Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“In that case, why did Harry keep you in the dark about the Pellegrinos? After all, you’re Bureau; why should he hide anything from you?”

“Are you suggesting that Harry is somehow involved with the Pellegrinos?”

“Well, I was going to suggest that Harry Crisp is a self-aggrandizing son of a bitch who likes to take credit for other people’s work, even his own agents’, but I’m willing to entertain the thought that he might be dirty.”

Grant shook his head. “Harry hasn’t got it in him,” he said.

“That’s my take on Harry, too, but we could both be wrong. Look, Grant, I know that an agent doesn’t get ahead in the Bureau by questioning his boss’s honesty, but I think that, for our current purposes, you at least have to consider the possibility.”

“All right, so Harry sometimes withholds information he shouldn’t. Tell me something else that might suggest that he’s dirty.”

“Well, how about the murder of the guy at the General Services Administration?”

“What about it?”

“Why was he murdered?”

“I don’t know.”

“If you remember, it was that guy who first tipped Harry to the connection between Blood Orchid and the murders of the two Miami developers and the attempt on Ed Shine.”

“It was?”

“Harry didn’t tell you that?”

“Not that I recall.”

“He probably told you that he turned up that information, but he actually got a call from the guy at the GSA, Howard Singleton, who alerted him to the connection.”

“Okay, let’s say that’s true. What of it?”

“Wouldn’t it make sense that Singleton was murdered by the Pellegrinos for that very reason? Because he noticed something funny and tipped off the FBI? And because they don’t want it to happen again?”

“Maybe, but how does popping Singleton solve their problem? Harry told me he was already working with Singleton’s successor, a guy named Willard Smith. He called Smith and asked if there were any other sales pending by the GSA that might be like the Blood Orchid sale, and Smith said no, nothing.”

“So, what if Smith is the Pellegrinos’ inside guy at the GSA? What if he was all along? He knows the GSA has another deal brewing, and he tips off the Pellegrinos that Singleton is about to queer it by going to the FBI.”

Grant nodded. “That makes sense. And when Harry calls Smith about any other pending sales, Smith tells him there’s nothing, just waves him off.”

“You’re starting to look interested in my theory, Grant.”

“I have to admit that it makes a kind of sense, but it still doesn’t mean that Shine tried to kill you.”

They had reached Grant’s house and pulled into the driveway.

“Turn around,” Holly said.

“And go where?”

“Back to Blood Orchid.”

“Are you nuts? You think somebody there is trying to kill you, and you want to go back?”

“I have an opportunity to be on the inside at Blood Orchid, and I think I can do more good there than on the outside. I’ve got you on the outside.”

Grant turned around. “Well, if you go back, then maybe Shine won’t think you suspect him.”

“Let’s hope not, but in the meantime, you’ve got to call your friend at Bureau headquarters and run a check on Ed that doesn’t get filtered through Harry Crisp. And you’ve got to do more than just an ordinary background check.”