It wasn’t the first time I wanted to hit Moves. His obstinate habit of saying whatever was on his mind and oversimplifying every situation drove me crazy.
“There is no winning,” I growled. “Not for me.”
“Call me a hopeless romantic,” Moves said, raising his hands in the air. “But I really believed in you two.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped. “It was all a lie, everything she did was so she could sniff for dirt on me and my brothers.”
“Are you sure?” Moves said.
I gaped at him. I could not believe he was siding with Claire.
“Would you be so casual about it if you were in my shoes?” I asked. “If you found out the woman you were with had a whole other agenda.”
“Of course not,” Moves said. “And I’m with you, it’s just a lot to take in.”
I sighed. “A lot to take in” was the understatement of the year.
“I’m not saying you should take her back or forgive her or whatever,” Moves said. “I’m just saying that giving her the relevant information would be a good way to end this whole shitshow quickly. Then you can move on.”
The idea of moving on seemed so ludicrous to me that I almost laughed aloud. Moves had a point though. If we moved against Las Balas, it wouldn’t be pretty. But if we pushed Claire and her contacts to move against them, those teens actually stood a chance.
“I know she hurt you,” Moves said. “And I hate that you had to go through this, but maybe you need to deal with this first, and then we can get drunk, ok?”
I managed a small laugh at that. Moves always had a plan, even if it was flimsy. “I’ll call her.”
The phone rang out. It wasn’t surprising, but something didn’t sit right. Of course, I had left her furious and crying, so it made sense that she wouldn’t pick up. I told myself that as I typed out a text:
We need to talk about your investigation.
Moves and I are pretty sure we know where the missing kids are.
It was a pretty measly message, considering everything that had gone down. Yet I didn’t know what else to say. I longed to apologize for what I had said earlier, but my pride wouldn’t let me. And no matter what, I couldn’t apologize over text. Moves was right, I had to deal with the most pressing issue first.
Five minutes later, Claire had not responded to the message.
“Something’s off,” I muttered.
“What do you mean?” Moves said. “Give her some time.”
He was lounging in a chair and playing on his own phone. I couldn’t stop walking back and forth. “You don’t understand. Claire – she’s obsessed with this case, she would have responded by now, if just for the information.”
Moves looked up. “She could be in the shower.”
I couldn’t even respond to his weak attempt to come up with an excuse.
“Maybe I should go to her place,” I muttered.
Moves was about to answer when we heard footsteps pounding across the barroom. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal Kim, her helmet under her arm. She was breathing heavy.
“Thank God you’re here,” she said. “I need back-up, Claire’s in trouble.”
My heart stopped. Moves was on his feet and grabbing his helmet and jacket in an instant.
“What happened?” My voice was cold and foreign. It didn’t sound like it belonged to me.
“Not sure, but she’s been on a case, and she went into Las Balas territory tonight,” Kim said. “She told her partner she was headed to Fisherman’s Wharf and left my number just in case, but her partner called me to say Claire hasn’t responded to her texts in almost twenty minutes.”
All in a rush, my heart started pounding again. If Claire had walked into Fisherman’s Wharf, that meant she was a few steps ahead of us. Somehow she had figured out that Las Balas were behind this.
