Good Girls & Gangsters. (Book 2)

Prologue

"You're overreacting."

"Overreacting?" he yelled back, flabbergasted. "Over. Reacting." 

"No, I'm sorry." False solemnity irons his tone flat. "You're completely having a level-headed response to an unfounded claim."

"Wow, sir, you are talented," he says with mock awe. He tucks the folder under his armpit, applauding aggressively. "Your ass can speak for itself since all I'm hearing is shit."

He washes his face with his hands exasperatedly. "Calum—"

"No." Nearly suffocating on his anger. He lashes out and swipes at the files on his desk, sending them to scatter across the floor. "Last time this happened, you found her beaten and raped. Do you want it to get that far until you do something? With the time that has passed, I don't even know if she's still alive."

The detective launches to his feet. "That was different. She was radio silent, off the grid, but I'm not as careless as you think. I already looked into it and it didn't take long since she and Orian Moon, some big shot tycoon, were making headlines that they attended some high-profile event together. Even making it to the cover of magazines."

"That issue came out months ago," he rebuttals. "And you have no idea how badly Hadassah wanted to imprison that man; she had been gathering intel on Zenith for years, but the consecutive dead ends forced her to shelve the case until Lionel Collin's death opened it up back again. I'm telling you, it—I," he stutters like he's malfunctioning. Struggling to separate fact from fiction. "It doesn't make sense that she would be with him like that."

Calum opens his folder and flicks through it. He rushes forward to dump it on the desk. "Look." He points to the one geographical marking. "I isolated her phone's signal to pinpoint her location to try to establish a timeline. It failed several times before it traced back to Osaka, Japan, like three months ago. And that was it. It's been down ever since."

Detective Harlow shrugs, raising his hands exaggeratedly. "None of this is actionable. I can't put out an APB because you have a bad feeling. This isn't like the time with Sidorov. We knew he was after her after since she tanked his business and forced him into hiding. It was personal. As far as I heard from your boss, she took a mid-term position working abroad for a private company."

"And have you been able to reach them?"

The detective wavers, looking anywhere else. "No..."

Calum gestures at him pointedly, irritation pricking at him unendingly. "Exactly. No direct contact from her for over months and the corporation she's allegedly working for cannot be reached. You don't find that suspicious—," he chops his hand down before he can even say anything, "—thanks for everything, detective."

He snatches the folder, whirling around, marching to the exit. "I'll do it myself."

"Calum," he shouts to his back. "Don't go doing anything stupid, just... just let me handle this then."

He halts abruptly. "I thought you already looked into it?" He turns to face him again. "Hadassah's mother called me some time ago to tell me that Hadassah called her...she said it was strange, and she sounded...off. But I didn't need to hear that to know that my girl is in trouble and I won't let history repeat itself. So if you're not going to help. Stay the fuck out of my way."