When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,30
yesterday, the last time I talked to her.”
“You should have gotten the money up front. I doubt the check is in the mail.” Sarcasm went with the job. “I went by her apartment. Looks as if she took off. Or didn’t return. Have any idea where she was going to go if she got her daughter back?”
He shook his head. “Run, I would imagine. If she got away. Otherwise…”
Otherwise she was dead. Rose studied Mike, wishing she could forget the night they’d spent together. She wondered if he remembered it the way she did. “If she calls, would you let me know?”
He rocked forward, his blue-eyed gaze locking with hers as he picked up a pen and notepad. “And you’ll let me know what you learn?”
She nodded and gave him her cell phone number. He wrote it down, tore off the sheet of paper and folded it into a neat little square before sliding out his wallet and placing it inside.
When he finished, he settled his gaze on her as if waiting, letting her know he expected her to say something. Not about Jenna Dante. With their careers, they both dealt with the dark side of human nature on a daily basis.
Except Mike seemed to handle it better, seemed to find a way to distance himself from that part of his life—compartmentalize it so he could have more. That more, he’d told her, was a meaningful relationship based on love and friendship and hope.
Mike Flannigan thought he could have taught her how to make the two work, but she’d never given him the chance.
“I wish I’d gone out with you again, okay?” she said. “That night was—” she waved her hand through the air, meeting his gaze “—amazing.”
He smiled as if that’s all he’d been waiting to hear and, picking up his turkey-cheese wrap, leaned back in his chair.
She grinned at him, seeing that he knew how hard that had been for her to admit. “Thanks for the help.”
“Good luck, Rose.”
She would need more than luck and they both knew it. “You have my number.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I do, don’t I.”
JENNA LOUNGED IN THE wonderfully hot water as her daughter splashed in the shallows next to her. The outdoor pools were just as Elmer had said: enchanting. Carved out among the rocks and trees, they wound like a creek along the edge of the mountainside, providing a natural landscape and at the same time intimacy.
Jenna tried to relax in the hot water, pushing away thoughts of her dream. She had more to worry about than some man in an old photograph or the thought that she was losing her mind. The duffel bag full of money in her room felt like a noose around her neck. She had to get it back to Lorenzo. She wasn’t naive enough to think she could use it to buy her freedom. But she knew that Lorenzo was moving heaven and earth right now to find her, more so because of that stupid bag of money.
She had thought about calling him and telling him where he could pick it up. That was before she got trapped here.
No, she decided, it would be better for Lorenzo to pick up the money at her apartment. She didn’t want him knowing which direction she’d headed. With luck she wouldn’t leave a trail he could follow—once she got him back the money.
“Look, Mommy!” Lexi called as she dipped her head under the water.
Jenna watched her through the steam, smiling and offering words of encouragement. All the time her mind was racing. Who could she trust to take the money to the apartment?
Only two people came to mind. She hated to ask either of them, afraid to involve them in her life—or worse, Lorenzo’s. But if she did this right, Lorenzo would never know who’d put the cash in her apartment for him.
Once the money was on the way to her apartment, she could call him and tell him where to pick it up. He must be going crazy. He’d been too close to crazy as it was. Little things often set him off. This, she feared, was monumental.
Whatever she did, she had to make sure that Lexi was protected.
Lexi waved at someone at one of the other pools behind Jenna. Jenna feared it would be the imaginary woman in the purple plumed hat.
Bracing herself, she turned to look through the steam. She didn’t see anyone. Nothing new there. That awful feeling began to settle in the pit of