Page 25 of Hard Game

“Take my advice, Detective. These people aren’t playing games.”

“Neither am I. Tell me what you know,” I say, reaching out to put my hand on his shoulder. He tenses beneath my fingers and turns his head to look down at my hand. It’s strangely intimate, but then he shakes his head again.

“They’re dangerous, Little Fox. Be careful out there.” Then he leaves.

12

MADDOX

Lauren Diess is driving me crazy. She’s all I can think about, and images of her in that tiny towel refuse to leave me and my dick alone. Her plump lips are begging for me to bite them hard, and her tits—Jesus, she makes me feel like a horny teenager. If you imagine a sexy detective dressed up as a stripper, you would have Lauren Diess. Raven hair that contrasts her pale skin and emerald eyes, her curves dangerous enough to cause accidents. So I want to fuck her, that much is apparent. But it’s not just that. She’s haunted by her sister going missing, and I’ve spent all morning piecing that shit together so I can have a better picture of who Lauren Diess really is. The various news reports sing from the same hymn sheet—no one knows what became of Sara Diess, Lauren’s sister. I stare at the report on my screen, absorbing the information again in case I’ve missed something.

Sara Diess, missing person.

Sara Diess, 19, went missing from the Lockwood area on Saturday, 15th March 2008. Her family raised the alarm when she failed to return home from work after ten P.M. that evening. Sara was a bright girl with the ambition to become a model, according to her father, Gerry.

“She was always posing for photos and hoping she’d get scouted at the airport, that kind of thing,” Gerry Diess said back in 2008. “It’s not like her to disappear like this.”

The local police department was sure Sara left of her own accord despite no evidence of this. Local bus drivers were interviewed, and none claimed anyone of Sara’s description rode with them on that day. CCTV only showed Sara leaving the store she worked at a little after seven P.M. when her shift ended. Her friends were as stunned as everyone else, claiming Sara seemed happy and excited for her future. The case was closed in 2018 when Gerry Diess asked for her to be declared dead for the family to grieve. To this day, nothing has ever been found in connection with her disappearance.

Fuck. No wonder Lauren has such a chip on her shoulder. Her sister was declared dead with zero evidence of a body being found.

Jeez.

I chew on my lip and glance at my phone, wondering if I can help her. Maybe Tass can uncover something. Young, pretty girls don’t disappear off the face of the earth without a trace on their way home from work unless something happened to them, but maybe that’s my bitter opinion after what I’ve seen.

MADDOX: Tassa, have you ever heard of a girl called Sara Diess? Went missing when she was 19 from Lockwood. Vanished without a trace.

TASSA: Uh oh. Isn’t that the Detective’s surname??

MADDOX: Yes.

TASSA: Call me.

I take a deep breath and call her, wincing when she groans.

“The Detective has a missing sister?” Tassa mumbles sleepily. It is seven in the morning, after all.

“Yup.”

“I’ll dig around. The name rings a bell, but probably because she’s never been found.”

I frown. “You know that already?”

“Yes. I have Google on my phone, Mad.”

I chuckle. “Yeah. But what do you think?”

Tassa is silent for a beat, and I hear a keyboard clicking in the background and a grumble from another woman.

“Ouch, am I interrupting something?” I know I am, but I’m trying to be polite.

“Just sleep,” Tassa says before yawning. “So she left the store after her shift finished around seven in the evening. This was caught on CCTV, right?”

I nod, then remember she can’t see me.

“Okay, I need coffee before I delve into this. Give me an hour?”

I thank her and end the call, turning to stare out of the window. I’m beginning to realize why Detective Diess is so invested in the Lockwood case. It’s personal. Does she think Sara was trafficked? If so, why? There’s no point in me asking Detective Diess about it…she would probably shoot me.

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