3 Lies by Helen Hanson Page A

“I’ve been dating Beth Sutton—smart, gorgeous, funny, and she likes me.”
    “Go figure.”
    “Anyway, we had a date to go out yesterday morning on the harbor, and we were going to take her uncle Abe Melinger. You know, Chief Sonovabitch of the United States.”
    “Really?”
    “Really. Sutton is her stepfather’s name. Anyway, she stood me up. She hasn’t called. I’ve gotten one lame-ass story after another from her parents and Abe ever since.”
    “So she dumped you. Move on. If you’re not getting back with Paige, I know a smokin’ hot—”
    “She didn’t dump me. I—, I think she’s missing.”
    “Missing what?”
    “Missing-gone. Like, no one knows where she is—missing. They keep giving me this all-is-well crap, but why hasn’t she called?”
    “What kind of a freakin wuss are you?”
    “I know. It sounds lame. But they were scared. Something’s happened.” Clint tucked in his shirt. “Beth is sick. Before we met, she had some kind of kidney failure. Her kidneys are infected, and she needs dialysis until they’re healed.”
    Todd recoiled. “No shit?”
    “Three times a week.”
    “Yikes. Sorry, man. Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Unlike Paige, she’s a private person.”
    “Wow. A pregnant ex-wife to-be and an ailing girlfriend on the lam. To think I almost envied your departure from civilization, Gilligan.”
    “I’ve actually been trying to think of a way to use CatSat to find her.” Clint lay back in the seat. “Something’s wrong.”
    “She’ll turn up.”
    “I can’t ask the police for help. I’m not family. And her family won’t admit there’s a problem.”
    The limo pulled up to the front of Pongos, a brass and glass bistro in mid-town. The assistant called Todd on the intercom, but Todd ignored him. People waited for Todd Westerfield.
    “What are you going to do?”
    Clint’s head shook. “I don’t know.”
    “I’ll do anything I can to help.”
    “Thanks, buddy.”
    “My turn. In spite of your Luddite vow, I need you back. R&D is getting jack done without you. All the projects are behind schedule and over budget. Plus the board likes having an egghead around.”
    Clint slid down in the seat. “We’ve been over this.”
    Todd’s ears turned red. “Clint, damn it. It’s not all about you.” He palmed his thigh and seemed to weigh his next words. “Lookit, even Paige knows she’s been a first-class bitch. You deserve better.” His attempt at calm strained. “But what the hell are you doing on a boat? Other than the CatSat transmissions, you don’t do anything. You don’t sail anywhere. You sit on the dock all day like you’re Otis Redding waiting for the damn tide. You’re parked, man. Your whole life is parked. Or should I say moored?”
    Clint held off an urge to get loud. “Let me ask you, why do you work so hard? Do you need more money? Another challenge? Me—” He smacked his chest. “I ran out of reasons. I ran out of reasons to drag my sorry ass out of bed each day. I ran out of reasons to let someone else tell me what I was going to do from the moment I woke up until the moment I fell dead-to-the-world back asleep. If that makes me selfish, then tough shit.”
    “But why a boat? You don’t even like the water.”
    “I like the simplicity. After Paige, it’s a refreshing change.”
    Todd dusted his lapel. “Is that why you’re dating a sick woman?”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “She’s a rebound. Most people want to keep dating fun, light, easy after—well, in your case— during a divorce. You’ve only known her, what, two months, and already she’s a project. You even got arrested because of her.”
    Clint plopped an ankle on his knee. “It’s not like that.”
    “Loyalty’s an admirable quality. But you don’t know when to quit. For all you know she could be down in Cabo with the UPS driver.”
    “She’s not like the women you date.”
    “You got that right. I insist on extremely healthy women. I