Despite the shitty neighborhood the bar was located in, there was never any trouble. It might've had something to do with the fact that most didn't even know it existed. There was no sign outside that let people know what was inside. The two lone windows facing the alleys were covered in iron bars. From what Callahan had told me, you only learned about The Pit through word of mouth. Callahan had introduced me to the place, but I never trusted anyone enough to give them the location.
"Callahan meeting you here?"
"Yup, so we'll just have our usuals."
Ranger rapped his knuckles on the table. "Coming right up."
I watched as Ranger poured us each a pint. Callahan and I didn't love this place just because it was private, but Ranger also kept a damn good selection of beer and liquor. He knew what his customers liked, and he didn't deviate.
Callahan walked in just as Ranger was dropping off our pints.
"It's good to see you, Ranger." Callahan slapped his friend on the back.
"I was just asking your partner here if you forgot about me."
Callahan smirked. "We would never." He kicked a thumb my way. "This guy's a workaholic. I need to pull him away more often."
"Make sure you do that." Ranger lifted his chin. "Flag me down when you need another."
My mentor slipped into the seat opposite of me and took a drink of his beer before his eyes met mine. "So what's so important that you had me leaving my wife's side in the middle of the night."
I chuckled and shook my head. "I hardly consider eleven o'clock the middle of the night."
"I'm retired. I go to bed earlier these days." Callahan was full of shit. He was a night owl like me. It was one of the things his wife teased him about.
"I'm sure you do." I looked down at my pint of beer. I gave him one word. "Anita."
I glanced up when Callahan whistled. I found him leaning back in the booth with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Never thought I would hear that name again. Is she still as cold as I remember?"
I thought back to the conversation we had in my townhouse. I had known the moment I entered my place that something was off. I never expected to find Anita sitting in my living room, looking even better than she did seven years ago. The woman had an air of danger that would make most men shake in their boots.
I wasn't most men. Even when she had me pinned to the wall, I wasn't afraid. I was turned on, and that was probably worse.
"More so." I ran my finger around the rim of the beer glass. "She wants me to set up a meeting between her and Mason."
Even though Callahan and I were no longer partners, he was the first person I called when Mason got picked up on a warrant.
"I'm not surprised. She was convinced he had something to do with Nova's disappearance."
Anita wasn't just convinced. She was adamant it was Mason's fault. Without a body or a confession, there was nothing I could do to help her. And truthfully, I didn't think Mason had anything to do with Nova's disappearance. I didn't lie when I told Anita Mason loved her best friend. I had seen it in his eyes. The man would move heaven and earth for his fiancée.
"Are you going to give her what she wants?"
"I don't see how I can. He won't even talk to me. I had him placed in solitary confinement because the first chance his family gets, they're going to kill him. I'm pretty sure Anita will as well, and we both know she could do it in seconds. Not even the threat of prison would stop her." Anita was a force to be reckoned with. I saw that firsthand tonight.
Callahan nodded. "You need to keep an eye on her."
"That's going to be hard. She's a damn ghost." In this day and age, it was almost impossible not to have a digital footprint, and yet somehow, Anita managed to do so.
Callahan raised his eyebrow. "You still haven't found anything on her?"
I shook my head. "Not a damn thing. I can't even be sure Anita is her real name."
"Did you try asking who she was when she approached you?"
I gave him the same look he used to give me when I asked a stupid question back in my rookie days. "You know how she is. She didn't exactly give me the chance. I was caught off guard, and then she kept me on the defensive the whole time."
