we eventually decided whether we could handle working on the same
cases, I'd have to add that to my reasons for believing it was a bad
idea.
For now, I was keeping it vague. 'I've been looking into some things
Clarissa might have been involved in, making sure they're not related
to the murder.'
'Does this have something to do with the conversation we had with Pink
and the fax I sent to the property room on Friday?'
'Maybe. I haven't quite figured it out yet.'
'I see. Let me be more specific. What exactly did that key open, and
what was located inside?'
'Don't interrogate me, Chuck.'
'You're not giving me any choice, Sam. Getting information out of a
perp is a cakewalk compared to a conversation with you these days.'
'Here's an idea. You let me do my job, and I'll talk to you as much as
you want about anything else you choose.'
'I'm not trying to be a jerk, Sam. There are two separate issues here.
One is the bureau being pissed off that you appear to have second
thoughts on the case. I don't give a shit about that. But the last
time you left me in the dark about the poking around you were doing,
you almost got killed. I'm worried about you. Please just tell me
enough so I know you're not playing cowboy again.'
'If you're going to worry about me every time I'm dealing with bad
people, this is never going to work.'
'Sam, this isn't about you going after bad guys. Don't you get it? I
love it that you do what you do. You could be making half a million
bucks a year by now as some corporate drone, but that's not who you
are, and that's great. But you have a tendency to want to go it alone,
no matter how wacky the plan. I don't want you to get hurt again.'
'Look, it's fine. What happened before was different. I went in blind
knowing someone was out of custody and angry at me, to say the least.
Right now, the worst that's going to happen to me is that I ruffle a
few political feathers.' I left out the part about the mystery man at
the library, since I wasn't actually sure that it was Billy Minkins or
that he had been watching me. 'I'm taking enough crap from my father
about this. I don't need it from you too.'
For the next few minutes, the only sounds were our forks against the
plates and Vinnie breathing under the table.
'Ever since I got this case, he's been on a trip about so-called
powerful people and the way they can take away everything from me if I
get in their way. He's always been suspicious of authority '
Chuck was laughing, and I looked at him to see if he was going to
continue listening to me. 'Sorry,' he explained, 'but that sounded
funny, coming from you.'
'Well, I guess we know where I get it. Anyway, I assumed he was
worried that someone as influential as Townsend would be calling for my
head if I screwed things up. But then this morning I asked him about
some work he did when I was a kid, and he got all quiet and weird. I've
never seen him like this before.'
'What did you ask him?'
'Nothing, really. When I was doing that research at the library, I
came across an old newspaper clipping of him when he was with OSP. I
asked him about this legislator he used to drive, and he clammed up.'
'Who was the legislator?'
'A guy named Clifford Brigg.'
'Never heard of him.' Chuck was familiar with political circles
through his father, but Brigg's time was long ago. He didn't offer to
ask about him, and I didn't ask. Chuck and his father weren't exactly
close; the former governor, Charles London Forbes, Sr.' made little
effort to conceal his disappointment with Chuck's career choice. 'Did
you try to talk to him about it?'
'Of course.'
He looked at me skeptically. 'For more than a couple of minutes?'
'A few.' Having been on the other side of my impatience before, Chuck
knew I had a tendency to give up when I was frustrated. 'The more I
pushed him to talk to me, the more he pushed me to lay off him and get
off this case. Then we both realized we weren't getting anywhere.'
'You Kincaids are a stubborn people. What did someone put in the water
supply at that house?'
'Whatever the hospital put in your baby formula.'
'You should try to talk to him about it again. But in the end, Sam, if
he wants to keep something private, you need to respect that.'
