“It wouldn’t hurt.”
Radcliff shook his head. “I probably won’t help either. Maybe you shouldn’t be confessing a crime especially if it's the one I’m thinking of. You do have the right to remain silent…”
“I know my rights and I’m not committing a crime. Certainly not the one you’re probably thinking of. They’ve got better people than me or even Margot for that kind of thing.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“I’m going to be a rat.”
“You could have told me that from the beginning,” Margot said.
“Yeah, I could have, but I hate saying it. It makes me ill.”
“But you’ve done it before.”
“It made me ill then too.”
“I’m not sure how you talking helps them out. If you’re going to talk anyway, why not just let me bring you in?” Radcliffe asked.
“You really got to ask that?” Stone said as he shook his head.
“Enlighten me.”
“If you take me in, I don’t get to choose who to talk to. The fact is, a lot of those guys are crooked. I’ve got an agent I can trust. On that same note, they like it better when I come to them. Second, I need to know what to talk about and whose name to bring up and whose name not to, so I need to talk to Enrique first. The idea is to topple the organization so the new guys can step in. Third, I need to know I’m getting something out of this. That’s the important part because that’s the part where Margot and I get to stay alive.”
“Maybe you tell me who you want to talk to and I’ll do my best to make sure he’s the one.”
“You going to talk to Enrique as well and make sure this is all on the level?” Stone asked.
“Maybe we need to consider letting him do this. It would solve all of our problems,” Margot suggested.
“Margot, he’s a wanted man,” Radcliff argued. “We shouldn't even be talking to him.”
“He’s wanted for questioning in the death of his wife and we both know he had nothing to do with that. We also both know, if you take him in, he might not last twenty-four hours. I also have a personal interest in having him straightening the Cartel business.”
“Okay, Stone, let’s say I do let you go, how exactly are you planning to meet with this guy, Enrique? Were you going to bring them to Margot’s place to negotiate?”
“No, it’s all by phone. He ought to call on our way back from Margot’s thing out east.”
Radcliff turned to Margot, exasperated. “You’ve got a thing out east?”
“Yeah, and it would be better if I wasn’t late. If you’re considering letting him go with me, you need to do it sooner rather than later.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Come on kid,” Stone urged. “There’s following the law and then there’s doing the right thing.”
Radcliff didn’t say anything.
“Did you call it in?” Margot asked.
“No, like you said, a missed phone call isn’t exactly a call out the cavalry situation.”
“Then no one will know. Let him make his phone call and then you can take him in. You’ll look a hero.”
“Everybody wins this way,” Stone added.
“You think just because no one knows that makes it okay?” Radcliffe asked.