“That’s me.”
“We’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Check with detectives Locke and Menundez, Charleston PD. They know all about it. The man attacked last night at Waterfront is my friend. I have their permission to keep vigil.”
“Maybe. But it was an FBI Agent Rudkowski who told us where to start looking for you.”
Mike didn’t like the sound of that. “Well, you found me.”
“Do you know a Sammy Markson? Also known as—”
“I know all Sammy’s aliases.”
“So you do know him?”
“I helped put him away for his first stint.”
“A few days ago, did you drive a vehicle provided by him from Lexington, Kentucky, to Atlanta?” The woman deputy consulted her small notepad. She read off the make, model, and license plate number of the minivan. “Blue in color.”
Mike scowled. “Why’re you asking?”
“Did you?”
He mulishly held his tongue.
“If you’re unwilling to answer,” said the male deputy, “we’ll have to take you in for further questioning.”
“First, you need to tell me what for, and, if you’re taking me in for an interrogation, once we get there, you must provide me with legal counsel before I say a word.”
“This is an informal interview,” the woman said.
Mike snorted. “We all know there’s no such thing. What’s your probable cause for hassling me?”
The two looked at each other and seemed to come to an agreement. The woman said, “Last night, Sammy Markson was arrested and charged with several counts of grand theft auto.”
That little shit. He was cutting deals with the Fayette County, Kentucky, sheriff’s department.
Mike had notified Sammy that he was coming to Charleston and that he had left the minivan at the Atlanta airport for retrieval at a later date. It had seemed the decent thing to do. He could now kick himself.
The male deputy said, “Markson provided your name as someone who would vouch for him.”
“Vouch that he’s guilty or vouch that he’s innocent?”
“He didn’t specify. Which is our probable cause for hassling you.”
Mike gave a grunt of contempt. “Sammy would sell out his own mother.”
“He did. Late last night. Let’s go, Mr. Mallory.”
“Wait, my friend is—”
“Agent Rudkowski is being kept apprised of Lewis’s condition. By last report, he’s stable. You’ll be notified if he takes a downturn.”
Mike saw no point in arguing with these two, who were merely carrying out their orders. His fight was with Rudkowski. He heaved himself off the love seat and tucked his laptop under his arm. Just then, his cell phone chimed. “May I?”
Again the pair silently consulted each other. The man came back to him. “Make it quick.”
He answered. Drex said, “Rudkowski got to the deputy in Key West. He’s clammed up, and there was no cracking him. We’ve lost that resource.”
Mike sighed. “That’s the good news.”
Drex pitched the phone onto the bar, where it landed with an unheeded clatter. But even before that display of temper, Talia knew that Mike had relayed something Drex hadn’t wanted to hear.
With a sinking feeling, she said, “Bad news about Gif? Please say no.”
“No, he’s still doing okay.”
“Then what?”
When Drex had awakened her and told her about his breakthrough, he’d been humming like an overloaded electrical circuit. The call to the deputy in Florida had dimmed the wattage. But this call to Mike had taken all the sizzle out of him.
“In terms of helping, Gif was lost to me as of last night. Now Mike’s been hamstrung. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Fate was working against us. Dammit!” He picked up his coffee cup and hefted it like a baseball pitcher on the mound. He even looked at the far wall as though gauging the distance.
Before he could pitch it, she walked over, took the cup from him, and set it back down on the bar. “What’s happened with Mike?”
He gave her a run-down, after which she asked, “Was the car stolen?”
“Probably.”
“Did Mike know?”
“He didn’t ask. Sammy won’t incriminate him because he’ll want him as a future ally, which it appears he’ll need. But the point is, Mike is mired in this now and unavailable to me.”
“What can I do?”
He was about to reply when one of his cell phones rang. He looked at the readout. “Locke.” He answered and put it on speaker so she could listen in. “Morning.”
Locke said, “You’re still answering this number.”
“For the time being. Did you hear about Mike?”
“No. What about him?”
“Long story, and it will keep. What’s up?”
“Remember me telling you that one of the people we talked to last night noticed a man walking away from where Lewis fell?”
“Witness said he