“But you’ve still got a team watching you.”
“Not cowboys. Old guys they wouldn’t trust with any other duty.”
“Could you get away without getting caught?”
“Skip out?”
“Skip town.”
“Sure. But that’s all the excuse Rudkowski would need to put a noose around my neck. And if he did, I’d be no good to you. So why would I want to skip?”
“We have them.”
That he announced it without inflection or fanfare gave it more impact than if he’d shouted it with glee. Continuing in that manner, he gave Mike a broad-strokes version of what had taken place.
When he finished, Mike said, “So, her, too, huh?”
“Yeah.”
For once Mike showed that he had a human side after all. He didn’t follow with I told you so. “Okay. So now what?”
“Stand by. Gif is listening to the conversation now. We’ll get back to you.”
Drex had a few questions for Google. By the time he’d gotten the info he needed, Gif was removing the headset. Drex looked at him expectantly.
“Not to dash cold water on this, Drex, but it’s a long way from a smoking gun or signed confession. It was illegally obtained, which makes it inadmissible in—”
“I know all that.”
“Rudkowski would cook us and serve us in Quantico’s cafeteria.”
“Mike referenced a noose.”
“Neither appeals to me.” Gif fiddled with the headset as he mulled over this new development. “Do you think he’s doing Elaine Conner?”
“I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me. They’re chummy.”
“The Ford marriage sounds wobbly, if not rocky.”
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t partners in crime. Or at least they were when they killed Marian Harris.”
“But did they?” Gif brandished the headset. “This isn’t solid enough to issue them a parking ticket. Nobody, not the FBI, nobody would touch it. In fact, if we pass this along as evidence or even probable cause, any law officer in the land would laugh his ass off and then arrest us for violation of the privacy act.”
“Which is why we must proceed as we have been. On our own. Under the radar.”
Gif grimaced and tossed the headset onto the bed. “Drex—”
“Get Mike on the phone. Please.”
When they were on speaker, Drex addressed Mike. “Tomorrow the lovely couple next door are going on a getaway to Atlanta. I need you to find out the name of a new boutique hotel that poached a chef from a restaurant in New York. If you can—”
“The Lotus.”
“What?”
“That’s the hotel. I read an online article about the chef.”
Gif and Drex looked at each other and, in spite of the grim circumstances, smiled.