Deal
After being caught following his only lead in his most recent case, the private detective agrees to sit and talk with her. The gun pointed at his head may or may not have something to do with it.
“I’m not a cop.” It was the only thing I could think to say with a gun pointed down at me. Karina had the jump and the high ground. I was at her mercy.
“Yeah,” she said, squinting. “I find that hard to believe. Why are you following me?”
“I was hired to.” And I thought I had been doing a good job, but here I was with my hands up and hoping this petite woman had morals.
She hadn’t been doing much as I tailed her, just walking through the city and occasionally checking her phone. Normal behavior, nothing of note. When she ducked into what looked like a café, I was prepared to sit and wait, sipping on whatever coffee was sweetest. Instead, I walked into an ambush.
Karina was up on the loft of what used to be a café, but was now an almost gutted building. She had the high ground, the leverage, and and a gun. The shine of the revolver was nothing I wasn’t used to, but she seemed ready to shoot.
I swallowed, trying hard to look innocent. “They wanted me to find Tala and the easiest way was following you, the last person to see her.” She went still, the gun dropping ever so slightly. Doubt was creeping in. “I can prove it. If you’ll let me get my phone, I can prove it.”
She looked me over with a critical gaze, but whatever she was looking for, she wouldn’t find. My button down was two sizes too big and my baggy pants were held up by a belt I had to punch holes in to make fit. My appearance wasn’t to hide anything. I just couldn’t afford better clothes than what my local thrift store had to offer.
“Strip first. I want to make sure you don’t have a weapon.”
“Seriously?”
Her eyes narrowed and I sighed. As slow as possible, I unbuttoned my shirt and tossed it to the ground. My belt clinking echoed and the buckle thudded against the floor as my pants dropped. I stood with my pants pooled around my ankles, brows raised. She nodded and I squatted down to get my phone.
She sighed, annoyance creeping in at my exaggerated slowness. “Get up here.”
Upstairs was almost as empty as the bottom, except there was a small table with three chairs. She kicked out the one in front of her, the gun still in hand, but her finger moved from the trigger.
“So?” she said as I sat. “Where’s your proof?”
“Two days ago, I got an email from an anonymous source. They asked me to find Tala Angelina Carmichael. Said she was their wife, and she’d gone missing two weeks ago and the police weren’t doing anything.” I turned my phone around, showing her the email. “Normally I’d want a face to face, but they’d already dropped off the money and, well. Hard to say no to thirty thousand.”
Her eyes flicked away from the screen as she frowned. “And you didn’t do any research on who it was?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not stupid. Of course I tried to look into it, but the camera at my office only showed someone in nondescript baggy clothes and the email was a dud.”
“Despite that, you still took on the case?” Her lip curled, though the gun was no longer pointed at me. “All you cop types are the same.”
“I’m not a cop,” I muttered. “And thirty thousand is nothing to sneeze at. It’s a life changing amount of money to come into. Just because you have rich relatives doesn’t mean the rest of us couldn’t use a boost.”
She froze, her sneer dropping. “How did you know that?”
“I’m good at my job,” I leaned back and crossed my arms, pretending the seat wasn’t absolutely freezing. “There’s a reason I was able to find you today, despite you disappearing from pretty much everywhere after Tala did. You cut ties with your family years ago, but they still hold out hope you’ll reach out to them.”
Her gaze wandered behind me, brows scrunched. She chewed on her lip, and I watched as the gun started to drift up again before she put it on the table. “How about we make a deal?”
“Does the deal involve me making friends with the dirt six feet under?”
She smirked. “No. It involves you getting your thirty thousand plus another twenty.”
“I’m listening.”
“I thought so. You see, you’re the only one who’s ever been able to find me or anything on my family. As you said, you’re good at your job. The thing is, I know who hired you and he’s the reason Tala had to disappear. If you help me catch that bastard, I’ll make sure you get your money and then some.”
“And where is this extra twenty coming from?”
She looked down at the café, fist clenching. “I’ll reconnect with my family. Get them to give me my inheritance. It’s not much, but it’ll be enough to pay you and get me and Tala into hiding.”
“I don’t know why you cut ties, but I can’t imagine they weren’t for good reason. Is Tala worth all of this?”
She smiled, her features going soft. “Tala is worth all of this and more. If the only way to ensure her safety is to subject myself to my family, then I was gladly do it.”
“What’s the guy’s name?” I opened my email, ready to send as much information on this man as possible to my contacts. If nothing else, I would have a starting point on figuring out who my initial client is.
“Giuseppe Walton.”
My heart slammed against my chest. “As in the Walton’s that own most of the apartment buildings downtown?”
“The very same.”
I was already teetering in her direction with just the promise of money, but the promise of revenge pushed me over the edge. That bastard killed my family. If I could do anything to make his life worse, I would.
I tried to keep my composure, but I could feel a smile starting to creep onto my face. “Tell you what. Keep your money.” Her brows shot up, the gun fully forgotten on the table. “Make sure you and Tala get into hiding and never have to deal with that bastard or his lackies ever again. I’ll keep his money and make him pay tenfold.”
“And why would you do that?”
“I’ve got history with him as well.”
“You’re betraying your client. You’ll be on his shitlist the moment he finds out.”
“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to make his life even half as miserable as he’s made mine. Being on his shitlist is a small price to pay to make sure he gets what’s coming.” I hold out my hand, no longer fighting the smile. It’s feral and greedy and ready for violence. “We got a deal?”
She holds out her hand, and her smile matches mine. “Deal.”