Child, Lee – The Enemy

out. But they didn’t do any of that. They just sat still for it.

And their silence kind of pled themselves guilty. That was my

impression. That’s how I took it.’

The too,’ Summer said. ‘Certainly.’

‘So why didn’t they fight?’

She was quiet for a spell.

‘Guilty consciences?’ she said.

I shook my head. ‘Spare me.’

She was quiet a moment longer.

‘Shit,’ she said. ‘Maybe they’re just waiting. Maybe they’re

going to collapse the case in full view of everybody. In D.C.,

tomorrow, when they’ve got their lawyers there. To ruin

our careers. To put us in our place. Maybe it’s a vindictive

thing.’

I shook my head again. ‘What did I charge them with?’

‘Conspiracy to commit homicide.’

I nodded. ‘I think they misunderstood me.’

‘It was plain English.’

‘They understood the words. But not the context. I was

talking about one thing, and they thought I was talking about a

different thing. They thought I was talking about something

else entirely. They pled guilty to the wrong conspiracy,

392

Summer. They pled guilty to something they know can be

proved beyond a reasonable doubt.’

She said nothing.

‘The agenda,’ I said. ‘It’s still out there. They never got it

back. Carbone double-crossed them. They opened the briefcase

up there on 1-95, and the agenda wasn’t in it. It was already

gone.’

‘So where is it?’

‘I’ll show you where,’ I said. ‘That’s why we came back. So

you can use it tomorrow. Up in D.C. Use it to leverage all the

other stuff. The things we’re weak on.’

We slid out of the car into the cold. Walked across the lot to

the cell block door. Stepped inside. I could hear the sounds of

sleeping men. I could taste the sour dormitory air. We walked

through corridors and turned corners in the dark until we came

to Carbone’s billet. It was empty and undisturbed. We stepped

in and I snapped the light on. Stepped over to the bed. Reached

up to the shelf. Ran my fingers along the spines of the books.

Pulled out the tall thin Rolling Stones souvenir. Held it. Shook

it.

A four-page conference agenda fell out on the bed.

We stared at it.

‘Brubaker told him to hide it,’ I said.

I picked it up and handed it to Summer. Turned the light

back off and stepped out into the corridor. Came face to face

with the young Delta sergeant with the beard and the tan. He

was in skivvies and a T-shirt. He was barefoot. He had been

drinking beer about four hours ago, according to the way he

smelled.

‘Well, well,’ he said. ‘Look who we have here.’

I said nothing.

‘You woke me up talking,’ he said. ‘And flashing lights on and

off.’

I said nothing.

He glanced into Carbone’s cell. ‘Revisiting the scene of the

crime?’.

‘This isn’t where he died.’

‘You know what I mean.’

Then he smiled and I saw his hands bunch into fists. I

393

slammed him back against the wall with my left forearm. His

skull hit the concrete and his eyes glazed for a second. I kept

my arm hard and level across his chest. Got the point of my

elbow on his right bicep and spread my open fingers across his

left bicep. Pinned him to the wall. Leaned on him with all my

weight. Kept on leaning until he was having trouble breathing.

‘Do me a favour,’ I said. ‘Read the newspaper every day this

week.’

Then I fumbled in my jacket pocket with my free hand and

found the bullet. The one he had delivered. The one with my

name on it. I held it with my finger and thumb right down at the

base. It shone gold in the faint night light.

‘Watch this,’ I said.

I showed him the bullet. Then I shoved it up his nose.

My sergeant was at her desk. The one with the baby son. She

had coffee going. I poured two mugs and carried them into my

office. Summer carried the agenda, like a trophy. She took the

staple out of the paper and laid the four sheets side by side on

my desk.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190

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