Outside, the afternoon heat wrapped around them.
Rhys’s gaze slid to her. “Are you all right, love?”
“No.”
His expression softened a fraction.
“I’m functional,” she amended, using a phrase he’d used before.
“That is not the same thing.”
“No,” she said, quieter. “It isn’t.”
Gaby made it halfway down the sidewalk to their vehicle before stopping. “She gave them receipts, Rhys. They had the club’s name.”
“I know.”
“And they did nothing with it.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
She turned on him.
He held her gaze. “We strongly suspect it.”
That shouldn’t have made her laugh, but it did. Once. Sharp and humorless.
Rhys opened the passenger door for her. “Come on. We have another interview.”
“Lucky us.”
Gaby climbed into the hot SUV while Rhys moved around to the driver’s side, both of them carrying more questions than answers.
The next interview was at the restaurant where Anna had worked nights. It was a narrow place tucked between neighboring storefronts in Coconut Grove, with rattan lightfixtures, glossy plants, and a manager who looked nervous the moment Gaby and Rhys introduced themselves.
“She was reliable,” he said for the third time, as if reliability were a full character sketch. “Never late. Never caused trouble.”
Gaby glanced at Rhys. Sweet. Quiet. Polite. Didn’t cause trouble. The words were starting to stack up.
A waitress named Pilar gave them more after the manager walked away.
“She kept to herself at first,” she said, leaning against the side wall near the service station. “But she was funny once you got her talking. Dry funny. Like you didn’t expect it.” Her lips trembled then steadied. “She was trying to be braver.”
“Braver how?” Rhys asked.
Pilar glanced toward the manager and lowered her voice. “Trendier clothes. Wearing a little more makeup. Going out by herself. Stuff like that.”
“To The Underground?” Gaby asked.
Pilar’s eyes flickered. There it was again.
“She didn’t talk about it much,” Pilar said. “But yeah. A couple of times.”
“Did she meet anyone there?”
“Not that she told me. She said it made her feel…” Pilar searched for the word. “Visible, I guess. I remember she said it made her feel like she could be someone else for a while.”
Gaby noted it.
