People in that situation usually make one of two choices: shut down completely or spill. Heck did neither.
Instead, he got up suddenly, retrieved the coffee and took a few sips while standing. Murmuring something.
Milo said, “What’s that, Mike?”
“Tastes like shit—no offense.”
“None taken, Mike. Though I am a little hurt.”
Heck put the coffee down, trudged back to his chair, and sat.
“Here’s the problem,” he said. “What if what I think might help doesn’t?”
Milo said, “Why don’t you just tell us and we’ll see.”
“Sure, you’d like that, nothing to lose. ButI’dbe back to square one with you making my life miserable. For no reason.”
“No matter what you tell us, Mike, we will be reviewing your phone communications and your cell-tower locations as well as your bank records. If something comes up that—”
“Nothing will come up,” said Heck. “Just like before. Just like with Darren. But you screwing around in my life can still ruin my life. Once you got hold of something, it’s public.”
I said, “There’s stuff you want to keep private.”
“Hell, yeah, wouldn’t you?”
Milo said, “Hard to say because we have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t? C’mon. You’re going to find Tinder, okay? A bunch of it. And…other stuff. Texts, videos—nothing creepy, just normal stuff but who wants that publicized? Mike likes brunettes with hairy—whatever.”
“If you’ve got nothing to hide other than sexting and legal images, don’t worry.”
“So you say. Butshetold me once you had anything in your clutches it would be public domain.”
Milo smiled. “Our clutches.”
“Her words, not mine.”
“Well, she told you wrong, Mike. Bona fide evidence can find its way into public documents if it leads to an arraignment but—”
“None of that’s going to happen because I’m totally innocent.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about and I have to say, Mike, given what I just told you about your legal vulnerability due to that attempted big-time fraud you and Bettina cooked—I wouldn’t be concerned about hot dates and porn.”
Heck stared at the ceiling. Then at the long table pushed up against the wall.
“This place sucks,” he said. “Your coffee sucks. I could walk out right now.”
“Yes, you could, Mike.”
“But I’mnotgoing to because Idowant to help you. Especially now. ’Cause it’s changed. When it was all about Sophie, I thought I kind of wanted to but wasn’t sure. But now that you told me about Detective Matthias, I definitely want to. Because no way am I getting crucified forthat.”
Chapter
35
Michael Heck took another trip to his coffee cup. He took a sip, put it down. “Still sucks and now it’s cold.”
When he returned, our legs were crossed and we looked relaxed.
