“Maybe you’re right,” I say. “Maybe she didn’t use your service at all. We’re just asking you to take a look at your ride records to be sure. Then we can cross your business off our list and never return.”

  “And I told you, that’s not possible,” he says in a huff. “I don’t release my records to anyone, no matter what they want to accuse me of. You come in here with a legal warrant, signed by a judge and I will comply, but only within the limits of the warrant itself. You get nothing extra. And you get nothing for free!”

  “This guy,” Zara says under her breath.

  “Listen to me, Mr. Aruz,” I say, my voice as serious as I can make it. “We have evidence suggesting that one of your drivers picked up a woman but never dropped her off at her destination. And if you’re covering for him, I can assure you this will not end well for you.”

  I can tell by his face he’s not swayed in the slightest. It’s like talking to a brick wall. “Ha! More threats. I know my rights. Do you have proof this woman used my service? Mine? Tell me now.”

  I exchange a glance with Zara.

  “I thought not,” he says, voice triumphant. “You are fishing. Which means you have nothing on me. Nothing. And I will not stand here and let you bully me into giving you what you want. You want the records, go through your ‘justice’ system. Don’t come down here threatening me and my employees.”

  “Mr. Aruz, if we find you are obstructing this investigation by covering up a crime by one of your drivers, I can assure you, you’ll face a punishment just as severe.”

  “And I’ve already told you, I would know if there was a problem in the system. I don’t hire unreliable drivers.”

  “In fact, you don’t hire them at all, isn’t that right?” Zara asks. “They’re ‘independent contractors’, aren’t they?”

  “It’s for everyone’s benefit,” he says.

  “Except for your employees, who don’t get those benefits. They’re responsible for their own health and dental insurance, while they take all the risk,” I say.

  He nods to Dana. “I provide plenty of benefits. And who the hell are you to tell me how to run my business? Like I have said all along, I have done nothing wrong. Now get out of here before I call my lawyer and have you censured for badgering.”

  “That’s not actually a thing,” I say.

  “Oh?” he asks. “Then I’m sure the FBI wouldn’t mind hearing that two of its agents are down here, harassing a small-business owner when they don’t even have any evidence against him.”

  Aruz is really trying my patience. I pride myself on being the kind of person who can handle a lot of punishment, but Aruz is pushing it. I know Hannah used his service, but I just can’t prove it yet. Not unless we can get hold of her cell phone and show that she actually made the reservation with his company. But given the kidnapper didn’t leave anything behind, I highly doubt that will happen.

  “You realize a young woman’s life is on the line here, don’t you?” I ask. “This doesn’t have to be this difficult. Five minutes and we will be out of your hair.”

  “I don’t care,” Aruz says, and I really believe him. He doesn’t care about anyone or anything, which only increases my suspicions about him. Even if he is covering for one of his drivers, I don’t have enough yet to force him to cooperate. I had hoped coming down here with the fresh evidence that the car went missing would have been enough to compel him to cooperate, but it seems I underestimated just how hard-headed he would be.

  I give him and Dana one last look. She looks as uncomfortable as a person could, her whole body is rigid. I’m sure she sees this kind of interaction every day with her boss. “Mr. Aruz, make sure you don’t leave town,” I say. “And expect another visit from us, very soon.” We both head back out.

  “That’s right,” he calls after us. “Go back to your big buildings of justice and your courtrooms and maybe do something productive for society for once. Stop picking on small businesses just trying to survive.”

  I grit my teeth and focus on planting one foot in front of the other just so I don’t turn around and throw Aruz on his ass. The man is so skinny I feel like I could snap him in two if I really tried.

  Once we’re outside I suck in a deep breath. The late afternoon is slowly turning to evening and the temperature is beginning to drop. Behind me I hear the click of a lock. I turn to see Aruz standing behind his door, glaring at us.

  “C’mon,” I say, getting back in Zara’s car. “I need to get out of here before I punch through that glass.”

  “I could just drive through it if you want,” she suggests, getting behind the wheel. “It’s an older car, the gear could always slip.”

  I smile. “I don’t think that’s going to help us get what we need.”

  “You never know, he might be so distracted you could run into the back and look up his records.”

  I hate that for a millisecond I consider it. “Nah,” I say. “I’m sure he’s got the entire system triple password and biometrically locked. Let’s just get out of here. I still need to go pick up Timber. The kennel is going to close in half an hour.”

  Zara checks her watch. “Let’s just go pick him up now. You’ll never make it back to your car and all the way over there in time. Not with the afternoon rush.”

  My first instinct is to argue, because the pictures from Parrish are still in my backseat. And I know Zara will just insist on dropping me and Timber off at home rather than go all the way back to the office. But I can’t think of an excuse that would sound plausible. Plus, it’s not like I can do anything with them at home anyway, I had just hoped to study them further. I don’t have much choice, not without making her suspicious. Zara is too sharp for me to pull one over on.

  “Sure, thanks,” I say. “That’ll be a big help.” I gesture to Aruz, still standing in the window. “If I have to see his face any more today, I think I’ll lose it.”

