"I've been out of the loop on this case, Jay. I was brought in at the last minute, so I can't even say I'm fully briefed. I'm just telling you what I've been told so far. The more involved I am, the more I'll learn and be able to think for myself. And the more I'll be able to tell you."
"All right, so give me some more groupthink on Bruno."
"We know he was dealing with LaSalle on a regular basis. And we know he was using LaSalle to invest millions of dollars. Some of the investments were corporate investments. LaSalle was dealing with Bruno as if he were an institutional investor."
"Bruno?" Justin had to smile. "He's not what I'd call the corporate type."
"Our point exactly. One of the companies investing has Rubenelli on its board."
Justin sighed. "So you started investigating, looking for a way to get to Lenny Rube."
Reggie nodded.
"I still don't see the link to Harmon," Justin said.
"I told you, we don't have it firm. But it exists. We know from Wanda's notes that some of the Rubenelli money was going through Harmon's hedge fund."
"If you know that, why don't you have it firm?"
Reggie looked embarrassed. Finally she just shrugged and said, "You know what it's been like since 9/11. If it's not terrorism related, no one actually gives a damn. At least at the top levels. We've had a lot of our resources taken away from us. So we haven't been able to make a financial paper trail."
"So good old mob crimes and killings don't really matter anymore?"
"Not so much, no. But Wanda wouldn't let go of this. She thought it was big. And she was working on making the connections."
"Which is why she got killed."
"That's what we're assuming. And that's why we've moved this to high priority."
"Come on, even Lenny Rube's not stupid enough to off a federal agent. Bruno certainly isn't that dumb."
"Again, you have a higher regard for your friends than we do."
"I wouldn't exactly call Lenny my friend."
"And Bruno?"
"'Friend' is too strong a word. But just because we're on opposite sides of the fence, I don't underestimate him." He was still shaking his head. "It makes sense on the surface, but it's off. For one thing, even the way the murders were done. It's not Bruno's style. One thing you can count on, he wouldn't have left Wanda alive long enough to do what she did."
"Nice that you know his modus operandi so well."
"It may not be nice, but it's meaningful. Especially if your theory's based on the fact that Bruno was killing for the family."
"Am I missing something? Isn't that what he does for a living?"
Justin sighed and said, "Look, I didn't tell your guy Fletcher everything when we had our little chat yesterday."
Reggie said nothing. There was just the cock of her head to the left and the fluttering of her eyelashes.
"I'm still not sure I want him to have this info. So I want to know if it'll stay with you," Justin said.
"I work for them."
"But you're partnering with me."
"That's not fair, Jay. You're putting me in an untenable position."
"Sure I am. And what do I give a shit about fair? You want me to trust you, tell me that you'll keep this between us."
"This is a test?"
"Pass-fail. One time only."
She chewed on her lip for a moment, did her blinking thing, then she nodded.
"You lie to me, our partnership's over," he said.
"I get it. You're not exactly subtle."
"Okay," Justin said. And he told her what happened at Dolce when he'd met with Bruno.
When he was finished, she said, "Who was it?"
"I don't know yet. I got prints and I asked Billy to run 'em before anything had happened with Wanda and before I'd talked to Fletcher."
"You're unbelievable. How did you get prints off this guy?"
"He was reading some travel guide at the table, part of his cover. I took it on my way out. When I gave it to Billy, I didn't have any idea he might be connected to Harmon or even LaSalle."
"It was just you being curious."
"Just me being a cop."
"Most cops wouldn't have left that guy there to meet his fate."
"I did what I thought I had to do."
"Which is usually your choice."
"Yes," Justin said. "That's usually my choice. And one of my reasons was that Bruno said something that made me think I was involved."
"And that was…?"
"He told me that there were people who didn't like that he was talking to me."
"Why?"
"I don't know. But that was reinforced when I saw Wanda. Or at least I thought it was. She knew I'd talked to Bruno. I thought it was because she was keeping tabs on me-I thought that was all part of her warning me away. Now I realize she was following Bruno-tailing him, not me. Or bugging him, more likely."
"What have you gotten back from DiPezio?"
"Nothing yet," Justin said. "I kind of downplayed it. Didn't really want him getting overcurious." And then he said, "Oh, screw it," and went to the phone and dialed.
"What?" Billy DiPezio said when he answered the phone. "You want a raise to two dollars a week?"
"I'm checking up on the fingerprints I asked you to run," Justin said. "I know you're a half-assed department, but I thought maybe you could do something on time."
"Kinda late for you to be calling, don't you think?" Billy said. "Especially on a Sunday. And especially for something that didn't seem too important yesterday."
"It might be a little more important than I thought," Justin admitted.
"Why don't you have your hot-shit Fed friends run it, now that you're workin' so closely with 'em?"
"I would if I hadn't been a moron and given the thing to you."
"You got no gratitude, you know that," Billy said. "But I'll get you the results in the morning. And don't blame me if you don't like 'em."
"What?" Justin said. "You already know something?"
"Hold on a second, will you?" Justin heard the sound of glass touching glass and a woman's voice, laughing. No. Giggling. Definitely giggling. Billy had been married for something like twenty-five years and Justin was fairly sure his wife didn't giggle like that.
"Billy," Justin repeated, "you know something about this guy already?"
"I don't know shit," Billy said. "But I figure the way your life's goin', you're not gonna like the results whatever they are."
Justin hung up and looked at his watch. Past midnight. He didn't know how Billy did it. He'd be out drinking until two or three this morning and he'd be sharp as a tack and on the job by seven-thirty. Justin was finding that harder and harder to manage. Hell, he was finding it harder just to stay awake past ten at night. As if on cue, Reggie yawned.
"I think we might have to finish this conversation tomorrow," she said. "I'm pretty beat."
"Where are you staying?" he asked.
"No house this time around. The drawback to not being undercover. I've got a room at the Fisherman. Cheap but really, really ugly."
There was an awkward silence. They both stood facing each other, maybe two feet apart. The distance felt a lot farther at the same time it felt a lot closer.
"You need a ride?" he asked.
"Got a car."
"You want one more beer before you go?" He heard his voice go dry for just an instant. Idiot, he thought. What are you, in high school? Stay away from this one. Don't go there.
She said quietly, "Do you want me to stay and have one more beer, Jay?"
"No," he said. "I don't."
"Then good night."
"Good night," he said.
He watched her from his living room window as she walked to her car parked on the street. It wasn't anything fancy. Maybe a VW. He kept watching as she got in the driver's seat and then drove away in the direction of her motel.
He took a deep breath. Went to his phone and dialed the number for Abby Harmon's cell phone. He got the same voice message he'd heard over the past two days. When the message ended and he heard the tone, Justin didn't say anything. He just stared at his receiver and then hung up.