Twenty-Five:

“Why do I have to stake out your cheating scumbag case?”

Penny fumed at me, and I gave her a marginally tolerant look and said, “Because, his brother’s clearly on the lookout for me. You however have no connection to me whatsoever. That makes you the perfect little spy for the task. Besides, think of it as your first UC training course.”

She glared at me as if I had just severely insulted her intelligence. Penny was bright, and she was very clever, but she was also too sure of herself. She was like me at her age, which made her as frustrating as it also made her appealing. The slight gulf in our age was vastly spread by the chasm of life-experience. She had to learn how to cross that enormous gap sooner or later.

“This is nothing like UC work! This is just smarmy money shot work!”

Penny fumed and I waved her off casually and said, “Nah, I already took the money shots, and hush about that. I am presenting my evidence to Sally Anne in a bit. You don’t have to respect what I do, but you will at least respect my right to break the news to my client who is already deeply traumatized.”

Penny seemed to cool by degrees now. She did not appear to have any desire to rub Sally Anne’s nose in the information before her. That was a good thing for both of us, and for Sally. At least I knew I could count on Penny’s empathy winning out in a pinch. Otherwise, I had no clue where I stood with the girl. I had one day to get her on my side enough to help me break into a ship at sea without being detected and plant a marker on the pills. There is a need for subtility and extreme athleticism, things Penny and I both have in common, and this job just happens to require two people to pull off.

The other reason I asked Penny while we were alone, was to keep this little trip a secret to Shen and his people. To deceive the thieves, I needed to deceive my client. Not that it bothered me any. Shen seemed to be keeping me remarkably close in hand, so I was hardly upset with the prospect of reminding him that we don’t play for the same team. Some might argue that I am possibly burning a bridge at a very deadly hour, but I would remind them that I am already marked for death and have no interest in becoming a made woman for the Triad.

“Ok, ok, I’ll keep my mouth shut. How is Sally doing?”

I gave her a slight smile and said, “Better now than she was before. She’s just not accustomed to being exposed to the elements. Most humans live in a constant state of ignorance and safety. This entire situation gave her a bitter taste of reality.”

Penny seemed to consider my words and she marched out the room as Henry popped his head in.

“The deserts were simply delish, and I hate you forever and ever for making me endure a mob boss solo!”

He exclaimed in an animated tone as he took control of the room, as was his typical style.

“But the food was good, right?”

I urged him, and Henry’s eyes widened marginally, and he gushed, “Oh yeah, the food was fabulous, and I even got to try a signature lunch dish from the house chef.”

I managed to keep my expression neutral and I controlled my urge to smirk at him. Henry probably didn’t enjoy Shen’s company much, but he seemed to have relished the high-society type of lunch event.

“See, it wasn’t so bad. Just had to butter your biscuit with a mob guy hanging around, no biggie.”

Henry huffed sharply and said, “I take it from your up-beat tone you discovered something? You have that cat that ate the canary look to you.”

He said and I narrowed my eyes and said, “How many times have I told you not to talk about me like a cat!?”

He grinned mischievously and said, “About as many as I have asked you not to force me on spooky clients for dinner dates.”

My arms flailed and I chuckled at him.

“Hey, it’s not dinner, it was just a fancy-pants lunch, and Shen is hardly spooky. He’s just all business most of the time.”

Henry huffed again and said, “Sugar, he looked pretty peeved at you for ditching the lunch.”

My grin did not diminish, and I shrugged.

“He hired us to figure out how his drug shipments are going missing. I think I just managed to do just that. You’re never going to believe who I think is behind it.”

Henry’s eyes seemed to soften a shade and he clapped at me excitedly.

“Don’t leave a boy hanging! I want all the details!”

I handed over a folder with a list of customs agents. All of them were working during the times where the shipments went missing. Henry grabbed the folder and he scanned over it and he frowned.

“I don’t get it, none of these people pop out to me. Are we supposed to recognize anyone?”

Henry asked, and I shook my head and said, “Not from the lead agent’s last name, no. He is however married to the only sister of a certain bigwig Peckford PD cop family.”

Henry’s eyes bulged as he saw the names of the in-laws before him. He whistled and looked up with a cheesy grin.

“Well, this is certainly one way to get them off Sally’s back for good!”

