LITMIR.BIZ

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hip, the other holding a steaming pot of coffee, Patsy O’Brien flipped her long, gray braid out of the way and grinned. “Have a seat anywhere, sugar. Let me guess, cheese blintzes with blueberries, right?”

      Zoe nodded. Though she’d originally planned on having a sensible breakfast of scrambled egg substitute with turkey bacon and wheat toast, she suddenly craved the comfort food of her youth.

      “Zoe, over here.” Cristine waved from a booth near the back. Today, she’d lightened up on the heavy black eyeliner, though apparently she still favored low-cut shirts and push up bras.

      Zoe hurried over and slid in.

      “Coffee?” Cristine passed a cup over to her. Accepting gratefully, Zoe caught Patsy’s eye. The older woman bustled over, filled the cup and sighed. “Look at you, all sophisticated and everything. Maybe when the breakfast rush slows down, I’ll have time to chat.” And she hurried off, to Zoe’s relief.

      “You do look different,” Cristine mused. “Of course, you were always pretty, even back in high school. But now you look so...citified.”

      Not sure if the statement was an insult or a compliment, Zoe only sipped her coffee and nodded. Then, because she wanted to focus the conversation where it belonged, she leaned forward. “How was Shayna acting these last few weeks? Did she say or do anything unusual?”

      “You mean something to let me know she was planning on running off?” Pursing her lips, Cristine considered the question. “Well, she had been acting worried. She had a bit of a run-in with a drug dealer. That’s never good. She owed him money and wasn’t sure how she’d come up with it.”

      At the words, Zoe’s stomach clenched and she closed her eyes. Again, it was hammered home to her how much Shayna had changed. Shayna had known the adverse effect drugs had had on Zoe’s life. Zoe’s mother had been an addict and had done prison time, before being released and then murdered by her dealer in front of Zoe.

      She couldn’t believe Shayna had sunk that low.

      “Are you sure?” she heard herself ask, even though she knew Cristine had to be.

      “Yes.” Cristine bit her lip. “But no worries. I covered it for her. I loaned her the money and she’d already started paying me back.”

      “Did she?” Zoe felt a flash of anger and let it show in her voice.

      Cristine looked down. “Yes.”

      Hurt and angry and confused, Zoe sighed.

      “Hey.” Cristine’s sweet Southern drawl brought her out of her thoughts. “Are you okay? You looked kind of out of it for a minute there.”

      “I was just thinking about the past.” Before she could say anything else, Patsy appeared with their food.

      “Here you go, sugar.” She set a plate with three cheese blintzes covered with blueberries and whipped cream in front of Zoe. “Now you try and eat all of this, you hear? You are looking way too skinny these days.”

      Zoe nodded, unable to keep from smiling. In New York, everyone she knew was obsessed with remaining svelte. Hearing Patsy call her too thin was like balm on her soul.

      Obligingly, she dug in. Across from her, Cristine stared at her omelet before finally picking up a piece of crispy bacon and crunching it between her teeth.

      At least the arrival of their breakfast had saved them from further conversation. Zoe still had no idea why Cristine wanted to meet with her privately. Though she knew things moved much slower here in Texas than they did up north, she needed to try and pry that out of her.

      Eventually, Patsy cleared their plates, refilled their coffee and left the check, expressing her regret that she was still too busy to stay and chat.

      Taking a deep drink of coffee, finally feeling caffeinated, Zoe glanced at her watch before extracting a twenty from her wallet to pay for the meal. Funny how this exact same breakfast in Manhattan would have cost twice as much. “Cristine, was there a reason you wanted to meet me for breakfast? If not, I’ve really got to get going.”

      Leaning back in the booth, Cristine arched her brows. “Yes, Zoe. I did need to discuss something with you. I’m sorry I didn’t bring it up sooner, but it’s difficult for me to say.”

      Watching her, Zoe waited.

      After getting no response, Cristine continued. “I think I know what happened to Shayna, though I don’t know if she ran off or was abducted.”

      “Abducted?” Zoe sucked in her breath. “Why are you telling me this? Don’t you think you should go to the police?”

      “I don’t have concrete evidence.” Cristine grimaced, looking uncomfortable. “Only my suspicions.”

      Crap. Torn between wanting to believe her and demanding Cristine march right down to the police station this instant, Zoe leaned close. “Tell me what you know,” she said. “Then maybe we’ll go talk to the sheriff together.”

      “Okay.” Relief colored Cristine’s voice. “Shayna was friends with a lot of men, you know?”

      Zoe nodded. “Go on.”

      “Well, she’d been hanging around with this biker who did a lot of work for the local dealer.”

      Could this get any worse? Somehow, Zoe suspected it could and would.

      “What’s the biker’s name?” she asked.

      “Mike.” Cristine sighed. “I haven’t seen him around at all since Shayna disappeared. That dude is really good-looking, but jealous as hell. And like I told you, Shayna doesn’t make any long-term commitments.”

      “What about Brock?” Zoe pointed out. “Shayna moved in with him.”

      “Yeah, but once she realized it was going nowhere, she got bored.” Cristine gave a soft laugh. “She likes to keep things free and easy. Like me. We just want to have fun.”

      “Do you think Mike ran off with her?” Zoe asked.

      “Ran off?” Cristine’s heavily made-up eyes filled with tears. “It’s possible, but like I said, Shayna didn’t make commitments.”

      “We need to tell Roger. Even if there’s no real evidence, this is something he needs to know.”

      “I already told him an amended version.” She shifted in her chair, clearly uncomfortable. “I couldn’t tell him about the drugs. I didn’t want to get Shayna in trouble.”

      Or herself. “What did he say?”

      Cristine sighed. “He promised to put it in his file.”

      “And now you’re telling me?” Zoe leaned forward. “Why?”

      “Because someone needs to go talk to Mike—and probably some of the others Shayna was involved with.”

      Someone, meaning obviously not her. Zoe found that slightly odd. “Cristine, you know their faces. Who better to dig for information?”

      “That’s just it, I can’t.” Twisting her hands together, Cristine leaned closer. “You see, Shayna wasn’t the only one who owes money. After I covered her debt, I thought she’d be paying me back. Instead, she disappeared. Meanwhile, I sort of owe a couple of other guys money and...”

      “If you show up, they’ll expect you to pay it.”

      Cristine nodded. “And I can’t. At least not until I get paid. What about you? No one around there knows you. You’d be perfect. Shayna and I hung out at several places, but there’s one bar in particular, the one where Mike hangs out. We were there the night Shayna disappeared.”

      “Where is it?”

      Cristine named a bar in a bad part of town. The Hitching Post. Of course. Zoe shouldn’t have been familiar with it, but she was. She’d witnessed her mother’s

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