Page 126 of A Breath of Life
The bed dipped, and Costa wrapped an arm around me, drawing me against his side. “We’ll get him back, Tal. This isn’t over. I have an idea.”
“I sure hope Quaid’s right and you really do have James Bond tendencies.”
He chuckled. “I’m not sure I’d qualify for the next remake, but I’m not walking away and leaving you on your own. We have to be smart about this, Tallus. These people are dangerous.”
I rested my head on Costa’s shoulder and let the tears fall. Maybe my emotions made him uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything.
“The last time we were together, we fought,” I said. “I’m a petulant brat, and I don’t know why he puts up with me. I want to tell him I’m sorry.”
“You’ll get to. I’ve known Krause for years. That man has never let anyone in… until now. He loves you, Tallus.”
I dabbed my wet cheeks and fitted my glasses back on. “Okay. I’m done being a sniveling mess. What do we do?”
“We find the Royal Whispering Ace because I strongly suspect it’s where they’re holding Krause.”
“And how are we going to do that? Memphis couldn’t remember where it was.”
“Maybe not, but his date that night knows, and I can be a persuasive asshole when I want to be. What’s his name?”
“Um… Joshua Stroud. That’s all I know.”
“Age?”
“Mid-twenties to early thirties? I’m guessing. Memphis never said.”
Kitty swung around to face the laptop, fingers dancing on the keys. Costa waited. In less than ten minutes, my co-worker shook her head. “The name is too common. I have over twenty-five matches within that age bracket in the Greater Toronto Area. It’ll take a long time to dig through them all and find the right one.”
“His family owns Forever Luxurious.”
“Hang on.” Kitty typed some more but was already shaking her head when she said. “It helps, but little personal information is listed. They seem to be private people.”
“They’re rich.”
She hummed. “No problem. I’ll have to delve into our system, find the owner’s name that way, and work my way backward to the son to figure out where he lives. An hour at least.”
“I figured. We have a faster way.” Costa displayed the phone he’d gotten from Quaid. “What’s Memphis’s number?”
“Is that a burner?”
“It’s untraceable. I don’t want any of this linked to my personal life. If things go south and the department decides to connect the dots, I need to be able to play the innocent bystander. Number, Tal.”
I rhymed off Memphis’s number, and Costa put it on speaker as it rang.
“What should I say?” I asked.
“Let me do the talking.”
32
Tallus
Kitty fussed on Costa’s computer as my cousin typed Memphis’s number into the burner and hit Connect.
It rang and rang and rang. I checked the time. Nine thirty. Memphis would be awake. One thing I knew about my best friend was his tendency to stay up until long past midnight, even if he worked in the morning.
“He may not answer if he doesn’t recognize the number,” I said. Although, that wasn’t entirely true. Considering the number of hookups Memphis accumulated, I doubted he would recognize half the calls he received.
“This number displays as unknown.”
