Brooke giggled and headed for the bathroom as Blake started to strip the sheets from the bed. “It’s a deal. I should warn you, however: graphic artists can be a little eclectic. Nothing I’ll do will be anything you’ll hate, I promise, but youmay need a few months before your eyes adjust after this sea of gray you’ve been living with.”
“Fucking save us all,” Blake muttered before she burst out laughing. “I think I’ll live, baby. Now, get that cute ass moving so we can go to sleep and get some rest. Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that tomorrow morning is going to crack a bunch of shit wide open? If I were making book on this, the odds would favor us finding out way more than we ever bargained for.”
?ω?ω?ω?
“Looks like your friend is here.”
“No friend of mine, lover. He’s evidently on the prowl once more.”Kilgore had disappeared into a private chat.“He started making appearances again over the last few days, although his friends have seemed to have gone extinct. Such a shame, really. What’s a girl to do when she’s lonely and has no one to play with?”
“Somehow, I suspect it’s not playmates you’re searching for, little moonchild.”
“Aren’t you a clever one, lover? As a matter of fact, since we last spoke, some interesting rumblings have been swirling about that have me rather intrigued. Like, why bother laundering your dirty clothes when you can just keep buying new ones?”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, even though you can make bank, doing laundry is an awful lot of hot, sweaty work. Too many lazy people expect you to wash, dry, and fold it all, but then want you to share the clean clothes and the money you’ve earned doing it when they’re done, even though they did very little to help. On top of it, the clothes keep getting re-dirtied, so you have to start the process all over again. Much better to find a one-and-donesituation where you keep the vast majority of the rewards for yourself and move on.”
“And you think that’s what our ‘acquaintance’ is doing?”
“I know it is. The thing is, he doesn’t seem to share the toys in his sandbox very well. At first, I was kind of perplexed, wondering why he was all of a sudden sniffing around ‘dead things’ all by himself. I mean, ewwwww. Such a boy thing to do, but he didn’t want to play with anybody else, which I found odd. Especially because he has these good friends you would think he shares everything with.”
“So, the question becomes, is he playing with that many dead things? And what is he doing with them?”
“Well, that’s just it, lover. The world is full of crazy people who will buy specific dead things, if you know where to go and who to contact. It’s a very profitable business. But if you don’t have an in? An occasional random score you were lucky to fall into isn’t going to fill your purse. However…what if you can sell LIVE things, without getting into any tawdry sex stuff, especially if your fish practically swallows the hook whole all by themselves in addition?”
“Interesting.”
“Indeed. I do believe our acquaintance is walking around with his tackle box and fishing pole, but he’s angling alone. Not that his friends wouldn’t have joined him, but they weren’t invited to the party. So sad. It also sounds as though he has his back to the wall regarding moving product with his friends. Things are going south, but his personal interest has waned because he is more interested in dropping his line in the water at the moment instead. The thing is, though, it doesn’t sound as though his friends are very happy with him because of his disinterest, from everything I’ve heard.”
“Tawdry sex stuff doesn’t sound like his focus, however, from what you’ve said. Exploiting women is not his primary motivation.”
“That doesn’t mean the gentler sex doesn’t end up dangling from his hook quite often, darling. Sometimes, playing with live things means taking aim at the most easily exploitable among us for profit, which too sadly means the women of the world are frequently the ones who end up with the short end of the stick.”
“Care to share your sources, Cyb3rmoon?”
“A lady never kisses and tells, Shadow. For reasons, this will have to stay my secret. Truth be known, the business of dead things and live things usually isn’t that exciting to me. So many more exhilarating prospects to focus on, you know? But if there’s a way to make money from those ‘things,’ with no one the wiser? Baby needs a new pair of shoes, lover, so I’m all in.”
“I will find you, you know, my moonchild. And I suspect you won’t like it much when I do.”
“Sadly, unless I want to be found, darling, you never will. Many have tried and failed. Besides, I don’t make it a habit to hurt women. Since it’s certainly not a secret in Purgatory that the one thing you don’t do, EVER, is hurt, manipulate, or abuse the ladies, unless you want to find The Shadow’s blade at your throat, I should hold no interest for you.”
“You underestimate your appeal.”
“Aren’t you sweet? Nonetheless, our mutual acquaintance doesn’t seem to know I’m alive, which I suppose is just as well. Sneaking up on your prey once an illusion has broken is much easier when they are distracted because they lack the cover of a lair. Now, I must go. My plans are far from final as of yet, so there is still much work to be done.”
“Be very, very careful, sweetheart. Else the breath you’ll feel breathing down your neck is attached to the one who can cage you for good.”
“How scary, but I’ll take my chances. Goodnight, lover. One more thing, however. You may not want to forget the mouth you feel nuzzling YOUR neck in your sleep just may end up sinking fangs in the end. Sweet dreams.”
?ω?ω?ω?
“In summary, based on whatCyb3rmoontold me in ourverycryptic conversation last night, Rob Kilgore is exploring the body brokering business. However, it appears that trafficking the remains of the dead may not be where his interest lies at the moment. As we had determined, he might not be in a position to do that successfully, especially working alone. We’ve already said on more than a few occasions that it’s fairly apparent he has no contacts, no resources, and little knowledge. Also, he is clearly working alone when it comes to this scam. The other three partners from Reflex are nowhere to be found.”
“Did your contact confirm that?” asked Indi, leaning back in her chair.
“She did,” confirmed Drew. “Apparently, however, it might belive bodieshe’s more interested in rather than dead ones. Kilgore may not have the resources to broker dead remains if he doesn’t have any deals with funeral homes or morticians, but exploiting people who are seeking help for theirdrug or alcohol addictions? That is a whole other ballgame.
“After I disconnected fromCyb3rmoonlast night, I called Trill, told her about our discussion, and asked her to dig into it to find out the details behind brokering live bodies. The shit she’s found out already is fucking not to be believed.”
