Chapter 46

Layla

When we got to Brenham, I felt a sense of relief. He followed us all the way back to Brenham. When Michelle pulled up in my driveway, the car drove past. When we got out, Mildred was on her porch.

“Samantha, is everything okay, dear? We heard you went to a funeral, and who’s this handsome young man?” she said, looking at Leo. Mildred was notorious for being a gossip, so I knew everything I said would be relayed throughout Brenham.

“Hello, Ms. Mildred. Yes, I went back home for my grandma’s funeral. This is my brother, Leo.”
“A pleasure, Ms. Mildred,” Leo said, smiling at her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie, you have my condolences. Likewise, young man,” she said, and I heard Michelle snickering.
“The old badger has a thing for young men,” Michelle said.

When we walked into the house, I stopped short. “What’s up?” Leo asked me.
“Those clothes there. I didn’t leave them there. I’m sure,” I said, looking around. Leo motioned for us to be quiet. “Keep the conversation going about anything. I’ll make a walkthrough and check,” he whispered, so we nodded.

“How was the store while I was away? I hope Andy isn’t too mad at me,” I said, and Michelle laughed.
“Andy can’t say squat. That boy is never around; haven’t you noticed that? Anyway, I’m starving; we’re going to head down to the restaurant for dinner. We’ve got your brother here, and we need to show him around Brenham. We’ve got to make sure he stays,” she said.

Leo came back ten minutes later. “It’s good, no bugs or anything, just the cameras you left. I’ll take you up on that. Let me get settled in, and we can head out. I’ll use the second room on the right; is that okay, Mrs.?” He said, and I looked at him.
“Sorry,” he said, laughing and walking away.

After I grabbed a shower, we left and headed to the restaurant. It was almost eight. When we walked in, we saw him right away. Michelle and I come here almost all week.

“I see you’re back, and you brought a gift?” Trixie said. Trixie was one of the servers; she was in her forties and good-looking.
“Well, not a gift per se. Leo, this is Trixie, the most beautiful server in this part of Brenham. Trixie, this is my brother, Leo,” I said, smiling.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I hope you stay because I could use something good to look at. I’ll be with you in a minute, sweetie,” Trixie said, walking to the bar. Leo and Michelle began laughing.

We took a seat right behind Chris. I looked at Leo, and he started. “So, Michelle, give me the details on what my baby sister has been up to for the past five years.”

“Well, ever since she moved down here, she hasn’t dated anyone. We work at the shop, then we go out, party, or wherever we want to,” she said, smiling.

“Hmm, she’s been known to do that shit. So, who is interested in her? I need to size them up because I’ll be staying here for the foreseeable future, and as long as I’m here, no one’s getting anywhere near my baby sister,” Leo said.

Trixie made us laugh; the entire night, Chris’s ears were on our conversation. When we left the restaurant, he left at the same time, almost bumping into Leo.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, looking up.

“Oh, it’s you two from the shop. Oh, my condolences. Your friend told me you had a death in the family,” he said.

“Hey there, sweetie, thank you. Yes, it was as she said; our grandma passed away,” I said, looking solemn.

“She liked you and hated me because what was it she called me once? Oh yes, she called me a disgrace to the Russo bloodline because I wouldn’t join the army,” Leo said, snorting.

“Leo, she didn’t hate you,” I said.
“Umm, you’re related?” Chris asked.

“Well, of course, now. He’s my brother, well, last time I checked anyway,” I said, laughing.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that every time I see you, you remind me of one of our friends; her name is Layla, and sometimes I think you’re her,” he said.

“Oh, sweetie, I’ve been mistaken for someone all my life, but my name is Samantha Russo, twenty-five years old, born and raised in Arizona, moved to Brenham when I was twenty, and I’m still here,” I said, smiling at him.

“I guess you really aren’t her,” he said quietly.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. What happened to…”

“There you three are. Hey, Leo, good to see you again,” Tyler said, walking over to us and shaking Leo’s hand.
“Still a deputy, huh?” Leo said.

“Boy. What’s going on here?” Tyler asked.
“Oh, shut up. You’re not in uniform, so I can say what I want. Can’t we talk to people?” Michelle said, looking at him.

“Yeah, I’m going to make your momma tan your ass. Wanna grab a drink, Leo?” Tyler asked him. It was so fast; if you weren’t looking, you would miss it. I know Chris didn’t see it. Leo looked at me.

“Sammy, are you good to go home on your own?”
“Boy, Sammy has lived here for almost five years. Everyone in Brenham knows her and knows this dumb-Ass cousin of mine. Everyone knows not to mess with them, or I’ll be down their necks,” Tyler said.

“Alright then, I’ll see you later. Michelle, stay with her until I get back; she’s been having some trouble,” Leo said.
“What trouble, someone bothering you, Samantha? Why didn’t you tell me or Michelle?” Tyler asked.

“It’s nothing really. I just… well, for the past few days, I’ve been waking up groggy and can’t remember much, and… just… look, I’ll come down to the station and talk to you tomorrow,” I said.

“Well, it seems you guys have a lot going on. I’ll take my leave now, bye,” Chris said, walking away from us.

“Yeah, he’s fucking panicking now. I’ll head over to the sheriff’s place. In my room, there’s a laptop. Open it and you’ll see CCTV; click on it; it should show you a live feed from his apartment,” Leo said.

“God damn, you bosses work fast,” Tyler said.
“Of course, when it comes to the Mrs., there is nothing left to chance,” Leo said.

Dean

We were sitting in the office looking at the laptop. Leo had informed Brian earlier of everything that was said and done and told us he was heading back to his place. He assured us that Layla was okay and would be safe without him. What Layla didn’t know was that not only Leo but three other security details were in Brenham. Two were living right on the same street as her, and one was opposite the place she worked.

The deputy sheriff asked us to involve his boss, so we did, and they were all in on it. Leo knew too. When Nate said he was following them from the airport, Dan went to his apartment and rigged it with cameras and microphones. And that was what we were looking at. He was sitting in front of his laptop, typing away.

Aleck’s phone was on speaker; Brian was on the call.

***Brian: Boss, his laptop is moving.***
***Aleck: What is he doing?***

***Brian: Social media… Wait.***
***Dean: What is it?***

***Brian: He just found Samantha Russo’s social media accounts, well, what I generated.***
***Aleck: Good.***

***Brian: He’s checking Leo’s information.***
***Dean: Make sure nothing slips through, Brian.***

***Brian: I won’t, boss… Oh, shit.***
***Dean: What?***

***Brian: This fucker is good; boss, please don’t say anything for at least twenty minutes. He’s trying to find the source code to see where the page came from. If I don’t stop him, he’ll know it’s fake.***
***Aleck: Do whatever you have to.***

Brian went silent, and all we could hear was the clacking of keys and quiet murmuring. I looked at Aleck. We could see on the screen Chris typing away furiously. After what felt like forever, we saw Chris stand up and throw the chair into a wall and started yelling.

***Brian: Boss, done.***
***Aleck: Is that why he’s losing his shit?***

***Brian: Yes, because the code came back as original.***
***Chris: FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! SHE’S NOT LAYLA. FUCK!***

***Dean: Well, fuck, he really wants it to be Layla.***

I looked at Aleck. “Now we send them after him,” I said, and he nodded. He didn’t deserve to go to jail; he deserved to fucking die.