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FISH REMINDED HIMSELF he was playing against an eight-year-old girl. An eight-year-old girl who, tongue peeking out from her lips as she concentrated, had mastered the art of air hockey. Still, there was no need for him to go for the gold. He hadn’t asked Lexi whether the kid’s self-esteem needed the boost of winning, but she was doing fine without him holding back.
She pumped a fist and jumped in the air. “Score! I win.”
“You certainly did. I guess you’re the ruler of the world.”
She grinned. “Want to try for the universe?”
“You’re too good for me. More Skee Ball?”
Sofia shook her head. “No. I want to drive the cars.”
She reached for his hand and dragged him toward several video race car games. “Lexi is good at these. She’s police and had to learn to drive. To—” she scrunched her face, as if hunting for the word— “pursue ... bad guys.”
Fish glanced back to see if Lexi had gotten a kick out of hearing Sofia repeat something she’d obviously told her. His heart leaped to his throat. “Where’s Lexi?”
“She was right with us.” The child fisted her hands at her hips. “She knows the rules. She should have said if she was leaving.”
“You’re right.” Fish schooled his features to a neutral expression. No need to frighten the child. He called her cell. Voicemail.
“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” Sofia said.
Fish couldn’t imagine Lexi leaving without checking with him. Could he have been so engrossed in the game that he hadn’t noticed someone grab her, or lure her away? No. But Sofia’s suggestion, remote as it was, should be checked out.
Taking Sofia firmly by the hand, Marv navigated to the restrooms. He crouched to meet Sofia’s eyes. “I want you to go inside and call Lexi’s name. Loud. If she’s not in there, come right back out.”
Sofia must have grasped the gravity of the situation, because she nodded solemnly. Fish positioned himself outside the door as she went inside. Seconds later, he heard her shout Lexi’s name at near ear-shattering decibels. A short wait, and Sofia came running out, shaking her head. The fear Fish had seen at DHS was pasted across her face.
“She’s not there.”
“You did fine. Do you have any ideas of how to find her?” He was already marching toward the front desk, Sofia in tow.
“Look everywhere?” she suggested.
“Trouble with that idea is while we’re looking, Lexi could be looking for us, too, since we’re not at the air hockey tables anymore. We could miss each other.”
She gnawed on a thumbnail. “Go back to the air hockey?”
“That’s a good plan, and a smart one, but whenever I have a problem to solve, I try to find someone who knows how to deal with it.”
Sofia’s eyes widened, as if surprised grownups asked for help. “Like the police are supposed to help?”
“Exactly.”
“Lexi is police.”
“She’s also a person.” They reached the counter, and Fish explained he needed to find a missing person. “Do you page?”
“Not our policy. Who are you looking for?”
When Fish described Lexi, the woman’s brows lifted. She’d expected a missing child, Fish surmised. “Do you have surveillance cameras?”
“No, sorry,” the woman said.
Sofia tugged his hand.
“In a minute,” he said.
The woman called two employees to the counter. Both young, but they lacked the bored expressions of kids working solely to pay for their next—whatever it was kids saved their money for these days. Fish described Lexi again, and the two took off.
“What now?” Sofia asked.
“We follow your good idea and wait by the air hockey.” He’d make a phone call to Manny. Fish saw himself being called into Dalton’s office. He hoped it was for a minor, short-term misplacement of the principal, and not losing her entirely.
Sofia tugged his hand again.
“What is it?” He tried to remain upbeat, but as each minute ticked by, his anxiety grew.
***
THE NOISE LEVEL IN the arcade made hearing Dalton impossible. Lexi meandered away, seeking a quieter spot. Marv and Sofia were totally engrossed in their game. Walking backward so as to keep them in sight, she jerked when she bumped into someone. A frazzled dad, trying to ride herd on three youngsters, each pointing in a different direction.
“Sorry,” he said.
She gave him an understanding nod and pulled the phone from her ear to in front of her mouth. “Dalton? It’s too noisy. I’m trying to get somewhere quiet.”
On top of the noise, the connection in here made understanding his response difficult. Sofia and Marv were still battling it out, and Lexi ducked into the glass-enclosed vestibule. When the inner doors closed behind her, she could hear at last.
“Okay, Dalton. What do you need from me?”
Garbled speech, further muffled by crackling reception.
“I didn’t catch that.” She peered into the arcade, but the air hockey table was just out of range. She shifted her position for a better angle and caught a glimpse of Sofia jumping and fist-pumping. Lexi couldn’t help but smile. Had Marv let her win? Given how many times Sofia had trounced Lexi, she thought the kid might have won on her own.
“Come with me, Ms. Becker.” A hand gripped her shoulder.
Lexi stifled a gasp and tried to counteract the man’s hold, but his hand remained firm. He turned her to face him, pinning her between his body and the vestibule wall. Her phone tumbled to the floor.
Tall. Six-two, she estimated. Red-and-black plaid flannel work shirt under a denim, shearling-lined jacket. Knit Portland Trailblazers cap pulled low on his forehead. Sturdy hiking boots below new-looking dark denim jeans.
Sunglasses obscured his eyes, but she knew that mouth. She’d seen it in countless pictures. It usually displayed a broad smile, not the faked friendliness he displayed now. The dead giveaway was the falcon pin on the lapel of his jacket. She seethed at his arrogance.
“Nothing’s going to happen as long as you cooperate,” he said.
She lifted her chin. “Explain.”
“You will abandon your quest to discredit me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His mouth twitched. “Come, come, Ms. Becker. I’m not going to dance around the issue. You know very well what I’m talking about.”
The outer door opened, and a group of people—parents and kids toting brightly wrapped birthday presents—entered the vestibule. John Gunther’s hand returned to her shoulder, his fingers digging in enough so she got the message. Shout out, do anything to call attention to herself, and there would be serious repercussions. She thought of Sofia and Cataline. What did Gunther want that he was willing to show himself?
“Let’s step outside,” he said once the partygoers had passed into the arcade.
She retrieved her phone. Had Dalton heard the exchange? A glance told her the call had been dropped. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He pulled his jacket open enough to reveal a revolver at his hip.
“You wouldn’t shoot anyone here. The cops would be all over this place in a heartbeat and whatever secrets you’re trying to protect would be out in the open.”
“Maybe not here,” he conceded. “But there are plenty of quieter spots where an accident might happen.”
Reluctantly, she followed him outside, where he guided her ten feet from the entrance.
Marv would have noticed her missing by now. She needed to remain calm. In control. Treat John Gunther like any other suspect. Get and keep the upper hand.
Of course, that was easier with your run of the mill creeps. They tended to be puffed with bravado, but deflated quickly when reminded of the consequences of not playing it straight with the cops. John Gunther was anything but a run of the mill creep.
“I trust you to comply,” he said. “For anything to happen to that cute little girl would be a shame.”
With that, he walked away. His stride purposeful, his body carriage confident, he stepped across the sidewalk and slid into a black Escalade waiting at the curb. Not as the driver, but as a passenger. She sensed him taunting her through the tinted windows as the vehicle drove away.
Lexi noted the plate. Merlin 6. Arrogant bastard.
She might not make a scene, not here, not with Sofia around, but if he thought she was going to back off, that she was one of his meek minions, he thought wrong. He was asking for trouble.