Caitlin leans over and holds up a printout of Sands giving Linda Church oral sex. ?Don?t you??
Kelly sucks his bottom lip, thinking hard. ?Okay, I get it. But still??
?Jiao has been living in New Orleans the whole time Sands has been in Natchez. Even before that, when he was opening other casinos along the river. She only moved up here after Hurricane Katrina forced her out of her house down there. I don'?t think she has any idea what Sands?s been up to all that time. Not as far as the women, anyway. The dogfighting she may not mind, since her uncle?s always done it.? Caitlin looks at me. ?You talked to her the morning your balloon was shot down, right? You saw them together. How did they seem??
I think back to that morning in Sands?s drug-lord-style mansion. ?She walked in on her own. He wasn'?t expecting her. He let her do some of the talking, but he seemed annoyed that she?d come in.?
Caitlin nods knowingly.
?She threatened me too, though. Subtly, but she left no doubt about what she meant.?
?That doesn?'t surprise me. Women will go to amazing lengths to protect their family unit, or what they perceive as that. When women kill, it?s usually to protect. Right, Mr. Prosecutor??
?You?re right.?
?I?'ve seen that in war zones,? Kelly says. ?Okay, I'm buying it. If Jiao got angry enough at Sands, that same instinct might make her try to take him down.?
?I think this girl is very confused,? Caitlin says. ?She?s only twenty-seven. And she?s about to stand by while her lover delivers the uncle who practically raised her to the American government. If I can shake her faith in Sands, I think we might be surprised at what she might do.?
?Whoa,? I say, seeing where this is going at last. ?What do you think you?re about to try??
?I'm just going to talk to her. Face-to-face. A little girl talk.?
?Caitlin??
?I like it,? says Kelly. ?Shit, where?s the harm??
?Are you serious? Caitlin would be risking her life. The sting?s tonight. What can we really hope to get this girl to do, even if you turn her??
Caitlin smiles. ?Wear a wire, of course.?
Now Kelly shakes his head. ?That, I can?t see. Jiao?s been around these guys a long time. She knows what would happen if they caught her wearing a wire.?
?But they won'?t! They won'?t even
her. That'?s the beauty of this.?
I hold up both hands, trying to calm Caitlin down. ?You?ve got a good idea, but it won'?t work that way. Jiao won'?t know how to steer the conversation. She doesn?'t know what we need in a legal sense.?
?A discussion of murder? What?s hard about that??
?Between Hull and Sands? How does she engineer that? I think I?'ve got a better idea. Thanks to your inspiration.?
Caitlin looks skeptical. ?What is it??
?I knew this cop in Houston. He told me about a sting they pulled on a mob guy once. Superparanoid. Nobody could get close to him with a wire, swept his houses all the time. But they took their time and got an informant close to him, and he got a feel for the guy?s habits. Based on that, they prewired several outdoor spots he liked to visit when he needed to talk to somebody. And the night before they knew a big discussion was going down, they wired them all. They used two dozen recorders, all told, but they got him.?
?How does that relate to Jiao?? Caitlin asks.
?We don'?t need two dozen recorders. We only need two.?
Caitlin is shaking her head, but Kelly is nodding, his tactical sense kicking in.
?I'm going to demand the meeting I told you about a few minutes ago. But not just with Hull. I'm going to demand that Sands be there too. He won'?t want to come, but if the thumb drive is what we think it is, I can make it happen. I pressure Hull, Hull pressures Sands.?
Caitlin?s listening now.
?There?s only one place Sands is going to feel safe in a meeting like that,? Kelly says.
She blinks in silence. ?The
??
?You got it,? I say. ?And so far as I know, there are only two places on that casino boat not being recorded by surveillance equipment twenty-four hours a day. The first is Sands?s office, where Kelly and I talked to him. And the second is??
?The torture room,? Caitlin says. ?The Devil?s Punchbowl. Jesus.?
?If Jiao will hide voice-activated recorders in those two rooms, I can do the rest. Fifteen minutes alone with Hull and Sands, and I'?ll have them both by the balls.?
?And you know what happens then,? Kelly says, watching Caitlin like a hopeful teacher.
She smiles. ?Their hearts and minds will follow.?
Kelly laughs and looks at his watch. ?Right now, Jiao Po is taking a PiYo class at Mainstream Fitness.?
?Are you kidding?? I ask.
Kelly shakes his head. ?Hell, no. She?s like a Mafia wife. People are dying left and right, and she?s worried about her cellulite.?
?She doesn?'t have any,? Caitlin says. ?I?'ve seen the pictures. Is that where I approach her??
Kelly shakes his head. ?She likes to go down to the coffee bar on Franklin Street after her workout, for green tea and a bran muffin.?
?That'?s it,? I say, squeezing my right hand into a fist.
?I have a feeling,? says Caitlin, ?that her muffin won'?t be going down so well today.?
CHAPTER
67
