Page 71 of Shameless in Vegas

Her and me coming out of this thing alive andtogether.

EIGHTEEN

JOAQUIN

“VINNIE PASQUINO.” THE P.I. coughs over the line and then wheezes through a smoker’s voice, “What can I do for ya?”

From the window of my hotel room in Midtown Manhattan, I squint at about a hundred pedestrians passing like a horde of ants on the sidewalk below. This guy doesn’t exactly sound like he’s “one of the best private investigators in New York” like Malachi had previously mentioned, butokay then.

“Uhh… yeah.” I clear my throat. “I need a P.I. for a situation I’m dealing with, and I was told you’re pretty good.”

“By who?”

I pinch the side of the heavy, off-white drapes, absently shaking them as I rack my brain. “Uhh… his name is Al,” I blurt out and hope for the best.

“Al?” There’s a weighted pause, and my eyes shift upward. A mass of dark clouds rolls across the sky, briefly blocking out the sun before the blinding beams of light force my gaze back down again. “Ohh… Al! Alec Branneth, right?”

My jaw flaps for a half second before I nod to myself. “Yep.Alec.”

“No shit! Haven’t heard from him in forever. How’s he doin’?”

“Um, good.” I clench my fist around the drapes and shake them again. “Yeah, he’s great. So, listen, Mr. Pasquino. I’ve got a—”

“You can call me Vinnie, kid.” He coughs again. “I didn’t catch your name.”

So, do I give him a fake name,oorr…?

“Joaquin.” I drop the drapes and shove my hand in the pocket of my slacks, then turn away from the window to pace the length of the room. “Just Joaquin.”

“Right.” He hacks yet again and then spits. “So, whaddya need, kid?”

“My wife’s gone missing.” I jingle the change in my pocket and pray he doesn’t need any info that has anything to do with the cartel. “I just need to know whereabouts she is so I can go pick her up. I don’t need you to actually go—”

“Okay, does your wife have a court mandated protective order against you?” Vinnie rattles off, monotone like he’s said the same thing to a hundred people before me.

My brow pulls low. “No.”

“I don’t mean to insult you like that, but I gotta cross my I’s and dot my T’s, y’know?” He wheezes a phlegmy laugh. “Never know if someone’s a psycho stalker tryin’ to get clever.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Anyway.” There’s a shuffle of paper. “You’re gonna email me with photos of her and her basic description, approximate height and weight, eye color, so on and so forth. I need her full name, her last known whereabouts, and the places you know she might have gone, and places she typically used to go before she left. Then I’m gonna reply with my fee.” There’s a pause. “I’m assuming Al gave you an idea of my fee, correct? I ain’t cheap.”

“Yeah-yeah-yeah.” I waggle my head up and down in a hasty nod. “Money’s not a problem at all.”

“That’s good to hear. So send me all that stuff, and once I get the first half of the payment, we’ll get started.”

“Right.” I chew my bottom lip, and I’m going to have to make up a fake email address to deal with this guy so he doesn’t immediately refuse to work for me. “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll do that as soon as we hang up.”

“Excellent.” After rattling off his email address, Vinnie adds, “Out of curiosity, how long has she been gone? Just to gimme an idea of how much work is gonna be involved in locating her.”

“She only left yesterday morning, but I have no idea where she is.” I rub the stubble on my chin as I pivot and pace back to the window. On reflex, I skim the people below again. Cabs are lurching forward and abruptly braking in the bumper to bumper traffic on Sixth Avenue. The sky looks like it’s about to open up and dump an afternoon shower all over Midtown. “She’s not from New York, but she has no means to travel and leave the state or anything, so I’m almost positive she’s just in the city somewhere.”

“Ah, yeah, yeah.” A chair squeaks like he’s reclining at his desk. “Al’s girl was just roaming the streets of New York until her body got pulled from the Hudson.”

My stomach leaps into my throat, but I can’t make any reaction because I’m probably supposed to know something aboutAland whatever prompted him to contact Vinnie. I obviously have no idea whathissituation was all about, but I have a feeling he wasn’t tangled up withmafiosos, so now my brain is flooding with all kinds of sick-as-fuck worst-case scenarios about what Natalia’s dealing with right now.

“Right.” I cough into my fist. “Yeah. That’s why I… y’know… didn’t want to wait to call you.”

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