So Jonas was on the prowl. Hal Vincent seemed to need a nightly beer. And Jon Abel happened to frequent the same place. Abel was a weird-looking little pissant, even cleaned up. He didn’t want to believe that Hal could be a bad guy, and Jonas…no, it couldn’t be Jonas. Maybe he was fooling around on Matty. That was sad, but it didn’t make him a monster.
Vinnie was a womanizer who had been victimized as a child, teased for not being tough enough. He dressed like a vampire. He had a connection to Kendall’s shop, so he had quite likely been both places where Jenny Trent had last used her credit card. Mason was connected to both places, too, but he had yet to see Mason come on to a woman.
“See if you can get Vinnie over to me,” Aidan told his brother.
Jeremy rolled his eyes and walked toward the stage. He waved to Vinnie, who grinned and, never missing a note of the number they were playing, looked across the room, saw Aidan and nodded.
Aidan nodded back.
When the number was over, Vinnie reintroduced Jeremy to the crowd, then came over to Aidan’s table.
Vinnie’s smile appeared sincere. “This place is becoming a hangout for you guys, huh?” he said. The waitress was nearby, and he reached out, catching her by the arm. “Gretchen, be a darling, huh? Bring me a drink. Something sweet. The house special.”
Gretchen noted Aidan and lowered her voice. “You gotta pay your bill tonight, Vinnie. Max says so.”
“Sure,” Vinnie said quickly.
“You need to stop buying drinks for every half-decent woman who walks in here, you know?” Gretchen said, then smiled. “It’s all right. This one will be on me.”
As she moved away, Vinnie’s smile faded a bit. Then he caught Aidan watching him and forced the grin back into place. “Hey, I like people,” he said. “Sometimes too much, I guess.”
Aidan pulled out the picture of Jenny Trent and set it in front of the other man.
Vinnie looked at the picture, then up at him.
“What’s up, man?”
“You know her?”
Vinnie shrugged. He was thoughtful for a moment. “You have no idea how many women come in here,” he muttered, then frowned thoughtfully. “Yeah. I remember her. I mean, I can’t say I know her. But she was in here. So? She was a nice girl.”
“That’s what I hear.”
Vinnie straightened distrustfully in his chair. “What’s going on?”
Gretchen put a drink in front of him just then. “Enjoy,” she said, winking.
“Thanks, Gretchen,” he said. Aidan imagined he had his appeal. He had the dark soulful eyes of the quintessential artist and aesthetic features. His long dark hair accentuated the look.
“Do you remember her name?”
“Let me think. June…Jessie…Jenny. That’s it. Her name is Jenny. And what the hell is the problem, anyway? She said she’s over twenty-one.”
“No one said she wasn’t,” Aidan said, noticing Vinnie’s use of the present tense.
Vinnie leaned back. “I don’t have to answer any of your questions.”
“No, but I’d appreciate it if you would.”
Vinnie was frowning by then. “You tell me what the hell is going on first.” He stared at Aidan. If he was acting, he was good.
Gretchen came back around. “Mr. Flynn, you doing okay?” She stopped, staring at the picture on the table.
“Hey, Vinnie, that’s a great shot of that cutie you were trying to pick up, huh?” she teased, nudging him with her hip. Then she seemed to sense the tension at the table and stopped talking, looking embarrassed.
“We’re good, Gretchen, thanks,” Aidan said.
“Sorry, Vinnie,” she said, and moved on.
Vinnie groaned. “What is it with this girl?” He stared at Aidan. “Oh, God, don’t tell me something’s happened to her.”
“She’s missing,” Aidan said.
“Missing?” Vinnie looked puzzled.
“Missing. Never went to South America. Never went home. She’s missing.”
“Hey, I saw her back to her bed-and-breakfast, and that was it. We kissed on the doorstep and said good-night. I didn’t even sleep with her. She was staying pretty far over toward the edge of the Quarter, near Rampart and Esplanade.”
Aidan hid his surprise; there was no record of Jenny Trent having stayed anywhere.
“You walked her to her bed-and-breakfast?” he said.
“That was it. I swear,” he said.
“Can you remember exactly where it was?” Aidan asked.
“Sure.”
“Can you take me there?”
“Tomorrow, if you want,” Vinnie agreed, still defensive. “And now you need to excuse me. I have a gig to finish.”
Aidan reached out to catch hold of Vinnie’s lapel. “Don’t you pull a disappearing act on me, huh?” he said.
Vinnie looked as if he was about to say something, then smiled suddenly. “Hey!” he called loudly.
Aidan looked up. He’d been so intent on his conversation with Vinnie that he hadn’t been watching the door. He saw now that Kendall Montgomery had come into the bar, and she was staring at him with an angry scowl as she walked straight over to his table.
“What the hell is going on here?” she demanded.
“Your friend thinks I did away with this girl,” Vinnie said pleasantly, giving her a poor-me grin.
He was a rodent, Aidan thought. Or like a little kid, crawling behind his mother’s skirts because he had done something wrong on the playground.