Page 40 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

While it was true that the information he sourced was useful to each job, Conroy was not irreplaceable. There were plenty of other well-placed people who could do what he did. All it took was identifying a person’s weakness, applying pressure where needed, and then offering a suitable amount of money to “solve the problem.” The classic stick and carrot.

It was almost ten minutes before Conroy called back.

“What do you want?” Conroy said.

“If I’m troubling you, I’ll find what I need elsewhere.”

Conroy laughed. “Like you could do that.”

“I could. Easily.”

The line went quiet for a moment.

“Sorry,” Conroy mumbled. “Things are a little busy here. I’ve been looking for a replacement for that person I had to fire last week, while making sure the cases she’d been working on are covered.”

“Finding the right people for a job is always difficult.” Simon could care less about Conroy’s personnel problems, but as the saying went, you catch more flies with honey.

“You can say that again. Anyway, what are you looking for?”

“The artist’s name is Matilda Stone, active second half of the last century.”

“Title of the picture?”

“I just need to know the location of as many of her paintings as you can find. And I need the info asap.” While Simon had the list from Nico, there was no need to share it with Dalton.

“Sounds like a big job.”

“The size of the job is not your concern.”

“All right, all right. I didn’t mean anything by it. I should have something for you in three or four days.”

“Two days tops. One would be better.”

“I can’t promise you that.”

“Then your services are no longer needed. Goodbye, Mr.—”

“Hold on. I didn’t say Icouldn’tdo it.”

“It sounded that way to me.”

“I’ll have it for you in two days.”

“That’s better.”

“But I want…”

“You want what?”

“I—I want double my usual fee.”

Simon narrowed his eyes. “Standard fee, per our agreement.”

“I’m updating our agreement.”

Simon didn’t respond.

“Or I guess Icouldlet the authorities know about your operation.”

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