Page 23 of Killing Emma

“Who’s Dezzie?” I ask, as if I actually give a shit, my eyes still focused on the sitcom playing in front of me. I wonder if Emma watches this shit.

“You know, the girl that I’ve been seeing. She’s all pissed off ‘cause I’m out and dude, this coke—”

“Have fun,” I stop him. “I’m not coming out tonight. I don’t feel like it. Besides, I’m a solid two hours out of town.”

“Yeah, so by the time you get here, the party will have just started,” Manny cackles unevenly. “I convinced Jude to come out tonight, too. There’s some bitch here, he’s trying to get with.”

I pause, struck funny by the thought of Jude being concerned with any woman. “Is he seeing someone who works there?”

“Come ask him yourself.”

My shoulders drop. I don’t care that much. “Yeah, just make sure you don’t drive blitzed out of your mind. Call an Uber—but with your burner.”

“Yeah, okay. Have fun with your ginger whore.”

As he hangs up, I bristle. It’s okay if I call her names, but it’s not okay if he does for some reason. Besides, now I’m starting to feel guilty for doing anything uncomfortable to the woman—and I don’t like that at all.

I use the moment as a distraction though, and type Eleanor Nightingale into my browser search bar. Sure enough, a kidnapping comes up. It’s an old article, one that’s been republished for entertainment value. I skim the information, coming up with a foreign name.

Ronaldo Vitalia.

I shrug, copying and pasting the name into the search bar. The only thing that comes up is the same article. It’s fucking useless. I need someone with more insight to look it up. Someone with better tech skills than me.

Fuck.

Navigating my contacts, I scroll to Jude’s contact information and hit the call button. I let it ring a few times, and right when I think about hanging up, the line connects.

“Luca,” Jude answers, the background quiet behind him. “What can I do for you?”

“Where are you?”

“Uh, home…”

“Manny said you were at The Den.”

“Well, I was, but only because my fucking sister has shown up to town and picked up work.”

Uh, okay. Manny is confused.

“Anyway,” I clear my throat. “I need you to look into something for me.”

“You have Manny for that,” Jude sighs. “I don’t—”

“It’s personal,” I lie, sort of, anyway. “It’s just something real quick. I don’t want Manny digging into my personal shit. You know, not with Ivan…”

“Fine. I get it. What’s up?”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “I need you to look into a guy named Ronaldo Vitalia, and just tell me what you can find.”

“Okay. This have something to do with Victor?”

I hesitate, unsure of how much I want to feed that theory. “It might,” I decide to say. “I don’t know. I don’t know what you’ll find, but just let me know when you get a basic rundown. I’ll pay.”

“Huh, okay. You’ve never offered to pay me before for favors.”

“I need you to expedite this. I need it as soon as you can get it to me. I’m working with limited time.”

“I feel like I should ask questions, but I’m going to let this go. I’ll see what I can find for you.”

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