  “You and me both,” she says. “I don’t understand why some people have to be so difficult. Do you have any idea of how you’re gonna get that warrant?” She backs out of the space and heads for the main road off the strip mall.

  “No clue,” I say. “No judge will sign off on a gut feeling. We need some way to connect Ryde 4 Lyfe to the car itself, but we can’t do that without the company’s hiring list.”

  “It’s too bad they don’t have those bright lights the other companies use,” she says. I shake my head. Even if they used them, the footage is from so far away it would be too difficult to make out on the car itself. And while we sit here, spinning our wheels, Hannah is God knows where, having God knows what done to her.

  I hit the armrest, my frustration finally leaking out.

  “Drink?” Zara asks.

  “Definitely,” I reply.

  Chapter Twelve

  A light breeze blows across the bar’s open-air patio, but it’s not enough to make me get up. I’ve got my heavy coat on, and Zara has the same. Timber sits at my feet, lying on the cool ground with a bowl of water right beside his head. Apparently, he had a full day at day care and is all tired out. At least one of us was productive today.

  “Here’s to intimidation tactics gone wrong,” Zara says, holding up her drink. It’s a sex on the beach, which is completely inappropriate for the weather, but she’s the kind of person who loves tropical drinks no matter what setting she drinks them in.

  I have a tumbler half full of Knob Creek with a dash of ice. It’s just enough to cut the sting of the bourbon, but still keep me warm as I sip on it. “I can’t believe that little cretin has balls that big,” I say, going back over our encounter with Aruz. Never in my professional career have I ever encountered someone so obstinate. Most people, even the contrarian ones, eventually relent. They see we’re trying to do the right thing, and they eventually decide to help us.

  But not Aruz. That man is firm and determined. Which sets off a series of bells in my head. Despite what he’s been through in the past with his family, I feel like he’s protecting something else. He’s not just refusing us to look at his records because of his rights, he’s got something to lose if we do. We just need to find out what that is.

  Zara leans down, finding my gaze. “Whatcha thinkin’?”

  I grin. “Who says I’m thinking anything?”

  “Your face. You always look like that when you’re concentrating really hard.”

  My thumb finds my temple and I rub it for a moment. “Aruz. He’s hiding something.”

  “That much is clear,” she says.

  “No, I mean he’s hiding something else. Something we haven’t touched on yet. He’s way too combative not to be. We need to find out what’s going on in there.”

  “What’s the angle?” she asks. “Dana?”

  “I don’t know. She seems more like someone who’s gotten caught up in a tornado and is just looking for a way out without falling to her death. I’m not even sure we could get her to cooperate. And if we did, what kind of access does she have? It looks to me like he’s got that place locked down pretty tight.”

  “Still,” she says. “There has to be a way.” Zara pauses for a moment, then looks back to me. “As long as we’re sure Ryde 4 Lyfe is the culprit.”

  I hold my hands up on the table between us. “We checked all the rest, who else is left?”

  “Private taxi?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “Did that car look like a taxi to you? Nah, that was someone’s personal vehicle. Someone smart enough to know where the cameras were.”

  “Either that or they’re extraordinarily lucky,” Zara says.

  “I don’t think so. I think they’ve been planning this for a while,” I say. “It’s someone who has been meticulous. A random kidnapping wouldn’t have gone this smoothly. There would have been something left behind, some piece of evidence. But this screams like it was engineered from the start.” I take a sip from my drink.

  “So then Aruz is involved,” she says.

  “Has to be. Otherwise, how else would they schedule the driver to pick her up at that exact moment? We just need to find a way to squeeze him until he talks.”

  “You want me to drop you off and head back to the office? I didn’t get very far this afternoon; I could keep looking.”

  I shake my head. “You need rest too. This isn’t like when you’re in front of a computer all day. Being on high alert like this, all the time, it will wear you down if you’re not careful.”

  She sips on her pink straw. “If you say so. Maybe that’s just what the old-timers want us to think.”

  “Who are you calling old-timer?” I ask.

  She grins, her lips still on the straw. “No one.”

  I look down at Timber who’s half asleep at my feet. But as soon as he sees me move, he glances up at me, that big smile on his face. “I think someone is insulting your mama.”

  He just stares at me with those inquisitive eyes of his. “I should probably get him back. He’s exhausted.”

  “Okay,” she says, slurping down her drink.

  “Whoa, slow down there,” I say. “You’re not going to be able to walk, much less drive. I didn’t mean you had to leave too. I’m getting a ride.” I hold up my phone to show the newly-installed Ryde 4 Lyfe app.

  A huge grin forms across Zara’s face. “Do you think he knows yet?”

  “I’m sure he does,” I say. “I just registered with my full name. And look, they even have an option that allows pets.”

  “Whoa, that’s a nice feature,” she says.

  “If we can’t get into his records, I want to at least see what the experience is like. Maybe see what Hannah saw. I don’t know if it will help or not, but I think it’s worth a try. If for no other reason than to piss Aruz off.”

  “Go for it.”

  I scroll through the app and schedule my destination, then ask for a pickup that can handle a medium-sized dog. The app responds almost immediately with a driver who will be here to pick me up in six minutes.

