I don't know. There was a moment there where I thought, if they could have let me go, they would have. But then some other man walked in and we were taken to that bar."
"Who was the other man?" I asked. Was this the one in charge of the operation? If she'd seen him, we might be able to find him and end his sorry ass after making him sorry.
"I didn't see his face," she said. "His voice was really deep, like he smoked a lot. He only said a couple of words. Then he was gone."
"What were those words?" I asked.
"'Get it together,'" she said. "He told them to get it together, then he left."
I toyed with the end of my hair, twirling it around my finger while I took a sip of my own coffee. "He must be powerful if that was all it took to get them to jump when he said so." Those didn't seem like threatening words to me. Although I knew well enough to know tone was everything.
"I thought so too," she agreed. "I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it. He might have been another thug."
"From the sound of it, those masked men would have ignored just another thug," I reasoned.
"Yeah, they would have," she said. She tapped her thumb against the handle of her mug. "The more I think about it, the stranger it was."
"I don't suppose you heard them say anything incriminating?" I asked. "Like each other's names?"
Wouldn't it be handy if they said, 'Hey Jonathan, come over and help me with this woman we've kidnapped.' Followed by, 'Okay Gregory, I'm on my way.'
"Not that I remember," Savannah said. "I was too scared to pay too much attention, if I'm honest. I thought they'd kill me. I was trying to keep a low profile."
"That's smart," I told her. "It's better not to provoke people like that."
I knew more than enough about provoking men into doing things I'd regret. Sometimes it was easier to be small and quiet. I hated that so unbelievably much, but sometimes self-preservation had to come before being a badass.
Besides, being a survivorwasbadass.
"If you think of anything else, will you let me know?" I asked.
"Of course I will," she said quickly. "Maybe when I've had some rest, something will come to me." She rubbed the tips of her fingers over her forehead. She looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept in about a week. In spite of that, I suspected sleep might not come easy. She'd toss and turn, thinking about what happened. At some point, though, she'd have to get some rest.
Yes, I know. I needed to say the same thing about myself.
"I'm sure it will. And if it doesn't, that's okay too," I told her.
"What do we do now?" she asked. "I don't feel safe going back to the orchestra."
"Not if somebody there was helping to orchestrate taking you," I offered, hoping she didn't mind the small pun.
She snorted. "Exactly. They did it once. Who's to say they won't try it again?" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. The idea was unthinkable, but not illogical. They might come after her to cover their tracks.
They might come after both of us.
"They'll have to go through me and my guys," I said firmly. "I'm sure you can stay here for as long as you need to. Or you can stay with me. Until we find whoever's behind this, you'd be safer anyway." No way was I letting her go back to her apartment alone. I'd tie her down if I had to. She'd fight me, but it was for her own good. And mine, if I was honest. I'd feel better knowing exactly where she was, and that someone was with her, keeping an eye on her.
"So would you," she said. "I can't believe they took you right from the Halloran." She shuddered.
"Believe it," I said. "It was terrifying. There were four of them, they shoved me out the window. I was lucky I didn't face plant and land on my nose."
That made her laugh, but with me, notatme. "You wouldn't have done something so clumsy."
"Wouldn't I?" I reached over to the coffee table to place my empty mug down. "Sometimes I'm about as graceful as a baby giraffe."
Baby giraffes were cute, in spite of their long, gangly legs. Or maybe because of them.
"I don't believe that," she said. "Sable Kohl is very elegant and graceful. Besides, they wouldn't have let you fall on your nose."