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“Want a job?”

Fred stopped chewing. “Yeah! Where?”

Thirty minutes later, we dropped Fred off at a hotel in Providence, where he had access to the bus route. Arrow had a warehouse that needed help. He paid for Fred’s one-month stay at the hotel until Fred could get back on his feet. Arrow also scheduled an interview for Fred with the hiring manager the following week. On top of that, he gave the man some money to get decent clothes for the big day.

The things that went on in Arrow’s mind amazed me.

On the ride home, I said, “You just changed Fred’s life.”

“You’re Santa Claus today!” Kaylee said. “You gave Fred the best gift ever.”

I was falling more in love with him every time I witnessed his kind gestures. He gave more to others than what he got credit for.

“Fred needed help, and he gave you the best clue to finding Aimee.”

“It was nice of him to help Aimee.” Kaylee popped her head between the driver and the passenger seat. “He could’ve taken her fries and nuggets without doing anything.”

“That’s why he deserves the help.”

“When are we heading to the museum?” Kaylee asked.

“Not today. It’s closed. Let’s go home and enjoy the rest of Christmas, and we’ll figure out when we can go find her.”

CHAPTERFIFTY-TWO

ARROW

I spentthe next couple of days completing the wine campaign for my trip to Monaco. Aside from the competition, other promotional campaigns for my Bambooze Series needed to be approved for TV commercials and social media outlets.

I caught up with my team regarding my other wine labels. Satisfied with their reports and the status of the ongoing projects, I deferred them to my management team for the next few months. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t check in now and then or that they couldn’t contact me if something urgent came up.

I wanted to focus on helping Vivian find Aimee and locate Ghost.My mind worked best when it zeroed in on a target. Too many targets scattered my energy. I had to concentrate. Ghost was a violent and unpredictable psycho. He’d lived a life in the shadows of a fucking clown mask. The plastic surgery to change his looks also revealed how mentally unstable he was.

An unstable man posed a more dangerous threat than a “normal” criminal. I had to protect the woman I loved at all costs.

In addition, I’d uncovered something that boggled my mind. The recording from the McDonald’s was missing for the day Aimee had been there. Someone had gotten to it before the PI.

So today, I took a trip back to the area to investigate. I entered a hole-in-the-wall restaurant attached to an apartment building. It was so tiny that they only offered takeout. I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t seen a customer exiting with food containers. They had an older security system, which told me they weren’t saving the recordings on any internet services that could be hacked into.

After telling the owner I was a detective looking for a clue about a robbery—which I’d heard on the news days ago—they let me review the recordings. I used my phone and recorded what I saw on their computer. If I had to rewatch it, I’d have a copy. A man walked by with Aimee in front of the restaurant. Though the walk was brief, I saw enough. He was the man I’d seen at the wine convention and at the scene of the dead girl.

Who was he? What did he want with Aimee?

This man had shown up at critical moments. Was he part of The Trogyn?

I had sent his image to Slash, the man who had given my friends and me a second chance at life back when we’d witnessed the crime organization kill someone. Slash was working on a project, so he might not answer me promptly, but I had to try.

Maybe Slash recognized the man since he’d been part of the organization for a while before they sent someone to kill him.

Arriving home, I sat at my desk and allowed my thoughts to stir. Vivian was still at work, and Kaylee was at school. I loved having them in my home. It felt strange to have the house to myself.

My gaze landed on the special bottle of wine Vivian had given me for Christmas called Bullseye. It wasn’t a bottle to drink, per se. I could hear something clanking against the glass from inside it. She had made a beautiful label with a tagline that made me smile.Aiming to fill you up with loving memories.

She told me to open it when I felt tired, lost, or unstable. Right now, I was bombarded with so many things that I didn’t even know what to feel.

I opened the bottle and saw several strips of bamboo card stock. Words were written on each strip.I pulled one out that read:When you asked me to inform you when I was ready for a date. That moment deserves to be bottled.

There were so many memory strips within the wine bottle, and I loved that she made the gift especially for me. I’d never received anything so thoughtful.