“Will do, LT.”
There is nowhere to park on the street, and I end up pulling up by a fire hydrant on the corner of Lake and Clark, across from the Walgreens. Let them fucking tow the car; I don’t care at this point. I just need to see her and make sure she’s all right. I’ll deal with Teto and the mystery man later.
I find her fairly quickly. She’s right where she said she would be, partially hiding behind a display of energy drinks. The relief I feel seeing her unharmed washes over me as she runs to me and wraps her arms around my neck.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” she says, crying against my chest.
“It’s all right, baby,” I tell her. “It’ll all be okay. Just tell me what happened.”
“I was turning in my key and saying goodbye to Loretta,” Alina says. Her eyes are red and swollen as she looks up at me. She’s obviously terrified. “I’d just picked up the last of my mail when I saw Teto. I was going to say hello to him and let him know what was going on, but he was talking to someone else.”
“What did the guy look like?”
“Tall and blond,” she says. “He was wearing a suit and dark glasses. I thought it was a little weird because it’s so overcast today.”
I nod. It’s very possible the man she described is Joshua Taylor. My heart beats faster. Could he really be right in this area? It’s the first lead I’ve had on his location, even if it is a rather flimsy one.
“Go on.”
“I got closer, and I heard them say your name.” She rushes her words together as she speaks, and I can barely understand her. She clings to my shirt with a death grip that whitens her knuckles. “I stopped in the doorway and listened. The guy was asking if Teto had seen you, and he said you used to come around, but now you had…well, you had me now, so he hadn’t seen you. The other guy…he said you’d gone too far, and that you weren’t going to be running things much longer. He wanted Teto’s help getting to you, and he gave him a large envelope.”
She stops and takes a big breath.
“He’s going to try to kill you, Evan!”
“It’s all right,” I say. “I’m here, and I’m fine. Just tell me what happened next.”
“I followed them,” she says. “I didn’t want Teto to hear my voice, so I tried to text you, but you didn’t answer. I followed them to the bus stop. They didn’t see me get on with them, but I still couldn’t call you. They got off around the corner.”
She takes another deep breath and looks over my shoulder at the door.
“Are they still around here?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says. “I thought Teto might have seen me, which is why I ducked in here.”
The bell on the door rings, and Alina jumps. It’s Eddie-boy.
“He’s with me,” I say as I wave him over and tell him what Alina just told me.
“It has to be Taylor.”
Eddie-boy nods in agreement.
“You think he’d try something out in the open?”
“No idea. I can’t imagine he’d do something here in public though.”
I grab my phone out of my pocket and call Jonathan. He’s still twenty minutes away from us.
“Take Alina back to your place,” I tell Eddie-boy. “I don’t want her near my apartment until I catch up with these guys.”
“No, Evan!” Alina starts to protest, but I cup her face in my hands and silence her.
“This is my business,” I tell her. “You don’t question me on this. You just do what I tell you. You’re going with Eddie-boy where you’ll be safe. Jonathan is on his way here, and I need you out of the way. Capisce?”
She nods slowly as a tear drips from the corner of her eye. She’s still gripping my shirt, and I have to pry her fingers from the fabric before I can wipe the tears away and hand her over to Eddie-boy.
As they walk out of the store, a text from Jonathan arrives. He says he’s stuck behind an accident on Lake Shore Drive.