Page 70 of Burn

“Apparently, that’s added to her professional mystique. She gets chosen for a lot of ‘delicate’ or ‘exotic’ pieces, particularly with the all-natural campaigns. Not seeing exotic in her five foot two inch frame, but I can definitely see delicate and hot.” Alphabet shrugged. “She’s got a gorgeous body and presence and it’s in nearly every image of her I could find.”

The sizzle of the burgers filled the kitchen. I kept one eye on them as I set up the condiments, the various toppings for the burgers like lettuce, tomato, onions, and cheese. There was also plenty of chilis in a bowl but Voodoo was the only other one who liked them.

More for us.

“I did a cursory search for Amorette Black, also using info gathered from Gracie’s background. She’s an attorney, works for a law firm, a real crusader type. They’re identical twins, the resemblance is uncanny?—”

“If they’re identical, it would be more uncanny if they didn’t look alike,” Voodoo stated in a droll tone. I shook my head then paused to flip the burgers.

“Regardless, they look a lot alike, they seem to dress totally different. Kind of makes sense—look that’s not the biggest problem.”

“She’s already gone,” Bones said without waiting for Alphabet or me to fill in the blanks. “If you’d found her, you would have led with that. You’re laying out the breadcrumbs so we can begin tracking, but her sister wasn’t in DC and you don’t know where she is or you would have shared that too.”

“You’re so annoying when you do that,” Alphabet grunted.

“So is taking the scenic route when you wanted a fast debrief.”

The two glared at each other, then Alphabet raised his hands in surrender. If I hadn’t been watching him, I might have missedthe way Bones seemed to force himself to relax. Everything about this situation grated on him.

Why?

“Conceded. Amorette Black is missing. No one filed a missing person’s, yet. Though there have been more than a few inquiries. I’m going to guess the people calling the cops are her clients. At least based on what I could work up about the cases she was on. The best I can tell from area surveillance, she’s been gone somewhere between six and eight days.”

“Fuck.” Voodoo dropped his chin.

“What about the law firm she works for?” Bones asked. “Why haven’t they reported her missing?”

“According to them, she dropped her resignation on her desk and walked out the door without saying goodbye to anyone. If we are a client and need to arrange continued legal representation…” I recited the party line we’d gotten from four separate law firm employees.

“She lives alone,” Alphabet said. “She’s very active in her community, but the places she spends her time tend to value privacy and discretion over security cameras. Most of it is domestic violence, workplace harassment, and immigration support—primarily for women, and children. She had some cases through her firm where she did the work for the firm’s pro bono credits. She also does a lot more on her own time and has for years.”

“So what you’re telling me is the twin is a devoted advocate for abuse victims, served as her firm’s PR sacrifice, and was up for sainthood in her attempt to save people, andno onehas reported her missing? Which means no one is looking, and the one person whowouldhave noticed her absence just happened to be taken by a human trafficking ring?”

When Bones put it that way, you couldn’t illustrate our problems more clearly.

“There are no coincidences,” Voodoo said.

“No,” I said, agreeing. “Come eat. What else do we need to cover before we can let her out?”

She also needed to eat.

“I think we’re going to let Miss Black cool her heels for just a bit,” Bones said, without the customary bite to his words. In fact, he sounded far more circumspect. “She wants to contact her sister, for now, if we deny it, we delay her confirmation of what she’s afraid of.”

“She has to know.” Voodoo wasn’t wrong. It was why she kept bringing it up and then digging back in when we found a way to delay her.

Today? She’d crossed the imaginary goalposts that had been set and when we failed to live up to our end of the bargain?

“She knows she’s missing and she’s terrified of it. The first thing she’s going to want is to get the cops and the Feds involved,” Voodoo continued. Since it matched my assessment, I tried not to let his sudden insight and understanding annoy me.

They had just spent twenty-four hours together. Not that much more than what Alphabet and I managed before meeting back up with them.

“Then we need answers, because letting her go to the authorities isn’t going to happen.” The finality of the statement made it difficult to dispute.

“Eat.” I repeated before sliding a plate in front of Alphabet. I set the toppings out on a platter and let them all build their own burgers.

Bones hadn’t abandoned his post, where he leaned against the pillar. The distance in his gaze told me without words that he wouldn’t be eating right now.

“You sure you want to keep her up there until we have actionable intel?” Cause I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Not after everything else.

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