Chapter 21

As she predicted, Autumn had no problem getting into the club without shoes. Neither the cashier nor the bouncer so much as looked at their feet, though a man without a shirt was refused entry. “I told you so.” Autumn winked at Bret, and not for the first time he wondered what she’d thought about his exit last night. At the first chance, he should probably talk to her.

Probably. He was nervous about it, though, because he didn’t know how he felt about her. She was attractive and fun, and he didn’t mind her kookiness in the least, even if it might be hard to take her skiing. Did she wear shoes in the winter? Of course, the added bonus to a relationship with Autumn was that Christian didn’t stand between them.

“Let’s spread out,” Autumn suggested.

Bret drifted through the aromas of body odor and perfume that wasn’t altogether unpleasant. It seemed to come in waves, with one fragrance being stronger than the other for brief instances. People gyrated on the dance floor to the music, while others lined the walls, standing or sitting at tables with cups in their hands. The men ignored him as intently as the women seemed to watch him, their smiles inviting.

He quickly lost sight of Tawnia and Autumn, but after checking out the two largest rooms, he spotted Tawnia talking to a man on the far side. She was shaking her head and showing him the drawing. She walked away from the man, whose gaze followed her until she left the room.

Bret went back to work. He searched each face he passed, without success. Either the mysterious Sheree hadn’t arrived yet, or she looked far different from the drawing. Tawnia had disappeared entirely, but he came across Autumn at the bar showing the drawing. She motioned for him to approach.

“That bartender there says she comes in every weekend, sometimes twice, but he didn’t work last night and doesn’t know if she was here.” She’d barely finished the words when her left arm shot out and grabbed his. “Don’t turn around! Tawnia’s over there, and she just signaled me. Let’s drift apart and see if we can find the girl.”

Bret spied Tawnia, who was moving slowly toward the door. He followed her at a distance. In the first room, he saw the girl in the drawing standing by a friend. Her blonde hair reached halfway down her back, thick and long enough for three women her size. It was her only true beauty because her face was plain under the heavy makeup, and her short figure was sturdy and straight, as though she could hardly be bothered with a waist. The plunging neckline of her blouse did little to enhance her lack of curves. Bret nodded at Tawnia to signal that he’d seen her.

Tawnia came toward him. “Ask her to dance,” she whispered as she passed. “Then find out where she lives. Maybe ask her for a date tomorrow.”

Right. Easy for her to say. Why didn’t women realize how hard it was to ask a woman to dance, much less out on a date? Then again, maybe it was only difficult for him. Christian had never had a problem with it.

Christian bumped his shoulder. “Which one do you want to ask?”

“That girl with the dark hair. She’s really pretty.”

“Then go talk to her. Go on.”

“What if she says no?” Truth was, Bret had been far too busy with his college studies to attend any clubs in the past years. In fact, he hadn’t been to a dance since high school. He’d only come tonight because Christian had teased him into it.

“So what?” Christian said. “Then ask another one. There are millions of women in the world. That’s what makes it so much fun.”

Bret blew out his breath as he approached. Up close he could see the girl was wearing a lot of makeup, looking more like a child who had rummaged through her mother’s things than a woman in her own right. Like half the women at the club, her jeans were so low and form-fitting that her stomach puckered out over the waistband.

She glanced at him, and he began looking for the signs. If she walked away or turned her head, that meant they would have to come up with another plan. But she stared at him boldly, taking in his slacks and rolled-up sleeves with a whisper to her friend. She didn’t turn away.

“Want to dance?” He doubted she could hear him over the music, but she smiled and nodded.

The friend, a lovely dark-skinned girl with straightened hair, gave them a smile and flounced away, her hips weaving a path through the growing crowd.

Only when they reached the dance floor, did he realize how out of practice he was. The girl was shaking and moving all over the place like the young thing she was, and suddenly he felt every one of his thirty-five years. She couldn’t be more than twenty, if that. There was a whole lifetime separating them. She didn’t seem to mind, and neither did any of the other mismatched couples who were also dancing, but he was uncomfortable. What was this music, anyway? Something a bunch of gangsters threw together in their basement? There didn’t seem to be any words he could understand.

He caught sight of Tawnia and Autumn at the edge of the dancers. Autumn was dancing alone with fluid motions and seemed to be enjoying herself. Tawnia’s head bobbed in time to the beat, but she was pointing to her mouth, obviously wanting him to talk to the girl. How could he do that? He couldn’t even hear his own voice.

As he leaned toward her, a lock of her hair whipped over his mouth. The taste was awful. Probably hair spray or whatever women used these days. She stopped moving and swayed closer to him, her limbs brushing against him.

“So, what’s your name?” he yelled. “I’m, uh, Christian.” If she somehow did know Robert, she might have heard his name before.

