Fool Me Once

He didn’t get it, but then again, he had never heard the audiotape from that day. Would it change things for him? Maybe, maybe not.

Her cell phone buzzed. One ring on her phone. She checked the number.

“Ricky?”

“Yes.”

“I have to pick up my kid now,” she lied. “Can I get those new meds?”

Chapter 20

The caller ID had read “Leather and Lace.”

Corey had made it clear. If he called and hung up, that meant he wanted to meet.

When she pulled into the lot, the bouncer leaned into her window and said, “Glad you got the job.”

Man, she hoped that the bouncer was in on it and that her being a stripper wasn’t viewed as a realistic cover.

“Park in the employee lot and use the employee entrance.”

Maya did as he asked. When she got out of the car, two of her “colleagues” smiled and waved. Keeping in character, Maya smiled and waved back. The employee door was locked, so Maya looked up into the camera and waited. She heard the telltale buzz and opened it. Another man was standing there, giving her the cold eye.

“You’re armed?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Let me have it.”

“No,” Maya said.

He didn’t like that answer, but a voice from behind him said, “It’s okay.”

Lulu.

“Same room as before,” Lulu said to her. “He’s waiting for you.”

“Right to work then,” Maya said in a bad attempt at a half joke.

Lulu smiled and shrugged.

She could smell the cannabis before she turned the corner and saw Corey lighting up. He took a deep inhale, stood, and offered her a hit.

“I’m good,” she said. “You wanted to see me?”

Corey held the smoke in a bit and nodded. When he released it, he said, “Take a seat.”

Again she frowned at the upholstery.

“No one uses this room,” he said, “but me.”

“That supposed to make me feel better?”

She expected a small smile at the very least, but suddenly he was up and pacing, clearly on edge. Maya sat, hoping that might calm him down a bit.

“Did you visit Tom Douglass?” he asked.

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean?”

“I visited his wife. Tom Douglass has been missing for three weeks.”

That stopped the pacing. “Where is he?”

“What part of ‘missing’ is confusing you, Corey?”

“Jesus.” He took another hit. “Did you figure out why the Burketts were paying him?”

“In part.” She still didn’t know if she trusted him, but then again, what other choice did she have right now? “Tom Douglass served in the Coast Guard.”

“So?”

“So he investigated the accidental death of Andrew Burkett.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

She filled him in on what she had learned and what she had already known via Joe about Andrew’s death being a suicide. Corey kept nodding, a little too hyped up, and she started to wonder when the mellow would kick in.

“So let’s put this together,” Corey said, still pacing. “Your sister starts investigating. She stumbles across these Burkett payments to Tom Douglass. Boom, she’s tortured and killed. Boom, your husband’s killed. Boom, Tom Douglass goes missing. That about right?”

His timeline was slightly off. It wasn’t Claire, Joe, Tom. It was Claire, Tom, Joe. But she didn’t bother to correct him.

“But there’s something else to consider,” Maya said.

“How’s that?”

“You don’t murder someone to hide a son’s suicide. You might pay them off. But you don’t kill them.”

Corey nodded. “And assuming it was the Burketts who were making the payments,” he added, still nodding with too much vigor, “you certainly don’t kill your own son.”

His eyes were red, she could see now. From cannabis or tears, she didn’t know which.

“Corey?”

“Yeah.”

“You guys have sources. Good sources. I need you to hack into Tom Douglass’s life.”

“Did that already.”

“You did it weeks ago looking for clues on his work. But we need everything now. His credit card statements, ATM payments, when he last made a transaction, what his habits are, where he could go. We need to find him. Can you do that?”

“Yeah,” Corey said. “We can do that.”

He started pacing again.

“What else is wrong?” Maya asked.

“I think I have to disappear again. Maybe for a very long time.”

“Why?”

Corey lowered his voice to a near whisper. “Something you said last time you were here.”

“About?”

He looked left, then right. “I got ways out of here,” he said. “Secret ways.”

Maya wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Okay.”

“There’s even a hidden door in that wall over there. I can hide, or there’s a tunnel to the river. If the cops ever try to surround this place, even quietly or whatever, I can get out. You wouldn’t believe the measures I have in place here.”

“I can see that. But I don’t see why that means you have to disappear.”

“A leak!” Corey shouted, spitting out the word as if it truly disgusted him, which, she assumed, it did. “You were the one to first raise that, right? You said one possibility was that someone inside my organization leaked Claire’s name. I’ve been thinking hard about it. Suppose my operation… I mean, suppose we’re not as airtight as I thought. Do you realize how many people could be exposed? Do you know how many of them would suffer huge, possibly even fatal, consequences?”