Shortly, Grace came back with: "Wow, this guy is a real piece of work, that's for sure. On paper, he's only been dinged for a few minor drug charges... but I did some deeper digging and apparently he's been linked to human trafficking, but he was too good at covering his tracks for it to be proven."

Damn. Nicky was starting to see why Terry suspected this guy.

"Anything about Meghan Salinger in there?" Nicky asked.

"Yes, actually. Meghan tried to report him for stalking her, but it never went anywhere. He was a suspect in her disappearance but get this... the investigators on the case never even found him."

"What?" Nicky scowled. "How is that possible? Did they just give up?"

"Said he skipped town. It seems like they didn't really think he did it, because they barely looked for him."

Nicky was mad just thinking about that. She felt for Terry and Linda, and how frustrated they were with law enforcement. Nicky would do everything in her power to make sure she didn't give them the same results.

"Thanks, Grace," Nicky said. "Anything currently known about his potential location?"

"Just a sec..." More typing was heard on the other end, until Grace said, "Officially, he last worked at a garage, but we can assume he's not there anymore. Unofficially, he was seen working at a strip club, and it looks like a real skeezy place... looks like it's a couple towns over from where you're at."

Nicky looked at Ken, who nodded, clearly thinking the same thing as her.

"Send me the address, Grace."

"Will do."

Nicky hung up the phone.

She looked at Ken and said, "Looks like we're going to the strip club."

"Guess we are," Ken said.

Nicky gave a breath of relief. She knew that their work was important and that the answers they found might not turn out the way they needed them to, but she couldn't forget the emotional toll it was taking on Terry and Linda Salinger. It was a tough case, and they were going to need all the help they could get.

Seeing Linda and Terry reminded Nicky of her own parents. She and her father were long estranged, but her mother had been kind. Nicky felt a pull in her heart, a strange longing for a place that didn't exist any more.

But she snapped herself out of it. This wasn't the time for her emotions.

She needed to go up to the strip club and see what she could find out.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The drive up to the strip club was nerve-wracking for Nicky, and she didn't know what they would find when they got there. It seemed to go on forever; as she moved along the highway, the sun lowered into the horizon and painted the sky purple and orange. Ken was silent in the passenger seat.

"Should be there in ten," Nicky said.