Chapter 4
“I’ll ask again. What the hell are you doing here?” Nyla stood there vibrating with anger, looking a little like she was about to pull a weapon or something out of her purse.
So Clover blurted out the truth. “We’re looking for my missing friend and we think your cousin had something to do with her disappearance.”
Next to her, Micah sighed and she could practically feel the judgment rolling off him.
She turned to glare at him. “I like Nyla and I trust her.”
“I like her too, but that doesn’t mean we can just tell the truth.” Oh yeah, he was exasperated with her.
“Okay, her is right here.” Nyla flicked a glance up at one of the cameras tucked under an eave.
“It’s not working right now,” Micah said.
“Yeah, I know. I got an alert on my phone that all the security went down. Said it was a system error, but I actually thought it might be Badger and his crew. Did you break into Louis’s office?”
“Yes,” Clover said before Micah could answer. If they lied, it wouldn’t get them anywhere. So she was just stepping out on a ledge and hoping this worked.
Sighing, Nyla looked past them at the closed door. “Are Jon and Jemma in there now?”
Clover nodded. “Yeah. I think they’re hooking up in the kitchen. We snuck out when they headed to the back.”
She sighed again, looked around as if trying to find an answer. Or maybe just patience. Then she motioned at them. “Come on. We need to talk away from here.”
“I parked half a mile down the road,” Micah said. “You can walk us to my truck and I’ll drive you back.”
“Fine.” Her jaw was clenched tight but she fell in step with them. “Start talking.”
“My friend Ilena used to work here.”
“Oh, yeah. Ilena Grady. I liked her. Trained her too.”
Clover had figured that but hadn’t had a good way to ask.
Maybe just talking to Nyla would end up being better than breaking into Cain’s office.
“Like I said, I think Louis has something to do with her disappearance. We know he’s into…
less than savory things. Drugs and whatever else.
And I know that Ilena sometimes delivered packages for him. ”
“I…didn’t realize Ilena did that.” She cursed under her breath.
“But yeah, Louis had a soft spot for her. I can’t see him hurting her, making her disappear.
” She shook her head, her boots crunching the gravel as they walked.
“But I can see him giving her extra work under the table. All her payment was under the table actually.”
“Do you know why?” Micah asked.
“No, but I can guess. A guy.”
“A guy?” Clover asked.
“It’s always because of a guy, an abusive ex. She was skittish sometimes, would jump if someone came up behind her too fast and startled her.”
“She never said anything about an abusive ex,” Clover murmured. They’d talked about shitty exes in general, but never anything about abuse. Just assholes who’d clearly been raised by wolves.
“Well she didn’t say anything to me either. I just know the signs.”
Clover did too, unfortunately—her father had loved knocking her mom around. And she hadn’t picked up anything like that from Ilena. “Did something specific happen?”
Nyla didn’t answer, just kept walking, her expression hard under the moonlight as they reached the main road. “Where are you parked?”
“Down that way.” Micah pointed.
When Nyla didn’t say anything else, Clover tried again. “Ilena seemed really lonely. I met her in Pilates and we hit it off. I don’t always make friends easily and…I’m just worried about her, Nyla. I want to find her, make sure she’s okay.”
“If I’m being really honest, I’m worried about her too.” Nyla turned to look at them as they reached the hidden turnoff where Micah’s truck was parked. “And I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but…you saved me earlier from Badger. I think I can trust you.”
“You can.” Clover figured confirming wouldn’t hurt.
“Louis is…complicated. He’s a good cousin. Not necessarily a good man.” Her tone was as wry as her expression. “And he’s an informant for the Feds. If you’re trying to mess with him, you could get in hot water.”
“We know about the Fed relationship,” Micah said.
“Oh.” Nyla blinked, then nodded as if deciding something.
“That’s good then, I guess. Like I said, he’s complicated.
But he’s not in the habit of ‘making people disappear.’ He’s not…
high up the food chain. I don’t know that side of his business.
