Page 51 of Blind Luck

“He has his hand on the small of her back,” Rusty said, and I heard the doubt in his voice.

“For the last time, it’s not a damn date. He’s not her boyfriend; he’s a creep.”

And for some reason, she had to be nice to him. I felt a tiny bit sorry for her, and that made me want to solve this mystery more than ever.

Nine p.m., and a quietbeepcame from the door of Ari’s hotel room. The handle moved, and I froze with my towel wrapped around me. Last night, someone had rattled the handle of my door in the middle of the night, and I’d barely slept a wink afterward.

But it was just Ari. She staggered in and collapsed onto the bed.

“You okay?”

“Another lead exhausted,and so am I.”

“Which lead? Math guy or the MC?”

“My contact at the Diamondback Devils swears they don’t know of a reason for Lucy being attacked. Sure, they have beefs with people, but apparently, there’s some kind of bro code. I’ll break the news to Jerry tomorrow. And the math is still ongoing. There are literally millions of accounting entries, and Rennick’s writing a program to analyse it all.”

“I’m surprised Alexa didn’t get there first.”

“Alexa knows code, but I’m not sure she knows finance. She mentioned once that an accountant takes care of that for her. How did your day go?”

“Kelsey went out with that guy again, the one from the Galaxy.”

“So sheishaving an affair?”

“I don’t think so, at least not with him. They weren’t on their own at dinner—Amber Cassidy from the architect firm and another guy were with them—and Kelsey seemed as if she was acting wary. Rusty thought they were double-dating.”

“But you believe otherwise?”

I nodded. “But I don’t know for sure. It’s not as if I ever go on dates myself. He kept touching her, but it wasn’t reciprocated.”

“Any clues as to his identity?”

“No, but I got some pictures, good ones.”

I rummaged through my purse with one hand, holding the towel in place with the other. Ari gave a low whistle as she scrolled through the album.

“How did you get him to pose like this?”

“Pretended I thought he was Lucas Collins. He seemed pretty happy about that.”

“I bet he did. Lucas Collins is hot. And also gay.”

“What?”

“That’s what a little birdie told me.”

“Is that little birdie named Alexa by any chance?”

“She isn’t often wrong. Anyhow, we should get some sleep. I thought they fixed your shower?”

“They said they did, but it’s barely tepid. And I didn’t want to make a fuss because…well… Cole and Jerry.”

“They still need to know. I’ll go down to the desk in the morning.”

“Do you have a plan for tomorrow?”

“You’re on Kelsey duty; I’m back with Rennick. The loan is really the only unexplored lead we have at the moment.”

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