Making the Rent the Hard Way - 10

 

True to his word, ten minutes later the bartender returned, saying, "Let's go out back."

As I followed him, I knew from the looks on a few faces that some of the people had the wrong idea about what was going on, not that I would have minded. Like I said, shifters are sexy and he was no exception. Being at least six-two and extremely muscular added to his allure. But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

When we were in the alley—a surprisingly clean one—in back of the club, I asked his name.

"Don't laugh. Rocky."

"I won't," I told him, trying not to smirk.

"Why are you looking for Luca?" Rocky asked, leaning against the alley wall.

"I was hired to."

"That's right. You're a PI." He frowned. "Who hired you?"

"Have you heard of Richard Farnham?"

He hissed in a breath. "That son of a bitch. You damned well better believe I have. How much is he paying you to find Luca?"

I shrugged, replying honestly, "Enough to pay this month's rent, for starters. What do you have against him?"

"The same thing a few others of us do. He's a treacherous bastard who wants to become the alpha of the city."

Now that was interesting. Yeah, I sort of figured the reason Farnham wanted me to find Luca wasn't because the two of them really were bosom buddies. But…

"Do you have any idea why he wants me to locate Luca?"

"Yeah. Maybe. Luca's a friend of mine. About three weeks ago, he told me he'd found out something about Farnham that would help stop him in his tracks if it got out."

"I gather he didn't tell you what."

"Nope. He said he had to get more proof and he'd call me if, and when, he did. That night was the last time I saw him. Okay, not quite true. He showed up a couple of nights ago, just to let me know he was still alive. I'd tried calling him before that happened, but he didn’t answer. The calls went to his voicemail until it was too full to take any more messages."

I nodded. "Someone else told me the same thing."

"Who?"

"A woman who wanted to hire him to design a new brochure for her business."

"Ms Holden, the Realtor, right?"

"Yes." I smiled slightly. "I guess you are a friend of his."

"You didn't believe me?" he asked, scowling.

"Do you blame me? After all, that's what Farnham claimed he was."

"Yeah. Okay, I see your point."

"Do you have any idea where Luca might have gone to ground? I'm presuming he's still alive since Farnham hired me to look for him."

"Nope, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Understandable," I replied. "You know nothing about me other than what you've heard on the rumor mill."

Rocky grinned. "It's not all bad. You've got a rep for being an honest, if rather a second-rate, PI."

That stung—the second-rate part—even if it was sort of true and even how I identified myself. I tried to laugh it off, replying, "I'm not all that bad. If I was, Farnham wouldn't have hired me."

"You want my honest opinion? He knows you can tell who's a shifter, so he figured you'd be perfect for hunting Luca, because Luca would spot another shifter who was looking for him."