Page 35 of Beautifully Ruined
I pick up my phone after a while and check it. “Gonna see how Vi’s doing.”
“I’ll keep up down here.”
I frown.” And I’ll do a regular check upstairs on the laptop. Maybe I’ll see something on Facebook or Insta or old articles. Who’s a man like Ivan going to hit up? Work over? Someone in the same field as our friend Isaac?”
“Low hanging mafia fruit?”
“High up business guys. They all break laws, all sit on secrets, and most have money.” I close my laptop and unplug it.
“Maybe not the mafia, if they’re low hanging.”
I shrug as I stand. “We both know some families are loaded but they lack the power the big names have. They all play a part.”
“Or we’re overthinking it.” He picks up his second can of energy drink and cracks it. “Which is what we do. Look at all the pieces, find the puzzle, and solve it.”
I grab my mug and head for the door. “We’ll find this one, too. Along with whatever I might have stumbled upon.”
Enzo takes a swig of his drink. “Fucking hate traffickers. They make my skin crawl.”
“Mine, too.”
Heading up to the kitchen, I sit at the table, pouring another coffee. I lose myself in my work.
I’m just casting a wide net, one that scoops up whatever’s bobbing along just below the surface.
It’s either nothing or mostly junk.
Jean. That’s what Violet called the girl. She says she didn’t hear it, but I wonder…
Not that the girl’s named Jean, but something with a similar feel.
Of course, that doesn’t narrow anything down.
Trying to pick out tiny needles in the haystack of social media is a thankless task and ‘missing not missing’ is a nonstarter.
I stop.
Or is it?
Maybe it’s people who abruptly went away and stayed ‘wherever’ or post generic photos.
I quickly set up two programs to trawl that net.
I’m honestly not sure I’ll find anything, but young people do sometimes like to take off for reasons they don’t tell the general public, and friends talk online.
So, I pick some words to watch for and feed those in, too.
Then I check my messages.
There are a few leads from some sources I follow.
Right now, I’m going for identities by name. Anything that starts with a consonant. That has an ee sound in the name.
One of my contacts pings me. A new school PI who mixes old school style in. Computers and leather to the pavement kind of man. I know Harry’s real name. I know everything about him, but it took me a while because Harry’s good.
And Harry feeds some of the cops with information when it’s important, but his clients come first and most of his clients are rich and get him to track down people. Often those he tracks are their kids.
Me:What do you have, Harry?
