“I’m a patient man, Day. I’ll wait forever, as long as you’re here with me.”
“Your mom was right. You really are a romantic.”
Jackson kissed Day’s forehead as he drifted off to sleep.
“I got some info on your guy,” Webster said by way of greeting.
Jackson dug his palm into his eye, grunting in response, his phone tucked between his face and his shoulder. Day was sound asleep on top of Jackson’s chest, head tucked right up under his chin and hands tucked under Jackson’s back. They’d stayed up late and then fallen asleep on the couch and Jackson was feeling it.
“You know it’s, like, eleven in the morning…right, boss?” Webster asked, tone chipper.
“You know I can fire you and hire five guys just like you for the cost of your salary…right, employee?” Jackson grumbled.
Webster snickered. “But would they be as pretty as me? I think not.”
Jackson wasn’t in the mood to play games. “Just tell me what you got before I do fire you, pretty boy.”
Day stirred at Jackson’s slightly elevated voice, wiggling his naked little body against Jackson in a way that he definitely wasn’t mad about. “Who are you calling pretty boy when I’m right here naked, hard, and horny?” Day pouted, voice sleep soaked.
“Hush,” Jackson said before adding, “You know I think you’re the prettiest boy.”
“Uh, should I call you back, boss? Sounds like your pro-bono client has some additional duties for you to attend to.”
“Webster…” Jackson said, his voice a warning.
“You tell him, Daddy,” Day grumbled, stretching his limbs with an audible groan before snuggling deeper into Jackson with a sigh that puffed into his face, his morning breath making Jackson grimace, then smile. Day didn’t seem in any hurry to wake up, and if Webster didn’t have anything concrete, Jackson had no interest in leaving this spot until he was good and ready. He’d be more than happy to spend every day waking up with his arms full of sleepy, snuggly Day, bad breath and all.
“Dad—” Webster started, the question in his voice evident.
Jackson cut him off. “If you finish that word, I will not only fire you, I’ll blacklist you to every security firm in the entire world,” he warned.
There was another snicker from Webster before he said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fine. So, the guy you’re looking for, Oscar Delgado, is in charge of the payroll for Day’s main camming account, which is interesting because while Oscar Delgado doesn’t have a record, Oscar Salazar does.”
“Who the fuck is Oscar Salazar?” And why should Jackson give a shit?
“A two-time felon who’s done two short stints in prison. One for attempted rape and another for second degree murder, which got bumped down to manslaughter. He got eight years but only served four before he was paroled for good behavior.”
“Are you trying to tell me that Oscar Delgado and Oscar Salazar are the same person? Because if they’re not, I might still consider firing you,” Jackson murmured, wishing this conversation had happened after coffee.
“I’m telling you that Oscar Salazar has reinvented himself as Oscar Delgado, and Oscar Salazar no longer exists. It takes skill to disappear and reappear as a completely separate person. Like, it takes technical skills or Fed friends. I suppose he could have turned state’s evidence on somebody but I sincerely doubt it. It would take me a lot longer than two days to dig up information if the Marshalls had shoved him in witness protection. This was thorough but by no means Fed thorough.”
“So, you think this Salazar guy could be Day’s stalker?”
There was a creaking on the other side of the line as Webster moved in his ancient office chair. Jackson hated it, but Webster was weirdly superstitious about the chair. “I’m just saying if he managed to disappear himself and reappear a year later with a new life, he definitely has the skills to hide his location. Also, he seems to have frequent phone meetings with Day, which your boy said seemed contrived. He’s local. His home address is less than five miles from Day’s apartment, and the cam headquarters is right here in LA. Maybe he wasn’t trying to hide his face but his voice?”
“I can’t do much with maybe,” Jackson rasped.
Webster sighed. “You could hand it over to the cops, let them interrogate him. It just seems like one too many coincidences.”
“I’m going to go down there and question him myself,” Jackson said. “I’ll take Day. If we surprise him, we might be able to get his knee-jerk reaction to seeing Day there in the flesh.”
“That’s a bad idea, boss. What if he flips and pulls a weapon?”
“I’m not leaving Day alone and I’m not leaving this up to Jimmy. We have the element of surprise on our side and the fact that he’s at his place of employment where nobody knows him as anything but an upstanding citizen. If anything, he’ll try to play dumb and act innocent. If he’s lying, I’ll be able to tell.”
“You’re the boss, boss, but if you end up on the six o’clock news, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Jackson shook his head. These idiots had no respect. “Shoot me everything you have including his home and business addresses and his previous record.”
