Page 58 of A Breath of Life (Shadowy Solutions #4)

Tallus

K itty fussed on Costa’s computer as my cousin typed Memphis’s number into the burner and hit Connect.

It rang and rang and rang. I checked the time. Nine thirty. Memphis would be awake. One thing I knew about my best friend was his tendency to stay up until long past midnight, even if he worked in the morning.

“He may not answer if he doesn’t recognize the number,” I said. Although, that wasn’t entirely true. Considering the number of hookups Memphis accumulated, I doubted he would recognize half the calls he received.

“This number displays as unknown.”

I shrugged as the voicemail kicked on. “See?”

Costa hung up and tried again. That time, Memphis picked up right away, but the leery “Hello?” didn’t carry his usual lighthearted charm .

“Is this Memphis?” Costa used a tone much lower and more seductive than his typical speaking voice.

I quirked a brow. Was he trying to sound sexy or daunting?

“Um… Yes. Who’s this?” Memphis adopted a flirtier edge, and I rolled my eyes. He was such a slut.

“You don’t recognize my voice, baby?” Costa smirked and wiggled his brows when I gave him a what-the-fuck expression.

I may have mentioned my best friend’s proclivity for picking up random men, but the last thing I expected was my cousin to play the role of seducer, especially considering his past homophobic tendencies.

Those days had truly been laid to rest. I would have commended him if I wasn’t weirded out.

“Sweetheart,” Memphis cooed, “if I gave you my number and told you to call, chances are, I was drunk off my sweet little ass, so no, I don’t recognize your voice. It’s sexy, though. How about you refresh my memory.”

Nope. I couldn’t do it. I jammed an elbow into Costa’s ribs and issued a warning with my eyes alone. This was not the time for playing games.

With a chuckle, he said, “It’s Costa, Tallus’s cousin.”

“Huh. This isn’t weird at all. Aren’t you married? And straight? And how did you get my number? Oh my god, did we, like, run into each other at a club and…” He gasped. “Please tell me this is a setup, and you aren’t having a midlife identity crisis. Tallus will kill me.”

“I assure you. I’m not.” I couldn’t have been more grateful when Costa returned to his normal speaking voice. “We have a situation and need your help.”

“A situation? We? Is Tallus with you? What’s going on? I can’t decide if I’m supposed to be turned on or freaked out. In fact, I’m a little of both, and I don’t know how to feel about that. Can you do that voice again?”

“Good grief. Stop being disgusting. Memphis, someone kidnapped—” Costa elbowed me in the gut with far more force than I’d used on him. I crumpled forward and groaned. “Jesus that hurt. What the fuck?”

“I said, let me do the talking.”

“I don’t like the way you’re talking to my best friend. It’s… disturbing.”

“Tal?”

“We need an address for your friend Joshua Stroud,” Costa said.

Silence prevailed, and I could read Memphis’s confusion through the phone line.

“Did you hear me?” Costa asked.

“Um, yeah, but why?”

“Because he has information we need.”

“Tallus,” Memphis snapped. “This better not be about that club. I told you that in confidence.”

I glanced at my cousin, who seemed to consider his approach. “An address, Memphis. Our reasons are none of your concern.”

“Bullshit they are. Tell me why you want to talk to Joshua.”

Costa pressed his lips together, and I placed a hand on his thigh. “Baby doll. We have a serious situation, and we need to know the location of that club. You can’t remember, so we’ll go to the source.”

Memphis huffed. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. It’s… exclusive or some shit.”

“We know,” Costa said. “Your name won’t come up. Tell me how to find your friend, and this phone call never happened.”

“What’s going on? Tal, are you in danger?”

“Please, Memphis. We need Joshua’s address. ”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

I said nothing.

Costa stared at the phone.

Kitty glanced over from her spot at the computer.

For a moment, I was certain Memphis would hang up and refuse to help. We shared a stubbornness, and if it was me in his position, I might have done exactly that, but Memphis must have sensed the tension.

He knew enough of what had happened in the past few days to understand that something was wrong.

“Fine.” He spewed Joshua’s address, and Kitty wrote it down. “You owe me an explanation.”

“I love you, babes. Thank you.”

“Whatever.” Memphis hung up without saying goodbye.

***

At half past ten, the hotel room door opened with a slam, and my cousin roughly shoved a flushed, severely pissed off—and handcuffed—Joshua through the door.

