“Who do they work for?” I press.
“We can’t even prove they exist.”
“The man who attacked me had that tattoo. He tried to kill me. He had to be one of them.”
“A dead man with a tattoo doesn’t exactly scream well-trained assassin.”
“You want to kill an assassin, you hire a better killer,” I say. “Obviously I was the better killer in his case.” I move on past that bad topic. “Romano. He said the words She bleeds because you bleed. It’s a quote from a movie that has a hell of a lot of ties to me.”
“In what way?”
“It stars Jensen Michaels, who went home with Alexandra the night I was attacked. He’s why she left me alone at the bar. But it gets even weirder. The film also has a connection to the case I was working when I was attacked.”
“Laney Suthers. The high-end call girl.”
“How do you remember that?”
“I told you. I’ve been looking for answers. I considered a connection to the case you were working the night of the attack but couldn’t find one.”
“And without the clue Romano gave me, you wouldn’t. That film with Jensen Michaels had the same Chinese financial backers as several B-list films Laney had starred in.”
“Who was the investor?”
“Ying Entertainment. Do you know them?”
“I know everyone who has financial interests in my territories, and they do. I’ll look into them further as well as the various connections to you they represent. Alexandra was with you that night. What’s your read on her?”
“Do I think she’s involved? We were close back then. It’s hard for me to see it, but then again, I didn’t see her with Eddie either.” I set that aside. “I need to talk to Romano myself.”
“I talked to him. He told me what he told you.”
“I have to talk to him again now that I’ve decoded his message.”
“He’ll repeat what he told me, which is that he received an anonymous tip that amounted to nothing more than what he shared.”
“Why would he even share a tip like that with me or you? I’m connected to you, and you two are enemies.”
“And that makes him the person I’d look to if anything happened to you.”
“But he came to me,” I argue.
“I told you. I’d refused his meeting.”
“Right,” I say. “You told me. I’ll get my own answers.” I step away from the window, intending to place space between us. Kane moves with me, standing up and placing himself in front of me, his location and proximity all but caging me between his big body and the window.
“You will not approach him,” he says, his voice hard, the set of his jaw harder.
“I’m a federal agent investigating a series of assassinations, not your little bitch, bedroom bitch, or stupid bitch. I will talk to him.”
“You’re a federal agent who was, and probably is, on an assassination list.”
I grimace. “And your point?”
“Push too hard, in too obvious a way, and you could end up dead.”
“I have more than my own life to think about, anyway.”
“We had an agreement. You stay away from Romano.”
“We did have an agreement,” I agree. “You were supposed to find the assassin named Ghost. But not only is his name a little too literal for me right now, it doesn’t sound like I’m looking for Ghost after all. At least not now. Not unless he has a blood tattoo.”
“Who says he doesn’t?”
“Are you saying he does?” I counter.
“Are you going to pass up the opportunity to talk to one of the most notorious killers in history, Agent Love?”
“That wasn’t an answer,” I bite out.
“You mean it wasn’t the answer you wanted.”
“I’m not negotiating. Ghost is still a suspect in these murders. You still owe him to me, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m talking to Romano. I’ll let you set it up if it makes you feel better. And you’re crowding me.”
“Yes. I am. Get Romano killed and not only will his people look to me, there is zero chance of another message being passed to us.”
“I need to talk to him, Kane.”
“Okay. Done. Do you prefer Romano tied up in the garage or the living room?”
“Ha ha. Aren’t you funny? Good to see that you grew a sense of humor since I left. You needed one. But jokes aside, I’ll talk to Romano myself, but if you have tips, I welcome them. A favorite restaurant to meet. A favorite coffee shop. Lay it on me.”
“You’ll never get to him without me.”
“I’m more resourceful than you think,” I say. “Unless he’s dead and you really don’t tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
His expression tightens, seconds ticking by before he reaches into his pocket and pulls out what looks like a disposable phone and punches a number before placing the call on speaker. “Hola,” a man greets in an aged voice.
“Old man,” Kane says.
“Pinche, Kane Mendez. I have nothing more for you.”
“Still feeling the rope burn, I see,” Kane comments. “It’ll get better soon and we can do it again.”
“What do you want and why the hell am I on speakerphone?”
“Lilah is here. Agent Lilah Love.”
“Agent,” he says. “That’s right. You get off on the forbidden. Obviously Agent Love does as well.”
“Romano,” I say.
“Whatever you want to know, Agent Love,” Romano replies, “I can’t help. I was given an anonymous tip to help me, not you.”
“Why help at all?”
“Have you told her nothing, Kane?” he asks. “Or is she testing your answer?”
“Answer the question,” Kane bites out.
“You die, Agent Love,” the old man says, “and Kane looks to me first. And at that point, he’s enraged, and others are, too.”
“You lost two people last night,” I say. “Did Kane do it?”
“What did he say?” he asks.
“What do you say?” I counter.
“No,” the old man says. “He did not.”
“Then who did?” I press.
“If I knew,” he says, “I wouldn’t tell you.”
Of course he wouldn’t, but I leave it alone, instead focused on a question that I should have asked Kane. “Why would that tip go to you and not Kane if it involved me?”
“Clearly whoever gave me the tip was helping me, not Kane. Other than that, I don’t know what you want me to say. It was an anonymous fucking tip.”
“The tattoos,” I say. “The assassins—”
“A legend,” he says. “A myth. Fiction.”
“And yet you seemed to indicate someone tried to kill me.”
“If the Blood Assassins came for you and wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” He laughs. “Or so the myth would have you believe. Maybe Pokémon is real, too?” He laughs louder and hangs up.
Kane holds down the Power button and then sticks the phone in his pocket again. “Satisfied?”
“No,” I say. “I’m not. He knows more than he’s saying, and you still haven’t given me Ghost.”
“You want a lot of things, Lilah Love,” he says, his voice warm, his eyes hot as he adds, “but so do I.”
“The difference is that I’ll get what I want, and you won’t.” I try to step away, but his hand comes down on the window, his arm caging me.
“Tell me,” he says. “What do I want?”
“Another palm, apparently.”
“How about I give you my palm, but on a different kind of cheek?”
“Maybe I will give you that knee.”
“And yet, I don’t have it.”
“And I don’t have Ghost,” I remind him.
“And if I give him to you? What do I get in return?”
Those questions make it clear that while he claims his recordings were not bribes, he knows they give me pause. They stop me from arrestin
g him.