Free Dust Up: A Thriller by Jon McGoran

do, say no?”
    “Well, this might be news to you, but as a police officer, when you see a wanted felon, you should arrest that felon.”
    “I would have,” I said, not sure how boldly I was lying. “But I wanted to hear what she had to say first. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting to be ambushed by gunmen. And neither was she.”
    “Yeah, that’s another thing. You’re ambushed by gunmen as you say, and you don’t return fire? I’m not saying that’s a bad move, but very un-Carrick-like.”
    “We were across the street from a school, and I didn’t want to risk endangering the students.”
    He nodded, hearing me but not accepting it. “Well, you wanted to be involved in the case, you’re involved in the case.”
    He looked over my shoulder and said, “Gentlemen, come on in.”
    I turned around to see Tom Royce, Bourden’s security chief. Next to him was another man whose thin, angular face looked vaguely familiar.
    “I believe you know Tom Royce, from Energene,” Suarez said without looking at anybody. “This is his assistant, Morris Divock.”
    Royce gave me a withering stare that said he didn’t like this any more than I did. “The good people at Energene have suspicions that Ron and Miriam Hartwell may have been engaged in corporate espionage. They and their friends at the Justice Department have asked for our help determining if that’s the case and, if possible, recovering anything that was stolen. As they are cooperating with our investigation, we have been asked to cooperate with theirs.”
    I gave a polite nod.
    Then Suarez said, “That cooperation will take the form of you, Detective Carrick.”
    My head whipped around.
    Suarez was smiling at me. It wasn’t a nice smile. “We’re fortunate that we have someone so familiar with the case and yet completely nonessential to it. For the next couple of days, I want you to share with these gentlemen all aspects of our official investigation. You can start by taking them back to the Liberty Motel and walking them through what happened.”
    “Lieutenant—”
    He cut me off, cocking an eye at me. “They don’t know the city well, so you’ll be their official guide. And since I know you haven’t had a chance to write up reports on your conversations with Ron Hartwell’s mom, his brother, and his building super, you will accompany Mr. Royce and Mr. Divock on follow-up interviews. And then you can write all of it up for the case file. Is that understood?”
    “But—”
    He held up a hand. “I know how badly you want to help this investigation, Detective Carrick, so I know you will appreciate how important it is that those officially tasked with solving the case can concentrate on the job at hand.”

 
    22
    I felt better about not telling Warren everything Miriam had said about Energene now that we were sharing everything with Royce and Divock. I wondered how much they knew about what was going on in Haiti. Or about who had killed Ron Hartwell.
    “Suarez said you guys weren’t from around here,” I said from the backseat in a fake cheerful tone. I don’t like being in a car that I’m not driving. And I really don’t like sitting in the backseat, especially not behind Royce’s bright red ears and neck. It helped that every time I asked a question, he got redder. “Where are you from?”
    Neither of them moved, but I got the feeling a look had been exchanged.
    Royce let out a sigh. “Chicago.”
    “How long have you been in Philly?”
    “Couple weeks.”
    “They move you around a lot?”
    “As much as they need to.”
    “Must be nice. Traveling around the world all the time.”
    Divock looked at me in the rearview. Royce didn’t respond at all, except for a deepening redness in his neck and ears.
    “So what do you think Ron Hartwell might have stolen?” I asked.
    Divock kept his eyes on the road. Royce turned to look at me, then turned back without a word.
    I shrugged. “Be easier to help you if I know what you think he