Russell Andrews - Hades

He loosened his grip on her collar. "Yes. I'll work with you."

"Why?" Reggie asked.

"Because right now I need you to get information and to get inside the investigation. And I can use you to help me figure out what the hell's going on."

"And that's the only reason?"

"That's the only reason."

"It's a start," she said. "Now… shall we clean up the mess you made?"

The thing is: they worked well together. They had in the past and they did now. Reggie was meticulous and tireless, and while her instincts weren't quite as acute as his, they were fine. And she could cut through the bullshit to make a point when it needed making.

He printed up his notes and gave them to her to read. As she pored over them, she looked up from time to time to ask him questions: about Evan and Abby, about his relationship with Abby, about the conversations he'd had on his one visit to Rockworth and Williams. Her questions were sharp and clinical and on point. When she was done looking at his lists and written comments, he handed over the various folders of information he'd collected and told her she should go through it all over the next twenty-four hours. She said she would, and he knew she'd have a worthwhile take on what she read. He told her what his plans were for the next day and he told her what he wanted her to concentrate on. She agreed.

"Now," she said, "what do you need from me?"

He told her he wanted to know everything that Wanda knew about Evan Harmon's business. He wanted to know why Evan was being investigated.

"We don't have a lot," she told him. "And what we have isn't all that firm. Wanda wasn't reporting on a lot of what she was doing. And one of the problems is that Evan Harmon came in through the back door. He wasn't who we were investigating."

"Who were you looking at?"

"Leonardo Rubenelli. Your friend Bruno's boss."

"I know who he is. You guys have been trying to get something on him for most of my lifetime. What is it now?"

"Money laundering."

"And what the hell is the connection between Evan Harmon and Lenny Rube? How'd they even cross into the same world?"

"Come on, Jay. You should be able to come up with that one. Who could link a New York hedgehogger with the head of the New England mob?"

Justin shook his head. "Ronald LaSalle? I don't believe it. Just because he was a money guy in Providence? My father's a money guy in Providence."

"You should check with your pal Bruno."

"Since he's not here, why don't you tell me what he'd say?"

"I don't know what he'd say. I don't have the same high regard that you do for his character," Reggie told him. "But I know he's been dealing with LaSalle. We have the two of them meeting several times over the past year. And we know that Bruno was here in East End Harbor for several weeks last year. Hell, you and I know that from personal experience. It would have been easy for him to cross paths with Harmon."

"Do you have proof of any direct contact between Bruno and Evan?"

"Only according to Wanda's reports. But they weren't incident specific."

"'Incident specific.' Nice phrase. I like that," he said.

"We don't have an eyewitness-is that better? At least none we know about. It seems as if Wanda did. But we can't ask her."

Justin frowned. "Evan and Ronald were laundering money for Lenny Rube-and Bruno was the go-between? It just doesn't add up."

"Why not?"

"From everything I've been told, Ron LaSalle was as straight as they come."

"And who did the telling? The people who worked for him? His wife? Maybe they have a lot to gain by making us think that."

"It's possible." He was thinking about sitting in Vicky's living room, listening to her talk about her husband. She wasn't lying. She might have been duped, but she wasn't lying.

"What else doesn't add up?" Reggie asked.

"Bruno. He's not exactly the go-between type."

"That's right. That's why we think he's involved in a lot bigger way."

"You think Bruno killed them?"

"We think it's a good possibility."

"I like the way you use the all-protective plural, Reggie. Do you ever think something all by yourself?"

"I've been out of the loop on this case, Jay. I was brought in at the last minute, so I can't even say I'm fully briefed. I'm just telling you what I've been told so far. The more involved I am, the more I'll learn and be able to think for myself. And the more I'll be able to tell you."

"All right, so give me some more groupthink on Bruno."

"We know he was dealing with LaSalle on a regular basis. And we know he was using LaSalle to invest millions of dollars. Some of the investments were corporate investments. LaSalle was dealing with Bruno as if he were an institutional investor."

"Bruno?" Justin had to smile. "He's not what I'd call the corporate type."

"Our point exactly. One of the companies investing has Rubenelli on its board."

Justin sighed. "So you started investigating, looking for a way to get to Lenny Rube."

Reggie nodded.

"I still don't see the link to Harmon," Justin said.

"I told you, we don't have it firm. But it exists. We know from Wanda's notes that some of the Rubenelli money was going through Harmon's hedge fund."

"If you know that, why don't you have it firm?"

Reggie looked embarrassed. Finally she just shrugged and said, "You know what it's been like since 9/11. If it's not terrorism related, no one actually gives a damn. At least at the top levels. We've had a lot of our resources taken away from us. So we haven't been able to make a financial paper trail."

"So good old mob crimes and killings don't really matter anymore?"

"Not so much, no. But Wanda wouldn't let go of this. She thought it was big. And she was working on making the connections."

"Which is why she got killed."

"That's what we're assuming. And that's why we've moved this to high priority."

"Come on, even Lenny Rube's not stupid enough to off a federal agent. Bruno certainly isn't that dumb."

"Again, you have a higher regard for your friends than we do."

"I wouldn't exactly call Lenny my friend."

"And Bruno?"

"'Friend' is too strong a word. But just because we're on opposite sides of the fence, I don't underestimate him." He was still shaking his head. "It makes sense on the surface, but it's off. For one thing, even the way the murders were done. It's not Bruno's style. One thing you can count on, he wouldn't have left Wanda alive long enough to do what she did."

"Nice that you know his modus operandi so well."

"It may not be nice, but it's meaningful. Especially if your theory's based on the fact that Bruno was killing for the family."

"Am I missing something? Isn't that what he does for a living?"

Justin sighed and said, "Look, I didn't tell your guy Fletcher everything when we had our little chat yesterday."

Reggie said nothing. There was just the cock of her head to the left and the fluttering of her eyelashes.

"I'm still not sure I want him to have this info. So I want to know if it'll stay with you," Justin said.

"I work for them."

"But you're partnering with me."

"That's not fair, Jay. You're putting me in an untenable position."

"Sure I am. And what do I give a shit about fair? You want me to trust you, tell me that you'll keep this between us."

"This is a test?"

"Pass-fail. One time only."

She chewed on her lip for a moment, did her blinking thing, then she nodded.

"You lie to me, our partnership's over," he said.

"I get it. You're not exactly subtle."

"Okay," Justin said. And he told her what happened at Dolce when he'd met with Bruno.

When he was finished, she said, "Who was it?"

"I don't know yet. I got prints and I asked Billy to run 'em before anything had happened with Wanda and before I'd talked to Fletcher."