Ghost of a Chance

“I don’t know,” Alex admitted. “But I imagine the Florida prison system knows. They wouldn’t tell me, of course, but they’ll be happy to tell you.”

Montgomery looked over his shoulder at the Mayor and something unspoken passed between them.

“You’ll keep this information to yourself for the moment,” the Chief said to Alex.

“Unless you want me to leak it to the Sun,” he said. The Mayor’s face turned dark and angry, so Alex rushed on. “I’m sure they’d love to hear that Mrs. Banes is no longer a potential target.”

Montgomery laughed at that.

“I’ll see to that myself,” he said. “As for you, this information of yours had better pan out.”

“I know,” Alex said, putting up a hand to stop the Chief. “Or you’ll bury me in a hole and throw away the shovel.”

“Something like that,” his voice was as smooth and calm as it had been the whole time, but Alex detected a slight note of irritation. He’d misjudged Alex. Bringing the Mayor here had been a bit of theater. Chief Montgomery intended for the Mayor to see him lay the blame for his department’s inadequacies at Alex’s feet. By not letting them set the narrative, Alex had turned the Mayor’s presence to his own advantage.

He wasn’t sure if Chief Montgomery was impressed or angry, but either way he wouldn’t be forgetting about it. The next time Alex was in this office, he’d need a much bigger trump card if he had any hope of coming out without handcuffs.

“Well,” Montgomery said, rising. “His honor and I have things to get back to.” He handed the paper from Alex’s notebook to Detweiler. “Run this down and double the guard on the remaining five members of North Shore Development. The ghost may try again, and I want him caught this time.”

“What about the officers we’ve got guarding the others?” Captain Rooney asked.

Montgomery thought about that for a moment.

“Better keep them in place until we’re sure Mr. Lockerby’s information is good.” He turned to Alex. “I’m sure you can find your own way out.”

Alex thanked him and fled in as dignified a manner as possible. He took the stairs down two at a time, worrying the whole time that Detweiler would come chasing after him.

When he finally reached the street, he walked to the side of the building and turned down the alley between it and the next one. He sat down on the bare dirt and took a swig from his flask. He’d been prepared for Detweiler, even Rooney, but the Mayor and the Chief were in a whole other league. One word from either of them and he’d be rotting in a cell without bail.

He sat there, resisting the urge to throw up and squeezing his hands together until the tremors subsided. Finally, he got up, brushed himself off, and headed across the street to the crawler station.

22 The Calm

Alex trudged up the stairs to his fourth floor office, pausing on the landing as he caught sight of his door. Lockerby Investigations was written on a frosted glass panel in gold paint. Down in the bottom right corner, the ink-pot and quill symbol was painted as well, announcing that the office offered runewright services in addition to detection. It wasn’t an elegant office, or particularly well appointed, but it was his. The sight lifted his spirits.

A sign hung on the door handle that read, closed for the day.

Taking out his key, he let himself in, but left the sign on the door. He had work to do, and with Leslie gone, he didn’t want to be interrupted by potential clients. That hurt a bit, but it had to be done.

Locking the door, he went straight to his office. A stack of notes sat there, all from Leslie. Thanks to the story in the Sun, a lot of people had come in seeking his services.

There were a few legitimate cases among the notes, mostly missing valuables, cheating spouses, and even a lost dog. They’d be easy money provided he could get his finding rune working. With a sigh and a wish for a better class of cases, he set them aside.

Many of the people in Leslie’s notes wanted runes done. Even though the runewright symbol was on his door, he almost never sold runes from the office. Simple barrier and mending runes could be bought from runewrights who sold their wares in shops or off carts. Most people who came in here wanted Alex’s finding rune — but that came with his services.

With a sigh, Alex read through the list of desired runes. It would take several hours to write them all, and he simply didn’t want to do it. That didn’t change the fact that he needed the money, by tomorrow if he wanted to take Jessica somewhere nice for dinner, and selling the runes for which he had orders would make that happen.

The thought of money made him check his pocketwatch. If Danny and Callahan found the bank robbers today, he could collect double his fee from Barton. That would be one hundred and fifty clams, enough to catch up Leslie’s salary.

Of course there was a good chance that the cops wouldn’t find the tunnel until tomorrow. If that happened, Alex’s double or nothing bet with the Lightning Lord would roll over to nothing.