Page 45 of The Best Trick

I nodded. “Or Thor.”

SEVEN

Diego and Maria stopped by the next morning while we were having our coffee out on the veranda. I sprung up from where I sat. “You guys—congratulations! We loved your wedding photos.”

“We just wanted to thank you so much,” Maria said. “For all that you did for us. Solving that mystery—there wouldn’t have been a wedding without it.”

“Well, it's our job,” Thor said, “when we're not running for our lives.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Some people have nine-to-five jobs, but our work hours are anytime we are not running from our mortal enemy.”

“Who damn well knows we're innocent,” Zeus grumbled.

Diego and my guys spent the next hour exchanging gossip. The criminal element were the worst gossips ever, I’d found. I sat with Maria and made her show me more pictures of her dress, wishing we’d had proper pictures from our own wedding at Pastor Roger’s Wee Chapel.

I told her that the Gigis had been over, and we speculated for way too long on whether they were gluing actual precious gems on to their fingernails. Maria felt sure that they were real, but I just couldn't imagine it. Then again, I'd grown up on a sheep farm.

So, I guess we were all gossiping.

Eventually, voices went low, and I could tell they were talking about the case. Had Don Galvano's guy already come through with the information that we needed? Was that part of why Diego and Maria had stopped by? To deliver the intel from Maria’s dad?

Los Angeles was quite the freaking small town. Especially when you were in the criminal underworld.

“So it turns out that Don Pedro doesn't have Doris,” Zeus informed me once Diego and Maria were gone.

“Wow, that was fast,” I said. “They’re sure about this?”

Odin and Zeus looked at each other like there was a really big secret in play.

“What?” I asked.

Zeus lowered his voice even though nobody could hear; this just showed what a big secret he was about to tell. “Looks like Don Galvano has somebody planted high up in Don Pedro's organization. That’s how they know.”

“Really high?”

“Top level. They told us that not only does Don Pedronothave Doris, but he's getting ready to leave the country for good. He's got a luxury mansion on an island off the coast of Brazil, and he's been waiting to retire there.”

“No extradition treaty with Brazil,” I said.

“Nope,” Zeus said. “And Don Pedro is the only one on the hook for this crime. He’s gonna turn the operations over to his second. They've been planning this ultra-luxury retirement escape for months. That is their entire plan for dealing with this court case. He doesn’t give a shit about this violin appraiser guy or the ledger.”

“So why would they kidnap Denko’s dog and hold her hostage?” I asked.

“Exactly. They wouldn’t,” Thor said. “If Don Pedro can successfully flee the country, why would he care if they have the ledger?”

“And trust me, he’ll successfully flee the country,” Odin said. “He’s probably got a double on the job already.”

“Which means somebody else kidnapped Doris,” I said. “But who else would care enough about Don Pedro’s court case to kidnap a dog and hold her hostage in order to get the ledger?”

“Wilson the violin appraiser would care about the ledger,” Zeus pointed out. “I doubt he knows of Don Pedro’s plans to skip town. He’s probably sweating bullets worrying about what happens when he testifies against a powerful mob boss. And if he refuses to testify, he goes to jail. Remember how Agent Denko told us that without the ledger, Wilson's useless?”

“So Wilson would have a major incentive to make the ledger disappear,” I said.

“Yuppers,” Thor agreed. “And it’s good news for us. I wasn’t looking forward to going up against Don Pedro’s people, but a violin appraiser’s people? If they’ve got Doris, this job just got way easier.”

“So it's somebody who wants Wilson to walk free,” I said. “Does he have a wife? Kids? What's up with Wilson? We need to talk to him.”

“We have to contact Agent Denko’s assistant and get access to Wilson,” Thor said. “That Agent Alfred guy.”

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