I rake one hand through my hair and think it over for a few seconds. “Alright, man. You know more about this than I do.”
He picks up his pen and starts clicking it as he pulls a scratch pad closer. “Gimme her name.”
“It’s Nora,” I tell him, feeling like I’m betraying her already.
“What’s her last name, brother?”
I admit, “She didn’t give me one.”
He quits clicking the pen and stares at me for a second. “You’d best tell me what you do know, then.”
I take a deep breath and give him only the information that might have a bearing on our quest to find out who she is. “I met her at Tipsy Spirits a month and a half ago. She was there with two girlfriends but left with me. She’s twenty-two, has strawberry-blond hair and brown eyes. I thought we had a good time. I got up at the crack of dawn myself and she was long gone. She didn’t say goodbye or leave her number. She just vanished into thin fuckin’ air.”
He listens intently, and when I finish with my abbreviated explanation of the situation, he just looks at me for a long, hard moment.
“So, she was a one-night stand? I only ask because that’s exactly how one-night stands go. Friends with benefits stay. One-night stands leave. You understand how that works, right?”
“Yeah, I fuckin’ know how one-night stands go. I wanted more. It was more to me,” I clarify, putting my hand over my chest to indicate there were feelings, not just sex. I add, “And usually with one night stands there’s some bullshit pretense about hooking up again. She left my door open and I just wanna know why she ran off like that.”
His eyes drop down to his pad, and he starts scribbling some kind of shorthand that only Striker can read. “And this was six weeks ago, right?”
When I nod, he responds, “This woman snaked her way into your fuckin’ heart and you waited all this time to mention her to me. What changed? Why are we talking about this now and not six weeks ago?”
“We connected. I thought she was really into me. And the only thing that changed is that today you asked.”
“Now, tell me what you’re leavin’ out.”
Striker knows me too damn well. “She was hypervigilant. She kept looking at the entrance and exits. She was quick to move if someone got too close. I wouldn’t say she was scared, but she was sure as fuck cautious of others. That shit keeps circling around in my mind. I just want to know she’s safe, ya know?”
Striker freezes and his expression turns more serious. “Yeah, I know what the fuck hypervigilant is. What do you think she was on the lookout for?”
“Who the fuck knows? I’ve turned that over in my head a damn hundred times and come up with a bunch of shit that doesn’t fit her personality at all.”
“Maybe she was worried about a pimp or somethin’ like that.”
“No, she was innocent when she came to my bed.”
His eyebrows fly up. “She was a fuckin’ virgin?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yeah,” I shoot back, irritated that he’s so shocked.
He tosses his pen down on the desk. “You weren’t joking about her gettin’ to ya. You’ve been moonin’ over her this whole time,” he states gleefully.
“Don’t start being an asshole about it now,” I grit out. “I warned you it was more of a situation.”
“I’m not startin’ anything. I’m just sayin’ that I ain’t never seen you this messed up about a one-nighter before.”
“I’m not fuckin’ messed up. Stop being dramatic. I’m not the one who came to you for help. You’re the one who practically interrogated me and offered to dig up information on her, remember?”
“Alright, brother. I’ll stop razzing you.” Turning back to his desktop, he says, “Let’s find out who this woman is.” He starts typing away at his keyboard. I wait patiently, watching him do his thing.
“The Tipsy Spirits bar has four cameras. They hold footage for ninety days as required by California law,” he explains. “I set up their security, so I don’t even have to hack anything to access their feeds.”
My mouth drops open. “That’s an amazing fuckin’ coincidence.”
Striker’s eyes lift from the computer to me. “Not really. Cedar Falls is a small town. I’m one of the few reputable digital security consultants in the area. I have forty-eight contracts with local businesses, which is about thirty percent of the businesses in town.”
“Of course, I knew you did shit like that. I just never realized you were so fuckin’ successful at it.”
