Together Again(77)
She walked to her desk and sat down. “Who do you think I chat with on a regular basis, Tony, the Ladies’ Altar Guild? And can we keep our voices down? We’ve provided enough entertainment for my office this week.”
“Don’t change the subject.” But he lowered his voice. “The perps you talk to may be bad guys but they’re bad guys who got caught, cleaned up and have a lawyer.” He paced back and forth in front of her desk. “What in God’s name made you think I’d agree to let you do this?”
“I don’t remember giving you the authority to let me do anything. It’s my life. I make the decisions about it.”
Tony stopped and faced her across her desk. “What’s this really about, Margo? Has playing with the big boys gone to your head?”
His words felt like a slap across the face. “Playing with the big boys? What the fuck? Who do you think you are to talk to me that way? That’s the most arrogant, outrageous … ”
He held up his hands and took a step back as if to fend off her anger. “Sorry. I’m sorry. That was a bad choice of words.”
“That’s what you think it is? A bad choice of words? That doesn’t come close to describing what … ”
“I apologize. I shouldn’t have said it. I was wrong. But Jesus, I feel like I’m up against the wall here. I’m trying to find a way to keep you safe, but you keep going in the other direction.”
“I did fine at Blue Lake and I’ll do fine tomorrow.”
“You did fine at Blue Lake with me backing you up. Armed. This is different. You don’t get paid to do shit like this. You get paid to go into a nice safe courtroom and follow all the rules. This is cop stuff — nothing’s routine, everything’s unexpected and it’s damn dangerous. If I have to, I’ll go over Sam’s head to make sure you stick to what you’re paid to do.”
“You’re a real pain in the ass, Alessandro.”
“Been told that by tougher people than you, Keyes.”
Unable to sit still any longer, she jumped up and leaned toward him on tightly balled fists.
“So, your plan is, what? Tattle and get me sidelined? Then what, Ace? Got a next move? No? Well if you can’t put up, shut up. I’m tired of playing Nancy Drew with the Hardy Boys in Central Precinct while my colleagues cover for me here. And I’m really tired of having you as a shadow and Danny as a roommate. This will get it taken care of.”
“Because you forced the issue so you could run it the way you wanted to.”
“That isn’t true. He knew you were a cop. What I told him wasn’t news. He knows the entire cast of characters — me, you, Danny, Sam, Jeff, the feds. We use me or let him go on his merry way stealing ideas and killing people who get in the way.”
“We’ll find another way. It’s what we get paid to do.”
She stared at the ceiling, took a deep breath and then looked at him. “Okay, if that doesn’t persuade you, then how about this: he thinks I have those hard drives. If I bail on him tomorrow, how long do you think it’ll take for him to come after me? I need to deliver his merchandise and get this target off my back.”
He stood with his eyes closed and his lips thinned to a stern, almost invisible, line.