'What a cute little doggie,' Dana said, crouching down to pet the terrier. It hopped up, putting his front paws on Dana's knee to lick her face.
'Oh, my, Lady, don't do that. Naughty dog, Lady.' He tugged on her leash, his face flushed with embarrassment.
'Oh, it's okay. I love dogs,' Dana said, straightening.
Cardigan looked from Lady to the poodle on Dana's shirt. He smiled, his stiff posture relaxing a little. 'Yes, I can see that you do.'
'About your neighbor,' I promoted. 'Ryan Jeffries?'
'Uh, right. Um, Ryan. He's a model, I think.'
'So you do know him?' Dana asked, stooping down to pet Lady again.
'Uh, well, just to say 'hi' to I suppose,' he said.
'We've been trying to get a hold of Ryan. Do you know where he might be?' I asked.
'No. Not really. I haven't seen him much lately. I think he was out of town.'
My heart sped up. 'Any idea here he went?'
'Paris, I think. Not sure. But I know he got back last night. Saw him hauling luggage up to his place.'
'Do you know where he might be now?' Dana asked.
He shook his head. 'Sorry, wish I could be more help.'
'Thanks anyway,' Dana said, giving Lady one last scratch behind the ears.
'Hey, don't I know you?' he asked.
Dana giggled. 'Well, I have been in a couple of national commercials lately. Do you use Dove soap?'
'No.' Cardigan shook his head. 'Not you, her.' He pointed at me.
'Who, me?'
He narrowed his eyes, nodding. 'Yeah, your face looks really familiar.'
'Nope' I said, a little too quickly. 'I guess I've just got one of those faces. Well, thanks, nice meeting you,' I said, dragging Dana back to the cab before Cardigan realized that, according to the latest tabloids, he was face to face with the Couture Killer.
'Okay,' said Dana as we slid in to the back seat again, 'so what now? Do we just wait here until Ryan show up?'
I glanced up at the brick building. I had to admit, just sitting around waiting made me feel antsy. With the amount of messages piling up on my cell phone, I had a feeling I was working on borrowed time here. Sooner or later Ramirez was going to catch up to me. He was a detective, and a good one. It wouldn't take him long to follow my trail – littered with breadcrumbs as it was. And once he did, I had a bad feeling there might be handcuffs involved. (And not in a good way.) No way was that man letting me out of his sight again. So, playing sitting duck wasn't the most appealing of choices.
Instead I leaned around, addressing our cab driver who was perusing the sports section.
'Excuse me,' I asked.
He looked up and I read his nametag. Mathew.
'Mathew, do you happen to know if there are any nightclubs in the area?'
Both Angelica and Donata had indicated that Gisella was a party girl. I crossed my fingers that the kind of guy she dated was a regular on the club circuit as well.
'Sure, there's a couple,' he said, his working class accent thick. 'You got the Midnight Bar down that way and Club Easy a couple blocks south of here. But, uh,' he gestured to Wonder Boot. 'They're both dance clubs. I can't say as you'll have much fun there, love.'
'Don't worry, I won't be dancing. You mind trying the Midnight Bar first?'
Mathew nodded, folding up the
Ten minutes later we were parked in front of a large yellowing building with a painted black and white sign that read 'Midnight' sitting crookedly above the door. A pair of motorcycles were haphazardly parked along the front, and one window was covered with plywood where a fist or flying bottle had knocked out half the pane. All in all, it didn't strike me as the type of place a jet-setting male model would spend his evenings.
'Maybe we should try the other one,' I suggested.
Mathew shrugged. 'Suit yerself.' Then put the car into gear.
Unlike Midnight, Easy was a larger place, freshly painted in a trendy beige with black trim, sporting a brightly lit exterior and a line to get in that spanned around the building. A steady techno rhythm pulsed from inside as a tall, red-haired bouncer stood sentry at the door, wielding a clipboard in one beefy hand.
Now this was more like it.
I angled Wonder Boot out of the car and let Dana do the talking as we approached the bouncer.
'Hi there,' Dana said, giving the red haired guy a flirty little one finger wave.
Big Red gave her a quick up and down. But, considering she was showing 50% less skin than half the girls in line, he shot back a predictable, 'Back of the line.'
'Actually, we just wanted to ask you a couple of questions,' I piped up.
He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at me. (And I do mean down – he was at least a foot and a half taller than I was.)
'What kind of questions?'
'We were wondering if you know a guy by the name of Ryan Jeffries? He lives in the area.'
He narrowed his eyes. 'What about him?'
'So you do know him?'
He looked from Dana to me, as if trying to decide how much to tell us. Luckily, Dana jumped in before he could make up his mind. 'We met him on a shoot in L.A. and he gave us his number. But he's not answering now and we so wanted to party with him tonight before we have to go home.'
Big Red looked from Dana to me. 'You're models?'
'Uh huh.' Dana nodded, flipping her hair over one shoulder in a practiced hot-blonde move.
'Hmph.' Big Red glanced at my gimp leg, obviously not totally convinced.
'We're gonna be so bummed if we miss Ryan, you know? Is he here?' Dana asked, standing on tip-toe to peer over his shoulder.
'No. Rye's working tonight.'
'Working?' I asked. 'As in modeling?'
He grinned again, showing off a crooked smile that had broken up one too many bar fights. 'You could say that.'
'Do you know where?' Dana asked, twirling her hair around her index finger.
'Club X. Not really sure it's the kind of place for a couple of nice gals like you, though.'
'Oh, we'll take our chances. Would you mind writing down the address for us?' I asked, pulling a gum wrapper and a pen from my purse.
He did. Then beneath it scrawled a phone number. He handed it to Dana with a wink.
'Just in case you're not into the X scene,' he said.
Dana giggled. I grabbed her by the arm and steered her back to the cab before Miss My-Boyfriend's-Kissing- Natalie-Portman could get too friendly with the natives.
Once in the cab, I handed the gum wrapper to Mathew, who had moved on to the Local News section.
'Do you know the place?' I asked.
Mathew shook his head. 'Sorry, love, can't say as I do. But it's not far, though.'
We rode in silence through the London streets, littered with club goers and all night pubs, the air starting to thicken with fog as we veered away from downtown and into an older part of the city. Finally Mathew pulled the car up to a dark, two story building at the end of an abandoned block. Above the door was a lone neon 'X'.
'You sure you girls want to go in there?' Mathew asked.
No. But we'd come this far. 'Yep.'
Mathew shrugged, picking up his
Dana and I piled out of the car and up the walkway, pausing only briefly beneath the neon 'X', before slipping inside the club.
The interior of the club was only slightly less dark than the outside. A few strategically placed bulbs gave off an eerie reddish glow, bathing the room in an almost otherworldly light. A room that was packed. Men and women
