Page 128 of Daddy P.I. 3.0

Caddy returns her fulminating glare to me. “This is on you. Drew won’t stop and now we’ve missed our opportunity to stop him.”

Her words settle deep in my chest.

“I won’t give up,” I say.

“Don’t,” she responds.

thirty-six

LOGAN

After everyone leaves,I sit with my head in my hands and parse through my fuck-up.

Did I fall for the fall-guy? Did I let the true villain of the piece get away? I can’t accept that. No, I don’t always “get my man.” As I told Emily months ago, my clients often don’t want the publicity and potential recriminations of an arrest. Often it’s enough to stop the crime, get the money back, get an apology. Have I let the confines of my usual cases blind me when it mattered?

Slowly, I become aware that not everyone has left the room. Mac’s sitting beside me, staring off into space, rocking Livvy’s car seat on the conference table. That’s not surprising.

What is surprising is that Ten is still sitting across from me.

Ten’s expression is even more surprising. He’s not red-faced and scowling. He’s ashen.

“Fleur’s missing,” he says, when I meet his eyes.

“Cappa’s on it,” I reassure him.

Ten shakes his head, pulls his phone out of his pocket, and holds out the screen to me. I can’t read the small type across the table.

“He’s been back to her apartment. She’s not there. There’s no sign she’s been home.”

A cold finger runs up my spine. “Since when?”

He works his jaw for a moment before he says, “I mighta been the last one to see her. We did a scene after the party the other night, the Grand Opening, her, Cappa, and me. Cappa left afterwards for his shift in the nightclub. Fleur stayed with me until breakfast. I had a ... thing. Once I was finished, I went to lunch in the Trattoria. She wasn’t there and we hadn’t planned anything, so I assumed she’d gone home.”

“That was two days ago,” I say, parsing through his timeline.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.” I pull out my phone and call Theo.

He answers on the second ring. “Hey, I just heard. Good fucking job?—”

“It isn’t but I’ll tell you why later. Fleur’s missing. Cappa’s been to their apartment. She’s not there. Ten saw her at breakfast two days ago. That’s the last time anyone’s seen or heard from her.”

“Fuck,” Theo says.

“My sentiments exactly. Hospitals?”

“And morgues. Don’t repeat that to anyone. Panic doesn’t help,” Theo says. “Do you know who her medical emergency contact is?”

“Cappa, I’d assume.”

Theo grunts. “No point in you calling around. They won’t tell you anything. Have Ten and Cappa file a missing person’s report with my office. She’s been gone long enough. I’ll make sure a junior detective starts making calls as soon as the report’s filed.”

I lift my head and relate what Theo’s said to Ten.

“You’re with Ten?” Theo asks when I finish.

“Yes.”

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