12
“WHAT?”Jake snarled into thephone.
“Hey, man. What’s got up your nose?” Carl boomed, way too cheerful for a Mondaymorning.
Cynthia Baxter, that’s what.“Nothing. I’m pulling the plug on the Oceanic investigation. Adam wants me back on regular staff, and he’s right. Oceanic’s clean. There’s nothing there.” Certainly nothing left between him and one sexy accountant with a wandering eye. When was he going to stop letting himself get fooled like this? First Ashley, now Cyn. Jake was beginning to believe that whole innocent act of hers had been just that—an act designed to drive a normal red-blooded maninsane.
What they’d shared had seemed so real. But it had turned out to be about as real as his suspicions aboutOceanic.
“You think there’s nothing there,huh?”
“Quit rubbing it in. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow. I’ll see youthen.”
“Might want to hear what I have to say.” Only now did the suppressed excitement in Carl’s voiceregister.
“Why?” Or it could be a practical joke, and he wasn’t in themood.
“Lab results came back this morning on thechopstick.”
“What showedup?”
“Mostly treewood.”
“Amazing.” In spite of this unhelpful beginning, Jake sensed this wasn’t a practical joke. Excitement pulled his belly muscles taut. “Anythingelse?”
“Yeah. There was a residue on the sticks. They’d come in contact withcocaine.”
“I’mlistening.”
There was a pause on the other end; Jake knew Carl was building up for a payoff. “Then the lab tested the packaging it was wrapped in and hit the freakin’jackpot.”
“Thepackaging?”
“Yep. It’s a pretty new process, but the lab guys have seen it before. Coke converted into bricks, acetate sheets, and now packaging material. Dogs can’t sniff it out, it fools the naked eye, it can easily go undetected. Unless a certain stubborn FBI wiseass just won’t give up. I’m mentioning no names here, but you might get an inkling of who I’m talkingabout.”
“Sneaky bastards.” Jake took a moment to savor the knowledge that Hank’s death would finally be vindicated. And if they were very careful, and very lucky, they’d get the network, not just one company—and maybe catch Hank’smurderer.
“Adam’s called a meeting this afternoon. He’s bringing in DEA, customs and the local cops.” Jake didn’t care. They could call in the Girl Scouts if it would help bust the network. “I’m on my way in. I don’t want just Oceanic, I want the whole damnnetwork.”
“Want me to start the paperwork forwiretaps?”
“Yeah.Thanks.”
“Hey, don’t you know somebodyinside?”
“Not anymore. I gottago.”
Jake didn’t waste time on the phone, but sprinted to Cynthia’s front door and started banging. She was just stubborn enough to go to work in spite of his orders. He had to stopher.
“Looking forCynthia?”
No, the tooth fairy.“Yes,” he answered Mr. Edgar, the old guy who lived across the street. He was just straightening with his morning paper inhand.
“She left about half an hour ago. Earlier thanusual.”
“Thanks. It wasn’t important.” Jake raised a hand in a casual salute, then sauntered back to his place, while inside his gut twisted. He was going to wring her goddamnneck.
If he was worried sick about her safety, he refused to acknowledgeit.
