“Okay. Tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Sure thing. Oh . . . the other thing I wanted to ask you . . . Is it okay if this guy Aahz finds out you’re looking for him?”
I had to think about that for a few moments. Aahz had left without talking to me, but I didn’t think he was avoiding me to a point where he’d go into hiding if he knew I was on Perv.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Why?”
“I was thinking of running an ad in the personal section of the newspaper, but then it occurred to me that he might owe you money or something, so I thought I’d better check first.”
“The personal section?”
“It’s a daily bulletin board the paper prints,” Kalvin supplied as he joined us in mid-yawn. “Notes from people to people . . . birthday greetings, messages from wives to wayward husbands, that sort of thing. A lot of people read them faithfully.”
Somehow that didn’t sound like Aahz’s cup of tea, but there was always a chance that someone who knew him would see it and pass on the information. In any case, it couldn’t hurt.
“Oh, right. The personal ads. Sorry, I’m still waking up. Sounds like a good idea,” I said, rummaging around for some loose change. “How much does it cost?” To my surprise, the bellhop held up a restraining hand., “I’ll go the cost on my own if you don’t mind, Mr. Skeeve.”
“Oh?”
“Sure. That way, if it works, there won’t be any doubt who gets that reward you mentioned.”
With that, he flashed me a quick grin and left. It occurred to me that I should start watching my spending to be sure I’d have enough to actually pay a reward if the bellhop or one of his friends managed to locate Aahz for me.