Unger nodded. “Okay, okay. I can give you his name.”
That comment surprised me. “Whose name?” I said.
“Arthur Patelli.”
“Who?”
“The guy who set fire to the house. That’s what you’re after, right?”
I shook my head. “You can’t be this stupid, even for a lawyer. But I don’t have the time to straighten you out right now.”
I looked at Sal. He held up his hands and said, “Lawyers, Christ Almighty. What you gonna do, huh?”
I said, “Garrett, look at me.”
He did.
“You want to save Joe DeMeo or your family?”
“What?”
“DeMeo or your family. Which one?”
He looked down at the picture in his lap. “How can you even ask that question?” he said.
“Well, you’re an attorney.”
He nodded. “I’ll do anything to save my family. Please don’t hurt them. Just tell me what you want.”
Sal said, “Guys, I don’t wanna—whatcha call—eat and run, but you just tossed a law partner out the window, and even if no one in this fancy shithole saw it, someone on the street did.”
I looked at him. “Good point. We’ll take Garrett with us and trust you to come up with a cover story for DeMeo.”
Sal asked, “You brought a car?”
I shook my head. “We’ll take Chris’s car.”
Sal said, “If you had his car keys you could.” He laughed. “Who’s gonna jump out the window and get the keys?”
“My guess, they’re in his desk drawer,” I said. “In my experience, a man who wears an Armani suit doesn’t want bulging pockets.”
Big Bad slid the desk drawer open, fished out the car keys, and dangled them from his ham-sized hand.
“Good call,” Sal said. “Don’t forget the cameras. They get us coming and going.”
“Quinn will take care of the cameras,” I said.
Speaking to Quinn, I said, “Augustus, will you do me a favor and clean this mess up while I get Garrett in the car? I’ll send the elevator back up for you in a minute.”
I grabbed the mumbling Unger, and we followed Sal and Big Bad into the private elevator and down to the partners’ parking garage. Big Bad found Chris’s Mercedes by pressing the remote and following the chirp. He opened the trunk and helped me toss Garrett inside. I scanned the garage for external security cameras and found none. I guessed the partners didn’t want video proof of their meetings with criminals or perhaps dalliances with call girls. I didn’t ask what happened to Chris Unger’s secretary, but I had a feeling Sal’s car had plenty of traction in the back.
Augustus joined us a moment later, and we drove out of the garage and into traffic. I called Beck Building security and said there was a bomb in the building set to go off in two minutes.
“Who are you!” the security guard demanded.
“In the quad cage, I’m known as Double X,” I said.
I gave them a few minutes to complete the evacuation of the building. We hit the interstate heading north on 75, and Quinn placed a call to the detonating device.
From the interstate, we had a wonderful view of the top of the building as it exploded and burst into flames.
Big Bad called and said, “Double X gone to that big quad cage in the sky.”
CHAPTER 41
“What about my family?” Garrett Unger asked.
We were at headquarters in Bedford, Virginia, in the interrogation room. Lou stood by the door with his arms crossed, wearing a bored look on his face. Quinn was listening to a jazz mix on his iPod. I tossed Unger a disposable cell phone.
I said, “You’re going to stay here as my guest until you get a call from Joe DeMeo. If Joe’s smart, he’ll give you a password to some of his numbered off -shore accounts. Lou already set one up for me. When you get the passwords from DeMeo, you’re going to transfer the funds from DeMeo’s account into mine. When Lou gets confirmation that the money’s where it should be, I’ll remove the threat to Mary and the kids.”
We all waited for him to ask the question we knew was coming. He didn’t disappoint. “What about me?” he asked.
“That’s a toughie,” I said. “On the one hand you were plotting to kill me a couple hours ago, and that displeases me. On the other hand, I need you alive in case someone at the bank requires oral or written confirmation for the transaction. As DeMeo’s attorney, I’m sure you can produce whatever is needed to affect the transfer.”
He was looking at me in a pitiful way.
