Page 20 of Bad Enough

Midas joined back in. “Since I just found this out with all of you, I haven’t had a chance to delve deep. My initial look into the police records just now shows that no one has seen any of the other four for a while. Common thread is the last place any of them was confirmed being seen was the club.”

Steel muttered something in Spanish under his breath. “Everyone see what I’m seeing?”

Nemo piped up. “All in their early to mid-twenties. Red hair. All short and stacked.”

“A little respect, dude,” his brother hissed.

“What? They are.”

Midas shook his head and looked back at his screen.

“Are any of the others who are missing high flyers?” Steel asked.

“They come from money since the club membership pretty much guarantees an exclusive clientele, but nobody of the same stature as Tilly.”

Steel followed up. “No ransom call?”

Midas shook his head. “Not even a hang-up call. There’s nothing connecting the five missing girls other than all were allegedly last seen at The Library, and there’s been no suggestion that this is related to Tilly’s father’s work.”

“And no ransom call means it’s not money-related,” TB added.

“Correct,” Waters confirmed. “So with ransom out of the picture, we’re left with the usual round of reasons someone is kidnapped. Stalkers, sex trafficking, or the possibility that she disappeared on purpose.”

Midas scanned his screen and answered the questions about to be asked. “Family and friends report that Tilly was her normal self prior to her disappearance. No depression, paranoia, or tension. No change in spending habits, no excessive purchases in the days or weeks prior, which her bank account and credit cards support. No current boyfriend, and the ex-boyfriend claims it was an amicable split over six months ago when he took a banking job overseas. And before you ask, the ex has an alibi. He’s in France on business, which is also where he was the night she disappeared. No police reports of any kind. The worst thing she had going on was a reprimand from her boss that day, and his alibi checks out as he was at a business dinner that night. Seen by a whole restaurant of people. She was known to be partnering with another regular at the club, a Dominant named Cosmos. He is also out of the country in England. They weren’t dating but were on some sort of club exclusivity contract.”

“That takes care of the stalker and planned disappearance angles,” Steel said.

“Affirmative,” Midas agreed. “So, we’re left with the sex trafficking angle.”

Waters continued, “That appears to be our direction. Once Midas does his magic, I expect we’ll see that the first four women were all pretty much loners, possibly all from other states originally. Also betting that there will have been no close family or friends they talked to recently or on the regular, so it wasn’t really concerning when there was no word from them. I was able to confirm that missing persons reports were filed haphazardly and not by people close to them. One report came from a letter carrier when she saw the mail piling up and told a police officer whom she happened to see on her route.”

TB scowled when he looked at the girls. “These girls were targeted. But what’s more concerning is that Tilly is famous, at least in certain circles. People would have noticed very quickly that she was missing. Why the change in his type?”

“Got tired of no one recognizing what he was doing?” Demon offered.

Midas nodded. “Classic narcissist would want people to see how clever he’s being. Would want the recognition. If he’s not getting it, taking someone more recognizable would certainly get attention paid to him sooner.”

“Perhaps it’s more about the location than the girls themselves.” Waters closed the folder in his hands and set it on the table, then folded his arms across his chest. “Anything you want to share with the class, TB?”

TB looked his team leader straight in the eye. Then he looked to his right at Midas.

Midas shrugged. “I didn’t tell him. Spidey senses, man, I’m telling ya.”

Well, shit. Here we fuckin’ go.

“This is the first I’ve heard of missing girls. They’re all regulars. I know all of them, but not… well. I actually spoke to Tilly on the night she disappeared.”

Nemo squinted at him. “What do you mean you ‘know all of them, but not… well’?”

Inwardly, TB sighed. He was never going to hear the end of this. “I’m a regular at the club.”

The silence was near deafening until Nemo leaned forward on the table and asked, “Come again?”

God, their boss, crunched something hard, uttered an expletive, and mumbled something about calling the dentist, while over the speaker, everyone heard the sounds of more crinkly sucker plastic being torn through. Distorted articulation due to something in his mouth, the man said, “Well, this has been dumped in our lap now, so while Midas is working his voodoo on the Ka-Bar situation, we’ll be working on the disappearances of the women. TB, is there anything that you’ve seen there that might pertain to what’s going on?”

All eyes turned in TB’s direction. “Being in Roatán for fifty-three days makes it difficult to know what’s been going on. I didn’t even know any girls were missing.”

Waters prodded. “You have the best angle here. I need you to talk with the owner.” He reached down and flipped open a second file folder. “Tabitha Winchell?”

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