Mia tossed the journal onto her passenger seat, still frowning as she shut herself inside the dingy white van. Lara couldn’t have written just one page? Her foot bounced until she brooded enough.

She did have one lead.

Pulling out her wallet, Mia removed the note with the phone number. She prayed that this mystery led somewhere, because her back-up plan required some work.

Hello, do you buy illegal drugs from a Lara Milbourne—no, I’m not a cop.

Her first job started not even three hours ago, and she was already hanging on by a thread as thin as a random phone number.

At least looking into it required little effort since a reverse phone report would provide a name and address. It only took a few clicks. She put her feet on the steering wheel, slumping down into the seat as she read.

Audrey Reed. Late-twenties. 27 Willows St. 401D. Lawyer at Brown&Harris: Interbusiness Attorneys, the business and tax firm.

The address was that of a newly built complex on the north side of Saratoga and the woman owned a 2011 garnet red Shelby Mustang GT500CR classic. Mia searched for a photo, since those words sounded like gibberish. Its looks were as pretentious as its name.

The many headshots showed the woman’s bright, charismatic smile lighting up her eyes. Where Mia was told her green eyes always looked guilty of something, Audrey’s were convincing and honest, though the accuracy of that last impression was doubtful at best. Audrey was a lawyer, after all.

The woman kept her media professional, as expected. No pictures with Lara, because why would it be that easy?

Mia also searched for the drug dealer’s social media. Nothing. She even checked the name Natki, in case it was an online persona. Everything led to a dead end.

She had curled deep into the driver’s seat, sliding lower the longer the branching search continued. It didn't take long, but she was still sore when she sat up again.

Why was Lara hiding a lawyer’s number? Mia read the message that accompanied it once more.

“I’ll have a business card made just for you if you lose this again.”

This couldn’t be a professional relationship. With Audrey’s number being on its own, the woman was surely special.

A secret romance between a lawyer and a drug dealer? That’s interesting.

An intrigued smile tugged at Mia’s lips, and she looked back at the apartment. This would explain why Lara was so well-off financially. It would be difficult to prosper as a dealer, but if you supplied someone who couldn’t let the truth surface... It was nearly cheating.

Mia typed the lawyer’s address into her phone but stopped. A thirty-second call would pinpoint an exact location. Her thumb rubbed against the phone’s edge as she entered the number. It was worth a try.

How hard could it be?

With one more deep breath, she pushed “Call”. The ringing rattled her nerves. It’s fine, it’s less than a minut-

“Hello?”

“Hello! May I speak with Audrey Reed?”

“Speaking.”

“This is… Harriett Biera from Dall Insurance. I’m calling about your auto warranty b-”

Call Ended 0:09.

Mia bit her cheek, staring at the screen. The defeat stung more than she expected. Ears hot as she flipped back onto the GPS app, she reminded herself it was not a total loss and drove to the lawyer’s address.

Audrey lived in one of the city’s upscale neighborhoods. The four-story building had an alternating facade of dark brown bricks and soft, vanilla cement. The small, elegant balconies appeared to serve no practical purpose other than housing decorative plants of scarce variety, all of which were alive.

Had Lara been there at any point, she should have taken notes.

In the building’s parking garage, Mia found Audrey’s pretty red car. Luckily it was a bold, solid color. Easy to notice. She parked nearby—hoped no one who lived there would miss the spot—and pulled out her laptop.

After connecting to the apartment’s private internet, with the complicated password of Willows1, Mia used an IP scanner to find the security cameras connected to it. D1, D2, D3… The addresses were not as easy to decode. She picked one, but every password attempt was incorrect.

That wasn’t the only path she knew of, but the next was a faster failure. With the correct phone number, Mia could locate and reset the User ID. Problem was that the public line was not the number used.

Mia spent another thirty minutes trying to find a weak link, but it soon became clear that this would take more time and energy than she could spare. Furthermore, if Audrey didn’t take her car, this would be completely useless. She always hated all this mind-numbing hacking shit, as useful as it was.

She parked across the street instead, where she could observe the entrance and the parking garage.

