Page 67 of Roughing
“Do you know someone who drives a car like that?” Briggs’s tone was gentle, not wanting to scare Heidi, even though I knew the signs. He was fighting hard to maintain patience.
“Desmond drives a black Prius.”
“Desmond?” Briggs and I echoed each other. I backed up a step and leaned against the wall. My knees were no longer able to hold me up by themselves.
“Yes.” A shadow crossed Heidi’s face, making it obvious she knew more.
“Desmond’s not interested in women.” I pointed out the obvious. Briggs and I exchanged a silent glance. His confusion was as evident as mine.
Heidi swallowed hard and fidgeted with the remote until I removed it from her hand.
“Heidi, what are you hiding?” I waited for her to fill me in. Getting information out of her was harder than scoring on the Sockeyes’ championship-winning goalie.
“He’s not gay.” She spoke so quietly I thought I’d heard her wrong.
“What?”
“He’s not gay,” she repeated a little louder.
“What makes you think that?”
“What makes you think he is?” she countered.
“Well, I—I mean, it’s common knowledge.”
“He’s not gay.”
Briggs’s brows shot up into his hairline, but he stayed quiet and let me handle the questioning. I silently appreciated him not taking over.
“How do you know?”
“Trust me. I know. He was a client of mine briefly, but he was into stuff I wasn’t willing to do. I referred him to a friend—not Trelika—who liked that kind of stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
She shrugged, and I was struck once again by how naive she seemed for someone who’d been selling her body for a few years, if not longer. I exchanged another glance with Briggs, who kept his expression neutral.
“He’s not the guy you think he is. There’s another side to him. If she’s with him, and no one’s heard from her, she’s in danger.”
“In danger? But Aspen lived on his couch for a few months. Nothing ever happened to alarm her.” I struggled with this new information, and my brain sought to reject it.
“He’s clever. Do you really think he’s going to touch anyone who might be easily identified as having connections to him?”
Heidi had a point.
“Shit. Any idea where he might take her?”
Heidi hedged, but her guilt won out. “The Rainbow Unicorn has a basement with a metal door he keeps locked. As far as I know, he’s the only one with a key.”
“Have you ever been down there?”
“No, the one time he tried to get me down there, I refused. Something was off. If you’re in my line of work for long, you develop good instincts about people. Well, most of the time.”
“Is he the reason you were gone for almost a month?”
Heidi’s eyes clouded over. “No, what happened to me is totally unrelated, and it’s off-limits for discussion and not pertinent to this situation.”
“What should we do?” Briggs looked to me to set the direction.
