Page 25 of But For You

“No, I know. Normally, I like to mix me talking to you about work with blow jobs and my hand down the front of your jeans or while kissing you until my balls ache. I promise we’ll skip that today.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t sound so happy about it.”

“No, it’s not that. I just—this is important, right?”

“It is,” he agreed.

“Good. Now, about the folder.”

“All right,” he said, leaning forward. “Do you remember last year, a couple of my guys went to Vegas to pick up a witness?”

“Yeah. There was trouble with that though, wasn’t there?”

“That’s correct. They were compromised at the first safe house before they could get on a plane.”

“That’s right.” I put my hand on his knee as I thought for a second, liking the closeness, as always. “What was that witness’s name … um, something Turner?”

“Very good.” He grinned at me. “Yeah, Andrew Turner.”

“What about him?”

“This is him,” he said and opened the folder so I could see all the glossy eight-by-ten black-and-white photos of a handsome middle-aged man with dark hair and eyes. “This is Turner.”

I committed the face to memory.

“So, they had the marshals there looking, plus Vegas PD, but he was in the wind.”

“I remember. You were upset because they blamed your guys.”

“But that never made any sense because Kowalski and Ryan lost him, yes, but they were already at the safe house, and there’s no way that just happens.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, people just don’t find safe houses; it’s not possible. Someone had to have tipped off the guys who took the witness, and the only people who knew the location were the Vegas marshals and my guys.”

“So, it was for sure an inside job.”

“Absolutely.”

“And who thought this—that it was an inside job? Just you and your team?”

“Oh, no, everybody thought so at the time. My boss, my boss’s boss … they could never prove it, but there’s no other explanation. Either all the marshals in Vegas were dirty or just one, but somebody sold us out.”

“But nobody knows who.”

“Right. Without the witness testifying about how he was removed, we have no case against anyone.”

“But something new has happened.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “When Turner first went missing, I sent his picture out to every informant I had across the country. People I put into the system, old contacts from when I was with Chicago PD, and just friends, ya know?”

“Sure.”

“Well, so, two days ago, I got a hit.”

“Somebody saw Mr. Turner?”