Caomhnóir – Manny - 20

“I got it,” Manny declared the moment he walked into the loft.

“Without getting caught I take it. What’s it say?”

“That Gebhard has a reason to be stressed, but it has nothing to do with me. In the three years I’ve known him, I never realized that he was married.”

Hamlin nodded. “I knew, though I think it was a marriage in name only.”

“Well it’s not going to be that much longer. The letter was from her lawyer. She’s filing for divorce.”

“Damn, poor man.”

“Yeah, I agree. So now we’re back to square one again.”

“Not a particularly logical conclusion,” Hamlin said, “because he could still be the one who set you up somehow, but I suspect you’re probably right. That leaves Mr. Shadrick or one of the boys saying something out of turn.”

Manny sighed. “I hope it’s not one of the kids.”

“If it was then it was unintentional; maybe someone asking where you were and them telling him or her without thinking. Though that begs the question of how telling that person you were heading south led to your being found in that specific city and hotel.”

“That holds true for anyone who knew, especially as I never travel using my own name.”

“How many IDs do you have?” Hamlin asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Several.”

“But all with your real age, right? You couldn’t claim to be say twenty-five or even probably twenty-one.”

“True, but since passenger lists are inaccessible unless you’ve got very high clearance, and I doubt they list height, weight and age, tracking me that way would have been a no-go.”

“Okay, let’s try another track. How long between when you told them you were on your way south and when you actually left?”

“Two days. I got this place when I first got back to the States, but I hadn’t had time to do more than move in when an urgent assignment came up. That took three weeks and then I had the one down south to deal with. But I needed a couple of days to myself. I stopped by the house of course, that’s when I said something about heading south.” Manny shook his head. “I was pissed when I found out you’d vanished without a trace, so I came back here and threw myself into painting that wall and all. It took my mind off of things.”

Hamlin looked at the wall and smiled. “So something positive came out of my running away.”

“True. That and you coming back again.” Manny gave him a fast hug, and then got back to the subject at hand. “As far as I know, no one knew about this place back then.”

“But,” Hamlin pointed out, “if it was Mr. Shadrick or Gebhard who wanted you dead they could have followed you easily enough. So, as far as that goes, could someone who might have been watching the house in hopes that you’d return.”

“Which means my telling them where I was headed would have been a moot point.”

“Unless it gave Gebhard or Mr. Shadrick the idea that killing you somewhere else would throw any suspicion away from them. All someone would have had to do was follow you from here to the airport. If they got lucky they might even have been on the plane with you.”

Manny frowned. “So we’re back to who, and working with that scenario it couldn’t have been Gebhard or Mr. Shadrick.”

“I suppose not. We’d have a real conspiracy theory if it was because they’d have to have an accomplice.”

“Not beyond the realm of possibility. I wish to hell that I knew how much they knew about what Cerdic was doing. We know he turned physical punishments over to Gebhard, but did Gebhard know what we did to merit them, or was he just told to work us ‘til we dropped.”

“Good question. How are we going to find out?”

“Hell if I know, but if I don’t want someone gunning for me again I’d better, and quick.”