by Blake, Toni
She walked to the desk and, against her better judgment, dialed Jake. If he was back in town, she’d give him a heads-up—that simple. If not, she didn’t have to worry about being seen.
“Hello.”
She closed her eyes as his deep voice melted through her. The voice of someone who was supposed to be in her life, but who had become a stranger—Jake was the stranger who’d made love to her just this morning. “I’m going to look for Raven in the CBD if you want to go.”
“The hell you are.”
“Try and stop me. If you want to go along, I’m starting at a bar called Antonio’s, on Magazine Street. It’s on Melody’s list.”
“Are you fuckin’ crazy, Stephanie? Do you want some lowlife to attack you?”
She took a deep breath and spoke very calmly. “I want to find my sister. Once and for all. So I can get the hell out of this city.”
On the other end, he issued a long, tired sigh. “Just keep a low profile ’til I get there.”
Chapter Twenty-three
HE’D CALLED TONY about the possible Nicholson link. They’d been friends long enough that an angry conversation didn’t have to be discussed afterward, so they hadn’t alluded to their earlier talk—and Tony agreed the idea about Nicholson held merit. He’d said the problem would be tracking the guy down to question him about whether he knew Tina. Nicholson owned the boutique, but he didn’t work there on a regular basis—he didn’t exactly work anywhere on a regular basis.
“Now that I think about it, it makes the guy seem even more suspicious,” Tony had said. “Even so, I don’t have any cause—drug-related or otherwise—to go knocking on his door at home and interrogating him. If you really think this holds water, though, you might consider staking out his house, following him around for a couple of days and seeing where he goes.” Since Tony couldn’t do it, being a cop—but Jake could.
And he might just do that, but at the moment he was back to the drawing board in the CBD with Stephanie, who sat at the bar in Antonio’s looking like a woman to be bedded. She was less high-class escort now and more hooker-too-beautiful-for-her-surroundings. Even a more dangerous disguise, which made him glad he’d come. He couldn’t bear the thought of her going out like that without him there to look out for her.
At least she was quietly sipping her drink, not talking to anyone. He took the vacant stool beside her. “This is what you’re wearin’?”
She raised a solemn gaze, her eyes outlined in black, her lashes long, her lips wet and red. “I dressed down. Now that we’re not in the high-priced area anymore, I thought I might fit in better.” She gave him a once-over. “This is what you’re wearing?”
He had on a dark blue button-down shirt, black pants. “I dressed up. Figured I had to look like a guy who could afford you if I’m gonna be hangin’ with you.” His skin prickled with her nearness and his heart beat too fast.
But you have to ignore that now.
No, not just now. From now on. Like he’d told her, they had to be over. He couldn’t deal with the guilt of caring for someone else this soon. Sometimes he felt like Becky had died just yesterday. He couldn’t have Stephanie anymore.
“What’ll you have?” a young bartender with a scruffy beard and an earring stepped up to ask him.
“Bud Light.”
The bartender uncapped the bottle, setting it on the bar. Beside him, Stephanie twirled her finger through a lock of hair, tilting her head slightly. “Know a working girl named Raven?” she asked the bartender in a soft, sexy voice. The guy’s attention riveted on her.
Damn, she was better at this than Jake had thought.
The guy shook his head. “Don’t think so, sweetheart, but check with the girls at the other end of the bar. They get around a lot.” He winked and she thanked him, and Jake just looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothin’,” he groused.
“Who’s going to ask them—me or you?”
“I’ll do it.” He didn’t even particularly like the idea of her associating with prostitutes anymore. He stood up, grabbing his beer to take with him. “Don’t talk to anybody while I’m gone.”
“And if somebody talks to me?” She blinked, clearly irritated. “You’ll be ten steps away.”
She made a good point and he was too tied in knots by her to refute it. He just headed down to the girls in question, who were dressed a lot like Stephanie—but none of them could hold a candle to her. “Evenin’, ladies.”
They all perked up, stopping their conversations. A blonde stuck her chest out and a tall brunette said, “Hi, honey. Looking for some fun?”
He tried for a sheepish smile. “Actually, I’m . . . lookin’ for a couple of particular ladies, and I was hopin’ you girls might know where I could find ’em. Names are Tiana and Raven. Met ’em both here a few months back and they said they stuck to the CBD most of the time if I ever wanted to get with either one of ’em again.”
All four girls in the group exchanged looks, and Jake thought, Pay dirt.
Finally, the blonde spoke. “We haven’t seen Tiana for a long time. And as for Raven, she’s . . . uh . . . down on her luck right now.” She lifted a hand to his shirt collar. “But I’ll take real good care of you.”
He sighed, trying to be patient, then dug for more information. “Raven’s down on her luck how? ’Cause I’d like to help her out—if you can tell me where she is.”
The tall girl sighed. “Look, Raven’s on the street, man. Used to share a place with some girls we know, but they kicked her out. She’s in a bad way.”
Merde. “Any idea where she might be?”
She shrugged. “Sure, honey, but why would you want her when you could have one of us?”
