Page 112 of Nash Falls

“Do they have any idea where the leak is?”

“Yes. An Agent Amy Braxton, who I met with. She’s not the leak, at least not directly. Her husband, Frank, had a gambling problem. Frank got into bed with a loan shark. Steers maybe became aware of this vulnerability, bought out the loan, and exploited the connection. Braxton apparently left some documents lying around at home that she shouldn’t have. Frank saw them and ratted me out to repay the loan.”

“How do they know all this?”

“Frank confessed. He never met Steers, of course, and doesn’t have a shred of proof. He’s now in custody, but that really doesn’t help me.”

“At least the Bureau doesn’t necessarily believe you’re guilty.”

“But Morris was clear that in the current climate they can do nothing to help me without jeopardizing their entire operation.”

“So you’re basically SOL?”

“Not that surprising, really.” Nash paused and said, “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

Shock took a few moments to answer. “We can’t be sure of that. Yet.”

“I thought you said you’d never sugarcoat things.”

“Unless we see her remains for ourselves, she’s still alive. Are the percentages good that she is? No, they’re terrible. Are they more than one percent? Yeah. But not by much.”

Nash exited out of the app and leaned against the side wall of the van. “Why would they kill Barton Temple?”

“He pissed off Steers, like we discussed.”

“I could see Rhett pissing her off, but not Barton. He was too smart.”

“Who else had a reason to kill him then?”

“Well, Rhett, and Barton’s widow, for starters. They’ll inherit a lot of wealth.”

Shock nodded. “One of the oldest of motives to kill someone: greed.”

“Oh, and did I mention that Rhett was screwing my wife?”

Shock swerved the van before regaining control. “No, you left that one the fuck out, man.”

“Maggie found out about it right before she disappeared.”

“Right before? You don’t think—?”

“No. Judith would never be party to that. And, honestly, neither would Rhett. And when Judith saw that video I was with her. She was as shocked as I was.”

“But maybe Barton jumped off that balcony with some help?”

“Maybe he did.”

“So what do we do with that information?”

“I think it’s time that you teach me what I need to know and then let me go and take care of this, like we talked about before.”

Shock eyed him again, this time with the scrutiny of a man appraising human potential. “It won’t be easy. In fact it’ll be the toughest thing you’ll ever do in your life. You will beg me to quit. But I won’t let you. I may end up killin’ you, in fact. You ready for that?”

“I’ve got nothing else to do with my life,” replied Nash. “Nothing.”

“We have to change your appearance, I mean, really change it.”

“How?”