“Sheree.” She looked at him with lowered lashes, a provocative look, he assumed, but it only made him uneasy.

“Where you from?”

“Portland.” She didn’t ask where he was from, which was just as well because he’d have to make something up.

“Whereabouts?” He hesitated a second before adding. “I mean, I’d like to call you. Or maybe we could go out. I could come over tomorrow.” Would she see right through him? In his world this approach was far too fast. Maybe she’d slap him or walk away.

She laughed and put her arms up around his neck, still moving back and forth to the beat. He smiled. Her hand pulled his head down to her mouth. “What’s wrong with tonight?” she breathed into his ear.

Bret looked toward Tawnia and Autumn, who were laughing aloud. Then he stiffened as he saw who was behind them, searching the dance floor with frantic sweeps of her head.

Noreen. Robert’s sister.

He guided Sheree behind some other dancers. “I have to go somewhere later,” he said. “In fact, I was thinking about leaving when I saw you.” He found his PDA in the pocket of his pants where he’d shoved it before leaving the car. “Well? Where do you live?” He hoped she wouldn’t give him just her number, which was really the sane thing to do. What if he was a serial rapist or something?

Sheree looked at the PDA and laughed. “You must be okay. I’ve never seen anyone here with one of those before.” She opened her mouth to say more, but Noreen appeared out of nowhere. She grabbed Sheree, screaming something in her ear. Sheree’s eyes widened a second before the two women ran.

Bret followed, hoping Tawnia and Autumn had seen what happened. He weaved through the dancers, occasionally losing sight of the women, but always finding them again. They were heading to the exit, running full speed now, ignoring the cursing that followed them as they plowed into people. The women ran past the surprised cashier and bouncer, and Bret followed more sedately, trying to hurry without appearing to do so. Once in the open, he was sure he could overtake them. Or at least follow them to their destination.

By the time he was outside, they had separated, and only Noreen was in sight. Bret veered off toward her, ducking behind cars to hide. Where had the other woman gone?

Noreen kept looking behind her, but she was moving slower now, obviously not aware that he was following. She went down the line of parked cars that had overflowed from the club’s lot. She found her keys and pressed the switch. Bret took that moment to come out from behind the cars.

“Wait, Noreen. Please!”

She lunged for her door, dragging it open.

“Wait,” he called again. “I just want to know where Robert is. Please. Maybe I can help!”

She hesitated. “He didn’t do it! I swear!”

“You knew the woman in the drawing. I bet you both did.” Bret approached her car, slowly, but keeping it between them so she would feel safe enough to talk.

“He doesn’t know anything about the explosives. Nothing! We just wanted to teach Hanks a lesson. We didn’t—” She broke off, her face marked with misery. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.”

“Then let me help you! Don’t you see that Robert’s disappearing is just making him look guilty? The police are going to catch up with your friend eventually—you saw the drawing—and when they do, they’ll get to the bottom of what happened. People died, Noreen. A lot of people. If Robert’s not responsible, he has to come forward with what he knows before
anything like this happens again.”

“He didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.” Her voice was a plea.

“I can help, Noreen. Where is he?”

“He’s at a hotel. We didn’t know where else he could go.”

“Take me to him. I don’t believe for a minute he meant to hurt anyone, but he needs to tell me what happened.”

“Okay.”

“I just need to get my car, all right?” Bret didn’t dare leave Noreen in fear that she’d make a run for it, but driving with her didn’t seem like such a good idea either. He still didn’t know how much he could trust her. “Come with me to get my car. Okay? I’m not too far from here, and then I’ll drive you back and follow you over.”

“All right.”

He took out his phone as they began walking, as far apart from each other as was possible on the sidewalk. “I’m going to call the friends I came with and tell them I’m leaving. That I’ll be back to pick them up. Is that okay?”

When Noreen agreed, Brett dialed Tawnia’s number.

“Hello?” the word could barely be heard over the music.

“I’m with Noreen,” he said.

“Good, because we found Sheree again. She came back inside after you left. She’s sitting at a table now. Looking around a bit but apparently not too concerned.”

That was surprising. “Okay, you keep an eye on her, but don’t do anything that might be dangerous. We still don’t know how she’s connected to all this.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going to see Robert. Noreen said she’ll take me to the hotel where he’s staying.”

“Are you sure you should go? That doesn’t sound safe.”

“I’ve worked with the guy all week. He might have a grudge against Hanks, but I’d lay bets he isn’t a murderer.” Bret glanced at Noreen and saw she was listening. He hoped he was right, but there was always the possibility that he was horribly wrong. Noreen had turned out to be a pretty good liar after all.

“He could be working with someone,” Tawnia said. “Besides his sister, I mean.”

“That’s what I’m going to find out.”

“If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’m calling the police.”

Bret smiled. “So you do care.”

And, probably to show him just how much she did, Tawnia promptly hung up.