She let out a long sigh and finally raised her green eyes to mine. “One of my girls is missing.”

   My eyebrows rose. Jade Jamison ran a variety of businesses, everything from temp services to cleaning groups to coin laundries to hookers.

   “What kind of girl? Do you mean—”

   Jade shook her head. “No, she’s not a hooker. She’s one of my talkers.”

   My eyebrows rose a little more. “Talkers?”

   “Yeah,” she replied. “Talkers. Women who go out with someone for the night and provide companionship only. No sex.”

   “Who would pay for something like that?” Silvio asked.

   Jade shrugged. “Older men mostly, ones who’ve lost their wives. Folks who need a plus-one for some charity event or party but don’t want the bother of finding someone to go with them. So they call me up and arrange a date.”

   “And what exactly do these dates do?” I asked.

   She shrugged again. “Most of the time, it’s just simple companionship, like I said. A young, pretty, friendly face by your side with no pressure of it being a real date. Lots of, well, talking. Hence the name. Talkers also help to keep the vultures and gold diggers away, especially at society events. I have some guys who are talkers too, who go out with older women, widows, and the like.”

   “And one of your talkers is missing?” I asked.

   She nodded. “Her name is Elissa Daniels, and she’s been missing since last night.”

   Jade pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and called up a photo. Her fingers trailed over the screen for a few seconds before she passed the phone over to me.

   Elissa Daniels looked to be in her early twenties, and I was guessing that she was a student, given her dark blue Ashland Community College sweatshirt. She was a pretty girl, with a long blond ponytail, green eyes, and a shy smile. But what was most interesting about the photo was that her arm was slung around Jade’s shoulder and their heads were tilted together as though the two of them were best friends. No, it was more than that. Despite the fact that Jade was at least a decade older than Elissa, the two of them could have been twins, with their blond hair, green eyes, and matching features.

   And I suddenly realized exactly why this was so important to Jade.

   I passed the phone over to Silvio, who blinked and then brought the device closer to his face so he could get a better look at the photo.

   “Elissa’s not just a missing worker, is she?” I asked in a sympathetic voice.

   Jade’s lips pressed together, as though she was having trouble answering, as if actually saying her fears out loud would make them that much more real. After a few seconds, she cleared her throat and forced out the words. “She’s my little sister.”

6

   Jade’s confession echoed down the alley, colder than the winter wind whistling between the buildings. Despite her coat, she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, as if just saying the words out loud had chilled her more than the weather ever could.

   “Elissa is my sister, and she’s missing,” Jade whispered, her voice cracking like the asphalt under our feet. “Will you help me find her? Please, Gin?”

   Before I could answer, she started pacing back and forth across the alley, her stiletto boots clicking against the pavement. “I know that I have no right to ask you this. It’s not a business favor like Silvio and I agreed on, not at all, not even close. Believe me, I didn’t want to come here. I didn’t want to bother you with this. I’m a professional, and I don’t expect you to solve all my problems for me. Not like the other bosses. But I can’t find Elissa anywhere. I just can’t find her . . .”

   Jade kept talking, the words, fear, and worry spilling out of her even faster than her short, staccato pacing. I let her keep talking, expecting her to wind down once she got it all out of her system. Silvio stepped back against the restaurant wall, giving her a wide berth. But after the better part of a minute came and went and she showed no signs of slowing her rapid-fire movements, I stepped in front of her.

   “Stop—please stop.”

   Jade froze at the sharp command in my voice. She dropped her head and closed her eyes, as if bracing herself for my rejection.

   “Of course I’ll help you find your sister. All you had to do was ask.”

   She shuddered out a breath, the air frosting around her, then staggered forward and wrapped me up in a tight, fierce hug. I got the feeling that if she’d had the strength, she would have lifted me clear off my feet and swung me around. Even as it was, her shoulder dug into my neck so hard that I could feel my spider rune pendant pressing against my throat even through my heavy sweater. But I didn’t mind the uncomfortable sensation. Jade wanted the Spider to find her sister, and that’s exactly what I was going to do.

   Silvio cleared his throat, and the soft sound made Jade freeze again. She abruptly let go of me and lurched back, worry twisting her face, as though she’d just hugged all the help right out of me.

   “Come on,” I said in a gentle voice. “Let’s go back inside where it’s warm, and you can tell me all about your sister.”

   • • •

   The three of us left the alley and went back into the front of the restaurant, where Silvio escorted Jade over to an empty corner booth.

   By this point, it was almost two thirty, and the last of the lunch-rush customers were gone, with only a few stragglers still chowing down on their burgers, barbecue sandwiches, and side dishes. As soon as the last customer had eaten, paid up, and left, I flipped the sign on the front door over to Closed and taped up a piece of paper saying that we would reopen in an hour. Sophia and Catalina herded the waitstaff into the back so they could all take an extended break, leaving me alone out front with Jade and Silvio.

   The vampire perched on his stool at the counter, his fingers tapping on his tablet, already trying to find out everything he could about Elissa Daniels. Jade sat in the booth, her shoulders slumped, staring out the storefront windows with a blank expression on her face, as though she wasn’t actually seeing anything on the street outside. I worked behind the counter, making a grilled cheese sandwich just like the ones I’d had for lunch. I also dished up a bowl of steaming chili, along with some chocolate chip cookies and a sweet iced tea, put everything on a tray, and took it over to Jade. After setting the tray on her side of the table, I slid into the booth across from her. Silvio pulled a chair up to my side of the booth, propped his tablet on the table, and hooked a small keyboard to it so he could type faster and take better, more detailed notes.