Page 82 of Blackmail
“He does, right?” I can almost hear her nodding her head. “He’s honestly one of our best nurse aides. All the patients love him. Is there a message I can take in case I do see him?”
“No. I’m sure he’s at home, not feeling well or something. I’ll touch base with him soon.” Meanwhile, there’s a block of ice settling in my stomach.
I hang up and immediately dial Brennan.
“Yoohoo.” Lehman waves some papers at me. “You asked me to update you when?—”
I give him the universal hand signal for “wait one damn minute.” Except I use my middle finger.
“Perez Laundry Service, how may I help you?”
“Brennan, this is Sebastian Pierce. I’m looking for Simon.”
“Can’t give out the personal information of my employees to a client, Mr. Pierce, not even the ones who pay me a fuckton of money.”
For the love of—I swear something inside me is about to snap. “I have his personal information, asshole. I can’t reach him, and his other employer says he left mid-shift two days ago and hasn’t returned. I’m worried.”
“You try calling him?”
“Oh shit, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Yes of course I called him. His phone goes straight to voicemail.”
“Look, sometimes he falls off the radar for a few days so he can study. I’m sure it’s nothing too—hang on.”
I mute the phone and place it on the desk. Lehman raises his eyebrows at me.
“I talked to Simon at a fundraiser a few nights ago. We agreed to start dating, to have a real relationship as soon as I got Tony to sign the divorce paperwork. Now suddenly I can’t reach him.”
“Did the two of you agree or did you insist and then take his silence as agreement?”
I think back to that night. Maybe getting Simon to agree while I was jerking him off wasn’t entirely legit, but… “He did agree. Sort of. I think.”
The look on Lehman’s face shows his doubt.
Lehman glances at my phone, still silent, and then clears his throat. “You’re not going to want to hear this, but I’ve got some news about the disappearances.”
“Kidnappings.”
“Potato, Lindberg Baby.”
“I don’t know what that mean—dammit, just tell me.”
“Liam’s team combed through the locations the last few people disappeared from. I mean, they went all out. They talked to catering staff, partygoers, DJs…everyone. A couple of homeowners were uncooperative, but some of the locations were vacation rentals, so they had more leeway. Interesting thing, every location was either minimal on security cameras or they’d been disabled. Buuuut….” He waggles his eyebrows. “The location of that summer blowout or whatever they called it had a close enough neighbor to get footage of Parker being led to a white van.”
That rings a bell. “Simon was at that party. I think he may have mentioned a white van.”
Lehman nods. “Right. And Tony was there.”
“I talked to him. He was hired as a promotor. He put out the word and got people in the door. Based on our conversation at the fundraiser, didn’t have any real information.”
Lehman sighs quietly. “Bas. I know you think you’re detached and objective about Tony because your marriage was a business agreement, but I think you’ve got a blind spot where he’s concerned because once upon a time you were friends, and you felt for him when his life got turned upside down. You’re not going to want to hear this, but when I say Tony was there, I don’t mean at the party. I mean we’ve got a video still showing him standing by the van while some guy they haven’t yet identified shoved Parker in the back.”
Now I know what getting drenched in ice water feels like. “No.”
“Hate to say it, but your buddy sounds like he’s got a point.” We both startle as Brennan’s voice comes on the line.
“Dammit, I thought I muted you. How much did you hear?”
“Most of it. Simon’s brother is here. He said Simon hasn’t been home in a couple of days. Given that our interests are aligned, I figured it would be good to listen in case your guy had good information. Which he did.”
