“News of any suspicious deaths,” she answered, scrolling. “If Arnaud killed any of his people. I’ve got time here while you drive, so I might make use of it. See if I can tell what he might be doing.”
“He works very quietly,” I said. “Anything he does won’t make the news.”
“Bodies in dumpsters are news. Corpses in alleys are news.”
“Unless he burned them to ashes.”
“Okay, there is that. Smart ass.”
“I wonder if he used his contacts to silence the story of our epic battle,” I mused. “Surely a bunch of cars in that canyon and dead guys would make national news. Reporters listen to cop scanners.”
“He must have. If the folks not under his control started digging, Arnaud would be up shit creek,sanspaddle.”
“I just love it when you speak Latin,” I gushed. “Makes me all tingly inside.”
“Blow me.”
“I did. Want it again so soon?”
Jade chuckled. “Let me rest from the last one. It was epic.”
We reached the furthest eastern edge of the city and its massive suburbs, the freeway downsizing to two lanes. The wide prairie opened up under the blue skies, and our fellow travelers all seemed to be driving semis. Snow from the blizzard had mostly melted, leaving stalks of yellow grass poking toward the sun from the scraggly remains.
I glanced at Jade. “What are you looking at now?”
“The blackmail lists,” she answered. “Too many high-powered people on it.”
“And?”
She leaned her head back and looked at me. “Arnaud can’tpossiblyhave everyone in city hall, every police force, every assistant district attorney on his payroll. Right?”
“I’m following you.”
“So why aren’t the ones that aren’t at leasttryingto do the right thing? Theyhaveto know about the corruption.”
“Those are jobs, right?”
She frowned. “Yeah. So?”
“Well paying jobs,” I continued, watching a herd of antelope graze on the prairie grass. “They have families, bills, mortgages. Get the picture?”
Sighing, Jade nodded. “I get it. Talk, lose everything.”
“And when orders come down from the governor, jobs are seriously at risk. They pretend it isn’t happening. Oh, don’t talk to the CNN reporter? Sure thing, I don’t know anything anyway. The canyon and dead bodies? I sure don’t know about that, sir.”
“Bloody hell,” Jade snapped. “Why is itwe’rethe only ones trying to stop him?”
“Because if we don’t, we’re dead.”
“Good point.”
I nodded toward the laptop. “Anything else in there we missed?”
“We didn’t miss this name as such,” Jade replied, clicking the keyboard. “But I searched the net and called up an important gent on the governor’s staff. He’s on our list of bribe takers, by the way.”
“And?”
“He’s also being investigated for securities and tax fraud.”