  “That was easy,” I say, finishing off my drink.

  “Let me know if you find out anything,” Zara says. “And I’ll be by first thing in the morning to pick you up.”

  I stand and Timber gets up as well, excited to be moving again. “You didn’t have to do this. Thank you.”

  “What are friends for?” she asks, bending down and giving Timber a kiss on the top of the head. “Bye, bye, boyfriend,” she says. “I’m gonna steal you one of these days.”

  For a brief moment I pause, considering whether or not to tell Zara about the photographs Parrish managed to find. Part of me wants to confide in her, but another part is telling me that all I’d be doing is resigning her to a doomed ship, destined to go down. I can’t sabotage her like that. I’ve already done enough damage; this is my fight. As much as I’d love to tell her, I can’t bring myself to pull her in like that.

  “You okay?” she says when she notices me staring at her.

  “Yeah, fine,” I reply, flashing a smile. “Enjoy the rest of your drink. And try not to pick up too many guys here.”

  “You know me, can’t stop banging dudes left and right.” We share a laugh as I head over to the corner where my ryde is scheduled to pick me up, Timber trotting right behind on his leash.

  “See you tomorrow.” I wave and she waves back, going back to our table and her drink. I check the app again and see the car is right around the corner. When I turn back, I see Zara has decided to take her drink inside. Maybe she is after a hot date after all. But then again, for all the time I’ve known her, she has been very picky about anyone she brings home. She’s not the kind of person who meets people at a bar. When Zara goes looking, she does a deep dive on someone before talking with them. Plus, I think she’s still a little hung up on Coll. But he’s been so busy going through the application process I haven’t hardly heard a word from him. I had thought when I came back from Stillwater we’d find time to at least hang out, but it seems he’s been too busy for that.

  The car pulls up and rolls down the passenger side window. An older man wearing a cowboy hat leans forward. “Emily? With…Timber, right?” the driver asks.

  “Right,” I say.

  “Hop in,” he replies and unlocks the doors. I usher Timber in first, who crosses the seat and sits down on the far side, right behind the driver. I take the seat beside him. “There’s a little latch hooked on the seat if you want to attach his collar.”

  “What?” I ask.

  The driver turns. He’s probably in his mid-forties, beard, with dark brown eyes. “It’s like a dog seatbelt,” he says. “Just in case I have to stop quickly.”

  I reach behind Timber and find the little hook at the end of a nylon band. I hook it on his collar. It still gives him freedom to move but isn’t so constraining he can’t lay down, which is what he does. “I need to get one of these for my car.”

  “They’re great,” the driver says. “Beautiful dog, by the way. How old is he?”

  “We think about four,” I say, using the royal “we” even though Matt isn’t around anymore. “Is driving around people’s pets difficult?”

  “Not usually,” he says, pulling away from the curb. “Most are well-behaved. Every now and again there’s an accident, but I have a great detailer.”

  “How long have you been working for Ryde?” I ask.

  “Only about six months. I actually work for the big two as well,” he says, indicating a couple of different placard signs he has on the seat beside him. “You never know which service someone might be using.”

  “Is that common? For a driver to work for multiple companies?”

  “Sure,” he says. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t do it. You’re leaving money on the table if you do.”

  “Huh,” I say, sitting back, the wheels in my mind turning. I’m wondering how likely it is that our mystery driver worked for the other companies as well. Though it’s not like we’d know, considering none of them processed Hannah’s request. But it might be a way in. I shoot off a text to Zara.

  Cross check employees of the major ride-share companies. Let’s see how many cross over.

  A second later her reply comes through.

  On it first thing tomorrow.

  I stow my phone again. “Do you like driving for Ryde?”

  He shrugs. “It’s okay, I guess. It’s a gig. Pays the bills.”

  “How are you assigned the people you pick up?”

  “I’ll get a notification on the app,” he says. “Asking if I want to take a fare. But I have to be within a reasonably close distance. The company doesn’t like you to be waiting around too long for a ride.”

  “And if there are multiple drivers within my range?”

  He glances at me in the rearview. “It’s whoever responds first. So if I’m quick enough, I can beat out another driver to get your fare.”

  “And thus get paid more often,” I say, still thinking. “Would the app log if someone was idle for a long time? Say they didn’t pick up fares all day, but were still quote/unquote available?”

  “Why would someone do that?” he asks. “It’d be a waste of their time just to sit around all day.”

  “Humor me,” I say, stroking Timber’s back. He’s almost fallen asleep to the soft rumble of the car.

  “I mean, I guess,” he says. “I’m sure the app tracks how long someone is using it. So yeah, if a driver sat around all day not taking fares, I’d think that would show up.”

  That’s what I think as well. All of a sudden this is beginning to make more sense. Whoever was after Hannah may have been lying in wait, ready to pounce when the opportunity came. Which means whoever they are, they have a lot of free time on their hands. The question is, who are they working for?

  The rest of the ride we spend in silence, Timber snoozing quietly beside me. As soon as we reach my apartment I wake him up and we both hop out. “Thanks for the ride,” I say. “Five stars.”