Page 56 of Nearly Roadkill
To:DevilsOwn
From:FBCS Investigations
Subj:You’re Hired
Good work, mister. Consider yourself on retainer. Email me info on how to get $$$ to you. Don’t need you at the moment, but I might.
—(And I may be a “newbie,” but it’s Lieutenant Budge to you)
Grinning, peering into the results on his screen, he lights a fourth cigarette. Sure enough, there are almost as many meetings with this Toobe character as the many encounters between Scratch and Winc. He tries not to getexcited, but if luck is with him, he’s got them. Glancing back down to the screen, he sees another memo flashing:
To:FBCS Investigations
From:Undersec’y LaBouchere
Subj:NAMES!
Wally: Names. I need names. Or we’re both out in the cold. We won’t let it out of the bag, I promise you.
—L.
Damn! Quickly he types:
To:Undersec’y LaBouchere
From:FBCS Investigations
Subj:TOP SECRET
Ma’am: OK, as close as I can tell, “Scratch” and “Winc” (see attached ident summaries) will be our first collars. They’ve been everywhere, I mean everywhere, and neither of them have Registered. Please keep this Eyes Only.
—B.
File attached
In the corner of his screen, the hippie chick in the granny dress waits, endlessly patient.
“Mary,” he types, “I have someone I want you to meet.”
Budge makes his way through the arcane series of icons on the screen, programming Typhoid Mary to search. “Find the Toobe character, stick to him or her like glue.” He chews his lip for a moment, then calls Shelly.
Her throaty chuckle in the receiver almost wakes something inside him. But he presses on.
“So all I do now is hit ‘YES,’ and it goes and looks for this character? Right?”
“Nail on the head, hot stuff. And then it’ll tag this person nice and pretty so they can’t get away from you.”
“Shel,” he says, beaming broadly, “you are a peach,” and hangs up the phone without waiting for an answer.
He takes a deep breath, then his thick finger darts out and stabs at YES. The hippie chick icon on his screen turns to him, winks once, and practically dances off the screen.
“I’ll be damned,” he mutters.
To:FBCS Investigations
From:Sgt. Harrison, Bureau Demographics
Subj:Your Request re: “Scratch” and “Winc”
