“The Ferguson murder, even though it was violent, it does follow the same pattern as the rest.”
“I say again, how so?”
“Because there was only minimal police involvement.”
“Right, and now that we know there was a police connection—”
“Hold up, wait a minute!” Tiffanie sprang to her feet. “There's a fuckin' anchovy on this slice,” she said, picking the anchovy off the slice. “I think they are so disgusting.”
“It ain't my fault.”
“Anyway, what I was about to say was the FBI has to know about Benjamin. Especially if Garrett could find out in less than an hour. No slight on Garrett's skills, but they have access to all that. So I'm wondering why drop that the way they did?”
“My guess would be that we've been doing a pretty good job investigating this,” Marcus said as the phone rang. “Why not drop that on us and see where we go with it. Anything we turn up only makes their case against Hudson stronger,” he said as he put the phone on speaker. “Hello.”
“Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“This is Joanna Henley.”
“Hi, Joanna, what's up?”
“I got something for you?” Joanna said in a sing-songy way. “You're gonna love this.”
“Spill it, don't leave me hanging on a string.”
“The private investment group that took over Hudson Financial is headed by Roland Ferguson.”
“But I thought that they walked away from the deal?”
“That was their plan all along. When they walked out, it drove the stock price into the dirt. Then they came right back and bought it up cheap.”
“So Ferguson really owns Hudson Financial?”
“Correctamondo.”
“Thanks Joanna, that's just the link we were looking for. I owe you one.”
“Good. Does that mean you'll tell me what you're working on?”
“I'll tell you what, call me tomorrow and I'll give you a front page story.”
IRREFUTABLE
Carmen took the cab to Marcus' house. She got out of the cab and walked slowly toward the door. She had decided not to tell Marcus anything about the gun. She rang the bell and Marcus opened. When he saw it was Carmen, his face lit up. “Carmen, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon.”
“I know I said I would call first, but I missed you. So I just came. I hope that was alright.
“Of course it's all right, Carmen.”
“I know how some men don
't like women to show up unannounced and uninvited.” Carmen said remembering words that Mike Black once told her when she showed up on his doorstep. She went into the living room and sat down on the couch.
“That's true.” Marcus agreed as he moved the pile of papers and files that he and Tiffanie had been working on. “Do you want some pizza?” he asked, picking up the box.
“No, I ate something earlier. But I will have a piece of this candy.” Carmen replied, opening the disk. “Peppermint.” She said. “Paula M. Dent.”