Read Online The Last Deep Breath by Tom Piccirilli - Free Book Online

York?” Grey asked.
    “No.”  She touched his wrist with a little extra something, rubbed the back of his hand.  “I can’t wait to work with you.”
    Her wedding ring was a wide band of gold with deep-set diamonds.  She backed up toward the wall where he and Kendra had pawed each other.  The fire in her eyes filled the rest of her face.  A bead of sweat dripped down her cleavage.  He smiled and thanked her, thought of her husband, wished the poor fucker well, and walked out.

19
     
    He called the number but got no answer and no voice mail.  He had to stop into three gas stations to get the directions down to Raymond’s office.  He was in a shit part of town but Grey liked the liveliness of it.  A lot of people out on the street, gangs of punks yelling and fucking around, drunks laughing, homeless pushing carts.  Raymond’s office was in the middle of the block bookended by a pawn shop and a liquor store.  He imagined how tenuous Ellie’s grasp on the world must’ve been for her to believe Raymond could do anything for her besides put her to work on the street.
    The lettering on the front window read STARMAKERS INC.  The lights were out, the door was locked, and there was a sign glued to the glass saying the building was for lease.  He put his face up to the window and saw that there was still a desk, chair, some photos on the wall, phones, and a computer inside.
    Grey called the leasing company’s number and said that he was considering renting the property but he wanted to know more about STARMAKERS INC.  They told him that the owner, John Raymond, hadn’t paid his rent in over three months and they were planning on putting his belongings in storage and selling them off at auction to help defer costs.  Grey said he couldn’t think of leasing the office until the matter had been completely resolved and maybe he could help facilitate the process if they gave him John Raymond’s contact information.
    They said that as a matter of course they couldn’t give it out, but since these were somewhat special circumstances they would.  They gave him a New York number and an address in East Village that he realized was about three blocks from Premium Friends.  He’d been close but not close enough.
    Grey phoned and got no answer, no voice mail.  He walked to the street, opened the trunk of the Chevelle, and rummaged through the tools that he’d stolen from Bo.  He grabbed the hammer, wrapped it in an old shammy cloth, stepped back up and smashed in the glass door of STARMAKERS INC.
    He went through the drawers of the desk looking for anything that might have information on Ellie or Eva Rains.  He found a couple of DVD’s, including Teen Ball Busters 2 , and some nude shots of her.  On the back of the photos were her measurements, her sexual likes and dislikes, and Monty Stobbs’ address, which had been crossed out and poorly replaced with a stamp of the STARMAKERS INC. logo and phone number.
    For a moment the edges of his vision turned black and red and he didn’t know why.  It took him a second to realize that he’d been holding his breath.  He didn’t know for how long.  He took the least offensive photo of Ellie, climbed back into the car, and hurtled toward east Hollywood.
    When he got back to the apartment Kendra was sitting naked on the bed, sipping from a champagne glass, a bottle on ice.  She was looking through the paper for moving companies and had already started to box up some of her belongings.
    She filled another glass and handed it to him.  “So, I got us a new place.  Judy called me.  I hear you’re my co-star.”
    He gulped the champagne down.  “I’m not a co-star.  I’m not doing it.”
    “Why not?”
    He snorted.  “Jesus Christ, you people.  I’m not an actor.”
    “Who cares about that?  You’ve got better instincts than at least half the schleps I’ve worked with over the years.  The payday is a big one.  There’s already a buzz building.  You