Part 25 (1/2)
”It's true, Tony. If they're handfasting, then she is going to want to take a look at what she's bargaining for when he pees.”
”No one is bargaining for anything,” Spinelli argued. ”And don't you talk about my fiancee that way.”
”Carlos. Dominic. Both of you quit it. Now. Listen, Dominic, I'm sure you're getting yourself all worked up about nothing. ”I'll talk to Lilith tonight and”
”No. Don't you dare.”
”Okay. I won't say anything about you being worried.”
”I'm not worried.”
”Of course, you're not. Listen to me. I will simply tell her that you mentioned this handfasting thing, and I will ask her what gives. Maybe it is not an all day thing like you're worried about.”
”I told you. I'm not worried.”
”He's worried,” said Carlos.
”I'm not worried.”
”He's not worried. n.o.body is worried. Now, Dominic. Look at me. Straight up. We good?”
He gave me a half-a.s.s nod, but his smile seemed genuine. ”Yeah. We're good.”
”All right then.” We embraced in that awkward guy-hug sort of way. Carlos came over then and joined us in a three-way huddle. For the moment, my conscience was clear. Carlos had not told Spinelli about my dream, the one where Ursula left me sticky, wet and breathless. I prayed he never would, but if he at least waited until after the wedding then maybe, just maybe, I thought, Spinelli would not want to kill me.
THIRTEEN.
The next morning, Carlos, Spinelli and I met at the Percolator to discuss the case over breakfast. It was already Thursday, and we had scarcely defined our case, let alone our suspects. We had so many loose ends and red herrings embedded in the details, it proved impossible to pick a grounding point from which to anchor.
”We start at the beginning,” said Carlos, pus.h.i.+ng aside his OJ to make room for his plate of sausage, eggs and pancakes. ”Lay everything out. See what this case entails. Maybe we are looking at the little pieces so closely that we are missing the big picture.”
”Sure. It's the forest for the trees,” said Spinelli.
”What forest?”
”That's the expression. You can't see the forest because of all the trees.”
”That's silly. The forest is the trees.”
”I know, but that's the expression.”
”Who made that up?”
”I don't know. It's how it goes.”
”Please,” I said. ”Can we move on?”
”Tony, do you hear this? Is that a silly expression or what?”
”Carlos.”
”No, really. It's like telling someone he can't see the ocean for the water. Uh-duh.”
”I know, Carlos. It's crazy. Let it go.”
”I'm just saying.”
”Can we get back to this? You mentioned the big picture. What is the big picture?”
Spinelli said, ”The big picture is that people are dying over something called QE647.”
”Yeah, but from the beginning. What do we know for sure?”
Carlos said, ”I know my car got all shot up.”
”So you get another one. Back to Monday. Who took the call about the robbery at Biocrynetix Laboratories?”
Spinelli said, ”Dispatch took it. Sent it up to me.”
”Did you talk to Ferguson yourself?”
”I did.”
”How did he sound over the phone?”
”Normal, I suppose. He seemed matter-of-fact. Very deliberate. Not panicky if that's what you mean. Why?”
”I'm trying to understand why Ferguson called us in to begin with. Clearly, he does not really want us digging in to this case too deeply. On the one hand, we have someone in the government, some shadow agency looking for the compound. On the other, we have what appears to be a well-funded, perhaps international ent.i.ty also looking for it.”
”Maybe a foreign government.”
”Maybe. So why bring us in? Surely Biocrynetix Laboratories must view us as a thorn in its side.”
”A necessary thorn,” said Carlos.
”How do you mean?”
”I don't think Biocrynetix Laboratories called us in, per se. I think Ferguson called us in to cover his own a.s.s. He figures if the s.h.i.+t hits the fan he can always say he did the right thing by calling us in.”
”All right, so let's put it out there. We know someone stole the compound. That seems obvious.”
”And the research doc.u.ments,” Spinelli added.
”Yes. The research doc.u.ments and the compound. Now, forget about Williams, Delaney, McSweeney, Gerardi and Brookfield for a moment. I know their deaths were probably related, but I want to concentrate on the events since the disappearance of the compound. What came first?”
Carlos said, ”The first thing we did was talk to Ferguson who told us he thought Howard Snow took the compound.”