“It did. I didn’t want to tell you without proof.”
“Oh God.” She spluttered, starting and stopping her sentence a few times. “That’s incredible. All along, Darcy was here in the warehouse? I mean Dixie. We should call her by the nameshe picked, right? I don’t know her, but Convict does. They’re friends.”
Though he was talking to his sister, Kane kept his heavy gaze on me. “Will you tell him?”
“Of course I will. He’s right here next to me. He can hear my every word. I’m putting you on loudspeaker.” She spoke to her boyfriend, then the line sound changed, his astounded voice joining the conversation.
“Dixie who works here? She’s Mila’s sister?”
Kane confirmed it to further exclamations that took the same path I had days ago. Shock, disbelief, then concern.
I pictured Mila and Convict in the warehouse, the clubs open and the staff, crew, and dancers going about their work. The brothel on the fifth floor didn’t ever close, and the sex workers took shifts all night. Dixie had done that.
From being born an heiress like Mila, I couldn’t imagine what she’d been through to get to that place.
“I wish I’d met her. What’s she like?” Mila asked.
Convict answered his girlfriend. “Wry, funny, sweet. She’s the only person who knew my amnesia hadn’t gone, and that was because she guessed. She helped me out.”
“So we can add perceptive and kind to that list,” she replied.
Convict agreed. “She’s so like you, it’s obvious now.”
Mila’s voice turned dejected. “Yet she’s gone, isn’t she?”
He confirmed it. “No one’s seen her in a couple of weeks.”
Kane added, “Her home is empty and abandoned. She’s run.”
A pause followed, broken by Mila.
“So she’s missing? It has to be connected to the family business, doesn’t it? That can’t be a coincidence. Does anyone else know?”
Kane tilted his head in question. Silent until this point, I’d finished putting ointment on his hand and was searching for plasters. I nodded to give permission.
“I told Lovelyn. I’m with her now.” His eyes twinkled. “She’s going to help us find her.”
The rat bastard.
As neat as a pin, he’d trapped me by my own request. I was always going after Dixie, but now Mila would have the expectation that I’d be doing it alongside Kane. I wouldn’t refuse. Which he well knew.
“I’m here,” I said. “I believe she’s in hiding rather than missing. I have a starting point of where to search, but it’s outside of the city.”
Mila’s voice sounded small. “I’m so glad you’re in this. That makes me feel so much better. She’s out there all alone.”
“We need to help. What can we do?” Convict asked.
I considered the request. There were gaps in my information now I was certain of her identity. “We need to know more about her time with the skeleton crew. When did she start working at the warehouse? Where did she come from? Who found her or took her on? Interview anyone who was there in her first weeks. Anyone who knew her well enough to have discussed previous employment. We need clues.”
I’d already asked around but had been focused on her life now and where she might be, not on her past. That felt all the more vital.
Convict agreed, the sounds of movement suggesting he was getting straight to his task.
Mila came back on the line. “Cassie will want to know. In fact, all the skeleton girls should be told. She’s one of us.”
Convict agreed. “Arran, too. In fact, does he even know that you’re out on this hunt, Kane?”
I answered for him. “Kane is currently gnashing his teeth.”
