Chapter 65
“What’s new in the Brownling investigation?”
Detective Jones answered carefully. “The drowning is still classified as an accident. No evidence of foul play so far.”
“Any other disappearances?”
“No, but there has been substantial turnover. It could be people of color saw the doors of advancement blocked and moved on to greener pastures.”
“What about their replacements? Any ties to the Vandenburg/Simon organization?”
“Not so far, but we’re continuing to dig for information on them.”
“We should also interview the employees who moved on elsewhere. Who knows what they might tell us?”
“Agreed.”
“What about Simon?”
“He had a meeting with Leon the other day.”
“Wonder what they have to talk about?”
“Perhaps they’re realized that we have Mark pinned like a caught fish.”
“So they’re either making plans to get him out or throwing him to the wolves and moving forward without him.”
“Time will tell. But it’s interesting that Leon is active again.”
“Yes.”
***
Simon was in a meeting with his colleagues.
“This list of officials is very interesting.”
“Yes, our operative is skilled and found this information while on one of his jobs.”
“And we have an offer from Leon to add more officials to the payroll.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think Leon can be trusted?”
“He has delivered results for us in the past. Also, his relationship with these people is in our favor. No one likes to deal with unknown new entities.”
“How do we manage these two opportunities?”
“Let’s get the list from Leon first. Then cross reference it with the information from our operative. Anyone from the operative’s list who is not already known by Leon is working for a third-party competitor organization.”
“Then it will be our choice to expose them or offer them a better deal with us.”
“Right. With Leon as the go between to lessen our direct exposure.”
“What about his cousin?”
“The feds have him dead to rights. Leon seems willing to cut his losses and move on without him.”
“Will anything revealed in the trial splash back on us?”
“Leon is the only possible weak link. If his cousin gives him up, we can hire a different go-between. But since that hasn’t happened yet, let’s use him to make initial contact while we can. If Leon does go down, we will have established relationships to build on without him.”
“Approved to proceed.”