Page 5 of Dangerous Curves Ahead
Chapter One
Steele
Trying to find Rickell was harder than he had anticipated.
He'd gone to the bank and asked for the girl named Rickell, but she was nowhere to be found.
In fact, no one knew anyone by that name and the girl that normally worked as a teller with the name Rickie, hadn’t been at work for a little while, as she had been given time off because of the incident.
He'd heard the name of Rickie before, but for some reason he didn’t remember where from.
It was in the back of his mind and drove him crazy with the need to solve this puzzle and knew he was missing pieces to it.
Steele hated that he couldn’t find her. That each lead led nowhere.
With each day that went by, he got more irritated that she seemed to be a phantom of his imagination. If it weren’t for her letter, he would have believed her to be a dream.
He read her letter over and over because it was the only thing that kept him going while he searched for her.
He read it so many times and so often that the paper was softer than it had been when he first got it, as he had folded it and unfolded it more times than he could count and he kept it on him always.
He had memorized it by now, but it still brought him comfort that he needed to hold the paper in his hands, because she had alluded him thus far.
When he went back to the bank at the end of Rickie’s time off to try to speak to her, he found out that Rickie had decided to quit the bank instead of returning to work, and he hated that his only clue to find Rickell had been just out of his reach.
He tried to get an address for her, but as he wasn’t a real bank employee, it wasn’t information he had access to.
He went back to his headquarters and sat in his chair, frustrated.
He was annoyed that he hadn’t found a lead on his girl, but he knew he had let it go, even though it rubbed him the wrong way to do so.
He hadn’t told his men about her, though Crew had asked about the letter later.
He told Crew that it was a thank you letter from a citizen that they had saved at the bank and that was that.
Crew had quirked his brow at that, but didn’t push for more information and Steele was relieved.
He knew he could probably find Rickell that much sooner if he asked his crew to help, but he didn’t want to share anything about her just yet.
He was deep in thought when a knock sounded on his office door, and Raiden walked in.
“Have a seat,” Steele said and Raiden did as he was asked.
“I didn’t get the chance to thank you in person for stopping the robbery. It was kind of insane that day and for a while afterwards.”
Steele felt his lip curl up in the corner slightly, “You're welcome. I’m just grateful that your intel not only came true, but was useful to us, as we actually had some clue that it was happening. My crew and I are pissed we didn’t see the signs.”
“You couldn’t help it Steele. You aren’t super man and can see through walls. Plus, why would you have seen him? You wouldn’t have noticed him once. Rickie only noticed him when he came back day after day and when he sat up on the porch across the street. She said it was weird that he would sit and study the bank so thoughtfully every single day.”
Steele sat up straight in his chair, “Rickie? You've said that name before. In all the chaos, I completely forgot. Who is it?”
Raiden raised his eyebrow, “Didn’t you know she used to work at the bank? She gave me the intel. What's going on Steele?”
Steele shook his head, “I know she worked there, and it could be nothing. But I've been looking for a girl who sent a letter to me after the bank robbery. She signed it at the bottom and I only have that and her initials to go off of to find her.”
Raiden’s eyebrows drew together, “Why do you need to find her?”
Steele sighed, “I don’t know. I just feel,” he rolled his eyes, “connected to her. Which sounds ridiculous. I haven’t met her in my life. Why would I be connected to her?”
