SHE KNOCKED ON STRAT’S front door and waited for him to answer. The moment he did, she went inside.
“Where have you been?” she asked, dumping her things on his kitchen counter and raising the Chinese food bag in the air before putting it down too. “I brought dinner.”
“You my mother or my wife?” he asked, yawning. “‘Cause if it’s the second, we should have a conversation about screwing around.”
“Ha-ha,” she said, moving around the kitchen to get plates and flatware. “So I spent most of the day elbow deep in old police files.”
“This Dorsey?” he asked, opening the fridge behind her.
“Yes,” she said. “Reports from the first night of her disappearance are thorough. The cops are called, as you’d expect. They document the scene, no obvious disruption, take statements…”
“From?” he asked, putting an open beer down beside where she dished out food. “Her father and uncle?”
“Everyone.”
Strat grabbed one box and a fork, ignoring the fact she’d just tipped food onto a plate. Oh well, at least she’d only dirtied one.
“And?”
She put the clean plate away. “Not much. No one saw anything, heard anything. No major clues. No extraneous fingerprints or footprints found. No real physical evidence at all… Of course, half the city was in that house before the cops were called.”
“I’m sorta surprised they called the cops at all. They usually keep these things in the family… in a family like that.”
“Right,” she said, taking her plate over to the chair by the window and climbing on, folding her legs under herself. “Except this is a kid in pre-k.”
“And the McDades wanted her back.”
“And not reporting the disappearance looks suspicious later on.”
“So when the school call in officials for this little girl who just vanished…”
“Maybe those officials would take a closer look at the family and their not-so-legitimate practices.”
“Right,” he said, “so they had to call the cops.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“And then what?”
“Then nothing. There’s talk of searches in the surrounding neighborhood. They canvassed neighbors. No one saw anything. No one heard anything.”
“People are trained to say that,” he said. “They know better than to talk to the cops about the McDades.”
“Right.”
“It has to be connected,” he said, forking up some noodles. “It has to be. No way a McDade goes missing and it’s just a coincidence. It has to be connected to the business. No one would take the risk of upsetting the McDades just ‘cause she was pretty. Even kiddie fiddlers value their lives.”
“You’d think…” she said, sliding to the edge of her seat, food perched precariously on her knee. “Except you want to hear the juicy part?” Still chewing, he raised his brows in confirmation. She put her plate on an end table to lean over her folded legs. “They recorded the interviews.”
“Probably so no one could be disappeared later on if the cops reported something the family didn’t like.”
“Maybe,” she said, less interested in the why than the contents themselves. “They talk to Clancy, Dorsey’s dad. Usual questions. Relationship with his daughter. Undue stress. Any enemies…” Strat smiled. “I know, right? So they ask him if there’s anyone else they should talk to. Anyone who’d know more about Dorsey’s life or might be a person of interest…”
She paused.
“And…?”
“This is where it gets interesting. Clancy mentions teachers, nannies, he’s sort of vague, she had this friend and that… Then from absolutely nowhere, want to know what he says?”
“Goddamnit, yes,” he said, stabbing the fork into his food.
“You don’t want to talk to Silvio Manzani,” she said, dropping back in the chair like she’d dropped the microphone.
He frowned. “Wait… What the hell has Manzani got to do with it?”
She threw up her arms in a shrug. “I have no idea! It was totally random.”
“Did they talk to Manzani?” he asked. “Can’t imagine they’d be dumb enough not to take that as a lead on something.”
“I don’t know. After that, everything just fades out. They put the investigation on the back burner. They take almost everyone off the case, reroute personnel, and the media stops following the story.”
“That’s weird.”
“I know.”
“You want to talk to someone non-official.”
“Not a cop or a reporter,” she said, “someone who’d have known what was going on at the time.”
“On the street,” Strat said. “Yeah. Someone knows something. I always figured they did. Maybe I should’ve paid attention to the gossip… There’s always talk, even if guys don’t know what actually went down.”
“Rumors, whispers, speculation,” she said. “That’s what I thought too. We need a common denominator. Someone who’d know both families. Do work for the McDades and Manzanis. They’d be most reliable, right? To hear it from both sides?”
“I work for both of them. I mean, I have, used to. Not anymore.”
“Yeah, but you’ve just admitted you don’t pay attention. I need someone who did. Any suggestions?”
“Most guys I knew in the old days are dead or in jail…” Epiphany hit his expression. “Jail…”
“What?”
“You know what happened around that time?”
“What?” she asked, understanding his earlier impatient infuriation. “Tell me.”
“Hell Manzani went down for murder.”
