Page 80 of Shadow

The first one he found was of Upwood and a few other men sitting at a table. In the second one, Lola Neiland—a woman he later helped rescue—stood behind the bar making a drink. The rest were of various employees, including a half dozen dancers. But none of them were triggering the memory he was looking for.

“Nothing?”

He looked up to find Carrie standing behind him. “I’m still not sure. Maybe I’m being paranoid. There’s a woman who works for Liv, and I swear I recognize her from somewhere.”

“Which one? I know most of her employees. At least the long-time ones.”

He sighed. “I guess I should be discussing this with her.”

“Just tell me. If it’s connected to the Doll House, there’s a chance I can help.”

“Fiona. The manager at Liv’s Place.”

Carrie hummed. “Let’s see, Fiona started a couple of years ago. I know she has experience as a bar manager. Could it have been at the Doll House?”

Ripley scratched at his chin and flipped back through the pictures to find the one of Lola.

“How is she doing?” he asked when it popped up on the screen.

Ripley had been part of an undercover operation where Lola thought he was the bad guy. Ultimately, she’d been rescued by Peter, Gage, and Ripley.

“Good last time I checked. She moved in with her mom for a couple of years, but Tom told me she’s dating someone now and they might get married soon.”

Ripley smiled. “That’s great.”

Carrie leaned over his shoulder and pointed at the corner of the image. “Who’s that?”

Ripley opened the image in a high-powered photo editor and zoomed in on the corner in question.

“Bingo. Hello, Fiona. How long did you say she’s worked for Liv?”

Carrie shook her head. “Not sure. But it was definitely after they shut the Doll House down. Want to talk to her?”

Ripley stood and unplugged the drive. “Not yet. Let’s have a good night. I’m going to do a quick look into Fiona’s history before I worry about it. But I don’t like coincidences.”

Carrie patted his back. “Me either, friend. Me either. She doesn’t stick out as someone I ever talked to when I was visiting, but I’ll find my notes and double check.”

Reaching up, he squeezed Carrie’s hand, then stood. “Not a word of this to Liv. I’ll tell her later, after everyone goes home.”

She nodded, and went to find Peter, while he walked into the kitchen and slid his arms around Olivia from behind. “How’s it going, baby girl?”

She leaned into him and looked up with a smile. “Good. This is nice. Thanks for setting it up.”

He kissed her tenderly. “Let’s go check on the food. I’m starving.”

Olivia sat on the floor in front of the coffee table and listened to everyone’s conversation while she ate the tender steak. It was wonderful to relax with friends, but something was bugging Ripley, she could tell. She hoped he would let her in on what it was before too long. The tension rolling off of him was palpable.

“What are you doing aside from letting your old co-workers investigate?” Michael asked.

The conversation had officially moved from casual to serious.

Ripley shifted behind her and ran his fingers through her hair. “I’m following a couple of hunches on my own, but without my security clearance, I’m pretty constrained in what I can do.”

Peter leaned forward. “We have a contract with Lance Moss for some tech work if you need some extra help in that department.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow. She’d heard of the tech genius and secretly had a crush on his wife after reading a piece on her in Forbes. She had no idea Peter knew him, though.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ripley said. “It’s a miracle that man ended up on the right side of the law with his skills.”

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