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It was also possible that Emma knew something she didn’t want to acknowledge to herself.
Emma stared into the distance for a moment, holding a bite of lobster on a lobster pick. “Toby has a lot of layers to him. He grew up in a super religious household in the Midwest, like I said. He rarely talks about his family but you get the impression it wasn’t a happy one. I don’t think they had money problems but his parents were very much ‘no frills’ people and Toby is all about frills.” She smiled faintly. “He likes travelling business and one of the reasons he wants a promotion is to travel first class. He has innate good taste, likes clothes and he’s definitely smartened up my wardrobe.”
Raul blinked. Her wardrobe? He opened his mouth to protest and she laughed.
“The clothes you’ve seen me in today? Definitely Toby. I have two sides to my closet – BT and AT. Before Toby and After Toby. Before Toby my clothes ran the gamut from beige to cream. Sometimes taupe. The After Toby wardrobe, well … he forced me to incorporate color. And modern fashion, not just office wear. So, he’s stylish and he likes the good life. People end up thinking he’s a lightweight but he isn’t. He’s actually a mathematical genius and as soon as he works some stuff out of his system, he’s going to revolutionize investment banking – or whatever it is he turns his attention to.”
Raul nodded soberly. He hadn’t heard anything that tipped the balance one way or another. It did shed light on Emma, though. For a woman who probably considered herself a loner, she was fiercely loyal to her friends.
“You two were close,” he said. “Are close.”
She nodded. “Yeah. We are. Which is why I think something has happened to him, because I just can’t imagine him leaving without saying goodbye. Actually, I can’t imagine him leaving without organizing a blowout evening involving lots of champagne. He just wouldn’t do that. Plus, he was happy at PIB. Happier than –” Emma stopped, bit her lip.
Happier than me.The words hung in the air, as loud as if she’d said them.
Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d been about to say. Raul decided to leave it for the moment. Because he had every intention of finding out everything there was to know about Emma Holland.
Later.
“So why do you think he told you to run?”
Emma’s shoulders relaxed. She was happier talking about a colleague maybe warning her of danger than of personal things.
“Well, Toby also has a taste for drama. It might have been ‘run’ in the sense of ‘stay away from what is going on’, whatever it is. I don’t know. I’ve got nothing to go on, except for the fact that Toby has been missing for days, he’s not answering his phone or his email. And that that is way out of character for him.”
She was getting agitated. Agitation skewed things. Raul decided to dial it down a couple of notches. Asking about Toby’s musical tastes led to a discussion of her musical tastes, which were solid.
They finished the lobster, drank the last of the wine and Raul called for the bill. Emma put her hand on his, looked deeply into his eyes, which he enjoyed like crazy. It allowed him to stare into hers. He’d never seen eyes that color, they were like gemstones. Amazing.
“Raul,” she said soberly.
“Emma,” he answered, voice just as serious as hers. He was going to enjoy this.
“I can’t let you pay for this.”
He looked down at her pale slender hand over his dark, strong hand almost twice the size of hers and smiled. “I don’t see how you can stop me.” He cocked his head. “Unless you’re armed.”
She sighed. Slid her hand off his and he nearly sighed, too. He missed the softness and warmth. “No.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not armed.”
He was.
“We’ve been over this. I couldn’t go back to Portland if I let you pay for dinner. If I let you pay foranything.”
He’d shocked her. “Anything? I can’t pay for anything? That’s insane!”
“You paid for the tram tickets,” he pointed out.
“Because I’ve got a Clipper Card. And I’ll use it for us to get to the Castro. Where we’re going to an expensive club.”
“Excellent. I feel better already. You’re a smart woman, Emma. Smart enough, I think, to know you’re not going to win this battle. I’ve got a whole company of operators behind me. So, let’s start thinking instead of how to track down Toby.”
She sighed and got up from the table while he signed the tab and put his credit card in the real leather folder with a replica of the Red Sky fresco on the front. “What do we do if we can’t find any clues in the club?”
“You won’t like the answer,” he said as he wrapped the gauzy shawl around her shoulders. It was hard to lift his hands.
She looked at him over her shoulder, startled. “What?”
Raul smiled. “We’ll have to break into his apartment.”
