Page 126 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

I reach out, swipe the book, and shove it into my pocket.

Did I just do that?

Yes. Yes, I did.

It seems like nobody saw me take it. I think.

My pulse whooshes in my ears.

I’m no master criminal, but I think I’m in the clear... unless I try running out of here. I need to wait because the detective obviously wasn’t done with me.

I go for a bored face, but the inside of my head feels like a blaring siren.

The detective comes back and gives me a card. “If you think of anything more that might help us—even if it seems insignificant—gimme a call.”

I assure her that I will, and I get out of there as fast as I can.

I force myself to walk a full two blocks before I duck into a bagel shop around a corner and get in line. I check around for cameras—more of channeling Luka—and, satisfied there aren’t any, pull out the book like I’m just a bored college student grabbing study time in line.

There is, in fact, a scribbled note stuck inside on light blue paper. I pull it out and open it up.

There’s a name at the top—Zamir Prifti—underlined twice.Born: St. Louis Fernbrook Health Center. Data leak: boon!There’s a date of birth that makes this person a little older than Luka.

Mother: Felicia Warner. Father: Besa Zogaj. BA, Psychology; University of Missouri–St. Louis. Scholarship: track, 3x state champ - hammer + shotput.Then:Half Zogaj brother.

Discuss:

•Dropped off face of earth 7 yrs ago

•Track team photos: ALL missing ???

•Name change / NYC?

•THE CHATTER!!!

I stand there staring at the paper.

Luka has a half-brother? This is important information for him.

This is how Darren did the notes last time, with the discussion topics arranged in bullet points, and he filled me in on each one. But none of them were in all caps. What is the chatter? What did he find, exactly?

He told me nobody would be more thorough. He seemed proud of that. And he had said that he had more leads. This must have been what he was talking about.

And it very well might have gotten him killed.

What’s up with the track team photos? I pull out my phone and do some googling around collegiate Missouri championship track teams from the years that would put this half-brother in his late teens and early twenties. Sure enough, the Hammer team is missing all three years where Zamir’s name is mentioned. The shotput squad is missing two years when Zamir’s name is there. But the team pictures are there in the years before and after in their matching red shirts.

There’s some sort of hammer team insignia on the shirts that looks oddly familiar. I zero in on them and realize they look like Thor’s hammer.

The exact same insignia that was on Bender’s red shirt that day at the fountain.

Is Bender Luka’s brother? Is that why he wanted the DNA?

Chapter Forty-Five

LUKA

The call comes in the next morning just as Orton and I are getting out of a meeting. My guys located Declan, the last of the guys who attacked and killed Sara.