“What do you mean she isn’t there? I thought you told me she would be at home all day, Jackson,” Collin said in shock.
“That’s what she told me. I’ve got to get in there to tap her phone, but I can’t risk her walking in on me.”
“Give ‘em here. I’ll do it,” Collin said, gesturing for me to hand him the two wire taps.
“You can’t get caught either,” I replied.
“I’m not going to, because you’re going to cover me. Stand outside her door while I’m in there. If she shows up, tell her that you were about to knock and do anything to get her out of here.”
Without waiting for my agreement, Collin snatched the wire taps from my hand. With reluctance, I followed him across the hall to her door, where he picked the lock. He emerged two minutes later.
“That was quick.”
“I’m that good. Any sign of her?” he asked me.
“No.”
Collin sensed my disappointment and said, “At least you didn’t get the brush off.”
Closing my front door behind us, “I guess that means you still haven’t heard from Maureen.”
Collin flopped down on the couch. “Nope. I even went over to her house to see if she was there, but it was all dark. I guess her one night stands last for a week before she discards them.”
Ouch. “You don’t know that for sure. She did ask you to meet her at the club Saturday,” I offered, though it didn’t sound convincing even to my own ears.
“An invitation doesn’t amount to much when she never shows up. You don’t have to try to cheer me up, Jackson. I’ve been wrong about women before and I’ll be wrong again. Plenty of times.”
A knock on my door stopped me from responding. I wanted it to be Jenna, but instead it was an obviously distraught Trista. She didn’t give me an opportunity to say anything before she spoke.
“Is Jenna over here? I need to talk to her and she isn’t answering her phone.”
“I haven’t talked to her since yesterday. Briefly.
It was apparent to me by the way Trista paced back and forth that something was wrong. It was out of character for her to be home this early. Something was wrong..
I exchanged glances with Collin before adding, “What’s going on?”
“It’s Maureen, I think,” Trista said before bursting into tears.
I guided her to the couch and let her sit down before asking, “What happened?”
“She didn’t show up for work today.”
“I thought you said she did this sort of thing all the time.”
Trista shook her head. “She does, but she always thinks to cancel appointments first. She missed a client’s deposition this morning. I’ve tried to get a hold of her every way I know, but it’s like she’s dropped off the face of the earth or something.”
Collin was concerned, but I was relieved he was able to contain it when he spoke. “Is it possible she forgot about the deposition?”
Trista sighed. “I guess, but she’s normally so good about that kind of thing.”
She was holding out something vital and I decided to push harder.
“There’s more than you’re saying, isn’t there?”
“Yes. Victor has friends and I don’t mean the kind you invite to golf at the country club; real low lives. I’m worried that he holds Maureen responsible for being in jail. What if he retaliated?”
When she broke down again I sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders in comfort. I thought fast and decided on the best course of action.
“Don’t worry, Trista. We’ll find out what happened to her.”
Collin’s eyes grew wide, but I shook my head and winked.
Trista looked up at me and asked, “How can you do that?”
“One of Collin’s poker buddies is a cop. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind looking into this.” To Collin I said, “Why don’t you use my office to call him and see what he can do?”
© 2009, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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Nice one Jackson!!! Making out Collins buddy is a cop……Things are really starting to heat up….peeps realizing Maureen is missing…….
Well, as he reminds us in every other chapter, he is a highly trained federal agent.
If only there were a way to connect the dots of her disappearance to Blackstone…