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“Oh. Alright. Hold on.”
I got switched to some godawful elevator music for about 30 seconds, and then Dan came back on the line. “Disconnected.”
“What?”
“It said the number’s been disconnected.”
Huh.
If Venus gave Jack a bogus number, I was going to enjoy beating the real number out of her. But if she gave him the right one –
“Curiouser and curiouser,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Nothin’, Dan. Thanks for the help.”
I didn’t wait for him to say anything back. I just hung up.
I called the number myself.
“The number you have reached has been disconnected. Please check the number or try again later.”
Huh.
Apparently the DEA could move pretty goddamn fast when it wanted to.
If it was even the DEA at all.
96
Icalled Benjy and had him come down to the Veils that evening before business picked up.
“Did you find out where her ex-boyfriend is, Lou?” he asked as soon as he walked through the door.
“I’m still working on it, kid. I’m close, just not quite there yet. But in the meantime, I had an idea: I think you should be around her when she’s not working here. Protecting her in case he shows up, you know?”
His eyes lit up like a pinball machine. “Oh – yeah. That’s a real good idea, Lou. Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.”
Yeah. I’ll bet you do.
“Jack’s gonna have a little talk with her, set her up at the Ridgeway in a motel room so her ex can’t find her. I want you with her in the same room makin’ sure she’s okay. You good with that?”
He about peed himself, he was so over the moon about it. “Yeah – sure, Lou, sure!”
“I also need you to listen in on her for me. She won’t tell me about this ex-boyfriend of hers because she knows I’d send you after him to kick his ass.”
“I would – I’d kick his ass so hard!” Benjy swore.
The only way you could kick his ass, kid, is ‘cause he don’t exist.
“I know – which is why she’s trying to protect him. She’s a little mixed up in the head about this guy. She knows he’s bad news, but… I think she still has some feelings for him. She might even try to call him again.”
The one nice thing about dealing with a dimwit is you can tell exactly what they’re thinking. Their emotions just play right over their face like a movie on a screen – and Benjy was showing me a full-on double feature of jealousy.
Perfect.
“I need you to listen in and tell me if she calls him and what she says, so I can try to track this fucker down.”
