Page 7 of Tyler's Rule
In the ops centre, I texted the Atherton brothers then waited for them to arrive.
Manny joined me and fell into a seat at a bank of monitors, the fifty-something head of security wearing a frown. “There’s something I need to talk to you about regarding Dixie’s disappearance.”
Warily, I rested on the desk adjacent to him. “Shoot.”
“There’s no in-room footage from her last client booking before she ran. It’s bothering me.”
“The camera was out?”
The club had a policy of recording every room in the brothel for the safety of the staff.
Manny shook his head. “Cassie asked me to check because Lovelyn said she was upset the day she left the warehouse. I have footage of her greeting clients in the receiving room, then running out again on her own only a few minutes later.”
“But nothing from in the room itself?”
“No. If cameras aren’t working, we shut the room down until they are. Safety comes before anything else.”
If he’d intended the pun, neither of us laughed. Even I wasn’t that far gone.
“Did the guard on shift report anything?” I asked.
“His name is Buck Havers. He was caught jacking off to the monitors and fired. I haven’t had a chance to ask.”
“What of the clients? Presumably we have names?”
“Sullivan is the lead on the booking. Two others with him were colleagues he’d brought in on guest passes. He made a complaint about Dixie and was serviced by another woman.”
The warning in me grew louder. I gestured to the tablet Manny held. “Send me Buck’s information. I’ll handle it.”
Some of the stress left his face, and he thanked me, leaving as the Atherton brothers arrived.
Briefly, I gave them their orders, using a monitor to analyse and divide up a map of the northwest coastline. Heretic accepted the task with barely a nod.
His younger brother raked his fingers into his jaw-length dark hair, revealing a dagger tattoo behind his ear. “I don’t like it.”
“Which part?” I asked.
“Chasing down a lass who doesn’t know us from Adam. She’s going to be terrified.”
They wouldn’t find her. It wasn’t worth his concern. Instead, I said, “No different to recovering a trafficked woman after you’ve taken out her captor.”
Ash baulked. “Only this one is going to hate us pre-emptively.”
I hadn’t felt hate towards me. “Tread lightly. Explain that you’re there to help and that Cassie and Lovelyn sent ye. Call them if needs be so she can talk to them. Say the crew is on her side.”
They left, Heretic on his motorbike and Ash in his Warrior truck, and I got back on the road myself.
In a way, Arran had given me a gift. I had a reason to stay away from the warehouse for a while. Time I’d get to spend with Dixie.
She and I had a conversation due.
I had no fucking clue how I’d justify any of what I’d done. Or was going to do next.
Chapter 3
Dixie
The front door of the log cabin snicked open, and from the sofa, I peeked over at the man entering the darkened living room.
