Page 16 of The Players

“Vince is not an option. I don’t want anything to do with him. He had his chance and blew it.”

“He did? When was that? How… Oh…” Her eyes narrowed. “You two have history…”

Dammit. She hadn’t wanted to admit that. No one knew of her stupid teen crush. She hadn’t even told Jazzy. It was her shame to bear.

“Obviously, I’m not taking him up on his offer.”

“Why the hell not? He’s hot. Best way to get over that piece of shit of an ex is to get on a Detta horse. Trust me, I would know.”

“Tess…”

“What? Don’t give me that look. It’s only the most logical conclusion. The man wants to help you. So, let him. You know the world would be a much better place if everyone stopped beating around the bush and speak out loud. Speaking of bushes...” She rolled her eyes. “Try to joke to a man about waxing his genitalia once and you’ll—”

“I think I got the picture, really. Don’t need details.”

“What? See, this is the problem with today’s society. It’s perfectly okay for women to talk about the pain when getting waxed, but as soon as it’s about a man—”

“You are ruining my seaweed salad for me.”

Tess frowned. “What seaweed salad?”

“Exactly my point. Who would want one after the mental image you just gave me?” Before Tess could get into it—and by the excited way she looked, she was gearing up to do just that—Carmen continued. “Look, um, this casino situation actually isn’t the reason I called you. I need your help in finding someone.”

“You’ve come to the right address. I can find anyone!” Tess boasted.

She had thought about this all night. In fact, it was the single thing on her mind ever since she found Dwight’s dead body. It was a remnant of the past. Like karma telling her to right a wrong. No matter how she tried to forget about her past, it had caught up with her. Ever since that night, it had settled into her stomach like a ball of fire, never easing up.

“I’m looking for a little girl.”

“A girl?” Tess sounded intrigued.

“Yes, or no, not a girl. I mean, she must be a teenager by now. Maybe in her early twenties.” The girl couldn’t have been older than nine or ten at the time.

“Aha. And what’s her name?”

They called her Seven, but that wasn’t her name.

She remembered how the girl, dressed in a too-big white gown, had screamed out her name. Right up until a meaty hand had dragged her back behind iron bars.

“Marni. Her name is Marni, and that’s basically all I know about her.”

“And where did you last see this Marni?”

She scrubbed her hands over her face. “This year, it will be ten years ago. I… only saw her once, at a place she didn’t belong.” Neither of them had.

“Ah, and the plot thickens. Did Marni have any special traits? Something that made her stand out?”

“She has one blue and one green eye. Oh, and a small scar at the left side of her mouth.”

“So, she has heterochromia,” Tess said. “That’s a rare trait. It should make things easier for me. Where did you meet her?”

She’d been afraid of this kind of questioning, but Tess deserved the truth, mostly.

“I met Marni at a BDSM club where Franco took me.” Of course, back then, she hadn’t known to what kind of monsters the place catered. “Long story short, I got lost in the place, and ended up in a dungeon I wasn’t supposed to wander into.” And by “wander,” she meant practically crawling away from Franco and his sick friends who had beaten her.

“There was this girl who bumped into me. I couldn’t believe it when I saw a child in a place like that. Her eyes were frantic, and her throat was hoarse, but she screamed one thing, over and over. ‘My name is Marni. My name is Marni.’ Before I could process that, a man came up behind her, and dragged her back into a room. I tried to go after her but—” It had ended with a fist in her stomach.

“I made my way back to Franco. I told him about the girl, but he didn’t care. Said that I was losing it. But for a second there, I could see the fear in his eyes. The next day, I called the police, but they never found anything.” Franco, however,hadfound something. He’d found out about her anonymous tip, and made her pay for it.

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