Lawful Mates - Liam Kingsley Page 0,41

the senator—if it turned out that the senator was, in fact, involved in Milo’s disappearance.

I was still convinced he was, as did Mrs. Bates, even though we had yet to find the proof we needed. Hopefully, that would change today.

Without an answer as to who I could take with me into this far from ideal situation, I headed to my car. I would just have to go alone and hope for the best. It was part of the job… And I kept telling myself that in an attempt to shake off my nerves.

Once I got to the meeting place, an abandoned warehouse just past the Blackwater town limit, and knowing this meeting shouldn’t last long, I decided I should at least send out some texts letting people know where I was—just in case things went sour. I shot off my location to Percy, Kevin, and Owen for good measure, telling them I had a lead and just wanted to take proper precautions, and that I’d check in later. That would have to be good enough.

I climbed from my car, not seeing anyone, but the guy had said he would be waiting. Slowly, I walked across the dirt parking lot and looked around the other side of the building.

A man stepped out of the shadows. No, not a man at all. A kid who looked like he was barely of legal age. I could scent his fear right away—as well as the fact he was human. Okay, that was a little reassuring.

I held my empty hands out to show I had no ill-intentions. “Hey, man. Are you the guy I spoke with earlier?”

He nodded, his face partially shrouded by a hoodie even though it was still warm out—the beginning of September not having brought any cooler weather along with it.

“You promise you won’t tell the cops about me?” he asked nervously. He looked around skittishly as if he thought a bunch of cops might jump out of the trees at any moment.

“I always keep my sources safe,” I said in response. “How did you even know to contact me?”

He seemed to relax, but not by much. “The streets talk, man.” He shrugged. “And there are plenty of people who get paid not to. I just don’t feel right about what I saw.”

I nodded, keeping back slightly so I didn’t frighten him any further. He was definitely on edge, and I felt a sudden sadness for the kid. He was so young and already had a world-weary vibe to him.

“Can you tell me what you saw?”

“So that alley, the one where the senator’s stepson was last seen,” he said, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I know the one.”

He nodded. “What you may not know is that the club isn’t the only place where people go looking to hook up. That alley is a hot spot for hookups and prostitutes.” He averted his eyes, looking more jumpy by the second as he talked.

I frowned, finally realizing what was going on with the kid, why he wanted to avoid the cops, and why he was in that alley in the first place. There was a pang in my heart at the certainty that the kid was selling himself on the streets.

I hated that part of the job—seeing the parts of our world that I wanted to help but couldn’t. There was nothing I could say to the kid that would change his circumstances. And I was there for a reason—to find out what happened to my client’s son.

“So what exactly went down with Milo? The senator’s kid,” I stated when he didn’t seem to know who Milo was.

“Right. So, I saw Milo and this other guy come into the alley. They didn’t know I was there. It all happened pretty fast. The dude was giving Milo a blow job but couldn’t seem to get him off. Milo was frustrated, annoyed with the dude, and told him to just forget it. Told him he was done with it and not to bother trying to hook up with him again. Well, the other guy didn’t take that so well. He got pretty pissed, then told Milo he would regret it. Those were his exact words.”

I drew in a deep breath. He’d regret it. Those words only made Miller more of a suspect. I had to be sure it was the same guy, though.

“Can you remember what this other guy looked like?”

The kid nodded, giving me a quick description that matched Miller exactly.

“Then what happened?”

“He stormed off. Left Milo