“Damn, you guys are well-organized. I smell an ops team that stayed together from the military.”
Tony chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t have anyone fooled, Al. That information was in the files you guys have on us.”
He shrugged. “That may be, but it’s still true.” He shifted his weight around. “I got a report from the hospital. Marianne’s knee joint is destroyed, according to the doctor. Her hand got torn up pretty good, too. Probably be months before she regains even limited use of it. But the worst looking was the face.” He shuddered. “She was already ugly, but now it goes beyond even that. Both cheekbones were broken, several teeth knocked out, broken jaw; I could go on, but you get the idea.”
“I hope you’re not looking for sympathy from us,” I said. “Our only regret is she didn’t die.”
“Which brings me to my final point.” He shifted again, not quite comfortable. “I’m personally sorry I didn’t let you finish the job on Marianne. Afraid I have to hold you to your promise about not killing her, though. We need to try her in a court of law.” He gave each of us a look while he spoke, to underline his words.
Alice grudgingly nodded. “Yeah, I see your point. Don’t like it one bit, but we did promise.”
He leaned forward. “You going to uphold that promise?”
I looked around the table, then at him. “Yes. We agreed to not kill her. But like I said before, if she gets out of jail for any reason, you can’t hold us to that promise.”
He relaxed with a smile. “That’s good enough for me. If you don’t have any questions for me, I think we’re done here.”
I waited until we heard the front door close, and shook my head. “Unless we want to incur the wrath of the FBI, our hands are tied. Until now we’ve been able to use their services. Hate to think what they’d do to us if we pissed them off.”
Tony chuckled humorlessly, running hands through his dark hair. “Wouldn’t want them to dig too deeply at the moment. They could tie us up in court for quite awhile for what they know we’ve done, even without solid proof.”
Alice snorted. “You’re probably right. Still, I’m highly pissed Crosby’s not dead.”
Wilbur’s hand went up, a nervous look on his face. “Mister Baker?”
I shook my head, giving him a smile. “You don’t need to raise your hand, Wilbur. We’re all equal at this table. And like I told you before, call me Francis.”
“Er-right, Francis. Would we be breaking our promise to the FBI if it was someone else that killed Crosby, without anything tying us to it?”
I straightened, noting the underlying excitement in his voice. “No, not if we didn’t strongly suggest it or tell ‘em to kill her.”
“I’ve put together a list of crooks that Crosby’s cheated or double-crossed over the years while she was moving up the ladder. Some are still pretty big ducks in their pond, if you get my meaning.”
Marty raised his eyebrows. “So what?”
Wilbur shifted nervously around. “So, if someone told those guys which hospital she was in and the fact that she didn’t have any hirelings around at the moment, you think they’d be interested? Especially if we sent them some of the information Crosby had been keeping on each of them in her private files. And, maybe, that she was planning on turning state’s evidence with all that material?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “If someone had that information, I’d tell them to send it ASAP, before she’s able to set up some kind of defenses for herself. And no, I don’t think we could be held legally accountable if one of those scumbags happened to kill her.”
Wilbur nodded and punched a key on his laptop. “Done.”
* * *
We settled down in our new offices over the next two days. The negotiations for switching our physical location permanently were moving along nicely, since they’d found out the Seattle property was worth more than our present digs. I’d called Lenora an hour before, and still felt bummed out. She didn’t sound her normal self at all.
My cell phone rang, startling me out of the funk I was sinking into. “This is Francis.”
“Hi, Francis, this is Mike. Where were you last night?”
I almost dropped the phone. “Huh? Uh—we all went to dinner, then came back here. Been camping out in our new place until things got settled concerning Crosby and Franks. What’s up?”
“Al called a minute ago. Said Crosby was found dead this morning in her hospital room, no signs of violence.”
A large weight I didn’t know I’d been bearing lifted off my shoulders. “Yeah, I’d be checking on us too, if I was in your shoes. But we made a promise. Sounds as if our only worry now is finding Willie.”
“The two shadows Al had keeping an eye on you said the same thing about your location. And before you ask, we haven’t heard from the DEA or anyone else about Mister Franks. In fact, we haven’t heard anything about him for a couple weeks.”
I stood, giving a stretch. “Well, hopefully something breaks on that front soon. In the meantime, you got any gossip about Al? He doesn’t seem to just be the administrative aide he says he is. Doesn’t act like someone who’s waiting for retirement to me.”
“Ha! That’s a good one. Agent Browder is ‘bout my rank. You’d have to ask him for any more details. For some reason, he seems to think highly of you folks at T&M. Says you’re the best he’s worked with. Quite the praise from him.”
While he was talking, I opened a file on my computer labeled “Crosby,” typed “Deceased” in capital letters, and forwarded it to everyone in the office. Felt good to retire the file on her. “On a different subject. I called Lenora a few hours ago, and she didn’t sound too chipper. You know if there’s something that might
