She laughed, dropped the blanket, and pulled the dress over her head. “Oh, I didn’t tell you about Paula.”
Graham stood and put his phone back in his pocket. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Later. Right now, I need to focus on catching that bastard. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay. And, Graham, if you find Pete tonight, give him hell.”
He nodded, gave a small wave, and walked out the door. He’d be giving Pete Bogart hell alright. For kidnapping three innocent girls, for using Mickey as a pawn in his sick game, and for giving him blue balls for the second night in a row.
19
“Have I ever told you two how much I love salsa?” Allison asked as she dipped a tortilla chip in the bowl of salsa sitting in the middle of the table.
Uneasiness pitched back and forth in Mickey’s stomach like a sailboat in a storm. She glanced around her as her friends enjoyed their dinners. People of every age, color, and gender walked by their table. Mickey searched all of their faces, silently willing Pete to walk by. She hadn’t heard anything from Graham since he’d left the hotel. She assumed Pete hadn’t been found.
“Are you going to eat?” Vanessa asked. Her gentle tone matched a mother speaking to a child.
Mickey forced a smile and shrugged. “I’m not hungry.”
“You’ve had a hell of a week, but you really should eat,” Allison said.
Mickey picked up a taco, took one bite, and set it back down.
Allison chuckled and poured herself another margarita from the pitcher that sat on their table. She took a sip and set her glass down, her features turning serious. “Have you talked to Suzi?”
Mickey shook her head. She’d been too nervous to reach back out to her, fearing the rejection. Maybe she could have Grahamcall and tell Suzi he believed she wasn’t involved. But would it even matter? She was still the one who had brought Pete into their lives. Tears sprang to her eyes and she dabbed them away with her cheap cloth napkin.
Vanessa reached out and grabbed her hand. “Are you okay?”
She drew in a shuddering breath and sniffed back a sob. Falling apart in the middle of Fifth Avenue wasn’t an option. “I’m fine, just tired. I’m going to head back to the hotel.”
Allison and Vanessa wore matching expressions of concern. Mouths drawn down at the corners, eyebrows dipped together in the center. “We’ll go with you. Let me get the check,” Allison said.
“No, don’t do that. You two stay out and have fun. We’re only here for two nights.” Pushing her chair back from the table, she stood and put some money down. “I’ll get a good night’s sleep and be well rested in the morning.”
“Are you sure? Do you want us to at least walk you back to the hotel?” Vanessa asked.
“I can see the top of our hotel from here. I think I’ll be fine.” Leaning down, she pressed a quick kiss to Allison and then Vanessa’s cheeks. “I’ll see you both poolside in the morning.”
Neither Allison nor Vanessa looked convinced, but she pushed their worried expressions from her mind as she walked toward the hotel. She hated to admit it, but she needed to get away from them. She hadn’t told them the full story about Pete, or Suzi’s reaction to her when she’d tried to explain. Hell, she hadn’t even told them about Graham. Everything had happened so fast, and retelling the whole story to more people made her feel worse, not better.
But Lydia knew. She’d head back to the hotel, put on her pajamas, and call Lydia. She needed to fill her in on what had happened with Graham the last couple of nights anyway. At least she had one bright spot in her life right now.
Trumpets and guitars mixed together, blasting mariachi music from restaurants and bars as she walked past. Streams of people passed by, and Mickey caught herself staring into face after face, searching for the hazel eyes and light brown hair that had become so familiar to her over the past few months.
A flash of blue streaked by her peripheral vision at the same moment the scent of a familiar cologne and sweat seeped into her senses. She spun to the side, her eyes searching the blue hat that had caught her attention. Standing on her tiptoes, she craned her neck and peered over the crowd. A man with a Chicago Cubs baseball hat lurked down the alley veering away from the main street.
Pete!
Every instinct in her body screamed at her to run. To go back to the hotel, call Graham, and stay far away from whatever trouble Pete was looking for. But what if he’d lead her to Becca? She couldn’t risk waiting for Graham and then losing him.
Turning in the direction Pete had gone, she grabbed her phone out of her purse and dialed Graham. She picked up her pace, struggling to weave through the throng of people.
“Hey, Mickey. What’s up?” Graham asked when he answered the phone.
“I think I see Pete. I was heading back to the hotel when I noticed a man with his build wearing a Cubs hat. He’s heading down a side street, traveling away from the ocean.” Her breathing picked up the faster she moved and her heart pounded in her chest.
“Where are you?” Graham’s voice was gruff, his words coming out fast.
She glanced around. The music and laughter of Fifth Avenue faded behind her, replaced by rapidly spoken Spanish inside tiny houses and crickets singing into the warm night air. “I don’tknow. I turned down some street a block or two away from my hotel. East of my hotel.”
