New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 162

Chapter 162 The tattoo guy

Claire and Matthew stood in front of a tattoo shop, the neon sign flickering against the darkening sky. Claire had told Matthew about the wings tattoo on the man, and she had an idea to visit tattoo shops in hopes of finding this person. There were many shops in the area, but Claire hoped they might get lucky.

"Are you ready for this?" Matthew asked, adjusting his cap as part of their disguise.

Claire nodded, tugging the brim of her own hat lower over her eyes. "We don't have much to go on, but it's worth a try."

With that, they stepped inside the shop. The air was thick with the smell of smoke, maybe even weed, making Claire wrinkle her nose. They approached the front desk where a woman with tattooed hands and facial piercings sat, looking thoroughly uninterested in her job. "Hello," Claire greeted politely, trying to mask her discomfort. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

The woman glanced up, her expression bored. "Yeah, sure," she replied in a monotone voice.

Claire pulled out a picture of the wings tattoo on the man's neck that she had printed out. "Do you recognize this tattoo? We're trying to find the person who has

it."

The woman glanced at the picture and shrugged. "A lot of people have that tattoo," she said dismissively.

Claire exchanged a look with Matthew before leaning in slightly. "Could we take a look at your customer book? It's really important."

The woman sighed, clearly annoyed, but slid the book across the counter. "Make it quick," she said, rolling her eyes.

Claire nodded. "Thank you. We'll be fast."

Claire and Matthew quickly flipped through the pages of the customer book, jotting down names and dates. Matthew glanced at Claire, whispering, "What's the plan?"

Claire didn't look up from the book. "We take pictures of each guest's name and visit date. We can identify them later."

were done, they handed the book

seat while Matthew drove. She typed furiously, cross-referencing

sigh. "None of these people have the wings tattoo," she said, looking

glanced at her briefly before focusing back on

her lip, thinking. "We move to another store. We can't give up

nodded. "Alright,

away to avoid drawing attention. The process was similar: disguises on, a quick entry, and a polite but determined request to look at the customer records. Each time, they repeated the same steps: taking pictures of the names and dates, then hurrying

Matthew turned to Claire. "This is exhausting. Do you really think

efforts. "I don't know, but it's the best lead we

another round of hurried picture-taking. As they left the shop, Matthew looked

How many more shops do you want to

"One more. Let's try one more and see what

list for the night. This one was quieter, with a lone artist working on a

his expression thoughtful. "I've seen

a beat. "Do you remember

artist nodded. "Yeah, I think it was a guy named Tom. Comes in every few

with Matthew. "Do you have

can't give out personal info. But I can tell you he

smiled gratefully. "Thank

surge of optimism. "We might finally have

"Looks like our persistence

keep an eye on him if he visit the

"Roger that, Claire."

we will just wait for

The man she hired to keep an eye on Tom informed her that he was heading to the tattoo shop. Without wasting a