There was that word again. Stalker. “You don’t know anything about—”
Ding! The elevator behind Dylan slid open and he heard two heavy steps, then Mike’s breathless voice. “Is she still here?”
Debbie just about had a heart attack, her jaw dropping so low her mouth could have been a dustpan. “Thor,” she whispered. Dylan nearly barked out a laugh, the comment shaking him from his stand off with Laura’s boss.
“No. She’s gone,” the boss said, then looked at Dylan. Hard.
A new hand on his arm, this time Mike’s. “Let’s try her apartment.” He jabbed the “down” button for the elevator as Debbie removed her telephone headset and stood, smoothing her tight skirt, then sauntering over.
Mercifully, the doors opened before she got to them, Mike practically dragging Dylan in. With a pneumatic hiss his last view of Laura’s work floor was Debbie’s disappointed voice and the back of the boss’s head.
Good riddance to both.
Mike stared up at the ceiling and blew out a huge breath of air. “Has she answered your texts or voice mails?”
“Nope. You try?”
“Once, for each. No luck.”
“Where were you when that stupid television report came on?”
“At work.” A low whistle from Mike, whose eyebrows shot up, made Dylan wince. He took in Dylan’s uniform and cringed. “Yeah. It was bad. Let’s just say I am no longer gainfully employed.”
“Joe fired you?”
“No. I resigned peacefully.”
“Peacefully?” Mike smirked. Damn it, he knew him too well.
“It’s complicated.”
“It’s always complicated,” Mike said bitterly.
“I’m getting really tired of hearing that.”
“I think you started it.”
“Do we really need to go there right now?”
“No. We need to go to Laura’s place right now. But tell me what happened with the chief.” Mike didn’t seem to care on an emotional level; he was just asking out of voyeuristic curiosity. The difference in tone and demeanor was starting to freak Dylan out.
Dylan laughed, a cold, harsh sound that hurt his own ears. “He said there was a waiting list out the door for the jobs, that if I was a billionaire I sure didn’t need the pay, and that I was welcome to join the volunteer force.”
“Ouch.”
The volunteer guys were welcomed by the regular staff, but often considered weaker contenders when it came to running calls. There was more to the conversation he wasn’t going to tell Mike right now, how the chief had looked in the envelope and found all the cash Dylan had stuffed in there, how Dylan asked about sending a much larger amount directly to Murphy, and how within the course of a painful fifteen minute talk he’d managed to lose his only career but gain some insight into how his future could unfold, using Jill’s money for good.
“Yeah. So I guess I’m free now.”
“Free.” Mike snorted. “If this is freedom, I think I prefer...ah, I don’t know what I’m saying any more.” Definitely not the time to tell Mike anything.
Ding! The elevator reached the main lobby and they walked out of the building, the August heat hitting them like a wall of soup. “You drive here?” Mike asked.
“No.”
“Good—I’m over here,” he nodded, “so let’s get to Laura’s. You remember her address?”
“Yeah. In Somerville, over near Tufts.” They walked down the cold, concrete staircase, descending two levels to the underground spot where Mike’s Jeep sat, patient and still. In silence now, they were perfunctory. Get in car. Turn on car. Screech tires on painted concrete to exit. Pay. Leave. Dylan hoped like hell she was at home. It’s not like there were many more—
“Wait. What about Josie?” he asked as Mike made a tough left turn.
“What about her?”
“Maybe she’ll know where Laura is. Or maybe Laura’s with her.”
“Let’s get to Laura’s and see what’s going on. Josie’s kind of...” Mike made an inscrutable face.
“Batshit crazy?” He didn’t relish seeing her under these circumstances. Getting whacked with the plastic balls at Jeddy’s had been bad enough. Now that they had fucked up even worse, what would she use to arm herself? Eek.
“Not what I was going to say. My words would have been ‘fiercely loyal’.” He paused, then added, “I don’t think she’s truly crazy. Just a little unbalanced.”
“She whacked my real balls with the fake ones and teabagged them in the restaurant while you were talking to Laura.”