Page 2 of Tamhas

“Hmm.” She smirked a little, clearly enjoying this. “All right. A guy you have a crush on ghosted you. That’s all you had to say.”

“I don’t have a crush on him. Jesus.” But I was blushing. I could see myself in the little window in the corner of the screen.

“Sure, sure. I wonder what he’s gonna do when a badass MMA fighter-slash-bounty hunter shows up at his door.” She giggled.

“I’m not going to show up at his door! Listen, he’s a nice guy, and I’m genuinely concerned for him. I can’t tell you why. I just am. You know how it is.”

She nodded without reply, because she did know. I’d been able to tell when something was wrong since we were kids. I had instincts sharper than most adults. Those instincts served me well in my side jobs.

“How did you say you met this guy again?” Emelie glanced at me through the phone as her fingers flew over her keyboard. I could hear the tap-tap-tapping.

“I didn’t.”

She snickered. “I know. That’s why I’m asking, smartass.”

“I was doing research. Remember about a year ago when I was working for that client who had his collection broken into?”

“Oh, yeah. The old weapons and stuff.”

I rolled my eyes. Old weapons and stuff. “Yeah, right. Medieval Scottish weapons. Worth a fortune. No big deal.”

“So, what, this guy you’re looking for was an expert or something?”

“You could say that. I mean, he seemed to know his stuff. And he was from Scotland, so…” I shrugged. “It seemed more legit, I guess. He was a treasure trove of information.”

She snorted, eyes on her monitor. “For a private eye, it doesn’t take much for a complete stranger to pass your verification.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “It’s hard for me to explain. And I know it sounds stupid now, but in the moment—and when we got to know each other better—I got a good feeling about him. He seemed like a nice guy, a decent guy. Genuine. Not like some fake internet troll creep. You know?”

“So, you two kept talking after he helped you with your research.”

“Right. You know how it is.”

“No. How is it?”

“Oh, my God. Shut up. You mean you never started a friendship with somebody online?”

She laughed. “Sorry. I’m just busting your balls.”

“You’re being a real pain in the ass.”

“I said I was sorry.” She looked over at me from the monitor. “I really do wanna know what happened and why you want to find this guy so badly.”

I couldn’t explain why I wanted to find him. That was the problem. There weren’t any words I could put together that would make sense. She would never understand.

“Did you ever just get a feeling about somebody?” I asked, drawing my feet up on the chair, leaning my chin on my knees. “I mean, we talked online for months. We even started video chatting, but that didn’t last long before he disappeared.”

“Ooh, what’s he look like?”

My heart skipped a beat when I brought his face to mind. “He’s pretty cute. Really cute. I could never get a good look at his eyes, but he has this gorgeous, dark hair, maybe some dark red in it. His face is all chiseled, really well-defined profile and ugh, cheekbones I would kill for. And he’s got a great body—I mean, just from the shoulders up, I could tell. You know what I mean. For a minute there, I thought he might be a professional fighter.”

“One more thing for you two to have in common.”

“Exactly. But he isn’t. I asked. It’s the only specific question I ever asked, now that I think about it.”

“Why didn’t you ask more than that?”

“Because he seemed a little standoffish when I did. Like he didn’t want to answer. And yes, I know that seems shady,” I added,when she opened her mouth like she was about to point it out, “but sometimes, people want to maintain their privacy. I’m the same way. He doesn’t know anything about what I do, either.”

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