The Dom Identity (Masters & Mercenaries Reloaded 2)

He couldn’t blame her. It had been a rough day all around, and he was responsible for most of it. The guilt he felt was probably what fueled his need to find the man who’d tried to hurt her today. It burned in his gut. He was forcing himself to be patient because there was no way Deke didn’t know something. He wouldn’t have brought out Boomer and pizza if he didn’t want to talk to him. He’d nodded Michael’s way when he’d walked in, a sure sign that something was up.

But then they’d had dinner and popped the tops on a couple of beers, and Vanessa had relaxed. He’d decided to be patient.

“You’re the only boy?” Vanessa asked.

“Yep, and the youngest,” Deke agreed. “My mom was determined to carry on the family name in a traditional way. So five girls, and she swears she would have gone on for as long as her eggs kept up.”

“I have a sister,” Boomer offered. “She’s older than me, too, but she’s only got one kid. That’s easy for me to remember because he’s a Brian, too.”

“Does she live nearby?” Vanessa seemed fascinated by his friends.

Deke picked up his bottle. “I’m going to grab another.”

Ah, that was his cue. He stood and gathered the empty plates.

“Nah, my parents are still in my hometown. I’m from Seattle. My mom and dad own a restaurant there. It’s a little greasy spoon. My sister, though, makes all kinds of fancy food,” Boomer was saying. “She opened her own place recently.”

They started talking about his sister’s restaurant, and Michael was able to slip away.

“How bad was it at her place?”

Deke put his beer bottle in the recycling bin and turned. “It was bad, and her neighbors are pissed off. Boomer overheard some of them talking about kicking her out.”

“They’re already trying to force her to move,” Michael replied. “So you think it would be hard for her to go back?”

“I think it would be a disaster. They won’t be able to fix the gate for days,” Deke admitted. “I’ve got someone watching the neighborhood chat board, and they can’t get the parts they need right away. Beyond that, the whole group is planning to up the pressure on Vanessa. There’s a lot of pearl clutching going on there. I’m surprised. I thought we were over slut shaming.”

Oh, not even close. He’d learned that tonight. He couldn’t stop thinking about their conversation before dinner. “They seem to love to do it to Vanessa. Have we heard anything about MaeBe?”

“Beyond Kyle acting like he’s already married to her and it’s the 1800s?” Deke replied. “She’s fine. She’s already home. Kyle is sleeping on her couch tonight to make sure no one else stabs her. Or asks her to do a job.”

He was probably going to have to deal with Kyle again since Vanessa had made it clear she wanted to reach out to MaeBe to check up on the other woman. He would deal with that problem another day. He had bigger fish to fry. “Were you able to pull a face for me?”

“Sort of. Those cameras aren’t the highest quality. If this had happened at Macon’s storefront, it would be easy. We did his security. The coffee shop went cheaper. Hutch is working on enhancing what we’ve got,” Deke replied.

“But you did get something?”

Deke nodded. “I think between Hutch’s skill and Adam’s software we’ll be able to get you a name.”

Adam Miles worked two floors down from the main McKay-Taggart office. He and Michael’s cousin Simon Weston investigated missing persons with their company, Miles-Dean, Weston, and Murdoch. The company had been started years ago by four couples who had previously worked for McKay-Taggart, but it had been Adam Miles’s facial recognition software that had revolutionized the industry. If Hutch could get a face, Adam would be able to find a name.

He heard Vanessa’s laughter at something Boomer had said.

“Did the dupe work? She got at least a text from someone who knew about the gate,” Michael said.

“The text came from someone named Ruby. No last name in the contacts on her phone. I pulled the number,” Deke explained. “It’s registered to a woman named Sonja Lockwood. She’s got two cell phones in her name. She also has a teenaged daughter. I would bet her name is Ruby. They live three doors down from the house Vanessa is staying in. I think she might be her visitor from the other night. I found some of her social media. She’s tall. She could have been the one in the hoodie.”

So no lover, just a friend. “I’d like a report on her and how she might know Vanessa. Since MaeBe’s sidelined for a couple of days, is someone monitoring Vanessa’s phone?”

“I’m on it.” Deke leaned against the island. “I’ve read through her email and her texts and reviewed what she’s been looking up on her phone. She’s interested in Julian.”