Making the Rent the Hard Way - 28

 

I turned the corner of the hallway leading to my office and just about had a panic attack. Mr. Bracco, aka the bruiser, was standing by the door. Then I remembered that Farnham said he'd send him to pay the bill for what I'd done so far. The bruiser handed me an envelope, told me that Farnham expected results on my search for Luca by the end of the week, then left.

"Fuck you and him," I muttered once I heard the elevator doors close.

The first thing I did when I was in my office was make a visual check to be certain I hadn't had any visitors. What held true for my foray with Luca to Farnham's house held true here. Farnham was a shifter. He could get in here without coming through the door and setting off the security system. As far as I could tell, nothing had been disturbed. The file on Luca was where it belonged. Not that it mattered if someone had accessed it, since I'd somehow neglected to make any notes on my visits with Rocky or Nick Allen at the repair shop.

The only message on my machine was from an old client who was expanding his business and wanted me to install security on his new building. I picked up what I needed from my supplier and spent the rest of the morning on the job. After stopping at the bank to deposit my client's check, I got some take-out Chinese food then returned to the office to eat and think about how we could deal with Farnham.

The problem was, I couldn't come up with anything that we hadn't already talked about, and ditched, the previous night. We had some proof about what he was doing, but making anyone believe it was something else. He had too many friends in high places who would back him to the hilt because it was in their own best interests.   

Then I got an idea. A screwy one, but it might work. Booting up my computer, I set to work.

*****

I called Rocky late in the afternoon at Luca's suggestion, asking if he could take the night off from work. As it turned out, it was his day off. When he asked what was going on, I told him I'd let him know after we were at Luca's place. That was fine with him. He told me where he lived and said he'd have Orchid meet us there. She did, gave Rocky the visual of Luca's living room, then we descended on Luca en masse.

"What do you think?" I asked, when everyone was settled, handing them mockups of a flyer I'd designed.

"As a graphic artist, I think it's nothing to write home about," Luca replied, chuckling, after looking it over, "but it gets the message across."

The message was pretty basic.

 

In the interests of full disclosure, the following public servants are shifters, who may or may not be serving the interests of their human constituents.

 

It then went on to list the names of the five shifter city council members, the police chief, two shifter judges, and the DA.

 

This information was obtained from files leaked to us by sources that shall remain unnamed for their own safety. – The Tetrad