Mia sat there all night, refusing to even lie back in fear that she would pass out. The moment she did would be the moment her target walked by, no doubt. To pass time, she ate a box of granola bars and added a caffeinated flavor packet to her water.

Around seven in the morning, people began exiting the front doors, though none of them resembled the woman in the photos. Then one did. The tall woman wore a flattering, dull blue blouse tucked into gray pants, accessorized with a purse and narrow sunglasses.

That’s her.

Mia tried to be subtle, but it was luck that Audrey never noticed her unblinking, wide eyes while she walked into the garage. The excitement boosted Mia awake. Any logic telling her to stay low vanished.

She started her engine and waited for the Mustang to leave the garage, following once it did. Plenty of cars were leaving at that time of day, letting Mia blend in as they tunneled onto the street, though the surrounding vehicles were all nice. Nothing close to Audrey’s but still gold compared to Mia’s pyrite.

She followed the car straight to the Brown&Harris firm. Mia parked farther away this time, afraid Audrey would start recognizing her vehicle. She then groaned and finally lay back.

Audrey could be in there all day.

Mia pitied herself a few minutes before planning out her last resort: hitting random bars and clubs until she came across one of Lara’s druggies.

Hey, where can I buy- do you know Lara M... I’m looking for drugs, where?

She was still forming her script when the lawyer’s car passed in front of hers.

Shit.

Heart racing, Mia stomped on the accelerator. A truck’s horn blared as she broke into the street, but her eyes were glued to the red Mustang shining in the sun, several cars ahead. It couldn't get out of sight. She wouldn't let it. Despite having memorized the license plate, Mia took a few close calls passing the vehicles in her way. Once they merged onto a highway, she finally established a comfortable distance from Audrey's car. It took miles for her heart to slow to a normal pace.

Within 90 minutes, the two pulled into the parking lot of a hippodrome. Mia squinted at the large tin building, the sun bouncing off the metal almost blinding her.

Beyond that lay a horse racing track, and a crowd of brightly dressed gamblers flowed towards the gates. Mia had never seen so many wide-brimmed hats in one place, or anywhere. Men wore suits and pretty ladies on their arms, the latter clad in pinks and blues.

Mia had no hats in her car, nor pink dresses. She attempted to match formality over color choice and traded her top for a white long-sleeve, since it was too hot for her jacket. It tucked into her pants, and she donned a pair of sunglasses. Unfortunately, the frames couldn’t cover most of the freckles on her cheeks, so she needed to avoid getting too close to Audrey. After tightening the two Dutch braids holding her brunette hair back, she was ready.

Although everyone else seemed to have a partner or friend, Audrey was alone. The woman composed herself as if here on business.

Mia slotted into line five people behind her quarry. When Audrey reached the gate, she set a thick roll of banknotes on the counter.

“A trifecta. Number 7 the winner, 4 on second place and 1 in third.”

Was Audrey betting on that exact order? She watched the woman confidently walk into the stands, taking a left.

Forced to let her target out of sight, Mia looked up horse racing terms. She was right. A trifecta meant predicting which horses will finish in first, second, and third.

She’s fucked.

Finally, Mia walked up to the stand.

“One adult ticket, please.”

“Thirty dollars.”

Mia tensed, but fished out the cash. She didn’t have time to care, though the man clearly did as he refused to match her pace. Her eyes flitted between the man’s face and the printed ticket fifty times before he handed it to her.

She thanked him, dancing around people as she hustled to the seats.

Metal stands descended toward the empty racing track. The place reeked of muck and horses, yet people smiled, ate and conversed happily around her. There must be awhile before the race started, as almost no one was sitting. She turned left, scanning down the rows and over the overwhelming amount of people.

There was no way of knowing if Audrey had sat or gone to explore another area, leaving Mia looking like a lost child walking down the stretch of the arena. Eventually, she stopped to ground herself. She studied a screen hanging on one post.

For Audrey to leave here a winner, Mr. Pink, Epic Hooves and Blanket had to place as the top three, in that order. The names were ridiculous, but what annoyed her was that Mr. Pink’s tack was green.

Mia jumped as a finger poked into her back.

