"Yeah. I can fight," the kid said.
"You can fight or you hand out fliers at the fights?" I asked.
The young man scowled and his ears burned red. By the time we got in the ring, he was ready to give me all he had. He bounced around more than moved his feet. I rolled my eyes at Aldous.
"This sparring or a middle school dance, sweetheart?" I asked.
The kid lunged forward with an off-balance right hook. I tapped him on the back with a sidekick as he went by, and he stumbled hard.
"I'm not the one who was sucking face at the nightclub last night," the kid said. "Though, I guess I can't blame you, that girl looked tasty."
I sent one kick to his sternum and when he stepped back, I kicked his other knee. He bent forward and a quick chop broke his nose. "That's no way to talk about a lady. Next time, watch your mouth or more than blood is gonna end up in it."
I grabbed a towel, mopped my face, and the back of my neck. Aldous jumped in with the kid's coach. They helped the kid up so they could assess the damage. I knew from experience that Aldous would set the broken nose himself. I stepped out of the ring.
A nondescript man nodded at me from the far corner of the gym. Medium height, medium brown hair, brown eyes, but there was something direct in his stare, something disconcerting. I stalked over and he flicked a business card into my hand.
"Matt Smith. We've met before," he said.
"Sure. What are you selling, Matt Smith? You some kind of reporter?" I asked.
"No, not a reporter." Matt Smith's expression never changed. He seemed used to not being recognized and just waited.
"Some agent wanting me to sign off on, let me guess, granola bars? Vanilla yogurt?" I asked.
"No, Mr. Morris," he said.
"Look, Mr. Smith, I don't remember meeting you." I flung the towel over my shoulders and hung on to the ends with both hands.
"Mr. Morris, I'm a private investigator," he said. "You hired me to find your sister."
I wiped the sweat out of my eyes with a clean corner of the towel. "Oh, right. I didn't recognize you. Thought you wore glasses." I looked at the business card he had handed me and recognized the name of his company. "You gotta admit that 'Matt Smith' sounds like a fake name. Though, I suppose fake names are helpful in a business like yours."
"Yes, fake names can be helpful," the private investigator said.
"You really spent ten years working missing persons in Arizona?" I looked the average man up and down. "You don't look more than, what, thirty?"
"I'm older than I look. After Arizona, I retired. Worked as a bail bondsman. Finding people is a special knack I have. Now, I work on referral only. Kevin Casey gave you my number and here we are," Matt Smith said.
"Do I even want to know what my slime ball manager needed a private investigator for?" I asked.
"Like I said, I specialize in finding people." He shrugged and said no more.
"Yeah, well, whatever you did, you impressed him. And, I'm assuming I can expect the same level of nondisclosure?" I asked.
"As I told Mr. Casey outside, I have no reason to discuss my work with people who are not involved."
I hopped from one foot to the other. My legs were cramping, and instead of talking, I should have been stretching. I considered asking the private investigator to wait while I cooled down. He probably would have shrugged his shoulders and waited with the same unreadable calm expression on his face.
"I understand if you've changed your mind," he said. "As long as my retainer is paid, there is no reason you need to know information you no longer find valuable."
"I've got your valuable information right here," my young sparring partner yelled. "You broke my nose and that is a fact. A fact I'm sure the police are going to want to know."
"The police will be interested in knowing a MMA fighter broke your nose while you willingly sparred with him?" Matt Smith asked.
The young kid scowled behind his wads of gauze. "Yeah, it's funny, but just wait until you say something he doesn't want to hear."
Matt Smith stepped back as the kid reenacted the entire fight. When it came to the kick to the sternum, the kid got too into his acting and the wads of gauze blew out of his nose on to the ground. I laughed as the kid swiped them up before stalking away.