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“Everybody,” Zack pushed his hands down in a calming gesture and reached into a cupboard above his desk and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels. He fetched a couple glasses and put them down.
“Have a drink, Dario.”
I didn’t want a drink. I wanted a cigarette. And to smash Randall, the motherfucker’s, nose. I was still wearing a fuckin’ nicotine patch but I was ready to either rip it off and light up or rip someone’s head off.
Randall said, “We’ll circle back to your brother later. For now, I’ll say we may or may not require testimony from you. Your wife, we will, but we are hoping it can be done in such a way to protect her identity. We already have testimony from Jason Frost. He’s still in custody and cutting a deal. We need one more thing from him in order to clinch the deal and we’ve got people working on that. We also have testimony from someone else and this is something we need to discuss, as well. We’d have preferred that your brother be in attendance for this part.”
“What testimony?” I asked.
The guy regarded me a second and then made his decision to tell me what he was talking about. “Your father’s widow.”
“What?” When had they talked to Lisa?
“As part of our investigation, I employed some tactics,” Zack began, pouring me some whisky. I shook my head, refusing it.
He pushed it closer and gave me a look.
“Randall’s team directed me to set Tommy up with Oliver as a counselor. Oliver also does work for Randall’s department.”
“Fuck,” I bit off. And then I drank down the contents of the glass and immediately poured myself another.
“Tommy got Oliver talking to Lisa when she had her breakdown after the miscarriage. While she was away on her retreat, she was with Oliver and more of Randall’s people. I spoke to her as well. They have a lot of information
from her and it’s gonna help, Dario. Immensely.”
I blew out a breath. My brother was going to lose his fuckin’ mind. He was either gonna kill or ruin that guy. He’d be enraged.
Randall got up, his phone ringing, and he left the room.
“You’d best tell Oliver to change his face and get a new identity,” I advised Zack, “And what the fuck on Jason Frost? He’s getting away with his part in this?”
“Don’t know what the deal is for him, that’s out of scope for me, but lesser of evils, Dario. Maybe Lisa should go with you to Thailand as well. Bring them both?”
I shook my head, “I told Joseph Lucas that I took Jason Frost out. Because you fuckin’ asked me to trust you and that’s what you told me to do, Zack. He surfaces, it’s gonna put me in a very fuckin’ uncomfortable situation. And Lisa? No. Lisa’s too fragile.”
But in my head I wished she wasn’t. She could help Angel through this.
I was not looking forward to telling my angel that she had to go with me. She hadn’t brought the place up at all lately. We didn’t discuss it even once while we were in Italy. On our honeymoon, other than seeing Ma and her husband in rough shape, Angel had seemed like she was trying to have a good time.
We’d gone for nice meals, fucked two or three times a day like honeymooners were supposed to do, and did a bunch of sightseeing. I was glad we were gonna have the rest of it once everything was done, though. She’d need it.
Randall was back, “We think Lisa should also go. Is there a way to finesse that with Gan Chen?”
I shook my head, “Not likely. And Lisa isn’t ready for that.”
“Lisa is stronger than you think. Her therapy has been helpful,” Randall said, “And of course we will need to interview Angelica. Soon.”
I figured Angel would want to help put those fuckers away but I needed to protect her from this, keep her safe not only physically but mentally.
“I do not think Lisa’s a good idea. At all. Regards to my wife, I’m there for any meetings or interviews. She’s extremely traumatized and she won’t be without me for any of this.”
“If all goes a certain way, she’ll have to sit on the witness stand alone, though, Dario. We’re gonna try to plea. The more information we have, the better that’ll go and the more chances we won’t have to reveal the identities of any of the witnesses, including Frost,” Zack put his hand on my shoulder. The look in his eyes reminded me of why I’d considered this guy a friend.
“I know. But if she takes the stand, she’ll have me there in the courtroom. She’ll know she’s safe if she can lay eyes on me, if I’m in the room.”
As much as I detested all she had endured, I had zero problem being her touchstone, her strength.
They wanted to wire her, though, and that didn’t sit well.
