Free Runaway by Anne Laughlin Page B

herself in trouble with women. She had enough trouble right now.
    James was sitting on a barstool near the window looking out over Halsted Street. He was tall, nearly bald, neatly bearded, turtlenecked. The last bit of his martini was disappearing down his throat as she walked toward him. He pulled out the barstool next to him with the tip of his Italian shoe.
    “Here, darling, take a load off,” James said, then, to the bartender, “Cory, please, it’s an emergency. Bring this girl a beer. And a tini for me.”
    Cory brought a bottle of Bud and a glass. Jan poured her beer and drank before the glass was full.
    “Tell me everything you know,” he said, leaning on his elbow, staring right into her eyes. She knew he’d listen for as long as she wanted to talk. This didn’t overly burden him since she never talked much.
    “Our company was sold today. I had no idea it was going to happen.”
    “Oh, dear.” James said. “Cory, we need a shot for the lady. Stat.”
    “I don’t want a shot. I have to go back to work.”
    She drank the shot of bourbon anyway.
    “Well, at least that means there’s work to go to. They wouldn’t lay you off. Not their super secret agent.
    “Maybe it’s time for me to move on.”
    James looked at her a bit. “It doesn’t really sound like that’s what you want.”
    “If they lay off any investigators, I’ll give up my spot before I see Peet lose hers. Anyway, a new part of the country might be a good idea. A change of scenery.” Jan drank some more and finished pouring the bottle into her glass.
    “You just bought the condo last year. You’ll get killed if you sell it now.”
    She waved her hand, swatting away his concern.
    “Is it something about the new owners? Are they homophobes? Are they going to make you wear ugly uniforms?”
    Jan laughed. “That’s it. They’re going to make all the investigators wear uniforms. Pink ones.” She drank again. “No, I don’t know that there’s anything wrong with the new people. They arrived here today, bought the company, and told us about it after the fact. They’re headquartered in London, and they left an executive here in charge of the transition.”
    “British?”
    “Yes.”
    “Male or female?”
    “Female.”
    “Hot?”
    “Gorgeous.”
    “Oh, dear Lord. Why are you thinking of leaving?”
    “It just doesn’t feel right. They may want to change everything. I’ll give it a few days before I decide anything.”
    James shook his head. “Waiting a few days probably seems like long, judicious pondering to you, but try to take your time. This is a really big decision. As long as they’re not laying you off, you have time to see whether you like working for them or not. Remember, the job market is really, really horrible. Right? Why do you think I’m sitting here drinking martinis before five o’clock?”
    “Because you’re a lush?” Jan smiled.
    “There’s that.”
    Jan’s phone rang and she saw it was Peet.
    “What’s up?”
    “I just heard from the Winnetka PD. Maddy’s car was sold two days ago at a CarMax in the northern burbs.”
    “Did they confirm it was Maddy who sold it?”
    “Yeah. They have a copy of her driver’s license.”
    “How much did she get?”
    “About twenty thousand. Now she has money to hold her for a while. And I just ran her credit card again. There’s been no activity.”
    “Confirms she’s a runaway,” Jan said.
    “She may not have had a gun to her head, but we don’t know if she’s being coerced or how much she’s under someone’s influence. She’s only a kid, Jan.”
    “I know that. You know that. Maddy probably doesn’t feel that way, and we know her parents don’t.”
    “We’ve got to find a place to start. I’ll go check the bus and train stations,” Peet said.
    “And I’ll get started on her Web activity. Has Harrington gotten back to you with their router information?”
    “I left a note at the office with the password to the router.”
    “Okay.