“I don’t give a shit if he’s her twin brother, though I have my doubts. This wasn’t the deal. I didn’t want anyone else in the house, and she was cool with it. That’s why I let her use the place.”

Cole felt a soft chill, and liked the conversation even less. Cole had believed Smith arranged for the house, and invited Dru to stay with him when she came to L.A. to help with his business. Now that was upended.

“Dru works for him. Mr. Smith has a restaurant up by the boardwalk.”

“Maybe so, but she wasn’t working for anybody when I gave her the keys. She was living off alimony. She never said anything about an uncle, and she sure as hell didn’t tell me he was going to move in.”

Cole wet his lips, and hated the question he had to ask.

“Why did you let her move in?”

“I was fucking her, why do you think? She wanted out of the dump she was living in, and I was coming back here, so it was a good deal for both of us. Saved me the hassle of vetting a house sitter.”

Cole felt hollow.

“All right. Listen, thanks for getting back to me.”

“Hold on. How long is she going to be away?”

“I don’t know.”

“I called her when I got your message, but she hasn’t called back.”

“We haven’t been able to reach either one of them.”

“What are we talking about? A few days? A couple of weeks? Has she abandoned the place?”

“I don’t know.”

“Goddamnit, as of right now, you are telling me my house is empty? Is that correct? She’s gone, and no one is taking care of my house?”

“No, sir. Not now.”

“Son of a BITCH. That fucking whore.”

Brown hung up cursing, and the line went dead.

Cole drove on with a confusion that left him feeling blindsided, and realized he had missed an obvious question. He opened the incoming call list and called Brown back.

“Me again. Sorry. Have you spoken with Dru since you’ve been away?”

“Hell, yes. I call her every couple of weeks, make sure everything’s okay, check on the house.”

“She never mentioned Mr. Smith?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of him, and I don’t like it. If this guy’s been living there all this time and she hasn’t told me, she’s been lying to me, and I don’t like liars. If you find her, you tell her she better call me, and I mean yesterday. I want that sonofabitch out of my house.”