“Who?” Ox asked. He didn’t even try to mask that he was being facetious about his ignorance.
“There’s no way we’re telling you anything about anything,” O’Neill said in a voice as bird-like as his features. It was also tinged with an Irish lilt. “We’re not stupid.”
“Oh,” I said, getting in front of the medic to force him to meet my gaze, “you were stupid the minute you decided to start working with Larroca. Now it’s time for you to be smart.”
“Lady—” Ox began.
“Try Ms. Brannigan, Ox. Or Assistant District Attorney Brannigan.”
“Ms. Brannigan,” he started again, slowly, “I don’t plan on saying anything to you about anything. Not unless I have a lawyer present.”
“Your lawyer’s on the way,” I lied. “But you can help yourself a lot by telling me about Larroca. I don’t care about either of you. I want him.”
“You’ll never get him,” O’Neill spit out.
“Oh? Antoine tell you that himself?”
“He doesn’t have to tell me. I know the score.” O’Neill shook his head.
“I know a few scores of my own,” I told him. I sat on the edge of the table in the middle of the room. There were two thick files on them, full of everything Fixer’s information allowed me to dig up about these two. I didn’t need to flip them open to rattle off some of those two’s more egregious dealings.
They looked surprised at the things I knew. The Fixer’s intel was worth its weight in gold. I finally saw them start to sweat. Ox’s cocky attitude quickly began to melt away.
“I can lock you two away for years,” I said, leaning toward them, letting my antipathy for them seep through my words. “For what? A scumbag like Antoine Larroca? I know you don’t serve him out of any sense of loyalty.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking us to do,” Ox muttered, his eyes slipping to the floor.
“Larroca’s got you both by the balls. Imagine being rid of him forever. Not having that sword dangling over you all the time. Free to live a life full of… well, whatever it is people like you like to live a life full of.”
I looked from one of them to the other. They were considering what I have to say. I felt so close. This was the moment, though, where I had to proceed with caution. It’s just before someone’s about to flip that you can make the wrong move and force the subject to clamp up forever.
So I waited.
Finally, O’Neill looked up at me. His eyes were frightened behind his glasses little lenses. “Are you really committed, Ms. Brannigan? Are you really determined to bring Larroca in, no matter what?”
“I am, O’Neill,” I allowed some kindness into my tone. “I swear to you that I will go the distance. No matter what.”
My hopes rose and I had to fight the urge to get too excited.
Then O’Neill looked at Ox. They exchanged silent communication. Ox gave O’Neill a slight shrug, then deflated. O’Neill looked back at the floor and muttered something, but I heard him loud and clear. “All right. We will talk.”
In my mind, I imagined Mallory on the other side of the glass smiling for the first time in his life. I knew it was taking everything in me not to break out into a grin. Hell, not to break out into a little jig.
Yes, I thought. I’ve got Larroca. Finally.
10
The Fixer
“Why?” was a nagging question that I always hated not having an answer to. In my line of work, not having an answer to ‘why’ was something that got you killed.
Or got other people killed. People you worked with. People who trusted you. Or even just a person.
A person like Theresa. If something happened to her…
Don’t get distracted, old boy, I told myself. If you want to protect her, then you need to concentrate and do your damn job the way you know how.
I was hitting a brick wall right then, unfortunately. I was haunted by the ‘why’ of Larroca’s purported next hit. As in, “Why Councilman Terry Hayes?”
My investigation had turned up that Hayes was the target, but it didn’t make any goddamn sense.
The guy was a nobody. He’d only been on City Council for two terms. He didn’t serve on any important committees. The biggest bill he’d cosponsored was to name an alley after a K9 police dog that helped save a kid trapped under a collapsed building. I mean, the guy was as lightweight as you can get.
All of which made me think this was personal. Or part of a bigger plan. That was bad news. The two things that make people hard to stop are when things are personal or when everything else hinges on a certain act.
Which meant Larroca might be even more dangerous than usual if he sensed someone trying to fuck up his plans.
If something happens to Theresa…
I was in my office pondering all of this when the phone rang. It was Theresa. Right on cue. I answered it before the second ring started. “You grab ‘em?”
“Grabbed them. Broke them. Got them to talk.”
I was impressed. I knew that Ox and O’Neill weren’t the most hardened or brazen of lowlife. Still, I’d thought they’d have held out a little longer. They knew how dangerous Larroca was, after all. And the shit that Larroca had on them was nasty. If Theresa were to fail, they’d be completely fucked.
On the other hand, why was I surprised? I’d seen Theresa’s fiery nature up close and personal. I’d felt the impact of its heat. The surprising thing should probably have been that I thought Ox or O’Neill ever stood a chance against her.
“Well done,” I murmured into the phone.
“I couldn’t have done it without your intel.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“Following your plan is working and it looks like I’m going to get my man.”
“I’m glad,” I said. Then I realized that there was an intimacy in my voice that I didn’t mean to be there. I realized that it sounded like—and I guess I sort of meant—that I was glad for her. Which was hardly professional. I caught myself quickly and added, “I’m glad because… Larroca deserves to be off the streets for good.”
“We’ll have to celebrate as soon as this is all over.”
For a moment, I grinned, thinking that sounded nice. I imagined her and I and a bottle of champagne. A light buzz. The two of us stepping closer and closer to one another…
Then a coldness crept into my gut. I could hear a confidence in her that was starting to border on cockiness. I wondered if she was so close to her goal that she was in danger of losing her perspective. Losing her sense of caution.
“Theresa, be careful,” I said instinctively.
“Don’t worry. There’s nothing he can do to stop me, now.”
“Just because you have all this dirt on him doesn’t mean you’ve won. Not yet.”
“Trust me, I know. If anyone knows, it’s me. But you’ve helped me finally get something that he can’t run away from. Forgive me for being a little excited about it. I think I’m entitled. Besides, it’s not like I don’t know who I’m dealing with, right?”