but Isabelle is too close to brush-off the watery contents my earlier glass had.
“I forgot how much that burns.” When Isabelle giggles, I remember that twenty-six-years is a lot further away from the grave than how I generally perceive it. “Oh, do you think you can do better?” After signaling for the bunch of college kids swarming us to follow my lead, I say, “Chug, chug, chug.”
Tobias’s stubbornness burns through Isabelle’s impressive eyes when she succumbs to peer pressure. She downs the cocktail minus the screwed-up nose my face had when I threw back my drink, then curtsies the patrons applauding her gall. Her smile at their praise slams me with guilt. Just like me, I doubt she’s ever let go of the reins like this, but instead of encouraging her to enjoy her weekend off, I’m plowing her with drinks to end it earlier than necessary.
I wouldn’t if it weren’t for her own good.
With my brows waggling, I continue my mission without missing a beat. “Another?”
While shaking her head, the color drains from Isabelle’s cheeks. Taking that as a signal it’s time for us to go, I pivot around to place our glasses onto the bar before yanking my cell phone out of my pocket to call us a taxi. I’ve only had two glasses, but I don’t want to risk it. I don’t drink enough to challenge a DUI charge if I were suspected of driving over the limit.
I swear, I barely let Isabelle out of my sight for two seconds, yet she still vanishes. I know who has her. The stool at the end of the bar is noticeably empty, so my panic is nothing like you’d expect. I’m more pissed than anything.
After paying the bartender the exorbitant drink tab Isabelle, Harlow, and I amassed in almost two hours, I scope the area, seeking where Isaac has taken Isabelle. There’s radio silence from the surveillance team stationed in the corner of the club, so I know he hasn’t left. He must have sought somewhere private for them to chat.
An idea on their location is discovered when a middle-aged man with over-gelled hair rounds the corner of the washrooms. He’s an ideal candidate for a manager of a sleazy nightclub, and if his grumble about arrogant fuckfaces is anything to go by, I’m reasonably sure he just had a run-in with Isaac.
Isaac is almost as arrogant as my father, which is saying something. My father’s snootiness rose along with his bank balances and his age. The bank accounts the Bureau is aware of gives Isaac’s haughtiness some credit, but he’s only twenty-seven, so why the fuck does he act as if he runs this town?
My hope to conduct some private investigating is snagged when my soundless steps down the washroom corridor to the manager’s office at the end is spotted by a man I’d never forget. David Crombie is frozen halfway out of the men’s restroom. He’s stacked on a bit of weight since the last time I sat across from him, but I’d never forget his lazy eye, the family crest tattooed on his neck, and let’s not forget how his fingertips are always colored with ash thanks to his fascination with flames.
I curse myself for not carrying a weapon tonight when Crombie rams me into the wall before he bolts for the closest exit. I wouldn’t have shot him, but a bullet wound isn’t needed to take down weasels like him. Just drawing a gun would have had him hitting the deck, and then I wouldn’t have been forced to chase him down by foot.
As I break through a group of five partygoers Crombie burst through only seconds ago, I lift the cuff of my dress shirt to my mouth. “Agent James, code six with suspicious suspect at Lakers’ exit. Tailing him on foot.”
My earpiece crackles before one of the agents in the surveillance van tailing Isaac’s every move responds, “Copy. Do you require assistance?”
Before I can answer him, Crombie’s sprint comes to a dead stop, compliments of a plain-clothed officer coat-hanging him. How do I know he’s an officer if he is wearing everyday clothes? He has the walk of a law enforcement officer, not to mention the arrogance beaming out of him.
When Crombie hits the ground with a thud, the officer rolls him onto his stomach to frisk and handcuff him. I use the gap in time to update my crew. “Agent James, stand down. Suspect has been arrested.”
I wait for the man on