“Explain,” he said quietly.
“She’s a hooker.”
“A hooker?” he repeated.
“Yes, sir.”
His face darkened, and his jaw tightened. He took a step over to his desk chair and sat down heavily.
“She belonged to that pimp you killed, hmm?”
“Yes, sir.”
Rinaldo leaned forward over the desk and pulled at his cuffs to straighten them.
“You better tell me everything,” he said quietly.
I didn’t like the tone of his voice, not in the slightest. It sounded way too much like the tone he used right before he exiled me to Arizona, and I did not want that happening again. The very thought of him being pissed off – disappointed in me – made my skin crawl.
“There isn’t much to tell you, sir,” I informed him. “I’m one of her regular clients. I pick her up on the street; she comes to my apartment. I fuck her, and she leaves. That’s it.”
“Until something happens and you kill her pimp.”
“He crossed a line,” I replied steadily.
“Beat her up, huh?”
I nodded my head once.
“Is this the same girl I hear you took out on the town?”
Fuck.
“Yes, sir,” I admitted.
“Sounds like she’s more than just a hooker you fuck.”
“No, sir,” I replied. “That is all she is.”
He eyed me meaningfully for a moment, and I couldn’t help but see it for what it was – fatherly concern for me. I liked that he did that, even if it was annoying at the same time. I had the feeling it was the way fathers were supposed to behave, and it made me feel strangely warm inside. I’d seen him do the same thing with his daughter on occasion.
And with Nick, for that matter.
“We’ll see,” he finally said. “Regardless, there’s been talk that this girl is feeding information to one of Greco’s boys about heroin shipments coming in from up north and about the Russian connection who came up dead the other day. Information you are privy to hearing.”
My eyes met his, and I knew immediately what he was thinking.
“No,” I said definitively. “No, sir. I do not discuss business while I’m fucking whores. Absolutely not.”
Our eyes remained locked together as he seemed to be deciding something – most likely my fate. His chest rose as he took in a sharp breath and then huffed it out through his nose.
“All right, Arden,” he said.
I hated that he was back to calling me by my last name. I glanced towards the door to make sure my face didn’t show how I felt about it.
“You find out what’s going on here,” Rinaldo said, and he tapped his finger against the surface of his desk. “If what I’ve been told is correct…”
His voice trailed off, and I leveled my gaze at him.