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“I saw her as soon as she came in,” he said, remembering how she looked, framed by the door with the wind whipping her hair around. “She’s pretty. Really pretty. And she was really out of place there. I’ve never seen her around the club, but she sorta looks familiar.” He shrugged.
“And you danced,” Dr. K. prompted.
“We did.”
“What do you think would have happened if Charlie wasn’t drugged?” she asked.
“Well, no clue. No reason to think about it, since that’s what happened.” He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. She was going to poke at him until he cracked. “She’s different. I’d like to see her again, but that’s a long shot. Hell, for all I know, she’s a trainee.” He grimaced. “I probably shoulda asked. This town’s small, and I might run into her again, but who knows how long that’ll be.”
“Right. Could be a week, could be never.”
“Exactly.”
“Antony, I want you back on the schedule every other week for a bit. I also want you get back on your program. You got a little too comfortable.” He opened his mouth, and she held up her hand. “I don’t think you’re backsliding, or that you’ve undone anything. I just think you may be moving to a new phase in your life, and we need to make sure you’re ready.”
New phase. Something inside him resonated with those words, but it was so nebulous he had nothing to grab on to. This vague unrest had him spinning, and he could either deal with it, or keep pretending that it didn’t exist.
Pretending never worked out in his favor.
He left the session with a headache and a new set of assignments to do before their next meeting. All he wanted was to go to bed, but sleep had to wait.
As he was pulling out of the parking lot, his phone rang. He punched the button on his stereo to activate the hands free. “Ramos.”
“Is this the Special Agent?”
“Speaking.”
“Uh, this is Specialist Blake at the visitor center. Someone from the Warehouse is here for you.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right there.” He hung up and turned his car around.
Half an hour later, Antony walked into the office. His teammates, Simon Carwell and Audrey Linser, were at their desks. Simon looked up at his friend with concern. “You look like shit.”
“Not so hot yourself there, princess,” Antony shot back.
“Yeah, well, hard to get sleep when people screw with family.”
“Damn right. Just got the video from Jeff at the club.” He held up the package before opening it and pulling out a DVD. He sat down and slid it into his computer.
Audrey finished plugging a cable into the tower on Antony’s computer and turned on the big screen she’d wheeled closer. Simon pressed a button on the remote and it fired up. The trio pulled their chairs around and watched the feed from the club. The screen divided six ways. Antony forwarded until he saw his pool game with Charlie end.
“This is where we split up for a few,” he said. “Keep your eyes open from here.”
Antony’s attention was fixed on his exchange with Lesley, so much so that he missed when one person in Lesley’s group got up and walked over to the bar where Charlie was sitting.
Audrey caught it. “There. Stop. Who’s that?” She pointed, adding, “She’s pretty, Ramos.”
His relationship with Audrey had started off badly, in part because of his own problems trusting people. They’d worked through things, mostly, but it was still hard for him to not bristle when she made comments. This was a him problem, not a her problem, and he had developed the habit of taking a minute before he responded to her. “Yes, she is,” he said. “Too bad I only have her first name.”
Simon tapped the monitor. “Looks like this is our guy.” They watched the man walk up behind Charlie. It was subtle, but they saw him flick his hand over the top of her bottle as he was reaching toward a napkin dispenser. Antony backed the video up and played it a few more times, just so they could make sure.
Simon turned to him. “You need to find her again. See if she knows that person.”
Ant nodded. “Needle in a haystack, but yeah, I know.” He’d love nothing more than to find her. Find her and finish that dance. See more of those tattoos.
They watched the rest of the video and saw the end play out with the mystery man running out of the building. At some point, First Sergeant Randall had come out and was watching from behind them. As Antony pressed stop on the remote, he spoke up.
“Well,” he began, “If this is what I think it is, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
