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CHAPTER 5

  After we struck out finding any helpful information from Grace's coworkers we met Bo at a coffee shop. He had given us space this week to get familiar with Grace and the people she was close to. I liked that he was not micro managing us and was truly thankful there were two new sets of eyes looking at Grace's disappearance. We gave Bo a brief update on the little information we had collected. He was thrilled we were leaning toward his hunch about Grace being in Mexico. I took the opportunity to ask Bo if there were any guys that had a crush on her or any ex-boyfriends that could be suspects. He gave us the name of a guy she dated before meeting him and said he wasn't suspicious of him. I asked Bo if Grace considered Chadwick at work a friend. The name didn't ring a bell to him and Sebastian rolled his eyes at me. It drove me crazy when Sebastian dismissed my ideas it made me feel small. Just for that I slowly scratched my temple with my middle finger so he knew I didn't appreciate his body language. That move was out of his book and he gave me a sly smile.

  I continued on with my questions asking Bo about the Poo Bear and Tigger note I found in Grace's kitchen. He smiled widely and explained the note was from her friend Ki. Grace calls her Tigger because she bounces side to side when she walks. In turn she nicknamed Grace her Poo Bear. That took care of that and I felt better for knowing it was another guy. We parted ways with Bo after we spoke about a few things not related to the case. I could tell Bo missed living in his apartment. He told us the compound was empty besides three maids that do housework and take care of the pets. We told Bo bye and left the coffee shop.

  "Alright you ready to go pick up our new ride sweetie?"

  I stood outside the BMW and gave Sebastian a blank stare.

  "The guy selling his 94' Buick will be home at 5:00."

  "Where does he live?" I asked.

  "Bonita," Sebastian said. "It's only like 20 minutes from here."

  Sebastian wanted to buy a beater of a car for us to take down to Mexico. We drove to Bonita and discussed the details of our trip to Mexico.

  "I want to leave Sunday morning by 9:00 am. It should only take us roughly 45 minutes to get to Tijuana. We will visit the local convent."

  I cut him off. "I know the plan Sebi we went over it already. We talk to some nuns to see if we can get the scoop on local places where we can find a missing Chinese girl suspected of being put to work in a brothel. I got it."

  "I just want to be prepared it's getting close to go time Leah. We'll be in a place that's foreign to us. I want to make sure we got the checklist. Start making a list on your phone of what we need to pack."

  For the rest of the drive we went over what we needed to take. Both of us were getting excited and nervous. I liked anticipating the unknown. My energy was spilling over into hyperactivity though. Sebastian tended to stay more even keeled than me. He was always anticipating problems. I left the research and preparation to Sebastian. He was intelligent and thorough. He had been staying up late into the night finding out everything he could about prostitution rings in Mexico.

  We reached Bonita and our new brown piece of crap. It was a four door brown Buick. The back was missing letters and it just read ICK. Ick was right. It reminded me of our turd brown van in Orlando. I actually grew to like that thing.

  Sebastian paid the man $900 in cash and whistled as he walked back to the car. "It looks kind of nice I may have to do some duck tape magic to make it look shittier than it appears."

  Sebastian wanted us to look as poor as possible when we went to Mexico.

  "It's a beaut," I said leaning into the passenger side. I got a whiff of the car's odor and took a step back. "Damn can we do something about the smell?"

  "It doesn't smell that bad Leah. You got a name yet for it?"

  "The poopmobile? What about nalgas?"

  Sebastian laughed. "How about the brown mojón?"

  "That works. How about just mojón for short." Mojón is Spanish for turd. It was the word in my Spanish vocabulary that I used the most.

  "Deal."

  I reached out to give Sebastian a fist bump and he grabbed me around the wait to pull me in for a kiss. He then squeezed my stomach and I squirmed to get away. "Stop," I screamed. "That tickles."

  He wrapped me up in his arms and blew in my ear because he knew I couldn't stand that. I tried to get away from his grip but couldn't. I surrendered. He gave me a bunch of kisses on my cheek.

  "I love doing life with you Leah. I love you so much."

  "Thanks."

  His mouth dropped open and his blue eyes got big. "Really?"

  He grabbed me again and I shrieked with laughter. I was always telling Sebastian 'I love you' I couldn't help it I liked expressing that to him. I guess I started telling him too much because his response as a joke had become 'thanks' or 'hey thanks I appreciate that.' In the beginning I would give him a glare and his response would be something along the lines of 'What? Thanks for loving me. It's good to be loved isn't it?' It felt good giving him some of his own medicine.

  Sebastian finally released me and I stumbled trying to regain my balance. "My turn with the BMW. Give me the keys. No way in hell I am driving the mojón."

