Among Thieves Read Online Free

going someplace that wouldn’t fit. Someplace that might not be easy to deal with.
    â€œShe worked in a financial place. A brokerage or something. I don’t know what she did there, you know. But with the executives. In charge of something important. Helping run things. Like that. She worked hard. Smart. Good-looking woman.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œSo, some asshole up there, he likes throwing his weight around. He and Olivia, they don’t get along.”
    â€œWho? What do you know about him?”
    â€œI don’t know much but a name. Alan Crane. I don’t know what Wall Street fucks do. I don’t know what this guy does. But he’s high up in the company. From Olivia, I get that he was in charge of a bunch of money, and he was cutting corners or doing some risky shit.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œJames, this isn’t a little grab-ass or something. This guy had a beef with Olivia.”
    â€œYeah. Okay. I understand. So what happened?”
    Manny held up his left hand, his shirt cuff pulled back enough to reveal a bit of the rough prison tattoos on his forearm. He looked Beck in the eye and folded his first two fingers down to his thumb, leaving his little finger and ring finger extended. Beck watched as the lethal anger rose in him.
    â€œSo this fucking coward comes in yelling shit at her, and pounds his fist down on her hand.” Manny pointed to the little finger and ring finger of his left hand. “He breaks two of her fingers.”
    Beck squinted, feeling the waves of anger coming off Manny.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou heard me.”
    â€œHe breaks her fingers?”
    â€œYeah. And threatens her, tells her she’s fired.”
    â€œThreatens her how?”
    â€œShe won’t say exactly.”
    â€œWhere’d this happen?”
    â€œIn her office. Late. She works late. Around seven.”
    â€œAnd what’s she do, this guy breaks her hand?”
    â€œShe gets the fuck out. Goes to a hospital. Calls the cops while she’s sitting in the emergency room. Of course, by the time she gets her fingers fixed, they still don’t show, so the next day she goes to the precinct near where she works. Files a complaint. Big fucking deal. Then, she goes to … what do you call it, the personnel people in her office?”
    â€œHuman Resources.”
    â€œYeah. Tells those fucks what happened. Tells her boss what happened.”
    Beck saw it now. He started filling in the rest so Manny wouldn’t have to go through a recitation that would rile him up even more.
    â€œOkay, let me guess. The guy denies he did anything. Says she’s crazy. Says she’s lying. Out to get him. Says he has no idea how she broke her fingers. Cops say they have no evidence. He says, she says. No witnesses. She left the premises where it happened, blah, blah, blah.”
    â€œPretty much. But worse.”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œThe guy says she’s … what do you call it? Slandered him? Defamed him? He sues her for a bunch of shit. Everybody at the company goes on his side. They fire her. Now she’s got no job. No health insurance. No references. And she can’t get a new job. She’s got nothing but her two broken fingers and a little bit of savings that ain’t going to last long.”
    Beck nodded. “So she comes to you.”
    Manny sneered. “You think the cops and the higher-ups are going to help her?”
    â€œWhen did she finally talk to you?”
    â€œTwo days ago.”
    Beck noted how long Manny had sat with it.
    â€œHow long since this happened?”
    â€œCouple of weeks.”
    â€œOkay,” said Beck. “What should we do?”
    â€œJames, I appreciate the we , but ain’t no we here. This is my thing. I just wanted to let you know about it.”
    â€œSo what are you going to do?”
    â€œI’m going to break every bone in the motherfucker’s hand. And then I’m going