I woke the next morning to the sound of the shower. The pipes made the same low thumping noise mine did at my place. The clock beside Ray’s bed read six, and I couldn’t understand why anyone would be up at this hour. Maybe Ray had another client he needed to deal with.

The shower had just shut off when I finished getting dressed. I leaned against the wall by the bathroom door and couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of me when Ray opened the door and practically yelped when he saw me.

“Did I scare you, detective?”

He smirked, and I took a second to appreciate him with just a towel wrapped around him. I liked that Ray wasn’t all muscles and six packs. He was real and he was gorgeous. I’d seen those tattoos covering his upper arms and chest last night. In the morning light they stood out more. There was no other way to describe most of them other than to say gang tattoos. I’d seen some of the symbols before. Ray’s past was forever etched into his flesh. A part of me wondered if he’d ever consider removing them, but Ray seemed like the type of guy that needed to be reminded what he left behind. I couldn’t fault the man for his past. He wasn’t a monster.

“Need the shower?” he asked as he pushed me fully against the wall, his damp skin pressed against me. Our roles were reversed from the night before.

“Um, just wanted to brush my teeth, pee, you know, human things. I was going to make breakfast, coffee…um.”

He was making it hard to think being so close to me, his lips danced along my neck, and when he hummed, I felt it ripple through my body.

“I have to go to the office, we have a few places to go to today, but we have time for breakfast, coffee, and other human things.” When his tongue joined in I was a goner.

“Shit, Ray, I can’t think when you do that.”

He lifted his head and his dark eyes were like molten chocolate. “Why do you need to think?” He took my hand and with his other, he tossed his towel. Sinfully slow he backed me into the bathroom, and I was about to ask what he was doing when he reached for the knobs on the shower.

“Didn’t you shower already?”

He began divesting me of my clothes in the most sensual way I’d ever seen it done. “I’m feeling quite dirty, Andy.”

When the water was steaming up the bathroom, he pulled me in and the next half-hour was the best shower I’d ever taken in my life.

It took us two hours to get out of Ray’s place and neither of us were sorry at all. He said he had a tech guy he knew, or sort of knew, and he wanted to see what he could do with the number that called me last night. So we bypassed going to his office first in favor of meeting him.

A lot of New West City was shady, but where Ray took us made shady look like paradise.

“Where are we? I’ve never been here before.” The streets were filthy, every building was in shambles, and layers of neglect covered each street and alleyway.

“This is where people go to get lost, hide, or where the forgotten go to die.” Ray’s voice was a whisper, like he didn’t want the dying dreams to hear him.

“Your tech friend lives here?”

I saw Ray shake his head in the corner of my eye. “Nah, he lives somewhere else, but because what he does isn’t exactly legal, he hides here.”

“How’d you come to work with him?” Ray intrigued me a lot. It was like he teetered on the line of good and bad. Good likely won out nowadays.

“You ever heard of Finn Mac?” he asked as he took a turn down a narrow alley.

“Who hasn’t?” It was true. He wasn’t Al Capone or anything, but the man was known as a crime boss and people knew not to cross him.

“Yeah, well, years ago cybercrimes got a call about some hacker. I had a partner back then and he and I were near where they located him. We went to pick him up and when we arrived, Finn Mac was there with the kid.”

Ray stopped the car but didn’t make a move to get out, and I was enthralled with the story.

“My partner wasn’t exactly the clean sort, so when Finn offered us a thousand bucks to scram, he took it.” He shook his head in a way that screamed disappointment. “I refused the money but saw how outnumbered we were with Finn’s men and left.”

“You’re lucky to be alive, Ray.” I heard a lot on the street about witnesses, hell, I was one and look how that was working out for me.

“Yeah, well, I leave Finn alone and he lets me be, but a week after that I saw him at Rudy’s and he said he owed me one.”

I felt my eyes widening. “So, you’re cashing in, years later…now?”

He nodded. “I had to contact Finn before coming here. It’s why I was up so early. He wakes with the sun and if I wanted to catch him, I had to call early.”

Ray opened his door and I followed suit. “Who is this kid?”

He didn’t answer me until we were standing in front of a rickety door.

“To the hacker world he’s [email protected]_th300_kn1fe, hack the knife.” He knocked.

“And to you and me?”

Ray shot me a look I couldn’t decipher. “Benji Mac, Finn’s son.”

Any questions I had after that would have to wait because the door opened. Kid was a lose term. Benji looked to be my age, long black hair that was past his shoulders. His blue eyes stared at us under a furrowed brow. He was tall and broad and looked nothing like a hacker to me. More like a rocker who played football on Saturdays.

“Hey Benji,” Ray said with his hand out.

“Ray, pops said you needed help.” He laughed. “Gotta say it shocked the shit outta me. But then again, heard you took a bribe and aren’t with the PD anymore.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.” Ray didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask what Benji meant. He gestured toward me. “This is Andy.”

“Hey.” Unlike Ray I just waved. The fact that this large man was Finn Mac’s son was jarring. But I trusted Ray, so I followed him into the scary man’s apartment, or hideout, and was shocked at how clean it was and by all the high-tech equipment.

“Aren’t you afraid someone will break in here and steal all this?” I asked, and I got the answer when Benji just smirked at me. Right, his dad was a terrifying crime lord.

“So, whadda ya need, Ray?” Benji sat in a large black leather desk chair, arms behind his head and a smile plastered on his face.

“I need to see if you can track a number for me.” That was my cue to hand over my phone.

“That’s it?” he scoffed but took my phone. “Have a seat. There’s beer and shit in the fridge.”

Ray went to the kitchen while I sat on the sofa, declining the offer of a drink from him. Benji’s hideout was luxurious. There was well over half-a-million dollars’ worth of equipment in here and I felt a twinge of jealousy when I caught sight of the game station he had going on. I had my PS4 still at my apartment and made a mental note to see if we could maybe get it soon.

“This was made from a burner, Ray. Can’t trace it but…” His cackle was almost maniacal.

“What, you got something?” I asked walking over to him just as Ray came out of the kitchen.

“The sellers of burner phones don’t have a legal obligation to maintain records of who they sell them to. That’s why they’re called burner phones,” Benji said as he scrolled over foreign data on a screen in front of him.

“So, you have nothing?” Ray asked as he sipped a beer.

“No. I have something.” He clicked over the keyboard and another monitor next to him lit up. “There.” He pointed to what looked like a map. “I was able to trace the call to that cell tower.”

“So they were near there when they called.” I moved closer to see the location. “Is it weird that that cell tower is right near where Elise lives?”

“I’d guess a sale was made at a convenience store near there. Most people buy burners, use them, and discard.” Benji’s fingers raced over the keyboard. Monitors were lighting up and I had no idea what I was seeing.

“I’d go talk to the person who owns that place.” He pointed to the same store I bought boxers at the other day. “Someone bought six burner phones from there same day and time. No others in the area did. Your guy is getting ready for some serious communication.”

“Damn, you’re good,” I said reverently. I was seriously impressed.

“Thanks.” Benji winked and Ray cleared his throat.

“They’d remember selling that many phones to one person, and if they don’t, they’re lying,” Ray said as he patted Benji’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

“We’re even now, Ray.”

Ray placed his empty beer bottle on the table and nodded. “We are. Come on, Andy, we have a clerk to talk to.”