“Yes, but that’s not an uncommon name.”
“And I suppose there’s another Everett Hall who works at the Red Bottoms nightclub?”
He swallowed. “I don’t know anything, man.”
“A week ago, a beautiful boy was drugged and taken from the club.” I reached into my inside coat pocket for the silencer and screwed it on the gun. “And you were a part of that scheme.”
“Come on, man. There’s no need for that.” He eyed the gun in my hand. “I just work at the door. Being drugged is a part of the whole party scene. Those guys are asking for it the way they behave in that club.”
I gritted my teeth. “Before you dig yourself in deeper, you should know the guy I’m talking about is my partner. Do you want to know from a scale of one to ten how angry I am right now? Go on. Take a wild guess.”
“I don’t want to play this game.”
“And I didn’t want to see the man I love in the condition your friend left him in.”
“I can’t do anything to stop people from leaving the club of their free will.”
“But your job is to look out for the ones who aren’t leaving of their own free will, isn’t it? A job you failed to do when you accepted cash from that man to turn a blind eye to the fact that he was leading a drugged guy from the club.”
“That was just a tip. It was a busy night at the club. I wasn’t paying much attention, that’s all.”
I got up, walked over to Hall, and pushed his head back with one hand while jamming the gun into his mouth.
“All it takes is for my hand to slip and pull the trigger. Now you listen to me good. If you tell me one more lie… You can imagine the rest.” I removed the gun. “Now tell me the name of this man who paid you off and who he is.”
“I-I don’t know anything about him, I swear. Just that people call him Ghost because no one ever sees him for what he really is until it’s too late.”
“This is something he does often?”
He nodded. “Every week he picks someone new and drugs them.”
“And pays you off to keep quiet about it.”
“I was just minding my business. I didn’t want any trouble.”
“Is that so?” I aimed the gun just a little more at his forehead.
He shrank back. “Look, man. You don’t say no to people like that, okay? You just look the other way to avoid trouble.”
“What do you mean, people like that?”
“People who’re affiliated with those who run this city. And I’m not talking about the mayor or the police.”
“Who does he work for?”
“He’s a cooker for the Grimaldo cartel.”
The Grimaldos? This couldn’t be a coincidence. If they were the ones behind Kit’s abduction, then they’d figured out who Ivan was with the night of his death.
Fuck.
I aimed the gun at the man who’d divulged more than he could ever know.
“Please, don’t kill me.”
I wanted to put that bullet through him, but people had seen me enter the building. It wouldn’t be too long before the police found out who I was if I shot him. I glanced at the coffee table.
“Pick up the bag.” I gestured with the gun. “Pour it all on the coffee table.”