Page 44 of Be Courageous

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Tony couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. This wasn’t the first time Ruby’s actions had left him bathing in a cold sweat. But it might well be the last.

His CO’s voice seemed to come at him from a great distance. “How could she know anything about Katz?”

“I don’t know.” Ruby had a nose for corruption. Tony didn’t ask why or how. “She just knows. She questioned Katz yesterday about an incident in his past.”

“Are you sure she’s missing?”

“Pretty sure. I’m gonna backtrack, see if she ever even made it to Macy’s, where she was headed. It’s possible somebody just stole her phone, then threw it away when they realized it could be traced.”

“Call the police if you don’t find her.”

James’s calm, implacable voice helped to focus Tony’s splintered thoughts.

“Report her disappearance, but don’t say a word about Katz or we’ll lose the advantage of surprise. Call me back with any updates.”

“Yes, sir.” Tony thumbed in the passcode to Ruby’s phone, then handed it to Corinna. “Look up her texts and any recent phone calls. Tell me what you see.”

With an eye on his mirror, he threw the car into Drive and accelerated up the ramp, continuing onto the highway.

“There’s nothing here,” Corinna reported a minute later.

Tony was busy making his way back to City Center. “You sure? No text, no calls, nothing?”

“Nothing.”

While giving him zilch to go by, Corinna’s reply eased the worry that Ruby had lied about wanting to shop the Black Friday sales. Realizing she’d already lied about wanting to see the parade made his stomach hurt. If only she’d told him she was interviewing the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. Tony would have heard James’s story last night and immediately put two and two together. He would have protected Ruby, and this horrible fear that something irrevocable had happened wouldn’t be fisting his intestines.

Stifling a curse, he slapped the steering wheel, causing Corinna to startle away from him.

“Sorry.” He swooped off an exit ramp in order to double back to Macy’s. “I just don’t understand why my own family is keeping secrets from me.”

Corinna hugged herself, looking miserable.

“Did she tell you not to say anything?”

“Sort of. She said she wouldn’t take me to seeHamiltonover Christmas break.”

“Ugh.” Tony shook his head in disgust. That sounded exactly like something Ruby would say. “She has no idea how dangerous this guy is.”

“He shot a kid and his mother.” Corinna’s voice wobbled. Tears brimmed in her lovely eyes.

Tony glanced at her, dumbstruck. “You know about that?”

“Ruby asked him about it directly.”

Oh no. “What did he say?”

“He denied it. Said it was the opposition making up stories to discredit him. And yet we overheard his assistant mention a leak they’d taken care of. Of course, he didn’t know we were listening.”

Tony pictured Ruby hiding out of sight, eavesdropping on the man she’d interviewed.

Staskiewicz.That had to be the leak the assistant was talking about.

Tony blew out a breath as panic threatened to impair his thinking. Everything James had told him over the phone last night Ruby already knew. Boy, was she clever! But she’d bitten off more than she could chew this time around. “We gotta call the cops.” But first he needed to give them something to work with. “When’s the last time you actually saw her?”

“Um. When she dropped me off at Starbucks.”

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