“Look Mister, if you aren’t here for a service then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.We don’t want trouble.” She looks scared.When her eyes dart to the apartment across from us and I see a man looking back from the window, I realize it’s him she’s worried about.
“I’m looking for a man called Peter Dawson.Do you know him?” I ask.
At the mention of Peter's name, a wealth of sadness forces its way past the warinessin her gaze “Why?”
“Just answer the question sweetheart and we’ll leave you alone.”
“I used to know him. He tried to save me, but they got to him.”
“Who did?”
“People he worked for. I don’t know what happened to him.I saw him four years ago. He gave me this apartment to live in.I haven’t seen him since, but honestly, I’m not sure if he survived.”
Great. I guess I don’t know if he would have helped us, anyway.
“Do you know anybody else who might know him?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t.I don’t know anything else.”
I’m not sure if I believe her.There’s something cautious in the way she looks at me, like she doesn't want to get caught in a lie, or she's worried about saying the wrong thing.
“Okay, if he contacts you, tell him Dominic D’Agostino is looking for him.I have questions about the past, and I don’t mean any harm.”
She holds my gaze, then nods. “Okay, I’ll do that.”
I dip my head with appreciation and back away as she closes the door.
“You said that like you expect him to contact her,” Aiden notes as we walk away.
“Maybe I do. She just looked like she might have been lying to some extent.”
“That was the only lead we had for Peter.I can’t find anything else.”
Me neither. I've had men looking for Lucas and the others, but they're coming up with nothing.
“We'll look into the others. I want to know if Tobias and Federico are in L.A. as well.” It would be helpful to know who’s where.
“You sure you don’t want to go home and check in?” He quirks a brow.“You look like you’re missing your girl.”
“I am.”
“I can bet it must have been difficult finding your girl’s family on that list.” Aiden gives me a sympathetic look.
“It was Aiden. I’m not sure what bothers me more.Finding things about people we used to trust, or the façade of who they pretended to be.”
He glances at me. “I get it. I guess I’ve been fortunate not to have that happen.It makes you feel foolish when you find out someone betrayed you.”
He hits the nail with the fucking hammer.
“Yeah, it’s exactly that. I keep wondering what we’ll find next.” Because I’ll have to be the one who tells Candace what her father got up to.
“Bad news is never good, ever.Even if it gives you a lead. It still fucks with you the same.”
We get back out to where we parked and stop by his motorcycle.
“You look like you’ve got more shit on your mind,” he adds.
I think for a moment and stare at him.Over the last few weeks, he’s proven to be a good friend.The kind of friend I could talk to about shit I haven’t even spoken to my brothers about.