Potshot

Chapter 56

I READ THE transcripts first. There were three: one George, who seemed to be a drug dealer, one Henry, who sounded like a bookie, and one Lou (female) talking about water resources in a place called Potshot (no state mentioned). The entry was dated a month before she lured me. Some of it was the kind of trivial chatter that people have before they settle in. Then I came to it.

TANNENBAUM: Fix us a couple more drinks, will you baby?

LOU: I'd love to.

TANNENBAUM: Oh man, that hits the spot.

LOU: To you, Morrie.

TANNENBAUM: Preacher's fucking us. I think he knows about the water.

LOU: Steve told him.

TANNENBAUM: That fucking blow. He's like a loose fucking cannon. Bragging about being a bad guy. He's going to fuck up this fucking deal if we don't do something about him. I told you we needed to do something about him.

LO U: I can fix it.

TANNENBAUM: How you going to fix it?

LOU: I know a person who will do it.

TANNENBAUM: I don't want you hiring nobody. Lotta deals go south 'cause some fucking hired guy can't keep his fucking mouth shut.

LOU: Person I'm thinking of will be fine. He'll do anything I say.

TANNENBAUM: You fucking him?

LOU: Just enough.

TANNENBAUM: To keep him under control?

LOU: Un-huh.

TANNENBAUM: That what you doing to me?

LOU: Nobody can keep you under control, Morrie.

(Sound of sexual activity.)

TANNENBAUM: Come on you little bitch. You know you want it.

LOU: Morrie, I'm not going to fuck you right here on the floor.

TANNENBAUM: You'd fuck me in the middle of the I-S freeway if you needed to.

LOU: Come on Morrie. Let's go to bed.

It was pretty clear that they were talking about Steve Buckman's impending murder, though no one quite said it. And the Feds were willing to let some guy named Steve get "fixed" rather than reveal their bug on Tannenbaum. I knew they'd say, "If we can put Tannenbaum out of business, we'll save a lot more lives than maybe this guy Steve who may get killed." And I knew they were probably right. The most good for the most people and all that. I was glad I didn't have to think that way.

I thought about Lou with Morris Tannenbaum and felt crawly. Then I found myself smiling, alone, in the badly furnished living room of a rented house in a remote town. I had a genuine clue implicating my client in her husband's murder and my first reaction was disappointment in her sex life.

Then I wondered who the someone was that would do anything she told him. I knew of two guys in Potshot that she might control-Mark Ratliff and Dean Walker. Given what I was learning about Mary Lou, there might have been twenty others. Anyone who would bop Morris Tannenbaum… and I kind of liked Walker. I hoped it wasn't him.

I went through the logs looking for familiar names. There were none. If anyone else from Potshot was talking to Morris Tannenbaum, it wasn't someone I knew.