“Have you started interviewing anyone for my position?” his dad asked. “I’d really love to get back on the water.”
Carrera had been so busy, he hadn’t even contacted a search firm. “Dad, you gotta handle it.”
“I’ve been working with Gracie,” he said. “She’d be great. Spend ten minutes talking to her.
“I’ll talk to her now.”
“I’m headed to the pier,” his dad said. “I’m stepping in to captain a private gig.”
“Is the cruise a romantic dinner for two?” Carrera asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s me,” Carrera said.
His dad grinned. “That’s great, son. I look forward to meeting her.”
He could say nothing, or he could talk to his dad now, and possibly avoid a total disaster later. Carrera shut the office door. “I’ve been seeing someone and she’s very special to me.”
“Do you want me to pretend I’m not your dad?”
“What? No. It’s someone I used to know.”
“Rekindling an old flame?”
“It’s Amanda Maynard,” Carrera said.
The air got sucked out of the room. His dad’s smile fell away, anger flashed in his eyes. “Again? She was enough of a wrecking ball the first time. What the hell is she going to do this time ‘round?”
Fury jumped to the surface, but Carrera needed to keep himself in check. “Have you ever talked to G-ma about what happened?”
“I’ve talked to your grandmother a million times. That girl was the reason our family?—”
“Thatgirlasked her dad to go to a soccer game. That was all she did. She was sixteen and she hadnothingto do with his affair with Mom. She didn’t introduce them, she didn’t even know they were seeing each other! I was in love with her then, and I ended up being a total shit to her. She is very important to me, but if you won’t act civil toward her this evening, don’t captain my ship.”
Carrera’s gaze ripped through his dad while the air turned turbulent.
Silence.
Deafening silence.
“Do you love her?” his dad asked.
“I never fucking stopped, but I was too immature to see past my own pain. Her life got wrecked, but she turned it around. She’s an amazing woman. G-ma adores her, and so do I.”
“Her life wasn’t the only one that got ruined.”
“But not by her, Dad.” Carrera raked his hand through his hair, trying to diffuse the anger. “Not by her.”
Slash
Slash’s workdayhad been one big pile of stank. She hadn’t made any progress on the cases, and based on everyone she spoke with, she knew more than they did.
How do seven women from the same nightclub vanish without a trace? No leads. No bodies. Nothing.
“C’mon, Greg, where are you? Show me your ugly fucking face so I can wipe that sick smile right off it.”
Slash showered, dressed in a bright pink, form-fitting halter dress and sandals. Normally rock solid, her guts churned as she put on her makeup. Was this a date? It felt like a date. Or were they just two partners taking a break from a stressful case?
