She and her crew had done their homework.

“Tandy,” I started gently, “with all that, can you please tell me why you didn’t give this to Lloyd or Berger?”

Her shoulders straightened, and when she spoke, her voice was stronger. “Because I need this job, Frankie. I have a roommate. We live in a nice place, but only because we go in on it together. Without her, it’d be tough to find somewhere to rent that’s that nice, safe, and in a good part of town. I want to be able to afford to keep my part of that place and it isn’t like people headhunt for assistants. I don’t have the reserves to make it if I get fired. I need to work. And with things this big, you never know who’s in on it. So, if we don’t have everything we have to have to prove what we know is true, if they fire us, we have nothing to give to the newspapers to expose them.”

She and her crew hadn’t just done their homework, they’d thought it all through.

But my mind was whirling with what to do next.

Then I hit on it.

“I need the name and phone number of the investigator in Denver. I also need Peter to make copies of absolutely everything he has. Call him and tell him to do that, then I’ll go down to IT on my way back from the gym at lunch to get it myself. You make the rounds and be cool about it, telling everyone to stand down for now. I’ll let you know what we’re doing next.”

Her expression went suspicious as she said, “No offense, Frankie, but we’ve been at this a lot longer than you and you’re kind of management. So I know you’re cool, but with this kind of stuff, I have to know you’re cool. I don’t think it’s a good idea to hand everything over to you.”

I got that.

I also had to get past it.

“All right, honey, take a deep breath and keep your cool when I tell you something that’s gonna blow your mind, freak you out, and put the fear of God in you.”

Her eyes widened, but I went on.

“The reason I’m sticking my nose in is because someone close to me is keeping Peter Furlock safe. And that’s because he’s had a hit put out on him. Now, I’m taking this over because I have the resources to do it, I have more weight in this company than any of you, and because I want you, Sandy, Miranda, Kathleen, Peter, and whoever else to stay alive.”

“Oh my God, that’s why you wanted me to call him,” she breathed.

“That’s why,” I confirmed.

“Should I tell him?” she asked.

“If you want, I will. But I think he should know. He has someone shadowing him to protect him, but it doesn’t hurt to stay vigilant.”

“I should tell him,” she whispered. “He knows me.”

I nodded. “I understand that,” I assured her, then I leaned toward her. “But please warn him that he does not go off the beaten path. We can’t let the people who are doing this know how on to them you are or what the people who are working with me are doing.”

She looked so freaked, I wanted to reach out and grab her hand, but I didn’t want anyone to see me doing it.

So I didn’t and just kept talking.

“Now, you gotta trust me. This is huge and what you’ve been doing is making someone antsy. Let’s get this product safely off our catalog and do it without any more good, brave people getting harmed. Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“You need a minute to get yourself together?” I asked, and she nodded. “Take it, then, babe. But do it scribbling on your notepad, right?”

“Right, notepad, good idea. Just a normal meeting with new scenery between Frankie and Tandy,” she said in a near chant.

I smiled at her. “Just that, honey.”

She nodded again, snatched up her notepad, and started scribbling.

I took a sip of my latte and decided on what was next.

Benny first, obviously.

Then Sal.

I looked to Tandy, who was rabidly scribbling like I was a taskmaster about to pull out my whip.

“Babe,” I called, and she looked to me.

I made my voice low when I spoke again, and even if my words were clear, my tone made them clearer.

“You did good. You did right. You took initiative, even when I told you to back down. You were brave. And you’re gonna save a lot of people a lot of heartache. Literally. I admire you, Tandy.” Her lip started trembling so I finished gently, “Just a normal meeting, honey.”

She forced a weak smile and replied, “Just another meeting, Frankie.”

I grinned at her and took another sip of my latte.

* * * * *

That evening at 5:05, I sauntered to my car just like any other day I’d saunter to my car, except way earlier.

This was because Benny was at my place and I wanted to be with Benny.

This was also because I wanted to get the f**k out of there.

The last was partly because I’d picked up all the evidence Tandy’s crew had amassed from a visibly terrified Peter Furlock. Although not nice to say, he was a man who was squat, dumpy, had thinning light brown hair, and wore thick glasses either due to weak eyes or squinting at a computer screen or a TV while playing a game all the time.

Even so, he was also building up to being a hero because he was smart and brave and doing the right thing, all this I told him in order to get him to calm down, stick with the program, and assure him my “people” had his back.

When he went back to wherever IT people holed up, he looked less terrified but still jittery.

The stuff he gave me was in my computer bag.

So I also wanted to get out of there because the place was giving me the heebie-jeebies. It felt like the walls had eyes and it didn’t help that Heath disappeared at lunch and didn’t come back.

This sent Sandy into a tailspin for reasons that were probably not good. She was visibly nervous. She dropped several things, including a full mug of coffee. She avoided Tandy (and, thus, me) like the plague. And twice, I saw her rushing to the bathroom.

She maybe didn’t feel well.

But she probably went in there to freak out and/or burst into tears.

Something was up with that and it was either what I’d said to Heath or what Bierman had said.

I’d called Benny with the news, giving him the detail on Nightingale Investigations, the firm Tandy’s sister’s friend from Brownsburg (of all freaking places) had connections with. Ben told me he’d relay everything to Sal so I didn’t have to.

This was not because he didn’t want me to talk with Sal. It was because he didn’t want to chance me being overheard by anyone.