daughter. So the boss man sends me out here to find out why. The guy’s nobody, just some redneck carpenter who had an old picture of her. It was a total dead end, just like the rest of her case. I keep trying to tell him he’s in the clear. We have science on our side, for fuck’s sake. The dumbass lab tech was easy as shit to buy off. And after thirteen years, or however long it’s been, his daughter isn’t going to turn up.”
“Sure doesn’t seem like it,” I said. “But what does all this have to do with you being stuck out here, bored off your ass?”
He rolled his eyes and reached for the full beer Nicolette had quietly set in front of him. “He’s convinced something is going down in this little backwoods town. Sent me out here to fill him in on all the gossip in case her name starts being mentioned again—you know, more than usual. Like maybe somebody knows something. I shouldn’t complain too much, though. The drinks are good, and the women aren’t bad, either.”
“A man’s gotta do something to pass the time.”
“Damn straight.” He took a swig of beer, sloshing some in his lap. He didn’t seem to notice. “I hooked up with a sweet piece of ass last night. Dumb as a box of rocks, but who cares, right?”
I risked a quick glance over my shoulder. Jameson was watching, wide-eyed. We were thinking the same thing.
“No shit? Who was she?”
He barely got the mug back on the bar. “Does it matter? She had two names. Missy something? No, that wasn’t it. Misty? That’s it. Misty Lynn. Crooked fake tits. Hard as concrete. She wasn’t a bad lay, but afterward she wouldn’t shut the hell up. Kept whining about her ex-boyfriend.”
My back and shoulders knotted with tension. “Huh.”
He shook with a sloppy, drunken laugh. “Get this. She said her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend is my boss’s fucking missing daughter, Callie Kendall. Swear to god, this town is obsessed with that girl. As if she’d be back here, dating some redneck, and the whole world wouldn’t know. Like I said, my little side job last night wasn’t blessed with much upstairs.”
“You pass that on to your boss?” I asked, trying hard to keep the alarm out of my voice. “I mean, obviously it ain’t true. Probably best to keep the rumors out of it.”
“Nah, I told him. If he got wind that I’d heard something and hadn’t let him know? He’s so on edge lately, he’d probably put a hit out on me.”
It ate up every scrap of willpower I had not to wrap my hands around this fucker’s neck and choke him out. I couldn’t even think about Misty Lynn. Damn her. A red haze tinged my vision and fire seared through my veins.
Jameson casually sat on the stool on my other side and whispered, “Easy.”
Nicolette slid another shot glass across the bar. “Looks like you could use another.”
“You know, I’m liking this town more and more,” he said, grinning at her. He tossed the shot back and winced.
I waited while his eyes crossed, and he held the bar like he couldn’t stay upright. The rush seemed to pass, and he shook his head.
“Goddamn, this shit is strong.”
I ground my teeth together, my nostrils flaring. Took a breath before I trusted myself to speak.
“Must be tough working for a guy like that,” I said. “He has you do his dirty work and you gotta worry about whether he’ll get rid of you someday?”
“I’m not too concerned. I have so much dirt on this guy, I could bury him under a mountain of it. See, I’m not stupid. I have insurance.”
“What sort of insurance?”
“Recordings. Log books. I keep track of everything.”
After three shots, I wasn’t worried about whether he recognized me. He’d talk no matter what. He wouldn’t be able to help himself.
Turning on my stool, I looked him straight in the eyes. “Where do you keep all that insurance?”
He regarded me through droopy eyelids, his jaw going slack. “Wait. I know you. You’re that guy. The one with the photo of her.”
“Yep. But where’s the insurance? You keep it locked up somewhere?”
He laughed again, his shoulder shaking with a drunken giggle. “It’s all at home. I have a file cabinet with a lock.”
“Good place for it.” I glanced at Nicolette. “You been getting all this?”
She smiled and pulled my cell phone from beneath the bar. Set it on top. “Every incriminating word.”