The 6:20 Man

They rode it up, and when the doors opened into the foyer there stood Cowl. He used the wand on Devine, but didn’t go below his calves.

“Make this fast, Devine.” He nodded curtly at Montgomery and held out his hand. She passed him the fake phone; he didn’t even look at it. “Follow me.”

They walked into another room, where Cowl set the phone down on a table. “Thanks, Michelle,” he said, waving her away.

She walked off down a hall.

He sat on a couch and motioned Devine to join him. “Well?” said Cowl.

Devine sat across from him. “Some men came to see me, really early this morning.”

“Men, what about?”

“One of them had earlier pretended to be an NYPD cop assigned to Sara’s case. But he was an imposter. They came to make me tell them things about this firm. I refused, so they attacked me.” He showed Cowl his wounds.

Cowl barely looked at them. “What sort of things did they want to know about this firm?”

Devine had been watching him closely, because it was not outside the realm of possibility that, despite what Hancock had said about other people being out there, he was actually working with Cowl. He would certainly have a motive to get rid of Devine once and for all. But Cowl seemed surprised, and, more important, worried. Not for Devine, of course, but for himself.

“What was Sara really doing here,” he lied. “Who had killed her and why. That sort of thing.”

“And you told them nothing?”

“What could I tell them? I didn’t know anything. And do you think they would have cut me up if I had talked?”

“No, I guess not,” said Cowl absently, his mind clearly leaping ahead.

“So, what do I do if they come back?”

“I’ll make some inquiries.” Then Cowl looked at him closely. “You can tell me, Devine, just between friends, or business partners, I guess is what we are now.”

“Tell you what?”

“Why you killed Sara.”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“Come off it already!”

“Look—”

“No, you look!” barked Cowl. “Your card was the only one that showed up on the entry log that night. And your picture was on the video.”

“Because you put it there!”

“That’s what you say.”

“You cloned my card and had somebody walk in the door with my face on their body. Come on! You bought a company that can do exactly that.”

“I know I bought the company, but the thing is, Devine, I didn’t have anybody do what you’re accusing me of. I didn’t mess with your card or put your face on another body.”

Devine’s gaze bored into him. “You really expect me to buy that?”

Cowl shook his head, his expression resigned. “Hell, maybe I would have done that manipulation stuff, but the fact is, I didn’t think of it, okay? You’re right, when I saw the video and the entry log, I was going to send your ass right to the cops and get this problem off my back. But then you hit me with a shot to the gut with the pictures and video of me and Jenn. I just thank God I didn’t turn the stuff I had on you over to the cops before you showed me your hand. I’d have had nothing to hit you back with.”

Devine, for reasons he could not entirely understand, believed the man, because everything with Cowl was transactional. So if the man hadn’t tried to frame him, who had?

Cowl continued to grouse. “I need to get better people advising me. Not one of them even mentioned the possibility of framing you using the technology I had just bought and paid for. Useless pricks.” He sat back on the couch and stared off, clearly pissed.