Remy tossed his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out and immediately fished another one out of his pocket. I forced myself to be patient as he lit it up and took a puff.
“This guy wanted to party with me. I guess one of the kids got him all worked up. But once we were alone, he couldn’t keep it up…guess he just likes ‘em young. ‘Course, he blamed me. Turns out he liked it rough too ‘cause after he hit me a few times, he…”
Remy’s voice dropped off and his eyes dropped to the ground. My heart went out to him for all he’d suffered. I absently wondered if there was anyone out there desperately searching for him the way I was searching for Aleks.
“After he was done, I went to a bathroom to clean up…I forgot to lock the door, so someone came in.”
“Aleks,” I breathed.
Remy nodded. “I saw the birthmark right away, but even without it, I would have known he was your brother.” Remy’s eyes traveled up and down my body and he shook his head. “He looks just like you…except his hair’s shorter.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“He started to leave when he saw I was in there, but he stopped when he saw my face. Didn’t say anything to me, though. He wasn’t alone.” Remy took another drag on his cigarette and then stubbed it out, half-finished. “Some big fucker was with him…all dressed in black. Kind of stood back in the doorway like he was giving your brother privacy, but not letting him out of sight. Anyway, Aleks came up to me – I was standing by the sink cleaning my face…I was upset,” Remy hedged.
I suspected ‘upset’ didn’t even cover the young man’s state after he’d been brutally assaulted.
“So, he comes up to me and there’s this big vase full of flowers on the counter next to the sink. He looks at me for a second and then he pulls out this blue one and hands it to me. Says it represents hope. That’s it, then he turns to go. I wanted to keep him talking so I started asking questions about all the flowers and what they mean. He started telling me, but the guy with himcleared his throat and Aleks stopped talking just like that and turned to go.”
“Do you know who he was with?” I asked impatiently. I couldn’t do anything with the information Remy had given us.
Remy shook his head. “Didn’t see who he was with, but he wasn’t there to be sold or traded.”
“How do you know?” Magnus asked.
Remy hesitated, his eyes shifting to Magnus for a moment before coming back to me. “Because he was collared.”
I stiffened at that, but managed to remain calm. “Anything else? Maybe you saw him getting into a car?”
“No, but he said something right before he walked out…told me that Faustini’s sold the best flowers and to go on Thursdays because that was when they got new deliveries.”
Relief went through me. It was something and at this rate I’d take just about anything.
“Tomorrow is Thursday,” I said to Magnus and he nodded. To Remy I asked, “Can you come with us to Faustini’s and point him out if he shows up?”
Remy began violently shaking his head before I even finished the question. “No way, I’m leaving town today. Les is…”
His voice dropped off and he searched out another cigarette. “I’ve gotta get out of here. You can’t miss him, trust me.” He sucked on the cigarette and said, “I need some cash.”
I could tell he was embarrassed to be asking for it, but his desperation was driving him. I pulled out my wallet and removed all the cash I had. But I hesitated and glanced at his arm. Remy must have noticed because he said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot it. I’ve been clean for a month…methadone.”
I nodded since I had no choice but to believe him. He didn’t seem high, just frantic, but if he was finally making a break from his pimp, that could explain his need to escape the city. “Where are you going to go?”
Remy shrugged. “As far as this can take me,” he said as he pointed at the money in my hand.
“You don’t have any family?” Magnus asked.
He shook his head. “None that want to be seeing me anytime soon,” he murmured. I exchanged glances with Magnus and knew where his thoughts were…exactly in the same place as mine.
I nodded to Magnus and then to Remy I said, “Remy, how do you feel about rain?”
Faustini’s wasa little hole in the wall florist near Chinatown. It wasn’t the kind of place that sold fancy bouquets or little trinkets like balloons and knick-knacks. Flowers were the old man’s bread and butter, pure and simple.
Right after putting Remy on a bus bound for Seattle, Magnus and I had headed to the flower shop to scope it out and come up with a plan. We’d known it was a stretch that we’d likely see Aleks the following day, but that stretch had turned into a very likely scenario when Angelo Faustini had set eyes on me. I hadn’t even introduced myself and he’d chuckled and made a sidelong comment about how I reminded him of someone. Magnus and I had taken the opportunity to find out how much the man knew about Aleks, though we’d done it in a way we wouldn’t be putting my brother at risk if Angelo turned out to be associated with the men who had him.
And Angelo had delivered in a big way. Aleks did indeed come in every Thursday morning. Magnus and I had debated the best way to make contact with Aleks, but had ultimately decided it would come down to whether Aleks was alone, which given what Remy had told us about the escort Aleks had had in the bathroom, wouldn’t be very likely. We’d opted to watch for him from our rental car at the end of the block.
I glanced at my watch for what had to be the hundredth time and even Magnus’s hand on my thigh wasn’t calming me down like it usually did.
