Chapter 41

   Yaritza stared at her newly-refilled drink in thought. Nic noticed, but said nothing. She had enough on her mind, and his probing would not help at the moment. He looked around the bar. What little of the clientele there was in the bar was giving him evil stares. Any other man might have cringed. Nic simply sipped his beverage.

   Finally, Yaritza looked at him and said, “There’s someone else to think about here.”

  “Who?”

  “A man named James Plank. He works at Jefferson-Brown.”

  “What about him?”

   “I don’t know. I went to talk with him about the case. Plank and his ex-wife and Mark Robertson had an unusual triangle of a relationship. Plank was pretty defensive about his work, I haven’t really thought about it until now, everything’s been so Nikea-centered.”

   Nic shrugged. “What makes you suspicious?”

  “Right now, everything.”

  “All right. Did you happen to meet Ted Clayton while you visited Plank?”

  “No. But I did read that when Brown retired, Ted Clayton assumed control of the firm.”

   Nic sat back and rested his head on his intertwined fingers. “Now that’s interesting.”

  “What is?”

  “Until now, I’d assumed that Clayton was a naughty boy at the associate level. If he has that much control, then I underestimated him.”

   Yaritza shrugged. “At the moment I don’t think we have anything solid to go on.”

  “I did come to you with leads, you know.”

  “The key.”

  “Should be easy to find a bank where it fits.”

  “What else?”

  “Well, the assassin angle is what really has me thinking.”

  “How so?”

  “A family law firm hiring assassins?”

  “Or just Ted Clayton hiring them.”

  “Maybe. But I think it’s something we should check out.”

   Yaritza slowly shook her head. “This has to be on the QT, Nic. One thing’s for certain: when I’m back on the job, Corday will put me on smaller cases for a little while. He won’t even hear of me getting back on Nikea’s case.”

   Nic nodded. “And they haven’t had any success finding her.”

  “None. APBs were out, and she’s officially wanted for questioning.”

  “And that’s not enough to get whatever departments are asked to get a full team on it.”

  “Right.”

  “Well, let me start on her.”

   Yaritza blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll start looking for her.”

  “But the police can’t find her. What makes you think you can?”

  “Because I’m not a cop…therefore I have no limits on authority.”

  “You have resources to search?”

  “Yep.”

  “And you want to do this?”

  “Yep.”

  “Why? Finding her might not help in your search.”

  “True, she may be a dead end. However, I might need you for official authority down the road, and if the Nikea matter is done with, then you can move on and be stable.”

   A small grin. “You’re saying I’m not stable?”

  “I’m saying you’re good, but you’re also lost right now. I can do this because I have no emotional ties to you or Nikea.”

   Yaritza shrugged. “I feel like I’m not doing much for you.”

  “Let me ask you, what do you know about this Jefferson-Brown firm?”

  “I have a load of research in my apartment. I look at it sometimes, but nothing jumps at me.”

   Nic smirked a bit, just enough to show confidence, but not enough to be cocky. “You just don’t know what to look for yet.”

  “And you’re a new eye for me?”

  “It looks both ways before crossing the street.”

  “Funny.”

  “Hey, a new president for my fan club!”

  “You have one?”

  “Sure, with 1 president and 1 member, all the same person.”

  “I’m flattered to death.”

  “You should be. You pay dues to yourself. Quite economical.”