Electrified (30 page)

Glancing over the notes from his initial meeting, he was starting to doubt his decision.

Female, disappeared, early twenties.

Name: Lilach Dasher

Current Age: 28

Hair: brown

Eyes: green

Weight: 120 lbs.

Height: 5’9”

Parents spent the last six years looking on their own by reaching out to family while saving funds. Why wasn’t the situation more urgent to them?

Didn’t contact authorities? “No, we don’t do things like that in our community.” Small religious community governs itself???? (Need to research.)

Carson banged his fist into the small hotel desk, making the whole damn thing shake. Then went back to reading his notes.

Young woman was just gone. All her clothes and personal belongings were still in the house, including her purse. Purse was missing cash, but credit card and license still there.

Both first and second meetings, family reiterated, “Prefer not to bring outsiders into our lives. Not our way.”

Initially, parents told community their daughter was “visiting sick relative” in anticipation of her returning, when she realized couldn’t make it on her own. ALMOST SEVEN YEARS AGO?

He downed the rest of his water bottle, wishing it was something stronger, and then chucked it across the room. It did nothing to alleviate the anger that gripped him.

When she didn’t come back, community spread many rumors. She was sick. She ran away to a new religion. Family assured everyone she was now “volunteering at military base.”

Why so much covering up? Lies.

Christ, he could chuck a grenade across the entire hotel and it wouldn’t dispel his fury.

Carson scrolled down the screen to the part where the bombshell dropped. After working the case for almost a month, he had flown back to New York for a periodic reporting meeting with the family when he was unexpectedly introduced to the young woman’s husband.

Husband. If he’d had any inkling there was something wrong with the case before this monkey wrench had been thrown into the works, it was certainly confirmed afterward. The case was now gnawing a hole in his gut.

***Edited to add after MEETING HUSBAND, Elon Finder:

Married name is Lilach Finder.

Husband went to bed at night (husband and wife slept in separate bedrooms during wife’s menstrual cycle?—need to learn more about this). He woke to wife missing. Husband usually went to bed late, around one a.m., and woke by six a.m. daily, so wife escaped during small window of time. There was no sign of foul play. No forced entry.

Carson sat on his hands, tucking them underneath his legs to avoid punching a hole straight through the wall. If Sienna was actually Lilach Finder, then she had a husband she’d neglected to tell him about.

THIS IS ALL NEWS. Woman ran from apartment shared with husband, not family home? More lies.

In-laws’ opinion and status extremely important to these people; son-in-law very involved with offering theories now that he’s alerted to investigation.

Family tells son-in-law, they “set out to find daughter to surprise him, please him when they brought her back.”

Bringing her back would restore the relations between his family and their own. FOR

REAL—what about their daughter? SOMETHING IS OFF. Don’t they want to find her?

He stood up and stretched his legs, looking for somewhere to escape the ugliness glaring in front of him, and realized there was absolutely nowhere. He had to finish.

“Small personal crisis,” they told neighbors, and “wanted to commit herself to something noble.”

When pushed, family feigned ignorance on why she left. Continued to claim personal identity crisis.

Feel certain she’s living in some tight-knit community out west, but not urban. That was where she would feel comfortable.

Their friends have been saving for five years to hire someone.

Almost a sense of desperation in finding her, but not because they miss her? In-laws, in-laws, in-laws—all they talk about.

Missing piece to the puzzle: Did woman have money? [no]

Did woman hold key to money, secrets? [Maybe with in-laws?]

Carson hung his head. He had obviously failed this young woman, wherever she was. That was all the information he had. All of it.

He ran a hand through his hair, contemplating the facts he knew and compared them to everything he learned today.

Lilach Finder had green eyes and brown hair. Sienna was completely bare down there, so no knowing her true hair color. And her eyes were blue. Right?

No way they’re the same person.

Sienna had showed up out of nowhere in Vegas about seven years ago and joined a mostly all-cash business. The woman he was looking for being missing the same amount of time was an unusual coincidence, that was all.

He had one picture he’d been given of Lilach. She was teaching a lesson to a group of children, and was pictured lighting some religious-type candles. Her hands were cupped loosely around her face, leaving a slight shadow to fall on her features. There was a clear beauty to her, but her hair was definitely brown and her nose wasn’t perfect like the woman he had come to care too much about.

The woman performing a blessing and praying to a god he didn’t even believe in wasn’t Sienna. How could it be? Sienna provoked the most impure thoughts in men and women. She wasn’t the type to cook dinner, set the table, and observe an age-old custom every week while hosting neighborhood children.

He paced the carpet in the hotel room, walking back and forth, leaving a distinct trail of his footprints crossing the room.

Yet, there was something to this strange woman in the picture. An uncanny and untainted innocence, the same quality he immediately was attracted to in Sienna. Even with a few slight imperfections, there was an inexplicable beauty to the woman guarding her face with her hands. As if she had a spark waiting to be released, untapped purity and goodness.

Carson thought back to Sienna’s innocence, which drew him further to her, how it was a bit strange for the industry she worked in, but there could be other reasons. Like her saying she was a military brat. Her family might not have laid down roots long enough for her to form a relationship as a younger woman, although that didn’t fit the path she had chosen now. Still a possibility, though.

Typically, women in the adult entertainment industry came from a hard life and looked for a way to make good money. Lots of it. Many of them had sordid stories. Stripping made them a lot of cash, so the money went a long way for a woman who never finished school, a commonality among strippers.

He knew he was generalizing in his head, but he was trying to figure out Sienna. He was desperate to prove she wasn’t Lilach, yet a military background wasn’t standard issue for adults-only nightclub work.

There definitely was something else at play, but Sienna couldn’t have run from a highly religious sect to be a stripper only out of fear of God?

