“I know.” I patted her knee.
I parked two blocks from campus. The day was cool and bright and a breeze teased my hair as we made our way to Blake Hall.
The guys stood up when we walked into the IT room. I introduced Roxy and handed out sandwiches.
Roxy and I each pulled a rolling chair up to one of the desks and the two men joined us. Steve sat so close his leg brushed mine. I subtly shifted away.
“Thanks, Rose,” he said. “This was really nice of you.”
“Sure. Please tell me you guys found something on Axton’s computer.”
“Not the computer,” Eric said around a meatball, “the internal hard drive. I’ll show you in a minute.”
Roxy pushed her sandwich toward me. “I’ve eaten enough today. Besides, every time I eat, I want a cigarette.”
“I’ll split it with you.” I tore the messy sandwich in half.
When we were done, Eric returned to his desk, wadding up his napkin and lobbing it in the trashcan. Then he tapped on the keyboard. “This is what I found. That hard drive came out of a laptop. Does Ax have a second one?”
“No.” I leaned over his shoulder. “This must be what BJ has been looking for.” I stared at the computer screen looking at…well, gibberish. “What is it?”
“It’s encrypted. I haven’t broken it yet.” He raised his brows. “Who’s BJ?”
“The Bossy Jackass who broke into Rose’s apartment,” Roxy said.
Eric stared at me for a second. “You didn’t tell me he broke in. You just said some guy was asking about Axton.”
“BJ wants this back and he’s willing to hurt Axton to get it,” I said.
He scratched his jaw. “I’ll keep working on it.”
“You should call the police if this guy shows up again,” Steve said.
“Tell them about NorthStar,” Roxy said.
“Right. I got something that may be nothing. Axton wrote down the name of this business that owns a bunch of other businesses. NorthStar Inc.” I pulled out the pages and unfolded them.
Eric stood and he and Steve read through the list.
“Sports clubs? Country bars?” Eric looked up at me. “What does this have to do with Axton or his disappearance?”
“I’m not sure. But it’s the only thing I have to go on at this point. Why did he write it down? Why did it matter to him? He sure didn’t mention anything about NorthStar Inc. to me.” Axton had been hiding quite a lot from me apparently, and if I wasn’t so worried about him, I’d be pretty pissed.
“We’re going to go check out some of those bars tonight,” Roxy said. “Maybe we’ll figure it out then.”
“Where are these bars?” asked Steve.
Roxy popped another piece of gum in her mouth. “Downtown, mostly.”
“Maybe you could use some backup.” Steve adjusted his frames. “You don’t know what you could be getting into.”
She raised a brow. “I know exactly what I’m getting into.”
“Well, I think it’s a great idea,” I said with a smile. If nothing else, it would keep Roxy’s wrath away from me. “How about you, Eric? You in?”
“Sure,” he said rubbing his eyes. “What the hell.”
Roxy and I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out a few of NorthStar businesses. One store sold comic books. I thought Axton would have been there for sure, but when I showed the pimply-faced kid behind the register a picture of Axton from my phone, he just shook his head and stared at Roxy’s boobs. And the antique store — and I use that term loosely, unless you consider a clock of Elvis and his swinging legs an antique — was likewise a waste of time.
We stopped by my place for a bite to eat, and it was seven when I parked in front of Eric’s two-bedroom stucco cottage. By the glow of the porch light, the exterior looked dark yellow. Eric opened the screen door for us.
“Hey, guys.” He stepped aside to let us in.
Most of the space in the tiny living room was taken up by a flat screen TV and two mossy green loveseats. The shiny hardwood floors stood out against unadorned white textured walls. And not a picture or knickknack in the place.
Steve smiled and stood when we entered. “Hi Rose, Roxy.”
“Okay, are we ready to go?” Eric asked.
“Yep,” I said. “Why don’t you guys follow us?”
I’d Googled directions to the first place on my list, a small seedy bar called Chucky’s. The freestanding building sat on the outer road of the highway. We weren’t quite downtown, but the clientele was definitely downscale.
Chucky’s was filled to capacity with people who took their drinking seriously, hunched around their glasses as if protecting them from booze bandits. The scattered tables were full and the two pool tables were in use. Nearly everyone looked up when we entered. Gazes lingered on Roxy and her Catholic-skirt-slash-goth-boots ensemble before returning to their treasured drinks.
“Okay,” I said, “what’s next? How do we find out if Axton was here?”
“Maybe we should ask the bartender,” said Steve.
Roxy rolled her eyes. “Where’s a picture of Axton?”
I pulled out the photo I stuck in my purse when we stopped at my place. It was much better than the one on my phone. Roxy took it on my birthday, and both Axton and I wore stupid party hats and had big margarita-fueled grins on our faces.
Roxy grabbed my arm and dragged me behind her as she walked toward the bar. “Hey,” she said to the bartender, “what’s your name?”
“Who wants to know?”
“She does.” Roxy tipped her head in my direction.
He gave me a once over. “Brad.” Brad reminded me of a squirrel. Bald with a severe overbite.
Roxy shoved the picture under his nose. “This guy. He look familiar, Brad?”
“What’s in it for me?”
“I’m trying to quit smoking and you do not want to piss me off.” She slammed the photo down on the bar. “Now look at the damn picture.”
I nudged her aside. “Hi, Brad. Sorry about her. She’s having nicotine withdrawal.”
He filled an empty bowl with pretzels. “Uh-huh.”
“The thing is, my friend here is missing. His name is Axton.”
He popped a pretzel in his mouth and chewed it. With his mouth open. “Uh-huh.”
“So does he look familiar?”
He picked up the photo. “Nope.”
“You’re sure?”
“Look lady, what do you want from me? I haven’t seen this guy, okay?”
My shoulders slouched as Roxy and I walked back to the guys. “Nope, nothing.”
“That guy was a jerk.” Roxy gave him the stink eye.
“You know, there are over two dozen places on that list,” Steve said. “It may take some time.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Should we move on to the next one?”
Roxy flew out the door like a shot, then slowly strolled through the smokers out front who puffed away in the chilly air. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Smell that, Rose. Doesn’t that smell fantastic?”
“It smells like lung cancer. Come on.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the car.
We stopped at the next bar, which occupied the corner of a brick building in a scary part of town where shootings occurred with regularity. Steve parked behind me, but I didn’t turn off the ignition.
“Are we getting out?” Roxy asked.
Before I could decide, Eric and Steve ran up to my car and Steve tapped on my window.
“You guys, I really don’t see Axton coming here,” I said.
Everyone spoke at once.
“No you’re right…”
“I don’t either…”
“Not Axton’s type of place…”
“Should we hit the next bar?”
I glanced at Roxy and she nodded. “Let’s get out of here. This place scares me.” I didn’t know anything scared Roxy.