Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,14
was another P.I. who worked freelance in the office. Both men were ex-military, Trace a ranger and Jake a Force Recon Marine sniper. They were among his closest friends.
“Don’t you worry,” Annie said. “We’ll handle it. You just find your boy.” She spoke to Sol on the intercom, then patched him through. Annie was a real busybody, but she knew when things were serious. “Good luck, honey.”
Sol picked up right away. He was only twenty-four, but when it came to computer know-how, Sol Greenway was as good as it got.
“Hey, Ice, Annie says you got a kid?”
“That’s right. He’s only nine and he’s missing. I need to find him, Sol.”
“Just give me what you’ve got and I’m on it.”
Ben gave Sol the few details he had, including info on the Robersons, Bridger’s name and last known address, that he’d been employed at Warner Construction. “I’ve also got some photos I can send.”
“Great,” Sol said. “I’ll try facial recognition. Take a look at the registered-sex-offender list, too, see if there’s something somebody missed.”
Ben’s stomach tightened. “Thanks.”
“I’ll start digging, just prowl, see what I can find.”
“That’d be great. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.” Ben ended the call and went to work. Using the portable scanner he’d brought with him, he sent Sol the photos he had of Sam, along with a picture of Bridger with Laura that Claire had given him.
Finished, he came up out of his chair just as Claire walked back into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a crisp white cotton blouse, a pair of gold sandals on her slender feet. Her toenails were painted a fiery red, he noticed, and thought again about her car and taking her to bed.
Which wasn’t going to happen. He took a last glance, appreciating her feminine curves. At least not anytime soon.
“Have you found anything?” she asked.
“I need to talk to the people Bridger worked for.”
And he needed to get into the bastard’s apartment, which the police report had said was vacant. He needed to see if the police had missed something, but he wasn’t going to cop to breaking and entering to Claire. “I’ll be back when I’m finished.”
“I’m going with you. And I think we should go to his apartment. It was empty when the police went in, but they might have missed something.”
His mouth edged up. “Glad you thought of it. His address was in the police report. I’ll stop by before I come back.”
Those determined green eyes fixed on his face. “I said, I’m going with you.”
He could see by her stubborn expression she wasn’t going to back down. Since it wasn’t worth an argument, he just walked over, took the keys down from the hook on the key rack and started walking.
“After you,” he said, and pulled open the apartment door.
* * *
Claire followed Ben up the metal stairs into the Warner Construction trailer next to a big high-rise building site. They walked over to the Formica-topped counter, and one of the female employees left her desk and came to greet them.
“May I help you?”
“Any chance you knew a guy named Troy Bridger?” Ben asked. “I understand he worked here.”
Claire didn’t miss the way the redhead smiled at Ben.
“Troy was a crane operator, but he quit a couple of weeks ago.” She gave him a long, slow once-over, clearly liking what she saw. “He didn’t give us any notice, just picked up his check and said he wouldn’t be back.” She was wearing tight jeans and a navy blue T-shirt with the words we dig you stretched over a lush pair of breasts.
“Did Troy usually pick up his paychecks?” Ben asked. “Or did you mail them somewhere?”
She tossed a red curl over her shoulder and gave him another smile. “Troy always picked them up.” To his credit, Ben didn’t seem to be taking the bait, but the redhead was definitely interested. Claire couldn’t fault her taste in men.
“Did he say anything about taking another job?”
“He said he was going to be moving,” the woman said, “leaving the state. He didn’t say where he was headed. I figured maybe he was going home.”
Claire’s interest picked up. “Do you know where he was from?”
The redhead’s gaze never strayed from Ben. “He never said, but I think it was somewhere in the South. He talked about having brothers and he said he liked to hunt. Once in a while, I noticed a Southern drawl.”
Ben turned to Claire. “You notice it?”
“We didn’t talk that often. I hadn’t thought about it until now,