Switched by Anne O'Connell Read Free Book Online

dinner or a movie
ticket.  If he invited her out, he paid. When she insisted on paying, he would
narrow his eyes, but he didn’t argue. He seemed to understand that she still
needed her independence and some control in the relationship.
     
     
    ***
        It was a relatively new tradition to
get together with Eric and Amy once a month, but Kali seemed to really enjoy it
and Brad liked it, too. Sure, he worked with Eric and Amy, but lately they’d
worked the schedule to where he and Eric were almost always never at the store
at the same time and sometimes Amy worked with him and sometimes she worked
with Eric. When they were at the store, it was often more about business than
anything else. It was nice to just get together as friends and leave work at
the door. Tonight they’d invaded Amy and Eric’s. They were just getting ready
to start a round of Pictionary when Brad’s cell phone rang.
         Brad took the call in another room
away from the laughter and voices. It seemed inconvenient that Ted Agares would
be calling him after seven p.m..
         “Mr. Hudak?” came Ted Agares’
voice.
         “Speaking.” In his mind, however,
Brad just wanted him to spit it out.
         “Well I found your girl’s real
name. It appears her name is Laura Callista Stanton. She’s from L.A., born to
one Carla Karen Michaels and Jason Robert Stanton. She had her name legally
changed here in Massachusetts to Kali Michaels. There was no reason listed.
However, I did find some leads…”
         Agares didn’t elaborate. Brad let
out an exasperated sigh. “Well, go ahead and tell me.”
         “It appears your girlfriend has a
closed juvenile record, and she was arrested at age twenty-two for drug
trafficking with her then boyfriend Victor Kolknov, but the DA dropped the
charges. Looks like some key evidence went missing.” Agares paused, then said,
“They were arrested at a bdsm club called Dungeon Fifty-Two. Evidently she
worked there, and he’s the owner.”
         Brad swallowed the lump forming in
her throat. So his girlfriend had a bit of a rocky past, but she was clean now.
At this time in her life, Kali didn’t even smoke.
         Agares took the silence as a sign
to continue. “You know, I have to go to Anaheim for my niece’s wedding next
week. If you want, I can stop in Los Angeles and visit this Dungeon Fifty-Two
and see if anyone there remembers her and knows why she left. I guess it
depends how far you want to take this?”
         “How much?” Brad almost couldn’t
believe he’d asked it, but curiosity got the better of him. That feeling in his
gut was too strong.
         “I can’t imagine I’d be there more
than two days. How about a thousand dollars? Since I’m already going to
California it will give me something to do before the wedding other than hang
out with my relatives.” Agares kind of laughed.
         Brad nodded to no one. “Alright.
I’ll drop another check by tomorrow on my way into work.”
         That was, as they say, that. Brad
hung up and stood there for a few minutes until Amy poked her head into the
room. “Brad, it’s you and Kali’s turn next.”
         He put on a smile.  “I’ll be there
in a second, Ames.”
         Kali’s reaction to the stockade the
day before flooded back into his mind. He had a sick feeling in his gut. Taking
a deep breath, he willed himself back into the living room.
     
    ***
        
         A game lost later, Brad cornered
Amy in the kitchen under the guise he was going to grab another beer.  “Amy,
can I ask you something?”
         She smiled at him. “Sure, boss.
What’s up? Wanna know how Eric and I are Pictionary champions?”
         He couldn’t help but give her a
grin. “Ha ha. Not quite. Actually, Kali and I are having a bit of a difficulty
in…” he paused, “…communication.”
         Amy’s eyebrows lifted. She was
obviously wary. “Uh oh. Can I help?”