She kissed my lips. “So do you. I’ll take a rain check. Let’s go.”Rock and Reid had booked a conference room at the hotel for the days we were here, and they ordered in a catered lunch.
Once we were done eating, Rock started talking. “I got a phone call this morning from one of our PIs. He found a woman named Zinnia.”
“Where is she?” Roy asked.
“Believe it or not, she’s right here in Vegas,” Reid replied. “She’s a showgirl.”
Both Lacey and Charlie lifted their eyebrows.
“A showgirl?” Riley said.
“Yeah, and all the stats add up. Our guy contacted her, and she’s willing to talk to us.”
“Great,” Roy said. “Let’s talk, then.”
“One problem,” Rock said.
“Does she want money?” Lacey asked.
“That was my first thought too,” Reid said, “but the PI says no. She just wants anonymity. She’ll help us if she can, but she won’t talk to any authorities.”
“What good does that do us, then?” Roy said.
“She may not know anything,” Rock said, “but the fact that she’s asking for anonymity rather than money makes me think she may be the person we’re looking for.”
“I agree,” Lacey said. “Who will she talk to?”
“Only one of us,” Reid said, “and she prefers that it be a woman.”
“But I should go,” Roy said. “I might recognize her.”
“Agreed,” Reid said. “That’s what we told the PI. He’s checking with her and we’re waiting to hear back.”
“So nothing until then?” Roy asked.
“Nothing for you. Rock and I have work to do.” Reid shifted in his seat.
He seemed uncomfortable. Riley had told me the whole story of Rock being put in charge instead of him. Was that what this was about? Or was something else going on?
Rock’s phone buzzed. “Rock Wolfe here,” he said.
Pause.
“I think Lacey would be—”
Pause.
“Gotcha. Understood. Tell her thanks.”
Pause while he scribbled some notes.
“Perfect. They’ll be there.” He ended the call. “That was Roark, the PI who found Zinnia. She’s agreed to talk to you, Roy, as long as Riley goes with you.”
Riley nearly jumped out of her chair. “Me? Why me?”
“She wants a woman there.”
“Then Lacey is the logical choice,” Riley said. “She’ll know what questions to ask.”
“That’s what I told him, but it turns out she’s a fan of yours, and she wants to talk to you.”
“But I won’t know what to say to her!”
“Won’t you?” Lacey smiled. “You’ll know better than anyone. If she’s the person we’re looking for, then she’s been through something as traumatic as you have. I think she chose well.”
“But I won’t know what to say to her,” Riley repeated, more softly this time.
“I’ll give you a list of things to ask her, like I did for Roy and Charlie when they went to Montana to talk to Leta Romero. You’ll do fine.”
“I’ll be there with you, Sis,” Roy said. “You got this.”
Riley reached for my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll do what I have to do.”43RileyI sat with Roy at a bar in a lesser known hotel off the strip. Still, crowds milled around, and I nearly choked from the cigarette smoke. The bells from the slot machines and the din of conversation swirled around us.
We waited.
Roy had ordered us a couple of sodas. It was three in the afternoon, and neither of us felt up to drinking. Better to keep our heads, though I had to admit a glass of wine would have helped take the edge off.
But maybe I needed my edge. I needed to remember what my father was capable of so I could handle this woman with kid gloves. God only knew what she’d been through. I had the feeling Roy hadn’t seen the worst of it that night.
Roy stared at his phone. “She’s late.”
“Have you considered that she might not show at all?”
“Yeah, I’ve considered it. If I were her, I probably wouldn’t either.”
I nodded. “We have to be strong for her, Roy.”
“I know. I’m okay. That therapy helped a lot. My mind hasn’t been this clear in ages, Ry. It’s like a giant weight is gone from me.”
I sighed. I envied my brother. I feared I’d carry the weight of my father’s sins forever, even with therapy. After all, Roy didn’t have to get over what was done to him, just what he’d seen.
Big difference there.
Still, I was getting stronger. Matt helped, and I helped myself too. I’d never burn myself again. I knew that as well as I knew my own name.
Fifteen minutes passed.
Then twenty, and we sat silently, sipping our second round of diet soda.
“Ready for something stronger?” Roy finally asked.
I got ready to nod, when a woman caught my eye. Her hair was jet black and pulled into a tight ponytail high on her head. She wore dark glasses, and she just looked…
She looked the way I felt.
I gestured to Roy. “I think that’s her.”
“Really? Then it’s not the woman I remember. She was blond.”