Eric scooted off to the kitchen and came back with a long neck, handing it to her.
“Thanks. What are all those for?” She pointed to a pile of controllers on the floor in front of the TV.
“This is a wireless control. I play these,” he pointed to a shelf full of video games, “on this.” He pointed to a console.
“Can I try one?” she asked.
Eric looked a little pleased. “Sure. First-person shooters are good. Let’s start with…” He studied the games and plucked one from the shelf. “This one. Do you guys want to play, too?”
“I will,” Roxy said.
I shook my head. “No thanks.” I’d been playing enough games lately.
Eric showed the controller to Ma and Roxy. “This one is to shoot. You move like this. If you need help, let me know.”
He picked up his bottle and pulled me aside. His dining room — more of a dining area really — was separated from the living room by an arched wall. Desks and card tables were cluttered with computers, laptops, and motherboards. “Are you ready to see what I found out about your Sullivan?”
“He’s not my Sullivan, and yes, more than ready.” I sank down on a desk chair, sore and weary.
“I dug through the county records for personal property taxes. I figured that would be the best place to start.”
I held up a hand. “Wait, can you do that?”
“Of course.”
“No, I mean, isn’t that illegal?”
“Nope, it’s a matter of public record. I found tax records for one Thomas Malcolm Sullivan, thirty-four years of age. He was the most likely candidate, and after doing a deed and title search, I found out he owns a ton of property. Mostly office buildings and strip malls.” He handed me a stack of papers. “Here you go.”
I scanned the pages. “He owns the old school.” I slapped the paper with one hand. “We followed Packard tonight and he went to this old school building out in the country. It’s on the list.”
“What was in an old school?”
“A gambling club. Pack was losing and they wouldn’t extend him credit.”
“How did you find this out?”
I wagged my thumb over my shoulder. “Rox and I went undercover.”
I continued to read the long list of properties. Sullivan owned the strip mall that housed Sun Kissed Tanning and the Pour Femme boutique building. Like Ma said — bingo. “Oh my God, this is amazing. Evidence, Eric. Real evidence.”
My enthusiasm was intoxicating. “Okay, let’s walk through this,” I said. “Axton gives me his backpack. I see Sullivan in the park and he’s looking for Axton. He finds Axton—”
“Kidnaps him,” Eric said.
“Yep, Sullivan kidnaps Axton to get his hands on the hard drive. But I have the hard drive. On that hard drive is a list of people with a number next to their name. I think we can safely assume it’s money—”
“Money they lost gambling,” he said.
“We know Sullivan has Axton, we know Packard has a gambling problem. I saw a poker game in the back room at the cigar bar and Manny’s running something in the back of that tanning salon. And I saw Manny tonight. He and I had a little smackdown.”
“Are you all right?” Eric sat on his haunches and touched my knee.
I winced and jerked my leg to the side. “I fell. I’m okay. Anyway, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Sullivan leases his property to NorthStar businesses.”
Rubbing his head, Eric narrowed his eyes. “And Axton went to a club the night before he was taken. It was a NorthStar club, wasn’t it? And Axton took the hard drive?”
“Probably stole it from Sullivan. We know there’s gambling in some of these places, and Sullivan must be in charge, right?” Oh God. It finally dawned on me, if that was the case, I’d put Eric in a very dangerous situation. I clutched his arm with my free hand. “What if they figure out you have the hard drive? What if they come for you next?”
“Hey, Rose.” He took the papers from me and laid them down on a keyboard. Then he took both my hands in his. “You have enough on your plate, kid. The last thing you need to worry about is me, okay? I can take care of myself. Let’s concentrate on rescuing Axton.”
“Okay.” I nodded and took a deep breath. “Sullivan told me he would do anything to protect his interests. The gambling, the people on this list, the properties — he’s in charge of it all.” Sullivan was the big cheese, the head honcho, the Kaiser Soze. I didn’t call him the Bossy Jackass for nothing.
I dug the list of NorthStar businesses out of my purse and compared it to the sheaf of papers Eric gave me. “Not all the businesses Sullivan leases to are NorthStar businesses. There’s a barbershop in the same strip mall as the tanning salon. It’s not owned by NorthStar.”
“Maybe he rents to other businesses to make it seem legit.”
“Packard got a call from the tanning salon and he was gambling in one of Sullivan’s properties tonight. We have a real connection. Yes!” I threw my fist in the air, jumped out of my seat, and did my little happy dance. Eric laughed, but I was too excited to care. We finally had a real trail to follow.
Eric smiled and high-fived me.
I reached out and hugged him. “Thank you so much.
He planted a big smacker on my cheek. “You’re welcome.” He gestured to the stacks of papers. “Can you take this to the police?”
My happy fled the scene. “All I have are theories. And NorthStar is a shell company. Dane says it could take years to unravel, and I can’t prove Sullivan is in charge of anything. And besides, the Chief of Police, Martin Mathers, was on the decrypted list.”
He scratched his stubble. “You can’t really prove anything.”
I flopped down in the chair. I went from elated to deflated in under thirty seconds. “I guess not.”
A growl sounded from the living room. I glanced over at Ma. She sat on the edge of the sofa, her wrinkled face scrunched up, her teeth bared. “Die, zombie bastard.”
Roxy moved her whole body as she punched the buttons on the controller, leaning left then lurching to the right. “Take that, you undead asshole.”
I looked back up at Eric, my lips a thin line. “What did you do?”
Eric tipped his head back to finish off the last of his beer. “It’s fun.” He gestured toward the TV with the empty bottle. “You should try it.”
Nibbling on my thumb, I glanced back over the list of properties and compared it once again with the NorthStar businesses. I finally had a few pieces of the puzzle, but I didn’t know what to do with them.
Feeling more frustrated than ever, I finally went to the living room and sank to the floor to watch Ma and Roxy try to defeat brain-eating zombies. It was after midnight and they showed no signs of stopping the carnage.
“Hey, ladies, we need to go.”
They completely ignored me.
“Get the rock, pick up the rock,” Roxy said.
“I’m trying, but that damn zombie keeps blocking me.” Ma had a fierce look of concentration on her face.
“Hey, zombie slayers, we need to leave.”
Still no response.
Eric wrestled the controller from Roxy and paused the game. They grumbled at him.
“Just a few minutes longer,” Ma said. She sounded just like Scotty when he was in the middle of a game.
Roxy frowned and tried to get the controller back from Eric. “We were just getting some decent weapons, Rose.”
Eric looked at me and grinned. “I could take them home.”
“See,” Ma said. “You go on, hon. We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” Roxy said, grabbing the controller from Eric’s hand.
I shrugged. “Okay.”
Eric showed Roxy how to resume the game. I grabbed my bag and the information Eric had found on Sullivan. Thomas Malcolm Sullivan.
“Sorry about them.” I flicked my finger toward Ma and Roxy.