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Wilcox looked at Kerra. “This is off the record.”
“Of course. I assumed that.”
Going back to Trapper, he said, “The people who vandalized your office want you dead. When not an outright threat, you’ve been a pest. Once and for all, they’d like to see you squashed.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
“The only thing these people want more than to see you dead is to know how much information you gleaned during your investigation into me and how incriminating it is.”
Again Trapper glanced at the hole where the electrical outlet had been.
Wilcox swiveled the desk chair to follow Trapper’s gaze, and when he came back around, he said, “They found your hiding place.”
Trapper gnawed his inner cheek but didn’t say anything.
Kerra murmured with anguished disappointment.
“What was inside that wall?” Wilcox asked.
“Electrical wiring and lousy insulation.”
Undeterred by Trapper’s quip, the millionaire said, “It couldn’t have been anything very large. A file or two? Strongbox? Or something as small as a flash drive, perhaps?”
Trapper shifted in his seat but didn’t say anything.
Again Wilcox smiled with smugness. “And all this?” He indicated the contents of Trapper’s file cabinet scattered across the floor.
“Trash.”
“I believe you. You wouldn’t keep your files on the Pegasus that accessible.” He motioned behind him. “But it appears they got what they came for. The question is, will they be able to make heads or tails of it? Is it in code?”
Trapper narrowed his eyes. “Worried, Tom? Can I call you Tom?”
“I am worried, but not in the way you think.” Wilcox leaned forward and rested his forearms on the desk.
The shift in body language made Trapper chuckle. “Getting down to business, huh? Is this where you lay out the terms of the deal? If so, you can save your breath. I have no authority to make a deal with you. I’m out, remember? Expelled. Disenfranchised. Professionally speaking, my dick was cut off.”
“You have friends in—”
“Former friends.”
“Surely not all your former associates thought you were wrong.” When Trapper didn’t either deny or confirm that, Wilcox continued. “Tell me what you have. I won’t admit to anything. But I’ll steer you along if you begin to stray.”
“I saw that movie, too,” Trapper said. “Me Bernstein, you Deep Throat.”
Wilcox looked annoyed. “If you don’t want to do this, I’ll leave.”
“Hell you will. You’d have to get past me and this pistol.”
“Shooting me wouldn’t accomplish anything.”
“Yeah, it would. It would make me feel better. Great, in fact.”
“Not for long. You’d be snuffed in a matter of days. You probably will be anyway.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“With Kerra’s life, too?”
