“Sounds like you have something up your sleeve.”
Franks laughed. “Well, you know me, I always got something up my sleeve. It’s just a matter of whether I can pull it out of it, you know? I’ll give it some more thought, though.”
“Well, whatever you think up, I hope it’s good.”
Franks smiled. “Oh, you better believe it. If I think up something for this, you know it’s gonna be good. One hundred and seventeen percent guaranteed. And you can take that to the bank.”
17
Jacobs and Thrower got back to the house. As soon as he entered, Jacobs dropped his equipment on the couch. He was more than a little frustrated.
“Nothing, again.”
Thrower tried to keep his partner from getting too down. “We’ll get him.”
“When? Don’t forget, we’ve only got a few more days until Tiffany wants to enact her plan.”
“Speaking of which, where is she?”
The words had just left his mouth when Tiffany appeared, coming from the hallway. “Here I am. Didn’t hear you come in. I was just in the bedroom cleaning it up a bit.” She saw the look on Jacobs’ face and instantly knew what it meant. Another trip where they came up empty. “I take it you didn’t get him?”
“Nope,” Jacobs replied. “He wasn’t there.”
“Well, you did think it was a long shot. The tip Eddie got didn’t make it seem like it was probable.”
“Yeah, I know, but I was still hoping.”
“Well, let’s look at it this way,” Thrower said. “There’s only so many places left that he can hide.”
Jacobs gave his partner a look. He appreciated the positive attitude, and knew the sentiment was just likely to give him a lift, but he didn’t believe that for a second. “Do you know how big this city is? He could pick a different building every night and not be found for decades.”
“The more you move around, the more likely you are to be spotted. He’s no different.”
“Should we talk about the other thing now?” Tiffany asked.
“No!” Jacobs answered. “I’ve still got a few more days, and I’m going to use all of them. I still can’t believe you even wanna do this.”
“I don’t want to. I just want to move on with our lives.”
“OK, OK, let’s not get into that again. Let’s figure out how we’re gonna do this before we put your plan into action.”
Seconds later, there was a loud knock on the front door. Jacobs rushed to the door, while Thrower ran over to the window. Upon looking out, Thrower let his guard down. He looked over at Jacobs and nodded at him, letting him know it was safe. Jacobs opened the door, knowing who was going to be on the other side of it.
“Hey, fancy meeting you here.”
Franks barged right in, just as if he were invited. “Sure, mi casa, su casa, or something like that.”
“So it appears.”
“So what happened at that place? Find Mallette? Get into it with him? Give him the old one-two punch? The old juke and jive? The left and the right? The up and the down? The—”
“How many sayings do you have?” Jacobs asked.
“Dude, I got a whole trunk full of them, man. I got so many I could make your head spin.”
“You don’t need any help in doing that.”
“Funny, funny. Anyhows, what was the dealio out there?”
“Well, the dealio was that he wasn’t there. Neither were his men. It was a complete waste of time.”
Franks looked a tad dejected. “Oh. That’s too bad. I was hoping it would be legit. Oh well.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I told you in advance I wasn’t sure about it. If you recall, I did say I didn’t think it’d turn out to be anything.”
“I remember,” Jacobs said.
“But now we know.”
Jacobs hated the small talk. “We sure do.”
They all stood there for a minute, looking at each other. Nobody seemed sure whether they were done or whether there was something else that needed to be said. Eventually, Jacobs spoke up again. He thought it strange that Franks continued to stand there, not moving.
“So is that it, then? Are we done?”
Franks scratched his cheek. “Well, there was one other thing that I needed to talk to you about. I almost hate to mention it.”
“If you hate to mention it, then don’t.”
“I said almost.”
Jacobs sighed and looked up at the ceiling, letting out a grunting sound. Whatever it was, it sounded like he wouldn’t like it. “What is it?”
“Well… I got another little thing that you guys might be able to check out.”
“What?” Jacobs didn’t sound pleased. “What do you mean, you got another thing to check out?”
“Just what I said, man. I got a tip about Mallette and his boys being somewhere, and I just figured I’d pass it along to you.”
“You just got another tip? Exactly how long ago did you get this?”
“Uh, yesterday.” Franks put his finger in the air to interrupt Jacobs before he even said anything. “No, wait, that’s not right. No, earlier today. Yeah, that was it. Earlier today.”
“Earlier today? And you’re just telling us this now?”
“Well, I wanted to see how that other thing worked out first. Now that we know it’s a bust, now I’m passing along this other one.”
“Why didn’t you just give us both of them at the same time?”
Franks thought for a second. “Oh. Hmm. I’m not sure. Maybe I should’ve. Might’ve saved time.”
“You think?”
“Anyway, that’s not the important thing. What’s important is we got one more place to check.”
Jacobs sighed. “I hope this tip isn’t coming from the same source as the last one.”
Franks briefly looked away. “Oh, well, uh… about that.”
“It’s from the same guy?!”
“Well, I didn’t say it’s from a guy.”
“It’s a woman?”
“Well, I didn’t say that either. Sources have no gender, you know.”
“They don’t?”
“Nope. A source is a source is
