I quickly got up from my desk, walked to the door, and threw it open in a dramatic fashion so that I caught the attention of both men. Mitch and Todd looked at me with owlish expressions that I would have found funny under different circumstances.
“Mitch, something urgent came up and we need to leave right now.” I hoped my voice struck the right amount of urgency and force, but without overdoing it.
“What? Why?”
“We’re in the middle of a very important meeting,” Todd replied, clearly annoyed by my interruption. “It’ll need to wait.”
“Mitch, it can’t wait. I just received a very important call from Detective Harmon and we need to act right now.”
“Am I in danger?” Mitch asked. He looked the appropriate amount of worried and I was glad he could play along so coolly.
“We shouldn’t discuss this in front of anyone else,” I told him firmly. “We’ll talk about it in the car. Richard is bringing it around to meet us right now.”
“But this is Todd,” Mitch argued beautifully, as if he followed a script I had written. “He’s like family.”
“Yeah, family,” Todd repeated like a mockingbird.
“Harmon said that Timothy is ready to make a deal, but he wants you there when he reveals who hired him to kill you,” I said in a rush. “We really got to go, Mitch. He’s given us a time limit or the deal is off.”
“What?” Mitch and Todd said in unison.
“I’m serious,” I told Mitch. “Let’s go.”
“This is preposterous,” Todd said, as Mitch rose swiftly from the chair. “The police were convinced he’d been lying about being a killer for hire. Who is going to believe that crazy bastard after what’s he done?”
“The district attorney,” I said flatly. I recognized the panic in Todd’s eyes and knew my instinct was right that morning. He was either behind it or knew who was. “They believe that Timothy Nicholson, fresh out of prison, didn’t have the resources to pull off his attacks.”
“B-but…” Todd stuttered as he turned to follow Mitch.
“We’re still having our board meeting, Todd. Make the calls.” Mitch was all business as he followed me out the door.
We left a shocked Todd Basterson in Mitch’s office. I lifted my finger to my lips so that Mitch wouldn’t talk. I was hoping that Todd would be too shocked to leave Mitch’s office before he made his next move and the bug I planted would catch him. We were almost to Mitch’s car and I was about to give up hope when I picked up Todd’s voice.
“That dumb fucker is about to talk,” Todd said. “You heard me, damn it!” His voice rose with his irritation. It was obvious that he was on his phone because I could only pick up one side of the conversation. I could only hope he’d slip up and call his co-conspirator by name. “I fucked that scum bucket Nicholson and told him I loved him for you, but I’m not going to prison for you.” There was a long pause before Todd spoke again. “I told you to hire someone to kill him while he was in prison. Now he’s going to talk and givemyname because he doesn’t know you exist. Was that your plan all along?” I could tell he was losing his shit right there in Mitch’s office.
Mitch looked at me with raised brows as we got into his car. I mouthed the word “home” to him and I heard him quietly tell Richard our destination. I could tell he was getting frustrated about being left in the dark, but I didn’t want to miss out on a single word Todd Basterson spoke. I held up my first finger asking him to wait a minute.
When Todd spoke again, his words were cold enough to send a chill down my spine. “I guess if I want something done right then I better do it myself. Start practicing your funeral face, because after today Mitch Heston will no longer exist.”
Tears of fear, anger, and rage burned at the back of my eyes as they met Mitch’s beautiful, trusting gaze.Over my dead body, motherfucker.
