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“Thanks.” Cliff rolled the chair to a desk in the corner where a monitor lay face-down on the keyboard. He stood the monitor up and checked the power cord. “I hope they didn’t destroy my computer.” He laughed and groaned, holding onto his side.
Cliff tipped his head toward a door standing open to an empty cabinet at the base of the desk. “They took the old CPU. Not that they’ll get anything out of it. I cleared the files when we upgraded to this expensive model with the CPU enclosed in the monitor.” Cliff touched a button on the keyboard. Moments later, the monitor lit up with a login screen.
The Aloha Escorts manager let go of a relieved breath. “Thank God. It’s still working. I passed on the ambulance because I wanted to look through our files for information on Meredith.” He frowned. “If you’ve seen her, you might want to warn her that someone came looking for her here.”
“I stopped by her apartment,” Kiana said. “Her roommate said she hadn’t heard from her since she’d said she was doing an escort job a week ago.”
“Tish?” Cliff didn’t look up from the monitor. “I haven’t heard from her in weeks. Modeling gigs must be good. How is she?”
“I just left her at the hospital in a coma,” Kiana stated, her tone flat. “Someone broke into her apartment and beat the shit out of her.”
Cliff swore. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you think it has anything to do with the people who came here looking for Meredith?”
“I don’t know,” Kiana said, though she suspected it did. She stepped closer. “You keep all the client and escort information on this CPU?”
“Yup,” Cliff said. “And everything is backed up to encrypted files in the cloud.” He poked at the keyboard, flipping through screens one at a time. “Rose is so much faster at this. I never heard back from Meredith or the client after her last assignment. Since we collect payment upfront, I didn’t think to check in with her. I assumed all went well. Then we got slammed by a local convention...” He punched a button and sighed. “I should’ve checked on her. I usually do if an escort doesn’t report in after a job. You know that’s one of the rules we stress.”
“I remember.” Yeah, he should have checked on her. Kiana bit down hard on her tongue to keep from telling him just that.
Cliff continued to peck at the keyboard with two fingers, moving so slowly Kiana wanted to take over or scream or send the guys on a mission to hijack this man’s communications devices.
Cliff glanced over his shoulder. “Why are you back? I thought you’d moved to Maui?”
“I did,” Kiana said. “But I found Dev. He needs work and couldn’t find anything on Maui, so I brought him here to see if you could use him as an escort.”
“I don’t know. It might be a while before I feel comfortable sending anyone else out, male or female.” Cliff’s gaze quickly ran over Dev from head to toe before he looked back at the monitor. “But he might work for the ladies who call us. Check back in a few days after my pulse returns to normal and I don’t jump at every noise.”
Kiana could understand that. After encountering Tish’s attacker, she was jumpy and constantly looking over her shoulder.
“Oh, there,” he pointed at the monitor, “Meredith was scheduled to meet with a man who signed up as Tony Baretta.” Cliff’s lips curled in a sneer. “Like so many clients, he didn’t want to give his real name. These guys usually give us a business credit card number and expense their escort as entertainment. We require a photo of our clients so our escorts can identify them when they make contact.” Cliff clicked another key, and an image of a man appeared on the monitor. He had dark, thinning hair and a plain, nice face with light gray or blue eyes.
As far as Kiana could tell, the man didn’t look like a murderer.
But then, no one had suspected Ted Bundy of being a murderer and serial killer. He’d appeared to be a fine, upstanding citizen to most people, even to the women he’d killed...at first.
“Can we get that photo and the credit card number?” Dev asked. “I know someone who might be able to figure out his real name.”
Cliff frowned at Dev and then at Kiana. “Is he kidding me?”
Kiana shook her head. “If you can’t tell us who the client was, I need anything you have on him. Meredith might be in trouble. I need to find her.”
“You know I don’t share that kind of information,” Cliff said. “Not even with the police without a search warrant.”
“Meredith is my friend,” Kiana said. “You should have checked on her. Hell, you should be looking this guy up. What if he’s hurt her?”
“We don’t know that he’s the reason she disappeared,” Cliff argued.
“And we won’t until we have a chance to talk to him.” Kiana touched the manager’s shoulder. “It’s Meredith we’re talking about. Those men who tried to kill you today were looking for her. Wouldn’t you rather we found her than them?”
Cliff’s brow knitted. “I want her found, so they’ll quit coming after me.” He rested a hand on his ribs and winced. “Fine. I’ll give you whatever I have as long as you don’t do anything stupid with it, like blackmail him.”
“I promise.” Kiana held up her hand as if swearing in a court. “My only concern is Meredith. Once I find her, I’ll shred the guy’s number.”
On a notepad, Cliff jotted down the name the client had given, his cell phone number and the number from the credit card he’d used to pay for the escort encounter. Once Cliff had the information recorded, he tore the sheet off the pad and handed it to Kiana. “Let me know what you find...as soon as you find it.”
“Yes, sir.” Kiana tucked the sheet of paper into her pocket and reached for Dev’s hand.
“Ready?” he asked, curling his fingers around hers.
