Page 32 of No Safe Place

I was still laughing as Daisy headed back to the bar and then I looked at the front door and I saw Colleen.

Then I stopped laughing.

I did a double take as I saw the crazed look on her face. There seemed to be another person with her, a middle-aged blonde woman, who was looking pretty frazzled as well.

Colleen bolted straight toward me. She sat down in the booth seat opposite with the woman sliding in next to her.

“Mike, listen,” Colleen said, flushed and out of breath.

I looked closely at her face. I didn’t like her color. She was too pale. And there was a distant look in her eyes. Like they were losing focus, as if she was on the verge of fainting.

She really did seem discombobulated. Both of them did. As a combat vet, I knew trauma when I saw it. They both seemed to be in a kind of shock.

A car accident? I thought. Something had happened to them.

“YES!” someone yelled behind us as the Hurricanes scored again.

“Colleen,” I said as calmly as possible. “Take a breath.”

“Mike,” Colleen said again.

“No, breathe, Colleen,” I said, touching her hand. “Breathe first.”

Colleen finally took in a deep breath and loudly let it out.

“Are you guys okay?” I said. “Are you hurt or something? Was there a car accident?”

We all looked up as Daisy arrived.

“What can I get you guys?” she said.

“A shot of Jameson with a beer back. Heineken if you got it,” Colleen said, sitting up.

I noticed that the color on her face looked a little better now.

“Me, too,” the mystery woman said in a too loud almost crazy voice. “I’m having what she’s having.”

“Alrightee, then,” Daisy said, giving them a puzzled look as she left.

“Okay, Colleen,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Listen, Mike,” Colleen said, staring at me steadily with her wide pale eyes. “I don’t really have time to explain but do you have a car? We need a ride out of here. Like, now.”

I stared at her. What that meant, I didn’t know. Though what I vaguely remembered from what Colleen had told me about her investigation, the search terms “dead college girl” and “thirty-four billion dollars” suddenly leaped to mind.

“Your case? You’re in some kind of trouble?” I said.

Colleen nodded vigorously.

“We need a ride out of here now. I can explain in the car.”

I counted off three twenties from the roll in my pocket and laid them on the table as I stood.

“I have a black pickup truck, a Ford F-150, two blocks away,” I said. “I’ll run up and get it and honk when I get to the front door here. Sound good? You’ll be okay until then?”

“Yes, Mike. That’s perfect,” she said. “Just hurry.”

“On it,” I said, moving.

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