“I have no time for your homoerotic wit right now, Liam. Be serious.”
“I’m logging into your system right now. Anything else?”
“Yes, I need you to vet him. Find out everything you can about him. I’m sending you his name right now.” I removed the phone from my ear and punched in the security code as I walked through the front doors. I sent Kit’s name to Liam. “You have access to the feeds, so you know what he looks like. I’m not sure Kitson’s his real name. If it’s not, I want to know what it is. Pull school records, criminal records—”
“You don’t need to tell me how to do my job, asshole. Do I dictate how deep you need to cut to sever someone’s head off?”
“I’ve done that once in all these years.” It was tougher than the movies made it seem.
I glanced up at the house, where the guest bedroom was illuminated. A slender shadow stood at the window, looking out. I ducked inside the car.
“Did you hear what I said?” Liam asked.
“Yeah,” I lied. I started the car and hooked the phone up to Bluetooth. “One more thing. There’s a pimp who has a brothel somewhere in the city. The name’s Nolan. I need an address of that house and possibly a contact number for him.”
“And let me guess? You want me working on all this at once?”
“Start with the pimp.”
“Anything else? Are you going to need backup?”
“I don’t think so. Guys like this Nolan only want one thing, and I can give it to him. Should be an easy enough transaction. Call me when you have what I asked for.”
I hung up and backed out of the driveway. I had a general idea of where this Nolan guy kept his whorehouse, but I had to be certain before revealing my hand. Liam called me back in ten minutes.
“You got an address?”
“I always do. I’m sending you the address where he operates out of, but right now, I have him ID’d at a bar.”
I’d long since stopped trying to figure out how Liam worked his magic, but apparently, people left so many clues about themselves on social media it should frighten them how freely they use these apps.
“Which bar?”
“That Irish-owned bar, Jumbo Brew. Also sending you a photograph to identify him.”
“And that’s why I pay you so much, Liam. You think of fucking everything.”
“Remember that when I ask you nicely for a ten percent raise.”
“Fuck off.” I ended the call to him laughing his head off. Everything was one big joke to him. We were so different it was a wonder we worked so perfectly together, but he was the lightness to my darker moods. He kept me from going in too deep, and I maintained sanity for both of us.
I put the name of the bar in the GPS and followed the shortest route there. Hopefully, everything would go smoothly. This area belonged to the Grimaldos, a Colombian family out of Cali that dealt heavily in cocaine and, more recently, profit kidnapping. Our paths occasionally crossed and usually ended with blood loss.
The bar was a seedy joint thick with secondhand smoke. A few heads turned in my direction, but I ignored them all. My culprit was at the bar, a woman at his arm, her skirt hiked up. It didn’t need twenty questions to figure out what he was searching for.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked, eyeing me up and down. I should have changed my suit before coming here, but the night was going by fast, and I’d promised Kit I would get his things.
“Scotch. Make it neat.”
“Should I start a tab for you?”
“No, I won’t be here long.”
The bartender nodded and moved off to prepare my drink. Nolan’s stool was right next to mine. He’d swiveled his head around and was checking me out, but I ignored him. The bartender placed my drink before me. As I opened my wallet, I ensured the curious man beside me saw all the Franklins.
“Thanks, man.” The bartender smiled at the generous tip. “You need anything, and I’m your guy.”
I took a sip of the watered-down scotch and nodded in appreciation. Only then did I glance up and met Nolan’s gaze. “Tastes better than I’d hoped for.”