Daylight (Atlee Pine #3)(41)
Pine looked down at him. “No, we don’t mind if you have to head off. We want to catch some girlfriend time with Sheila here anyway.”
The guy squared off with Pine. “That wasn’t what I meant. I meant for you two to back the hell off.”
“Is that what you want, Sheila?” asked Pine.
Weathers glanced at the guy and smiled. “I’ll catch up with you later, Ryan.” Before he could reply she kissed him. “I promise,” she added.
He glared at Pine and said to Weathers, “I’ll hold you to it.”
He stalked off as Weathers turned to them. “God, what a creep. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, but you know he’s coming back for more,” said Pine.
“I hope to be long gone before then. I have to get in to work early. Did you really want to talk to me, or was that just a way to get him away from me?”
Pine said, “No, we really wanted to talk to you.”
“Okay. I was hoping Tony would be here. I got a text to come up here tonight and the text said Tony was coming, too. That’s how I started coming here, through Tony.”
“Me too,” said Axilrod.
“Who texted you?” said Pine sharply.
Weathers said, “I don’t know. But I’ve gotten them before to give a heads-up about parties here.”
“You and Tony dating?”
She smiled. “Kinda, yeah.”
“Well, it’s Tony I want to talk to you about,” said Pine.
She led the way into another room that was miraculously empty. She shut the door and turned to Weathers. “Tony is missing, and we’d like to find him.”
Weathers glanced at Axilrod, who nodded. “It’s true.”
Weathers said to Pine, “Do you know Tony?”
“We dated. It was serious. I’m from Newark. I wanted to get back together with him.”
“Don’t get me wrong. But you’re a little old and a little tall for Tony. He likes them petite, like me.”
“Then his taste has changed.”
“He never mentioned an Angela to me.”
“Do guys mention old girlfriends to their new girlfriends?” pointed out Pine. “When was the last time you saw him?”
Weathers bit her lip. “Look, I’m not sure I want to talk to you about Tony.”
“What if something has happened to him?”
“Nothing has happened to him.”
“You can’t know that for sure. And we both know that the stuff he’s involved in can be dangerous.”
“What, you mean the motor pool?”
Pine gave her a hard stare. “Is that really what you think I’m talking about?” She glanced at the woman’s eyes and nose. “I’m not judging, Sheila. I’m just saying you have to be smart. I know the Army. They come down like a ton of bricks on drug users.”
“How dare you! I’m not a drug user.”
“Oh really. Well, your eyes and nose and your twitches tell me otherwise. Again, I’m not judging. But I’ve been down that road before. I’ve spent enough time in detox to know, so don’t bullshit me.”
“Okay, okay,” snapped Weathers. “But it’s also impossible to get off the shit once you’re on it. I’ve been in rehab four times now. If the Army could find any more bodies to wash dishes and empty the trash, I’d be long gone by now.”
“Did Tony supply you as well?”
Weathers gave her a look. “Why? Are you really a cop feeding me a load of bullshit and you’re looking to bust him? And me?”
She stared pointedly at Weathers and tapped her flat belly. “This is why I want to talk to Tony.”
Weathers sucked in a breath. “You’re—?”
“Not showing yet, but it won’t be long.”
“And he’s the father?”
“Oh yeah.”
“I don’t know where Tony is. I really don’t.”
“Okay, but you’ve seen him?”
“Yeah. At work.”
“He hasn’t been to work in a while.”
“I know.”
“So have you seen him other than at work?”
“Maybe.”
“Either you have or you haven’t,” said Pine. “And anything you can tell us will be more than what we know now.”
“Okay, he came to my place a few days ago. Said he got rousted from his house by the cops looking for him, and he needed to lie low for a bit.”
“You mean his dad’s old place?” said Pine.
“Yeah, I guess. How’d you know about that?”
“I’ve been looking for him. He told me about the place. I went there. It was empty. How long did he stay with you?”
“Just the night.” She glanced at Pine and added hastily, “We didn’t do anything. He slept on the couch.”
Pine waved this comment off. “I’m not looking to marry the guy, Sheila. I just thought he’d like to know he’s going to be a daddy. Did he say where he was going to go after he left your place?”
“No, but afterwards he texted me and said his father had died in prison. I think that really spooked him.”