Page 30 of Lure

“Probably a client,” I said, tracing my finger up and down along the smooth side of the tumbler. It didn’t quite feel real. None of this did. “She would sometimes get them a disposable phone so they weren’t tracked by their partners. Or soon to be ex partners.”

Based on everything she’d ever described to me though, those ex-partners weren’t always likely to just accept a court’s decision. No, Am would protect her clients with everything she had. That included protecting their communications and making sure they had access to her whenever they needed it.

“Possibly,” Alphabet said, as though conceding my point. “I just can’t confirm who or where.”

“You could if it wasn’t a burner phone?” I wasn’t quite sure if that was creepy or cool. Maybe both?

“Yes,” he said, no hesitation marking his answer. “Lots we can find out with a few clicks. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look.”

“So you looked at Am’s phone log?” How else would he have figured out the burner phone? That made sense, right? If the person with the burner was there, he wouldn’t necessarily know they were talking to Amorette?

“Yes.” Alphabet shifted in his seat, a flicker of discomfort apparent on his face. “I know you have a thousand questions. I want to lay this out for you as far as I got—then Bones can tell us what he found.”

Voodoo circled the room, his hands in his pockets and his attention not seeming to be on any of us. I doubted that. The only people sitting at the moment were me and Alphabet. The weariness in Alphabet’s expression offered one answer as to why. Where Voodoo seemed to be pacing the perimeter of the room to sublimate his restlessness, Lunchbox stood with near enough the same posture as Goblin.

He was in reach for both Alphabet and me. Was I imagining the level of concern rolling off each of them? This was bad news. They weren’t sugar-coating it or trying to bury the story. At least, not anymore. Course, before they just didn’t answer the questions at all.

I suppressed a shudder, the sudden quiet around me was telling. Maybe the reason they hadn’t said anything before was they weren’t sure how I would react. That was fair. I had no idea how I would react. The fact I hadn’t started screaming yet seemed like a mark in the win column.

“I can handle it,” I said, focusing on Alphabet again. “I might only be a couple of steps away from throwing myself over the virtual edge, but—I can do this. Tell me what you know.”My throat tightened, a warning against trying to squeeze those words out. “Please.”

Alphabet continued to study me, but he didn’t make me ask again. “After coffee—Rhythms,” he added on the name with a little nod to me. Details mattered. “She left and walked to the courthouse. I thought she’d be going to her office, but she headed to the family court building. Camera coverage inside is a little spottier. Privacy issues.” His grimace was more irritation than disappointment.

“So there’s no way to know who she was meeting with there?” The obvious would be her client. It was a courthouse and there were matters of confidentiality. So that made sense.

“I didn’t say that.” Alphabet lifted his refillable bottle as though toasting before he unscrewed the lid. “Discovering the who is just going to be a bit challenging. Not impossible. That also means it will take us some time. I’ve got her appointment calendar, but all it listed was the courtroom and judge she was in front of. It didn’t offer any other details on the case or the docket.”

Chin dipping, I stared down at my feet. “I don’t remember all of their names. Am is always careful when discussing clients. She takes confidentiality very seriously. Now that doesn’t mean she hasn’t told me a name here or there but… I don’t remember.”

Missing. She’d been missing for two days when I drove to the beach. She’d already been gone while I was being impatient. Then…

“If she was already gone, why did someone grab me at her place?” Did that mean I was the target or she was? A dull pain throbbed behind my eye. A flash of the man who told me he’d been waiting for me danced sickeningly in front of my eyes before he vanished once more.

Alphabet motioned to Bones. “I just gave you everything I had before we had to leave for the job. I’m back on this now.”

“That wasn’t everything,” Lunchbox corrected and when Alphabet glared at him, I glanced between all of them. “She deserves to know.”

“They found her…” My voice cracked and dropped out entirely before I could frame the last two syllables. “…body?”

“No.” That answer came from all four of them in varying degrees of forcefulness. Like someone had cut my strings, I sagged. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be. And she wasn’t.

“Firecracker, if there was a body, we wouldn’t keep it from you.” Voodoo didn’t make it sound like he was trying to placate me. It was just straightforward facts. That said, I still couldn’t resist looking at Bones.

“We wouldn’t,” he confirmed. “The only reason I tabled these discussions previously was we had a job and not enough answers.”

“You have enough answers now?” It landed like I’d thrown down a gauntlet. As irritating as Boney Boy was, it was a lot easier to keep together staring at him than drowning in the sympathy the others offered. The burn of tears in the back of my throat retreated.

“Also, no. We have some answers, a hell of a lot more questions, and issues we need to address.” Bones was tall—all of them were really—but there was something about him standing there, a sentinel locked in place as though daring the world to try and move him. The broad muscular frame added to his intimidation factor so did the lean, hard lines of his face all weathered and rugged from hours outside. His nose had a bit of a bump that told me it had been broken more than once.

That made sense. The four men radiated military precision. Whether they were good guys or bad guys or just trained, Bones was in charge and he presented as such. He also seemed to be the one to make the final calls—or had been until now. The others weren’t as willing to go along.

“What part did A-B leave out?” The nickname soothed some of the jumbled emotions still vibrating under my skin. The agitation was coming back like the tremors I’d already been dealing with had suddenly gotten worse.

“We called her office,” Alphabet answered. “Lunchbox and I both did it, we called, acted like clients ofhersand we were told she resigned.”

“Bullshit.” I surged to my feet. “There’s no way she just quit.” Am was the most dedicated person I knew. “She’d never justleave, muchless do it without saying something to someone.”

“What if she was forced out?” The question from Bones seemed reasonable except…

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