“I’m not following you.”

He leaned forward and set his elbows on his knees. “Someone thought they could blackmail me to get to my son.”

TWENTY-SIX

Codaselli’s eyes hardened and for the first time, I saw a man who was absolutely capable of running a crime organization and doing the things necessary to stay on top of that food chain.

“They obviously didn’t know who I was,” Codaselli said. “The money that my son borrowed from me, they claimed it was owed to them by the girl. They came to shake me down.”

“Bad move,” I said.

The corner of Codaselli’s mouth turned upward. “Very. I did not take kindly to their attitude or their demands. Nor their threats toward my son.”

I didn’t say anything.

“John was able to convince them that they’d made an egregious error in judgment,” he said, the half-smile still on his face. “Isn’t that right, John?”

“Yes, sir,” John said from the conference table.

“John was able to persuade them that they needed to…amend their goals.”

“Amend their goals?”

“We changed their employment status,” he said. “A quick call to their employer and they were seemingly happy to come work for me.”

I nodded. “Got it. And what are they doing now for you?”

“Looking for Marc,” he said. “I’ve told them that if they fail to find him, it will be extremely difficult for them to find new jobs. Because they will be dead.”

I glanced at Isabel, then back to Codaselli. “Stevie and Boyd.”

“Are those their names, John?” Codaselli asked over his shoulder.

“Yes, sir.”

“There you go,” Codaselli said. “You’re apparently familiar with them.”

“We are.”

“Are they looking for Marc?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Not sure how competent they are, though.”

“Stevie’s competent,” John said. “Boyd is not. He’s expendable.”

Codaselli raised an eyebrow. “Fair assessment?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“So, perhaps our interests have dovetailed here,” Codaselli said. “And perhaps you may be more competent than our new employees.”

I had no doubt that Isabel and I were more competent than Stevie and Boyd, but I wasn’t sure that meant we needed to align ourselves with Codaselli, especially if Marc didn’t want to be found by his father. As an adult, he had the right to not be found and I wouldn’t force anything on him.

“I’d like to let Stevie know that we’ve met with you,” I said. “And that he needs to share any info he has.”

“John will ensure that is not a problem,” he said.

John nodded behind him.

“But I can’t promise the return of your son,” I said. “He’s an adult. I can’t compel him in any way to return home.”

“I understand that,” Codaselli said. “If you locate him, I’d just like you to relay the…information.”

“About your illness.”

“Yes,” he said, nodding. “And that I don’t care that he took the money or that he won’t take over.” He cleared his throat, stared at me with clear eyes. “I’d just like to see him before I die.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

“What the hell just happened in there?” Isabel asked incredulously.

“What do you mean?”

We were back in her car, headed back toward Linden Hills.

“I mean, did we just agree to help that guy?” she asked, shaking her head.

“Not really.”

“Sounded like it.”

“I told him we couldn’t promise to get Marc back to him. He’s a legal adult. Marc doesn’t wanna go back, he doesn’t have to.”

She shifted her hands on the steering wheel. “You think he won’t try to get him to come back?”

“I don’t know what he’ll try to do. We’re trying to find Marc and that’s all I’m worried about.”

“You don’t care what happens to Marc if we find him?”

“I care, but there’s not much I can do about it,” I said. “I won’t force him to do anything. He has to make his own choices. But you want to find him to make sure he’s okay. Right?”

She hesitated. “Yeah.”

“Because if you don’t, then we can drop it right now,” I said. “I’m helping you. Not Marc’s father. You don’t want to find him? Then we can stop right now. But I get the sense that you’re worried about him. So, I’m looking for him to help you because I said I would.”

“I am worried about him,” she said, sighing. “He’s not terribly savvy. I don’t think he inherited his father’s…whatever.”

I nodded. “Okay. Then we’ll look for him. It’s not going to be difficult.”

“No?”

I shook my head. “No. We’ve got two things now we didn’t have before.”

“What two things?”

“We know he’s with a girl and we know Stevie and Boyd aren’t a threat. To him or us. And we can use them.”

She hit the blinker and glanced in her rearview window. “I guess.”

“Not I guess. You need to start asking the kids on the street that you’re tight with what they know. Tonight. Don’t wait. It’s a small world. Someone will know something.”

“They don’t like being questioned.”

“They trust you,” I said. “Get them to talk.”

“I don’t like exploiting them like that.”

I shook my head and rapped my knuckles on the window. “Leverage.”

“What?”

“Use what you have,” I said. “You have their trust. You aren’t exploiting them. Get off the high horse. You need information and they can probably give it to you. You aren’t using it to hurt them. You’re using it to help Marc. You need to realize that you need to focus when you’re looking for someone. If people’s feelings get hurt? Oh well. Is that worth making sure Marc is okay? I’d say yes.”

Isabel’s mouth set in a firm line and we drove back to the apartment in silence. I knew she was irritated with me—thought I didn’t understand. Her problem was that she didn’t get that I understood better than anyone she’d probably ever meet. I understood that people’s feelings got hurt. I understood that leveraging someone wasn’t always the most comfortable feeling in the world. But I also understood what it was like to not find answers.

I knew which was worse.

She pulled into the parking lot at the apartments and cut the engine. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll ask around tonight,” she said. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Good.”

“But you can’t be there,” she said. “They won’t talk if you’re there. Doesn’t matter that they’ve seen you with me. They’ll clam up and disappear.”

“Not a problem,” I said. “I wasn’t planning on being there with you anyway.”

“You weren’t?”

I shook my head.

“Where are you going to be?”

“Talking with our new friends,” I said. “I’ll need Stevie’s number.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Stevie and Boyd showed up at the diner exactly at eight. The snow was falling again, but lighter than the previous night and it blew around on the streets like baby powder. I sat in a booth near the back and they both approached, tentatively.

Stevie lifted his chin and pulled off his knit cap, exposing thick curly brown hair. “Hey.”

I nodded. “Hey.” I motioned to the other side of the booth. “Sit.”

Stevie slid in first and shed his wool coat as he did so. Boyd piled into the booth after him, his ugly face frowning at me.

“First rule,” I said, pointing at Boyd. “You don’t speak unless I speak to you.”

“Hey, man, I don’t…” he said, his face screwing up with irritation.

“You’re already breaking the rule,” I said, cutting him off. “You wanna know how Codaselli described you today?”

He squinted at me.

“Expendable,” I said. “Which means that scary fucker Anchor will waste you in a heartbeat. You really wanna give me a reason to call him and tell him you’re being a pain in the ass?”

Boyd’s mouth closed and his shoulders sagged.

“That’s better,” I said.

“Am I expendable, too?” Stevie asked.

“You let me worry about that,” I said, choosing not to share the truth with him. I didn’t want him to relax.

He ran a hand through his thick hair, then nodded.

The waitress brought a pot of coffee, asked if we wanted food, and I declined for all of us.