My phone rings as I pull into the pothole scarred parking lot of Corky's Bar. I park my motorcycle. The bar is a rundown saloon in the middle of a strip mall. The original owner wouldn't sell his patch of land to the developers, so there it sits looking ancient and weirdly out of place between brightly painted, neon lit shops.

Knowing without looking who the call is from, I briefly consider not answering it. But it's not worth the future lecture. "Hey, babe, I'm going to be late tonight. A few more hours probably."

Tiffany's scoff ruffles through the phone. "I thought we were going to finalize our decision about the wedding venue tonight. I've got a casserole in the oven. I was hoping we could kiss and make up after the bad morning."

"We can do all of that when I get home. I've got to go. I'll be home in a few hours."

"Fine," she says in a tone that assures me nothing is fine. She hangs up without a good-bye.

I shove my phone into my coat pocket and head into the bar. The outside, with its crumbling stucco walls, tinted windows that have been scratched with every form of graffiti and cement pathway that is littered with black gum spots, looks inviting compared to the interior. Only half of the early seventies copper light fixtures actually produce light, which is probably a good thing. There are a few mismatched tables and chairs set up in the center of the room. A jukebox, the only sparkling piece in the place is glowing neon green and white in the corner as it churns out an old Aerosmith tune. It's still early and most of the stools at the long wooden bar are empty, but the one person I need to see is sitting at the far end holding a mug of beer. He's showered and shaved, a good thing considering the reek he carried into the precinct after his undercover stint on the street.

I sit on the stool next to him and order a beer.

"Why am I not surprised to see you, Maddox?" Olson says without looking my direction. He lifts his beer mug and takes a drink.

"I need to know where she is, Olson."

His dry laugh is irritating. "Guess the rumors are true. Maddox has more than a little thing for his partner. Must kind of complicate things having that pretty little fiancée in the mix."

The bartender, an old guy with a craggy face and thick white hair, places a beer in front of me. I take three long gulps to cool off from Olson's irritating comment. I need him on my side. He's my best chance to find Ten.

I put the mug down hard on the counter. "Didn't take you for a gossip, Olson. And no one knows shit about me. Just tell me what she's doing and I'll leave you to your charming little watering hole."

Olson's hair is combed back with some strong smelling gel. I catch a whiff of it as he turns his face to look at me. "Sure thing, Maddox. And then I'll walk into Clark's office and hand him my badge so he can shove it far enough up my ass that I can't retrieve it. Which will be fine because I'm sure he'll make sure I never work on another force again."

"Fuck Clark. This has nothing to do with him. He's an idiot for sending her undercover in the first place."

"Is he?" Olson reaches for a bowl of peanuts and plucks one out of the bowl. "Seems like his idiot plan worked. Tennyson was our best bet for getting into Freestone's secret club." It's obvious he wants to suck his words back in. "Fuck, I've already had too damn many of these."

"So my hunch was right. She's gone undercover to get into that weird fucking Lace Underground case Clark has been working on. Why the fuck would Clark do that?"

Olson washes his peanut down with beer. "Ten begged him to let her do it. I'd just gotten off the streets, and she was in his office. She pleaded with him, telling Clark she was his best chance to get inside. Seems she was right."

"What do you mean?"

Olson's gelled hair stays perfectly in place as he shakes his head. "Nope. Told you enough already."

I signal to the bartender for another beer for both of us. "Come on, Olson. You've already opened your big mouth, you might as well just tell me what you know."

His brow arches at me. "Wow, you've got it bad for her. You know all I have to do is tell Clark you're asking about this and he'll be asking for your fucking badge."

"So both of us have our jobs on the line, which means we can trust each other not to say anything to Clark." I shove the new beer in front of him. "Now tell me where the fuck is she?"

Olson wraps his fingers around the mug handle. "Hell if I know where she is, Maddox. She showed up at the park with her red braids and her teenager clothes, looking pretty damn cute, I might add." He sees the look on my face and it seems he's found another set of words he wants to suck back. "Anyhow, the girls at the park disappeared one night. It's a pattern I observed in my time in that fucking sidewalk tent. About every three weeks the young female park inhabitants vanish. They are back in the morning looking fresh and especially happy. This time, I stayed awake and followed them. They took Ten with them. They were excited and laughing as they headed to a deserted street near the park. I waited in the shadows and saw a black passenger van pull up. This douchebag Rowan, an occasional park inhabitant, stepped out. He ushered them all in and the van pulled away. No plates and windows tinted so dark there was no way to see who was driving it."

I grind my teeth together. "That's it? You just let her disappear into some sketch ass van with some douche named Rowan. Weren't you supposed to be watching her?" I can hear just what a major asshole I'm being, but I can't stop myself.

"What the fuck was I supposed to do? Run after the van on foot? Christ, you need to take a fucking step back and look at yourself, Maddox. You're not thinking straight. Ten is a damn good cop. We all know she can take care of herself just fine. And she did a helluva job out there. Got herself noticed right away."

"Wait, you said the girls came back."

He shook his head before I could ask. "Ten wasn't with them. I asked one of the girls where she was. Can't get a fucking word out of them. It's almost as if someone has threatened them that if they talk, they'll find themselves at the bottom of a trash dumpster. Only they don't act scared about it. They just tell me to fuck off. So the van is all I got."

"What about that guy, Rowan?"

"When I packed up my things to leave the park, I noticed all of his things were gone. He seems to have disappeared too."

I flinch at the word disappeared.

"Look, Maddox, she's a big girl. She can handle herself. You'll see. She'll shock the hell out of all of us when she emerges from this thing with the huge prize of bringing down Freestone."

I finish the beer and throw my money on the counter. "Is it the park at the end of town, near those old industrial buildings?"

"Yeah, the one the city has designated as a safe place for the homeless. But you can't just show up there. I spent weeks there and couldn't get a shred of information out of those women."

"Yeah? Well you're not me. Don't worry. I won't let any of this lead back to you."

"If it does, then I will kick your fucking ass."

I laugh and slap him on the shoulder.

"Well, I'll at least give it a good fucking try," he says to my back as I walk out.