  Sebastian gave me the keys to Bo's BMW and told me to follow him. We drove back to La Jolla to have dinner together. When we were nearly finished eating Nelly sent me a text that she got a late start and wouldn't arrive for another hour. We ordered dessert and Sebastian took his laptop out to go through some information he had learned. It was interesting but he was always so meticulous and it drove me crazy at times. He went on and on. My mind couldn't settle down to focus on all the information. I was excited to see Nelly and I was nervous thinking about what our trip to Mexico would bring. Nelly finally called and I was relieved that I didn't have to sit still anymore. I kissed Sebastian and bolted out of the restaurant.

  I spotted Nelly at a table in the back of the club. It was dark, crowded, and jungle techno music blasted from the speakers. Nelly was enthused to see me and I could tell she was just as annoyed by this place as I was. She gave me her trademark glare that indicated this was not what she had in mind.

  "Leah I am so glad to see you," she grumbled.

  I smiled. "I didn't know you were going clubbing tonight Nelly!"

  "Me either. Doesn't this take you back to our ASU days?"

  "Yeah and this music is atrocious. Where is Gwen's friend at?"

  "Hell if I know," Nelly said. "She was here then disappeared with a bunch of guys."

  "So I am ready lets do this," I exclaimed. "I will be your wing bitch."

  Nelly smirked. "Shoot I don't need you to be I already got hit on by two drunk dudes. It's a sausage fest in here but all of them look like they're 16. You want a drink?"

  "Sure."

  "There is a balcony we can sit out there so we can actually hear each other."

  We weaved through the crowd as we made our way to the bar. Nelly looked back at me and rolled her eyes when a group of college girls walked by us in skank gear. I laughed at Nelly's reaction. It took us forever to get a drink so we each ordered two fearing we might not get service on the balcony. We made our way back toward the light of the balcony door and did our best to not spill any of our drinks.

  "Excuse me."

  Nelly stopped and I had to maneuver so I didn't bump into her. The guy who was stopping Nelly was kind of cute but his friend with him had a curly mullet. I looked off to the side so I could stay out of the conversation. It was loud but I could tell the guy was asking Nelly to either dance with him or join him at his table. He wouldn't stop talking and was being persuasive even though Nelly kept declining. I figured she was probably pissed I was not bailing her out but I was on the verge of laughing. I didn't miss clubbing but I did miss being around Nelly.

  "No I am good," I heard Nelly yell so the guy understood. "I just don't want to."

  I knew Nelly and she was on the verge of losing her patience. I bit my lip and looked away so I wouldn't bust out laughing.

  "Come on baby it's -."
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  "Look I am physically unavailable right now!" Nelly screeched over the music.

  I quickly looked toward the guys so I wouldn't miss their reaction. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. The two guys turned to walk away with their eyebrows raised. I brought my shoulder up to my eyes because tears were forming. I tried to balance my purse so it didn't fall off my shoulder and spill my drink.

  Nelly looked at me wide-eyed. "Leah did I just say that? Did you hear that?"

  I was beaming. "Yeah that happened. Physically unavailable what do you have your period or something?"

  "Oh my gosh." Nelly burst into laughter. "I meant to say emotionally but I couldn't think of it. He got me all flustered he wouldn't leave me alone!"

  We made our way to the balcony and put our stuff on an open table. Nelly fell into her chair and put her head in her hands. I leaned on the table to get a breather.

  "I am so calling Gwen she's got to know what just happened."

  "No don't Leah. The guy with the mullet though!"

  We both started laughing again. Nelly's laugh was the best.

  "He would have been yours Lee. My guy was actually cute."

  "Why didn't you go for him?"

  Nelly smirked. "I got Phillip."

  "What no more Falip?"

  "No I was drunk when I called him that," she laughed. "He asked me why I was calling him that he thought I had a speech problem."

  We laughed some more then she told me about her relationship with Phillip. They had talked everyday since they met but she was not getting her hopes up that it would turn into anything serious. Nelly stressed too much about finding her soul mate and feared growing old alone. I would constantly tell her to relax that she would meet somebody at the right time and it would be perfect.

  Nelly and I talked nonstop for the next two hours as we sipped our drinks. She asked me when Sebastian and I were going to get real jobs. In her eyes we had been down and out for the past couple of years. Without divulging a lot of information I told her about Bo paying us to find Grace and implied that we did something similar in Orlando. I told her our plans to go to Mexico on Sunday to look for Grace and she looked at me like I was crazy. She listened intently when I explained the prostitution rings that exploited innocent girls. My night out with Nelly was not what I had expected. It was much better. I thought I would have a quick drink with her and then leave her to party into the night.

  "Let's get out of here," Nelly said.

  "Cool let's roll out, but I am not going to another club."

  "No. Hell no! Let's do what we used to do late night sans sausage."

  "Yes! Just like old times."

  "I miss you Leah!"

  "Ditto b-zitch."

  We hit up In-N-Out and took it back to Bo's place. Sebastian was on the couch watching Star Wars with his computer on his lap when we walked in. Our conversation quickly sent him into the bedroom. Nelly and I stayed up late into the night talking. We fell asleep on the pull out couch to Can't Buy Me Love playing on Bo's big screen TV.