I smiled a bit, pleased that I was catching a break.
“Hey, Bolt. This is Alex.”
“Holy shit! The Doctor? No way!” He laughed. “You serious? It’s really you?”
A small, tentative smile formed on my face at his excitement and his surprise. At the very least, it meant that he hadn’t been expecting my call, which likely meant that he didn’t know what was going on with me.
“It’s really me. How’re things in Hell’s Kitchen? Still knocking heads down at the pool halls?”
He laughed. “You been to Hell’s Kitchen these days? Man, it’s all kinds of gen… gendy… what’s that word?”
“Gentrified.”
“That’s the one. The places that I hung around making my name back when I was a kid, shit, they’re all smoothie bars and high-end gym equipment stores. Other than that, doing alright. What’s going on with you?”
I allowed myself a bit more tentative relief. His question suggested that my flight from the city wasn’t the talk of New York’s criminal underworld. Bolter, as far as criminals went, was a good guy but he was a little on the guileless side. If he was working against me and trying to hide it, I’d likely have been able to tell.
“Not much, just out of the city for a while.”
“Really? Where at?”
I opened my mouth to speak, ready to tell him the truth. Before I did though, I realized that the truth wasn’t going be my ally here.
“Wyoming,” I said. “Middle of nowhere, Wyoming.”
He laughed. “What the hell are you doing all the way out there?”
“Needed a break from the city, to clear my head and all that.”
“That’s one way to do it, I suppose. But it’s a good idea; Lord knows that it’s easy to let time fly. Shit, it’s been… what, two years since I’ve been out of the city. Maybe it’s timeIgo on a damn vacation.”
“Hell, I bet you’ve earned it.” A pause of silence passed, and I knew that it was time to get to the heart of the matter. “Listen, I hate to drop this on you, but I need to ask a favor.”
“Don’t hate it at all. You’ve done more than enough solids for me since we’ve known one another. Happy for the chance to pay you back, bud. What is it?”
“It’s… somewhat of a strange request. I wanted to see if you’d be able to keep your ear to the ground while I’m gone, let me know if I end up the topic of conversation, especially when it comes to Nico.”
“Nico? What’s the matter? Something going on with you and him?”
Time for more lies. “Just… want to see where I stand with the old man on the subject of my vacation. He said he was fine with me leaving, but if he starts grumbling about me being gone for too long, I want to know about it.”
“Ah, that’s smart. It’s always a good idea to stay on the old man’s good side. Sure, I’ll keep my ears open when I’m making the rounds around town. No problem.”
“Thanks, Bolt. Next time I see you, drinks are on me.”
He laughed. “Sounds good. Get some relaxing in, Doc. See you when I see you. And I’ll be in touch if I hear anything.”
We said our goodbyes and that was that. I set down my burner phone and sat back in my chair. All I could hope for was that I hadn’t put Bolter in danger. But I’d done what I’d needed to do. After all, I had three more lives than just my own to worry about now.
Chapter 19
Alex
Ichecked my burner phone one more time as I sat outside of Georgia’s place.
No message from Bolter or Nico, same as the last few days.
I didn’t like it one bit. Bolter might’ve been a low-level guy who didn’t exactly have his finger on the pulse of the inner circles of the New York crime world, but he was trustworthy and dependable. If he’d found anything out, he would’ve told me by now. Sure, there was the possibility that he hadn’t learned anything new, but if that was the case, I would’ve expected to hear something about that, too.