Page 77 of S.O.S. Mizzay

As well they should.

Never dare an Andriopolos.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she told Baskins with a straight face, while sending a look to her SOS guys with a mock-glare that clearly stated, FAFO.

The fun was soon dampened, however, as Oliphant’s body was finally laid out on the ground a few feet away from where they stood. The two special agents along with Fleischerman, Wiley, and Billboard, knelt down, all business, and began assessing his person; donning gloves and checking his pockets for anything that might be helpful.

As far as Missy was concerned, dead was dead, and Oliphant, having been smart and careful for the duration of the case up until he crashed into a tree, wouldn’t have anything incriminating on him.

Fleischerman was clearly coming up empty, and glancing toward her after a few minutes of searching, he rose to his feet and approached. “Was he alive when you got to him?” the agent questioned. “Did he say anything?”

Huh.Was that part of his investigation? Mere curiosity? Or something more?

His eyes may have narrowed a smidge too much for Missy’s liking when he’d posed the question, so she wasn’t going to answer.

She wasn’t ceding a thing. “I’ve already been debriefed by the Director,” she told Fleischerman, nodding at Baskins. “Which means my lips are sealed. Any and all information will now run through him,inthe proper channels, until further notice.”

Fleischerman blinked. “Boss?”

“Circumstances being what they are, I’m scheduling a rendezvous at Oliphant’s home first thing tomorrow morning, 7 AM,” he prevaricated. He hadn’t answered Fleischerman’s question, and he wasn’t apologizing. “That’s all I’ll say on thematter until we find out if the DOJ’s man was hiding anything significant.”

Huh.News to Missy. Something was up with Baskins edict, she was certain.

Fleischerman’s face remained almost comically neutral before he nodded and walked away.

Right.

No reaction from him was a little…suspect. Missy would be keeping a specific eye on Fleischerman when it came time for him to become part of Cobble’s security team.

Baskins leaned over and spoke softly in her ear once they were alone again.

“You need to take off immediately,” he informed her. “You’ll be meeting Agent Smalley at this address.” He tucked a note into her hand, surreptitiously.

She glanced at the paper. “You’re having me and Smalley do a recon of Oliphant’s house before anyone else can get there?” She gave a minute chin lift in Fleischerman’s direction.

“Exactly.”

Missy knew Englewood was currently in the air, but still, that left… “What about Agent Georgio? If he’s our traitor, won’t he be on his way there to scrub Oliphant’s home?”

Baskins grinned slyly. “It’s really a shame. We had notification of an evidence pick-up in Maine for another case, and Georgio was the only agent available to travel. I sent him off the minute I hung up from Billboard, which was well before I toldanyoneabout Oliphant’s accident. He was probably half-way across New Hampshire by the time I filled Fleischerman in, and I stuck to Fleischerman until we got here. If he and Georgioarein cahoots, Fleischerman hasn’t had the privacy to notify him. I’ve been watching. He hasn’t used his phone to call or text anyone since I told him the news.”

“And that is why you are the big man on campus,” Missy laughed.

She gave him a sassy salute, and headed for her car.

Smalley would be waiting.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Missy didn’t necessarily obey all traffic signs, signals, or speed limits as she travelled to meet Chuck.

It was highly important they get into Oliphant’s house and out again quickly, before the rogue agent or agents could mobilize and destroy possible evidence. Since Baskins could only keep Fleischerman busy for just so long—and who knew how much time Georgio would spend on the trip up and back from the wilds of Maine—they had the smallest window of opportunity to get things accomplished.

Not even an hour later she drove slowly past the nicely maintained suburban home that had been Oliphant’s. Missy perused his driveway for cars. Seeing none, she found a small turnaround spot on the road a few hundred feet away where she could still see the house in question. She parked her car off to the side, and shutting off her ignition, turned in her seat and gazed at the outside of the home. What she saw was a surprisingly traditional colonial with all the middle-class bells and whistles that came along with it. The man’s yard was neat, he had some artsy thing hanging from a tree, and it looked like the residence itself had just received a fresh coat of paint.

For a moment, Missy wondered if Oliphant was married, but she quickly dismissed it. She had seen the man hitting openly on women at various Bureau gatherings without trying to hide the fact. It had always seemed creepy, his smarmy approach to the female sex, but as long as he hadn’t aimed his attention at Missy—which he hadn’t—she’d been able to ignore his boorish behavior. As had so many other smart women.

The care that had been taken of the home’s appearance, probably had to do with a team of landscape people or a steward of some kind.

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