Transcript of encrypted message exchange between Victor Suarez and Cooper Lamb
VICTOR SUAREZ: Sorry for the early wake-up text but I’ve got three important items for you, boss.
COOPER LAMB: New phone, who dis?
SUAREZ: [No response]
LAMB: You’re no fun, Victor. Go ahead, what do you have for me?
SUAREZ: Item one: Just received confirmation Detective Mickey Bernstein was already en route to Eakins Oval *before* Archie Hughes’s body was discovered by the P/Os who called it in.
LAMB: WHAT? That means…you have this absolutely nailed down?
SUAREZ: [No response]
LAMB: Okay, okay, dumb question. But how do you know? I need to be sure this is rock solid before I go gunning for Dick Mickey. If I’m going to have the entire homicide department wedged sideways up my ass, it has to be for a good reason.
SUAREZ: I traced Bernstein’s complete movements starting twelve hours before the crime. Confirmed by his personal phone’s own GPS, backed up by traffic cams both here and in New Jersey.
LAMB: Tell me about Jersey.
SUAREZ: That’s item two. Bernstein was in AC earlier in the evening.
LAMB: Blackjack? Baccarat?
SUAREZ: Poker. High rollers’ table. I’ve got house footage detailing how much he lost and exactly how he lost it. He only left because of a phone call, at approximately 7:18 p.m.
LAMB: Who?
SUAREZ: That would be item three. The call came from the Eagles’ business office.
LAMB: From Papa Sable or Younger, Fatter Sable?
SUAREZ: Still running down a record for that call…if it hasn’t been scrubbed.
LAMB: You have to find that call, Victor. That could be the key to everything.
SUAREZ: Which leads me to believe it’s already been wiped. But I’ll try. Also, your suspicion about Bernstein working for the Sables turned out to be accurate.
LAMB: He’s their fixer, right?
SUAREZ: They’re making sizable deposits to a secret account of Bernstein’s. No one, not even his wife, has access to this account.
LAMB: Damn it, I hate being right. There’s no way Bernstein should be allowed anywhere near this case, yet somehow, he’s the guy calling all the shots.
SUAREZ: I’m working on that too. A source tells me there’s a memo somewhere in which Bernstein spells out exactly why he’s the man for the job.
LAMB: Stellar work, as usual.
SUAREZ: Rain has a very faint digital trail. She’s either a true nobody or a ghost.
LAMB: I’m not sure which disturbs me more. Anyway, time to turn up the heat under Tricky Mickey.
SUAREZ: You’re going to have to settle on a nickname for him, boss. I can’t keep up.
LAMB: Ha-ha-ha. Get back to work.