“He’s in Brooklyn,” she said. “He said something about going out for sushi and the only place he’ll eat sushi is at this crazy dive down the street from his apartment. He’s had too much bad sushi—”
Conn peered over the top of her head to look at the phone. Chris’s dot sat right in the middle of the block housing Eye Candy.
“He said he was in Brooklyn,” Cady said. “He’s lying to me.”
Relief poured through Conn, profound and exhilarating. “Keep him talking. Get your coat,” he said. “And text Eve and have her meet us at Eye Candy.”
“I’m sorry, Chris,” she said, juggling the phone from ear to ear as she slid her arms into Emily’s coat. “I didn’t get the part in the middle. After Baltimore. Can you go over the part in the middle again?”
Conn held her coat so she could find the arm hole, then took her hand and pulled her down the hallway to the garage. His heart was pounding. Maybe, just maybe, he was about to get really fucking lucky and catch Chris red-handed, with Cady’s notebook and her grandmother’s bracelet, and maybe a voodoo doll he was sticking pins into to make her hair go berserk.
Cady’s hand closed reflexively on the armrest when he shot backward down the driveway. “Wait a minute,” she said to Chris. “You promised me I’d never have to do another show in Poughkeepsie again. You promised. That hotel had cockroaches the size of rats! I can’t even imagine how big the rats were!”
Chris’s voice came placatingly through the phone.
“Good,” Conn said. “Ten minutes. That’s all I need.”
Cady flicked a glance at the speedometer. Conn slowed down. Getting pulled over meant lost time, and possibly some guy deciding to be a hero in front of Cady, which meant publicity drawing attention to a problem that was, for now, a total secret.
“Eve’s on her way.” She checked the phone again, clicking between the Find My Friends app and the call, to make sure she was still muted. “I can’t believe he lied to me. I can’t believe he’s still in town. I trusted him. I’ve trusted him with every part of my career. I can’t believe this is happening.”
Conn didn’t say anything. He knew how hard it was to trust and be let down, again and again. Cady’s face was pale, her eyes wide with shock and fear. “What else is he lying about? Is he really planning to talk to Eric about a different album? The way he presents that will make all the difference. What if he’s going behind my back and telling Eric I’m just being a diva, or that I don’t have the material, or that I can’t come up with it in time?”
“Hey,” Conn said. He put his hand on her thigh. “One thing at a time. Confront him, and see what happens.”
“How can I trust anything that’s happened up to now?” she said. “How do I trust what he’s said to the label, to anyone he’s in contact with about appearances, or the future? This changes everything.”
The tires screeched as they roared into Eye Candy’s parking lot, startling Eve, who was getting out of a zippy-looking Altima. “What’s going on?” she asked, then caught Cady’s eye. “Cady, what’s wrong?”
“I need to get into the bar,” Conn said.
Eve didn’t question him, just unlocked the door. “Take Cady and stay in your car,” he said.
“The hell you say,” Cady said indignantly. Chris’s voice was still coming through her phone, but now that the door was open, Conn could hear him in real time. He was upstairs, in Eve’s office. “
“Who’s living in the apartment?” Conn asked, his hand on his weapon.
“Natalie,” Eve said. “She moved in a couple of months ago. She was rooming with a passive-aggressive train wreck. My last tenant skipped without paying two months’ rent.”
“That bites,” Cady said.
“Matt tracked him down,” Eve replied with a steely glint in her eye.
Conn didn’t doubt it. He held out his hand palm down to urge her to silence, and started across the dance floor. He’d spent plenty of time in this club, both before Dorchester walked in as a bartender, and during the investigation, but never when it was as silent as a predawn stakeout. He moved carefully, crossing the floor at a stealthy pace, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned to see Cady right behind him.
“Jesus fuck,” he growled.
“What? I snuck out all the time as a kid.”
Eve was standing behind the bar, watching this play out.
“That you, sweetie?” Natalie’s voice called out from the office.
“Yeah,” Eve replied. “I need to do inventory.”
“I’ll be down in a few.”
“Take your time,” she called back.
Conn gave her a little nod of thanks, and turned to find Cady tiptoeing up the wrought-iron staircase circling up to the office, eyes down and focused on not missing a step and cracking her knee on the metal risers. Conn used his hands to haul himself up the stairs two at a time. He caught her by the waist just as she reached the landing.
“What the hell are you thinking?” he hissed.