Page 15 of The King's Boy

"That might explain it then," I pointed out. "If he grew up here, he could have run into Danny before we arrived."

Malloy shook his head. "Danny told me he had never met Terrence before the man approached him."

"Could he be lying to save himself?"

"Why would he?" Malloy asked. "He's the one that came to me and reported Terrence. He had no reason to lie about how well they knew each other."

"I suppose." I didn't like any of this. It all felt off to me. "Keep an eye on both of them and find someone else to go with us to that meeting."

"Any specific reason?"

"No, but I just can't help feeling that something about all of this is off, you know?" I just didn't know what that something was.

I had been in this business long enough to learn to trust my gut, and my gut was currently screaming at me. I didn't know Danny or Terrence well enough to fully trust either of them.

At this point, I only trusted Malloy, and that was simply because the man had been at my side since we were kids and he had never once let me down. He even took a bullet for me when we were younger and more stupid.

You can't buy that kind of loyalty.

"Do you want me to put out the word about Spencer?" Malloy asked.

"I'm still looking for him, but that is a personal matter and not a business one. I'd prefer if that information and any discussion on him not go any farther than you or me."

"Why are you looking for him, King?"

"I have no idea." And I didn't think I'd really know until I found him. Assuming I did find him. At this point, I had no idea where he was. I didn't even know his last name.

"There is one more thing," Malloy stated, and he sounded hesitant.

I frowned at the man. "What?"

"Well, I received a bit of information today and I am not sure what you want me to do with it, if anything."

That didn't sound good.

"I'm listening."

"Don't ask me how I got this information because you do not want to know, but it seems that Dmitri Petrov recently had a dance studio built for his husband. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on what you want me to do with this information, one of the workers on the construction crew was hired by O'Donnell to put listening devices in the walls of Petrov's mansion."

I sighed as I closed my eyes and then reached up to rub the bridge of my nose again. That headache was getting stronger. I now felt as if I had nails driving into my eyeballs.

"King?"

I sighed again, dropped my hand, and opened my eyes. "How did you get that information?"

"I told you that you didn't want to know."

"Just tell me, Malloy."

"I had a date the other night. Turns out he was the ex-boyfriend of the guy O'Donnell hired to put the bugs in and he was real chatty."

"How reliable is this information?"

"Very reliable," Malloy replied. "I doubt he was reliable, but he showed me proof. I've got phone messages, leftover listening devices, and a copy of the guy's bank statement that showed a ten-thousand-dollar deposit around the time the work was done."

My brow furrowed as I tried to shove my anger down. "How did he get it and why was he so willing to show you?"

"He collected it when they were dating. He called it an insurance policy if this guy ever fucked him over, and he did. Left Barry high and while he ran off with his best friend after maxing out all of his credit cards."