Making sure that Gillis was out
cold, Yaritza wordlessly escorted Nic to his car. He was unsure if Erskine was
watching and preferred to guess he was, on the safe side. The presumption
dignified acting cautiously. He followed Yaritza on a maze-like drive through Las Vegas
Once they felt safe, they went back to her apartment. When Nic got
inside, she slammed the door. “Please tell me you’re not crazy, Nic.”
Nic sat down. “I’m not crazy, I just fly like that sometimes.”
“You went to a meeting like that with no backup?”
“I tried to find you.”
She sighed. “I was at my therapist’s office.”
“That’s ok. To tell the truth, I didn’t expect anyone to show up, let
alone two goons.”
“There were two?”
“A guy named Erskine met me on top. He seemed civil enough, in control,
but by the time Gillis got to me, I knew I was being double-teamed. At least I
know one thing.”
“What?”
“My visit to that bank rattled them.”
“Yeah, there’s something else, too.”
“What?”
“You’ve been made.”
“Oh, right. I kind of knew I was when I left the bank anyway. Stan Weston
hinted that he had connections. I think that’s what made me give the meeting
time and place.”
Yaritza
sighed heavily. “Now what?”
“For now, I leave the key alone.”
“And do what?”
“Two things. First, I need to bring someone else in with us.”
Yaritza shook her head. “No, this has to be just you and me.”
“Esteban, you’re a cop on leave and I’m a bounty hunter with no bounty.
Until today our partnership had anonymity. Now one of the thugs they have knows
both of us.”
She sat down. “Yeah. All right, who do you have in mind?”
“There’s a P.I. based in Seattle that I know. Kind of hard to get along
with, but he can get a job done.”
“What do you want him to do?”
“Get to places we can’t access due to our newfound fame, and otherwise
be a distraction to them.”
“And what’s the second thing you’re going to do?”
“Get on Nikea Robertson’s case. She had a son, right? I just thought of
that today.”
“Yes.”
“His school was checked, right?”
“He wasn’t registered in the public school system, and we checked a few
private places, no luck. We couldn’t try every private school. She could have
home tutored him for all we know.”
“Figures, no forwarding address. So we’re back to that number.”
“How so?”
“I want to see how serious these people are, how far they’re willing to
go to maintain a cover.”
Yaritza shook her head in confusion. “I’m not following.”
“Obviously the number isn’t a contact for Nikea’s parents. I want to
know who’s pretending. I think it’ll be one of our buddies at Jefferson-Brown.”
Yaritza shrugged. “Give it a shot.”
Nic
nodded, then hesitated, looking back at her. “And there’s something else.”
“I can hardly wait, seeing how well we’re doing.”
“Is it normal practice for a therapist to keep computer records?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your department has everything on computer.”
“Yeah? So?”
“Making it vulnerable to hackers, including department shrinks’ patient
files.”
Yaritza shook her head in disbelief. “Nic, you’re not making sense.”
“I need to know something, Yaritza. I need to know if you’d ever told a
department shrink about your sexual stuff.”
“That’s none of your business!!” she replied sharply.
“You’re right, but I need to know.”
“Why?” Yaritza was in tears.
“Because you need to think about Nikea. She was a manipulator, and when
she left you were rendered a disaster area. It sounds to me like she
accomplished a mission so that her husband’s killer could be killed without
interference from you. Now, I’ll ask again. Did you tell a department shrink
about yourself in the past in terms of your sexuality.”
The reply was whispered. “Yes. A common subject, in fact.”
“Get a new therapist, and demand the original file to give to the new
one.”
“You think she’s in on it?”
“Your therapist?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I think you’re being watched more than you know.”
“I don’t understand any of this! Why would they prevent me from finding
out who killed Mark Robertson?”
“Did someone try to kill me today to find a key?”
“Yes.”
“I think that’s part of the why.”
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