Page 25 of Hart of Darkness
He made a clucking sound as he chewed on his lip. “As in Denim Hart?”
I gave him a sidelong glance. “You know Denim?”
He dipped his chin. “I arrested his ass for murder.”
I strained my brain, flipping through conversations I’d had with Ted. “How come I didn’t know that?” Then again, he didn’t talk about his work much with me.
“Who I arrest isn’t your business. You should know by now I don’t talk about work when I’m off duty. Anyway, this girl is probably dead.”
“I’m helping Denim’s brother, Dillon. He doesn’t believe so. He says someone he talked to not that long ago saw Grace at a soup kitchen on Asher.”
“Mmm,” he mumbled.
“Does that mean you’ve seen her?”Please say yes.
“About a year ago, Rick and I were working on a case of a man we suspected had been involved in a bank heist. Our trail led to a tattoo shop not far from Asher called Skins and Needles. When we walked in, there was a girl getting a tattoo on her neck. Anyway, I thought one wrong move, and the artist could sever her carotid artery.”
I stabbed my finger at the photo. “That’s the girl?”
He lifted a plaid-covered shoulder. Ted liked to wear plaid shirts for some reason. “Don’t know. But the mark on her neck made me think of that.” His phone chimed. He unclipped it from his belt. “Yeah. Where? Are you sure it’s the redhead? I’ll be right there.”
My heart stopped. My tongue wouldn’t work either.Oh my. How did he find Nadine? Now she’s going to think I ran to the cops.
“I got to run.” He stubbed out his cigarette then darted into the precinct like the Flash.
A horn somewhere around me blew and kick-started my brain.
I fumbled for my phone. I had to warn Dillon for the sole purpose of making sure he was prepared, and I wanted him to warn Nadine. I didn’t want Nadine to think I sent the cops to pick her up. She didn’t want anything to do with them, so I didn’t believe Nadine had called them. Dillon or Rafe might have. But they hadn’t been all that happy about bringing the cops into the shelter, at least from what I could gather.
I dialed Dillon’s number. The line rang and rang and rang.
Argh!
His voice mail kicked in. “Leave a message.”
A delightful shiver cooled my heated skin as I heard his husky tone. “Seriously? I couldn’t be excited from a voice on the phone,” I whispered, waiting to hear the beep so I could leave a message. The beep never came.
Oh no.I hung my head.
“If you’re satisfied with your message, press one,” the nice lady on the other end said.
Instead, I hung up. It was better to hightail my big butt over to the shelter.
