“Yeah.”
“Banks?”
“He’s not the other one. We’re tight but not that tight.” He was silent again and this lasted more than a beat so I prompted, “Did you get me?”
“I got you, Sylvie,” he answered quietly.
I flipped the left turn signal on, slowed, stopped, waiting for my opening and pulled into the parking lot of The Retreat. I found my spot and reversed expertly in it. I switched off the ignition then I reached behind Creed’s seat to grab my camera. I rested it on my thigh, grabbed my coffee, threw back a slug, returned it then yanked out my cell, found the number and hit go.
It rang twice in my ear before I heard, “You’re killin’ me.”
I grinned into the phone as I stared at the building. “C’mon, buddy, what would you do without my incentives?”
“They find out I’m giving you info, they’ll find other places for their rendezvous.”
“There are no other places in Denver who rent for an afternoon and have rubber mattresses, Clyde,” I reminded him then continued. “Looking for a guy, five ten, salt and pepper, glasses, paunch, suit, drives a Chevy mini-van.”
“No mini-van,” Clyde stated.
“He been in before?”
“Fuck,” Clyde muttered.
He had.
“Wednesday’s his day, yeah?” I asked.
“Fuck,” Clyde muttered.
“Crisp bill, Clyde.”
“They usually get here around one.”
I looked at my watch. Five minutes.
“Right,” I said into the phone. “I’ll be in the office with your money after they check in and get to their room.”
“Fuck. You’re killin’ me.” Clyde was still muttering.
“They ever quit coming?” I asked.
He didn’t answer my question because they didn’t. They always kept coming in more ways than one.
Instead, he said, “See you in ten minutes.”
I grinned again and flipped my phone shut.
“Clyde the day clerk?” Creed asked as I shoved my phone back in my back pocket, grabbed my coffee and the camera. I took a sip of it as I switched the camera on.
“Yup,” I answered as I shoved the coffee back between my thighs then I looked to him. “So, the last month, Drake Nair on radar but nothing, Nick Sebring on radar but nothing and you ascertained that Rhash and I would never f**k Knight. You get anything else?”
“Lively did the full check on your girl’s client last night,” he replied. “I followed him through it even though he didn’t know it. When you hit that house last night, I was as surprised to see the for sale sign in the yard as you were.”
This was good to know.
“So Live isn’t falling down on the job,” I surmised.
“That’s still up for debate. I just know none of the team has deposited anything unusual in their accounts. They’ve also not purchased anything unusual, high ticket items or even medium range toys. Half-assed tails, they aren’t off the beaten path or normal routines. Phone records show nothin’ either. So if there’s a mole, he’s playin’ it smart and that means we dig deep.”