Best Laid Plans(56)
“Running call girls. She owns an apartment building—a nice place in a so-so area. The girls all rent from her. It won’t be easy getting to them.”
“And this girl you’re looking for works for her?”
“Elise,” Lucy said. “Don’t have a last name yet. But I don’t think Elise works for Hill. Elise is from out of town. According to Hill, Elise called her up looking for work and Hill sent her to cover for a girl who’d gotten sick. Sounds so plausible, but…”
“You don’t believe her.”
“I don’t know. Except, according to Tia, Elise is new to town, so there’s a ring of truth. It just feels … Okay, this new girl comes in, kills Worthington, and then drops Worthington’s phone in another john’s hotel room? Why? There’s so much we don’t know.”
“Backtrack. You think this girl killed Harper Worthington?”
“I don’t know!” Lucy tensed. Sean tried to rub out the tension, but Lucy pulled away. She said, “Elise had to have been involved in some way, right? She came out of the motel room—the taxi driver only saw her. There are no security cameras, so the killer could have left before Elise. I can see her not calling the police, but the evidence suggests that someone staged Worthington’s body after he was dead. And truth is—while I originally thought that he was a pervert and maybe, subconsciously, thought he deserved what he got—we’ve found nothing that suggests he planned on meeting a prostitute. I think he planned on meeting an informant, or someone who had information for him, or a blackmailer, or anyone other than a prostitute. Then you find a bug in his office and we know he’s changed his patterns over the last month. That tells me he was either doing something illegal or trying to figure out if someone else was doing something illegal. But if it was someone else, why didn’t he talk to Smith? Or law enforcement? There’s nothing in his background that suggests he was doing anything illegal, but white collar crimes are out of my specialty area.”
“That’s more my area of expertise.” Sean considered what he’d learned about Worthington’s business today. And Worthington himself. “I haven’t uncovered anything, even a hint that he was doing anything illegal, but the fact that he kept a separate computer—the tablet—suggests he was definitely hiding something.”
“And he was killed for it. Whatever it is. And whoever killed him wanted to embarrass him, even in death.”
“And this Mona Hill knows who this girl is.”
Lucy shivered. Sean wouldn’t have noticed except that he was touching her.
“What else happened today?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re tense. When you were talking about Mona Hill, and now when I said her name. What is it?”
“Nothing,” Lucy said. But she wasn’t looking at him. “Maybe because she’s running underage prostitutes? And this one, this Elise, is missing? Every cop is looking for her and she’s nowhere. Maybe in hiding. Maybe dead. And she has all the answers.”
Lucy was avoiding something. Sean shifted on the couch and turned Lucy to face him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“What do you mean? You want me to recount my entire day for you?” Her voice rose as she spoke.
“I want to know what happened with Mona Hill that scared you.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Do not lie to me, Lucy. Never lie to me.”
She stared at him with pain in her eyes, but her mouth was set in anger. “I’m not lying. About anything. I’m just tired, and frustrated, and you’re reading something into this conversation that just isn’t there.” She rose from the couch. Sean reached for her—he didn’t want to argue with Lucy, he wanted answers—but she pulled away.
That infuriated him.
“You did exactly this when I asked about your nightmare this morning.”
“Maybe I just don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s not acceptable.” Not with him.
“You can’t fix everything, Sean.” Her eyes watered. “I’m going to bed.” She turned and started for the stairs.
“Don’t walk away, Lucy. We need to discuss this.”
She hesitated, but didn’t look at him.
He held his breath, waiting for her to explain. Waiting to hear why she was scared. Because he’d felt it in her body, and he knew her better than anyone. Better than she knew herself.
Then she walked away without another word.
Sean didn’t move for several minutes. He couldn’t think. He could scarcely breathe. How could Lucy walk out like that? Without talking it out? He wanted to go after her, but he was too angry. And hurt. Like she’d stabbed him in the gut. Because if Lucy didn’t trust him with her fears, she didn’t trust him at all. And if she didn’t trust him, she didn’t love him.
He buried his face in his hands. He would do anything for Lucy. He would kill for her. He would die for her. He would follow her to the ends of the earth and back again. For years, before Lucy, he’d lived a purposeless life. Parties. Women. Fun. Making money and spending it, on cars and electronics and other toys. He’d helped his brothers when they needed it, but mostly, he lived to please himself.
It was a shallow, meaningless existence.