” She paused. “I don’t know all of that side of his business.
I like being kept in the dark. But the one thing I do know is that he hires family if he can, and if someone works for him, he looks out for them.
And he genuinely liked Ilena. Maybe more than just liked her, you know? He wouldn’t have hurt her.”
Clover wasn’t so sure Nyla’s opinion wasn’t colored because of her relationship with Louis.
As if she read her mind, Nyla said, “I can see you don’t believe me and that’s fair. But I will say, two days before she disappeared, Ilena got a visitor at work. It really shook her.”
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know. Some big guy. It was clear she knew him.
He requested to sit in her section and her body language was all wrong when she got to his table.
He was relaxed but she was wound tight, looking ready to bolt.
Whatever he said to her, it spooked her.
He didn’t even stay to order. Just dropped a bill on the table after their conversation and left. ”
“You didn’t happen to get him on security cameras, did you? And save it?” Micah asked.
“I mean, I’m sure he was on the cameras but that stuff deletes after a week. I did take a picture of him though. I didn’t like how scared she was, so…” She shrugged.
“Can I get a copy?” Micah asked.
She didn’t respond, just looked between the two of them. “You’re really just trying to find Ilena? Just because she’s your friend?”
“Yeah.” Clover lifted a shoulder.
A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “You know, I actually believe you.” Shaking her head, she pulled out her phone and texted both of them a few seconds later. “That’s the guy. I don’t know that it’ll help, but…” She lifted a shoulder.
“This is a big help, thank you,” Micah said.
And it was—Micah was magic when it came to searching for people.
He would figure out what this guy’s name was.
It was the first real clue they’d found.
Maybe they’d been looking at this all wrong.
Maybe Louis had nothing to do with Ilena’s disappearance.
An angry ex would make a lot of sense. Maybe—hopefully—she’d just gone into hiding from said ex and hadn’t been…
Ugh. Clover didn’t want to let her mind go there, didn’t want to get bogged down.
Until she knew otherwise, she was going to assume Ilena was alive.
“So…are you going to tell Louis about us?” Clover asked.
“I should, but no.” She watched Clover for a long moment. “I really liked you.”
She ignored the past tense use of like because she hoped they could stay friends. “I still like you.”
Nyla shook her head again, but that half smile lingered. “I won’t say anything else to Louis. And I should fire you, but…if you still want to work weekends, let me know.”
“I will.” But she didn’t think it would be necessary anymore. Micah had already copied everything from Cain’s computers and that USB drive.
Though at this point it seemed as if he wasn’t involved at all. They were going to have to figure out who this mystery man was who’d scared Ilena.
“Try to stay out of trouble,” Nyla finally muttered before stepping away from the truck.
“I’ll drive you back,” Micah said when she headed for the road.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m not leaving until I see you walk through the bar doors,” he said. “Badger could come back.”
“I’m not worried about that asshole anymore.”
But Clover was pretty sure she was. And Clover was too. That guy was a powder keg waiting to explode. He was a problem for a future day, however.
Micah hadn’t been kidding. They followed Nyla to the bar since she wouldn’t get in his truck, then left only once she was inside.
“How long will the cameras and security be down?” Clover asked as he pulled onto the two-lane highway.
“They’re back up now. It’ll look like an update glitched things out. Are you hungry?” he asked suddenly.
And she realized that she was, despite the late hour. Or early hour as it was. “Actually yeah.”
“Good. There’s a diner close to here. Let’s grab something and discuss our next move.”
She wanted to grab more than food, but knew that would be a mistake. He hadn’t brought up their kiss since it happened, but she’d seen the way he looked at her. And god, it would be so easy to jump into something with him.
Easy, but stupid.
And she refused to be stupid where a man was concerned ever again.
Though the way he kept helping her, kept showing up when he didn’t have to, it was making it really hard to remember to keep her distance from tall, smart and sexy.