“No. We’ll drive by, get a feel for it, go in tomorrow night.”
“Good. I definitely need a shower and a change of clothes.”
“Yeah, me, too. In the meantime, I need to talk to Tabby, see who owns the place, get as much info as we can.”
Jase set the nav system for the address Jax had given him. The club was jumping as he cruised past, a line of patrons out the door and halfway down the block. The customers were expensively dressed, a crowd of twenty- and thirtysomethings with plenty of money to spend.
Tomorrow night he’d pay the club a visit, see what he could find out. He was sure Kate would demand to go with him. Which in this case would be good. A couple would blend in better than him going by himself.
Jase sighed into the quiet inside the Yukon. At least the club wasn’t in Old East Dallas—and it was a whole lot classier than Mean Jack’s.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
By nightfall, they were back in Dallas—but still on Los Besos’ hit list. Which meant returning to their homes wasn’t an option. Of course they couldn’t stay in hiding forever, but they were making progress—or at least Jase believed they were.
Fortunately, Reese planned to be in Houston for another week and had volunteered the use of his recently purchased penthouse condominium. His ex-wife had gotten his fancy Bluffview home as part of the divorce settlement, which Reese didn’t seem to mind.
Jase didn’t think their marriage had ever been a passionate love match, more a practical financial arrangement, since Sandra Montgomery Garrett’s family was Dallas elite, same as Reese’s.
“Wow, this is some place,” Kate said as they carried their bags out of the private elevator and set them down in the entry. Lots of glass and polished dark wood floors, a sleekly modern high-ceilinged interior done in cream with gold and aqua accents. “It was really nice of Reese to let us use it.”
“He’s a great guy.”
Kate flicked him a glance. “Funny, he said the same about you.”
Good to know Reese was trying to help him out. He wondered if his friend actually believed there could be some kind of future for him and Kate.
Instead of a reply, Jase grabbed Kate’s rolling carry-on, tossed his heavy gear bag over his shoulder and led her down the hall toward the bedrooms in the guest wing. He went into one of the bedrooms, tossed his bag up on the king-size bed.
They’d been sleeping together since the night of the failed stakeout at the truck stop. He knew it wasn’t smart, that it would only make things harder on both of them when it was over, but being the selfish bastard he was, he wasn’t giving her up until he had to.
“This work for you?” he asked.
Her chin tipped up. “I like sleeping with you, Jason. I like the way you make me feel. So yes. If it works for you, it works for me.”
Something squeezed hard in his chest. He wanted to tell her that having her in his bed definitely worked for him, that he liked sleeping beside her, liked everything about her. He wanted to say that if things were different, he wouldn’t let her go.
Kate went to work unpacking the few belongings she had brought with her, setting her toiletries in the bathroom while Jase phoned Tabby.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Hawk, I was about to text you. Did you get those bios I sent on Schram and Wiedel?”
“Things have been a little hectic, Tab. I’ll take a look at them as soon as we get off the phone.”
“On the surface, they both look clean. I can go deeper if you want.”
“There’s something I need more. According to my latest info, there are at least two more massage parlors in the Houston area linked to the Paradise that are running women. At least one of them may be selling underage girls. I need the names and addresses.”
“I’ll take a look, see if I can connect the dots.”
“Great. Also, I got a lead on a nightclub here in Dallas called the Blue Bayou. Upscale nightclub on Elm Street. It’s also connected in some way. I’m not sure how. Kate and I are heading over there tomorrow night. Anything you can come up with before we go in would really help.”
“I’ll get back to you.” Tabby ended the call.
Jase went into the kitchen, which was a gourmet chef’s dream. He set up his laptop on the modern dark wood kitchen table and brought up his email, checked out the bios Tabby had sent on Schram and Wiedel, who apparently were big real estate developers. One of their corporate entities owned the building that housed Paradise Massage, but real estate was real estate—didn’t mean they were involved in human trafficking.
In the meantime, he went online to check out the Blue Bayou, which appeared to be one of the hottest, most lavish clubs in town. Under different circumstances, he would have enjoyed taking Kate.
The way things were now, he’d be worried about keeping her alive.
