“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“This isn’t just ’bout my sister.”
“No, it’s about my brother too,” Nova reminded him. “Trust me, I want to find them as badly as you do.”
“And what about your niece or nephew out there?” Wyatt went on. “You don’t give a shit ’bout that? Jules needs to go to a doctor.” 318
“I give a shit,” Nova assured him. “You think I’m talking to you because of the stimulating conversation? My family matters to me. It’s all that matters to me.”
“So if you just gave me a reason to put something across the wire—”
“Every law enforcement officer in the mafia’s pocket would think I’m a rat, which would have them assuming my brother’s a rat for taking off. Trust me, Conner, that would be a lot worse for their health than this little Romeo and Juliet live-action remake they’re performing right now. Especially if they got picked up.”
“There’s no proof of dirty law enforcement.”
“Even living in Garnet, you can’t be that naive. Money’s a very strong motivator, Conner.” Nova had tons of proof of dirty law enforcement. Several of them worked for him, but he couldn’t say that over the phone. “This is all hypothetical anyway, ’cause I don’t know anything other than Romeo and Jules being sick of our asses enough to take off. Maybe we were bad brothers.”
Wyatt surprised him by agreeing with a huff of frustration, “Maybe.” Crisis made strange allies, and Nova honestly couldn’t believe he was feeling sorry for the asshole who’d put his brother in the hospital three days before. Maybe it was because he empathized with him more than he wanted to, and they were both searching for answers.
Nova was trading online as he talked to Wyatt. Since Romeo left, Nova had been working exclusively with his account. He knew it was a subconscious effort to get his brother back. If he made Romeo enough money, he’d forget Nova’s sins and love him enough to come back. It was pathetic and childish, and Nova couldn’t seem to stop himself from doing it. Romeo had left because of Frankie, Nova knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself from thinking it was more than that.
He put his cigarette between his lips and clicked to a new window to do more research on Mematron, a small Japanese technology company that had been on his radar for the past few weeks. He could read and talk at the same time, but the silence on the other end started to get annoying.
319
“Hey, Conner, whatcha doing right now?”
“Playing Angry Birds.”
Nova rolled his eyes. “You ever invest for retirement?”
“I have a financial advisor. Why?”
“There’s a new company that deals in solid-state memory technology called Mematron. They have a proprietary method of making a chip that is a hundred times better than what’s on the market now. All the big tech companies are clamoring to get on board to have first dibs. That’s a billion dollar payday out the gate, and they’re about to explode on the market.”
“I ain’t got half a clue what you just said.”
“Then understand this,” Nova said more slowly. “They just hit the New York Stock Exchange at four bucks a share. Dollars for doughnuts they’ll be trading at over a hundred in a week.”
“Bullshit.”
“Whatever.” Nova shrugged dismissively as he worked on buying a big chunk of the stock. “Take it or leave it.”
“What do you actually do for a living?” Wyatt asked curiously. “I know what I think you do, but the reality sounds different.”
“I give advice,” Nova said simply. “Excellent, highly valuable advice that would behoove you to heed. Unless you got some sorta aversion to making money.”
“You really think this stock’s gonna go up that much?”
“I’d bet my dick on it.”
Wyatt snorted. “So if I wanted to buy some, how do I go ’bout it?”
“Lemme guess, you have a series of low-risk, long-term mutual funds that gives you a moderate quarterly return?”
“They ain’t doing all that great right now. The economy’s fucking it all up.” 320
“It’s not the economy. It’s your shitty financial manager. I’ll walk you through opening your own trading account if you want.”
“Why?” Wyatt asked skeptically. “I could barely get a civil word out of ya two days ago; now you’re taking an interest in my financial future.”
“‘Cause I’m stressed outta my friggin’ mind,” Nova snapped. “I need a distraction, and gambling keeps my mind busy. Since you took leave from work, you call me every hour to see if I’ve checked Romeo’s phone. Might as well make good use of all this wasted time.”