Page 80 of The Kingpin's Call Girl

“Excuse me? No. He was just like, this is over. From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t have repeats with anybody, and I saw him three times, so I think I should get a reward.”

“Anything to report?”

“Not really. We don’t discuss mafia business.”

“So you can’t think of anything of note.”

“Like what?”

“How about the fact that his face looked like a punching bag?”

My heart nearly jumps into my throat. So they’re following him?

“Isn’t fighting, like, an everyday thing for a guy in the mafia?”

“Don’t play stupid. He was attacked. That’s something of note.”

“Sorry.” I frown at the fountain, not loving how mean Bender’s gotten. Or maybe the chummy ally bit was the act.

“Did he say anything about who he fought?”

“He said, ‘You should see the other guys,’ and had a bad concussion. That’s why I stayed.”

“Guys plural? More than one?”

“Yes.”

“Any significant injuries?”

I think about the old scars. But that’s not what Bender’s asking about. “I’m not a nurse, but he was pretty messed up. Cuts, bruises, the whole head injury situation. Acting out of it.”

“Too out of it to fuck you?” Bender says.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard the question.”

“I don’t find such details germane.”

“Listen to the schoolgirl.Germane. Well, I find such details quite germane.”

My heart is pounding. “Why?” I ask, even as I’m wondering why I should care. Is the hill I’m gonna die on?

“I’ll decide what’s important,” he says.

I sniff. “Well... it was a prostitution hookup. That involves sexual activities.”

Bender frowns like he’s unhappy to hear that Luka could be injured and still want to have sex. Does he see himself as being insome kind of pissing contest with Luka in addition to wanting to arrest him?

“What did you discuss?”

“Not much. I’m hardly a confidant. Orton came by in the morning.”

“What did he and Orton talk about?”

“It was hard to hear. I was in the other room.”

Bender regards me suspiciously. “But I bet you heard a little bit, right? Being that you know how important it is to help me out. Anything else about Lazarus? Did he reach out to Aleksio?”

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