“I honestly don’t know. He hangs around a lot of people who are bad for him. He just can’t break away from them. I’ve tried to help him, but… it’s just no use. He doesn’t listen.”
“Where would your brother be now?”
“I don’t know. He moves around a lot.”
“Well, where’s he living?”
“Like I said, he moves around a lot. He goes from apartments to hotels to apartments to motels constantly. He’s never in the same place for more than a week.”
“So how do you talk?”
“Honestly, it’s usually him calling me wanting a favor.”
“What about the people he’s mixed up with?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t know their names.”
Nicole asked her a few more questions, basically getting the same story from Werther. As they talked, Bridge carefully studied Werther’s actions and mannerisms. She was good. Too good. She talked like someone who was trained in interrogation tactics. He knew that everything coming out of her mouth was a lie, but she said it so convincingly. A lesser trained person wouldn’t have noticed or believed anything other than what she was saying. But Bridge knew. For one thing, according to her file, she had no brother. But she put on a good performance.
If they were going to get anything of value out of Werther, Bridge knew they were going to have to up the ante. They’d have to do what was usually frowned upon in their business. They would have to let people know they were coming.
“What about Greg Kenny?” Bridge blurted out.
“Who?”
“Greg Kenny. You know him?”
Werther grimaced and shook her head. “No. Sorry. Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“I got a picture of him too.” Bridge held the picture for her. She took the picture and looked at it closely.
“No. Sorry. I’ve never seen him.”
“Ever hear the name Stash before?”
“Stash?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that like a nickname or something?”
Bridge shrugged. “Could be.”
Werther shook her head again. “No. Never heard of him. You think they might be involved with my brother?”
Bridge took the photo back from her. “Possible.”
“Well, if that’ll be all?”
“I suppose for now.”
A serious expression came over Werther’s face. “I’m not going to wish you luck in finding my brother, but if he really was involved in shooting at you… I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re not hurt.”
“Thanks.”
“I assume you’re going to keep looking for him?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I know it’s what you have to do and all, but if you could do me a favor, and try not to hurt him?”
“That’ll be up to him,” Nicole replied.
“I know. If you could just do what you can to help him… I’d appreciate it.” It almost looked like Werther’s eyes were beginning to tear up.
“Thanks for the help,” Bridge said.
“Sure.”
Bridge and Nicole turned around and walked down the steps. Once they reached the sidewalk, Bridge turned around to look at the door again. His eyes glanced at the windows, seeing a curtain move.
“I guess our next move is finding this brother,” Nicole said.
“Nope.”
“What do you mean, no?”
Bridge started walking back to the car. “She doesn’t have a brother.”
Nicole stood there, letting the words sink in. She then ran after him. “What do you mean she doesn’t have a brother?”
“Eric sent me her file. She’s an only child..”
“Then why did you let her ramble on like that and not call her out on it?”
“Strategy.”
“You wanna let me in on it?”
They both got back into their car. “Pull out and then come back around the block.”
“What for?”
“I want her to see that we’re leaving.”
“But we’re not?”
“Nope.”
“What are we doing?”
“We’re gonna follow her.”
“What makes you think she’s going somewhere?”
Bridge looked at her and smiled. “Intuition.”
“Oh, now who’s the funny one?” Nicole started the car and pulled out into traffic, quickly driving down the road so she could double back. “You wanna tell me now what you’re thinking?”
“If we called her out on not having a brother, she’d just clam up, right? I mean, she wasn’t going to tell us anything.”
“Yeah, but she’d know we were on to her.”
“She knows that anyway. Did you see the performance she gave? She was very good. Like she’d been coached on how to do that.”
“What are you saying?”
“That she’s not what she appears to be. She’s involved in something. Maybe she’s an agent, maybe she’s involved with Kenny and he taught her, I don’t know. That story about her brother was just to throw us off the trail for a few hours.”
“Giving her enough time to run.”
Bridge nodded. “If I’m right, and she’s deep into this, she knows her cover’s blown. She can’t stay there. She’s gotta go to wherever her safe spot is.”
“And we’ll be there to follow.”
“That’s the plan.”
“You know, sometimes you seem like you know what you’re doing.”
Bridge smiled. “Sometimes.”
They came back around the block, parking a little way down the street, though they still had a view of Werther’s condo. They only had to wait a few minutes. Just as Bridge had predicted, Werther jetted out of the home and ran to her car, quickly getting inside.
“Someone’s got their hair on fire,” Nicole said.
“We made her nervous. Now let’s see who she goes to.”
Werther peeled out of her parking spot, Bridge and Nicole following her, though they made sure to keep their distance. With Werther being as cool as she was under questioning, they didn’t think it was a hard jump to believe that she knew when she was being followed if they weren’t careful. Nicole made sure she was at least four cars behind as they drove. After driving for ten minutes, they still couldn’t be sure where she was headed.
“Where do you think she’s going?” Nicole asked.
“Anyone’s guess at this point.”
They continued driving for another forty-five minutes, though at this point, they thought they might have been spotted. They drove down several of the same streets multiple times.
“Think she spotted us?”
“Tough to say,” Bridge said. “She’s not acting like she’s trying to lose us. She’s probably being careful and following protocol. I’m sure she, and whoever else she’s in with, has gone over this scenario before. All
