“My salvation, are you?” He caught her around the waist, yanked her in. “And what would I be to you then?”
“I guess you’re mine, pal. And if I’m wrong? Hey, we’ll go down in flames together. Now, try for some more redemption and check out this data with me.”
He kissed her first, long and lingering. “I can’t figure out something about hell.”
“What’s that?”
“Would there be plenty of sex, because all the tenants are sinners, or none at all, with celibacy as the eternal punishment?”
“If I get around to it, I’ll ask López. Data.”
He obliged her by turning her around to face the screen, then drawing her back against him, and studying it over the top of her head. “And what do these names tell us?”
“I’ve got more data—runs on the owners, the tenants, including how long at current address, previous address. Ortega . . . Rosa O’Donnell mentioned that name. Computer, display secondary data, screen two.”
“So, following your hunch, we’re looking for longevity in that neighborhood. Someone, or a family, who’s lived there since Lino was Soldado captain.”
“Yeah, that’s one point. Another is the jogging route. What there could be along it that connected to Lino, or interested him. Gain. He was gain an
d ego. First point is revenge. A lot of people stick,” she observed. “Look at that. Ortega. Third generation in that property. And this one. Sixty years ago it’s a piecework factory—probably gray market and a hive of illegal workers. Now it’s lofts and condos, owned by the same guy. Huh. Who also owns the house next to Ortiz. Computer, complete run on Ortega, José.”
Working . . .
“I know that name,” Roarke said quietly. “Something about that name. Ah . . . Another building, East Side, middle Nineties. Retail space street level, studio space on the second. Living—I believe—living space on third and fourth. I looked into buying it a few years ago.”
“Looked into?”
“I can’t recall all the details, but I know I didn’t buy it. Some legal tangle with Ortega.”
Task complete . . .
“Let’s see. Computer, split screen two, display new data. José Ortega’s listed as thirty-five years of age—the vic’s age. How the hell did he own that property sixty years ago?”
“Ancestor of the same name, I’d say. I remember José Ortega died several years ago. Yes, I remember now, the legal tangle was with his estate. This must be the grandson, and heir.”
She ordered the computer to check, then shook her head at the data hiccup. “Okay, José Ortega, died 2052, age of ninety-eight. One son, Niko, died 2036, along with his wife and his mother in a hotel fire in Mexico City. The old man survived as did his then eleven-year-old grandson.”
“The old man raised him. Yes, I’m remembering bits and pieces now. And the grandson, naturally, inherited when the old man passed. Word was—when I was interested in the property—and a bit of poking confirmed, that the younger Ortega didn’t have his grandfather’s business sense. And some of the property amassed declined somewhat. I liked the building on the East Side, and made an offer.”
“He said no?”
“He couldn’t be located when I was putting out feelers. And I found something I liked better.”
“Couldn’t be located. It lists the place on East 120th as his current address.”
“That may be, but four—or it may have been five—years ago, when I wanted the building, Ortega wasn’t in New York. We had to work through a lawyer, who was—if my memory serves—considerably frustrated by his client’s disappearance.”
“Computer, search for Missing Persons reports on Ortega, José, with this last known address.”
“I didn’t say he was missing so much as incommunicado,” Roarke began, then his eyebrows lifted when he saw the reports come on-screen. “Aren’t you the clever girl?”
“Reported missing by Ken Aldo, his spouse, in September of 2053 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Computer, display data and ID photo, Aldo, Ken.” She waited, then felt it fall into place. “Well, hello, Lino.”
“Your victim.”
“Yeah, that’s Lino. He changed the hair, added the beard, dicked with the eye color, but that’s Lino Martinez.”
“Who entered into marriage with Ortega shortly before the old man’s death, according to this.”