“Actually, we want to talk to your brother, but his address is unlisted.”
“Yeah, well that’s because he doesn’t like to be talked to very often. Tell me what you want him to hear and I’ll pass it along.”
“It’d be better if we did this ourselves.”
Tommy shook his head. “Look, I know he’s stubborn and obsessive, but he got the message last time. He’s going to leave the girl alone.”
“Last time?”
“Yeah, when your boss sent a different set of thugs.”
“When who sent a different set of thugs?”
“Jennifer’s new boyfriend, the crook.”
“She has a new boyfriend that’s a crook?”
“Who else has leg breakers in the payroll? He sent you, didn’t he?”
“No,” Mal told him, “we don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If you’re not here to warn Terry to leave Jennifer alone, why are you here?”
“Just like I said, we want
to ask him a few questions.”
“About what?”
“Jennifer and her daughter. They’re missing.”
“You think Terry has something to do with that?”
“No, he knew Jennifer well enough to ask her to marry him. He might know her well enough to help us find her.”
“Maybe you should be asking her new boyfriend.”
“We didn’t know she had a new boyfriend. ”
“I got the feeling he liked to keep things on the down-low. Pretty sure he has a wife. Hell, the only reason I know anything about him is he sent people out to threaten my brother. At the time, I didn’t even think it was a bad thing, Terry can get a little possessive and he has trouble taking no for an answer.”
“He back off?”
Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know, I hope so, but Terry has some issues.”
“Do you know the new boyfriend’s name?”
“Yeah, Stone.”
“Dean Stone?”
“Sounds right. Talk to him. He’d know better than Terry.”
Mal and Margot looked at each other and then back to Tommy. Mal said, “That’d be kind of hard since he’s dead.”
This made Tommy pause.
“We think Jennifer’s in trouble,” Margot told him. “Talking to your brother might help.”