Part 28 (1/2)
”No!” At his outburst, Mickey clutched at his ribs.
Hunt's expression dark, he turned to his employee. ”That's not the worst idea I've ever heard, Mick.”
”And where's she supposed to go?”
”How about back home? How about to her regular life?”
Mickey, very slowly, shook his head. ”She's not going to have a regular life until this is over, Wyatt. Juhle and Russo think it's her. You told me that yourself.”
”I also told you they're a long way from a warrant.”
”That could change in a heartbeat. And besides, it's not just them.”
”It's not?”
Alicia took the opportunity to break in. ”Mickey thinks that whoever really did this might . . . might want to kill me too.”
Hunt's mouth twitched in derision. ”And why would they want to do this?”
”If she's the main suspect,” Mickey said, ”and then she kills herself, or it's made to look like she kills herself, the investigation goes away.”
Hunt took a beat. ”I've always said you've got a good imagination, Mick.”
”This guy's already killed two people. Why wouldn't he kill somebody else if it would end it? You don't think that could happen?”
”A lot of things could happen, Mick. Do I think there's a likelihood?” He turned his gaze from one of them to the other. ”No.”
”Yeah? Well, I don't want to bet on likelihoods. Any likelihood at all is too much. You want to bet Alicia's life that something like that won't happen? We just can't do that.”
Hunt blew out a heavy breath.
”Look,” Mickey went on. ”We took this job, among other reasons, to investigate this murder, now these murders, and try our d.a.m.nedest to keep Alicia out of jail-”
”That's not why we took this job.”
”Yes, it is, Wyatt. It is exactly. It's what I promised her before I even came to you about the rewards.”
This unexpected information didn't make Hunt any happier. ”It might have been nice to let me know about that a little sooner.”
Mickey started to shrug, but the pain stopped him. ”It's what I did, Wyatt. It seemed like the right thing. Alicia did not do this. Either of these.”
Hunt's glance at Alicia made it clear that he wasn't close to sold on this story. He came back at Mickey. ”So what do you propose we do, as opposed to what we've already been doing trying to investigate these murders?”
”Well, first,” Mickey said without hesitation, ”for her own safety, she stays here.” He held up his good hand. ”Look, there's no warrant out on her. Devin and Russo haven't even asked her to check in with them. So she's just hard to find, visiting a friend, however you want to spin it, if it comes up at all.”
”What if they get a warrant? Or the Grand Jury gives 'em an indictment?”
”You told me that won't happen at least until they get the other DNA. And even with the DNA, where's the case against Alicia?” Mickey looked over at her, seemingly took strength from her expression of grat.i.tude. ”And if they come back with a warrant or indictment, then we ask Gina to come aboard as her lawyer.”
For the first time, Hunt relaxed his fierce front. ”And wouldn't Devin love that?”
”Wouldn't he?” Except Mickey wasn't done. ”But that's not going to happen, Wyatt. Devin and Russo haven't even looked at Neshek yet. There'll be clues at the crime scene there, the investigation is going to open up. Something will break. Or else one of our reward people will come up with something. At least it'll move in a different direction, and then Alicia can go back to her life.”
”And in the meanwhile, she's here?”
”n.o.body's going to look for her here, Wyatt. She can sleep in her car. You won't even know it.”
Hunt looked from one of them back to the other. ”I hate this,” he said.
But then, unbidden and unwelcome, he recalled the discussion he'd had with Gina the night before. All of the unanswered questions about the money, about Len Turner, about his connections, if any, to the Battalion. And Mickey was right-even forgetting the Nancy Neshek homicide, all of that was stuff Devin and Sarah had barely begun to look at.
Still, Mickey had without his permission moved a murder suspect into his home. Had essentially committed the firm to take her on as a de facto client, and one who didn't seem likely to come up with a retainer. But, even beyond all that, was Mickey's point that if the d.a.m.ned woman was in fact innocent, she might be at risk. And now he'd made it Hunt's business.
”You know what they say about fish and guests?” he asked. ”After three days, both stink.” Hunt's face had reverted back to where it had been all morning. Unyielding. ”So three days. That's my best offer. Then we figure out some other accommodation.”
He pushed back his chair, got up, grabbed the gun, and walked off down the hallway toward his bedroom.
The winds.h.i.+eld wipers kept up their regular rhythm. Hunt, grim-faced, waited out the red light on Market. Finally, he turned to Mickey. ”You're sure you're okay to be moving around?”
Mickey barely inclined his head. ”I moved around more last night.”
”That's not what I asked.”
”I'll be all right. We've only got three days.”
”It might be longer than that. You might want to prepare yourself. It probably will be, in fact, so don't get your hopes up. And then where does she go?”
”As you say, we'll figure something out. I've got some people I know from cooking cla.s.ses who might let her crash with them.”
”Yeah,” Hunt said. ”Make more friends.”
The light turned green ahead of them. The line of traffic did not move. The driver behind Hunt laid on his horn, and Hunt said, ”I wonder if he'd do that if he knew I was packing.”
Mickey received this intelligence in silence, but he shot a quick look over at his boss. Say what he would to the contrary, Hunt's decision to carry a gun on him marked a sharp escalation in his estimation of the dangers of this case.
”So,” Hunt said. ”When I got there this morning, you were both on the sofa bed. You want to elaborate on that? And in case you're wondering, it's not really a question of whether you want to or not. I need to know your relations.h.i.+p.”
”Friends. But, yes, I find her attractive. I'm attracted to her.”
”You tell her that?”
”I think she's probably figured it out. But nothing's happened. Nothing. She was nervous out in her car alone.”
Finally, they rolled ahead about two car lengths. Six or eight cars ahead of them, the light turned red again. ”So how do you know she's innocent? And you do realize, I hope, that you are betting your life, and maybe mine, on that.”
”I think you can tell when someone is a good person. Some people. And I know all about what you're going to say about you and Tam and Craig, but Alicia is different. She's real, she's consistent. Just last night, she even told me the one thing she'd done that she felt she hadn't handled correctly in this investigation. And n.o.body made her tell me that. She just wanted to be completely honest.”