Page 24 of Rules of Engagement

"Thank you," I said, wondering exactly how many times I must have said that in the last twenty-four hours.

"Nothing to thank us for. This is what we do for family," said Mom.

"Call me if anything changes," I said and hung up.

Delgado, Steve Fletcher and Matt Flaherty were all in the office when I walked in. Delgado saw me first and jumped to his feet, rushing to my side. "Is he okay?" he eagerly wanted to know.

"He's still unconscious but stable," I said.

"Did they catch the guy?" asked Fletcher.

"No. Not yet anyway. Garrett is overseeing the case," I said, nodding to my brother.

"What can we do?" asked Flaherty. "That's all anyone wants to know."

"Garrett says he needs to interview everyone. Can you set that up?" I asked no one in particular.

Delgado nodded. "I'll run point. Leave it to me. What else?"

"Do any of you know if there were any threats made against Solomon? Anything at all?"

"He never mentioned anything to me," said Fletcher. "You guys?" Both Delgado and Flaherty shook their heads, tacitly claiming not to have heard anything.

"No one came to the agency who was ticked off? No disgruntled clients?" asked Garrett.

"We get the occasional client that doesn't like what we find but none have ever threatened us with any harm," said Flaherty. "Plus, Solomon has been doing less PI work and leaning more toward the risk division. Even so, we're hired to help our clients. So we're not in a habit of pissing them off."

"What was Solomon working on?" asked Garrett.

I knew that. Solomon told me. "He was involved with a bank," I said. "The manager was paranoid that the bank was about to be hit."

"Yeah," said Fletcher, nodding. "I'm still working undercover there to see if there's any truth in it."

"Is there?" asked Garrett.

"So far, no," said Fletcher. “The manager appears to be one hundred percent paranoid.”

"I'll pass that on to the detectives. They'll need to speak to everyone in this risk division of yours too," said Garrett. "You mind if I send someone over to get started?"

"Make the call," said Delgado.

Garrett nodded and pulled his phone from his jeans pocket, stepping outside.

"Anything you don't want to tell him?" I asked once he was out of earshot.

"Nothing," said Delgado. His face was stony, but etched with concern. "We've been talking and I gotta admit, I'm pretty confused. Solomon would have mentioned any feasible threat on his life but he never said a word."

"Maybe there really wasn't any threat," said Fletcher.

"This could be an old grudge," added Flaherty.

"Are there many old grudges?" I asked.

"A few," Delgado admitted. "Solomon's had a long career, and he’s put a lot of bad guys out of business. It's not inconceivable that someone patiently waited him out all this time until they could get to him."

"What if that old grudge couldn't enact revenge before now?" I asked, Delgado's comment sparking an idea.

"You mean, like if they were in prison?" asked Fletcher.

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