Blindside: A Novel

"Ouch," he said. "Something serious?"

"Maybe. The daughter of a client is missing."

There was silence at the other end of the connection for several seconds. "Okay..."

"Nothing like that," I said. "I just want to see if you can ask Ganos to dig around and see if she can drum up something on where the kid might have gone."

"Oh. Right," he said. "Why didn't you call Ganos?"

"She'll be more inclined to do it if it comes from you."

"You think?"

I didn't think. I knew. He did too. "Yeah. Either way...could you do it?"

"Sure. What can you tell me about the kid?"

"Name's Janie Strand. Daughter of Hank and Judith Strand. They live at 14 Everlight Circle in Brockton."

"Nice address."

"Yeah. Her dad's a physician, I think. Surgeon, maybe. I mostly know the mom. She's here at the gym now. Leg day."

"Ganos isn't up yet, so this may take a bit."

"Sure. I'll meet you at Moop's this afternoon. Let me know then."

"Will do."

MOOP'S WAS ALMOST empty when I arrived—four people at one table, two women in the corner booth, and one loner at the bar. The slack patronage didn't surprise me since I showed up at 3:50 on a Wednesday afternoon. Butler hadn't arrived yet—he'd be there in ten minutes, almost on the dot. The colonel was nothing if not punctual. I took a stroll around the room, surreptitiously checking faces on the people there. I didn't know the foursome, but I recognized them as having been there before. Locals. Jake was at the bar. That left the pair of women as unknowns—one in her thirties, one mid-twenties, both in business clothes. Definitely not from around here. Normally I'd have marked them as low threat, but the incursion at Butler's had me on edge. Not that I could accost two random women. Moop liked us, but not enough to tolerate us harassing his customers, even if they clearly didn't belong here.

I took a seat in our normal booth, facing the door but still able to watch the suspicious women, and signaled to Martha behind the bar for a water. I'd wait for Butler to order real drinks. We'd probably have beer unless he was stressed, and then he'd buy the good whiskey. I'd call it top shelf, but Moop didn't even keep Butler's stuff on the shelf. It was under the bar. This wasn't the kind of place that casually served up whiskey from Ferra 3. It was a bit beyond the clientele, and they didn't want to make people uncomfortable or put on airs. But they kept it for us, because

Moop's good like that.

I caught a glance of Butler through the window, and he came through the door nine seconds later. "How're you doing, Martha?" he asked

"Right as rain, Carl. What're you drinking?"

"Two beers." He didn't bother with a brand. Martha knew.

"Coming right up."

He slid into the seat across from me.

"What'd you find out?" I asked, unable to wait. I'd been thinking about Janie most of the day. Not worried, exactly, but not comfortable. Once I decided to get involved, it had stuck with me. Unfortunately, I'd have to wait, because the older of the two women got up and came toward our table. Because of course she did. We were going to need to find a different bar. I should have trusted my instinct and ran them out of the place. Instead, I stood and blocked her path before she could reach Butler.

"Mac," he said, a hint of warning in his voice. "It's okay."

I didn't move. The woman took the hint and stopped, but she leaned around me in an exaggerated fashion that was almost comical. I took the chance to look for weapons. None that I could see.

I glanced at her partner, but she had her head in her device, not even watching us.

"Colonel Butler?" she asked, as if she didn't know.

"That's right," he said.

"I'm Elizabeth Young. I work for Meridian Resources. Can I sit?" She glanced at me. "Your man can frisk me, if he wants." She could have made it sound silly, could have even made it sound suggestive, but she didn't. She was legitimately ready to let me pat her down.

Butler looked at me expectantly.