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“So you want me to go and talk to the father?” asked Gibson.
“Do you have a better idea? Apparently not, because you called me initially complaining you had no shot at nailing Nathan Trask.”
“Whoa,nailinghim?”
“Okay, getting information about him,” amended Clarisse.
“But the Langhorne murder was very recent. Sam Trask has been out of the game for years. What would he know about his son’s activities since then?”
“I said heretired. I didn’t say he was out of the game. And what will it hurt to go and ask the man?”
“But won’t Trask have him watched, especially if his father knows so much?” noted Gibson.
“Nothing that Sam Trask knows has been enough to touch the son. And if heisbeing watched, then you need to use ingenuity to get around that.”
“You make it sound so easy,” retorted Gibson.
“I didn’t involve you in this because it was easy. I brought you in because you’re good.”
“I’m a former cop. I can’t flit around conning people and doing illegal things.”
“Really? Then how did you find out that Daniel Pottinger was really Harry Langhorne? I would imagine you did someconningandflittingandillegalshit to score that info.”
Okay, I walked right into that one.“What do you think Sam Trask can tell me?”
“Isn’t that the whole point of asking? Okay, I’m done hand-holding. Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yeah?” said Gibson.
“A much younger Sam Trask was on the FBI task force that took down the mob bosses Harry Langhorne was working with. But I’m sure you already knew that, right?”
And with that Parthian shot, the line went dead again. And Gibson didn’t think Clarisse would be calling back a second time.
And maybe she’s right. I am half-assing this because I keep oscillating between whether I really want to be involved or not.
She went online and looked up The Feathers. It was quite an upscale place, about a dozen rungs above any place Gibson would be able to afford when her time came toretire.
The resident list wasn’t available, of course; she looked over the facility schematic. It had a memory wing for dementia patients, a library, a game room, a hair salon, an outdoor courtyard in the very center, fireplaces, a dining room, and other community spaces.
She was surprised when her Batphone dinged. Not a call but definitely a communication.
She opened the email and saw a picture of a distinguished-looking, elderly man. Written under it was: “Sam Trask. Good hunting.”
She studied the picture, and then thought how best to do this.
And when she had struck on a plan, Gibson had to admit that a bit of the excitement lost from her earlier professional life was starting to seep back into her. And it wasn’t just her time as a cop, but also her stint as a college thespian.
She checked on the kids, and woke Tommy from a devilish nightmare and held him until he fell back asleep. She had had night terrors as a child and understood quite clearly how bad they could be.
Gibson went to her room, set her alarm, and pulled the covers over herself, thinking of what she had once been and perhaps what she still could be.
CHAPTER32
WITH THE KIDS BATHED ANDfed and Silva in charge, Gibson set out for The Feathers the following morning. She had on an outfit that she had last worn about two years ago. She had delivered Darby about three weeks before, and had still been carrying some of her pregnancy weight. She refused to borrow any more clothes from her mother.
She drove past The Feathers twice, each time looking for anyone surveilling the place. She didn’t believe that Nathan Trask was keeping his father under eyeballs 24/7, but the man had enough resources to justify Gibson’s going through the pains of checking.
Nothing looked amiss to her, so she drove into the parking lot, and went inside with a little gift bag and small bouquet of flowers she had purchased as part of her cover. There was a sign-in sheet, so she signed in, in an undecipherable scribble. She took her temperature with the device sitting next to the sign-in ledger, and saw that it was normal. A woman at the front desk, on the telephone, nodded at Gibson, who smiled back and held up the gift bag and flowers. The woman mouthed the wordsVery nice.
