Page 68 of Six of Hearts
“Name your price,” I growled.
“A thousand bucks should suffice,” he said and I rolled my eyes.
“Fine,” I responded. “You get me the info I need, and we can compare notes over coffee as soon as you’re done.”
“I’ll get started right away,” he replied.
“Have a wonderful day, sir.”
“Fuck you, you prick,” I hissed, and hung up the phone.
I texted Gabriel a quick update: we were being extorted for info, but his response matched my sentiments entirely.
‘It’s for Aria, so I’ll pay whatever I have to,’ it read.
That was exactly it.
Aria meant the world to us and our children. Any amount of money spent to get her back home was well worth it. I met up with him at his office, and we used some of Gabriel’s contacts in the department to begin having a handwriting test, paper test, and fingerprinting of the photos done to lend aid to our search for the mysterious asshole who was turning our lives upside down.
As with the man at the post office, many people turned their noses up at us until we could flash some money.
We had to pay to have the tests run, and pay extra to have them expedited, but I was keeping a list in my mind. Anyone who wasn’t willing to help for the sake of having a friend on the inside would be remembered.
They would come to regret working us over for money one day, even if I was willing to pay it to get our girl back.
The day of research ended with my contact at the post office informing me that he had in fact found some information aboutthe package that had been sent. He didn’t have a name, but he did have an address in West Palm Beach, and it would take a little more investigation on the ground in Florida to figure out exactly who sent the package over.
I called a guy I knew in Florida, a seedy fellow by the name of Gabriel.
“Well, if it isn’t A.D.A. Liam,” he answered the phone. “Still putting away the world’s worst?”
“Well, you’re still out there, so apparently not,” I responded, and he chuckled. “You still got a sick kid?”
Gabriel was a Florida drug lord who, after having a child with severe physical disabilities, tried to turn over a new leaf and become a contact for the FBI.
Whenever I ended up working on cases that crossed state lines, federal agencies would provide lists of people who could be reached out to who were willing to help answer questions for the feds.
After meeting Gabriel for the first time, I learned that he discovered straight and narrow wasn’t as lucrative as the crooked and corrupt and went back into his life of crime, doubling down on drugs and pimping. With a child with such outrageous medical needs, money spoke strongly to him, and he was willing to do just about anything to get his hands on it.
He let out a shallow whistle. “Right for the gut, eh, Liam?”
“I don’t have time to waste,” I replied.
“I’ve got some money if you can help me out.”
“How much?” he responded.
“How about you send me all your outstanding medical bills, and I’ll make them go away?” I retorted. It was twofold. I was a father before anything else. I couldn’t imagine having no money and a child with thousands of dollars in medical bills. If I couldprotect an innocent child and get answers to my questions, it was a win-win.
“Well?”
Gabriel sounded a little shocked. “If you’re serious, you’ve got access to the full gamut of services.”
“You’ve got my email. Get them to me, and I’ll handle it, but then I really do expect everything you’ve got,” I said.
“You make those bills go away, and you need not worry about a thing,” he said. “What do you need?”
“I’ve got an address for you. Someone sent a threatening package certified mail to a friend of mine. I need you to find out who it was and get me any information you can,” I explained.
