Racing the Light (Elvis Cole #19; Joe Pike #8)(14)

I shut the mailbox and walked up the flagstone path.

Two young women wearing large oval sunglasses were sprawled on the lawn, surrounded by bottles of water and sunscreen. The one with short auburn hair wore a pale green bikini. Her braided blonde friend sported a bright pink bikini top and tiny white shorts. They watched me from a beach towel island in a rectangle of sun.

The blonde pushed herself up on an elbow.

“Nice shirt.”

“Yours, too.”

“I’m not wearing a shirt.”

“Exactly.”

They laughed, and I laughed with them.

Ever the charming detective.

Each of the five apartments had a discreet entrance shielded from prying eyes by alcoves designed for privacy. I crossed the courtyard to unit three and stepped into the alcove. The apartment was quiet, but this didn’t mean it was empty. I took out my phone, called Skylar’s number again, and put my ear to the door. Skylar’s phone rang in my phone, but not inside the apartment. When her voice mail answered, I pushed her doorbell. A buzzer inside buzzed, but nobody answered. I pushed the button again and knocked. Nothing.

I was deciding whether to kick down the door or climb through a window when I peeked at the women on the lawn. The blonde waved. So much for being stealthy.

I walked back to the women, and the blonde flashed another big smile.

“She’s not home.”

“Know when she’ll be back?”

The auburn blocked the sun with a hand.

“She’s been gone a couple of days.”

I glanced back at Skylar’s apartment and tried to look confused. Confusion was one of my better expressions.

“That can’t be. We had an appointment.”

The blonde sat up.

“I haven’t seen you before, have I? Are you and Rachel friends?”

Rachel. Rachel might be Skylar’s actual name, or Skylar had, in fact, moved out, and Rachel had, in fact, moved in.

“I write about art for the Times.”

The blonde cocked her head.

“Are you writing about Rachel?”

“Depends. Has Josh been around?”

They glanced at each other. The auburn answered.

“Which one is he?”

The blonde giggled.

“She’s very social.”

The auburn smirked.

“Slut.”

These two were killing themselves.

“Her manager or agent maybe? I’m not clear how they’re connected, but Josh was supposed to be here.”

I took out my phone and showed them the picture of Josh and Skylar at her opening.

“Here. This guy.”

The auburn lifted her shades to examine the picture.

“Did she really wear sequins?”

The blonde made a face.

“She’s gonna get brain damage with all the spray paint. She wears one of those masks, but I don’t care. She’s gonna get brain damage.”

Rachel was, in fact, Skylar. This was professional detection at its finest.

I said, “Getting back to Josh.”

The auburn lowered her shades and sat up.

“We’ve seen him but we haven’t met him.”

The blonde nodded along.

“They had a fight. It got kinda loud.”

I felt dangerously close to a clue and prompted her for more.

“No way! When was this?”

The blonde shrugged, saying she wasn’t certain.

“Four or five days ago?”

The auburn said, “Four. What an asshole. He got really loud.”

The blonde nodded.

“Really loud. I bet this is why they blew off your meeting. She probably fired him.”

The auburn ran a hand down one calf and up the other.

“Creep. She should’ve crushed his balls.”

I put away my phone.

“So Skylar left after they fought?”

The blonde said, “Uh-huh.”

“Maybe they made up and went together.”

The auburn said, “Ha.”

The blonde said, “No, definitely not. He came back yesterday, being all weird.”

Yesterday.

I said, “Weird how?”

“Driving back and forth out front. He parked across the street and sat there all stalkery.”

The auburn said, “I should’ve called the police.”

The blonde said, “Right? Me, too!”

I studied the street.

I said, “So what happened? Did they hook up?”

The auburn peered at me over her glasses.

“What’s with all the questions?”

“I’m a writer. Questions are my business.”

The auburn gave me a nasty grin.

“I think you like talking to us.”

The blonde elbowed past with an answer.

“She was gone. He finally came up and knocked, but he was only here for a minute.”

“This was yesterday?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And the last time you saw her was four days ago?”

“Uh-huh.”

Josh hadn’t returned to his bungalow in a week, yet these two had seen him four days ago and again yesterday. It was possible he hooked up with Skylar at another location, but it sounded as if they were on the outs. If Josh wasn’t with Skylar, I wondered why he hadn’t returned to his bungalow.