“Glad someone thought to give me the heads up,” I said, but no one acknowledged me. Instead, West splayed out on my couch, propping his feet up on the matching ottoman.
“I was hoping you’d want to grab dinner,” he said.
“I’m down.” I had a bad habit of tuning out my body whenever I got caught up in something online, and I hadn’t even noticed I was hungry until West mentioned food. Now my stomach growled like it had been starving for hours.
“Same,” Regan said.
“Only if you pay for yourself,” Ruby warned, lingering behind the couch.
Regan pouted and draped her head over the back of the seat. “Can’t you take pity on your poor, broke, unemployed sister?”
“That worked when you were a college student, but not anymore,” Ruby said.
West laughed. “Nice try, kid.”
“Mexican?” I asked, standing and brushing the wrinkles out of my pants.
Ruby rolled her eyes. “You always pick that place.”
“It’s delicious and it’s down the street.” I didn’t mention that I’d just gotten lunch from there the other day. I had my favorite spots, and I liked knowing exactly what to expect when I went out to eat. Trying somewhere new was a risk.
“Fine with me,” West said.
“Let me just tell the guys I have to run. Regan interrupted me.”
“Are you working on Hazel’s thing?” Ruby asked, eyes shining with interest. “She seemed kind of down at work yesterday. I wanted to ask, but I was slammed with clients.”
My chest tightened.
She seemed down? I hated that.
We obviously weren’t any closer to figuring this out, but I thought she was at least a little bit more optimistic. She came across that way over text, anyway.
“Any leads?” West asked.
I chewed on the inside of my lip, biting back a laugh just thinking about the stakeout. “Um, not really. She thought it might be her old boss but…it didn’t pan out.”
“Shoot. And there’s no one else you can look into?” Ruby asked.
“Unfortunately, not yet.” Which was killing me. We’d just started, and I definitely wasn’t an expert in these matters, but I still thought I’d have more ideas by now. It was definitely anamateur; the perpetrator couldn’t be that slick. They must have left clues, and made mistakes.
“There’s a camera pointing to her courtyard. I was hoping to get access to the videos, but so far, no luck.”
“Does she have a doorman?” Regan asked.
“It’s not that kind of apartment complex.” But as I said it, I realized that there actually had to be a leasing office somewhere on the property. I’d noticed the call button when I’d buzzed Hazel’s unit the other day. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to help, but getting in front of a real person was usually better than dealing with a call center.
I shot a text to Hazel.
Reid: I have an idea.
“Come on, put your phone away and let’s go,” West said, clapping my shoulder. I shot off another message to the mobile version of the sleuthing group chat before silencing my ringer.
Ruby and Regan piled into their respective cars, and I slid into the passenger side of West’s. If they were going to ambush me, the least one of them could do was give me a ride.
“How are you doing?” he asked before we even pulled out of the driveway.
“I’m fine.” My senses tingled, alerting me that something about his question was off.
