“I can’t thank you enough… for helping me out,” Max said.

Niki shrugged. “I hope you find her. I know that if I ever went missing, you’d be the one I’d want looking for me.”

Max didn’t deserve a friend like her, but before he could think of something to say, Janelle walked out of the office with the thumb drive. She handed it to Niki, who gave it to Max.

As they left the bar, Niki asked, “Are you staying in town tonight?”

“I should get this to her father.”

“Yeah,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “I suppose you should. I hope it helps.”

They stopped at Niki’s squad car, Max unable to pull away just yet. “You did good… picking up on the camera angle and seat position and all.”

“Just doing my job.”

“You went above and beyond.” Saying goodbye came harder to him than he thought it would. “You’re really something.”

Niki flashed a smile. “And by ‘something,’ you mean brilliant? Astonishing? The best damned detective you’ve ever met? And remember, all of the above is a viable answer.”

He wanted to say all of the above. He wanted to tell her that he had missed her, and would miss her. He wanted to say a lot of things, but what he said was, “I owe you.”

She got into her squad and closed the door, but as Max walked away, Niki rolled down her window. “Max, I know I said just the one favor… but…” She hesitated as if reconsidering her words. Then she said, “If you need me, I’ll be here for you.”

Niki’s kindness touched a tender place inside Max, and he smiled and nodded a thank-you that he could not put into words.

CHAPTER 19

Spud knew that Reed saw him as a dolt. In those early days when they were devising their plan, Reed found a reason to dismiss every idea that Spud offered. Reed had been polite about it, of course, but none of Spud’s suggestions measured up. That was okay with Spud, because he had made some secret plans of his own.

For example, the plan had been for Spud to rent the shack using his name and credit card, a six-month lease. Reed had delegated the cost to Spud because if the plan worked, Spud had money coming—lots of it. But Spud had sneakily maxed out his credit card, so when the time came, Reed had to pitch in most of the money to cover the rental.

In truth, Spud had the money—sort of. He had borrowed against his credit card to purchase three thousand dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency, one twentieth of a single coin. It would be his emergency fund in case Reed’s scheme fell apart. If Spud had to go on the run, he could pull the money out from anywhere on earth except China.

But that wasn’t the biggest secret.

Reed knew that Spud had money coming, believing it would arrive in the next three to four months. What Reed didn’t know was that the money was almost in Spud’s hands already. The day before he rode his bike to Sandy’s house, he had received an email from the lawyers. They reported that the logjam they had been working on was about to get cleared up. What that meant, Spud wasn’t sure, except that his ship was about to come in.