The Cleaner (Professionals 9)

"She's a true crime podcaster," Nia explained. "And Finn's girlfriend."

"Your... what?" Quin snapped, looking over at me.

"Okay, I am going to step in here and ask if you are here in an official capacity, Detective Lloyd?" Rosie said, lawyer cap firmly in place.

Lloyd ignored him, though.

"I should have agreed to investigate her case. I should have hauled your ass in for questioning. Maybe she wouldn't be missing right now."

"Where was she seen last?" I asked, my head spinning.

"At the NBPD talking to me. She walked out of there, then disappeared off the face of the Earth."

"Why do you think she came here?" Quin asked.

"Please. You know why. You can't look me in the eye and tell me you didn't know exactly what that woman had on you and your team. You run a tighter ship than that."

"Apparently not," Quin said, giving me a hard look. I knew a hard discussion was in my future. But I didn't give a single fuck about that.

"The cameras? There had to be cameras," I insisted.

"She must have parked on one of the side streets," Lloyd said as Holden finally released him. "Besides, you are smarter than that, aren't you? Never get caught on camera committing your crimes."

"Detective, are you accusing my client—"

"Shut up," Lloyd demanded, giving me a hard look. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since... since four days ago."

"When she finally got the proof she thought she needed that you're a serial killer," Lloyd said.

"She ran out of my garage, and I haven't seen her since."

"Or maybe you tracked her down to her hotel, followed her around, and snatched her off the street," Lloyd said.

"I would never. I couldn't... she means too much," I said, fumbling for words. "She's famous," I said, rambling. "She's famous in a way. She has fans. They even come from several states away. They could have found her. Fans can be crazy."

"We are working every angle," Lloyd said, seeming to come to terms with the reality of the situation. That I truly couldn't have hurt Poppy. Not even if she was trying to turn me into the police. I'd take a lifetime in a cell or a needle in my arm over hurting her any goddamn day of the week.

"Sure you are," Nia said, turning and rushing back down the hallway.

"I don't know what she is doing," Lloyd said, shaking his head. "And, quite frankly, I don't care if it helps find that girl."

"Where's Yogurt?" I asked, thoughts tumbling over one another. "Is she missing too?"

"Who the fuck is Yogurt?" Gunner asked.

"Poppy left her with a dog walker for an hour. She never showed. Her mother has since picked her up."

"Okay. I... I need to get out of here. I need to work on this," I said, pushing off the wall.

"How close were you? Close enough to know her passwords to her computers? We can't crack it. We figure if we can get in, we might be able to see who she last had contact with. Or if she was looking at ways to run away from it all."

"She wouldn't have run away. Her fucking laptop has a sticker that says that."

If I ever go missing, I didn't run away.

It was right there below the one that said If I'm ever found dead, I didn't kill myself.

"So you know her pretty well after all. She didn't mention that when I talked to her."

"Because she was upset that she thought I was a fucking serial killer, Lloyd. That was why she was staying at the hotel. That was why she went there instead of her mom's. She thought I was a serial killer, and that I now knew she thought that."

"But you didn't know?"

"I knew before I met her," I admitted.

"Okay now," Rosie said again, moving between us, facing me. "I'm going to need you to shut the hell up already," he said, eyes going wide at me.

"I don't care about jail, Rosie. I need to help find Poppy." Leaning past him, I addressed Lloyd. "Give me a second and I will write down some possible passwords."

With that, I stalked over toward Jules's desk, watching her rush out of my way.

"RavishingCreature13 doesn't sound anything like the Poppy I know," Lloyd said as he read the first possible password off.

"She makes her robot assistant call her that. And she likes the number thirteen."

"How fucking long have you been seeing her?" Quin asked, shooting me a hard look.

"Not now, Quin," I snapped back.

"Anything else you know?" Lloyd asked, pocketing the list.

"She knows that time isn't on her side. She will be doing everything she can to try to get free or find a way to get someone to notice her if she's... if she's being kept somewhere."

She had to be being kept somewhere.

I refused even to consider the alternative.