“Have you gone to the police yet?” I asked in a gentle voice.
Jade nodded and wiped away her tears. “As soon as I realized that Elissa wasn’t in class, I went over to the campus police office. But they said that there was nothing they could do, especially since I didn’t know if she’d even been on campus this morning. They told me to go see the regular police, so that’s what I did. But when they realized who I was, the cops assumed she was one of my regular working girls. You can imagine how concerned they were about what they thought was a missing hooker.”
“Not very.”
The majority of the cops in Ashland were as corrupt as the day was long. Most of the time, the only way to get them to actually do their jobs was to offer them a hefty financial incentive. But there were a few good men and women on the force, my own sister being one of them.
“Did you ask for Bria? Or Xavier, her partner?” I asked. “They would have helped you.”
Jade nodded again. “Of course I did. But they were both out on assignment, and I couldn’t get anyone to tell me when they would be back. So I filed a missing person report and left. I’ve been searching for Elissa ever since then, checking in with the college and her friends again, but it’s like she’s vanished off the face of the earth. I can’t find her anywhere.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest, thinking about all of the facts and everything that she’d done so far. I looked over at Silvio, and he nodded back, telling me that he was doing the same, even as he kept on typing.
“What about the client Elissa was supposed to meet?” I asked. “What’s his name? Have you talked to him?”
“That was the first thing I did when I realized that Elissa wasn’t home this morning,” Jade said. “But he sounded awful on the phone. He really was sick, and he said that he never made it to the dinner last night. His name is Stuart Mosley. He’s the president of First Trust bank. Do you know him?”
The name startled me, but I didn’t let any of my surprise show. First Trust was the bank where Finn worked, and Stuart Mosley was his boss. Silvio shifted in his chair, and his fingers slowed their quick, relentless rhythm. He’d recognized the name too.
“Yeah, I know Mosley,” I murmured. “Small world.”
Sometimes it was a little too small for my peace of mind. Suspicion filled me. Stuart Mosley didn’t seem like the kind of man who would be involved in a young woman’s disappearance, but I couldn’t overlook him either. Fletcher had taught me that people, even those you considered potential allies, could always surprise you.
“Why did Mosley need a date for this charity dinner?”
“His wife died almost two years ago, and he’s used my service ever since,” Jade said. “I’ve never had a problem with him, and neither have any of my girls. He’s always been a perfect gentleman. For the past year, he’s only used Elissa. Mosley told her once that she reminds him of one of his great-granddaughters who passed away.”
“What happened to his granddaughter?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s never said.”
Dwarves lived a long time, hundreds of years in some cases, so it wasn’t unusual that Mosley had a great--granddaughter who had passed on before him. Any number of things could have happened to her, including just dying of old age if she had been a regular human. Still, I looked over at Silvio and raised my eyebrows, silently asking him to add Mosley’s granddaughter to his list of things to check on. He nodded back at me, his fingers picking up speed on his keyboard again.
Jade chewed on her lower lip. “Actually, Mr. Mosley is the one who suggested that I contact you. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself. He said that if anyone could find Elissa, it would be you.”
My eyes narrowed. “Did he now?”
Stuart Mosley knew all about my being the -assassin the Spider, especially since he had been friends—or -something—with Fletcher back when the old man was still alive. I didn’t know exactly what their relationship was, but Fletcher had trusted Mosley to look after all those safety-deposit boxes full of information on the Circle. The dwarf knew far more about Fletcher than he’d ever told me or Finn, and he might know more about Elissa Daniels too.
I’d pay him a visit and find out.
“Is something wrong?” Jade asked. “Why are you asking so many questions about Mr. Mosley?”
I shook my head. “Just being thorough. Where was the charity event? Tell me everything, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem.”
Jade let go of her glass, picked up her spoon, and started stirring her chili again, but she gave me all the details about the event, who had sponsored it, and some folks who might have attended. But it sounded like your typical charity dinner, so she moved on to Elissa’s friends, classes, and life in general. I listened carefully, absorbing everything she said, while Silvio typed copious notes.
“Then there’s Anthony.” Jade rolled her eyes. “Anthony Fenton, Elissa’s boyfriend.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing, except for the fact that his rich parents have spoiled him rotten his entire life. Elissa thinks that he’s the perfect guy.” She rolled her eyes again. “I think he’s a self-entitled jackass.”
I chose my next words carefully. “Do you think that Anthony could be involved in this?”
Jade snorted. “Anthony’s too lazy and self-absorbed to hurt anyone, if that’s what you’re asking. He can’t even be bothered to crawl out of bed before noon. All he cares about is looking good and partying.”
Silvio asked Jade to spell out the names of Elissa’s friends so he could be sure that he was focusing on the right people. He also got Jade to text him a headshot of Elissa, and then asked her about the dinner again, trying to jog her memory and see if she remembered anything else. While they worked, I thought back over everything Jade had told me.
I could see why she was so worried. Nice, smart, responsible, dependable girls like Elissa didn’t just vanish for no reason. Something had happened to her—something bad. And in a city as dirty, violent, and corrupt as Ashland, the longer she was missing, the worse it most likely was.
If she wasn’t already dead.
Walking down the wrong street at the wrong time of day. Smiling at the wrong person. Carrying a designer purse. Wearing a pretty necklace or sporting a cool leather jacket. Sometimes that was all it took to make you a target, especially in this city. And all too often, death struck in an instant. All it took was one punch, one bullet, one slice of a knife to end someone’s life.