“Six foot two. Brown hair. Dark eyes. No distinguishing features that I could see. High-dollar tailored suit, Italian in design. Gucci patent loafers. A watch that cost more than my apartment. A diamond ring on his pinky.”
As with every employee, he’d been taught that the details mattered. “Cash or credit?”
“Credit. Jim Smith.”
I chuckled and twirled the glass while studying the landscape and people outside. “Not his real name.”
“Absolutely not. I thought you’d want to know.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“That he thought he noticed an old friend and wondered if you were staying in the hotel. Of course I told him I had no idea. He tipped well, had one drink, and left without talking to anyone else.”
I mulled over what he’d said.
“Thanks, Mark. I appreciate it.” Was there a possibility an old friend had noticed my presence? Unlikely. While I’d been in New York before, I’d done so for an entirely different reason than Bratva business. Yes, I’d come in contact with several people, a couple of whom I’d become friendly with, but none that stuck out as a person I’d remember.
My mouth dry, I wrapped my fingers around the base. Every scrap of information could be important and necessary to store.
I sat back, scanning the sidewalk and people inside the bar, making mental note of everyone. At this point, not a single person was paying me any attention. They were simply enjoying an evening. Hell, nothing I wouldn’t mind.
Several untethered details had been going through my mind, reeling from images of Vivian back to the christening. I’d gone through the church myself the morning of the event, seeing nothing that would alarm me other than the number of ingress and egress locations.
Those had been covered, which left an employee who’d been involved with the church for long enough there’d been no red flags with the security checks. That being said, I was well aware that anyone could forge documentation. Hell, I’d done it before.
I took a dram of the smooth scotch, holding the liquid in my mouth before swallowing. There was no burn, the taste velvety and rich with a hint of dark chocolate. With the aroma lingering in my nostrils, my reflection didn’t stay on business for long.
I’d shared a cognac with Vivian that had the same aromatic notes.
Sighing, I laughed as I swirled the glass, also enjoying the prisms created by the light reflected off the glass. There was an uneasiness that had saturated my mind, creating tension that also didn’t help with the sleeplessness.
Every time I brought the glass to my lips, my arm flexed, the tattoo on my forearm catching my eye.
I placed the glass on the table, flexing and fisting my hand, which I’d done several times when Vivian had traced her finger along the colorful lines of the ink. She’d seemed fascinated by the design, acting as if in memorizing the details, she was learning more about me.
We’d purposely held superficial discussions, laughing and enjoying a connection that was far removed from my world, or hers for that matter. How fascinating that with my heightened concern about security, I hadn’t bothered asking what she did for a living.
Maybe for a change my dick had done the talking.
With a slight laugh, I brought the glass to my lips once again. As I did, a figure outside on the sidewalk caught my attention. He was admiring the building or the lights. I couldn’t tell which from where I was seated, nor should it matter.
There was no real reason the figure caught my eye other than my instincts were on high alert. His suit appeared off the rack, albeit at a high-class men’s clothing store. I couldn’t tell hair color considering the smoky glass darkened every shade.
He was well dressed, which also wasn’t unusual given the address of the hotel being in Manhattan. However, when he unbuttoned his jacket, I was certain the flash indicated a weapon. That in and of itself wasn’t anything too disconcerting.However, I was no fool. There was enough information about the hotel and the owners out in the public that I wouldn’t put it past a number of enemies to make a list of security points.
Before I had a chance to consider going outside, a reflection caught my attention. Someone was approaching. Instantly, I bristled.
“You’re a hard man to find.” Dante tossed my jacket across the table as if by instinct knowing I’d reach for my weapon.
“What’s wrong?” For Dante to appear this late meant there was an issue to deal with.
“We’ve got a report of the hotel being cased.”
I turned my head toward the window just as the man I’d seen before stepped into the back of a dark sedan. Apparently, he’d been waiting for a ride. While I took a deep breath, that didn’t mean I would breathe any easier. You learned early in a business where death followed you like the shadow of the grim reaper to pay close attention to instinct and anything appearing out of the ordinary.
“Security cameras?” I asked.
He nodded. “That and two men sighted in the lobby. They recently left.”
