I close my eyes and try to doze, but my ringing cell phone shatters the quiet and makes me wince. My migraine might mostly be gone, but everything is still sensitive.
I don’t have the energy to talk to Keifer or Ursula, but if I don’t answer, they’ll just call back. They know I had another migraine, so they’ll worry because they know the sedative effects of my medication should have worn off by now.
I answer, keeping my eyes closed. “Speak quietly and speak fast.”
“She’s alive,” Keifer jokes.
“The point of your call?”
“Oh, she’s snarky,” Ursula pipes in.
Great. Just great. I’ve got both of them on the line.
“That’s a good sign that she’s recovering,” she says.
“If you two called only to talk about me like I’m not here, then I’d like to go.”
“A-ta-tude, young lady.”
“Stuff it, Keif,” I snap, then wince. “Seriously, what do you want?”
“Besides the obvious, that we’re checking in on you about your migraine?”
There’s something in his tone that makes me open my eyes and sit up slowly. “Yeah. Besides the obvious.”
“Sorry, Leeva,” Ursula mumbles.
“I want to know why the hell I was left out of the circle of trust,” he complains.
Oh, no.
“Urs…”
“I’m sorry, Leeva. I had to tell him.”
“Why the hell would you have to tell him?” I croak out, my brain trying to piece things together because I’m clearly missing something.
There’s no reason why Ursula should have had to tell Keifer that I went to a sex club.
Oh god. Mortification fills me, and my cheeks flush like I’m either having a menopausal hot flash or I’ve been doused in embarrassment. Since I’m thirty-two, menopause is unlikely.
“Because…” she trails off, then curses. “Wait. You don’t know, do you?”
I push my embarrassment away and focus on what she said. “Know what?”
“That club you got a membership at was raided because of sex trafficking,” Keifer answers.
“What?” I choke and nearly face-plant getting out of bed as my feet tangle in the sheets. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re an idiot, Keifer,” Ursula snaps. “Leeva, it was a search warrant, not a raid. And there’s currently a news conference going on where the police commissioner and the district attorney are apologizing to the owners of Hedon. It looks like poorly fabricated evidence was used by the assistant DA to push a search warrant through with a judge who is now suspended and being investigated.”
“How do you know this?” My brain is struggling to come online and keep up.
“Because you’re family,” she explains.
“Because Urs is a control freak,” Keifer says at the same time. “And had her boyfriends scouring for any news of things happening in San Francisco.”
“Screw you,” she flames. “Like you aren’t just as concerned.”
