Page 86 of Taste of Blood

I pause in my perusal of the folder and give her my full attention. “What do you mean?”

“Turns out it was mentioned more than once in that Reddit thread, mostly as a meetup site. There were several references to it with dates and times, like it was a regular thing.”

“Any names?”

She shakes her head. “Just the online handles. But that’s not the best part. I did a little digging on the bar itself and discovered it was owned by a local man until about four years ago, when he was bought out by an equity firm. I followed the money on that and it led me to an offshore holding company.”

“I’m sensing you’re going somewhere with this,” I prod. I know Elaine has done her due diligence–that’s what I pay herfor–but sometimes she can get too invested in the dramatic reveal.

“They can run, but they can’t hide from me. Peeling back the layers took most of the day, but eventually it led me to one Howard Thalium.”

“What do we know about him?”

“Well, he’s a trust fund baby, comes from old European money. I couldn’t find much on the family, but Howard apparently came here some thirty years ago and set up operations. If my math is correct, that would put him in his mid-sixties, but check out the photo in the file.”

I flip through the pages back to the pictures. One of them is an enlarged image of a clean cut young man in a suit getting into a sports car in front of what looks like an elaborate mansion. The photo appears to have been taken from a distance judging by the grainy quality, possibly from a high-powered lens. I examine the image more closely; there’s something vaguely familiar about the man, but I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe I’ve come across him in business before.

“This is Thalium?”

“The only picture I can find of him. He apparently takes his privacy very seriously.”

“How long ago was this taken?”

“The article where I found it was written last year, when Thalium’s company acquired a small Asian pharmaceutical firm.”

Last year? I flip through the pages in the folder to the article she referred to and pause.

You have got to be kidding me.

“This is the name of his company?”

She grins. “One and the same. Tell me that guy isn’t a vampire.”

I place the photo and the article side by side on my desk. “I believe you are correct. Why didn’t this come up in your searches before?”

“I wasn’t looking for a company.”

I look down at the article and read it aloud. “Howard Thalium, owner and CEO of Python Industries.” That can’t be a coincidence. “Do you realize what this means?”

She nods. “I believe we have a picture of the Python.”

I finish reading through the file then pull out my phone and call Cord. It goes to voicemail, so I assume he’s busy doing who knows what. I leave him a message to call me as soon as he gets a chance, emphasizing that it’s related to the Python. In the meantime, I tell Elaine to keep digging.

I’m reminded, not for the first time, of what she always says–in this day of cell phones and social media, everyone has a digital footprint. It’s something I need to take more seriously myself. I guard my own privacy as much as I can, heeding the warning given to me by my mentor Carlyle years ago. That’s why I’ve moved several times over the years. But my company is a constant in my life. Maybe I should consider finding someone else to run it so I can step out of the limelight. It wouldn’t do for people to start questioning my existence. They’re already suspicious of how someone who looks as young as me could head up a company like this.

Trouble is, what would I do then? This business is my life.

Or at least, a big part of it. If I had Cord in it again, would I consider walking away? Would he? Could we go somewhere else together? Someplace where we’re not known. That’s what a lot of Clan members do. If Elaine could find someone like the Python, who’s obviously a stickler for his privacy, that doesn’t bode well for my own efforts to fly under the radar.

So far I’ve been able to successfully brush off the comments and questions, but that could all change. And if it does, ifsomeone starts connecting the dots, would the Clan force me to move on?

Carlyle has been able to operate his businesses from the shadows for years, but he rarely goes out and he’s never photographed. I don’t want to live my life as a recluse.

And then there’s men like Dante. He’s right out in the open, but he gets away with it through intimidation and bribery. I don’t know how long he’s been running the Crimson Guild in New York, but he was well-established years before Cord and I moved here.

I walk back out to Elaine’s desk, catching her as she’s packing up for the day. “How good is my backstory?”

She stops and looks over at me. “Worried someone like me might find out your secret?”