Tom didn't waste any time before beginning his investigation. This was what his life depended on, so he would take it seriously by all means. Grabbing his jacket and his gun, he left the house and headed straight for Lucio's, fully determined to strangle that idiot the moment he set eyes on him.
Barely half an hour after leaving home, Tom arrived at his destination. Surprisingly, the place was empty! Lucio's restaurant, bar and nightclub was famous in the area and was always open to patrons at any time of the day or night. But today, looking through the glass door at the brightly lit interior, all John could see was the shadow of someone who seemed to be in the act of mopping the floor somewhere inside the place.
He knocked once, twice before the shadow dropped the mop and in a matter of seconds, a man walked into view. It was Lucio.
"Who is there?", he called out as he walked up to door as if he couldn't see who was on the other side.
"It's me," John replied.
"Amigo! Good to see you," Lucio hailed and pulled open the door, immediately enveloping him in a bear hug. "How you been, eh?"
"Not bad," Tom shrugged, looking around him at the deserted surroundings. Now that he had seen Lucio, his desire to strangle him had suddenly vanished and was now replaced by burning curiosity. "Why's your place empty? What happened?"
"Oh. My place, eh? Haha. Uh... it's arrangement," Lucio said, waving off the topic with a laugh.
Tom immediately knew that he was lying. But what did he care? After all, he was not the man's mother. "Well, whatever," he shrugged, happy to switch to more important matters. At least, important to him. "So where's that merman? I mean, that creature I sold to you."
Instantly, Lucio squared his shoulders defensively and folded his arms across his broad chest. "The merman? What you want with him?", he asked, eyeing Tom suspiciously.
"Well, nothing. Just curious," Tom shrugged with feigned indifference.
"Merman is fine. No trouble."
"Great," Tom nodded. "Happy to hear that. Can I see him?"
"No," Lucio answered sharply. "You sell him to me. I pay you all your money. What your business with him?"
Suddenly, Tom took a quick step back and swung out his gun, leveling it at the head of the restaurant owner. But he was shocked to find that Lucio didn't even blink an eyelid!
"What is your problem? Are you mad?", Lucio growled and Tom suddenly felt like a foolish little boy. Still, he held his ground and lifted his chin in defiance.
"The merman has escaped, right?"
Lucio made no answer.
"Answer me, you thug!"
"So what?", Lucio sneered, closing the gap between them and bringing his forehead to touch the muzzle of the gun. "The merman get lost, what your business? You want to kill me for lost merman? Go ahead!"
Again, Tom felt like a stupid little child. Yet, he held on to his weapon albeit shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Look, you don't understand the situation. My life... our lives are in danger. That merman or madman or whatever the hell he is has gone and killed the entire family of the person who sold him to me! Now, that person invaded my house to let me know that I... that we, you and I, are living on borrowed time un..."
"You and me? Or you only?", Lucio questioned with a ghost of a smile on his lips.
"You and I! Look here, do you think I will die alone? I'll scream your name at the top of my lungs along with your address and everything else I know about you."
Lucio shrugged but kept quiet. Tom stared at him through narrowed eyes, wondering what exactly was going on in his mind? Was he calculating how he would leave Tom to face Lisha's fiery wrath alone or was he thinking of a nice plan to save both of them? It better be the latter.
"Who this person?", Lucio suddenly asked.
The question was totally unexpected and had taken Tom completely unawares, but he recovered quickly. He knew immediately that if he told the truth, especially about Lisha's gender and age, Lucio would surely laugh the whole thing off.
"Uh... it's a mafia don. One with a very bad reputation. By the way, what does that..."
"What his name?"
"I don't know! How am I supposed to know her... his name, huh? Was I supposed to ask him when he was kicking me around like a ragdoll?"
"Put the pistola down. I will help you."
Tom breathed a huge sigh of relief and put the gun back into his pocket. "We don't have much time. We have to work fast."