Chapter 14
Sol
As the sun was starting to shy away and the temperature lowered, it was decided the indoor space in the apartment would be preferable to the terrace—regardless of how fabulous the views were from the rooftop.
After brewing some tea in the kitchen—matcha for Sol, classic Earl Grey for the two Brits—they moved to the dining room table to resume the case chat.
Sol was thrilled at being so close to the investigation.
For the first time in weeks she had the urge to run to the computer and write, something that hadn’t happened to her when writing her articles.
Lately she had dreaded every time she was on deadline for one of her journalistic commissions.
But she had several ideas about what her next book would be and where she’d like to see her detectives going.
And it was all thanks to Luke and Divya.
Unlike the two police officers who’d scoffed at her the night Leonardo had disappeared and had dismissed her ideas on what could have happened to him, the British detectives listened to her.
Sol made a resolution to show Luke her appreciation.
She was sure she could come up with very pleasurable ways of thanking him.
“Moon says they can call us now,” Divya interrupted Sol’s thoughts.
The detective answered her partner’s phone after two rings and put her on speaker.
“Hi, Sugar,” Moon’s Southern US drawl filled the space.
“Moonbeam,” Divya sounded slightly flustered, “you’re on speakerphone—again. I’m afraid you’re going to bring up your NDA—again.”
“Oh gosh! What now?”
Luke took over, checking the scribblings in his notebook as he spoke: “Hi, Moon. Sorry to bother you again. I promise this will be short. I know you’re busy.”
“Don’t worry, Luke. Just tell me what you folks want to know.”
Luke went on, reading from his notes: “When we talked to you yesterday, you mentioned you weren’t initially worried about Leonardo because you thought this could be some sort of stunt from him.
You said you thought he’d faked his own disappearance to have a mini holiday and that it wouldn’t be the first time that he did something like that. ”
Moon hesitated. “Yes.”
“When has he pulled a stunt before?” Luke pressed.
Moon sighed. “Is Sol also on the line?”
“I’m here, yes,” the journalist answered.
“No offense, Sol. I really like you. I still need you to leave.”
“Even if I tell you that I know this is off the record,” Sol tried. She was dying of curiosity.
“Even then. I know you just wrote a profile on Leonardo for Red Carpet. It was very tastefully done, and managed to promote him and our show at the same time. I still need you to leave. I really don’t want to have to admit that I was talking to a journo if this was to leak.”
Even if Sol wanted to protest and tell Moon that she wasn’t there as a journalist but some sort of glorified consultant working with the detectives, she didn’t press. “I understand.”
She grabbed her cell phone, giant purse, and jacket and told Divya and Luke: “I’ll be running a couple of errands. Should be back in half an hour unless you tell me to stay out for longer.”
Luke
Sol left her flat, and it hit Luke with guilt. What right did he have to chase her out of her own home when he was the one working? Then again, she’d probably tell him that it was also his home and she’d been the one to volunteer to help him. The whole thing still felt kind of bizarre.
He wondered if he should have insisted that Sol needed to stay—they were working together after all. Yet, they weren’t officially working together and he wanted to hear whatever it was Moon had to tell them. He was curious and getting Sol out of the way had been the easier thing to do.
“Okay, Moonbeam. The stringer has left the flat, even if it was completely unnecessary,” Divya said.
“If you’d met the lawyers at Meshflixx, you’d also be paranoid, believe me,” Moon protested. “So…”
“So…”
“You’re probably not gonna believe this story about Leonardo Pascual. But I have it in good authority that it’s true.”
“Try us,” Luke said.