That’s because he’s allpaid up now. Right, Jimmy?”
Jimmy shakes his head.
“Just give me a name,” she says, sensing his obviousreluctance. “I know Doctor Lomas didn’t pay you himself.”
Jimmy’s mouth parts. He is probably weighing jail timeversus incurring the wrath of the person who purchased Doctor Neil Lomas’sdebt.
Besides, he probably couldn’t give McCoy a name.
This guy is scared. She could brace him a lot harder, butshe’s not particularly interested in spending the entire morning with Jimmy,and she most certainly does not want to haul him in.
She pulls a photograph, folded in half, from her back jeanspocket and shows it to him. She watches his eyes.
Jimmy’s eyes go cold as winter, mesmerized, seemingly, bythe photograph. He loses what little color he had in his face.
No question. She never really had any doubt.
“Lady,” says Jimmy, “you definitely didn’t hear me say yes.”
“No, I didn’t,” she agrees. He didn’t need to say the words.“I was never here, Jimmy, right?” she asks, but she knows that the last thingthat Jimmy wants to do is discuss this conversation.
“Fuck yeah, you were never here. Keep me outta this shit.”
“You’re out of it.” She considers telling him to fold upshop, but that would be another unnecessary request. This place is burned now.Jimmy will be out of here in a matter of hours.
“And listen to me,” she says, on her way out. “You lay ahand on Jackson out there and I’ll find you. We understand each other?”
“I got you, lady. Just go.”
She heads back down the stairs and re-dresses, her jacket,heels, and baseball cap. She emerges from the apartment to find little Jackson,wearing a soulful expression with his hands still plastered to his cheeks. Sheremoves two twenties from her pocket and puts them in his hand. Call itseverance pay.
“We’re all good, Jackson,” she says to him. “Take off now.Stay out of trouble.”
Jackson lets out a moan.
“And the three of clubs is the middle card,” she says tohim.
FOUR DAYS EARLIER…
So the question is,” Larry Evans says, “why didFlanagan-Maxx hire only Sam Dillon to get the Divalpro legislation passed?Dillon was a Republican, so he was the natural to work the House and thegovernor. But what about the Senate? Why didn’t they hire anyone to work theSenate?”
“That’s an easy question,” Allison says. “The Senate Dems don’tlike Flanagan-Maxx. They won’t like this legislation. So they use someone elseto push the Senate.”
Larry sips his coffee, clearly unsatisfied with the answer.“They funnel money to the Midwestern Alliance for Affordable Health Care? Theirarch-enemy, suddenly their best friend.” Larry points at his notes. “A quarterof a million dollars to MAAHC last year? That’s how much F-M paid to MAAHC,last year. Did you know that?”
Larry has been reading the reports filed with the stateboard of elections, as well as Flanagan-Maxx’s financial statements for theprevious year.
“And, lo and behold,” he continues, “MAAHC turns around andgives a hundred grand to Mat Pagone to lobby the Senate for the Divalprolegislation. House Bill 1551.”
“So?” Allison shrugs. “Seniors want Divalpro.”
“Bullshit. Every seniors’ group except MAAHC was opposed.The generics would be every bit as good, and everyone knows it.”
“Okay, fine.” Allison tucks a hair behind her ear. “So,Flanagan-Maxx knows they have no friends in the Senate, they want a differentface supporting it. They kick some money to MAAHC to support the legislation.MAAHC uses some of that money to hire Mat, they keep the rest of it. I stillhaven’t heard anything illegal.”
Larry works his jaw, drums his fingers on the table. Hedisagrees with Allison, clearly, and she senses more. She also senses thatLarry knows Allison knows more than she is saying.
“Flanagan-Maxx didn’t want its fingerprints on the Senate,”he says. “They knew what Mat would have to do, and they wanted a wall betweenthemselves and Mat. That’s why they didn’t hire Mat to begin with, straight up.They used MAAHC as that wall.”
The grocery store is busy today. So is the cafe. This hasbecome a place to socialize, where women catch up with each other while keepingone eye on their wandering kids.
“Tell your lawyer,” Larry says. “Tell him what I found out.”
“What I do with my lawyer is my business. We agreed on that.You don’t talk to my lawyer. You talk to me.”
Larry reaches for his jacket, a light one hanging over theback of his chair. “You aren’t going to tell him,” he gathers.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Why won’t you tell him? Here.” Larry pushes the documentsin front of Allison, printouts from the state board of elections’ website andfinancial documents on Flanagan-Maxx. He points at the documents as he hikeshis laptop bag over his shoulder.
“That’s all you need, right there, for an acquittal,” hesays. “And you won’t use it.”
ONE DAY EARLIER…
This is McCoy.”
“Agent McCoy? Roger Ogren. I see weekends are no better foryou than me.”
“They might be a little better for me, Roger. You’re ontrial in a couple of weeks. And call me Jane.”
McCoy tucks the phone into her shoulder and reaches for thecheeseburger on her desk. She is losing weight and can’t afford to. A littlemidday fast-food is the ticket. Only one she knows.
“Yes, that’s right,” Ogren says, “I’m on trial in less thantwo weeks. I’m wondering if you’re aware of any surprises in store for me.”
McCoy almost coughs up her sandwich.
“Nothing I know of,” she says.
“You’re being coy, Jane.”
“I’m not, really.”
“Unless my memory fails me,” he says, “you have AllisonPagone’s home bugged. You can hear everything she says in there with that fancyeavesdropping equipment.”
McCoy squeezes her burger, causing a dollop of mustard tofall on her jeans.
“Shit,” she says, not to Ogren.
McCoy didn’t want to talk to Roger Ogren, or any state orcounty official, for that matter, about the fact that Allison Pagone’s housewas wired for sound. But the subject had to be broached. Not long after gettingAllison Pagone in their sights for Sam Dillon’s murder, the prosecutors andpolice executed a warrant to search her house. McCoy’s best guess was that theywouldn’t even notice the eavesdropping equipment. But she couldn’t be sure. Sheand Irv Shiels debated it. They most certainly couldn’t have loose lipsdiscussing the fact that Allison Pagone’s house was miked up. That, obviously,would defeat the purpose of eavesdropping. So the two of them went to
