All of which proved challenging, of course, once he was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
“He lets you call him Lee?”
“I’ve got about eighteen months to live,” Kristy said. “I’m trying to be minimalist in all things.”
“Cancer?”
Kristy nodded.
“And you’re still working?”
“I don’t have any friends out here,” she said. “It’s either I work or I sit in my condo, watching game shows.”
Matthew finished off his screwdriver, asked the bartender for another.
“That sounds good,” Kristy said to the bartender. “I’ll take one, too.”
“You get to drink on duty?” Matthew said.
“You never did when you were an agent?”
“I never got off probation,” he said. “But you know that.”
“Seems to me higher-ups were a little hasty with you,” Kristy said. “Top command is all new these days. Could be you find your way back in.”
“How many agents go from the Most Wanted list to the Kansas City field office?”
“Depends what kind of collateral you bring. Sal Cupertine would be a big win for the bureau at a time when they really need one. Seems to me, you and Agent Hopper got closer than anyone.”
“We were the only ones looking,” Matthew said.
“Like I said, top command is all new. You’re in Las Vegas for a reason, right?”
Matthew got the bartender’s attention again. This time, he ordered a scotch. “Here’s what I can tell you. You want to draw Sal Cupertine out,” Matthew said, “put his wife on the news.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Matthew said, “someone blew up her house, her kid shot a security guard in the back of the head, and no one has seen or heard from them since. You really think Sal Cupertine disappeared four years ago and never once got into contact with her? Come on. As long as she’s in protective custody, Sal Cupertine will stay hidden. Once he knows where she is, he’ll move. All the research Hopper and I did on him, the only thing that proved consistently true was that he loved his wife and kid. Everyone else could get fucked.”
“I’m gonna guess she’s somewhere with only one road in and one road out,” Kristy said, “and it’s heavily mined. Anyone looking for her is a bad guy. Even the good guys.”
“That’s my point,” Matthew said. “You want to capture Sal Cupertine, put her on blast.”
Before Matthew could continue, a walking steroid sat down on the other side of him. Sweatpants. White tank top. Spiderwebs and barbed wire on his arm. Waved over the bartender. She reached under the counter, came out with an envelope, handed it over. Steroid looked at Kristy. She nodded. He nodded back. What the fuck was going on? “The agent’s breakfast is on the house, Svetlana,” he said to the bartender.
“Thanks, Mr. Dmitrov,” Kristy said.
“Feeling better?”
“No,” Kristy said.
“The borscht will remind you of the old country.”
“There’s a reason we left,” Kristy said.
“Svetlana will package up a bowl. You come back anytime, okay?”
“Thank you, Mr. Dmitrov,” Kristy said.
“Take care of yourself, Agent. Need you to get that Bin Laden fuck.” He looked at Matthew. “This guy bothering you?”
“No,” Kristy said.
“You a cop?” he asked Matthew.
“No,” Matthew said, “I’m on the Most Wanted list.”
“Join the club,” he said.
When he was gone, Matthew said, “What the fuck was that?”
“Owner’s son,” Kristy said. “Nice guy.”
“He’s a gangster.”
“What are you?”
Matthew shook his head. He had no fucking idea anymore.
