“How’s the family?” he asked. Larry always added a personal touch. It was a means of intimidation, and a good way to get close.
“They’re good,” I said.
He nodded. “Good to hear. So what’s up?”
“I need somebody found.”
“I can do that. Anything I should know about, first? I don’t want to be turning any heads, you know. I got a business to run.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No trouble. It’s a girl.”
“A girl?” He grabbed the cigar sitting in the center of the table. “Is she special?”
“No, it’s a business thing,” I said.
“You need her to disappear?” He lit the cigar and took a puff.
“Don’t even ask me that. I just need to know where she is.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” I said.
He nodded. “Sounds simple enough, then. Get me the money, and I’ll get you the girl.”
“Half now.” I tapped a button on my phone, and a girl walked out holding a platter. She set it down on the table and opened it up. He leaned in and took a whiff of the cash.
“Fantastic.”
“How soon can you do it?” I asked.
“Right now,” he said. “Just give me a name, and I’ll call my people.”
I told him what I knew about Mercedes, which wasn’t much. He stepped away and made a quick phone call. Then he came back and sat down.
“You should have everything you need by the time I finish my cigar,” he said.
He puffed as long as he could and asked a lot of questions he didn’t have any business asking about Haylie, Elizabeth, and Andrew. He must have a list of names and basic facts he went over.
His cigar was burning low, and I got a text. It was Mercedes’s address. I gave him the rest of the cash, and he was gone.
Chapter 24
Mercedes
“What are you watching?” my dad asked. He stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, leaning on his cane. He wore a baby blue beanie over his bald head. I told my mother not to buy it. It looked like a baby cap, but he loved it. He folded it just right and wore it so that it hung down sideways on his head.
“It’s a game show,” I said.
“Hand me that remote.” He plopped down on the couch next to me.
I handed it to him, and he flipped through the channels until he found an old documentary about wolves. “You get older, you get into this kind of thing, you know.”
“Yeah.” I leaned back and watched a wolf run down a snow-covered hill while the narrator went over pack dynamics.
“You should go get us some cookies,” he said with a sly twinkle in his eye.
“I thought Mom hid those in the cupboard on top of the fridge. How did you get up there?”