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“Because you’re still working your case?” she asks.
“Yes, but also because I meant it when I said I wanted to help you. Having an ear to the ground with the men who work the door will always be useful because they see and hear almost everything.”
Marlee nods, taking a sip of her coffee. “Was anything else said that we might be interested in? Anything at all, no matter how inconsequential it might seem.”
“The brother—Jason, you said—he came to the club on Saturday night, about the same time we were in the closet. Or maybe afterward when you were sucking face with Decker in the booth.”
She freezes, her eyes widening and her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “It wasn't—”
I hold my hand up. “It doesn't matter, Marls. When you're undercover, you do what you've got to do. I get it.”
“Don't think you do,” she murmurs. It’s definitely not the time to get into this. “Anyway. The brother. What happened with him?”
I take a sip of my drink before putting it down and pushing it away. “I'll never sleep if I keep mainlining that stuff.” She snorts and I continue, ignoring how cute I used to find her little idiosyncrasies. “All Hawk said was that she was sweet and innocent. Even went so far as to call her a church mouse. She doesn’t sound like the type that would fit in well there. Regardless, apparently her brother was telling anyone who'd listen that Decker had something to do with Mary's disappearance and that he knew where she was. Then he got inside the lobby and Hawk said that Justin 'took care of it' after that.”
Her eyes flash. “That would've been just before Justin came to get Decker and he had to leave me.”
She turns her attention to the file on the table, flicking it open between us. One quick look shows it is the LVPD missing person's report for Mary. Reading upside down, I see she’s twenty-two and had only lived in Las Vegas for a week before she started at Marquis—same as me.
“You said she'd paid first and last months' rent, correct?”
Marlee nods as she lifts her gaze to mine.
I press on, thinking aloud. “So one week in Vegas then she works at the club for a week, then she's gone? That doesn't just seem out of character, Marls. That seems suspicious as hell. You don’t uproot your life from your hometown, move to the big city lights and then disappear. Not like that.”
“Yep. It also doesn't help that we didn't know she was missing until ten days ago.”
“You were investigating Decker before all of this happened? I figured it was some cross-state crime that landed on your lap.”
She opens her mouth then shuts it again, looking unsure and it's that indecision that feels like a knife to the gut. “I need to check how much I can tell you. You turning up and getting involved in this case wasn't exactly on our radar,” she says, sounding almost apologetic. Our radar?
“Look, I get there are things you can't tell me. But you know me, Marls. You know how I work.”
“By talking it out,” she replies, sounding resigned. I'm starting to believe she hates the fact she has to work with me again. “I know.”
“And while I appreciate that there will be things pertinent to the case that you can’t share with me, I need more to go on so that I know what to look for and who to look at when I’m at working at the club.”
She nods, slumping in her chair. “You turning up and investigating the money side of things at the request of a silent partner that none of us can identify has thrown us for a loop. We're not sure if it's part of a bigger picture or just a huge coincidence.”
“Or it's a distraction to divert attention,” I suggest, thinking out loud.
“Pretty much.”
Something I haven’t thought about hits me. “Does the fact that it’s me that was sent here play into this?”
Her lips twist. “I have considered that. But we can’t know whether you’re here on purpose or not until we can identify your client.”
I run back over what Harry said when he told me about the case. “Harry said he’d worked with the client last year and owed him a favor. This case was the client calling in that marker.”
Marlee jerks back, frowning. I don’t miss the way she looks toward the large mirror on the side wall. I noticed it when I was checking out the room but didn’t think much more about it until now.
“You going to tell me who’s joining us, Marls?” I jerk my head toward the glass.
“No one,” she answers a little too quickly. “It’s the middle of the night, Aiden.”
“I’m not an idiot.” I turn to the glass and wave. “Hi there, whoever you are. I don’t care who hears what I’m saying because I’ve got nothing to hide. So feel free to reveal yourself any time…”
I stare back at Marlee knowing why she can’t trust me but wondering if there could or will ever be a time when she does. Or maybe I’m an idiot for still holding out hope.
