From what I understood from the studying I’d been trying to do in my limited free time, this neighborhood was in a bit of a transition period, crime-wise. There’d been a street gang who used to have it on lock for years, but the boss got locked up, his guys were too weak to hold onto power, and it had been a power vacuum ever since.
There were any number of small-time crime crews around here. All of whom would be happy to have a young, hungry teenager to work as a scout or to deal their drugs, so their own hands were never dirty.
If that kid got himself involved with drugs, I swear to God…
I did a lap down one side of the street, just checking out everyone standing around, trying to see if he was hanging out with any of the other kids or doing any deals.
I crossed the street and headed down the next one, pausing when I came across an unhoused man with a veteran’s hat on.
“Hey, man,” I said, reaching for a fifty in my pocket. “You been here a bit?”
“All day.”
I handed him the fifty, then pulled up an image of Liam on my phone. “Any chance you’ve seen my nephew? He was around here about half an hour ago.”
“Don’t wanna get him in trouble. But yeah, I’ve seen him every day this week.”
Every day? That definitely didn’t bode well for him being in the area for some innocent reason.
“Was he hanging out with the local crews around here? Getting his ass into trouble?”
“Not that I’ve seen, no.” He paused, looking down the street, then nodded his chin toward a storefront. “He goes in there.”
“The toy store?”
“Coffee shop. Brings me coffee or those mixed drink things sometimes. Pastry once.”
He was hanging out in a coffee shop?
I suddenly felt like an overprotective parent. Maybe he’d found some friends. Or a girl. And he wanted some privacy.
“Well, get yourself whatever you want on me,” I said, handing him another fifty.
With that, I made my way toward the coffee place, deciding to just peek in and make sure he wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t. If all seemed like it was on the up-and-up, I’d just head back to pick up Charlotte and act like nothing happened. Let him have his little excursions, even if he was technically outside the zone I asked him to stay within.
He was sitting right by the window at a table by himself. With eight different drinks set in front of him along with two different cell phones.
“That’ll do it,” I murmured to myself as I reached for the door.
He didn’t glance up at the chime on the door, or even when my shadow fell over him.
“You mind? You’re fucking up my light.”
“Language.”
His head shot up.
“Are you stalking me?”
“No.”
He glanced out the window toward the pawnshop.
“Didn’t peg her as a narc.”
“She was worried about you. Don’t blame her. What are you doing all the way out here? And why do you have so many drinks? And an extra phone?”
His face went tight, his jaw ticking.
