Page 131 of Before She Disappeared

Shortly after six p.m., a familiar form walks through the door and I exhale a giant sigh of heartfelt relief. Charlie ambles up to the bar and takes a seat. I already have a glass of water waiting for him. “Coffee, food, nonalcoholic beer?”

“Viv working?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then I’ll take a burger. Tell her it’s for me.” The man definitely has a twinkle in his eye. And I bet when I mention his name, Viv will have that same sparkle. Have to hand it to the woman, she has good taste in men.

I head to the kitchen to place the order. Sure enough, Viv positively preens. “You tell Charlie I got him covered.”

“Aren’t you married?”

“To the best man in the world, absolutely, honey. But it never hurts to look. YOLO, baby.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“Don’t I know it. Speaking of which, where’s your handsome hunk this evening?”

“Probably sitting at his desk sulking. Apparently, he likes his strong, independent women less strong and less independent. Men.” I shrug.

“He’ll come around, sweet cheeks. The good ones always do.”

“Ah, but being the strong independent type, I’m not sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.”

“And more power to you. You give Charlie a hug for me. That man has the best arms.”

I don’t want to know how she knows that. I return to the bar with a cup of fresh coffee for Charlie, then check in with a couple of customers. Next lull, I plant myself across from him, arms folded, ears waiting.

“Sorry about Mrs. Samdi,” Charlie says. “I stopped by in person. Her son didn’t take it so well.”

“It’s okay. In a weird way, it worked out. J.J. tracked me down himself, told me some interesting stories of an older half brother named Deke, who apparently had connections in the counterfeiting world as well as a penchant for armed robbery.”

“Deke Alarie? You serious?”

“That’s his full name? And I’m being completely serious. Now fess up. What should I know?”

“Alarie’s a big name back in the day. French for ‘all power’ and, boy, did he live up to it. Cold bastard. If he decided he wanted what you had, or you were a threat to what he had...” Charlie shook his head. “Kind of guy who’d sell out his own mother to get ahead, that’s for sure. Maybe he did.”

“I imagine he had some equally cold associates?”

“Deke ran with a serious-shit kind of crowd. Kind of men you should have your detective friend look into. Not for you, little lady. Not for you.” Charlie’s deep voice is so serious, I’m almost tempted to listen. “Last I heard, Deke Alarie had just started some new business partnership, but then he got sent away for armed robbery, and that was that.”

“What did you hear about him and counterfeit bills?”

“Nothing. But if there was a gangster interested in getting involved in something that sophisticated... Yeah, Deke Alarie, I could see it.”

“So maybe his new business partners hooked him up?”

“Even gangsters have dreams, you know.”

I roll my eyes.

He gives me a wink. Then his expression sobers. “Any news on Angelique Badeau?”

“Nothing yet. With Livia murdered... I don’t know. Something’s clearly changed and it can’t bode well for Angelique.” I lean closer. “We’re pretty sure Livia and Angelique were selling fake IDs. Except, I can’t figure out how that would lead to kidnapping. Like you and I talked about, sure, there’s money in fakes, but these aren’t top-dollar forgeries.”

“DIY enterprise.”

“Exactly. So how did they get from that to being abducted? Holding two teenagers against their will... That’s high-risk stuff, and complicated logistics. Gotta involve more than a few people, meaning also a larger-scale enterprise. No longer DIY.”

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