Chase and Jordan had come to me to help them investigate where her friend Ana could be. They had an address and some contact information, but none of it seemed legit. Normally, I would have said no to such a low key job – my work life was typically much more exciting than a young Liechtenstein girl getting mixed up with the wrong crowd.
But as I started to investigate the man they called Gordon, I couldn’t help but want to help. My research had turned up that Gordon was actually Stephano Copal, who was well known in the area as not a good guy. I wouldn’t mind taking a guy like that down.
“Are you two love birds ever going to stop kissing?” I asked as I stepped back onto our private jet.
“We are coming,” Chase said as he helped Jordan up from the chair.
“Well, it’s about time. We need to keep things moving if we want to catch this guy off guard.”
“Are we going to catch him tonight?” Jordan asked.
Her innocence was very endearing. We had flown together from Italy back to Miami and I couldn’t find a single thing about the woman that I didn’t like. She was tough, yet sweet. Naive, yet knowledgeable in other areas. I could certainly see why my brother had fallen in love with her.
“No, darling, but we need to keep moving forward and staying out of sight if we are going to have any chance at all.”
“Do you know where we should start?” Jordan asked as her innocent, wide eyes looked at me. I could tell it was going to be very difficult to have her there with me while I tried to investigate what was going on.
“Chase, do you want to get Jordan settled into the hotel and we can talk about it in private?”
The place I wanted to head to first wasn’t really the kind of place a young guy like Chase should be bringing his new bride to. I had tracked down the money end of Stephano’s business, and it all funneled into a strip club in Miami called Feather Kitty. It was the most reasonable place to get started. We wouldn’t likely find him sitting there counting his money, but we certainly could find some real clues that could lead us on where to look next.
“Why can’t you just talk in front of me?” Jordan asked like any true newlywed would.
I loved that Chase had found himself a wife and Jordan seemed like a really nice girl, but Chase shouldn’t have brought her with us. Now that she was there in the middle of everything, it was essential that she stay out of the way. Her emotions about her lost friend could certainly put us all in danger.
“Well, we need to go to a pretty dangerous place and I didn’t think you needed to be involved in the planning of everything.”
“So, I help take down one of the most dangerous men in Atlanta, but you don’t think I can handle a conversation about saving my best friend?”
I looked at Chase to rescue me from the emotional mess that was his wife. I wasn’t equipped to deal with women; well, most women. I didn’t like to sugar coat things, and I certainly couldn’t tell what they thought when they didn’t come straight out and say it to me.
“Jordan, this is going to be dangerous and Jackson is trained for all this. We can’t get in his way. Let’s just get settled into the hotel and then we can offer him whatever assistance he needs.”
“God forbid we would include a woman in the plans!” Jordan said as she stormed off the plane and over to the waiting vehicle.
I just rolled my eyes. Emotional women were not my thing. It baffled me how they could get angry about absolutely everything and nothing all at the same time. Luckily, I had an even temper and didn’t fall prey to the mood swings of women.
“Sorry, she’s still a bit wound up from everything in Atlanta. We will stay out of your way. I promise.”
“I’m fine with you coming along, Chase, but I don’t need any women getting in my way. They are way too emotional for this line of work.”
“I understand.”
Chase didn’t understand at all. He had never worked as a private investigator. The whole base of our business was being able to keep a level head and gather information. Plus, I needed to be invisible when I went into the strip club. If Jordan came along, it would be impossible to keep a low profile. My job wasn’t to arrest people or even to prove if they were guilty or innocent. My job was to gather the necessary information and then hand it over to the people who hired me.
In this case, I would find out where Jordan’s friend Ana was and get that information to the local authorities so they could rescue her. I might have to take care of Stephano on my own before the authorities came, though, if I found out he had anything to do with the murder of my Rose. She meant more to me than any other woman I had ever met; I was going to make sure the man who took her from me paid. No matter who it was, he would pay for what he did. Rose had been such a beautiful woman, so peaceful and pure; there would have been no reason for her to be killed. No reason at all for that monster to take her away from me.
We all got checked into our hotel rooms, and I looked through my research to remind myself of the faces of people I needed to find. This job was about more than just doing a favor for my brother. There was so much more than that at stake. I couldn’t walk into the Feather Kitty and look like an amateur by staring at all the faces. I needed to look like any normal guy who was just at the club to enjoy himself for the evening.
After I had finished with my information overview, I headed over to Chase’s room to gather him and head to the strip club. I still didn’t think it was the best idea for him to come along, either, but it was better than all three of us heading into the club.
“Hey, are you ready?”
“Yes, Jordan is in the shower. Let’s go before she gets out.”
“Deal.”
“I love her to death, but no way are we going to take her to a strip club.”