Page 8 of Mimosa

“Mims? The nickname of his nickname?”

“You got it. The only ones that don’t have one are Cosmo and Haze, and really, it’s Purple Haze and Cosmopolitan, so I guess they do.”

For the first time in weeks, Sonny felt as though he could breathe. “That’s…that’s kinda funny.”

“Hey, Sandy,” Taran whispered. “There’s something wrong with your partner.”

“What?”

“He’s smiling!”

“Fuck off, fed.”

“I hear that a lot,” Taran said, laughing.

Sonny paced some, but his legs were getting tired. He must have walked fifty miles a day with his pacing and it was finally catching up to him. Perfect. Right before he met that guy he’d been crushing on all week.

Taran got off the phone and told Sonny, “He’s coming too, but he doesn’t want to meet in public. He’s a little fearful of who might see.”

“Opposite of what we thought he’d be scared of,” Sandy commented. “We could go to that office you and Camp use.”

Sonny had known they rented a small office in a mini-mall to keep from having to head to the real FBI offices in the Denver region. He often wondered if they couldn’t share the place. It was as good a time as any to ask. “Sandy, follow Taran and me in my car. Taran, you okay with driving me?”

“Sure,” he said, suspicious. “No problem.”

As soon as they were on their way, Sonny asked, “This office, it’s nice and…innocuous, right? I’m running out of room in my apartment, and besides, if anyone followed me there, I’d be up shit creek.”

“We have a sign up and everything. We’re CPAs and we charge a lot more than normal, so if we ever do get someone come in, they don’t last long.”

“What if they did?”

“We have an agent that is a forensic accountant. She can come in and handle it.”

“Good. It’s a good cover. If I’m seen there, I’m bullying you and Camp into laundering for me, and seeing how good you are to help the BBC with theirs.”

“I like a good cover, for sure. Listen, Sonny, I understand perfectly why you’re anxious to get further in this case. I know your dad’s story, and if it were me, I’d want every dirty cop in the city in prison. And, well, I do, but if we don’t find a good enough amount of dirt on them, they could walk. The lawyers for the fraternal order of cops are nasty snakes. The best case scenario is their records follow them if and when they get out of jail, but that’s not the usual case. They leave one department for another and their record doesn’t follow. Or it’s ignored.”

“If that happened to these mother fuckers, I’d…well…”

“Kill them. I’ve thought the same. I just haven’t been comfortable saying it out loud,” Taran said.

The shock Sonny felt was shaking him. “You?”

“You don’t think I hate them as much as you do?”

“I guess, sure, but…that?”

“Yeah. That. And don’t think I won’t turn in my credentials and do it. Go ahead, hate me too, but I won’t be a dirty agent, I’ll quit first.”

“Nah, man. I don’t hate you. I’m hoping you’ll bring me along.”

Taran nodded and said, “Welcome aboard.”

At the office, Sonny saw that the place didn’t look much like an accounting firm, but he hadn’t been to any except one, to set up a trust for his nieces and nephews.

Taran seemed to notice Sonny’s eyes moving around the room. “Camp is coming back with a coffee maker. He’s tired of buying from the place down the block. We can get more computers, if needed, and we have file cabinets in the two small offices.”

“Can Sandy and me maybe share one?”

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