Page 125 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“He got cheerful.”

“Was that suspicious?”

“On Todd? Extremely.”

JP smiled. “Cheerful because of money?”

She shrugged. “Cheerful because he thought money was coming.”

“What’s the difference?”

“People with money buy drinks for strangers.” She tapped the photo. “People expecting money talk too much.”

Observant woman. “What was he saying?”

“That he finally had somebody cornered.”

“Did he use those words?”

“Not exactly. Todd’s vocabulary leaned simpler. He talked like a boy who lost fistfights in school.”

“Did he say who he had cornered?”

“No. But two nights before he died, Todd was telling anybody who’d listen that some girl wasn’t who she said she was and he was going to prove it and make big bucks.”

“What girl?”

“He didn’t give a name.”

“What’d he mean?”

“You know Todd, you tell me.”

“I don’t, actually.”

“Then lucky you.”

JP suppressed a smile. “Did he say where he met her?”

“No.”

“Did he say what he wanted?”

“That part he made clear.” She mimicked a swaggering voice. “‘I kept quiet long enough. Time to get paid.’”

“Paid by who?”

“He didn’t say. But he talked about a young brunette and her blonde friend/sister and how they weren’t who they claimed to be. He kept saying something was off about those girls.”

“Did anyone engage with him?”

She nodded toward the back of the room. “A guy in a Padres’ cap sat there one night pretending not to care.”

“Did you know him?”

“No.”

“Did he talk to Todd?”