I heard Chase before I saw him. He stormed through the door into my office, the fear running through his movements.
“She’s run away.” He stepped into my office. “She’s gone.”
I paused for a moment before I responded. “Who are we talking about?”
“Ruby. My girlfriend.”
“Right. Did you ask her where Millie was?”
“Ask her? Ask her?!” He slammed his hand on my desk. “This isn’t the time for asking!”
“You accused her of hurting Millie?” My voice was calm, a perfect foil to his anger.
“I said that I knew she had Millie and I wanted to know where she was.” He began to pace the room in front of my desk, head turning this way and that, clearly agitated. “She said she had no idea what I was talking about, and then she started saying that she was going to be famous, and was going to move all the way to LA to be with some big shot there.”
If it wasn’t for Millie, I would have laughed.
“For a movie producer?”
“That’s it. Some guy she met near a coffee shop. She’s so gullible. I told her that the movie producer just wanted to sleep with her, that he didn’t see any potential in her other than her physical attributes and that she was a fool if she got caught up in all his lies.”
“And then?”
“And then she stormed out and said that Millie had destroyed our relationship.”
“What did she mean by that?”
Chase gave a frustrated sigh.
“It was her stupid little dream of me taking her to LA so she could have her shot at being a star. I would let her have her fantasy, smile and nod, agree how amazing it would be, but I never intended to go through with it, and she was slowly starting to figure that out. Ruby blamed it on Millie, but the truth is, I’m just not interested. The woman has no talent beyond taking photographs of herself. She’s a vacuous little airhead who looks good. Take that away and she’s nothing. Ruby and I won’t last, I’ll get bored, already am, really, and then I’ll move on. And when I leave Chicago, it will be somewhere chosen by me, not a girlfriend or anyone else.”
“What about Millie?”
“Millie?” Chase looked genuinely confused. “She’s a kid, she doesn’t get a say. What’s any of this got to do with it anyway, we’ve got to track down Ruby!”
“Any idea where she went?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Chase ran his hand through his hair. “I have no idea where she went. I tried to follow her, but she started screaming as soon as we got on the street. I tried to grab her, but some guy stepped between us, probably trying to act like the tough guy in front of a pretty girl, and she got into a cab. And now she won’t answer my calls.”
“Not at home?”
“I called her home and her mother answered, but she said she hadn’t seen Ruby. She said Ruby and her father have been acting strange lately. She didn’t know where Ruby’s father was either. He’s got mob connections, Jack. He’s got a lot of connections in that world.” He turned to me. “This is your fault. You told me it was Ruby.”
“I didn’t tell you it was Ruby.”
“It’s your fault.” He waved his finger near my face, leaning across my desk. “I shouldn’t have hired you.”
“I suggest you put that finger down before I snap it off like a dry twig.”
My calm demeanor caught him off-guard. He expected me to shout and scream, get into a verbal duel, but that wasn’t my way. I was a man of action, not of talk.
“I can’t let her hurt Millie, Jack.”
A rare glimpse of parental care. Time for a bit of the good cop routine, soften him up.
“We’re not going to let that happen, but we have to get prepared. And that means no more going off like a loose cannon. You came to me because you knew I was your best hope. You’ve got to trust me now.”
He turned away from me, and started pacing the room again. “What am I going to do?”
“Focus on what we can do. How is the money going?”
“I’ve got it. All of it is ready to go. I just need to pick it up from the bank, it’s not as easy as visiting an ATM for an amount like this. I have an appointment with the manager to collect it this afternoon. Then I’ll keep it in my safe at home. The whole building is under tight security. I’ve told the security team to be extra vigilant over the next few days, although I didn’t tell them why. I trust them, but I don’t trust anyone that much.”
He paced the room for a few more moments, before sitting in the chair opposite me. He slumped like a depressed teenager, seemingly powerless to affect his world.
“Now I need you to think, Chase. Is there anyone else that you think could’ve taken Millie? Anyone else that comes to mind? Someone you’ve overlooked, perhaps?”
“What? Are you telling me that Ruby didn’t do it?” He sat forward.
“I never told you that she did. I told you she was a suspect, the same as all the other people are at the moment. I’m investigating all the leads, but so far, we have nothing concrete.”
“I don’t want to lose that million dollars.”
“What about Millie?”
The question shocked him. “Of course, I don’t want to lose Millie either.”
“There are still some leads that we need to follow, but we’re getting closer.” I opened a file. “Is there anyone you know that’s a mechanic or connected to a mechanic?”
“Mechanic?”
“That’s where the clues are
