Hooked

reflux. This was turning out to be a very bad day, and it wasn’t even eight a.m.

Chapter Twenty-One
    Tawny’s Appointment

    L inc watched Tawny leave Upper Eighties and hail a cab. She looked gorgeous in her elegant evening suit, hair swept into a twist. He wanted to talk to her, but she’d have thought he was tailing her like she’d thought before. Only making sure she was all right, he rationalized.
    Guilt gnawed at his insides for pulling her back into a life she was trying to get out from under. But another emotion perplexed the hell out of him. She’d been inside Upper Eighties servicing some john, and he didn’t like it one bit. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was jealous. He laughed and shook off the ridiculous notion. He had nothing to be jealous of. Tawny was her own woman. He had no say in what she did or didn’t do. So why was every muscle in his body revolting at the idea of her with another man? It’s what she does, Linc . Christ, I need a shrink.
    Shortly after she took off, he received a heads-up call from the detective he talked to about the guy in the photo going into Upper Eighties, Dirk Hansen. The late Dirk Hansen, he learned. He spent the next two hours with the medical examiner and a NYPD crime scene unit in Hell’s Kitchen near the Dumpster resting place of the actor. Unofficial cause of death: spinal shock from a broken neck.
    Checking on Hansen, Linc found he had a record for spousal abuse. He left the alley and Hansen’s body and spent the next hour following up with Hansen’s ex-wife. She said little good about the man. He beat the crap out of her for whatever macho reason suited him at the time and apologized later. When she’d taken enough, she kicked him out on his ass. The man was a slug.
    In spite of getting home in the middle of the night and being bone-dead tired, Linc didn’t fall asleep until almost dawn. He woke early this morning with the same uneasy feeling that had kept him awake. With so many connections to Benny Cooper’s establishment, he was beginning to think they should pull everyone in and put the screws on them. He knew Tawny didn’t want the girls to go to jail, but he didn’t want them killed either. And that’s what was happening. One dead, a second woman had disappeared, a third holed up in her apartment last he heard, and now Hansen. He didn’t want Tawny to be next.
    He’d talk to the captain when he got to work. Maybe he could broker some kind of deal to get Tawny out of her tax mess before she got hurt. After his shower, he noticed he’d missed a call from Tawny. He picked up his cell, hit her number on speed-dial, and punched Send.
    “You’re going to be proud of me,” Tawny said after he identified himself. “I got the name of the missing girl. Cindi Dyson. She’s from Kansas . How’s that for a night’s work?”
    He wondered what else a night’s work entailed and then wanted to punch himself. “Great.”
    “Oh, and Walsh, this is the bad part. This Cindi person might be dead. The doorman referred to her in the past tense.”
    Why did the name Cindi ring a dull bell? It didn’t take long before he made the connection. Hansen’s ex-wife said that she hoped his new girlfriend, Cindi, had better luck with the dirtbag. She didn’t know Cindi’s last name, only that she was an actor, like Dirk, and a would-be writer. Has to be the same girl . “Tawny, don’t leave your apartment. I’m on my way.”
    “Walsh, I can’t wait. I have…an appointment, and I’m late.”
    “We need to talk. I’m serious. Stay there.”
    He hung up before she could argue and called Dennis. He briefly related Tawny’s information. “Tawny believes the missing girl is a Cindi Dyson from Kansas . That’s all I know right now, but the doorman gave her the impression Dyson was dead. And I think Hansen was connected to her.”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “Something his ex-wife said. I’ll fill you in later.”
    “I’ll check on the Dyson gal,” Dennis said. “Then I’ll see what the captain says about having someone talk to Melody Carnes. Might be time to start moving in.”
    Linc agreed and was pulling on his pants when his cell rang. At this rate, he’d never get out of his house. It was Harry. “I’m kinda in a hurry, Harry.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “Tawny got more in one night than we got in two weeks.”
    “I’ll bet,” Harry snickered.
    Linc heard the sarcasm, but he let it go. He filled Harry in