Against the Night by Kat Martin Page A

something that clicks with me, or I might think of something to ask him you wouldn’t.”
    When he started shaking his head, she caught his arm. “You said Rembrandt’s was a nightclub, an upscale place. If I’m with you, I won’t be in any danger.”
    “I don’t like it, Am—Angel.”
    “You said you’d help me.”
    “I’m doing my damnedest, honey.”
    “Please, Johnnie. I’ve got to do this. I owe it to Rachael.” She looked up at him, trying to work her womanly wiles the way the other girls did. “Please…”
    He sat there for several long moments, then gave up a sigh of defeat. “All right, damn it, you can go. But we need to keep moving on this. Can you get off early tonight?”
    One of the girls had called in sick, so she was working a split shift. “I’m off at ten.” She had to be back by midnight, but she didn’t want him to have an excuse not to take her.
    “All right, I’ll pick you up and we’ll go to Rembrandt’s. Until then, try to stay out of trouble.”

    The afternoon was slipping away. Johnnie had a half dozen calls to make on cases he’d been working and paperwork to do back at his home office. Instead he sat next to Amy at the Kitty Cat bar.
    “Listen, I need to talk to Honeybee. You know where I can find her?” He told himself he was still working, even if he wasn’t getting paid for it.
    The music shifted. The stage had been dark but now the lights came on for the next performance. The spotlight shined on a black-haired dancer named Ruby. Then a blonde the announcer introduced as Brittany, a new addition to the show, strutted onto the stage. The entertainment continued from opening to closing, but during the day, performances were farther apart.
    “I’m not sure where Bee is,” Amy said.
    Babs walked up next to them just then, a tray balanced on her shoulder. “Bee’s on a break. She’s in the employees’ lounge.” She tipped her head toward Amy. “You can take him back. It’s okay for a guy to go in there as long as he’s with one of the girls.”
    Onstage, the music swelled and the show began. Johnnie barely noticed. He didn’t give a whit about the naked women gyrating beneath the spotlights. He didn’t get the clenching low in his groin that he felt when he watched Amy dancing as Angel.
    That he felt just sitting beside her.
    “Why do you need to see Bee?” Babs asked.
    The question dragged his thoughts back to the moment. “She and Rachael had a fight. I want to know what about.”
    Amy looked up at Babs. “Did you know about that?”
    Babs nodded.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I like Bee. She and Rachael didn’t get along very well, but I don’t believe Bee had anything to do with her disappearance and I didn’t want to cause her any trouble.”
    “So you aren’t the one who told the police about the fight,” Johnnie said.
    “No. Maybe Tate mentioned it.”
    “What was the fight about?” he asked.
    Babs hesitated, then sighed. “Bee’s got a kid, all right? Rachael thought she should see her little boy more often, but Bee’s just not the kid type, you know? It’s not her fault. It’s just the way she is.”
    Amy’s smile looked wistful. “My sister was always softhearted. When we were little, she brought home a constant stream of stray dogs, cats and injured birds. Kids and animals. Rachael loved them. We both did. I always thought she would make a great mother. We both wanted that someday.”
    Johnnie glanced down at Amy. She was a teacher. Of course, she loved kids. She didn’t belong in a place like the Kitty Cat Club.
    “Take me back to the lounge,” he said to her, torn between wishing he could find her sister and send her back home, and wishing he could just take her to bed.
    Slipping down from the bar stool, she left her half-finished Diet Coke and led him toward the back of the club. He followed her into the employee lounge, which had a kitchenette along one wall, a coffeemaker on the counter and a couple of