An uncomfortable cough interrupts him, and Vincent intercedes nervously. “There’s still a problem, though. Nothing was stolen. Nothing but that nanochip. He had a wallet with more than one hundred dollars in cash on him.”
I groan, letting my head fall between my hands.
“What if,” attempts Everest, “she stabbed him because he approaches her in the dark and she’s a little cuckoo in spite of him identifying himself, due to her injuries. Then she flees, and some other guy, who was already following him in order to get his hands on the nanochip, seizes the opportunity to rob him of it?”
“Starting to sound like some shitty detective fiction,” I grunt.
“The fact is, there is a real flaw in the prosecution’s case,” states Vincent. “It’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, so that should be enough to get her off. But when you’ve got twelve idiot jurors deciding on a person’s fate, generally, if you can’t present another plausible theory as to what happened, the person’s not getting off. At best, they’ll agree she didn’t act alone, but that won’t get her off the murder charge.”
I rub my hands over my eyes, the old migraine returning. “Meaning we’re screwed.”
“Our best shot,” says Vincent slowly, “is to try to get a plea bargain. Maybe ten years.”
“Fuck. Me.”
I bang my head angrily on the table. There’s got to be another solution. There’s justgotto be.
Then I sit up abruptly. “Igor, do you still have that connection at the airport?”
He nods.
“You’re really thinking of sending her off to fucking Bangladesh or something?” snorts Logan. “Come on, man, be serious.”
“Well, why the hell not?”
“I mean, I just don’t see her starting over in some new country, a new identity, a language she doesn’t speak… Plus, we can’t protect her out there.”
“I can.”
Logan stares at me.
“You would go with her?”
“Of course I would. I’m not leaving her again.”
He passes a hand over his eyes. “Be reasonable, man. You can’t just leave the States for good. And that’s what this would mean. Everything we’ve built together, over the last twenty years… you can’t just wave goodbye to that. And the second you guys return, you’re both in jail, and she’s getting far more than ten years, I can guarantee it.”
“I’m aware of all that. If we leave, we won’t be returning.”
Logan shakes his head in disbelief. “I know she means a lot to you. But is she really worth…”
I’m up before he can blink, my fist closed around his collar. “Go on,” I dare him. “Finish that sentence.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he capitulates. “We’re all on edge, okay? Let’s figure something out that works.”
“Thisworks. Go ahead, boys. Make arrangements.”
I sit back down resolutely, an angry nerve ticking in my jaw.
“Alright,” says Logan guardedly. “Now that the most urgent situation is being… dealt with, I have two more things I need to talk to you about.”
I nod, trying to swallow my anger.
“So, the first thing is I think we still have a rat in our midst.”
I raise an eyebrow. “What makes you think that?”
“Well, Vale was clearly not working alone. The key situation, for example. He definitely did not just give it to the pet. He had to have handed it to someone else first. What I mean is, he wouldn’t get involved on such a lowly level. For more than one reason. Too smug, first of all. You know how he was. And second, far too dangerous. He was never one to stick his neck out.”
