Page 40 of Capture
The door shut behind him, leaving me reeling for more. More of their touch. More of their time and company. Breath escaped my mouth as I grabbed a whole crab cake from my plate and bit the crispy edge, chewed as my mind cluttered with thoughts.
Damn. I didn’t succeed in convincing him, yet, but I’ll keep trying. I always liked a good challenge.
As I pointed out to him, I am part of the family. I might not be blood-related, but I am family —a Kaiser through and through, whether they were willing to admit it or not.
18
Mikky appeared from behind the bookshelf, the secret door that led up to the Red Velvet rooms, as I sat on the leather couch, staring at the floor after my conversation with Danny. My head was spinning as to what to do with this latest piece of information, and what was the best way to manage Betty.
“Why didn’t he phone me?” Mikky asked as he took his phone from his pocket, then realized that the battery was dead. “I made you the second contact on the list.”
“And? What did Danny dig up on Betty?” he inquired. “Going by the glum expression on your face, our suspicions have been proven correct.”
“I just feel bad, man,” I exhaled in an attempt to relieve the burden weighing down on my chest. “Didn’t Lars do a background check on Betty before hiring her?”
“We poached her from the Larsson club, stealing Sylvie’s most valuable staffer, so we already knew she was loyal,” Mikky answered abruptly. “She’s been working for the family businesses for twenty years or more. There was no need to do a background check on her to hire her to manage this place.”
“What about when Sylvie and Lars hired her in the first place?” I pressed because none of this made sense to me. “Was there a background check done on her then?”
Mikky shrugged his shoulders. “I was only a kid back then. What have you got on her?”
“She was born here in Gothenburg,” he started.
“Seriously? I thought she was a Larsson native, well, I assumed she was a Larsson native because her grandmother was living with her, until she died.” Mikky narrowed his eyes as he spoke, as if hunting for memories in his mind. “I thought she was solid.”
“Did Lars poach her, or did Betty offer to move here?” I asked him because it mattered whether it was his idea or not.
“I wasn’t part of the conversation, but I remembered Lars saying before we purchased this place for a bargain price that we should steal Betty from the Larsson club. And I remember scoffing, assuming he was joking, as Sylvie would hit the fucking roof, because they were so tight. I mean…Sylvie and Betty were good friends…” he trailed off again as he found a spot on the wall and stared at it as if he were a million miles away. “Close friends. Sylvie practically viewed Betty as part of the family, a sister, even, because she grew up in the club and became an integral part of the business.”
“Danny went through the footage from our security camera at the back entrance, down the alleyway, but the footage had been erased like the CCTV at the front entrance,” I explained to him. “But he discovered there was CCTV on the bus stop that Annika would use after her shift. He had it checked and discovered that Judith and Betty had met in the shadows on three occasions in the past month. He’ll send us the footage if we want to view it.”
“No,” he shook his head as fury rose in him, still staring at that spot on the wall. “No need.” He wavered for a few seconds, deliberating, before stating, “Get Betty in my office. ASAP.”
“Right on,” I replied, leaping to my feet. “You’re going to confront her?”
“I’ll ask her some questions and watch her slowly as he tries to answer them,” he answered, stepping out of the lounge, walking like a man on a mission, and everyone should get the fuck out of the way of that train.
I followed behind him until he ran up the stairs to his office, while I continued onwards to the kitchen area. She wasn’t in the kitchen, which was unsurprising, so I poked my head into the office, and it was empty as it was busy in the club, and all hands were on deck.
Perhaps I walked past her when I stormed through the casino, but I did glance about searching for that deadly straight ponytail.
When I turned the corner from the hallway into the grand entrance area, a girl was alone behind the desk, attending to members as they arrived. I stepped in behind the desk to assist with signing in and out, hanging coats, and storing valuables that guests didn’t want to take into the club in our safe. When I had a spare moment, I quietly asked her if she’d seen Betty.
“She said she had to head home to pick up something,” she whispered, but that was some time ago, and I haven’t seen her return.
Panic shivered down my spine. Damn it. We wanted to play down our suspicions of her until we knew for sure, so she didn’t flee. Once the line of members was cleared, I stepped away from the front desk and walked quickly, without raising an alarm, into the casino to search for her properly.
When I couldn’t see her, I raced into the bar and dining area and spotted Freddie chatting to a table of members who were in a cloud of cigar smoke. I caught his attention, and he cruised over to me with a wary expression on his face.
“Have you seen Betty?” I asked quietly.
“Not for a couple of hours,” he replied. “Did you speak with Mr. Dalgety?”
“Who?” It took me a few seconds to grasp who he was talking about. Not Mr. Dalgety, his real name was Sergeant Tindale, but Freddie wouldn’t know that. “Oh, yes, him. It was fine. Did Betty tell you that she had to go home to pick something up?”
He shook his head. “No, but it’s a full house, and I’ve been busy schmoozing the guests. Why? What’s happened?”
“Ah, we may have lost Betty,” I mumbled under my breath, giving little away.
