Titanoboa by Victor Methos Read Free Book Online Page A

feminine and somewhat sultry, through the open door. She was quite attractive, though Mark had a rule that he would never get mixed up with clients again. It made for uncomfortable situations later on. Plus, they never worked out. Whenever he began dating a woman, he always thought, What if we had kids? What would we tell them was the story of how we met? And telling their kids they met because of the disappearance of their uncle, or because their former husband was cheating on them, or because they had a stalker they wanted followed was not the most romantic of ways to meet.
    When Riki finished, she came to his door, a wide smile on her face, “Thank you again.”
    “No worries. I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I know anything.”
    She stood there awkwardly a moment, unsure what to say or perhaps knowing what she wanted to say but unsure how Mark would take it. She finally said, “He… I raised him.”
    “I know.”
    She nodded then left.
    Mark went out front to gather her paperwork. She’d filled out the information forms in perfect handwriting. They usually preferred to have those typewritten, but the handwriting was so clear Mark didn’t need it. He wondered if she came from prep schools and expensive colleges. From money.
    A streak of bitterness went through him, and he was angry. Mostly angry at himself for being bitter about something like that.
    Mark had been raised in as blue-collar a neighborhood as you could get, a suburb not far from Echo Park. Most of the people in the surrounding homes were construction workers or cops. The two professions all the kids knew they’d be going into from the moment they understood what a job was and why you needed one. Some of the kids chose a third route, becoming a criminal, but that was rare. And usually those were the kids from homes with parents who couldn’t have cared less what they did or where they were during the day.
    Mark scanned the completed file for William Thomas Gilmore and was amazed how little information there actually was. Riki seemed to know little about anything at all. She knew which beach he was at when she called him, knew which hotel he was staying at, but that was it. She had no idea who he was spending time with out here, whether he was into drugs, or a thousand other things she should’ve known if the two of them were close. Something wasn’t adding up about her story.
    Regardless, Mark could already guess how this was going to turn out. He wouldn’t find anything, she would be upset and probably ask for her money back, he would say no, and a Fijian court would decide the matter.
    He regretted his decision to take this case and cursed himself for not following his gut. But she was shaken up about this, and he certainly wasn’t going to sign her up and dump her the same day. He decided he’d poke around a little and see what he could find. Maybe it’d be an interesting case. Certainly better than all the cheating spouses he’d been dealing with.

9
     
     
     
     
    The Bastion Hotel was a cream-colored building in the heart of Vusa. Its three flags outside represented India, Fiji, and the United States. A doorman was letting people in and out. Mark nodded to him as he held the door open. As he walked inside, he wondered whether to tip the doorman for something like that. He would Google it while he was in here and see.
    The clerks, a man and woman dressed in suit coats and dark pants, stood behind the counter. He vaguely recognized the man but not the woman.
    “Hi, I’m looking for some information about William Gilmore. He went by the name Billy Gilmore. I was wondering if you perhaps remembered him?”
    The woman rolled her eyes and returned to whatever she was doing, but the male looked at him sternly and said, “You’re with that woman, aren’t you?”
    “His sister? Riki?”
    “I don’t know who she is. But she came in here shouting and acting like a crazy person. We were thinking about calling the police.”
    “What