It was troubling that he’d heard not the slightest rumbling about the girl. Even while at the market where the work crew stopped every morning for coffee and Red Bull, and sometimes later for lunch, he’d not heard anything. It was frustrating, especially since he still had a strong feeling that he was on the right track.

Wednesday morning he had to meditate to center himself after a phone call from Cyrus.

“Ice, I’m paying you for results! I’ve got the Feds breathing down my neck.”

“Hey, I’m on it. I’m sure the girl is close. I’ll find her.”

“I’m sending help.”

Royal bit his tongue. The man was hysterical, and being this emotional would only cause problems.

“I work best alone,” he said through gritted teeth. “You know that.”

“There’s strength in numbers. Gage is coming your way.” He disconnected, leaving Ice fuming.

Gage was one of Cyrus’s on-call musclemen. More brawn than brain as far as Ice was concerned. He wanted to scream that Gage was all wrong on every level. An ex–basketball player, he’d stick out like a sore thumb here simply because of his height. And he wasn’t that mobile, either; a bum knee gave him a limited range. Cyrus always counted on Gage’s size and bad attitude to intimidate problem people. Ice had no respect for the man. If you talked the talk, you had to walk the walk, and Gage could only do that with people who were stupid and slow.

Ice glanced at the clock. He needed to get ready; the van that picked him up each morning to take him to Rogue’s Hollow would be there any minute.

Inhale, exhale. Ignore Gage. Inhale—

There it was—the cashier at the market came to mind. The woman had flirted with him several times when he’d been in her lane. He’d flirted back once or twice for something to do. He hadn’t intended to take it any further; after all, she was too old for Cyrus or any of their customers, and Ice didn’t need any companionship. Still, with the meditation clearing his thoughts, he could see that as unappealing as she was age-wise, she’d be in a good position to hear gossip because local market cashiers see everyone in town.

Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner?

“You’re not from around here. I’d recognize you if you were,” she’d said, smiling and popping her gum. “Bet you work harder than all these other guys.”

“New here, yeah. Looking for reasons to stick around,” he’d said with a wink.

“Glad to hear it.” She’d blushed and some of the other guys pushed him along.

He kicked himself now for not digging deeper into what that local woman might know. He vowed to do better the next time he came into contact with her.

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