She nods and I’m in his office in about twenty seconds. I walk to his desk and sit down, looking for clues to where he might be, but this is Kane Mendez. There is nothing to be found. He leaves nothing behind for the wrong eyes, ever.

I exit the office and head toward the door, calling out to Cindy as I pass through the lobby, “Call me if you hear from him.”

Fifteen minutes later, I’m at our apartment building, where Kit is usually at as well, and he is nowhere to be found. I call him. He doesn’t answer. I head to our place and Kane isn’t there. I have no idea why, but I feel the pull to return to the Hamptons.

I dial Jay. “Where are you?”

“About to pull up to the building now.”

“I need to go back to the Hamptons now,” I say, praying I won’t regret that decision. “Is the chopper ready?”

“It is.”

I hang up and waste no time heading downstairs. I exit the building and climb inside. “Where’s Kane?”

“I don’t know.”

“His phone isn’t pinging. You know something.”

“I don’t. I swear I don’t.”

“What about Kit?”

“He’s not answering. I’ve tried to reach him because I knew you wanted answers.”

“His phone is not pinging.”

“He did that on purpose, Lilah.”

“Or someone else did,” I say, repeating what I said to Andrew.

“This is Kane—”

“I know,” I say. “Just drive.”

I text Andrew: I’m on my way to the airport to come there.

I’m not sure why I reach in my bag and pull out the note from Junior. M is for money, M is also for more, and M is for Mendez. Was that a warning or a threat? Or something completely different? If it was a warning it was a fucked-up one. And it was too late. He was already off the grid when I got this. Maybe it’s an explanation. I read it to Jay.

“The note I got today. M is for money, M is also for more, and M is for Mendez. What does it mean?”

He takes it from me and reads it before handing it back to me. “Sounds like some sort of piss-poor threat.”

A threat.

And if Kane’s people know where he is, they don’t want me to know.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

During the short ride to the airport, I keep replaying the note from Junior in my head: M is for Money, M is also for more, and M is for Mendez. It feels relevant for reasons I can’t explain. Unless—a thought hits me and I dial Tic Tac.

“Just who I wanted to talk to,” he answers.

“That’s a first,” I comment, somehow teasing him when my mind is only partially in the conversation.