Nguyen said, “Great. So we’re on? You’ll move on both of them?”
“Not so fast,” said Stone. “We need to know exactly where we’re headed. The way I see it, our options are binary. Which is a good thing, too many choices confound the situation.”
She waited. No one bit.
Looking disappointed, she said, “Binary. A, we wait until Bel Geddes takes action and thus incriminates herself, then come down hard on her. B would be as you say, Lieutenant, we head her off at the pass. I will discuss this with Mr. Rimpau and get back to you, Deputy Nguyen.”
Before Nguyen could reply, she stood and left the room.
Nguyen looked stunned. “Better check the bottoms of my shoes.”
Alicia said, “Can you imagine her and Bel Geddes at the same shebang? The earth would shift on its axis.”
Milo rubbed his face and shook his head. “It seemed like an obvious deal. What’s the next step, John?”
“What do you think?” said Nguyen. “We wait. I know these guys. Afraid to get their hands bloody.”
“Snail-trail.”
“Exactly, Milo. It could get long and slimy.”
—
It didn’t.
Two days later, Stone called Nguyen and told him, “Feel free to head off at as many passes as you like.”
“Which translates,” he told Milo, “as it’s your heap of shit, dude, we want nothing to do with it.”
“Great, John.”
“Depends how it turns out, Milo. Stone was right about one thing: If Heck’s smart enough to get himself another lawyer, you’ll still be up a creek.”
“Better than nothing, John. How do you want me to go about it?”
“Up to you,” said Nguyen.
“My heap of shit, you want nothing to do with it.”
“I will deny that if queried.”
Chapter
31
Full assembly in the station’s big interview room. Milo at the board, the rest of us facing him.
Everyone was aware of the situation but he reviewed it anyway.
Sean Binchy put his palms together prayerfully.
Moe Reed said, “These two need to go down hard. What’s the plan of attack, L.T.?”
Milo turned tome.
I said, “We’ve done some background on Bel Geddes. She’s a successful attorney, extremely bright, got fast-tracked to partner at a top-notch firm two years ago at age thirty-one. Interestingly, almost all her work has been in contracts and business litigation, including some entertainment cases. With the exception of Michael Heck. He’s the only criminal case she’s ever handled, which tells you their relationship has some substance to it.”
“Ah, true love,” said Alicia. “As opposed to her husband, maybe. Speaking of which, what’s his story?”
