Obsession (Explicitly Yours 4)

Beau’s grip tightened. He didn’t have the brain capacity to accept that Bragg might fail him. Bragg was a go-to man, someone who’d made a decent living making things happen. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that? I thought you said you have nothing.”

“It’s what I said. Went to Cat Shoppe last night and talked to Kincaid, the owner. After a chunk of cash that I’m tacking onto your bill, I finally got him to show me the surveillance tape. That’s some show your girl put on for you.”

Beau’s gut smarted as though he’d been punched. “You watched?”

“Don’t get shy on me, Olivier.” Bragg chuckled into the phone. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Leave no stone unturned? I see what the fuss is about, though.”

“Get to the point.” It’d been his last intimate moment with Lola, her dancing on stage just for him, but now two greasy old men had shared in it too. That was the fucking goodbye gift Lola had given him.

“After security removed you, Lola talked to a girl, but she swears up and down Lola didn’t tell her nothing. Just needed help getting the backdoor open.”

“So she walked out the back. Then what?”

“Some brief indistinguishable activity by your car and then poof. Gone.”

“What, in a car? Bicycle? Come on, Bragg—this is rookie shit.”

“It look to you like I got a crystal fucking ball? I only see as far as the camera does, and it stops in the parking lot.”

“What about the owner? What’s he know?”

“Said she used to work for him, and she stopped by earlier that day to arrange the VIP room. Paid him a lot in cash. That was all he’d give me. Not sure if he knows more—bouncer said he’s protective of his girls.”

Beau leaned his knuckles on his desk. “I got the same thing from him.”

“Only reason he showed me the tapes was because I threatened to get the police involved. Didn’t seem too bothered about it until I flashed my old badge.”

Lola was too good. She must’ve considered Beau might go after her, and she hadn’t left him any obvious clues except the ones on his car. He pushed off his desk and turned to look out the window. “What about Hey Joe?”

“Yeah. Bit of a confrontation there. You spoke to Veronica?”

“Lola’s friend.”

“Says she hasn’t spoken to Lola since she left Hey Joe, and I believe her. But the ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend really don’t like me there—he starts pushing my buttons.”

Beau cocked his head. “His girlfriend?”

“Skanky thing.”

“Amanda?”

“Yeah, that’s her. Her lip curls just hearing Lola’s name. Anyway, I had to rough Johnny up a little.”

Beau had been picturing Lola’s reaction to hearing Johnny and Amanda were still together, but that got his attention. “You what?”

“I may be getting up there, but I got almost fifty years of training behind me,” he said defensively. “The kid tested my ref

lexes and got a surprise. He’ll be all right—nothing a towel of ice and a blowie from the skank won’t take care of.” Bragg coughed into the phone. “Next stop is the diner to see the mom.”

Beau didn’t have any sympathy for Johnny. He had it coming. But he had no idea what they were in for with Lola’s mom since he knew little about her. Suddenly, it didn’t feel right sending a stranger to her workplace. “Forget the mom,” Beau said. “What about the airport? Her credit cards?”

“Nothing and nothing.”

Beau paused. “Nothing—as in, you haven’t gotten to it yet?”

“No activity on the card you gave her. I assumed you canceled it.”

“No.” It hadn’t occurred to him that he should, and he wouldn’t now that she didn’t have a cell phone or credit card he knew of. It was stupid of her, and she wasn’t stupid. You didn’t grow up how they did and not look out for yourself. She was her own responsibility, she’d made that clear, but Beau couldn’t help thinking of the trouble she might run into.

“You ought to think about it,” Bragg said.

“What?”

“You know, canceling any other cards she might’ve stolen. Checking to see if you’re missing anything of value—jewelry, cash, art…”

Beau shook his head. “This isn’t about money. You tried seeing if she opened a new card?”

“Can’t find nothing under her name.”

“Try Jonathan Pace.”

“Already did. She had a card with him, but it was canceled a few weeks ago too. You said it was stolen, right?”

Beau tapped a finger on his desk. Lola’d told him she’d ordered herself a backup credit card in addition to what he’d given her. He should’ve insisted on seeing it, but he’d been happy enough that she’d agreed to stop spending her own money.

“Don’t worry,” Bragg said. “She’s got to be paying for stuff somehow.”

Beau’s heart thudded once. He didn’t know if Lola had a cell phone or credit cards. He didn’t know how she was traveling or where. The only thing he knew for sure was that she had cash. Cash he’d given her. “She has money,” Beau said quietly.

“She’d need a hell of a lot to stay off the grid much longer, though.”

Beau closed his eyes. There it was, the cherry on top of this shit sundae. The final nail in his coffin—and he’d hammered it in. “She has more than a lot.”