“Are you lost?” A young girl tilted her head up at Mia.

“You shouldn’t talk to strangers.”

The girl gave her an offended look. Mia could have thanked her, but the kid scared the shit out of her and certainly should not be approaching strange adults.

“Fine. Keep walking around like an idiot.”

Mia scoffed, and the kid walked away without a care. Idiot? She stood there speechless until a cheer from the crowd refocused her attention.

The horses were now being led to the starting gates.

I don’t look like an idiot.

Her eyes landed on a woman unfolding a pair of binoculars, which seemed pretentious, but it made sense once she recognized Audrey. With a sigh of relief, Mia leaned against a pole. Okay.

The bell rang.

“Excellent beginning for the crowd favorite, Epic Hooves, who wasted no time in taking the lead. Blanket is away running in second, and Mr Pink third on the outside.”

Though Mia was surprised to hear the starting leads were the right horses, she tuned the commentator out, observing Audrey instead of the race. She yawned, then rubbed her face. This was a waste of time. If the woman was even worth following, she should’ve remained staked out at the Mustang and saved the thirty dollars for gas.

She watched Audrey peer through the binoculars, leaning forward as the speaker and crowd grew more obnoxious. Everyone stood from their seats, except for Audrey, but the concentration on the lawyer’s face spurred Mia to take another look at the screen.

“And they’re into the stretch! Mr Pink gets through an opening on the inside and takes the lead! Epic Hooves follows close behind, but Mr Pink goes towards the finish line with nothing standing in his way!”

Cheers erupted all around her, and a small fortune galloped within Audrey’s grasp.

How? How was it possible to bet so confidently on this outcome?

But then, the unthinkable happened. Epic Hooves tripped. The horse lost his footing and tumbled upon himself, sending the jockey sprawling on the ground. The commentator didn’t spare more than a sentence on it as the other horses passed the injured animal and crossed the finish line.

Even Mia’s heart dropped. She watched as Audrey’s binoculars fell to the ground.

The jockey scrambled up and rushed towards his horse just as two men ran to check on them. Epic Hooves desperately tried to regain his feet, in vain. Mia couldn’t look away, but soon attendants erected a green screen, obscuring her view of the terrified animal. They couldn’t mute his bellows, though. Their agony spoke a universal language that reached into Mia’s chest and strangled her heart. And then there was only silence.

Bile rose in Mia’s throat.

A tractor backed onto the track as the men adjusted the green screen, but for a moment the horse was visible, lifeless on the grass. They winched the animal’s body onto the back of a trailer and covered it with a tarp before the tractor towed it away.

When Mia finally tore her gaze away, panic shot into her chest, only for her shoulders to slump with relief when she found that Audrey was still in her seat, frozen.

A few moments later, the woman crumpled her ticket and flung it to the ground. Her movements were stiff when she stood, but otherwise Audrey was taking the loss well. However, it was difficult to appreciate the woman’s composure when the bet was so idiotic in the first place.

Never put your money into horse racing, you’ll never win and you’ll never stop—as daddy always said, in complaint of his sister. And he was right.

From there, Audrey drove back to work and didn’t emerge the rest of the afternoon. Mia doggedly maintained her surveillance to prove that she had not just wasted an entire day. This needed to go somewhere.

The phone number was hidden. Why was it hidden?

It wasn’t until eleven that Audrey walked out of the building. If she had less self-control, Mia would have grabbed the woman’s shoulders right then and there and demanded answers. Instead, she followed Audrey back to her apartment.

Are you fucking kidding me?

She couldn't stand guard another night; one was already too much, but the idea of ditching the lead made her heart race. With a groan, Mia slumped her head against the steering wheel.

A car horn startled her awake. Audrey was walking up to a taxi.

Mia held her breath and put her car into gear.

The woman had changed into different clothes, revealing clothes, and wasn’t driving herself, which set up an expectation for the night.

She’s going to get drunk.

Which was understandable. However, Mia didn’t anticipate being led to her bar. The drive was fifteen minutes away, past many other bars—better bars—and Mia knew she had never seen the woman when she tended. Audrey did not have a face easily forgotten.