Nothing seemed out of place. It shouldn’t be, with maid service twice per week. Bristol spared no expense in creating the life he’d always wanted.
“How do I look?” Pretty stupid, if you asked Lucky. The mirror before him likely cost more than the down payment on his house.
“Hold still.” Jimmy untied Lucky’s noose of death and slithered the material over itself like a snake. He ended by pulling the tie way too tight. “Your brother favored a Windsor knot.”
Windsor? Lucky yanked at the tie.
Jimmy slapped his hand away. “You want to look the part of a successful banker, don’t you?”
Not really. Bikers, drug dealers, even homeless drug addicts were all familiar parts to play. Big wheel pricks who spent more than they made? Not so much. “Where is Bo?”
Jimmy glanced away, lips pursed.
Walter disengaged himself from the wall and strode up to Lucky’s side. “He’s in place. Your paths likely won’t cross, but he’s there.”
For Walter’s ears only, Lucky asked, “He’s okay?”
“You trained him well. Trust him.”
Trusting Bo wasn’t the problem. The other folks involved in this big mess? Not a snowball’s chance in Hell.
Walter rested his hands on Lucky’s shoulders. “Focus, Lucky. You better than any know the dangers of distractions.”
The vest hidden under Bristol’s expensive monkey suit chafed a bit. No wonder his brother was broke if he’d thrown all his money away on a fancy house, fancy clothes, and fancy cars.
“Yeah.” He glanced down at the Rolex on his wrist. “It’s almost show time.”
Photos lined the dresser: Bristol and a gorgeous blonde woman on a cruise ship, in front of the Eiffel Tower, in Times Square… All appeared to have been taken close together, as the two in the pictures didn’t change much. Even Victor, with his bottomless wallet, didn’t toss money about like Bristol.
And not a single picture of any other Lucklighters anywhere.
An officer stepped forward and clipped a nearly invisible microphone to Lucky’s tie, designed like a tie tack in the shape of a tennis racket. “Testing, testing,” she said.
The two-way radio on her belt squawked. “Coming through loud and clear.”
She stepped back with a satisfied smile.
“Now,” Jimmy told him, removing the arm he’d slung around Lucky’s shoulders at Lucky’s growl. “Surveillance video shows your brother’s car pulling in front of a hangar at the back of the airport. His car is on camera at least six times, so they’ll be looking for the BMW. He pulls in the gate and waits. After a while a man will come out of the hangar, get into the backseat, and the car drives away.”
“Who?”
“It could be one of six or seven men.”
Lucky scowled at his reflection. “They’ll never believe I’m him.”
Jimmy straightened Lucky’s lapels, reminding Lucky of “Nurse Andy’s” constant fussing and pillow fluffing. “We’ve covered all the bases, kept Bristol’s death out of the news. The bank has him listed as on vacation. Only your family and the girlfriend knows the truth. The girlfriend is under surveillance, and you trust your family, right? Your contacts have no reason to suspect anything’s wrong. You got the intel and studied the videos, right?”
Lucky nodded. “Where am I driving to after pickup?”
“Let him tell you.” Jimmy frowned and adjusted the tie again. Obsessive-compulsive much?
“Not the kind of plan I’m used to.”
“Based on your brother’s phone records, you could go to any of the three locations we showed you on the map. Your brother remained with the car while his passenger went inside and stayed about twenty minutes. Then Bristol took them back to the airport.” Jimmy handed Lucky a phone. “He was just a flunky, and didn’t seem to interact much with his passenger. Just take your contact wherever he wants to go, and the team will step in from there. Here’s his phone. Can you sound like him if you need to?”
“Kinda late to be asking now, ain’t it?”
Jimmy scowled.