Exhausted from going nowhere either physically or mentally, Carson sat on the edge of the bed.

Maybe it wasn’t the religion. Was it the husband who popped out of nowhere a week ago? Had Sienna been in a violent relationship and run to Vegas to escape it?

The answers to all those questions could be yes, and she still might not be Lilach. It might be only an awful joke. All he had to go on were the similar time frames, and the look set deep in both women’s eyes.

Well, and Sam Charles, who had Sienna pretty spooked. Was she afraid her past was catching up with her?

The pieces were all falling into place, but Carson needed to be one hundred percent certain.

He formulated a quick plan so he could get back to the Tunnel before Sienna started to wonder where he was. Obviously, he wasn’t going to breathe a word of this to anyone. He would head back to Brooklyn next week, even though he really didn’t want to, especially now that he and Sienna were becoming so close, crossing a chasm and entering a new phase in their relationship.

First, he would question the husband and get more pictures. Her family needed to provide more information and stop being so damn outlandish about their customs. Fucking weirdos. He knew he hated this case for a reason.

Carson definitely wasn’t going to share what he knew about Sam Charles. He would let the man provide a great distraction while he did his own work in the background.

All he could think about was the fact that he was all-in with Sienna now. His first priority was to put his suspicions to bed about Sienna being the runaway he’d been looking for, so he could move forward with her. There was no denying it, he was in deep. And it was way more than physical.

This was the price he paid for never getting involved and falling hard for the first woman who twisted his head up.

Grabbing his valet ticket and room key, Carson ran for the door. Now he wanted to find Lilach more than ever, to prove himself wrong and get back to convincing Sienna to take a chance on him.

Somewhere deep down, Carson knew that wasn’t going to be the case.

S
IENNA FINISHED
her second act of the night and headed straight to her dressing room. She was surprised how much she missed Carson being in the crowd. Looking out, finding his gaze hot on her, had become part of her routine. It didn’t matter whether he was front and center or sitting at the back bar, she felt more alone than ever before without being able to make eye contact with him.

She was done fooling herself how much she was drawn to the man. She was going to enjoy this with him, whatever this was, until she came up with a new fallback plan.

Sienna wasn’t in a hurry to run, although she probably should have been. She was being selfish and wanted to soak up every last ounce of perfection, goodness, and sweetness she could, which she was ready to indulge in now that she was finished dancing for the evening.

After changing quickly and settling in to unwind on her couch, she heard a heavy knock on her door. She sighed out loud. The person behind the knock wasn’t the source of everything ripe and delicious in her life at the moment, she could tell even before opening the door.

Opening the door a crack, she found Mike filling up the doorway with his huge bulk, wearing his usual high-tops, jeans, and black warm-up jacket. Missing his usual smile, his face was grim.

“Hey, Sie. You did great tonight. You feeling good?” he asked as Asher followed behind him into her dressing room.

Ugh. Asher is going to be pissed.

Sienna pasted a smile on her face. “I’m good. I swear. I was a little spooked earlier, but I know you guys have it under control.”

“Sie, doll, you can’t go off to the Strip or public places without us knowing. I know you trust Carson, and strangely, I do, too. But I can’t protect you without knowing all the details.”

This, from Asher, wasn’t as bad as she thought, and Mike nodded in agreement. Both men wore the same serious expression.

Time for a little damage control.

“I know. I was swept up in the moment with Carson picking me up and wanting to go somewhere new. I’ll check in from now on,” she promised.

Sienna knew she had to give them the words they wanted to hear, despite what she might be planning. There was no way she could let them catch on to her line of thinking. Her Tunnel family wanted her to make promises, so she did, yet she felt guilty that they were empty ones.

“Okay, baby,” Asher said while pulling her in for a hug, then placed a kiss on her forehead. “You’re my family, you know that, right? If something happens to you, I have no clue what I would do.” His lips turned up into a tiny smile.

Carson knocked lightly, then walked in right as Asher was hugging Sienna. He stiffened and shot a quick look of possessiveness Asher’s way, but softened when he saw the look in her eyes. It was clear Asher was holding Sienna like a sister, which apparently was cool with him, and let her relax.

“What’s up? Did you guys find out anything new?” Carson asked while wrapping his arm around Sienna’s waist, pulling her close to him as Asher moved away.

When did Carson become such an integral part of everything?

“Not much, man,” Mike said. “Looking into Sam Charles. He’s from back east. We’re going to head over to see him at his hotel now. See what the hell he wants.”

Carson nodded. “That’s good. I’m going to take Sienna home. Make sure she’s safe, let her relax.” He didn’t let up his hold on her. She was tucked tight inside his arm with no chance of escape.

Sienna couldn’t make sense of all the men in her life currently making decisions for her well-being. She sort of liked it, even though she told herself when she ran from Brooklyn, she would never allow anyone to make decisions for her again.

This was new. Men being worried if she was all right, touching her in a compassionate way, and making her feel safe and warm.

Not letting her mind get the better of her, but following her heart, Sienna said good night to Asher and Mike, and headed toward the back door with Carson.

As he was helping her in the car, Carson ran his hand down Sienna’s side, settling on her hip, moving on and giving a little squeeze to her thigh. It was so primitive, yet endearing all the same.

She might have even sighed before Carson jumped in the driver’s seat and sped them into the dark Vegas night toward her home.

After parking in her driveway, it was obvious Carson assumed he was coming inside and not just walking her to the door. She couldn’t blame him; she made the same assumption. She couldn’t go to his room on the Strip where he was staying, and their date was cut short earlier. They both obviously wanted more time together.

The difference was time together in Sienna’s home was way more intimate than in a coffee shop, a restaurant, or a private gaming room. Scary in ways Sienna wasn’t ready to admit.