Page 40 of Fixer
“Yeah.I forged the note in his mistress’s handwriting.He’ll be here.”
Another ten minutes went by.
“Your job is boring,” Wade noted.
“Coming from the guy who waited crouched in the bushes for six hours to get a beaver.”
“It chewed down my favorite tree.And it was tasty.”
The sound of another car approaching cut us off.I listened carefully as the tires slowed and the vehicle turned in at the driveway.“Showtime,” I whispered to Wade, unlocking the door and pushing it slightly ajar.Then I retreated into the dining room.
The car door creaked, slammed shut, footsteps scuffed up the walk, climbed the steps.The door creaked wider slowly, and Rosswurn stepped inside, calling, “Sheila?What the hell is going on?Are you here?”and reaching for the light switch.He muttered “Huh?”as his fingers slid on the duct tape.
I raised the voice changer to my lips.“Two.”
Wade hit the button, and the blank numeral on the living room wall changed to a photo of Rosswurn and his mistress in a lip-locked clinch, her dress off, his pants hanging on his hips.Rosswurn probably couldn’t see the image yet from where he stood, but my odd voice and the change in lighting made him freeze.
I said, “Look at that.Harvey Rosswurn and a woman who is not his wife.Ooh, they sure look like they’re having fun with no clothes on.”
“Who are you?”Rosswurn stared around wildly.“Where’s Sheila?”
“I’m the guy who can go to your wife and spill the beans, if you don’t walk ten feet forward and listen to what I say.”
Rosswurn half turned, his hand on the doorknob.
I added, “I wonder what Mrs.Irene Rosswurn will think of Sheila’s boobs.Are they bigger than hers?Look at that.” I lowered my tone, though the robot changer minimized the difference.“Take ten steps, face the screen, and watch.”
“Or what?”he demanded belligerently, but even as he snarled the words, he obeyed.Rosswurn reached the living room, saw the image, and flinched with a gasp.
“Three!Four.”I ordered.Wade clicked through more sex shots, framed by the angle of the gap in the hotel blinds.“Five.In case you thought you could explain one away.”
“What do you want?”
“Six.” This was a document, not a porn shoot.The map of the road-widening plans, the new version that switched sides to cut off the curve.“Wow, now that demolition appears sketchy to me.Does it seem sketchy to you, my other half?”
Wade said, “Very.”He’d remembered his voice changer, too.
Rosswurn jumped, throwing a glance his direction.“I don’t recognize that map.”
“Really?And yet, you and Greg Quentin are all over this, planning to make a mint on the city buying your properties.Seven!”That image contained the true tax valuation for his buildings.“Eight.” Wade switched to the valuation for Quentin’s.
“Are you from Quentin?Does he want a bigger cut?”
I laughed, which the changer did really fun things to.Yeah, I sounded like a serial killer clown.Perfect.“No, we’re not from Quentin.He, Underwood, and the mayor are getting copies of these documents in the mail tomorrow.We’re the Justice League.We keep unscrupulous developers from ripping off the public taxpayers of Illinois.” I hoped Wade liked the sound of that.
“I… Justice League?What are you going to do to me?”His tone had lost much of its self-assurance.
“If you drop this project, let the expansion continue on the empty lots on the west side, and don’t rip off the city?Maybe nothing.Keep trying to push this revision through?A crusading reporter will get these documents, and your wife will get the photos.”
“You can’t do that!”
“How do you think you’ll stop us?We’re not the only Justice League members.You could kill us right now, and your downfall would only be worse.”
“You broke in.This is illegal.”
“Go ahead and call the police.Every one of those slides becomes evidence, public record.”
Rosswurn turned in a circle, peering around as if trying to see us.He could possibly make out my shape, standing in the shadows, but I was confident he’d never recognize me.“What do I have to do?I can give you money.”