“Helios?” she asked. “Evander’s big brother? He’s been in for… twenty years or something.” Strat’s eyes met hers. She gasped and grabbed the arms of the chair to bounce her ass to the edge again. “Twenty years! Dorsey’s been missing for twenty years!”
A light bulb moment lit her friend’s eyes. “I can’t tell you if the two are related, but there’s only one person anyone goes to in this city if they’ve lost something.”
“Someone who? You think maybe Clancy went to him about Dorsey?”
“Nah,” he said, “this guy’s a kid, thirty-something max. He wouldn’t have been around back then. But if you want to track down Clancy, he’d do it. He’d be the only one capable. The only sane one capable anyway.”
“Sane?”
“Anyone ever mentions the Huntsmen, turn and run, if you value your life, or anyone else’s,” Strat said. “They’re insane and you need sane.” Yeah, because there was enough insanity in her life already. “Guy called Quest is your best bet.”
Subtle. Was that his actual name or a nickname? Knowing the city, it was probably the latter.
“How does he work?” she asked.
“I don’t know how he does what he does, just that he’s known for his perfect record.”
“He always succeeds?”
“If you believe word on the street.”
Which meant it was a hundred percent true or a hundred percent bullshit, no in between.
“Couldn’t hurt to talk to him,” she said, standing up. “Where can I find him?”
“Nowhere at this time,” he said, eyeing her while eating.
“It’s not that late.”
“Your security team sure? You might not want to rock up to his place with them. Showing up with heavies puts people on guard.”
“You’re my security team,” she said. “You didn’t care I was unprotected all day.”
All things considered, the day had been uneventful. Any day that didn’t include a visit from Evander was a good one in her book.
His brow descended as he put the food box aside. “I got a text I wasn’t needed, figured Ire stepped up your security after his showdown with Vex. You know, got you the best.”
She shook her head. “I woke up alone and there was no one outside.” No one inside blocking her exit either, which Connel was capable of if he wanted her to stay put. “Last night, Connel denied all knowledge of what happened to Evander.”
“And you believe him?”
“No, of course not, but it’s protection. He’s protecting me.” So she wasn’t forced into an awkward position with her father. Something she may have said was impossible before their staircase meeting. “I guess whatever happened, he’s confident Evander got the message.”
“Ire might be confident, but you know better,” he said. “One skirmish won’t get it through Vex’s thick skull. You can’t think otherwise after seven years.” He was right. “Take tonight off, Scamp. I’ll track down the tracker for you tomorrow.”
“I have to write tomorrow. Update my timeline.” Though she’d have to find it first. “I need to order my thoughts and list my unanswered questions. You think Conn will let me interview him?”
“Yeah, ‘cause that wouldn’t be weird,” he said and shrugged. “I don’t know. You know him better than I do… and have ways of persuading him.”
“Right.”
Which would cross the ethical boundary she was currently straddling, swaying this way and that. Sexual favors would make it wrong. Connel liked wrong. He’d be more inclined to agree if it was naughty.
Just as a frisson of awakening tempted her hormones, memories of the previous night cooled them fast. She didn’t want to fight and didn’t want to ask what happened. Yet she also didn’t want to fall into bed with him like he hadn’t just confused the hell out of her. They were great. Had been great. All weekend. Until he’d spun a one-eighty and taken up with other women right in front of her. Without inviting her. Not that she wanted to participate, but it was supposed to be the thought that counted, right?
“Want me to give you a ride over there?” Strat asked.
“No, I’m skipping Stag tonight.” If she didn’t have security on the street, Connel had his reasons for believing the trouble was over. “I’ll grab a cab home.”
“Why don’t you stay here?”
“Here?”
“You have faith in your boyfriend, great. I don’t. Vex’s in the hospital now—”
“He’s still in the hospital?”
“Yeah, he got into some riot with an orderly or something, tore his stitches, opened the wound… I don’t know what, but he’ll be in the next couple of days. My point was, his people aren’t cooped up in a hospital bed. If they want to strike at you for causing this feud…”
“I didn’t cause anything.”
“Your apartment is the first place they’ll look. I don’t know why you’re avoiding the boyfriend tonight, and I don’t wanna know. I also don’t want you hurt. We’ll get a movie, finish the beer, and I’ll take the couch.”
Strat’s place was safe and warm and didn’t involve traipsing across the city.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll stay.”
“Good,” he said on a nod. “Now go get more beer out the fridge ‘cause mine’s empty.”
They shared a smile. Strat cared. More than her own father. Her friend wanted her safe, happy, healthy. He’d become her rock. She couldn’t even be as honest with Lachlan as she could Strat.
She valued him, their friendship, and would have to find a way to show him her appreciation for his support. Another thing to add to the to-do list.