Page 68 of In the Line of Ire

"That'sall?"

"Uh-huh."

"Whatabout Delgado?"

"He didokay. Won a few, lost a few. Same as normal."

I got tomy feet and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck."You have no idea how lucky you are."

Hesmiled. "Yes, I do. And if cleaning out my wallet is the sum totalof your brothers' irritation, I can take it."

"I canask them to return every penny."

Solomonshook his head. "Absolutely not. Next time, they won't know whathit them."

I raisedmy eyebrows. "You're going to exact revenge? That is so unlike you.And what did you just say about ‘taking it’."

"Theystarted it."

Isighed. I was secretly hoping it wouldn't get out of hand. "Youreally are one of the family now."

Chapter Sixteen

Solomonand I gazed at the bag that I dropped on the kitchen table beforewe made breakfast. I pointed out everything that was wrong with itand inwardly cringed when he asked how much it cost. "Anotherfake," he said, leaning in to inspect it a little closer. "Even Ican see this one is fake. How did they get it past you?"

"Theydidn't. Everyone at the party only saw the real purses. Lots ofthem. Then we placed our orders and a courier delivered the ones webought the same evening, just like Charlaine promised. I can’t bethe only one to get a fake bag but I don’t know how to verify theother sales."

"I couldtake this to the police station and make a formal complaint but Idon't think it would have the desired effect."

"Iagree. Wait, why?" I loaded the coffee pot, more than ready for myfirst cup of the day, and pulled out two mugs.

"For onething, your contact could produce the purse she showed you andclaim that was the one she sold you and blame the delivery guy,saying he stole your purse."

"Becausethe delivery guy just happened to have a whole inventory ofknockoffs in his truck, ready to swap them out?"

"Ididn't say it was a very plausible excuse. And any inquiry by theMPD might tip off the counterfeiters and screw up ourinvestigation."

"Iagree. Plus, I have another lead."

Solomonrocked back on his heels and folded his arms. "You could havementioned that first."

"Didn'tneed to. You came to the conclusion independently that we shouldn'tdo anything yet."

"What'syour lead?"

"Ioverheard a conversation between Charlaine and her supplieragreeing to meet in secret. It's going down tonight on AdamsStreet. If we can find out who her supplier is, we might be able totie them to the stores at the mall. It's happening at nine pm,after all the stores close."

"Despitesuch short notice, there's still plenty of time to get a team inplace. I can prepare a plan for after your shiftfinishes."

"I'monly scheduled for four hours. I want to run some background checkson Charlaine before then and see if anything comes up."

"Are youlooking for anything in particular?"

"Something that puzzled me all night: why would Charlaine getinvolved in something like this?"

"Easymoney, same as everyone else."

"Charlaine is loaded! You should have seen her house! Plus,the mall side of the counterfeiting operation isn't an easy feat toaccomplish. And it's pretty risky to sneak the duplicates into thestores and switch them out without the chance another employeecould witness it, and all the while hoping no one notices thefakes, including the final buyer."

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