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“Hey, Boss, you sure?” asked Greg.
“Nah, we’re good. I have some important things to go over with Lydia. I’d rather have the house, if you don’t mind. And I’m dead tired. I’ll call you if something comes up. And thanks! As they say, your debit is in the mail!”
They all laughed.
“Yes, sir,” said Danny. “A pleasure.”
“Oh and, Danny, don’t you go too far. Got some stuff I need to talk to both of you about regarding Silver Team. Make sure you check in with me before you go anywhere far.”
“Done deal, sir. Thank you.” To her, Danny said, “Ma’am, it was a pleasure. And I’m sure glad we got to get reacquainted with Venom too. Best of luck with that. I know he’s gonna be just fine. And you tell your neighbor, she is a kick in the pants.”
“Adios,” said Greg, waving. They climbed in the Sprinter van and took off down the driveway.
Lydia inhaled deeply as they walked back into their sanctuary. The first thing he commented on were the Gloriosa Daisies on the table top. “Those are lovely, Sweetheart. Just feels like home now that I’ve seen you and seen these. I miss Venom. Are we gonna go get him later on today or is it tomorrow?”
“They’re supposed to let me know about three. There’s a possibility it could be today. It depends on how well he does.”
“Well, we have plenty to discuss until then. So do you want to brew me some coffee, real strong coffee? We need to sit at the dining room table. I have to show you something.”
“Oh? Did you run across a problem in D.C.?” she asked while she put water on for coffee.
Harper followed her into the kitchen after setting his laptop on the dining room table. “There’s been a development in the Lipori case, and one of the reasons I was called back there is Lipori is making all kinds of plea agreements and trying to negotiate himself a sweeter deal.”
She turned and faced him. She could see in his eyes that he expected her to react negatively. She tried not to show her anger, but he probably knew it anyway. “Harper, how can that be?”
“It doesn’t have to be, and it isn’t for sure yet, but he’s talking. He’s talking about a lot of things. And I have a video of the interview I did with him that I need show you. I’ve received permission from everybody upstairs to do that. I just want to show you.”
“This is not what I expected.” She poured the hot water over the coffee grounds, stirred the mixture with her long-handled spoon, and placed the top on the French press. Then she covered the whole pot with a towel to keep the mixture warm.
“Coffee will be ready in five minutes.” She had intended to be more cheerful, but it wasn’t coming out that way. Finally, she gave up. “Tell me this isn’t happening.”
“It’s the world we live in. Things can always happen, Lydia. Evil people do evil things. Most of the evil people are pretty dumb. However, there’s a few that are so cunning and so dangerous that we have to take them seriously. And unfortunately, sometimes other people don’t have the backbone or the spine we have. In this case, it’s all going to pivot on you. I sincerely wish that wasn’t the case. But you’ll see in a moment. I need your help with it. Only you can guide me. I’m only going to do what you think we should do. I’m not gonna force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
“You’re scaring me, Harper.”
“We both should be scared, Sweetheart. The guy is as evil as I’ve seen. Very smart. Planning and plotting all the time. He doesn’t like to lose.”
“But he already did.”
“It’s not over until he’s gone, permanently gone. I never told you that, understand? But that’s the truth. I don’t trust him, but I need you to hear what he’s got planned. What he’s thinking.”
“Like what?”
“Let’s watch the video first. And then we’ll talk. It’s not really long. It’s about twenty minutes or so. And it didn’t take but minutes for me to see his long game. Didn’t want to, but I have to, Lydia. He let me see who he really is.”
“How does this affect me?”
“He’s much more dangerous than anyone gave him credit for. You are very lucky that he spared you. Because he did. And he went to great expense to heal you, medically. He’s gonna explain all that. I just want you to hear it in his voice. You can tell a lot by watching him, since you spent time at his house.”
Harper looked down at his feet.
“What are you not telling me?” she asked him.
“You’ll see. It was very difficult for me to do this and to bring this interview back for you. I didn’t want to. But after I thought about it, I realize that if I didn’t involve you now, knowing his upcoming plans, it would certainly involve you later on, and I figured it was only fair. You didn’t want to be left in the dark, right?”
“True.”
“Well, this is your chance to get the whole Monty. So try to keep an open mind, but I want you to listen to him carefully.”
