Shakedown

Chapter Forty-three

It was close to six o’clock when I left Jill Rice’s house. I worked the phone while navigating rush-hour traffic to Pete amp; Mac’s to pick up Ruby.

I called Marty Grisnik to ask if he’d heard from Troy Clark. I called Ammara Iverson to find out when Troy was going to drop the hammer on me and to find out whether she had any leads on Wendy and Colby. I called Joy to ask whether she’d talked with Wendy’s friend from work.

I called Kate to make certain she was still on for seven o’clock tonight, not certain whether I was. Wendy was missing and finding her was the only thing that mattered. That Kate could possibly help me by sorting out what I knew from what I suspected was reason enough to keep our date. The earlier promise of the weekend had vanished with Wendy’s disappearance even as I remembered how it felt to kiss Kate, hold her close, and imagine holding her closer.

Wendy wasn’t the only complication. The anticipation of being with Kate butted heads with my confused feelings for Joy, who’d reappeared, not as the woman I’d fallen in love with or the one whom I’d stopped loving, but as someone else, someone who’d come back to me when I needed her, reborn and not asking for anything in return.

I called Wendy, hoping she would answer, tell me she was fine, and make fun of me for my fears. I’d find a way to tease her in return and apologize for my gaffe with Kate. We’d both laugh and I would stop shaking.

Wendy didn’t answer and neither did any of the others. The messages I left were like a net I’d thrown into the water. It was wet and empty when I hauled it in.

Ruby was glad to see me, shaking her short tail faster than I shook on a bad day. I let her in the car and rolled my window down. She parked herself in my lap, front paws on the door, nose in the wind. Of all the things I needed at the moment, a dog that I had to drop off and pick up at day care wasn’t on the list. But she imposed a normalcy on my life, making me responsible for her, forcing me to adjust my needs to accommodate hers.

I had never done that with Joy and Wendy. They always had to adapt to me, the city where I was assigned, the hours I kept, the things I couldn’t tell them about what I did. I could explain all of that to them and they would acquiesce, but Ruby was not impressed. She wanted to eat, play, and sleep and not necessarily in that order. It was my job to jump through her hoops and I had to admit that even with everything else that had fallen in my lap this week, I liked my new job.

Marty Grisnik was parked in front of my house when I got home. He got out of his car and followed me into the garage just as I had followed Jill Rice into hers. For a moment I had a hollow feeling in my gut that he was going to tell me Wendy was dead the same way I had told Jill about her husband. I started breathing again when he didn’t.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Grisnik said.

“I left you a message at your office.”

“I’ve been out.”

“You hear from Troy yet?”

“From him and Special Agent in Charge Ben Yates and that jackleg U.S. Attorney Josh Ziegler and my chief. The only person I haven’t heard from is the pope and that’s probably only because my line has been busy and there’s not enough of my ass left to chew out to make it worth His Holiness’s while.”

“I’m really sorry. How bad is the fallout?”

Grisnik shrugged. “Don’t sweat it. I’ve got broad shoulders. The chief will yank my chain. I may end up with a nastygram in my personnel file, maybe get a few days unpaid vacation, but that’s it. I know where too many bodies are buried for them to bust my chops too bad.”

“You’re a standup guy, Grisnik. I appreciate it.”

He raised his hands. “Don’t appreciate so much. I did what you told me. I gave you up in a heartbeat, told them it was all your idea. My chief will give me some cover even if he has to take his shots at me in public, but you’ve got no friends on your side of the aisle.”

“Is that what you came to tell me?”

“Yeah. Figured it wouldn’t come as any surprise to you but I wanted to give you a heads-up anyway.”

“I appreciate that, too, but you didn’t have to drive all the way out here.”

“I like the drive. Lets me clear my head. See what I’m missing out here in cupcake land. I did some nosing around with some people I know up at Leavenworth. Word is Tommy Rice was done as a favor.”

“Who asked for the favor?”

“I didn’t get a name, only that it went with a badge. Sounds like your runaway agent has a long reach.”

“The guy who did it, he’s been charged?”

Grisnik snorted. “What, are you kidding? They don’t know who did it. They only know why it happened. It’s going down as a suicide. Plain and simple.”

Jill Rice was right. Her husband wouldn’t have killed himself. She wouldn’t be comforted with the knowledge that Colby had orchestrated his murder. If Colby had Wendy, she was in greater danger than I had thought possible. Knowing who your enemy is gives you a chance. She wouldn’t see Colby’s betrayal until it was too late. I shook Grisnik’s hand.

“Thanks.”

“You keep saying that, you’re going to wear it out. Anything new on your daughter?”

“Nothing. I don’t even know where to look.”

“What about your agent?”

“Same story.”

“I’ve got a few people I can tap. Maybe I’ll come up with something. Make my day to find your girl and collar a dirty FBI agent all in the same day. Go feed your dog. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”