Before Bonnie could turn for an assessment, the steady rumble of the Dog’s patrons dimmed as if NOPD’s finest had just ambled through the front door.
She turned, braced to pull out every permit she’d finally gotten current or to frog-march whichever idiot they were there to cuff out the front door—only to lock stares with Roman Kozlov. “Motherfucker.”
“You know them?” Trixie murmured behind her.
Them.
Right. Because Cassie and Kir were with him. Not that her insides seemed to care about that particular detail with the intense look Roman was giving her. And good God Almighty, he had on jeans, black Jacoby boots and a deep green T-shirt that put every inch of his solid torso on display. “Sort of.” She motioned Trixie to the knuckleheads in the corner. “Better get them their drinks. You keep staring at the new victims like that they’ll get jealous and drop your tips.”
The truth was, the idiots were probably too shit-faced to focus as far as the door by now, but the last thing Bonnie needed was Trixie’s gossip-loving ears anywhere near the trio headed her way.
Perched on the barstool right in front of her, one of her regulars dazedly gaped at Roman pretty much the same way everyone else was. Bonnie nudged his arm hard enough he nearly wobbled off his seat. “Hey, Leo. How about you scoot down a few, yeah?”
It took a few stammers and hard blinks before Leo’s mind seemed to catch up with her request, but he eventually stood and staggered to a new spot. “Yeah, right. Good idea.”
Good idea, indeed. Because neither Roman nor Kir looked like they were in the best of moods. Even Cassie, who was able to paint a smile on anything, was sporting a pinched expression.
“You three get lost?” Bonnie said as they reached the bar. With Kir in a fine gray suit and Cassie sporting ivory leggings and a fancy looking sweater tunic, they certainly looked lost compared to everyone else. “If you’d have given me some warning, I’d have fished out the Lysol and Febreze and given that stool a once over. Leo’s not known for exceptional hygiene.”
The quip managed to knock the worry off Cassie’s face and Kir managed a half-cocked smile, but Roman’s scowl only deepened.
She sucked in a bracing breath and scanned the lot of them. “I doubt the three of you were lookin’ for a new Friday night haunt, so what brings you to the Dusty Dog?”
Cassie looked to Kir.
Kir cocked an eyebrow at his wife that said, We’ve already had this discussion.
Roman just kept glaring at Bonnie. It’d sure felt like they’d parted on decent terms the other night, so either he’d had a shit day, or he hated the hellhole around him.
Cassie scoffed and slid onto the barstool Leo had vacated. “You haven’t answered my texts or calls, and we were worried about you.”
Well, of course she hadn’t answered any texts or calls. Four days hadn’t done a damned thing to make her feel like less of an idiot for asking for help and then saying thanks, but no thanks six hours later. “Not much to tell. Been working my ass off so I can get that stupid car of mine fixed.”
“No word from your dad or Kevin?”
“Nope. Not a thing.” She dared a glance at Roman.
Yep, still doing his laser-beam glare.
She cleared her throat. “I called all Dad’s friends. All Kevin’s friends. No one’s seen or heard from ’em. No hospital check-ins. Nothing at the police station. Just....nothing. For all I know, they’re perfectly fine. It’d be just like those goobers to turn a bad deal into some freakish gold mine and end up sucking down frou-frou drinks on some private island somewhere.”
“What makes you say that?” Roman said so sharply the woman right next to him jumped.
Bonnie smiled at the girl and waved her back to her own business. “Hell, I don’t know what I mean. Maybe just wishful thinking. Better that than entertaining the alternative. The truth is, it’s beyond me and out of my hands, so I’m just trying to accept things the way they’ve always been—crazy.”
Cassie sighed. “I’m really sorry, Bonnie. Kir and Roman have been looking for leads, too, and haven’t found anything. We were hoping you might have something else for them to go on.”
She frowned up at Roman. “I told you I’d handle it.”
Not the least bit ruffled, he smirked back in response. “So, I recall. Though it appears you’ve made no progress, and I did not agree to drop it.”
“You’re nuts,” she said to Roman, then shifted her attention to Cassie and Kir. “Seriously, there’s no point in y’all getting involved. Doesn’t look like there’s anything for anyone to do anyway.”
“You’re my friend,” Cassie said. “Your family is missing, and I want to help you. We all want to help you.” Her gaze narrowed and roamed Bonnie’s face. “And from the looks of things you could use that help. How much sleep are you getting?”
Between jumping at every noise outside her apartment and the hours she’d been keeping at work, about an hour and a half each night. Not that she’d admit that out loud. Avoiding Cassie’s eyes, she grabbed a few empty lowball glasses and started washing them. “’Bout the usual. I’m just worn from shifts the last three days. Worked three doubles in a row—which kinda worked in my favor since my landlord finally got off his ass and decided to fix some stuff in my place this week.”
“She is also still walking to work,” Roman said to Cassie, all matter-of-fact.
Bonnie snapped upright. “How do you know that?”
Roman smiled back, all smugness. “Because you just said your car is not fixed and it’s not in the parking lot.”
“And how do you know what car I drive?”
“Do you think I would commit family resources to assisting you and not know basic facts, malen’kaya koroleva?”
“Hmmph.” Not the most powerful retort, but it beat gaping up at him the way she wanted to. She stacked the glasses in the drying rack, wiped her hands on her bar towel and pinned her attention on Cassie. “You guys gotta let this go. God himself hasn’t kept my family out of chaos at any point in my life. I doubt any of you are gonna do any better.” She pulled the phone she’d kept in her back pocket free and handed it over. “And take this, too. I feel bad enough jerking you guys around on Monday. I tried to give it to the big lug, and he wouldn’t take it.”
Cassie smiled.
Actually smiled. Then beamed that huge grin up at Roman. “You told her to keep the phone?”
He shrugged. “I did not need it. She did.”
“Uh-huh.” A pronouncement from Cassie that sounded like she’d read a whole lot more into his response than Bonnie had. She faced Bonnie and crossed her arms on the bar like some monumental decision had just been made. A satisfied glint sparked behind her pretty blue eyes. “Well, if he says you need it, then you need it. And you’re the one who called, so you’ll have to be the one who talks him out of helping you.”