I nodded, and said, “Sure, just have to tie the rest of them down to this a bit more, but it appears to be connected, all of it. There was a good reason why Peter was flush suddenly, and a reason why Ron could sick a hitter on me as well. I mean, he probably figured I was going to the customs office next and he had a hired thug waiting for me. One who could tie back to Irish mob so I would just assume it was one of them trying to make good on the death mark on my head.”

Henry bobbed his head and he said, “Ok, I follow you sugar, but how does that connect Ron to the Irish mob?”

I sighed and said, “That’s where I am still losing it a bit. See, I cannot prove he is, but my gut is telling me that they are the ones who either hired or approached the Grimshaw clan for this gig. After all, no one would look too deeply into the big bad cop family for this. Everyone would be spinning their wheels in the mud looking through any potential third party.”

Still frowning slightly, he said, “I still don’t see why they would include Peter; he is an architect.”

I nodded in understanding and said, “I didn’t at first, either. I think I have figured that connection out as well. What do architects have in abundance that might make them valuable to a crew stealing bulk quantities of drugs of any type?”

Henry tapped on the wall and seemed to think for a long moment.

“Nothing much, they mostly draw up blueprints.”

After a moment of dramatic build-up, I put in, “And, they supervise construction sites. They have full access to loads of empty properties. The perfect places to stash a bunch of stolen meds.”

Henry’s eyes widened and he snorted.

“I should have seen that damn. Personally, I still blame you because I am on edge from dining with a mob boss.”

I giggled and waved him off.

“Please, Shen’s just a big ole pussy cat. Besides, don’t kick yourself. I should have made that connection a day ago.”

After a moment he shook his head and said, “No sugar, no one could have seen through this so easily. It is a very clever operation. Besides, it sounds like half of this is all hunch work and the rest is circumstantial at best.”

Unfortunately for me, Henry was completely right about that. Everything we had was built on hopes and dreams, so to speak. I had very marginal true evidence of the crimes and I certainly didn’t want Shen to get wind of this angle before I could ensure the outcome of our near-future sting. I needed to get some or all the brothers and in-laws behind bars, so they started singing for their supper. I needed more leverage against all parties involved, especially Marc. If he truly were out-sourcing to the authorities to weaken his competition, I needed to make the best use of that information that I could.

I needed to see this play out in my favor or I would still have a mark on my head as would Penny. Shen didn’t really care about my wanted status in the underground. He could use that to tame me or so he thought. The details of this case would have to be contained as best I can.

“Do me a favor moving forward, do not put anything on paper or even in open file on the computer which Shen might see that links the Irishmen to the dirty cops. I am going to need to lord this intel over Marc to make him call off the death marks.”

Henry giggled and clapped in excitement.

“Oh sugar, I do love the way you think!”

I tipped my invisible hat to him and winked.

“Great minds and all that, sweetheart!”

He laughed and we shared a moment of triumph at breaking the angle of this case. There is always a moment in every case where you must take the time to appreciate the linchpin discovery. Even with all the work left to do, we could finally see some light at the end of the tunnel now. There were shards of hope to cling to.

“Our little mob shadow will be back soon. He had to run an errand for his boss. I suspect he will be watching us very closely.”

Henry said, and I shrugged and said, “If we can’t get one over on a twenty-year-old mob errand boy, then we don’t deserve our badges.”

I told Henry, and he hummed in agreement. Both of us were used to doing anything for the job, including deceiving everyone who could stand between us and closing a case. Even the police require a healthy dose of deception to keep intel from leaking like a faucet with a thousand holes in the pipe.

“True enough, but still. How are you planning to nab them?”

I grinned and said, “I know a girl and well, let’s just say that I am about to take the plunge for this case.”

Henry frowned and shook his head.

“I don’t get it, but it sounds wet and wild, where do I sign up?!”

I giggled and I said, “I’m going to need you to perform operation rabbit-hole on Tomoki. Tomorrow night, we pull the heist of our lifetimes.”

Henry grinned and said, “I always did love Alice in Wonderland!”

That was an understatement to the umpteenth power! I called it operation rabbit-hole because Henry was about to lead Tomoki on a wild goose chase around town while I pulled my heist with Penny. No one would imagine I was taking a cop on an illegal heist. Besides, I could barely justify my plans since Penny was the most clean-cut officer I had met in a long time. Even I felt a smidge of shame about exposing the sexy young officer to her first shade of grey, and not in the bedroom. (Sad for me.)

If I took Henry with me, there is no possible way Tomoki would let us both out of his sight at this stage in the game.