“What about Digger?” I asked, more to shake her up than because I thought it was him.
“No, why, what? Why would Digger???” Kayla couldn’t finish the sentence with the proper amount of indignation it called for, possibly since she remembered that I had her packet of blackmail material.
“Tosca,” I said softly, watching Kayla’s face. It drained of what little color she had retained, and I knew I’d scored a palpable hit. I also knew, however, that if Digger was involved in this, Tosca wasn’t in on it. Why? Because Mob didn’t do namby-pamby kidnappings with little to no real pain involved. If Tosca had ordered the pick-up, well, let’s just say that Danny would have been more of a mess than he’d sounded on the tape.
“Um, Italy?” Kayla’s laugh rang hollow, and not even she looked convinced by it.
“That’s it, I’m leaving,” I said, standing up abruptly. As much as I wanted to help Danny, I couldn’t deal with this coked-up, strung-out bitch.
“Wait, um, Scar.” Kayla made a grabbed my arm and nearly tumbled again. As she would have taken me with her, it behooved me to help her stay on her feet. “Please don’t go. I know I’ve been a pain in the ass, but I really need your help.” A Girl Scout couldn’t have looked more sincere, but I trusted Kayla as much as I’d trust Jet with a cute boyfriend.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t walk out of this house and never come back.” I was steaming, and I wasn’t going to come cheap. “From the start, you’ve been outright lying and lying by omission. You’ve been more of an obstacle than a help, and I have to wonder what else you have to hide.”
“Sit down, please?” Kayla’s tone was normal rather than whiney or like a little girl’s, which was probably why I sat back down. Matt sat next to me on the couch, and the two of us looked expectantly at Kayla. She sat on the hardback chair opposite, not quite able to meet either of our eyes.
“Well?” I said impatiently when Kayla continued to do her impression of a statue.
“I’ve done some things I don’t feel very good about,” Kayla said softly, looking down at the ground. “You know about some of them from what I’ve told you but also what’s in the packet. I swear, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone—well, not really, and it all just got out of hand.” I forbore from pointing out that blackmailing people hurt them even if they may deserve some of that pain. I knew that nothing I said would dent Kayla’s world view of herself. I was just grateful to have her talking, so I kept my big mouth shut for once. “But, um, there was this incident…” Her voice trailed off as she looked more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen her before. I took that as a good sign.
“Where the hell have you been?” Matt snapped the minute I walked into the apartment. I took a long look at him before turning around and leaving again. I re-entered the room and held up a hand to forestall him from repeating his question.
“Here you go, Apple,” Jet said, deftly transferring what appeared to be zucchini tempura onto Julia’s plate. “Let me know when you need more, Watermelon.” Jet called Banana any fruit other than Banana which Banana found hilarious—Julia, not so much.
“Hello?” I barked, not pleased to be talking and cooking at the same time. However, I was physically unable to let a ringing phone ring, much to my chagrin. More than one salesperson had been on the receiving end of a tongue-lashing by me for interrupting whatever it was I had been doing. Anu Dosh, the finance person—including fundraising—in my theater group, screened her calls without fail, and while I admired her, there was no way I could emulate her. Bobby Lee, our PR person, on the other hand, started questioning the telemarketer the minute he picked up the phone which usually caused the caller to hang up first. Bobby derived great satisfaction from making a caller cry, something that happened with surprising regularity.
I sat in the darkness, welcoming the solitude. Matt was out with his college buddies at my insistence because I needed time alone. When they called right after the cops left, he had been reluctant to go out because of what was happening and because it was a Sunday night. When I impressed upon him that I really would like the place to myself, he left, albeit grudgingly. I couldn’t help sighing with relief after he was gone. I loved him dearly, but sometimes he was too close. I needed time to think about all that had happened, and to decide what—if anything—I wanted to do from here. Even though I had promised Matt that I would see this through, I was having second thoughts. Talking to the cops had reinforced my doubts, and I tended to agree with them that this was a case best left to the professionals.
I kept myself ramrod as I marched to my car because I knew better than to show fear. Once I had driven out of eyesight of the detectives, however, I allowed my body to sag. I cursed Kayla under her breath for running to Matt with her problems, Matt for beseeching me to help out, and me for being such a sucker than I couldn’t say no. Everything about this case felt wrong, not to mention icky, and I wished I’d never agreed to help out in the first place. This wasn’t like Without a Trace where the problem of a missing person was solved in an hour with everything falling into place. No, this was like a serial that got canceled before the finale was shown. I had a hunch that there would be many twists and turns before the truth to this sordid matter came out.
“I’ll see Danny room now,” I said, abruptly standing up. Kayla got up as well, dashing her eyes with her arm. I followed her down a hallway until we reached the very last door.
It had started three months ago when her coke supplier—who had also been a bouncer at her club—decided to move to Florida. He was sick of the Minnesota winters and figured he could do a booming business in the tropics. Kayla didn’t know why he thought that, but she begged him not to go. He was the only supplier she knew of, and she didn’t want to break in another one. Nor did she want to go outside the club as it had been convenient with her supplier at her workplace. Her supplier wouldn’t listen, but he gave her the name of another guy who said he’d come to her place of work if she gave him a freebie. Kayla wasn’t in any position to argue, so she agreed reluctantly. She was smart enough to realize that dealing with a supplier she didn’t know could be dicey business, but she needed the junk.