Tate woke with a smile and a headache. He knew the headache was from lack of sleep. He’d had a restless night, what had been left of it once he got home. The smile, well that he could put down to his thoughts of Mario. He hadn’t meant to start feeling something for the younger man, far from it. Having gained his freedom he wanted to keep it.
Or so he’d thought before Mario had walked into his office and his life. Now he wasn’t so sure. But there was nothing he could do about it one way or the other until, as Mario had said, ‘all this is over’.
After a shower he stared at himself in the mirror. ‘Time to shave, you scruffy SOB,’ he thought as he rubbed his fingers over his jaw. ‘You’re not going to impress anyone looking like this, presuming there’s going to be trouble for Mario that he’ll need my help with .’
Twenty minutes later, clean-shaven and dressed, he headed for the office with a stop to pick up some coffee and a bagel. When he got up to his floor he saw two men in suits standing by his door. He was certain they were the detectives who’d rousted Mario and barely resisted the urge to call them Frick and Frack when it turned out he was correct. After he ushered them into his office he asked how he could help them.
“We understand you were the last person to see one Jonah Heath before his death,” Detective Oates stated.
“Actually, no. That would be his killer.”
Oates watched Tate carefully as he said, “Or killers, you and Mr. Bassani.”
“Hang on just a damned minute here.” Tate growled angrily. “What the hell, or more to the point who the hell put that idea in your heads?”
“A witness who saw you and Heath together soon after you left the bar.”
“That I won’t deny. Heath accosted me and then threatened me but he was too drunk to do more than try and throw a few punches before he staggered into a tree.” Tate leaned back against his desk as he talked, his eyes moving between the two detectives. “The last time I saw him he was hanging on to it for dear life, trying to stay erect.”
“So far that matches what the witness said but you’ve left a little something out. A few minutes later you and Mr. Bassani returned, in his car, picked Mr. Heath up, bundled him into said car and took off.”
“Like hell! Whoever this witness is he must have been three sheets to the wind himself.”
“We’ll know soon enough if he’s telling the truth. Mr. Bassani’s car in on the way to the impound garage even as we speak where our people will go over it with a fine-toothed comb.”
Tate was about to reply when his phone rang. He answered it before the detectives could say a word and heard Mario’s panicked voice on the other end telling him the police had taken his car. He did his best to calm Mario down, told him everything would be all right and he’d call him back in a few minutes. Then he hung up and turned back to the detectives.
“Unless you’re planning on pulling me in for questioning I’d like it if you’d leave. Now. I have a business to run and a client coming in in about fifteen minutes.”
Oates looked at Forson who nodded once. “All right, until we get the results back on the car we’ll leave you be. Do not leave town.”
Tate snorted. “Not planning on it. I am however going to call my lawyer, just in case. I believe you’ve heard of him, Mitch Underwood.” He smiled snarkily. “He eats cops for supper.”
“Feel free to do just that,” Oates replied tersely as he and Forson headed out the door.
The minute they were gone Tate took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, when he was certain they’d had time to leave the building, he took off for the restaurant rather than calling Mario. He went out the side door after checking to see if the detectives were watching. As far as he could tell neither they nor anyone else was. That didn’t stop him from taking a very circuitous route to Mario’s restaurant. Not, he figured, that the detectives wouldn’t expect that if they though about it, but it played into his sense of the absurd.
He arrived to find the restaurant busy and Mario looking beyond frazzled. The second that a seat opened at Mario’s counter Tate slid into it, not in the least concerned when a man who made a move for it before him flipped him off.
Mario saw him and relief flooded his face. Tate smiled back and when Mario came to stand in front of him, ostensively to take his order, Tate said quietly, “It’s going to be all right. I may not be the biggest fan of our police but even I admit they do know their job when it comes to collecting evidence. They say…”
“I know what they’re saying, that you and I…”
“Well we didn’t and since I’ve never been in your car there won’t be anything placing me there which breaks down that part of the story. Whoever is setting us up blew it when they gave the cops that bit of information.”
Mario was about to reply when one of the cooks called out that his order was up.
“Go on, get back to work, I’m not going anywhere,” Tate told him.
“I’m on break in half an hour,” Mario replied before he hurried away.
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