The younger man stumbled and caught his balance as he hollered, “Impersonating a police officer is a criminal offense, asshole. I want a fucking lawyer. I want to know what this is about. I want—” his words fell away when he noticed Kitty and me—particularly me—standing in the middle of the room.

Instant recognition flared in his eyes. “You.”

“Hey, Josh. Good to see you again.”

Joshua whipped his head around to face Costa as my cousin slammed the door. The rumpled jeweler scanned the room, the color draining from his face before meeting my gaze again. “What have you done? Why am I here?”

Costa wrenched Joshua around to get at the cuffs, but the man flung himself sideways, breaking free as he screamed, “Get away from me.”

“Fucking relax.” My cousin firmed his grip to keep Joshua immobile as he freed his hands.

Unbound, Joshua plastered himself against the farthest wall. The wild-eyed terror on his face glowed raw and ripe as his gaze flicked every which way. His chest heaved.

“Christ. What the fuck did you do to him?” I asked my cousin.

“He kidnapped me.”

“I didn’t have time for him to decide if he wanted to cooperate or not. I used the element of surprise instead.”

“So you kidnapped him,” I confirmed.

Costa shrugged.

“You fucking lied to me,” Joshua snapped.

To me, he said, “He told me he was a cop. He said there was a break-in at the store, and my parents couldn’t be reached.

He asked me to follow him to make a report.

He showed me a fake badge. The instant I was outside my house and halfway to my car, he manhandled me and put me in handcuffs. ”

“I am a cop, dumbass. The badge is real.” Costa tossed his credentials at Joshua’s feet. “The situation is sensitive, and I’m working under the radar right now.”

Joshua stared at the badge on the ground, maneuvering it with the toe of his shoe, angling it the right way. He didn’t bend and pick it up, and I thought he was too afraid to unglue himself from the wall. “You’re undercover?”

Costa huffed. “Sure. We’ll go with that. ”

Joshua glanced from Costa to me to Kitty. His brow creased. He didn’t seem to know what to make of the seemingly sweet elderly woman at the computer and shifted his attention back to me. “What’s going on?”

Somehow, based on the haunted look in his eyes, I had a feeling he knew it had something to do with mine and Diem’s visit the other day.

“The Royal Whispering Ace. We need a location.”

Joshua’s face crumpled. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the wall. A whimper left his quivering lips. “I knew it. I fucking knew it. You guys came in with that card, and I knew.”

“We need an address,” Costa said.

Joshua fervently shook his head. “No. No way. I don’t know anything. I can’t help you.”

“That’s a lie.” Costa got in his face. “You recently took someone there. I need all the details you can give me about this establishment, the address, the men running it, and the layout of the building.”

Joshua looked like he was going to be sick. He continued to shake his head, fingers scrabbling for purchase on the wall like he wanted to burrow a hole in it and crawl inside. “Please leave me alone. Let me go home.”

I held up a hand. Costa’s approach was too aggressive, and Joshua’s information was too pivotal to frighten him away.

It was bad enough that my cousin basically kidnapped the guy.

That was a discussion for another time because it wasn’t exactly how we’d planned the encounter, although a tiny part of me was impressed with Costa’s recklessness.

I stepped forward. “Josh, please listen. The guy I was with the other day. He’s in trouble.”

“The card. I know. They’ll kill him. He’s marked.”

“You knew that when we brought it to you, didn’t you? ”

“Vaguely.” He eyed Costa before continuing. “After you left, I did some inquiring. I’d never seen the ace of spades or knew what it represented, but its construction was unmistakable. It came from the club. That much I knew. He was marked.”

“No. The card wasn’t meant for us. The person it was meant for almost died in the street— would have died in the street—if we hadn’t saved his life.

We didn’t know anything about it. Ace wasn’t pleased and had my boyfriend kidnapped and beaten.

They’re holding him hostage until we locate the man who was supposed to be killed so they can finish the job, but that guy’s in the wind.

I have less than twenty hours to locate him, or they’ll kill my boyfriend and his family instead.

Since I can’t find the man I’m supposed to find, my only other option is to infiltrate this club and get my boyfriend out. ”

Joshua laughed almost hysterically. “You’re fucking insane. Do you have a death wish? What you’re talking about is suicide.”

The draining pull on my body was real. The hours were catching up with me.

Diem’s bruised face came to mind. His shy smile.

His hesitant laugh that he rarely shared with anyone but me.

His gentle hands and the careful way he touched me, ever aware of his strength, always ensuring he didn’t cause harm.