Page 17 of Benjamin and the Thief

Finally, an end was called to the silent auction, and slowly but surely, the first guests left. Now both he and Lydia were working at the front entrance. When the guests were all finally gone, he and Lydia went to the back of the house, where the catering staff was busy cleaning up.

“I’ll have you two deal with the staff, alright?” Benjamin said, looking at Ethan and Lydia.

“Got somewhere to go?” Lydia asked.

“No.” He searched for a plausible explanation. “I guess I’m beat. Coming off a ten-day assignment and jumping right into the next gig was probably not my finest idea.”

There, that should be a good enough explanation.

“See you later, old man,” Ethan teased.

Benjamin gave him the finger, grinning, and left to say his goodbyes to the Prestons. They were in the salon.

“Mr. and Mrs. Preston?” Benjamin said, approaching. “I’ll be heading out. Lydia and Ethan are supervising the catering staff and will make sure all areas are secure before they leave.”

“Thank you so much, Benjamin,” James Preston said with a nod.

“Good night,” Elizabeth Preston added.

Benjamin was glad to leave and headed for his car. The fog was thick now, and the air was cold. He didn’t feel the cold. His vampire body wasn’t as susceptible to extreme temperatures as a human body. When he reached his car, he noticed that the passenger door wasn’t completely closed. Had Catalina opened it to get some air?

He made the last few steps to his car and opened the passenger door completely. A clanging sound echoed in the night: the rattling of metal against the textured wood trim on the interior of the door. The cuffs were hanging there on their own, one of them open, the other still attached to the door handle.

Catalina was gone.

He cursed and ran a shaky hand through his hair.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

How had he been so idiotic to think that a woman who’d tried to break into a safe with lockpicks wouldn’t know how to pick the lock of the handcuffs? Sure, he’d taken the lockpicks off her and put them into the interior pocket of his tuxedo, but he hadn’t checked if she’d had anything else on her with which she could open the handcuffs.

He slammed the door shut and walked to the driver’s side. He slunk into the seat there and let out a frustrated breath.

Think, man, think!

He had to find her. But how? All he knew about her was her first name. He could go back to the caterers and ask the supervisor for her contact info, but then he’d have to give a reason why. Besides, if she was smart, she hadn’t given the catering company her real name and address.

What else did he know about her? She drove a rusty old car. He closed his eyes, thinking back to the previous evening and the moment when his mother had parked Catalina’s car, because Catalina had been in shock after nearly getting run over by a taxi.

He hadn’t consciously tried to memorize her license plate. However, during his training as a bodyguard, he and his fellow trainees had learned various methods of memorizing and recalling important information. It was ingrained in him, and he’d used it without even thinking of it. He concentrated on Catalina’s car again. Something about an animal. There it was: L10N4U, Lion for you. Her license plate.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped on a stored number. It rang only once before the call was connected.

“Hey, Benjamin,” Eddie said cheerfully. “What’s up?”

“I need a favor. Could you please run a license plate for me? I’m not near a computer right now.”

Because if he were, he could log into the system himself. The governor of California had given Scanguards access to the DMV database years ago. Before that, Eddie and his mate, Thomas, who were both brilliant computer geniuses, had hacked into the system if they needed information. Now, things were much easier.

“Sure, shoot.”

“L10N4U.”

“Give me a sec.”

There was the sound of Eddie tapping on his keyboard.

“Here it is. A Catalina Vargas. Lives in the Tenderloin.”