Page 206

No doubt.
Stupid Trev.
“I sent some associates to try to reason with him,” Mastermind carried on. “Lamentably, this had an unforeseen conclusion.”
“In other words, Trev was thinking ten grand a month wasn’t enough, he should get a raise, and he communicated this to you,” I deduced, and kept right on deducing. “You weren’t feeling that and sent some henchmen to put an end to his shakedown. They got into a physical fight that somehow ended with Trev face down in a pool of his own blood. But somewhere along the line, Trev dumped his laptop and phone so they not only left a dead body, they left empty-handed.”
Mastermind appeared surprised at how much I knew, but he powered through it.
“The final result of that meeting was an accident,” Mastermind asserted. “That was absolutely not what I intended. And we did get his phone. Alas, we didn’t get his laptop.”
So, there was the intel on the location of Trev’s phone.
I suddenly had a theory about that laptop.
That being, the Hottie Squad weren’t only keeping Kev to keep him safe, they were keeping him because they felt he hadn’t told them everything.
And he hadn’t.
Like, when he found out his best bud was very dead, he’d gone to where his best bud had shared he hid the golden goose of his laptop, something that needed to be kept very secure because it was paying Trev’s bills and putting him in a nice Mazda.
Kev, for some braindead reason (or perhaps he thought he’d pick up where Trev’s blackmailing ended), decided that the laptop needed to be taken out of the equation (or put in the hands of someone who could profit from it, namely his), instead of handing it over to the police so maybe they could use it to help them find Trev’s killer.
As such, he grabbed said laptop, then panicked when things got too hot because Mastermind sent his goons after him, so Kev dumped it. Perhaps somewhere he thought he could retrieve it later. But, more’s the pity, Kev being far from a brainiac, if this was the case, he didn’t choose his hidey-hole very well. It was discovered by a homeless person. Somehow, word got ’round about that homeless person’s score, and the Angels looking for a laptop, so Homer got his hands on it and delivered it to Jessie.
The rest, we knew.
I didn’t share my theory.
Though, I didn’t bet, but I’d lay down money it was accurate.
“I think you can guess it’s morally imperative I get my hands on that laptop,” Mastermind remarked.
Did he know we had it?
Or was he just sharing?
Willow and I remained silent.
“Kevin Johanssen, who I believe knows what his friend was up to, might very well know where that laptop is,” Mastermind stated.
So they didn’t know we had the laptop.
I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
“Did you get into Trev’s phone?” Willow asked.
“I was able to do so, yes,” Mastermind confirmed.
“And how are you going to make kidnapping us worthwhile, Congressman?” Willow asked.
I should have played it cooler, but when she used his title, my head whipped her way.
I then looked at Mastermind.
And holy shmoly!
Yes!