I shook my head quickly. “No … not what you think. Harley was some kind of adviser to this woman. Not one of the escorts. Harley found herself here in Vegas years ago, and needed a job to not only make ends meet but also build up her finances.”

Jack laid a hand gently on my forearm, “Not that I would have thought anything of that part of the story, Harley.”

I continued, after trying swallow a mouthful of coffee without choking, feeling as nervous as I was. “Harley’s a lawyer out in LA now. And she’s hoping to make partner in the firm she works in. If any part of this chapter in her life comes out, at least in a manner wherein her work here could be twisted to make it look bad for Harley, this would damage her reputation severely. Maybe irreparably.”

Jack nodded his understanding. “Well … it’s interesting that you’re asking us to look into this now, actually. The info on Allegra that our team pulled together was inconsistent in some parts. A few of us in the firm had a quick brainstorming session while I was on my way to Vegas. We all share a background in … um …”

I gave him a wry smile, “Spook stuff?”

He shrugged. “Anyway … we all agree that there are patterns in the info that flag to us that Allegra and her outfit could actually be a set-up of some kind.” His eyes grew serious, before he continued, “So there may be more to this than you expected, Aerin, and it’s a good thing you got in touch with Brom to ask for help.”

I put my coffee down with shaky fingers. “You mean … this Allegra woman could be a front for something?”

He nodded, and then glanced at his watch. “If she is, then I think we should be shortly contacted by the ones behind the effort.”

I swallowed drily. “What?! Why? Have you made contact already? We won’t have to go looking for Allegra? She could come looking for us, instead?”

He nodded and licked his lips, glancing around us surreptitiously. “No, we didn’t make contact. We had to be clever but quick about this. Very much on the fly because we need to square the inconsistencies before we do anything else, alright? So this is what we did. We floated your name and made a booking for you in this hotel, and then, through the concierge, dropped a hint that you were in this café.”