The Sixth Man (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 5)
Page 68
“I think you and Michelle need to go there and look around.”
“You’re officially retaining us?”
“I thought I already had.”
“With Bergin dead, it gets complicated. His associate, Megan Riley, is on the papers. She’s willing but really green. I’m not sure the court will allow her to continue in a solo capacity.”
“You’re a lawyer,” said Paul bluntly.
“You checked me out?”
“Of course I did. I’d be a fool if I hadn’t. You can cocounsel with Riley.”
“I’m not in practice anymore.”
“I think you might want to reconsider that. You can wear two hats. Detective and lawyer.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Sean. “Right now the FBI have Megan Riley holed up somewhere in Maine emptying out her brain cells.”
Paul appraised him with a shrewd look. “You think your green l
awyer can hold up against the Bureau?”
“I don’t know,” said Sean, giving her a curious glance.
“Brandon Murdock?” said Paul.
“How do you know that?”
“Teddy told me he was trying to break through the wall of legal confidentiality to find out who the client was. Teddy said it would eventually have to come out, but he’d managed to hold the fellow off so far.”
“The FBI usually gets its way.”
“Not disputing it. But let’s make them work a little harder. I’m no lawyer but I’d say finding out who killed all those people and Teddy and now Hilary takes precedence over trying to discover who’s paying for Eddie’s defense.”
“So you’re assuming that all the deaths are connected?” said Michelle. “The six bodies and Bergin and his secretary. Killed by the same person?”
“Teddy Bergin didn’t have an enemy to his name. And why kill Hilary except for something she knew? And that right there proves Eddie is innocent. There was no way he got out of Cutter’s Rock to kill either one of them.”
Sean considered this. “That’s true. If they are connected.”
“The proof is out there. All you have to do is find it.”
“I’ll draw up a retainer agreement and have you sign it.”
“More than happy to.”
“Anything else we need to know?”
“I believe you’ve got plenty to think about.”
As they rose to go she added, “I doubt it would be smart to leave poor Megan with the FBI too long. You might want to make some noises about unlawful detainment or something like that, just to get the Bureau’s blood going. Mention something about calling up a TV station or newspaper reporter. They just love that stuff down at the Hoover building. Makes their butts get all tight and squirmy.”
Sean looked at her strangely. “You have a lot of experience with the FBI?”
“Oh, more than you’ll probably ever know, Mr. King.”
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