Page 30 of Spying Under the Mistletoe
“Is it really that big of a deal if someone kills him instead?” Connor asks. “It would certainly save tax-payer money.”
“If the Feds can lock up Nikolai, they can also take out other players in the crime family. That’s their ultimate goal.”
“Sounds great—except for the part where whoever has the contract out on Chloe will sweep in and deepen their network in the area,”I say. “The reason they haven’t so far is because the Orlov crime family is too deeply entrenched in this part of the world. The only way to gain control of the territory is to take out the entire family.”
“Including those members who have nothing to do with the criminal activities?” Connor asks.
He’s right. Chloe can’t be the only innocent in this game.
“The Feds are working on that, too,” Liam says as a Flames player lands in the penalty box. “It’s a never-ending battle. But for the most part, it’stheirbattle until they ask for our help.”
“Well, who do we have here?” Adam says, voice on full alert.
“Who?” I ask, my heart suddenly pounding unexpectedly in my chest.
“It’s a woman who doesn’t live in the building.” He describes her as best as he can due to the distance and lighting.
“Whoever it is, she isn’t purposely hiding her face. So she’s probably some innocent visiting the building.”
“Can you tell what apartment she buzzed?” Connor asks at the same time I say, “Are you able to send us a photo?”
“I have no idea. Her body was blocking the panel, so I couldn’t see which button she pushed. But I’m sending you her photo now.”
A moment later, the image comes through on our phones.
What the fuck?
“Her name is Tabitha Windhouse. She’s the president of the Dalhousie Elementary PTA.” I give them the CliffsNotes version of what I know about her.
“Too bad we can’t bug Chloe’s apartment. Then we could hear if that’s who Tabitha is visiting.”
This is where being the good guy is problematic. You can guarantee the mafia has no issues bugging people’s homes, vehicles, or phones if it suits their purpose. The same can’t be said about the Feds or us unless there is approval from the higher powers. If they’re caught illegally bugging someone, any evidence they collect could be inadmissible in court.
Which means the bad guys might win.
And no one wants that—except for the bad guys and their greedy lawyers.
I can’t even ask Chloe the next day about Tabitha’s unexpected visit. There’s no way for me to explain how I know about it without drawing suspicion.
“Maybe Ava can get her to talk about it at lunch. She could ask her how tonight’s PTA meeting went.”I might not specify it, but the comment is directed at Liam—Ava’s husband.
And Liam knows it. “I’m not comfortable dragging my wife into our case. It’s enough that she talked to Principal Woodnut first to get permission for you to be at the school even though you’re not qualified to be a substitute teacher. The less Ava’s involved, the better.
“But I’ll make sure she knows to tell me what Chloe says if she confides in Ava about why Tabitha was there.”
That will have to do.
“Otherwise, I’ll have to hope Chloe brings it up at lunch,” I say.
“Connor, what can you tell us about Tabitha?” Liam asks.
Connor’s our information guy. If there’s anyone who can find out anything, it’s him. Depending on the mission, he can often get information from his FBI contacts if the info isn’t available to him through his normal channels.
I’d be surprised if he hasn’t already done a background search on Tabitha while we’ve been talking.
“She was married to Tim Atkins, a prosecutor and a vocal advocate for giving white-collar criminals longer jail time. They’ve been divorced for a year now.”
Apparently, Tim’s creepy pastime when it came to Chloe didn’t damage his career.
