Page 31 of Hidden With You

“Yeah,” he said. “It is. Goodbye, Melinda. You did good.” He ended the call without waiting for her to respond. Then he drew a breath, and for the second time that night, he started to dial Liesl. This time he finished the call. She answered on the first ring. “I need a favor,” he said.

“And hello to you too.”

“Sorry. It’s urgent.” He summed up Melinda’s call and gave her the address. “She’s expecting you to get the phone. I want you to talk to her. See if there’s anything she’s not telling me. And put someone on her for the next few weeks.”

“You really think she might know more about this Maestro than she’s told you? She gave you this number to call.”

“I don’t know. But I want to find out. Mostly, though, I’m afraid she might be in danger. Why would someone call to have her forward this information? Would they really want her running around spreading this story?”

“I’ll find her. I’ll check on her.” She paused for a moment. “Jasper?”

“What?”

“Are you going to call the number?”

He drew in a breath. Part of him wanted to walk away. To say that he didn’t need this. That he was done with vendettas. That he had a good job helping good people, and he needed to move on.

But that wasn’t him. He might need to move on, but he wanted answers. He couldn’t move on without them. “I’m going to call. But you already knew that.”

“Don’t get dead on me,” she said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Thanks for checking on Melinda.”

“Don’t mention it. And call me if you need anything else.”

“I know.” That was the thing about a friend like Liesl. No matter what, he knew she would always be there for him. The thought made an image of Zelda flash in his mind. As far as he knew, she didn’t really have anybody like that. And damned if he understood why.

Once again, he looked at his phone, both wanting to make the call and dreading it.

Finally, he did it. He punched in the numbers, then pressed the button to dial, then waited for an answer.

“Yes?” The voice was low, almost a whisper. He would never recognize it if he heard the person speaking normally. His only clue was that he was almost certain the speaker was a man.

“This is Jasper Kent. I got a message to call this number.”

“Kill her,” the voice said. “Kill her, or others will die, too.”

“Kill her? Melinda?”

“I’m hiring you, Kent,” the voice said. “Kill Zelda Clayton, and in payment, I’ll tell you where to find The Maestro.”