Page 35 of The Best Trick

The basic idea was that Don Pedro bought and sold himself the same worthless violin over and over until the money looked legit, and Wilson Brockmeier helped him. Wilson Brockmeier could explain and verify the incriminating ledger.

I suppose that, in a way, it was sweet that Denko was making these deals and putting his career in jeopardy to save his dog, but it would have been a lot sweeter if he hadn’t been pursuing us knowing that we were freaking innocent the whole time.

“This will be the last communication between us,” Denko said. “If you need anything more, you’ll talk to my second-in-command, Agent Alfred. He'll be our go-between. He'll be responsible for getting you any kind of information that you need. All Alfred knows is that I've hired you to find Doris.”

Denko handed Odin a photo. “She has a distinctive white marking on her right ear. You can see it there.”

Odin nodded.

“How do we know that we can trust your guy Agent Alfred?” Thor asked. “What if ol’ Agent Alfred decides to take us in?”

“I've got Alfred by the balls, too,” Denko assured us. “Don’t worry, there's nobody I don't have by the balls.”

“I don’t like this,” Odin said.

“Fine, I’ll hire different private investigators,” Denko snapped. “Is that what you want? To lose your chance at getting this exculpatory tackle bag?”

There was this silence where I could feel my guys thinking of alternate ways to get the exculpatory tackle bag o’ proof—if it truly existed. Denko was definitely taking a chance telling us of its existence. I suppose it just showed how badly he wanted his dog.

“No otherfucking-gprivate investigator would be able to find your dog, and you know it. Not if Don Pedro has him,” Odin said.

“And I’m the only one who could tell you the whereabouts of the tackle bag.”

Never was there such a weird alliance. We needed Denko, and Denko needed us.

The feeling in the car ride back was heavy—heavier than I could ever recall. As a group, we tended to roll with the punches, but this was bad.

“He freakingknewwe were innocent all this time?” Thor asked, tone grave. “He and his people knew? They thought they’d let us take the fall for everything that happened back there? What the hell is that?”

“There are no words,” Odin said.

Zeus just looked murderous.

“I always thought if they knew the truth, they would stop chasing us,” I said.

“Me, too,” Zeus grumbled.

I leaned up from the back seat and put a hand on his shoulder. Deep down, Zeus was an idealist. There had been a time when he’d believed in right and wrong, and had wanted to be a hero more than anything.

“Well, we know there's proof now,” I said, trying to look at the bright side.

“But is there proof? Does it truly exist?” Odin asked. “Or has Denko discovered a new way to mess with our heads?”

“Seriously,” Thor bit out, “they had proof we didn’t do it all this time? This is organization-wide knowledge?”

Zeus let out a hissing breath. “When you go into law enforcement, you should have at least some passing respect for the law.” I knew he was thinking about his past as an intelligence agent. He had wanted to make the world safe and had worked with integrity—of that I had no doubt. Bank robbers or not, my guys had integrity—a moral compass and a genuine code of honor. I wouldn't have loved them like I did if they hadn’t had those things.

More silence.

“All this time,” Zeus said. “Not giving a shit that we’re innocent.”

“To be fair, we've committed many spectacular crimes since then,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “A totally badass array of crimes.”

“Our crime spree is vaster and more glorious than the Sahara, unimaginable in its devastatingfucking-gbeauty.”

“Yeah, that!” I agreed.

“We need to make him pay,” Zeus growled.

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