“Connor’s proving slipperier than he thought,” she said. “He’s coming up short, but he’s going to keep trying.”
“I know we agreed that we’d leave Nathan out of this, but the information he has could be really useful. Maybe we should reach out to him,” I said.
“That’s a last resort option,” Felicity replied. “Let’s give Nico a little more time and then if it really feels like he’s not getting anywhere, we can consider it.”
“Fine,” I said.
“There is something though,” Felicity said. “Something else I’m hoping you’ll keep a secret from your dad.”
“Okay?”
“There was a place he used to go. A trade show of sorts. It’s masked to look like a car show, but it was something of an underground black market. They use these flashy cars and all their money to hide just about any illegal business. Nasty stuff. Trafficking. Drugs. Embezzling. Blackmail. Murder for hire. If it would be considered a felony, you can find someone there who will do it,” Felicity said.
“Connor has to have used a place like that,” I said.
Felicity nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking too. Garret wouldn’t tell me where to find it, but Nico did.”
“Wait… You’re gonna go? That’s gotta be insanely dangerous,” I said.
She punched my arm lightly. “Maybe, but I can take care of myself. Plus, it would be worth it if it meant we could get a solid lead on Connor.”
“Let me come with you then,” I said.
She glared at me. “We agreed—”
“I know, but we also agreed we were going to work together,” I retorted. “If Venom knew I let you go somewhere he didn’t want you to go, alone, he’d break my legs. I’m not letting you go alone. Either we both go, or neither of us.”
She watched me quietly for a few minutes, and her jaw flexed and relaxed in a pattern while she considered it. Finally, she blew air out of her nose and nodded. “Okay. We’ll go together.”
My stomach actually lurched a little at the thought. It’d been a little while since either of us had mentioned Connor or looking for him, and July was officially underway. I’d very nearly tricked myself into thinking that this was just the life I was living. I was just a normal kid living with his mom and adorable pit bull, doing chores around the house, and getting a little too into co-op video games.
But no.
Reality came crashing back into me and it made me anxious, but also reminded me of what I was doing in the first place. I had a family to get back to, a real one. My mother, my brother, my best friend, and the love of my life. They were waiting for me and this was an active effort to move in that direction. I was glad for the opportunity. We turned off the video game and each spent a little bit of time showering and getting ready, then we fed Concrete and left in Felicity’s hot rod.
Not surprisingly, the car show took place at night, and instead of being at a convention center like a regular show might be, this one was outside in something akin to a warehouse district close to the coast. Like a scene out of a movie, everyone filing into the show was receiving a mask to wear, likely to protect identities. I was shocked when I saw some police officers standing around, but the booze most of them were working on and scantily clad women dancing around them led me to believe they were dirty cops paid by some powerful men to keep things orderly.
I was slightly nervous that getting in would be difficult, but Felicity knew the right things to say to the guy guarding the entrance, and then we received our masks and were allowed inside. It was helpful that, despite being 18, my muscular stature and overgrown facial hair made me look older, and I kept close to Felicity as she led me further in.
“Okay,” she whispered to me when we were safely inside. “It would probably be best for you to not be seen asking about Connor, even if your face is covered. I’ll ask about him, I just need you to stay back and stay discreet.”
“I don’t want to do nothing,” I said. “I’ll ask around too, I just won’t ask about Connor.”
“Deon, that’s not a good idea. He could have people here. If you even ask about something related, you could end up getting caught,” Felicity said.
“The same is true for you. It’s not like Connor doesn’t know who you are.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want to just be passive in my own fate anymore. I want to do something.” There was more hesitation in her expression than I’d seen up to that point, and I could tell she really didn’t want me to do it. “We spend less time here if we divide and conquer. We each hit up a few places, ask a few questions, and then get the hell out of here before any dust kicks up.”
She took a deep breath in, held it, and then let it out. “Okay, but Deon, you have to swear to me that if anything seems suspicious, even a little bit, that you find me so we can get out of here. I mean, if someone lingers on you for more than a few seconds, you need to tell me.”
“I will. I promise,” I said. “Same goes for you.”
Felicity did a little side-step, like she wasn’t certain she wanted to leave, but eventually she walked away, and I did the same. The entire yard was arranged like a car show with beautiful, luxurious cars spaced all around. Display boards were set up with stats for each of the cars, but no one was looking at them. Everyone was mingling and talking to one another, and the people that seemed to be informants for the cars were at the center of all the attention. No one was in the market for a car, so it was just a matter of figuring out which industries were which.
Thinking about Connor, there was one aspect of his life I’d had more than my fair share of experience with, and that was the number of women that he used to his personal gain. I wasn’t an idiot—Connor was a good-looking man—but word spreads fast in a small town like Postings. Not only that, but Felicity was a woman from well outside of Postings, and just so happened to be a woman in a very specific, very useful capacity. The same was true for my mom, Connor’s former wife Alicia, and Miss Abrams at Postings Proper High School. Somehow, Connor was digging up women who were of use to him in very specific ways.
So I was looking for a trafficker of some sort, potentially someone who trafficked specific women’s information without them knowing, as opposed to the women themselves.
I wandered around for a bit, standing near the back of different conversations and listening for anything that sounded like what I was looking for. The different things I heard made my stomach turn. More than anything, I just wanted to leave and get away from all of those deplorable people before I ended up punching someone in the face, but I kept my family in the back of my mind, both the one I had currently and the one that was waiting for me back home, and resolved myself so that I could find the information I needed.
Finally, I came across a man in a rather high-scale suit, standing near a brand new Mercedes. Unlike a vast majority of the other cars, there were only men situated around this one, and very few of them were discreet about watching the women walking around. I was surprised more of them weren’t salivating.
I approached the collection of people and got close enough to stand near the back of the current conversation taking place.