Raven Rain by David Stever

Author:David Stever [Stever, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780998337142
Publisher: Cinder Path Press, LLC
Published: 2020-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

24

Once the lunch crowd began to dissipate, I went upstairs to my condo and fired off a text to Dee Dee asking whether she could arrange a meeting with Miss T. I emphasized it was strictly routine, and that I only wanted to ask a few questions. She sent an, “I’ll see what I can do” response. We had to meet, no question, and I knew in my gut that she wanted the same. Why else would she want a peek at me at Max’s?

How could this all be a coincidence? Stan coming to me with the blackmail scheme only to learn the woman who owns Entertainment Ventures might be the girl I took off the streets in a valiant, but failed, attempt to rescue her? It was beyond bizarre, but I had seen things in my twenty-six-year career that I never thought possible.

Mike called. “Is Katie up there with you?”

“No, why?”

“She said she had an errand to run, but she’s been gone for forty-five minutes. I have three tables and a bunch of guys at the bar.”

“On my way.”

The note from the sixteen-year-old Talia Thorne—of course she never told me her name, and I still did not know whether it really was her—was on my table. I carefully folded it and placed it back in the shoebox, then tucked the box back in place in the closet.

###

I jumped in behind the bar while Mike took care of the tables and handled food orders. Katie disappearing for almost an hour was not her style. The Shelton case and now my past coming back to confront me in the form of Talia Thorne was disconcerting. Too many unknowns and variables for her to be gone without telling either of us what she was doing. She was eager to please, but her inexperience and naivete could quickly get her in trouble. I hoped she did not decide to investigate a lead on her own.

My phone rang. Katie? No, it was Stan’s name on the screen.

“Johnny, I got another call. The same man who called me the first time. He said this is not over, and time is short.”

“What did you say?”

“That I was with some people and couldn’t talk. Which was the truth. He is giving me one hour and calling back.”

“Where are you?”

“Dealership. In my office.”

“Can you be at Joey Mac’s in thirty minutes?”

“Yes.”

“Park in the alley. Don’t talk to anyone.”

I pulled Mike aside. “Shelton received another call. I’m meeting him at Joey’s. Sorry to leave.”

“They make a demand?”

“Somehow he bought an hour. I need to stop him before he does something stupid.”

“Yeah, go. Hopefully, she—”

Something caught his eye. Katie. Mike and I—and the eight other guys in the place—could only stare.

She was dressed in skintight, black everything: jeans, low-cut T-shirt, motorcycle boots, and a leather jacket, which she put on as she walked up to us. She had her hair pulled back and black sunglasses parked on her head.

“What? No time like the present to begin my new life. I’ll handle drinks.

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