“I just . . . need to find her.” Time to pull out more ammunition. “It’d be worth fifty bucks to me if you can point me in the right direction.”
At the mention of cash, both girls started to answer, but the blonde got the words out quicker. “Up at the projects, near St. Louis Number One.” The city’s oldest cemetery. “She can score drugs for tricks there. Probably a real mess, though.”
He got out his wallet and peeled out a fifty. And the blonde plucked it from his hand. “A pleasure.”
“I imagine so. Thank you, ladies. You’ve been helpful.”
He headed back down the bar, seeing red when he found Stephanie looking enraptured by whatever the bartender was leaning over to tell her. He plopped back on the stool. “I’ve got what we were lookin’ for,” he said loud enough to get her attention.
She and the earring boy parted and the guy went on his way, thank God. “What?” she asked. “They know Raven?”
He nodded. “I know where we can find her.”
“Really?” She sat up a little straighter, her eyes gone wide.
He dropped some money on the bar. “Let’s go.” As he followed her to the door, he added, “Hope you won’t miss your bartender friend back there too much.”
“I won’t. But he might miss me. Bartenders seem to have a thing for me.”
THEY TOOK A cab to his place, transferring into the pickup, Jake explaining that they were headed someplace where it wasn’t wise to be walking around at night. He hoped they could prowl around in the truck and locate Raven along the street. Things between them remained tense, and Stephanie could barely decipher her own feelings. Adrenaline roared through her veins at the prospect of finding Tina’s friend—and fear, too. Getting closer might mean good news or bad. And she continued to seethe with anger at Jake, trying to mask the ugly wound he’d gouged into her heart that morning. Acting tough with him was her best defense, but it wasn’t easy.
Once in the truck, he said, “Listen, chère, you might want to brace yourself.”
She looked at him across the long seat. “What do you mean?”
“I got the impression Raven might b
e strung out on drugs. At the very least, sounds like she’s livin’ on the street, so this might not be pretty.”
Stephanie’s stomach twisted, worrying she might discover the same fate for her sister. She just nodded and turned back ahead, not willing to let Jake see any more of her emotions.
“Somethin’ else,” he said. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up, but I might have another link to Tina.” He told her Shondra had met a man named Nicholson, who was having an affair with a girl called Tiana—and the guy was known to patronize prostitutes. Jake explained that sometimes working girls didn’t use their real names. “Just never occurred to me before that Tina could be goin’ by something else. Might be a dead end,” he said. “But it also might not. I’ll be lookin’ into it.”
Within a few minutes, they’d reached an area that reeked of depression. Stark, identical brick buildings lined a street where the sidewalks were cracked and littered with broken glass. They passed a small group of young black men standing in a tight circle and one of them looked up at the vehicle moving slowly past. The threat burning in his eyes beneath the streetlamps gave Stephanie the idea something shady was taking place, and her skin prickled.
A block later, as they drove along the white wall surrounding an old cemetery, they came upon a woman trudging up the street in a soiled white micromini and high heels that had seen better days. Jake pulled up next to her and rolled down the window.
Before he even spoke, she said, “Want me to get in your truck with you, mister?” Stephanie could see the light-skinned black girl had once been a beauty, but now her eyes were sunken and her skin sallow. Her halter top revealed shoulders of skin and bone.
“Is your name Raven?” he asked.
She didn’t even look surprised, just tired. “That’s right. You want some company?”
Stephanie supposed the girl didn’t see her—or was too strung out to notice her.
“Raven, I’m lookin’ for a friend of yours,” Jake said. “Girl named Tina. But she might go by Tiana. Any idea where I could find her?”
Raven blinked. “Last time I seen Tiana she was with a dude named Nicholson.”
Stephanie drew in her breath and Jake exchanged looks with her. What Shondra had heard confirmed Tina was still with this guy. Finally, a real break in her search, and evidence that Tina was alive and probably well!
“What you want her for?” Raven asked, suddenly looking suspicious.
Stephanie scooted across the seat and leaned up past Jake to the window, anxious to glean any more information she could. “She’s my sister. I’ve lost contact with her and I need to find her.”
“What can you tell me about her and Nicholson?” Jake asked.
“We met up with him at the Riverwatch Tavern a couple months ago,” Raven said, pointing vaguely in the direction of the CBD. “He took a real liking to Tiana—dude was all over her, couldn’t get enough. Last time I saw her, she said he wanted her for the whole weekend. She got in his fancy car and took off.”
“And you haven’t seen her since?” Stephanie asked.
Raven shook her head. “But I wouldn’t worry none. That guy’s rich. Knows how to treat a girl right. Fancy car, expensive suits—even gave her a diamond necklace before she went off with him.”
Again, Stephanie made eye contact with Jake.
“Listen, Raven,” Jake said, “this Nicholson—did you ever get the idea he was involved with drugs? He ever try to give you any? Or sell ’em to ya? Maybe ask you to pass ’em to somebody else?”
The girl just blinked, stayed quiet. Somewhere a siren rang out.
Finally, Raven turned and started walking up the street.
“Raven, wait,” Jake said, easing the truck forward. She walked faster and he sped up. “Raven, listen to me. I’ll pay you for the information. I’ll pay you a lot.”
