Page 2 of In Too Deep

A woman’s voice came on the line. It was low and curt and a little shaky around the edges. She said, “Is it true? Gibson’s dead?”

“He is. Yes. Another one bit the dust.”

“It was an accident?”

Vidic didn’t answer.

Paris said, “I heard he crashed his car. Broke his neck.”

“You heard right.”

“You saw it happen?”

“The whole thing.”

“Someone was with him?”

“A stranger.”

“What kind of stranger?”

“Just some nobody hitching a ride. Nothing to worry about.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Because I can’t help thinking—Bowery disappears then a mystery guy shows up and just happens to hitch a ride with one of our crew?”

“Sometimes coincidences happen.”

“Maybe. Or maybe Bowery grew a conscience. Ratted us out.”

“He didn’t rat us out. That’s not his style.”

“Then where is he?”

“He stiffed us, is my guess. Made the exchange and ran off with the cash.”

“Why would he do that? It’s pocket change next to what we’ve got coming. He knows what’s at stake. He’d be nuts to run now. Unless he knows there won’t be another payday. And how would he know that? Unless he made sure of it?”

“Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t have ratted us out. He doesn’t have anything on us.”

“He knows about the report.”

“He doesn’t have a copy.”

“He doesn’t need a copy. He knows what it’s about. Broadly speaking. He knows where I got it. Either one of those things would be enough to get every agent in the lower forty-eight crawling up our asses before we could blink.”

“All right. Take a breath. Trust me. What happened to Gibson had nothing to do with Bowery. And nothing to do with the stranger.”

“WhathappenedtoGibson? So it wasn’t an accident.”

Vidic didn’t respond.

“Gibson was a good driver. He knew that road. He wouldn’t just crash his car for no reason. So the crash wasn’t an accident, was it? Tell me straight.”

“It was. And it wasn’t.”

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