I turned to Hector and said, “I need to talk to Lee.”
Hector’s brows went up.
“Why do you need to talk to Lee?” Ally asked from across the table. being nosy again and also loud.
Lee heard his sister, his head turned and his eyes came to me. “You need something, Sadie?” he asked.
Oh boy. It was now or never.
“Do you have some time to talk at your office, maybe tomorrow?”
At this point, Lee’s body turned to me but his eyes flicked to Hector before coming back to mine.
“I’m right here, we don’t need to be at the office,” he replied on a (very handsome) smile.
“Well, it’s kind of business,” I told him.
“Business?”
“Yes.”
“What do you need?” he asked.
“I need you to find my mother.”
The air in the room instantly changed, it went supercharged with something I didn’t understand.
The women were all looking at each other in confusion. The men were looking at each other with closed, set faces.
This I did not take as good.
I forged into the crackling silence. “You find people, don’t you?” I asked Lee.
His eyes had locked on Hector but they came back to me and he nodded.
“Well, my Mom disappeared and I thought, maybe, you could find her.”
“Sadie –” Hector said from beside me.
“I’ll pay,” I threw in, just in case Lee thought I was asking for a freebie.
“It’s not the money, Sadie, it’s –” Lee started but Tom interrupted him.
“Tomorrow, we’ll meet,” Tom surprised me by announcing (and inviting himself to come along) and everyone’s eyes swung to him. “Four o’clock, Lee’s office,” Tom looked at Lee. “Be sure Vance is there.”
I looked at Tom, confused as to why he’d want Vance there when Hector said in a weird, low voice, “Tom.”
I turned to Hector. His face was blank but his eyes were active and I was sensing something unsettled in him. This I did not take as good either.
“We’ll talk,” Tom went on and I looked back to him. “I’ll be there, Lee, Vance, Hank, Eddie and you,” Tom said to Hector.
“And me,” I put in and Tom looked at me.
“And you, Sadie,” he agreed.
“Thank you,” I said to Tom.
My expression of gratitude made every man in the room look uncomfortable and every woman in the room look at me with concerned eyes.