Page 82 of Spooked

“I don’t know how I missed this,” Alexa grumbled, sounding thoroughly pissed off. She didn’t often get things wrong, and on the rare occasions she did make a mistake, she tended to beat herself up about it. “I checked the DMV, her Harvard transcripts, her— Oh, whoa. They’re basically twins.” A picture flashed up on the screen. “See?”

At first, he thought Indi was on the right, but then he realised his error—that was Meera, and Indi had changed her hairstyle to match her friend’s. If you looked closely, you could see the subtle differences. Meera’s skin was a smidgen lighter, her eyes a slightly darker shade of brown. Was her nose wider, or did the camera angle just make it look that way? Or the lighting? It was like seeing double, except Meera wore a carefree smile and Indi was oh-so serious.

“They’re practically identical.”

“You’re sure they’re not related?”

“Apparently not. Can you take a look at Indi’s history? Her father’s name is Arjun Vadera, and her brothers are Rajan and Vimal.” In line with their “no more secrets” policy, Indi had given him the details on the drive back to Nyx. “The ex-fiancé is Karam Joshi. Where did you find the picture?”

“Indali Vadera’s Facebook page. She hasn’t used it in over a year. Before that, she posted about life at Harvard, medical stuff, more pictures of her and Meera. Eeuw, some guy got a chopstick stuck in his bladder.”

“How the fuck would he do that?”

“How the hell should I know? I’ll dig deeper, okay? Into Indi’s background, not the chopstick thing. That’s gross.”

“And Meera Adams?” Brax recited her last known address. “She’s been out of touch for a while. Indi says she can be impulsive, but she’s also reliable when it comes to calling.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?”

Alexa’s tone was sarcastic, but Brax ignored that.

“Since you travel a lot and seem to move in some interesting circles these days, do you know of any Portuguese-speaking guns for hire? I’m speaking metaphorically. I need people with investigative experience who’ll do whatever it takes to find a missing woman. Dawson’s already agreed to come.”

His old roommate had joined the U.S. Navy after they left Blackstone House, and he’d made it all the way to the SEALs before he got dishonourably discharged for punching a senator. The general consensus was that the senator deserved everything he’d gotten, but the powers that be had decided to make an example of Dawson.

“Ask Ari too. She works part-time for that weird dude in Vegas, but her days are flexible, and she’s smart.”

“I’ll try her.”

“Hand on heart, do you honestly think bad shit happened to the real Meera?”

“I don’t want to worry Indi more, but from what she’s told me, there’s a definite possibility that her friend has come to some harm.”

“Let me check around and see who else is available. Have you found a plane, or do you need one of those too?”

“I need one of those too. Do you have a contact?”

“Give me a few hours, and keep an eye on your phone.”

* * *

By dawn, Alexa had pulled yet another miracle out of the bag. Brax owed a whole lot of favours to people he’d never even met, but he’d worry about that later, and he’d gladly pay up. Dawson had arrived from Canada, and Ari had driven through the night from Santa Cruz.

Instead of leaving from LAX, they’d be flying out of San Bernardino International, a former military base that catered mainly to cargo operations, private aviation, and the United States Forest Service. Alexa had promised a plane would be waiting, plus a guy who knew how to ask questions in Portuguese and could spare a week to help, but no more.

Project AVA would be swimming in money after this.

And Brax had his girl back, but Indi was different. Not in a bad way, just different. Relieved that her secret was out but scared in case her friend had come to harm. Was Brax upset about the lies? He couldn’t pretend to be happy that she hadn’t trusted him sooner, but he understood her reasons. Information was trickling in from Alexa now, bits and pieces of Indi’s former life.

The shocker came just after six a.m.

“Did she mention the arrest warrant?” Alexa asked.

Brax had headed to the kitchen to grab some food for the trip—who knew what Alexa’s plane would come with?—and he nearly dropped his mug of coffee.

“What arrest warrant?”

“Indali Vadera is wanted for theft.”

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