“TALK TOme.” I breathed heavily into my phone as I shortened my stride, rolling my neck back and forth to allow the tension to drain from me.
“You okay, man?” Carson asked. “Did I catch you in the middle of something?”
“Just taking a run, blowing off steam. It’s a little early for you, isn’t it?” I glanced at my watch, coming to a full stop.
“I’m working a case up in Philly, staying at my old place, so I’m on Eastern time. Every goddamn time I come back, I think I’ll love batching it for a few days, but it actually sucks. That’s why I’m freaking awake and thinking about how I gotta help you find a slice of the happiness pie, Mike.”
“Yeah, yeah. What the hell you got for me, Carson?”
I’d been running for over an hour. My lungs and legs were burning, and I needed a break. With the early morning Saturday sunrise gliding upward and strengthening, the golden glow beating down on my scalp and sweat dripping down my neck, I plopped down on one of the benches lining the beach pathway.
Carson chuckled. “A little early for you to be breaking a sweat unless you’re in bed, isn’t it?”
The tide was coming in, but I could barely hear the waves crashing over my own racing heartbeat. And it wasn’t the run that was making it speed up.
“Not now, man, cut the crap. I’m batshit tired. Haven’t been sleeping, and I got to work the tension off somehow. Tell me, do you have anything for me?” I asked him again, straightening my legs in front of me, shaking them out.
“A whole lot of bullshit, my friend. Her social’s right, matches up with her full name, Lynx Whisper Bennett. You got all that right in your snooping. Shows Nat’s old apartment down in Florida as her last residence. Also shows her living in Vegas before that with Trish, next door to Nat. Before that, everything is a bit foggy. Her mom moved a lot, didn’t always register her for school. Looks like Mom worked a bunch of cash-only jobs. Lynx’s connection with Natalie is the most consistent piece of information, other than one private cell number she kept in frequent contact with down there. Area code is 305, so Miami.”
“Fuckbefore, Carson. The number’s probably her pimp. Give me what happenedafter, after she left Miami, and where the hell she went, dude.”
I shouldn’t be a dick since he was the only friend willing to help me. As an ex-FBI agent, Carson was putting his neck on the line for me, and I was trying to control how deeply he got involved. I wasn’t sure how far his wife, Lila, was going to support me in this game of hide-and-seek, but I needed to find Lynx like I needed a shower.
Badly.
“Well, that’s the part that’s all wrapped up nice and tight in bureaucratic red tape, my man. The after.”
“What the fuck?” I slammed my hand into the bench, the impact reverberating through my bones.
“My guy saysno way. He doesn’t have clearance to access the information, and he’s got elevated status. Somebody pretty damn high up has shit sealed tight. I’m going to have to keep climbing the ladder and doling out chits, but it’s no problem. I know who to ask. I got this.”
“Shit, I didn’t mean to rope you in like this.” I sighed, regret joining the sweat seeping from my pores.
Carson’s voice hardened. “Mike, did you keep Lila safe when no one else did? You nodding? Right, so shut your trap. I’m going to do every fucking thing I can.”
The sound of a motorcycle turning over came through the phone.
“Sounds like you do enjoy parts of being alone in Philly. Taking a ride?” I ran a hand over my forehead and behind my head, sending beads of sweat flying.
I could be happy for my friend. I wasn’t that fucking callous.
“Ha! Don’t say anything. I got a little time and thought I’d take advantage of it. Don’t mention it to Lila, okay? She’s got enough pregnancy hormones running through her as it is.”
“Of course,” I said, assuring him his secret was safe with me.
I stood and paced around the narrow bench, unable to control the emotions twisting and turning through my veins. I could have probably run another seven or eight miles just to burn off my tension, but I had to get back home. To the warm body in my bed, even though my head and heart were with another woman who was turning out to be a ghost.
God, I’m messed up. A rat-fucking bastard.
“Look, I know you feel indebted to me, or some shit like that,” I said to Carson. “But don’t let Lila get upset over this. You got a wife and kid now, man, and another one on the way. They got to come first.”
I took in the vacant lot in front of me, the sun casting a faint orange tinge on the debris, and also casting shadows on a pipe dream of mine . . . a dream Asher and I shared. We had bulldozed the old piece-of-crap building that had been here to make room for our new boutique hotel—all part of my plan to make myself a decent man.
An honorable, stand-up man worthy of Lynx when I get her back.
Carson’s voice turned serious. “Dude, I know what I’m doing. We’re going to find her and bring her back. Okay?”
“Yeah.” I turned and headed back toward the bay and the high-rise condo I kept near the club.
