Blindfold Vol. 2

“She could have left.” Green sighed and glanced at me.

I recognized the look well enough, but she was looking the wrong way for backup. I might not have known Isadora that well, but I didn't think it was likely that she just stepped out without telling anyone where she was going, especially since she hadn't told me that we were done for the day. She was disorganized, but never thoughtless. I wasn't a mind reader, but I was a good judge of character on top of studying to be a psychiatrist.

I returned Green’s steady look, but didn't say anything. If she wanted my opinion, she was going to have to ask for it. And I doubted she'd like it when she did. Her gaze lingered for a moment and then she turned back to Ash.

“Here are my concerns, Mr. Lang. Your sister is twenty years-old. I’ve got a fourteen year-old. I all but raised my two younger sisters. And although it was quite some time ago, I recall how it felt to be twenty. You want privacy. You want some independence. Does your sister have any of that?”

“She has safety,” Ash snapped.

“Safety.” Green nodded as she said the word slowly, as if weighing it on her tongue.

“Look,” he said. “My sister wouldn't leave without telling me where she was going or taking her bodyguards with her.”

I was torn between hugging him and rolling my eyes. He was smart. He'd managed to get his MBA while raising Isadora and taking over the family’s numerous companies, even though he'd only been nineteen when his parents had died. But smart didn’t always produce insight. And insight into a loved one was always the hardest.

I knew that from experience. I'd had common sense drilled into me by my older brothers, but I'd known plenty of kids through the accelerated learning programs I’d been in who were practically as dumb as a stump when it came to practical things.

When it came to his sister, I had a feeling Ash was clueless.

Actually, when it came to twenty year-old females in general, Ash was probably clueless.

That wasn’t to say he didn’t have a clue about women. Or at least a certain type of woman. But Isadora wasn't that type of woman, and she was at the weird stage where she was still figuring out who she was. Ash, on the other hand, probably looked at her and saw a girl in pigtails and a Catholic school girl skirt – or whatever flavor of private school she’d attended. Had he actually thought she was more interested in being safe than having a life?

I would've felt bad for him if I hadn't been so worried about Isadora.

When I was twenty, I’d at least kept my parents advised of my whereabouts in general. I still lived at home even though I'd been in college. I’d respected them enough to know that they just wanted to make sure I was safe.

My brothers, however, were a different matter entirely. If they’d tried to dictate my every move after I'd become an adult? I probably would have filled their shampoo bottles with Nair. Again. Their overprotectiveness and over-helpfulness was bad enough.

Even though I loved my family, the freedom from all of that had been one of the reasons I'd chosen to move out shortly before my twenty-first birthday, even though it cut into my college funds.

It was a different sort of vibe here. Ash had raised Isadora since she was seven, so she'd had to have some respect for his authority. But still, he was her brother, not her father, and even if her memories of their parents were dim, she still had them. It had to irk her that she had so little freedom to come and go as she pleased. The question was, was her a

Sighing, I rubbed my temples with my fingers, a headache settling in nice and tight.

The sad thing was, I did understand why he was so determined to look after her. Aside from the fact that he'd been responsible for her for the past thirteen years, she was all the family he had left. Also, for all intents and purposes, Isadora was an adult, but she was sweet and naïve, not the best combination to have when roaming the city streets alone. Granted, she could probably thank her brother for that, since Ash had sheltered her to the point that she had no idea what real life was like.

Caught up in my thoughts, I startled slightly when the lieutenant said my name.

“I’m sorry?”

Green arched a brow. “I was wondering if you might have any idea where Isadora might have gone.”

Blinking at the unexpected question, I shook my head. “No, I'm sorry. I've only been working for her for a week.”

“What is it you do exactly?” Green asked as she pulled a notebook from inside her bag.

A deep pulse of envy went through me at the sight of that bag. It was a rich shade of purple, a Michael Kors bag, so out of my price range for now. I would have thought it would be too pricey for a cop, too, but what did I know?

“I’m her assistant.” Dragging my gaze away from the bag, I looked back at Lieutenant Green.

“And you assist with…?”

“Everything?” I offered her a half-hearted smile and shrugged.

“And when did you last see Miss Lang?”

“About an hour before we were told she was missing. I was working with her and she said she needed a bit of a break, so she left the room.”

“Did she do that often?”

I shrugged. “I've only been with her for a week and she's done it twice. She leaves for a bit and then comes back. I had no reason to believe she wasn't going to do the same thing, so I waited. Mr. Lang came home and the two of us were…talking when we got the news.” If Green noticed my slight hesitation on the word, she didn't say anything.

“What sort of person is she?” Green asked.

From the corner of my eye, I glanced toward Ash, but he had risen and walked back to his position at the window. It was like he expected her to just come walking up Fifth Avenue, even though it was coming up on eleven o’clock. I hadn't realized it was that late.

Ash was probably going to throw me out of here soon enough, and when he heard what I had to say, it would probably be sooner rather than later, but I knew the best thing to do with cops was be honest.

That settled it in my mind.

“I love working with Isadora. She’s a sweet girl. She’s bright, determined, and she’s got a good heart. But I have to be honest.”

I saw Ash turning towards me, but I didn’t let myself look over at him. What was the point?

“The girl could get distracted on her way to the bathroom, even if her bladder was about to bust.” I knew Ash was staring at me and I felt a blush start in my cheeks, but I kept going. “She starts projects and stops two minutes later. She’ll look for her phone while it’s in her hand. She’ll look for her jacket while she’s wearing it. She composes emails and half-way through, she forgets what she’s writing about. The girl is like the energizer bu

Both Ash and Green were staring at me now.

I twisted my fingers together. “The fact of the matter is, I’m surprised she can make it down the stairs without somebody reminding her that she needs to eat breakfast. She’s so focused on what she wants to do she forgets about what she needs to do.”

Ash was glaring at me.

I ignored him.

“And what does she want to do?” Green asked curiously.

“Save the world.” I smiled now, a strange little lurch of protectiveness settling inside me. “Isadora Lang is probably the most flighty woman I have ever met in my life, but she hired me because she knows it, and she wants big things. With her passion, the world better look out. Because she just might change it. Whether the world wants it or not.”

I heard a sharp intake of air and dared to glance over at Ash.

I was prepared for his fury.

But the look he was giving me was something I couldn't quite place, but that made me more nervous than I liked.