“You think Glenn will crack if we confront him with proof right in front of his father?” Deven asked, clearly excited at the prospect of confronting the younger Patterson.
Karissa wondered whether her brother would be as thrilled if Glenn went into panic mode and pulled a gun. Knowing Deven, the answer was probably yes.
The auto plant was complete bedlam when Karissa and Deven arrived, as construction workers, engineers, and public relations people ran around trying to get the place ready for the media event that was supposed to take place in less than a day. She wondered how the opening would go once the press found out that Dominic Patterson’s son was in jail for conspiracy to commit murder.
Karissa cringed at the thought.
She and Deven found Jerome easily enough among the crowd of people running here and there, only to discover that Patterson senior wouldn’t be available for the rest of the day.
“He’s down at city hall dealing with zoning permits that were supposed to be done months ago,” Jerome said, looking back and forth between her and Deven curiously. “He’ll probably be there until late this afternoon, maybe this evening. But don’t worry, he has four armed guards sticking to him like glue.”
That announcement should have prompted some kind of professional thought one way or the other, but the truth was Karissa hadn’t gotten a single inkling of danger concerning Dominic Patterson for three days. Not since the night she’d fought Bagley at the gala, now that she thought about it. Even today, with Patterson all the way on the other side of town with four guards who would barely slow Bagley down, she wasn’t worried.
Karissa had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean.
“Is something wrong?” Jerome finally asked when neither she nor Deven said anything after a few moments. “Should I call the security detail and get the boss into lockdown?”
Karissa shook her head, glancing at her brother, wondering if maybe it would be better to come back later or perhaps track Patterson down at city hall. Ultimately, she decided against both of those things.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” she said, thinking this might actually work to their advantage.“If Glenn’s here, we could talk with him instead. You might want to sit in on the conversation though.”
Jerome frowned in obvious confusion, but instead of asking the question she was sure was on the tip of his tongue, he gave them a nod, then turned and led them upstairs to the same conference room she’d been in a few days ago.
Glenn was sitting at the long table in the center of the room, poring over plotter-sized printouts of the plant’s floor plans, circling some areas in red, others in green and yellow. Karissa could only guess that he was outlining sections of the place that were ready for the grand opening and those that weren’t quite ready for prime time.
There seemed to be a lot of red areas left. But hey, maybe she was wrong and red meant something good? Sure, that was possible.
“Glenn, you have a few minutes?” Jerome called out, getting the other man’s attention. “Karissa and Deven are here. They have something for us.”
The man glanced up, looking tired but curious. “Yeah, I have time.” He surveyed the papers in front of him with a rueful snort. “It’s not like staring at these floor plans longer is going to make the situation any better.”
Karissa took a seat across the table from Glenn while Deven took one right beside him, already pulling out his laptop and setting it up. Jeromedidn’t sit, instead leaning against the nearest wall, apparently preferring to stand.
“We’ve identified the hit man hired to kill your father,” she said without preamble, keeping her eyes locked on Glenn’s face as Deven pulled up the most recent picture they had of the man trying to murder Patterson. “His name is Thomas Bagley.”
Jerome moved over and leaned in closer, but Glenn didn’t bat an eye at the mention of the name or Bagley’s face on the screen. No even a twinge. Part of Karissa wondered if the man was simply that cold and calculating but couldn’t square that image with the read she’d gotten off him during their first meeting. She glanced at Deven to see that he seemed just as surprised as she was.
Glenn Patterson definitely wasn’t acting like a guilty man who’d just been caught.
“Bagley is a highly experienced killer,” Karissa continued, her eyes locked on Glenn’s face. “We have no idea how many murders the man is responsible for over the years, but it’s a lot.”
“It appears he doesn’t come cheap either,” Deven added smoothly, pulling a document up on his laptop screen. “In fact, for this particular job, Bagley was paid one hundred thousand dollars. In advance.”
Glenn looked at Deven, then Karissa and Jerome. “I have to admit, I have no frame of reference for anything like this. Is a hundred thousand a lot?”
She shrugged. “In Chicago, if you’re not too picky about how the job is done, you can hire a killer for fifteen hundred. So yeah, a hundred thousand is a lot. It buys you the best in the business.”
“Okay, so we know who the hit man is,” Glenn said, leaning back in his chair. “That’s good. But have you figured out who hired him yet?”
“Yes,” she said. “Deven was able to track down the money trail all the way back from Bagley to the person who paid him.”
Karissa gave her brother a nod, then watched as he pulled up the most important document he’d discovered with STAT’s assistance. “And that’s where things get really interesting.”
Glenn and Jerome moved closer, both appearing extremely interested in whatever Deven had to show them. As Karissa focused on Glenn, she started to think this man might be the best actor she’d ever seen.
“Interesting? How so?” Glenn repeated, leaning in even closer to the computer screen. “Who hired the hit man who’s after my father?”
“You did,” she said bluntly. “The money that paid Thomas Bagley came from an account under your name.”