The girl stopped and looked over her shoulder. Jake pulled alongside her again and she said, “How much?”
“How’s two hundred bucks?”
The girl pursed her lips, looked down at the sidewalk, then raised her gaze once more. “I don’t want to get in no trouble with Ni—” She stopped suddenly. “With nobody.”
“This is just between you and me.”
“You a cop?”
“No. I’m just somebody who . . . Well, let’s just say I have a good reason for wantin’ to find out who’s runnin’ drugs around here. They . . . took somethin’ from me.”
Raven let out a sigh, finally saying, “He didn’t bring up drugs to me or Tiana . . . but I knew of him before, knew some girls who were selling for him. That was a few years back, but he was into it then, big time.”
Jake’s heart started beating faster at suddenly getting a leg up on answers that had evaded him two years ago and which, since that time, he’d tried to convince himself he didn’t care about. He’d never looked for the people who’d ordered a hit on him—he’d been too lethargic, convinced it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t change anything. And he still wasn’t sure it would change anything, but the mere possibility had his mind racing. “These girls—can you tell me their names?”
She hesitated. “That’d cost more.”
“How much?”
“Another hundred.”
“Done.”
Raven looked a little taken aback, like maybe she hadn’t expected him to agree so easily, but she replied, “Was a girl named Lena back then—skinny brunette, real pale white girl. And another one called herself Tori—red hair and wild green eyes.”
“You know if they’re still in the business?”
“Selling or whoring?”
“Either.”
“See ’em both in the CBD sometimes looking to pick up tricks. Check in the hotels on Canal. But you didn’t hear none of this from me.”
“No worries—this is a private conversation.”
“That everything?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Give me the money.” She approached the truck, hand outstretched.
Jake dug in his wallet, counting out fifties and pressing them into her hand. She stank, and he hated to think about what she’d use the cash for—probably more of whatever drug she was on. It ate at his stomach. “Can I give you some advice?”
The girl shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Get yourself in a cab and go to a motel tonight, and in the mornin’, get yourself over to the Salvation Army on Claiborne or to a place called Bridge House on Camp Street. They can help get you on the road to gettin’ well and havin’ a better life.”
This time she worked hard to look unconcerned and aloof.
“Think about it,” he said. “Best possible thing you could do for yourself. Good people there who can help.” He knew because he’d made a few phone calls when he’d hoped he might talk Shondra into going to a shelter.
Raven stuffed the money into the waistband of her skirt, taking care to make sure it was well hidden before turning to walk away. He wished she’d do what he’d suggested—but knew she probably wouldn’t.
He’d just started rolling up his window when she said, “Wait.”
He stopped. “Yeah?”
“You find Tiana, you tell her I said hey?”
“Sure,” he said. “Anything else?”
She shook her head. “Just that. She was real nice. I hope Nicholson’s giving her everything she ever dreamed of.”
As Jake eased the truck away from the curb, Stephanie scooted over, away from him. “So if she’s with this Nicholson guy,” she asked, duly excited, “what now?”
“Next step’ll be stakin’ out his house, seein’ if he goes to Tina when he leaves.”
“Why not just ask him?”
He turned to look at her. “Go to the guy’s house, where his wife and kids live, and ask him about the prostitute he’s seein’?”
Sh
e looked belligerent and determined, as always. “I couldn’t care less if his wife finds out he’s a scumbag. In fact, I’d prefer it.”
“Me too, chère, but as usual, you’re ignorin’ the danger factor. If this guy is big into the drug game—and he may or may not be, we don’t know at this point—he’s a dangerous guy. If he’s in any way linked to the people that killed Becky, he’s a real dangerous guy. The kinda guy we don’t wanna piss off, especially since we have reason to believe your sister’s doin’ fine. The thing now is to be patient. We’ll get to her, don’t worry. In the meantime, I’ll make some phone calls tomorrow, see if I can track him down some other way.”
“If you find out where he is, you can’t go without me,” she said. “You have to take me with you.”
He sighed. “It’d be better if I went alone.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m havin’ a hunch this is a bad guy. There’s no need for you to be anywhere near him when I can go by myself and get the same information.”
She wore a familiar look of desperation that her heavy makeup couldn’t hide. “She’s my sister, Jake, and if she’s with him—I can’t be apart from her a second longer than necessary, okay? I’ve looked for her for too long and worried too much. I’ve felt too guilty that somehow this might be my fault.”
Jake drew in his breath. Guilt. That he understood, far too well. “All right,” he finally conceded. “I won’t go lookin’ for the guy without you.”
“Okay.” She sounded appeased.
Quiet filled the truck cab, making Jake relieved to reach LaRue House. Unfortunately, there was no free space along the curb to pull over, and one didn’t appear until a block later.
Without a word, she got out and slammed the door.
Only when she heard his shut, as well, did she look back. “What are you doing?”
“Seein’ that you get in all right.”
She issued a sigh of disgust. “I’m fine, Jake. The B and B is right there.” She pointed up the street, then walked on. “Go home.”