Clara (Fifteen of Twenty)

Next morning, Dara goes full-on dame on me, starts clucking about my face. Probably the first time she'd ever seen me that bad, aside from a few days before. She wanted me to go to the hospital, but I told her it was a waste of time, and I'd heal. She asked about infections. I rubbed bourbon on my hands, slathered it like aftershave [Yet he smelled no different than normal. -Dara]. Dara sat back and sulked, but we traded notes.

Turned out Deke got out of jail a few months ago for forging. Now he'd fallen off the internets, Dara couldn't find him [The only other individual with such a nonexistant digital footprint is Trace. I have his current address, only because I put it on the website myself. Beyond that, nothing. It's like he doesn't exist. -Dara]. She did have his mugshot, and what a mug. He had all the parts made your face look human, but all 3 sizes too big for the head. No one woulda had a problem picking him out. Just find the guy makes you think there might not be a God almighty.

I found out when he got out of jail, he went to a halfway house, then disappeared. No one knew where he went, no one saw him in a couple months. Always talked about get rich quick schemes, which made sense. Forging money, ransoming a rich girl, all money for nothing.

Problem was, he was making sure no one could find him. Normally, you could get people to come out of hiding if you give em what they want, but he'd get the money and disappear.

We knew Deke had Clara somewhere, and he had to be close to the city, if not in it. He was renting some place cared more about money than checking your ID to make sure you were who you said you were. That narrowed it down to about anywhere in the city.

At the same time, Deke wasn't using any equipment that required a background check, so no cars, no legal guns. He was probably using cash for everything. Either back into forging, or he had help.

Made sense. With a partner, Deke wasn't someone could really move quiet around the city. Find another slob that wasn't as noticeable. 2 million is just as good as 1 when you got no. So, maybe we didn't need to find Deke, just his partner.