"How are Vinnie and Natasha doing?" I asked Roslyn.
"Good," Roslyn said. "Real good. I hooked Vinnie up with a job tending bar in a club in Savannah. He's liking the warmer weather down there, especially this time of year, and Natasha's doing well in school. Vinnie said to tell you hello, Gin. He said that if you're ever in Savannah, the drinks are on him."
I nodded. Vinnie Volga was the Ice elemental who used to tend bar for Roslyn-until Mab had blackmailed him into spying on the vampire in an effort to find me, the Spider. Mab had had Vinnie's daughter, Natasha, kidnapped and used for leverage, before I'd rescued the girl and saved Vinnie from being beaten to death by Mab's goons. Another good deed that I'd done pro bono. The only ones that seemed to matter these days.
At the bar, Bria shot down the guy in the suit, who moved on to another, easier prospect. Finn nodded his approval.
I arched an eyebrow. "Are you finally ready to get down to business, then?"
"So demanding," Finn said.
I just looked at him.
"Fine, fine," he muttered, pulling out his cell phone and scrolling through a couple of screens.
After a minute, Finn found what he was looking for.
"Bria's source is one Lincoln Jenkins," he said, talking just loud enough so that I could hear him above the pounding music. "Quite the rap sheet he's got. Dozens of arrests for all sorts of petty crimes, most of which have to do with being caught with things that didn't belong to him very close to houses that had just been broken into."
"So he's a thief, then," Roslyn said.
We'd filled the vamp in on why we were staking out the club. A common courtesy among friends. Roslyn knew who I was, of course. We had a history together, stretching back to last year when I'd killed her abusive brother-in-law and then more recently, when I'd helped her take care of Elliot Slater, the giant who'd been stalking and terrorizing her. Even if we hadn't clued Roslyn in on what was happening, Xavier would have kept her in the loop, since he and Roslyn were hot and heavy these days. The giant cop also moonlighted as the club's head bouncer and was currently working the front door, determining who got in past the red velvet rope and who was left standing outside in the cold. Another reason that he'd suggested that Finn and I back up Bria tonight, since he wouldn't be around to help her if things went bad.
Finn sniffed, "If you call boosting radios out of gang-bangers' cars and swiping rhinestone necklaces out of grandma's jewelry box stealing. Some of us prefer to work on a larger, more professional scale."
Being an investment banker, con artist, and all-around swindler, Finn had far higher standards than most of the crooks in Ashland-and a much bigger ego. He preferred to rob his clients while wining and dining them rather than holding them up at gunpoint. He was rather fussy that way. His twisted version of snobbery was one of the odd quirks that I loved about my foster brother, although I'd never admit it to him.
Finn also excelled at digging into people and finding out every little thing about them, from where they got their teeth cleaned to how much money they had stashed in their safety deposit box to how many bodies they had buried in their backyards. After Bria had told us when and where she was supposed to meet Lincoln Jenkins, I'd had Finn dig up all the info that he could on the small-time crook.
And, keeping my newfound promise to Owen, I'd called my lover as well and told him that I was backing up Bria tonight. The conversation between us had been stilted and awkward, but Owen had seemed relieved that I didn't have my sights set on Mab again. At least not for tonight. I didn't tell him that I hadn't given up on my plan to kill the Fire elemental. There was no need. Owen knew how badly I wanted her dead, how much I needed her dead to keep everyone that I loved safe-
"Jenkins is late," Finn said, cutting into my thoughts. "Ten minutes late, to be exact."
"He's a thief," Roslyn answered. "He probably hocked whatever watch he stole."
Finn snorted his agreement. "Maybe. But if he was so excited and the information that he had was so big, you'd think that he'd be early. Waiting at the bar, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer, whatever, wanting to get things over with. Instead, he's a no-show, so far at least. Which looks like it's seriously pissing off sweet, sweet Bria."
Sure enough, Bria seemed impatient, tapping her hand on the Ice bar, turning the silverstone rings around on her finger, and continually scanning the crowd-all the obvious signs of a woman being stood up and getting angry about it. Then Bria's hand stilled, and she frowned before reaching down and pulling her cell phone out of her jacket. She held the phone up to her ear, sticking her finger in her opposite one so she could hear the person on the other end. She said a few words, then hung up. Bria didn't look in our direction; she was too smart for that, but a moment later, Finn's cell phone lit up.
He peered at the text message on the screen. "Bria says that Jenkins just called her. He wants to meet outside in the west parking lot. She's going to meet him right now."
This time I frowned. Why would a small-time hood like Jenkins want to meet outside on a night as cold as this one? There was more than enough of a crowd to get lost in, here in the nightclub, where it was nice and warm with lots of booze to consume and eye candy to lust after. I was starting to get a bad, bad feeling about this. Finn looked at me and nodded. He was having the same nagging doubts that I was.
"Roslyn, it's been a pleasure as always, but duty calls," I said, sliding out of the booth and getting to my feet. "If you don't mind, tell Xavier what's up, okay?"
"You need some help?" Roslyn asked, concern tightening her beautiful features as she got to her feet as well.
I shook my head. "Nah. If Finn and I can't handle a simple lowlife like Jenkins and whatever tricks he might have tucked up his crooked sleeves, then it's time for us to find another line of work."
Bria stood up, paid her tab, and headed for the front door. Instead of following her, Finn and I walked behind Roslyn, who opened a door set into the back wall of the club. The vampire madam led us through a series of narrow hallways that made up the outer wall of Northern Aggression-a hollow shell of space that wrapped all the way around the building. The passageways gave Roslyn, her hookers, and the giant bouncers who watched out for them peepholes and access to every part of the building without having to fight their way through the crowd. I'd taken advantage of them as well a few months back when I'd been stalking the people responsible for Fletcher's murder.
Roslyn led us to the back side of the building and opened a door for us. The February cold stung my face, but I welcomed the chill after the overbearing heat of the club. Beside me, Finn shivered and tucked his chin down deeper into his jacket.