for privacy in every direction, they sat.
“I’m going to get right to it,” Nick said. “Do you happen to know a dragon who goes by the name Martin Rossi?”
Drake scratched his head. “No. I—” He suddenly fell silent, then tipped his head back and groaned. “Yes. Dammit. I do. I have an uncle in New York who goes by that alias sometimes.”
New York. It fits. “What’s his real name?”
“Irwin.” Drake leaned away and shook his head. “You don’t want to get mixed up with him. He’s the reason I came to Boston.”
Nick raised his eyebrows. Was Drake working for his uncle in Boston? Or afraid of him and hiding here?
“What can you tell me about him?”
Drake bit his lip and hesitated. At last he let out a hot breath. “My uncle has his own brand of ‘family,’ kind of like the Mafia. I may be related to him by blood, but he wouldn’t hesitate to off me, if you know what I mean.”
Nick nodded. “So you’re hiding out from him here?”
“Yes. I’d heard Boston had more than its share of paranormals. Something about the old places reminding immortals of their home cities back in Europe. Not that it looks anything like my native Scotland. I had hoped to locate some other dragons—ones like the family I grew up in, not the distant uncle’s family in New York. Do you happen to know of any other dragons?”
Nick sympathized with the guy hoping to locate others like himself and wished he could help, but Drake was the first dragon he’d met. “No, sorry. So I guess your uncle’s so-called family must not have a presence in Boston if you’re here.”
“Not as far as I know. But why are you looking for him?”
“He might be behind a kidnapping I’m investigating.” After Drake’s long hesitation, Nick decided he needed reassurance. “Don’t worry about talking to me. I won’t let anyone know we spoke.”
“Don’t be so quick to promise that. If he gets wind that either of us is involved, he wouldn’t hesitate to hold your girlfriend hostage to get what he wants.”
Nick’s spine straightened. “You’d never tell him about Brandee, would you?”
“Of course not. I want nothing to do with him.”
“How would you feel about helping to put him behind bars?”
Drake let out a snort, followed by a small curl of smoke. “If I can do it without being seen, heard, or identified in any way, I’d love to.”
“You probably can. I won’t ask you to do anything. I just need to know his habits, his weaknesses. Anything I might be able to exploit.”
Drake leaned back and stretched his long legs in front of him. “I didn’t stay with him long. My parents obviously had no idea what he was like, or they’d never have sent me to live with him in the first place.”
Nick suddenly had a glimmer of hope. “So, can you tell me anything about him?”
“Yeah. I can give you his address, but the place is a fortress. You can’t just waltz in there and take him out in cuffs.”
Nick already had the address but didn’t have time to check it out. “Any security I can get around?”
“On rainy days the guards are inside. He has attack dogs and they’d be in too.”
“So all I have to do is get him to come outside by himself in the rain. Sure. That should be easy.” Nick didn’t mean his sarcasm to be so apparent, but nothing about this case was easy.
“Wait. I’ve got it,” Drake said.
“I’m listening.”
“He has a driver. The limo goes in for service once a month. It goes to a car wash once a week. I think if you could meet his driver alone, you could arrange a bribe.”
“What makes you think the driver would give him up?”
“My uncle is a hard man to work for. I personally witnessed him yelling at his driver for driving too slow, too fast, getting stuck in traffic, you name it.”
Nick wished he knew more about this driver. He wished he knew more about Drake, for that matter, but his instincts were telling him Drake was on the up and up.
“What’s his name, and do you know when and where he gets the limo serviced?”
“His name is Tom and I rode along a couple of times, just to get out of the house. If he’s going to the same one, I can tell you where it is. I don’t know if he’s using the same schedule, though.”
“Doesn’t matter. I can call the place