Because she’d have run a mile in the other direction and he knew it.
He glanced at his watch. It was early, she’d still be working her shift at the diner.
“Robert, change of plans. I feel like having breakfast.” He gave his driver directions to the diner. Not like he was going to get any sleep until he’d seen her anyway.
Chapter Nine
“What do you mean she’s not here?” Derrick asked with a frown. “Is it her day off?”
The overweight waitress, who couldn’t been older than eighteen or nineteen, smacked some gum as she stared at him in boredom. She looked him up and down as though assessing him. Suddenly, she straightened.
“She got fired,” the girl said. Chew, smack. Chew, smack. She reached out a hand, touching his chest. “But if you’re looking for a good time, I can help ya.”
Derrick barely held in a shudder of disgust. Fired? From what he’d observed, Jacey was a well-liked, efficient waitress.
Wasn’t the end of the world, though. He didn’t particularly like her being on her feet all day.
But he was sure she was devastated. And scared. He needed to find her.
“Can you give me her address?” It was probably against the rules, but he figured this kid was too dumb to know that.
“Her address?” she said slowly, reconfirming his view on her intelligence.
“Yes, I’m a friend. I know she lives in one of the apartments a few doors down, I just can’t remember which one,” he lied.
The girl let out a snort then started laughing. “Dude, don’t know what sort of ‘friend’ you are, but that Jacey didn’t live in no apartment. She’s homeless, man. That’s why my uncle could let her go, cause she was a cash job.”
Derrick gaped at her, unable to control his jaw which had dropped open. Homeless? No way. He would know if she was homeless. There was no way that he had left the diner every day to go home to his nice, warm house while she went to a shelter or worse yet, slept outside. There was no way that he had dropped her off here the other morning while she had nowhere to go.
“Sit down before you fall down.” The older woman he’d seen a few times stood in front of him. She gave him a prod and he sat on the seat behind him. “Go get some work done, you idiot,” she barked at the girl.
The other waitress glared at her. “Shut up, old woman. My uncle owns this joint.”
“Your uncle would kick your ass to the curb long before he’d think about firing me, girl. Go find something to do.” The waitress smacked her gum as she turned away with a huff. “Stupid girl,” Frankie muttered. Then she looked at him, her gaze shrewd.
“You want some coffee? You’re looking pretty pale.”
“No thanks, ma’am,” he said politely, his mind still reeling.
“Please, don’t call me ma’am, it makes me feel old. Frankie’s my name.”
“Was she lying?” he demanded.
Frankie sighed and shook her head, her tight curls barely even bouncing with the movement. “I wish I could say the little cow was spreading lies, but unfortunately it’s true.”
“She’s homeless,” he whispered. “Why didn’t she tell me? I could have helped her.”
“Jacey is a proud woman. She didn’t want any hand-outs. She was working to make a better life for herself. Well, she was until that little cow talked her uncle into hiring her.” She gestured over toward where Jimmy’s niece was currently flirting with an overweight man in a suit that was bursting at the seams.
“I have to find her.” Determination filled him. No way was she spending another night on the streets.
Frankie nodded, a look of relief entering her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to return. I knew she wasn’t just a fling to you, even if Jacey probably thinks she was.”
Had she really thought that? Why hadn’t he made things clearer to her?
“Any idea where I’ll find her?”
Frankie nodded. “I’ll write down the address of the shelter I think she uses most. It’s not far from here. But she won’t be there until tonight and if she’s not there then, well, it’s probably like looking for a needle in a haystack.”