'Run it past him,' Quirk said. 'The short form, so I don't have to listen to it all over again.'
I brought Frank up to date, omitting a few things as I had with Quirk, such as the shootout at Taft. Belson was motionless while I talked, looking straight at me, listening completely.
'Okay,' Belson said when I finished. 'You got Abner and Leon at the same joint where Emily and Bonnie are teaching revolution to the cons. At the same time, they are part of the Dread Scott Brigade. Nine years later, the Dread Scott Brigade claims credit for a bank stickup in which Emily is killed. Best we can tell there was a black guy and a white woman in the stickup. There was probably someone with a car outside. You have to figure that Emily wasn't in there to cash a traveler's check.'
'I'm flattered,' I said. 'You listened.'
'Be crazy to think all this ain't part of the package,' Belson said.
I knew Belson wasn't talking to me. He was simply thinking out loud. Belson was perfectly okay at thinking, but his real strength was looking at a crime scene. He missed absolutely nothing. In his head, I knew he was trying to recreate what I'd told him into some pattern he could look at.
'Why are the Feds covering up?' Belson said.
I said nothing.
Quirk prompted him. 'What do they usually cover up?' Quirk said.
'Informant.'
Quirk and I both nodded.
'They had an informant in there,' Belson said. 'And when it went bad, they didn't want anyone to know that an FBI informant was participating in a bank robbery, while he. '
'Or she,' I said.
'. was on the payroll.'
'So, assuming Frank's right, who's the informant?' Quirk said.
'Would they have covered it up if it were the vic?' Belson said.
Quirk smiled without warmth. 'Sure,' he said.
'Of course, we don't know they're covering up an informant,' I said.
'They're covering up something,' Belson said.
'And we'd like to catch them at it,' I said.
Quirk and Belson both smiled.
'We would,' Quirk said.
'Then we might as well work on the assumption that they were papering over an insider operation that went sour,' I said. 'It could be Emily, or Abner, or Leon, or maybe Bunny.'
'Or someone we never heard of,' Belson said.
'Hey,' I said. 'It's your fucking premise.'
'Emily's dead,' Quirk said. 'We got no idea where Abner is. We know Leon's in L.A., but he's not talking, and we got no leverage on him. We need to find the Karnofsky broad and pry her away from her old man.'
'We got no leverage there either,' Belson said.
'Yeah, but she's local and so are we,' Quirk said.
'And after we've done that,' I said, 'then we need to get her to tell us what she knows and testify to it.'
'Step at a time,' Quirk said. 'First we find her. Then we get her away from Sonny.'
'I'm not sure there's a legal way to do that,' Belson said.
Quirk grinned at him. Quirk's grin was but slightly less formidable than Quirk's glare. He jerked his head at me.
'That's what Private Shoofly is for,' he said.
'You're suggesting some quasi-legal activity for me?' I said.
'B and E,' Quirk said. 'Kidnapping, forcible restraint. That sort of thing.'
'And if it all goes to hell and the FBI slaps the cuffs on me?' I said.
Quirk smiled the smile again. 'Then we do what, Frank?' he said.
'Deny any knowledge,' Belson said.
'Cool,' I said.
43
Paul brought Daryl to see me at the office. She looked uncomfortably at Hawk when she came in. But Hawk made many people uncomfortable. He didn't offer to leave, and I didn't ask him to.
'I,' Daryl started. 'I. need you to, ah, report.'
