“What about you what?” asked Lancaster.
“Lady clearly likes me.”
“The lady also knows you work with us,” said Decker.
“She told me a lot last night. Maybe she’ll tell me some more.”
“I don’t like it,” said Lancaster.
“I don’t like it either,” said Decker. “But it might be our best shot. And at the same time, we can find out who her partners are. There has to be paperwork filed with all of her projects.”
“Okay, I’ll get rolling on that,” said Lancaster. She pointed her finger at Mars. “This is not fun and games. These people are killers.”
“Yeah,” said Mars. “Which is why we’re going after them.”
“You think you know a lot about killers?”
“Well, I was on death row all those years.”
Lancaster looked at Decker. “Will you tell him to be serious?”
“Heisbeing serious, Mary.”
Lancaster whirled back around to stare suspiciously at Mars.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Turns out I was innocent. Only cost me twenty years of my life and ruined any shot I had at playing in the NFL.”
“Damn,” said Lancaster. “That sucks.”
“Oh, it more than sucks, trust me.”
“How are you going to approach it with Katz?” asked Decker.
“Look, she probably thinks she can work on me and get details about the investigation. She tried doing that last night. I didn’t give her much, but I did give her a taste here and there. I can let her think she’s making inroads. And I’ll do the same with her.” He paused. “And there’s something off with her.”
“What do you mean?” asked Lancaster.
“I’m not sure. She’s attractive, she’s got money, education. But she feels like a loner to me. How come she never remarried? And why is she always so guarded about everything? When I asked about meeting her business partners, she didn’t look comfortable with that at all.”
“You could be right,” remarked Lancaster.
“And if we end up in a place where I can snoop around, I will.”
“Whoa, now you think you’re some kind of, what, spy?” said Lancaster.
“Well, my girlfriendisa spy.”
“Now you’re bullshitting me, right?”
Mars held up his right hand. “God’s honest truth.”
She looked at Decker, who nodded. “Military intelligence.”
“Sonofabitch,” exclaimed Lancaster. “You have a whole new class of friends, Amos.”
“Hey, if you don’t grow, you wither, right?” said Mars.
Decker put a hand on his shoulder. “All that aside, thisisdangerous, Melvin. You’re not going into this clean. They know what side you’re on. Things can go sideways fast. If you sense any of that happening, you need to get out, pronto.”