Page 69 of Unruly

Miguel shook his head. “No, but considering everything, I don’t think that’s unusual. Some of them didn’t even know their clients had dropped from their list until the next pickup and drop off came up. And you know how Catrina has always worked, you know?”

“Yeah, the girls don’t get direct contact with the clients other than to hand off product.”

“For exactly this reason,” Miguel murmured, “because it gives them ideas of stepping out on their own.”

Catherine pressed her lips together in an effort to keep quiet for a second, and think. Miguel was right, none of this was simple.

“What about girls?”

“I just told you—”

“Not current girls, Miguel. Former girls. I mean, wouldn’t that be the place to look if we believe—and I seriously do—that it was one of our girls who started pilfering the clients over time?”

“That’s not going to be any easier, reginella.”

“Why not?”

“Because girls drop off the radar after they’re done. Sometimes they head out of country. Sometimes, a name change is in order. When they’re done, Catrina wants them to be done. Move on. Settle into a life away from this business, so that they’re not going to be picked out on the streets as one of her former girls. And honestly, a lot of them don’t want to be associated with this business once they’re done, either.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“But you have a good point.”

“Think you could look into it for me?” she asked.

Miguel smirked. “I can try, yeah.”

Good, good.

With Miguel on the trail of whoever the hell it was that had stolen their clients, that gave Catherine more time to work on her cocaine issue.

But also …

“As for the former client issue,” Catherine said.

“What about it?”

“Sometimes working your way through red tape, and their precious processes is just a waste of time. I’ll go over the list of former clients again, pick one or two, and pay a visit.”

Miguel cocked a brow in disbelief. “As in … insert yourself right into their business.”

“Daily life, yep.”

“The whole point is to be their beautiful ghost, isn’t it?”

“Time for some haunting, then.”

“Catherine?”

She barely looked up from the spread of makeup on her vanity. She was stressed, sleeping less than normal, and snapping at every little thing.

It wasn’t that she meant to, but all the crap happening in her life was just making it difficult to get through the day.

“Catty?”

Catherine looked over at her husband leaning in the doorway of the large walk-in closet. It was the size of a bedroom, really. “Sorry, I’m a little out of it this morning.”

“I can see that.”