Page 90 of Savage Beauty

“Max. Hold up.”

I scan the parking lot. I turned my rental car in, but there’s a moped with the keys dangling. I’ll return it.

“If the intel we’re receiving is correct, she could’ve been a player all along.”

“Erik.” I’ve lost all patience with this guy. “You think she’s behind someone targeting her sister?”

“Probably not. But she might’ve just exacted revenge on the person who was.”

I sling a leg over the seat and flip the key. The engine putters. He’s completely off the mark. “Has anyone come or gone since Sloane left?”

“No.”

“Where is she?”

“We traced her phone, and it’s at the villa. Is that an engine I hear?”

“Yep.”

“Where are you going?”

“You say no one has come or gone from the lab since she left?”

“No one other than a security guard.”

“Security patrols the grounds now?”

“Started two days after you two stole a laptop. Nothing suspicious about that.”

“I’m going to head to the lab and see what I find.”

“Why?”

“Well, you believe she killed someone, right?” The wind skims my face and rifles through my hair.

“Or maimed.”

“Here’s the thing. I don’t buy for a second that Sloane is in on anything. Which means chances are, if she hurt anyone, it was in self-defense. She doesn’t have her phone on her, so the best way for me to find her is to track her down. And that’s going to where she was last seen.”

Erik wisely does not argue.

“Where’s Matteo?”

“I’ll check.” He ends the call.

It takes me fourteen minutes to reach the lab. There are no cars or bicycles in the parking lot, which means if the security guard is still on duty, it’s probably the guy who lives nearby. I park the moped on the sidewalk at the side entrance.

The doors are locked, as it’s a Saturday. I have nothing on me to pick the lock. My options are to shoot the lock or shatter the glass. I scan the ground for any kind of heavy rock or brick.

“Sir, can I help you?”

I spin to face the security guard. He’s wearing pressed khaki shorts and an untucked short sleeve golf shirt with the logo that reads “Island Breeze Security.”

“Ah, yes. Thank goodness you’re here. Any chance you can let me inside?”

“You work here?”

And here goes. How to spin this?

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