I had no clue what he was talking about.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell me Harry’s been hanging around here these days?”
I made a face. “He’s been here almost every day for the last month or so.”
“I wondered where he went.”
It began to dawn on me what Jeff was talking about. “He hung around Murder Ink, too?” I asked.
“He didn’t just hang around, Kavanaugh. He worked for me.”
Now this was something I hadn’t expected. “Worked for you? How?”
Jeff cocked his head to the side, studying me for a second. “How would you think? I own a tattoo shop. He worked for me. Do you think maybe he was one of my artists?” It came out way too sarcastically, but I didn’t call him on it. I was too shocked.
“He’s a tattooist? He told us he got laid off.”
“Well, that’s not exactly accurate. I fired his ass.” Jeff’s face grew dark, and I wondered what it was Harry had done. But I didn’t have to wonder too long. “He botched a tattoo. Pretty bad.”
My chest constricted.
“He hasn’t asked you for a job?” Jeff asked.
I shook my head.
“He probably knows you’d need some background on him, and I’d tell you what he did.”
“He told us he was a blackjack dealer.”
“As far as I know, he never worked a casino. I wouldn’t go out with him, if I were you,” Jeff said.
Despite my newfound misgivings about Harry, I didn’t like it that Jeff was deciding now whom I should date and whom I shouldn’t. I stood up a little straighter, so I was even taller than he was, and said, “I can date whomever I want.”
Jeff chuckled. “Okay, right, Kavanaugh. I forgot you’re all grown up and can take care of yourself.”
“That’s right.”
“Does he know about me?” Jeff asked.
The tone in his voice made it sound like there was something Harry
He started to laugh. “You make it way too easy, Kavanaugh. You know what I mean, right?”
“He must know we’re friends,” I said. “He’s probably been here when you’ve called, or someone’s mentioned you. So yeah, he must know about you.” Although I couldn’t be sure. He spent most of his time talking to Bitsy, and sometimes I’d run across him with Ace at that oxygen bar. Until today, he hadn’t really spent too much time with me, but that was usually because when he was here, I was with clients.
“So there would be no reason why when he saw me in here talking to you that he’d take off, right?”
I instinctively looked out the glass door. “You saw Harry?” Jeff Coleman had powers of detection I hadn’t been aware of, because I certainly hadn’t seen him.
“He came around the corner, spotted me, and started back in the other direction,” Jeff said.
So maybe he didn’t know about Jeff, after all.
Jeff cocked his head at me again. “Ready to go? Maybe we can catch up with him, find out what his problem is.”
I grabbed my bag off the front desk, and we scooted out the door. I locked it, Jeff pulled down the gate for me, and we turned left, the direction Harry had run in, according to Jeff. I couldn’t see Harry anywhere, though, so I took one of the footbridges two steps at a time and stood at the top, scanning the canal and the walkway up ahead. I spotted Harry skirting around a couple of last-minute shoppers. I bounded back down the steps and grabbed Jeff’s hand, pulling him along with me.
“He’s up ahead,” I said, then realized I was holding Jeff Coleman’s hand and instantly dropped it.
Despite having shorter legs than me, Jeff kept up easily beside me, our strides in sync. It seemed that Harry didn’t think we’d come after him, because he’d slowed down and we weren’t that far behind him when he pushed open the door to the outside.
The door swung halfway shut by the time we reached it, but Jeff shoved it open farther and we went out into the night.
It was a crisp February night, the lights on the Strip making it seem almost like twilight.
We were right behind Harry now.
“Harry,” I called out.
He stopped and whirled around, sheer shock crossing his face, his mouth open in a wide “O.” He shut it again, clearly trying to get his bearings.
“Brett,” he said flatly as his eyes slid over to Jeff. “Jeff.”
“Why’d you take off?” I asked, standing in front of him now, my hands on my hips. “I thought we had a date.” So maybe I had been preparing to cancel that date, but he didn’t have to know that right now.
“I, um, well…” His eyes flicked from Jeff to me and back to Jeff. “I saw him in your shop. I figured three’s a crowd.”
“Three’s a-” I stopped, looking at Jeff, wondering why he wasn’t saying anything, but he was looking at me, as if I was supposed to take care of this on my own. Okay, fine. “Harry, Jeff and I are friends. He just stopped by. He does that sometimes, like you stop by the shop. He did tell me, though, that you’ve been a little creative with your background.”
Harry cast his eyes to the sidewalk and shifted from one foot to the other. “I thought you’d kick me out if I told you.”
“Damn straight she would.” Wouldn’t you know Jeff would decide to speak up now. “What’s your angle here, Desmond?”
Nice to know I wasn’t the only one he called by their last name, but it was a little disconcerting knowing that he didn’t like Harry. Jeff and I hadn’t liked each other in the beginning. Was this little quirk of his about my name a leftover from that time?
Harry finally stopped moving and straightened himself up. “No angle, Coleman.”
Or maybe it was a guy thing.
“Brett and I had a date,” Harry continued. “We were going over to Cleopatra’s Barge to hear someone sing.”
Jeff looked at me, his eyebrows high in his forehead, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Music, Kavanaugh? Really?”
Jeff knew I was tone-deaf.
“So happens that Dee Carmichael’s replacement in the Flamingos is singing tonight,” I explained.
The smile came out full force. “So you were taking Harry along while you did your sleuthing? I’m hurt, Kavanaugh, that you didn’t ask me instead.”
I felt my face flush and hoped that because it was dark, or semidark, he wouldn’t notice. “Harry knows Sherman Potter, the band’s manager. He invited us.”
Jeff was nodding. “Okay, then what are we waiting for? Let’s take a walk.”
“Not so fast,” I said. “My brother told me to stay away.”
“So when did that stop you before?”
Okay, so it hadn’t ever stopped me before. Except this time Tim was going to be there, and I wouldn’t be able to get away with it. I said as much.
“And I was going to tell Harry, here, that I couldn’t go after all,” I said, trying to look apologetic when Harry’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“You don’t actually have to go in, you know,” Jeff said.
“What do you mean?’
